25th September 1962 Surprise League champions Ipswich Town showed they had no fear of the European Cup when beating Floriana of Malta 10-0 at Portman Road to complete an aggregate 14-1 First Round victory. Ray Crawford scored five of the goals at Portman Road – Ipswich were knocked out by AC Milan in the next round.
25th September 1963 Most will remember Tom Finney, as a loyal one-club player for Preston NE, but on September 25th 1963 he made his only competitive appearance for a club other than Preston - in the European Cup.
Three years after playing his last Preston game George Armstrong, the manager of Northern Ireland champions Distillery, coaxed the 41-year-old Finney out of retirement to play for Distillery in their European Cup-tie against the Portuguese giants Benfica. On this day in 1963 a 19,326 Belfast crowd witnessed a memorable 3-3 draw between the sides but without Finney in the return leg, Benfica ran out 5-0 winners.
Finney in a Preston shirt v Chelsea in 1956 at Stamford Bridge. Imagine this happening today!! 
and his statue outside Deepdale at Preston NE.
No comments:
Post a Comment