CHICKENS AND SCOOTERS

Just been watching the rugby and remember that the French (not playing England) will have their national mascot, the cockerel prancing round the pitch...hopefully not during the game. It probably got through the turnstile in a Frenchman's duffle bag! Indeed, one was brought in to Ewood Park, Blackburn Rovers, as a demonstration against those unpopular owners, the Venkys. The chicken soon got its own Twitter account!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptt-gLTGhHE

Did the stray dog, that put pay to goalkeeper Chick Brodie's career, when he played for Brentford in 1969, get there on its own?.....

What about a car door?
During a friendly between New Zealand and Chile in Auckland before the 2002 World Cup, a fan ran onto the pitch carrying a car door. At the end of the match, the announcer asked fans not to invade the pitch and not to bring car parts onto the playing area. The result was a 0-0 bore "door" (draw), or perhaps the only breath of fresh air in the day!

Some years ago, Paul, a West Brom fan, turned up to a home game wearing a big mac on a warm, dry day. When he got to his favourite spot on the standing only terrace, he removed two house bricks and a plank, made a small step out of it and stood on it to get a better view.

When Charlton Athletic met Luton Town in January 1982, a Charlton fan threw half a dead cat on to the pitch. What on earth makes somebody do that? Did he plan it? Did he find the poor thing on route? Heaven knows! The game ended 0-0 as well.

Remember the beachball at the Stadium of Light in October 2009? Crowd-throw beachball on to pitch-Darren Bent's shot hits beachball and flies past keeper Pepe Reina...goal! The defeat left Liverpool 7th in the Premier League, so no European football, and Benitez was on his bike to the beach. 16 year old Callum Campbell, a Liverpool fan who pumped it onto the pitch, got death threats!
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1437726999574750

17 year old Christopher Jacome was murdered in the Colombian city of Cucuta, and hours after his death, his friends stole the body from the funeral home and brought him along in the coffin to see the local team, Cucuta Deportiva.

Remember celery throwing at Stamford Bridge? All down to Chelsea fans witnessing Gillingham's supporters throwing celery onto their home pitch at the Priestfield Stadium in a pre-season friendly (apparently it was growing celery on the pitch)? Cesc Fabregas was a target!
Here's Fabregas dodging celery when taking a corner in the Carling Cup Final!
This practice found its way back to West London when it was adopted by the Blues' supporters and in 2002 v Fulham at Villa Park, 4 Chelsea supporters were arrested for throwing celery, but they were not charged because they claimed it was "tradition". In 2007 v Arsenal in the Carling Cup Final at Wembley, the game was interrupted by flying celery; Chelsea won 2-1.

Vinnie Jones bought a six foot rubber snake from Hamleys and took it to a match at Wembley and he wore it as a scarf as walked onto the pitch. The steward questioned it but accepted the attire as part of Vinnie's eccentric behaviour. Who would argue with Vinnie? or a rubber snake?

Stoke v Man City 1988 two men in a panto horse costume tried to get into the match on one ticket.
It was Christmas! Stoke won 3-1 in Division 2. They got in....OH no they didn't!

The Italians won't be beaten (well they just have been at Rugby!) when it comes to smuggling things into stadia...Inter Milan fans snuck a scooter, stolen from Atalanta fans, into their Serie A match and took it to the Upper Tier on the San Siro. They failed to set it alight and in their frustration threw it over the edge of the stand. Nobody was on the terrace below, I believe.

THE YOUNGEST ENGLISH CAP

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3994718670252035536/7429240976664304465?hl=en-GB

Michael Owen was a youngster when England took on the might of Australian football on February 12th 2003, England managed by Sven. The game was played in Upton  Park, almost as if the FA was embarrassed by the competition. Wayne Rooney took over from Michael Owen at half time, and so did the other 10 players as Sven-Goran Eriksson used the occasion to see what was what.  It may have been a good idea, although the Aussies back home would have been delighted receiving the news that their "Roos" had beaten the founding fathers 1-3, on their home territory.

0-2 down at half time, they were playing a nation that had not qualified for the upcoming World Cup finals. Aussie, Harry Kewell, was in charge of the midfield. 

Wayne Rooney was making his debut four months after scoring a wonder goal for Everton against David Seaman and Arsenal, the Gunners unbeaten for 29 league games. Final score 2-1 to the Toffees. At 17 years and 111 days, Rooney became the youngest ever England international, beating the record of  the famed Old Carthusian, James Prinsep, who at 17 years and 119 days, had been "youngest" since his debut in 1879. Rooney helped assist Francis Jeffers score his goal, formerly of Everton and then with Arsenal, who was winning his one and only cap. Over 34,000 in the East End witnessed the all change at half time and I'm not going to list the two teams.

Theo Walcott leads the "youngest English cap title" when on May 25th 2006, when he came on against Hungary on May 30th at 17 years 75 days in a 3-1 win at Old Trafford.

It worked nevertheless as England topped their European Championship qualifying group. pipping the might of Turkey (by one point), Slovakia, FYR Macedonia and Liechenstein. Tough group. 

In 2003 England used the following venues for their matches: Upton Park, Stadium of Light, Walkers Stadium, Riverside, Portman Road and Old Trafford. Actually quite a nice idea using the regional "hunbs". Bit sick for poor old Jeffers who missed his Wembley opportunity. This had happened also in 2006.This regional approach had also happened on 2003

Rooney became the country's youngest scorer, at the time, when he notched against Macedonia aged 17 yrs 317 days (6/9/2003) in a 2-1 win. England finally qualified for the tournament by getting the needed point against Turkey away,  after Beckham had missed a penalty. 

During 2003 in the qualifying rounds, England had thumped Liechtenstein twice 2-0, Turkey 2-0 and 0-0!, Slovakia 2-1 and  Macdedonia 2-1.

MICHAEL OWEN

11th February 1998, 18 year old Michael Owen became the youngest England international when he debuted in a friendly against Chile at Wembley, a game England lost 0-2. No goal on debut! 

Chile, as a valuable opposition for England, had been banned from the World Cup, after their goalkeeper Roberto Rojas had been banned for feigning injury in 1989 against Brazil in a World Cup qualifier, an attempt to get the game abandoned.

Glen Hoddle managed England and included Owen in an "experimental" side. Owen had only made his Liverpool debut in 1996/7.  Four days before the international, Owen had scored 2 goals against Southampton and three days after he netted a hat trick against Sheffield Wednesday. So he was on form.

In his first international games, Owen scored two goals coming as a sub, against Morocco in the King Hassan II Cup and Romania in a World Cup qualifier. His next goal, his third was that great goal against Argentina in the World Cup Round of 16. This "last 16 match" in St Etienne, ended 2-2 aet (Shearer scored the first goal) and then there was Beckham being wound up by Simeone and eventually a defeat on penalties.

Owen scored 40 goals in 89 appearances, his last in France in 2008, when he came on for Rooney in an England defeat, losing 0-1 in Paris, on the 26th March. You may remember Owen's hat trick against Germany in Munich in 2001, which helped take England to the World Cup and also the opener against Brazil in the World Cup quarter-final, but yet another agonising defeat, 1-2 in Shizuoka, Japan.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

 

Southern League club, Wimbledon FC, on February 10th 1975, played a "home" FA Cup 4th Rd Replay at Selhurst Park (Crystal Palace FC) against League Champions, Leeds United, attracting over 45,000 in the stadium. Having drawn away at Elland Road, 0-0, on January 25th, the "minnows" were beaten by the only goal of the game, a deflected shot, leaving the score 0-1. 

Prior to this, the Wombles had started their campaign thus:
In the First Qualifying Rd-

Bracknell Town (Berkshire), away win 1-3
Maidenhead Utd (Berks) in QRd 2 at home win 4-0
Wokingham Town (Berks) in QRd 3 at home win 2-0
Guildford and Dorking Utd (Surrey) in QRd 4 away win 0-3

THEN
Bath City (Somerset) 1-0 win at home on November 23rd in the 1st Rd Proper.
Kettering Town (Northamptonshire) 2-0 win at home on December 14th in the 2nd Rd. 

Wimbledon won against Burnley away 0-1 in the 3rd Round on January 4th. On the same weekend,

Leeds had beaten Cardiff City at home 4-1 in Rd3, their first Cup tie of the season.

AND THEN

Leeds United went on to beat Derby County 1-0 away in Rd 5

and then met Ipswich Town in Rd 6; which went like this:-

at Portman Rd 0-0, replay at Elland Rd 1-1 aet.
then at a neutral Filbert Street, 0-0 aet
and finally also at Filbert St 2-3 to Ipswich aet.

Ipswich lost 1-2 to West Ham in the semi-final replay after a 0-0 draw.
West Ham (13th in Div One) won the Cup Final beating Fulham (9th in Div Two) 2-0 at Wembley on May 3rd. Both goals came from the "Rochdale whippet", Alan Taylor (below). He scored two in the quarter-final against Arsenal (0-2) and two in the semi against Ipswich.

In the "friendly" final, legendary Alec Stock (he's been mentioned before recently) managed Fulham and legendary, Ron Greenwood for West Ham. Neither trainer (medic man) had to leave his bench, the game was free flowing and graced by legendary, Bobby Moore and Alan Mullery, both nearing the endof their careers.

Other giant killers that year? Well Walsall had beaten Manchester Utd 3-2 aet at home after drawing 0-0 at Old Trafford in Rd 3.
Carlisle Utd reached Rd6 losing to Fulham 0-1
York City took Arsenal to a replay in Rd3 having drawn at Highbury and

Leatherhead were knocking big boys over, after Bishops Stortford (in R1), then Colchester (Rd2), to Brighton & HA 0-1 in the 3rd Rd, eventually losing to Leicester City (Rd4). The "Leatherhead Lip", Chris Kelly made a name for himself scoring the winner at the Goldstone Ground (below the 65th minute winner) and in the next round he scored a "leader" at Leicester, helping the Isthmian League side to a 2-0 lead. The Foxes bounced back to win 3-2.

FRANKLY FRANKLIN

For many football fans, ‘The Bogotá Affair’ is a reference to the arrest and later release and complete exoneration – of England captain, Bobby Moore, on suspicion of stealing a bracelet before the 1970 World Cup. However, 20 years before, the phrase had a different meaning, which was associated with another England captain, Stoke City’s defender, Neil Cornelius Franklin (born 1922) who played 26 times for his country from 1946-50. 

In May 1950, Franklin was one of seven British footballers offered lucrative contracts to play in  Colombia. The others were: George Mountfield (also of Stoke), Charlie Mitten (Manchester United and father of Leicester City’s John Mitten), Billy Higgins (Everton), Roy Paul (Swansea Town) and Jack Hedley (Everton). Hearts’ Bobby Flavell also went, while Jock Dodds of Lincoln City acted as an agent on behalf of Colombian clubs.

Although it was easy to see why footballers were attracted, moving to a foreign country of which most Britons knew very little about brought its own problems, such as the language and getting the family settled. 

Firstly, English footballers were becoming increasingly resentful of their working conditions in the form of the maximum wage and the retain-and-transfer system. At a time when attendances had reached record levels, footballers were restricted to a £12 weekly wage and any desire to move to another club was at the whim of directors.

Secondly, in 1950 Colombia had entered its second year of civil war (conservatives v liberals!), which lasted another 8 years. This disruption, of course, created instability within Colombian football. While the Colombian FA was affiliated to FIFA its professional league was not, opening up a financial opportunity to induce foreign players to break their contracts. Importantly, Colombian clubs were able to sign players without having to pay a transfer fee. Most were recruited from Argentina, including Alfredo di Stefano, who joined Millionarios. Football, the government hoped, would take the country's mind off the Civil War. The war meant that Colombia was extracted from FIFA,

Franklin claimed that his club, Santa Fé of Bogotá, offered him a £1,500 signing on fee, which compared to the then £10 in the Football League, plus a monthly wage of £150 plus bonuses. Charlie Mitten’s total annual income was £5,000 and he claimed he made more in one year than in all his 14 years as a professional. George Mountfield was earning £60 pweek and had a £2000 signing on fee.

The standard of living was relatively high, compared to "Austerity Britain". There was an early curfew and a culture hard to adopt. In the end, Franklin and family only stayed two months and he managed only six games. He followed his pregnant wife back to Britain, reneging on his promise to return to Colombia following the birth of their child. 

Reaction amongst the public and the press was mildly sympathetic. The football authorities (The FA) predictably took a different view, and Mitten, Franklin and Higgins received lengthy bans. Franklin later resumed his career with Hull, but never played for England again. In an ironic twist of fate, Mitten was later the manager of Newcastle when it denied George Eastham a transfer. In 1963 Eastham successfully sued the club and it eventually led to the end of the retain-and-transfer system; the same one that Mitten and Franklin had secretly travelled to Bogotá to avoid!  

Career: 1939 Stoke 142 apps: 1950 Independiente Santa Fe 6 apps when he was left out of the England World Cup Squad-sour grapes!: 1951-6 Hull 96 apps: 1956-7 Crewe A  66 apps: 1957-8 Stockport C 20 apps: 1960-1 Macclesfield 23 apps.

He went to manage in Wellington, New Zealand in 1958, then to Apoel in Cyprus in 1963 and Colchester Utd in 1964-68. Franklin died on February 9th 1996.

  

DIXIE DEAN THE SCORING MACHINE

I'm dedicating this blog to an old colleague, Pat Francis, a footballer, coach, manager, scout and "bon vivre", who is fighting for the future benefit of his home club, village side, Ringmer FC. Remember them playing in the FA Cup?? managed by Pat in the First Round proper 1970-1, their big run was halted, away at Colchester 3-0. They had previously beaten Sussex clubs, Arundel, Chichester, Bognor Regis and then Hampshire club, Waterlooville, becoming the first "village club" in modern history, to go this far in the World's oldest Cup competition.

https://dixiedeanhotel.co.uk/blog/the-best-dixie-dean-videos-a-legend-in-action/ 

You may notice, today,  a new development in this Blog, with the introduction of "Sage Green". Enjoy it! I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate the author of Sage Green, by letting you enjoy his favourite club's legend, Everton and England centre forward, Dixie Dean. Some may say "Who he?", shame on you. Any self respecting football fan will know about this pre-Second World War footballer.

There is an advert for the Merseyside, Dixie Dean Hotel, https://dixiedeanhotel.co.uk/ one hotel of a cleverly themed hotel chain, one of which I have already tested out, at The Shankly, in Liverpool, of course. Worth every penny, waking up in the morning after the night before, looking up to the ceiling, at the members of the Liverpool "Shankly" era support staff.

T

The Toffees had been Second Division champions in 1931, League Champions in 1932 and easy FA Cup winners in 1933. No wonder, with William Ralph "Dixie" Dean leading their line. Dean scored 473 goals in 502 games including 37 hat tricks. The "Royal Season", 1927-8, saw Dean, aged 21, score 60 league goals in 39 club games, a feat not to be beaten yet. 

The 1933 Final, on April 23rd at Wembley, saw each player have a number on his back; Everton 1-11 and City 12-22 (no subs). By chance, Everton centre-forward, Dixie Dean, wore number 9 on his back.

By the way, as mentioned in previous posts, Dixie was an advertiser's "God", with his recognisable hair syle, something to attract the hair groomers.

On May 11th 1927, the England team played Belgium in a friendly in Brussells and won 9-1. Dixie Dean of Everton scored a hat trick and during that season he scored 12 goals in 7 matches against foreign opposition.
His total record for England was played 16 games and 18 goals, his career curtailed by War and curious international selection. Obviously not enough exposure for such a promising goal scorer. 

Dixie hated his christian name and preferred to be known as Bill. After an horrific motorbike accident in 1926, he recovered to return to football after three months. His club total was 379 goals in 473 league games. On one occasion he sent the Liverpool goalkeeper a bottle of aspirins before derby games, wishing him a good night's sleep-"I'll keep you awake tomorrow", Dean quipped.

A motorcycle accident in 1926 caused him a fractured skull and broken jaw which should have ended his career, however, he recovered and continued taunting goalkeepers. But during his career, a collision caused him to have a testicle removed, after a particular nasty tackle and later he became a Freemason. These two events are not particularly linked. Dixie didn't let this set back stand in his way!

His final throws in football included turning out for Sligo Rovers, with whom he lost the FAI Cup Final in 1939. His runners' up medal was stolen from his hotel room afterwards and 39 years later when he was visiting Ireland, the medal was returned, anonimously! Dixie's last games were for Ashton United. His grandfather drove the Royal Train for George V, by the way. 

Sage green

Happy 65th birthday to new BBC chair, Richard Sharp. He's planning to work four days a week, and give his £160k pa salary to charity. Internally, BBC executives generally prefer those who opt for three days a week, or less, and ideally, those who don't pay much attention at all. 

Where will he base himself  ?  'Old' BH, where some panelled rooms still exist, or 'new' BH where one is more closely observed by the hoi polloi, even if nestled a warm cocoon of management assistants ?  Mr Sharp's legacy to his time at the Royal Academy is the Richard Sharp Council Room (below decked out for a social event).  Hard to replicate in Broadcasting House.