A clip from our favourite, the Fateful Final of 1950.
1934 – Italy are the World Champs
1958 – Pele Announces his Arrival
1966 – Three Lions Roar to Victory
1974 – Don’t Mention the Score
1978 – The Shame of Argentina ’78
1990 – West Germany Win Italia ’90
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]]>Here’s a run through of some of the most memorable Three Lions matches from the World Cup in chronological order. Click on the links for the full stories and clips of the match action.
June 29th 1950 - The Miracle on Grass, as the USA hand England perhaps the most humiliating loss in their history. Expect to hear this game mentioned one or two times before the sides face off again this weekend in Rustenburg.
July 2nd 1950 – England go crashing out of their first World Cup, probably wishing they hadn’t bothered with it all.
June 10th 1962 – England lose to a Garrincha-inspired Brazil in a match more fondly remembered (by us at least) for Jimmy Greaves playing Pet Rescue with a stray dog.
June 7th 1970 – Classic Brazil versus England in a game that had just about everything. Apart from an England win, obviously.
June 14th 1970 - West Germany get their revenge for 1966, as the Three Lions blow a 2-0 lead with 25 minutes remaining in their quarter-final.
June 16th 1982 - After twelve years in the World Cup wilderness England roar back, scoring after just 27 seconds in their ’82 opener against France, with Bryan Robson remarkably managing to stay fit long enough to score the early opener.
June 26th 1990 – David Platt’s 119th-minute volley remains my favourite ever England goal. As an over-excited eight-year-old, for me it didn’t get any better than this wonder goal against Belgium in the second round of Italia ’90.
July 1st 1990 - More Italia ’90 goodness, as England end Cameroon’s fantastic tournament in the quarter-finals.
July 4th 1990 – Germans! Penalties! Goal off Paul Parker’s backside! Gazza’s tears! Argh!
July 7th 1990 – England’s most capped player Peter Shilton and manager Bobby Robson bow out in the Italia ’90 3rd/4th place game against Italy.
June 30th 1998 – On of the most epic England games of recent years, as Argentina break English hearts in St Etienne.
June 7th 2002 – Redemption day for Beckham, as his winning penalty banishes the demons of his red card against Argentina in ’98.
June 15th 2002 – England set up a quarter-final clash with Brazil and the nation starts to believe.
Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about that sunny day in 1966. Join us tomorrow for our favourite World Cup Finals.
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]]>July 13th 1930 - The first ever World Cup games as France beat Mexico and the USA take on Belgium.
Footage from the first ever World Cup.
June 19th 1958 – Pele announces his arrival to send John Charles and Wales home.
July 19th 1966 - The greatest ever World Cup upset? North Korea shock Italy.
June 17th 1970 – The ‘game of the century’ as Italy and West Germany contest an epic semi-final.
June 11th 1978 – Archie Gemmill scores Mark Renton’s favourite ever goal.
July 5th 1982 – Paulo Rossi silences the naysayers in one of the greatest personal comebacks since Lazarus.
July 8th 1982 – Harald Schumacher commits the worst foul ever as West Germany and France clash in the semi-finals.
June 25th 1986 – Days after scoring perhaps the greatest ever World Cup goal against England, Diego Maradona does it again against Belgium. Also on that day in 1990 David O’Leary blasts home from the penalty spot against Romania.
June 8th 1990 - The greatest ever upset part two? The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, led by Roger Milla, aged 84, stun World Champions Argentina in the Italia ’90 opener.
June 24th 1990 – Forget the Anglo-German rivalry, the Dutch really hate Die Mannschaft. Frank Rijkaard in particular, as he gobs into Rudi Voller’s horrific perm.
June 23rd 1998 – Believe it or not, in the olden days Scotland used to qualify for the World Cup, but never troubled the knockout stages. Here’s the story of their last World Cup match when Morocco sent home.
June 12th 2002 – Sweden sent pre-tournament favourites Argentina crashing out in the group stage.
This is by no means anywhere near an exhaustive list, so let us know your favourite World Cup matches below.
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]]>Coming this week we’ll bring you the most captivating games, the best Finals, the most controversial moments and a greatest hits of England’s efforts on the world stage.
In the meantime all you England fans can order our latest book, England On This Day, a day-by-day history of the Three Lions:
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]]>As England and Brazil head east to lock horns in the Doha desert this weekend, we thought we’d run down the top five moments between the Seleção and Three Lions. All of these stories and a whole lot more can be found in our new book England On This Day, available here and in all good (and some bad) bookshops.
1970: The greatest save ever made
It may not have been immortalised in song form by Baddiel and Skinner like his skipper’s famous tackle that day, but Gordon Banks’ diving save from Pele’s first-half header in the pulsating 1970 World Cup clash is about as good as it gets. As the Santos striker nodded the ball down he began to turn away, shouting ‘Gooooal’, but Banks flung himself across his goal ‘like a salmon leaping up a waterfall’ as Pele himself later put it when the Stoke ‘keeper managed to tip the ball over the bar. ‘At that moment I hated Gordon Banks more than any man in soccer,’ explained Pele, before obviously remembering he never slags anyone off in case he risks losing a sponsorship deal. ‘But when I cooled down I had to applaud him with my heart for the greatest save I have ever seen.’
1984: Barnes Out-Brazils Brazil
Seasoned football spectators at the Maracanã are no doubt used to seeing players score after mazy 50-yard dribbles every other week, but not surely from young Watford midfielders. Having failed to qualify for Euro 84 England had nothing better to do than to turn up in Rio for an end of season friendly against the Seleção. Picking the ball up just inside the Brazil half Barnsey slalomed his way through the entire Brazilian defence before slotting past the ‘keeper to put England ahead. The Three Lions triumphed 2-0, handing Brazil their first defeat at the Maracanã for 27 years. Barnes said later: ‘I don’t remember much about my goal – I always liken it to an out-of-body experience. I look at it on TV now and I can’t remember doing any of it.’
1992: Lineker misses from the spot
England hosted Brazil at Wembley in a pre-Euro 92 friendly looking for a morale-boosting win before heading out to Sweden. Graham Taylor’s skipper Gary Lineker was eyeing up one last England swansong before his move to Japan’s Grampus 8 after the tournament, with the Spurs striker one short of equalling Bobby Charlton’s record of 49 England goals. When the Three Lions were awarded a penalty with the score at 0-0, up he stepped, but fluffed his chance to equal the record as his weak effort was saved by Carlos in the Brazilian goal. Things didn’t get any better for Lineker that summer, as he failed to find the net in England’s woeful Euro 92 campaign before being infamously subbed off against Sweden and being forever marooned on 48 international goals.
1962: Jimmy Greaves plays Dr Doolitle
England’s World Cup quarter-final against Brazil in 1962 wasn’t a particularly good day at the office, as a Garrincha-inspired Brazil team eased to a 3-1 win, but it did produce one of the more amusing on-pitch moments in England history. A stray dog ran on to the pitch and evaded everyone until Jimmy Greaves got down on all fours and beckoned the canine. He then grabbed the pooch who promptly urinated all over him. ‘I smelt so bad, but at least it meant the Brazilian defenders stayed clear of me,’ he said. Garrincha thought the whole thing was hilarious and kept the dog as a pet.
2002: Sven’s Half-time Team Talk
It was looking good for England. The nation had done the usual trick of being whipped up into a patriotic frenzy, convincing herself that 38 years of hurt was soon to be gone and England would romp to the 2002 World Cup title. As half-time approached England were 1-0 up against Brazil in their quarter-final clash in Shizuoka and keeping the Brazilians at bay. But in stoppage time Rivaldo popped up to equalise, and it was time for Sven-Göran Eriksson to start earning his money with a rip-roaring team talk. However, five minutes after the break England were 2-1 down thanks to a freak Ronaldinho goal, who lofted a 40-yard free kick over a flailing David Seaman after spotting the Arsenal stopper off his line. The lad had obviously done his homework. Even a 56th-minute red card for Ronaldinho didn’t stop the Brazilians, who held on to a 2-1 win on their way to winning a fifth World Cup. Gareth Southgate pointed the finger of blame solely at the Swede: ‘When we needed Winston Churchill, we got Iain Duncan Smith.’
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]]>AS Mark Hughes wonders how many more points he can drop before the Abu Dhabi United group get an itchy trigger finger, it’s back to 1996 when the City job saw enough managerial changes to make even Jesus Gil blush. Find out what happened here.
1975 – Who’s the Pisshead in the Black?
FOOTBALL and booze have got a long history together. Whether it’s George Best lamenting that “I spent a lot of money on booze birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered,” England’s infamous Euro ‘96 dentist chair celebration or Paul McGrath turning out half-tanked, the two have always gone hand-in-hand. Most of the time though, football’s drinking culture doesn’t involve the referee, but today in 1975 German official Wolf-Dieter Ahlenfelder turned up to officiate a Bundesliga clash after a few too many pre-match shandies. Read more.
Let’s all laugh at referees.
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]]>Tottenham have enjoyed little success over Arsenal recently and you have to go back to this day in 1999 for the last time Spurs came out on top in a League match. Read more here.
EVER heard the one about the Lithuanian banker, title-challenging Scottish club and a convicted sex offender? Welcome to Heart of Midlothian, Scotland’s most colourful club, where today in 2005 former Portsmouth manager and convict, Graham Rix took over the table-topping side. Click here for more.
Team bonding, Romanov style.
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]]>IN the history of good decisions, this one was a belter. You have to tip your hat to the big cheeses at Old Trafford because it was on this day in 1986 that Sir Alex Ferguson was appointed Manchester United manager. Read more.
Today in 2004 the mother of Brazilian superstar Robinho was kidnapped by bandits who then demanded a ransom from the player for her release and ordered him not to play football while they had her. Read on here.
A young Robinho showing he’s got the skills to pay the (in this case very gritty) bills.
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]]>IF you had to pin down Arsenal’s current position at the sharp end of football to just two men, one would have the be Arsene Wenger. The other, without a doubt would be Herbert Chapman. Read what he was up to today here.
WITH Huddersfield wallowing around in the third flight of English football it’s easy to forget that two of the greatest managers of all-time have sat in the dug-out at their former Leeds Road home. The first was Herbert Chapman, who led them to three successive titles in the 1920s and the other was Bill Shankly, who was appointed today in 1956. Read more.
“All good pals and jolly good company.” Quite.
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]]>SINCE Barcelona legend Pep Guardiola took over the managerial reigns at the Camp Nou last summer he’s not done a bad job, with trophies and goals galore. It was a different story today in 2001 though, as the Spanish midfielder failed a drugs test. Read more here.
1945 – The Russians are Coming
CROYDON airport, November 4th 1945. As war-ravaged England struggles to get over the hardships of six years of conflict an aeroplane touches down from Moscow bringing some much needed excitement to the capital as Dynamo Moscow became the first Soviet club to visit the UK. See how they got on here.
Hyperbole-tastic Pep Guardiola video
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]]>1999 – The Life of Brian
HE’S not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy! Well, perhaps not naughty, but certainly not the managerial messiah.
It was on this day in 1999 that Brian Kidd proved what Steve McLaren is proving daily, namely that good number twos very rarely make good number ones, when he was sacked as Blackburn Rovers manager. Read on here.
1997 – Lights, Camera, Corruption
TODAY in 1997 West Ham United were hosting Crystal Palace in an evening Premiership fixture between the two London sides. Find out what dodgy dealings went on here.
Just because you can do this, doesn’t mean you’ll be a good gaffer…
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]]>CROSSING over from one professional sport to another is rarely a good idea. Think Dwain Chambers and Sir Clive Woodward for recent examples, but today we are looking at a match made in Hull between football and tennis. Click here to find out what happened.
2002 – Watch Out Alfie, Keano’s Back
“I’d waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you c***. And don’t ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries.”
And so it was proved that the pen was mightier than the sword, as Roy Keane’s autobiography got him in a spot of bother with the FA, who invoked a five match ban that ended today in 2002 following his x-rated challenge on Alf-Inge Haaland in the 2001 Manchester derby. Read more.
Roy v Alf, rounds one and two.
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]]>2006 – Milan Hits the Midlands
LEICESTER City fans have been put through the mixer a fair bit the last few seasons, having to endure administration, relegation and even a strike force led by Adi Akinbiyi. Today in 2006 another dodgy character came onto the scene as Milan Mandaric bid to take over the Foxes. Read more.
PINCH punch, first of the month and here at OTFD we’re kicking November off with another managerial casualty.
Despite losing his job in the most underhand way, poor old Martin Jol can at least console himself with the fact that it was ever thus at Tottenham. It was on this day in 1994 that Spurs dispensed with the services of Osvaldo Ardiles as manager, just 16 months after giving him the job. Read the whole story here.
Ossie and the Spurs team in happier days
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]]>2002 – Halloween Horror Show in Madagascar
WHATEVER seasonal misfortunes befall you tonight, we’re sure it won’t be as scary as what fans of Madagascan side Stade Olympique de L’Emyrne (SOE) had to endure, as today in 2002 they saw side fall to a record-breaking 149-0 loss. Click here for the whole story.
1990 – A Sticky End For Holy Harvey
WE think one of the best things about OTFD is that sometimes we get to feature some of the less celebrated characters in football that may have slipped from the game’s consciousness in recent times.
Today is one of those days, as it was on this day in 1990 that legendary Everton player Colin Harvey proved he wasn’t such a legendary manager when the Toffeemen gave him his P45. Read more.
Colin Harvey’s finest move
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]]>HE was the greatest footballer of his generation and perhaps of all time, but all good things have to come to an end. Today in 1997 Diego Armando Maradona hung up his boots, bringing his explosive career to a close on his 37th birthday. Read more.
2004 – Lord of the Manor of Frodsham
WHEN Gerard Houllier was winding down his time as Liverpool manager, the club still allowed him to press on with one of their most expensive signings ever. Houllier had been casting flirtatious glances at Djibril Cisse for months and finally managed to negotiate a deal to bring the Frenchman to Anfield for around £14m in the summer of 2004. Click here to find out what went wrong.
Ouch.
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]]>2004 – A Punishment Not To Be Sniffed At
WE’RE coming over all Bram Stoker on you today, as we’ve got a tale of an (alleged) bloodsucker from Transylvania. Romanian misfit Adrian Mutu was fired by Chelsea today in 2004 following his failed drugs test. Click here for the whole story.
WE’VE all been guilty of forgetting things once in a while, a friend’s birthday here, a wedding anniversary there, but not many memory lapses can have been as costly as the one Rio ‘Memory like a sieve’ Ferdinand had in the autumn of 2003. Read more.
Mutu will need more of this to pay off the £14m that Chelsea are after
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]]>1933 – The Angel With Bent Legs
ASK anyone around the world who the best ever Brazilian to play the game was and they’ll usually say Pele. Head into Brazil though, ask the same question and any self-respecting passionate follower of the beautiful game will tell you all about a bow-legged right-winger who holds a dearer place in their hearts than everyone’s favourite viagra salesman. That man was Garrincha, who was born today in 1933. Read more.
A 1-1 draw in the League Cup between Arsenal and Rotherham today in 2003 doesn’t sound like the most exciting of occasions to base today’s nugget of footballing history on, but one of Arsene Wenger’s young charges was making his debut that day, and he’s proved to go on to be not too shabby at this football lark. Click here for more.
Much more interesting than Pele.
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]]>2006 – Pressley’s All Shock Up
IT’S up to Scotland today for a look at one of the maddest characters in the game, Hearts chairman and former Soviet submarine commander Vladimir Romanov who was at the mercy of a player revolt, lead by captain Steven Pressley today in 2006 when threatened to sack the whole squad if they failed to win their next match. See what went down here.
1957 – Hoddle Arrives
THE year is 1957. In Italy the Treaty of Rome is signed establishing the European Economic Community; in the USA Elvis Presley buys Graceland; and on this day in Hayes, Middlesex, Glenn Hoddle was born. Read more here.
Hoddle showing he had the skills to pay the bills. Well, it was either this or the Diamond Lights clip…
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]]>1996 – Saints Humble the Red Devils
SIR Alex Ferguson has turned Manchester United into such a consistent winning machine over the past 20 years that it’s always nice to watch them get beaten once in a while, especially when they get a very rare hammering.
Today in 1996 Southampton recorded one of their most impressive results ever when they trounced Fergies team 6-3 at The Dell. Read more here.
1863 – Ezer is a geezer who likes to muscle in
IT all sounds so Dickensian: a cold, foggy autumn night in Victorian London, the Freemason’s Tavern in Great Queen Street, and the protagonist, Ebenezer Cobb Morley.
No this is not the beginning of Great Expectations or David Copperfield; this is the beginning of the Football Association. Click here for more.
Le God.
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]]>FOOTBALL has managed to upset a lot of people over the years – it has even been the cause of wars, but it was on this day in 2000 that the beautiful game crossed swords with a national treasure, and lost. Click here for the full story.
FANTASTICALLY wide ranging and descriptive though the English language can be, there are occasions when it falls short and emotions it cannot quite express succinctly. Read on here.
Jol’s last day at work.
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]]>1857 – The Oldest Club in the World
WHEN your team’s nickname is simply ‘The Club’, you’ve got to have a bit of history to back it up. And history is one thing that Sheffield FC have more of than anyone else, as they are the world’s oldest club, established today in 1857. Read more here.
OVER the seventeen seasons since the inception of the Premier League one clash has regularly stood above the rest. Whether it’s tunnel bust-ups, on-the-pitch brawls or Martin Keown’s goading, Manchester United and Arsenal clashes are always entertaining.
Today in 2004 the two rivals served up another tasty clash that took the animosity between them to new, evermore amusing levels: a food fight! Click here for the whole story.
Sadly we’ve only got the on-the-pitch action for you.
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]]>LAST season Liverpool may have monopolised the late comeback, but they haven’t yet left it quite so late as Arsenal did today in 1999. With 15 minutes left the Gunners were 2-0 down to rivals Chelsea and it was looking like all three points were lost. Read on here.
1963 – The Stars Come Out For The FA’s Centenary
HOW are your birthday plans coming on for this year? Night out on the town? Dinner party? Bet it won’t be as grand as when the FA celebrated reaching the grand old age of 100, as Sir Alf Ramsey’s England team took on the best of the rest at Wembley Stadium, today in 1963.
Click here to read all about it.
Kanu, 47, scores a beaut.
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]]>SO who’s the greatest goalkeeper ever to play the game? Schmeichel? No, his nose was too red and he was rubbish on Strictly Come Dancing. Dino Zoff or Gianluigi Buffon? Nope, even you’d look good behind those Italian defences. Our vote goes to the Russian Lev Yashin who was born today in 1929. Read more here.
SOUTHAMPTON FC was always described as a ‘family club’ but during the 1980s it was literally true as the Wallace brothers came up through the youth system into the first team. On this day in 1988 when all three of the brothers lined up for Southampton in a match against Sheffield Wednesday at the Dell which ended 1-1. Click here for the full story.
The Black Spider in full effect.
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]]>SUPPORTERS of Bryan Robson’s managerial prowess always used to point to his success at Middlesbrough in his first job as a gaffer. Read more here.
2000 – Shepherd You Old Spoil-Sport
It was on this day in 2000 that one-time FA chief exec and current postman Adam Crozier decided that a 67-year-old man who could never remember his player’s names was the guy to buck England’s ideas up. Click here for the whole story.
Downfall riff number 2,080: Hitler’s not impressed with the potential return of Freddie Shepperd
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]]>NEWCASTLE in living-up-to-fan’s-expectations-shock-horror! Believe it or not, once in generation Newcastle seem to come up with a performance and result that their supporters believe is their destiny.
Today in 1996 Gallowgate’s finest witnessed the high-point of the (first) Kevin Keegan era when they beat Manchester United 5-0 at St James’. Read more.
1990 – Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting
HERE at OTFD we believe that fighting isn’t big or clever and there’s no place for it on the football pitch. Yeah right. Nothing beats a good set of footballing handbags, which is exactly what happened at Old Trafford today in 1990 when Manchester United and Arsenal got stuck into each other. Click here for the full story.
Manchester United fans look away now.
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]]>2002 – ‘Remember the name: Wayne Rooney’
A FEW years ago now I turned up on a Saturday afternoon at Goodison Park expecting to see Arsenal outplay and certainly defeat a well organised and spirited, but nevertheless limited Everton team.
After going a goal down, the Toffeemen had managed to equalise through Tomasz Radzinksi and with ten minutes to go it looked like they were going to pull off a creditable draw against the gunners who were on a 30 match unbeaten run.
Cue 16-year-old Wayne Mark Rooney to enter stage left. Young Rooney was already being talked about on Merseyside as something a bit special but he was largely an unknown quantity elsewhere. Not for long, as it was on this day in 2002 that the Roondog scored his first Premier League goal. Click here for the full story.
IT’S back to 1993 today and a look at the best English result on the continent since D-Day. Back when the Uefa Cup was more than a chance for Harry Redknapp to rest his starting XI, plucky little Norwich City became the only British club to ever beat Bayern Munich in their Olympic Stadium. Read on here.
Seems a very long time ago now…
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]]>TO get a mention here at OTFD, let alone your own entry, you have to fulfil certain criteria. You must have had some impact on the world of football, and either been truly exceptional, truly awful, or just truly funny.
Today’s subject was an exceptional player, but his impact on the game went way beyond his footballing talent.
It was on this day in 2005 that Johnny Haynes, latterly of Fulham and England, died aged 71, following a road accident the previous day. Read the full story here.
IAN Wright and Thierry Henry never played together, the former having left Arsenal a year before the latter arrived in North London.
Between them the two strikers bagged an incredible 411 goals for the Gunners and it was on this day in 2005 that Henry took Wright’s crown as the club’s record goal scorer. Click here for the whole story.
Plenty more where these came from
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]]>SEVEN years earlier, Sir Alf and his England side had been the toast of the nation, having reached football nirvana in the 1966 World Cup final. But today in 1973 was a different story, as England fell short in their attempts to qualify for the 1974 World Cup, as Poland held them to a 1-1 draw at Wembley. Read the full story here.
1919 – Cash in the Attic
Like a football version of Atlantis, Leeds City is the ancient lost club of football, and it was today in 1919 that the book was closed on the final sorry chapter in its history. Click here for the whole story.
The beginning of the end for Sir Alf.
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]]>ANYTIME over the last twenty years that half decent Argentinian youngster comes to the fore, he’s immediately been dubbed ‘the new Maradona’. Players such as Ariel Ortega, Carlos Marinelli, Andres D’Alessandro and Javier Saviola are just some of the poor souls that have been burdened with the tag and not lived up to the hype.
Today in 2004 saw the Barcelona debut of perhaps the closest player we’ve got to El Diego yet, when Lionel Messi took the field for Los Cules against their local rivals Espanyol. Click here for more.
TODAY we’re looking at a game that encapsulates the frustration of following England. Dodgy goalkeeping error? Check. New player on the left? Check. Hot-head striker losing their rag when the tough gets going? Check. Failure to beat one of international football’s minnows? Check. Back in 2002 it was the turn of Macedonia to frustrate England as they held them to a 2-2 draw at St. Mary’s. Read on here.
Safe to say he’s kicked on a bit since his debut.
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]]>Stan the Man Collymore has seen the highs of playing for Liverpool and England and the lows of tabloid stories about his relationship with Ulrika Jonsson and his fondness for car parks.
It was on this day in 1999 however that a reluctant Stan was forced to crawl back to Villa after a loan spell at Fulham did not turn into a permanent deal. Click here for the whole story.
IF you thought that signing Robbie Savage was the most foolish thing Derby County have ever done then think again. Today in 1973 chairman Sam Longson’s ego got the better of him as he forced County manager Brian Clough out. Read the full story.
We miss Ol’ Big ‘Ead.
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]]>