November 9 – KK’s Revenge

WE all know how much he would’ve loved it if they’d beaten them, but they didn’t. Alex Ferguson’s Man United team famously beat Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle side to the Premier League title in 1996.

It was on this day in 2002 that KK got some measure of revenge over Fergie when his Manchester City team beat United 3-1 in the last ever derby at Maine Road.

Keegan and Man City seemed made for each other – both have enjoyed considerable high and lows and life was rarely dull for either. Keegan joined City after his England adventure ended in disappointment with City in division one. KK got them playing his usual brand of exciting attacking football and soon had them back in the premiership.

Lining up for United that day were Fabien Barthez, Laurant Blanc and colossal-waste-of-money Juan Sebastian Veron while City had Nic Anelka and United legend Peter Schmiechel in their ranks.

Anelka got the first goal after Barthez failed to hold on to a Shaun Goater shot, and Goater then added two strikes of his own – one of which was the result of United captain Gary Neville’s bizarre ‘defending’ where he tried to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick, before deciding to knock it back to Barthez. It never got to the keeper though, as the Goat stole in to give City their second and City fans a new chant of “Gary Neville is a blue.”

United did hit back with a Solskjaer goal but it was all too little and too late, and City had their first derby win for 13 years. All this with a City team containing not a single Englishman, compared to four Mancunian’s in the United team.

Fergie was not a happy camper after the match. He said: “I’ve given them a bollocking, and quite rightly. You can’t accept that. I just feel sorry for the fans. I wish I could let them into the dressing room so the players would know what they are thinking.”

Given the number of boots flying about at people’s faces in the United dressing room we’re not sure how many fans would actually want to be in the firing line in the locker room when Fergie let rip.

Meanwhile, KK got all carried away by the result. “You look at that performance and think: ‘wow’,” he said. “Now we should go into every game knowing that, if we can beat Manchester United, we can beat anyone.”

KK’s City didn’t manage to beat everyone, but they did have a pretty good season culminating in a top half finish. Ferguson would have the last laugh once again though as his team beat off strong competition from Arsenal to win the league title again.

The hero of that day was obviously Gary Neville, so here is a little clip of some cocky wag giving poor old Gary the windup. Tomorrow we are on our travels with the Irish so come and ch-ch-ch-check it out wooaaooaaooaaoo. Oh come on! Lil’ Chris? No? Oh well.

November 8 – 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.

Here at OTFD we’ll admit to the occasional drink or two to settle the nerves before something important such as a relegation six-pointer or those hot dates we’re always going on (honest guv). However, we’d like to think that those in charge of the German FA look for a bit more professionalism in their employees. Obviously not.

When Hannover 96 came to the Weserstadion to take on Werder Bremen fans were settling down to a run of the mill Bundesliga clash, with the usual smattering of dodgy decisions by the ref. When Ahlenfelder blew for half time 29 minutes into the game, it became clear that he wasn’t all there. His linesman had a word with him and after Ahlenfelder thanked him and told him he was his best *hic* mate, the further 16 first half minutes were played out.

During half-time he showed no signs of sobering up, as he stuck out his tongue at a photographer, but did manage to see the game through to it’s nil-nil conclusion. As all good drunks do, he immediately denied that he had been on the sauce, but later confessed to ‘several Maltesers’ before the game. ‘We are men – we don’t drink Fanta’, he would later state, much to the respect of his beerhouse dwelling contempories and the chagrin of Fanta’s marketing department.

Werder president Franz Böhmert didn’t take it too badly as he thought that ‘for this show we could have charged a higher entrance fee.’ Luckily for him, there’s no footage of Ahlenfelder’s drinking session out there, so check out this referee’s inappropriate celebration below and join us tomorrow to look at a man who looks like he could take his drink.

November 7 – Hearts of Darkness

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.

In recent years being a Jambos fan has been, to say the least, eventful. When the club found itself struggling under financial pressure in 2004, it attracted a big fish by the name of Vladimir Romanov, a man who the phrase “interfering chairman” was seemingly invented for.

An ex-submarine commander, who made his money in the murky world of post-cold war Soviet economics, this Romanov was on the other end of an October Revolution in 2005, as he became the majority shareholder and soon after sacked George Burley, who in his four-month spell had taken Hearts to the top of the SPL.

That old chestnut of “irreconcilable differences” was the official spin on Burley’s departure, but if you were to ask the man himself, you’d probably get a stronger reaction. Rumours were abound that Romanov was buying players without consulting the manager and picking the team behind Burley’s back. And we at least believe these rumours, as Burley was never known for his fondness for signing Lithuanians.

Big names such as Sir Bobby Robson, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Claudio Ranieri were being touted as Burley’s replacement, but it was Graham Rix, who was about to be offered a job at non-league Crawley Town that Red Rom saw as his man. The former Arsenal midfielder was a controversial appointment to say the least, as he had been jailed for tweleve months in 1999 for having underage sex with a 15 year old girl. Cue protests from Hearts fans and noises from the Romanov people about how he got where he was today by making ruthless decisions.

And did it work out? Of course not. Rix was sacked in March amid more infighting, with senior players such as Steven Pressley speaking out against their chairman. Surprise, surprise, it was a Lithuanian, Valdas Ivanauskas who took over the reigns and lead them to a Scottish Cup win and second place in the League, as the soap opera dubbed “Hearts of Lithuania” rolled on.

More scandal tomorrow, this time involving the man in the middle, but in the meantime here’s a bit of pre-season bonding, Romanov style, with Czech striker Roman Bednar.

November 6 – Fergie Storms In

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.

Fergie started his managerial career at the age of 32 with East Stirlingshire before moving on to St Mirren, where he was sacked for swearing at a lady. Ah simpler times.

His next port of call was Aberdeen where he made quite a name for himself by breaking the Old Firm duopoly and winning the Scottish league three times as well as both domestic cups. He even led the Dons to victory in the European Cup Winners’ Cup to become only the third Scottish club to win European honours.

Meanwhile, down at Old Trafford, Manchester United had never really found a convincing replacement for their inspirational leader Sir Matt Busby and had even turned to Big Ron Atkinson for success.

For a time Ron even looked the part, signing Bryan Robson among others and even winning the FA Cup twice in three years.

What the Old Trafford faithful really craved was the league title and despite looking likely to win it, Big Ron couldn’t quite get it together to deliver the big prize.

By November 1986 the club were to close to the relegation zone for United suits’ comfort so they gave Big Ron the ‘big e’ and employed a man who couldn’t be further from Atkinson’s style.

It is well documented that Fergie’s reign was not an immediate success when he did get going, he just didn’t stop, seemingly winning trophies almost at will.

Here’s Fergie explaining the pressures of managing the world’s biggest club and proving that he picked up a a little of the lingo in his time working in the Clyde ship yards.

Pop back tomorrow to read about an altogether less successful coaching appointment.

November 5 – Mind the Gap

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.

Chapman was even more revolutionary in his day than Wenger has been in his, and Herb took what modern management guru’s would term ‘a global approach’ to running the club.

One of the early game’s great innovators, Chapman’s management extended far beyond the pitch or training ground to every facet of the club and he is the man behind many of the practices in the game today.

Numbers on the back of players’ shirts and night games played under floodlights were both Chapman initiatives in the wider game, and his legacy at Arsenal is far-reaching.

He was personally involved in the design of Highbury stadium, including the famous clock and he gave the Gunners their white sleeves and hooped socks, as well as having a hand in the design of the club crest.

It is one thing influencing things in your own club, but it was on this day in 1932 that Chapman went one better when he persuaded London Electric Railway to rename Gillespie Road Underground Station in honour of the club.

The station became Arsenal (Highbury Hill) in 1932, with the Highbury Hill suffix dropped in 1960 and the original name of Gillespie Road still adorns the internal tunnels of the station.

Although the Gunners have now moved home, Arsenal station is still used by many fans as The Emirates stadium is only 500 yards away.

The station is on the Piccadilly Line and is the only one in the network to be named after a football club.

Here is a a little look at some of Herb Chapman’s achievements and come back tomorrow to see which manager was starting a new job at a rather big club back in the eighties.

November 4 – 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.

These days everyone from Liverpool to Livingstone can be found spending pre-season in exotic climbs, but back in post-war Europe Dynamo’s tour was a big deal. Not that London’s hoteliers thought so though – over 100 of the blighters wouldn’t let the Russians stay at their gaffs, meaning the squad spent their first night at the Coldstream Guards’ Wellington barracks in St James’s.

The English press were quick to dismiss the Muscovite’s chances. Fleet Street warned Joe Public “not expect much from this bunch of factory workers” and were sure that
“Chelsea will easily uphold the football supremacy of its fatherland with a ringing victory. Dynamos? These pale boys are far too slow for the top drawer.”

When it came to the Chelsea game it is thought that over 100,000 crammed into Stamford Bridge and were treated to a few sights they had never seen, such as players in snazzy tracksuits warming up on the pitch. When each of the Russians gave their opponents a bunch of flowers no knew what was going on.

Chelsea’s forecasted easy win was nowhere to be found. The game finished 3-3 with only Dynamo’s poor finishing preventing a famous upset. Next stop for the Russians was Cardiff and a 10-0 win, followed by a 4-3 victory at Highbury against an Arsenal side that managed to blag an appearance from Stanley Matthews. Dynamo’s jolly ended with a 2-2 draw against Rangers at Ibrox.

Almost 250,000 fans were treated to a type of football never before seen on these shores, as Dynamo’s slick passing game was in direct contrast to the traditional up-and-at-’em style that the English were used to. Still smarting from his defeat at Highbury, Stanley Matthews bigged-up Dynamo as “the finest team ever to visit these islands – we have certainly learned a thing or two from these Dynamos”. Judging by the England team’s performances against the USA and Hungary in the years following not everyone was singing from the Sir Stan’s hymn-sheet.

Try and pick out your favourite Dynamo in the grainy footage against Rangers and check out OTFD tomorrow for ****STAND BACK TRAIN APPROACHING****

November 3 – 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.

As a player, Kidd had strutted his stuff for Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Everton and Bolton before he moved to America to play in the NASL.

Sir Alex Ferguson gave Kidd his big break into coaching when he gave him a job working with the youth players at Man Utd where he aided in the development of the golden generation including David Beckham, Paul Scholes and the rest of the title winning kids.

Bringing through the finest players of their generation convinced Fergie that Kiddo was pretty darn hot stuff at this coaching lark, so he promoted him to assistant manager as United went on the win the Premier League and both domestic cups.

By now Kidd was beginning to tire of being the monkey to Ferguson’s organ grinder and started to think he might make a pretty good gaffer himself.

Meanwhile, over at Blackburn, the club were struggling to deal with life post-Dalglish and had even tried to sign up Sven to lead them, although he never actually got there, bizarrely choosing life in Italy over Lancashire. Crazy fool.

In 1998 Roy Hodgson had just been sacked by Rovers after a promising start had deteriorated and the club hovered around the dreaded relegation zone.

Jack Walker, quite logically thought the man who coached United to the top might just be the chap to lift Blackburn out of the doldrums so handed Kidd the keys to the managers office at Ewood Park, along with £20m to spend on new players.

Throwing money at the problem failed to work however, and Kidd oversaw Rovers’ relegation. ‘Oh well, might as well give him a proper chance,’ went the thinking at boardroom level. Sadly, Brian couldn’t get to grips with actually being in charge and the club failed to hit the heights even in their new lower division surroundings.

By November they were dangerously close to the relegation places again and Jack Walker decided it was best to put Kiddo out of his misery.

Since then, Brian has gone back to what he does best, by coaching for both Leeds United and England, before he arrived at Sheffield United where he is now watching Bryan Robson make a hash of yet another job.

Right, that’s yer lot for today but come back tomorrow to read about a red invasion.

November 2 – 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.

One of English football’s most vicious feuds started back in 1997 when Roy Keane’s Manchester United had a date at Elland Road against their cross-Pennine rivals Leeds United. Never a clash for the faint-hearted, Keane had spent much of the game tussling with Haaland and with five minutes remaining lunged at the Norwegian international. Keane’s studs were caught in the ground and he ended up knackering his cruciate ligament. Underestimating Keane’s ability to hold grudges, Haaland told him to stop faking it.

This was a bad move, as Keane spent the next nine months simmering on the sideline, watching his team-mates throw away the title to Arsenal. He would later claim that this period saved his career as he realised he “wasn’t leading the right lifestyle. I wasn’t preparing properly and when I was out I had to step back and take a look at where I was going wrong.” Well, he would say that now, being a respectable Premier League manager, but at the time you knew he was biding his time until he met Haaland on the pitch again.

Keane kept Haaland waiting until April 2001 before he got his revenge. At the end of a fiery Manchester derby Keane went in almost neck-high on the midfielder who was now at City. Keane didn’t wait around for ref David Elleray to show him a red card and headed straight for the dressing room.

When Keane’s autobiography was released the next year it wasn’t the usual type of footballer biography that Joey Barton hates so much, as ghost-writer Eamon Dunphy admitted using “artistic licence” over the incident.

The comments quickly bought about a charge of bringing the game into disrepute from the FA and a five match ban and record £150,000 fine. Haaland mulled over legal proceedings, but nothing came of it even though he had to hang up his boots in July 2003 as his rehabilitation failed. We’d give the contest to Keane on points.

See both of Keano’s moments of madness below and head over here tomorrow for another formed United man falling on hard times.

November 1 – Out with Ossie

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.

The suits down at White Hart Lane seem to have something of a penchant for employing former star players as managers as they increasingly desperately try to win something. Sometimes, as in the cases of Bill Nicholson and Keith Burkinshaw, it has proved highly successful. In others, such as with Glenn Hoddle and Ossie, things have not quite worked out.

It was Burkinshaw who brought Ossie to England, when he shocked the football world by signing him and his compatriot Ricky Villa in 1978 after they had just won the world cup with Argentina.

Ardiles and Villa were hits with the Spurs faithful, and Ossie stayed in North London for ten years, apart from a season spent on loan with Paris St Germain.

In 1989 Ossie landed his first managerial post at Swindon Town and quickly got them playing attractive and exciting football which saw them earn promotion to the first division…. until the spoil sports at the Football League demoted them immediately for some dodgy payments to players.

The unlikely Swindon dream began to unravel for Ossie, and he left to have spells in charge at Newcastle and West Brom, before taking up the reigns at his beloved Spurs.

Sadly, he could not work his Swindon/samba magic at White Hart Lane and the club finished 15 in the 1993/94 season. SPurs then did what they always seem to do, back the manager to go on a massive summer spending spree, before giving them the old heave-ho before the leaves have fallen off the trees.

Ossie signed Jürgen Klinsmann, Ilie Dumitrescu and Gheorghe Popescu in the close season and played with his ‘famous five’ attacking line-up of Klinnsy, Sheringham, Nick Barmby, Darren Anderton and Dumitrescu. Despite Jurgen the German banging the goals in like nobodies business, the grande fromages at Spurs realised they hadn’t sacked anyone for over a year so gave Ossie the bullet to make way for Gerry Francis.

Since leaving Ossie has managed clubs all over the world including Japan, Croatia, Mexico and Israel, as well as his native Argentina where he has been in charge at Racing, and is now boss of Club Atlético Huracán.

Right enough of all this managerial madness for the moment, but come back tomorrow to read about a footballer being really rather nasty to another footballer. It’s just not cricket.

And here’s the clip you’ve all been waiting for of Spurs’ 1981 FA Cup song with Ossie telling everyone he’s going to win the cup for Tottingham.