February 19 – Fergie’s Hardest Word

THERE are plenty of people who can testify that if you take on Sir Alex Ferguson you will probably lose.

Gordon Strachan, Paul McGrath, Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, Dwight Yorke, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Gabriel Heinze are all players who went up against Fergie, and lost.

One name missing from that list is one David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE who was eventually forced out of Old Trafford after Ferguson took a disliking to his celebrity profile and pop star wife.

Perhaps it was in an attempt to stay onside with his boss that Beckham tried to make peace with him on this day in 2003 after the United manager had kicked a boot into his player’s face during a particularly heated post-match team talk after they had been dumped out of the FA Cup by Arsenal.

In the way that only they can, the tabloid press jumped on the incident as a sign of the strained relationship between the pair although it is perhaps more likely that Beckham was simply unlucky to be in the way of the flying boot.

As Ferguson said at the time: “It was a freakish incident. If I tried it 100 or a million times it couldn’t happen again. If I could I would have carried on playing!”

Beckham insisted he had forgiven his boss saying: “The dressing room incident was just one of those things – it’s all in the past now.”

Beckham’s forgiveness actually came without any apology being offered by his manager. Ferguson said: “There is no problem and we move on. That is all there is to say,” before contradicting himself and saying more.

“I have to stress whatever happens in the dressing room remains sacrosanct,” he added.

“There is no way I would betray the trust of the players however much benefit there may be.

“It never works that way, loyalty is 100% – never any less than that.”

It would seem sorry really is the hardest word for Sir Alex and he would eventually confirm the rumours about his difficult relationship with his player by giving him the boot (ahem) and selling him to Real Madrid at the end of the season proving once again that nobody puts Fergie in the corner.

Spurs fans make sure you come back tomorrow when an Arsenal favourite gets some bad news but before you go have a look at Becks doing his own take on The Streets after England’s Euro 2004 game with France.

February 18 – Mad for it in Manchester

RATHER like Newcastle United, Manchester City are a club with such a colourful past we could probably run our website based entirely around The Blues.

We are talking about the club who are the only reigning English champions ever to be relegated (in 1938), and the only team to score and concede over 100 goals in the same season (1957–58).

On this day in 1998 the Citizens were going through a particularly turbulent time when they sacked manager Frank Clark to replace him with Joe Royle – who became the club’s sixth boss in 18 months a level of staff turnover that even Milan Mandarić would struggle to keep up with.

Not only were City struggling to hold on to their managers, but they were also being a bit careless with their divisional status. Having been relegated from the Premier League in 1996 they were sitting in the Division One drop zone when they gave Clark the old heave-ho.

Getting the boot from Maine Road would prove to be the end of Clark’s managerial career, which had started promisingly enough when he took Nottingham Forest back into the top flight after relegation under Brian Clough.

As for City, bringing in Joe Royle was not enough to save them and they became the first ever European trophy winning team to be relegated to English football’s third tier (they had lifted the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970).

Royle proved to the Maine Road faithful that he was the right man for the job over the following two seasons when he achieved successive promotions to take the club back into the big time of the Premier League.

City fans still had to suffer and celebrate another relegation and promotion before they were bought by Thaksin Shinawatra who was declared a fit and proper person to own a football club by the Premier League. For legal reasons we cannot make jokes about that but we’re sure you can insert your own.

Even this season City continue to confound and confuse their fans. After starting the season in great shape under new manager Sven and his happy band of hastily put together players their form tailed off entirely until last week’s emotional Manchester derby when they spoiled Manchester United’s commemorations of the Munich air crash by beating United 2-1.

Here they are ruining United’s day and come back this way tomorrow when we’ll once again be donning the hat and whip of Indiana Jones in search of more footballing history from the temple of doom and various other locations.

February 17 – Happy Birthday Adriano

OVER the last couple of days we’ve brought you stories of the on-and off-the-pitch antics of two of English footballs wild boys so we thought we’d make it a hat-trick by wishing happy birthday to troubled Brazilian Striker Adriano, who was born today in 1982.

A few years ago Brazil was starting to worry about their dwindling options up front, as Romario was reaching the end of his international career and Ronaldo was laid up with gammy knees and starting to look a little rotund (some things never change, eh?). They needn’t have worried though, as the Brazilian conveyer-belt of talent kept on rolling and when the 1999 FIFA Under-17 World Cup rolled around it was time to give another youngster the ‘next Pele’ tag that has ruined many a career.

The youth in case this time was none other that Adriano Leite Ribeiro, a big, powerful, classy forward who was in the Flamengo youth squad and ripped though the tournament in New Zealand. Adriano grew up in one of Rio de Janeiro’s grittiest favelas, which anyone who has seen the film City of God will be able to tell you was no piece of cake. His father had to live most of his life with a bullet lodged in his head and Adriano’s background would play a big part in the crises he would later face.

Like all good young Brazilian talent, a move to one of Europe’s big clubs was always on the cards and Adriano would move to Internazionale in 2001. After spells on loan at Fiorentina and Parma, where him and Adrian Mutu would form a formidable, head-line grabbing partnership, he returned to the San Siro and by 2004 he was fulfilling his promise and looked like one of the best players in the world. No less than 40 goals for club and country in the 2004/05 season earned him massive plaudits and he was tipped to join the pantheon of Brazilian greats.

But, here comes the rub. It appeared that despite all the success on the field and riches that a boy from the favela could only dream of, all was not right in Adriano’s head. The death of his father plunged him into an existential crisis, as he started to feel mentally and physically drained and isolated in Milan. Like many young South Americans, moving to a foreign country at an early age had a massive effect on Adriano and he simply couldn’t cope. He could not feel at home, and his sleepless nights were stopped only by excessive drinking. He would go completely off the rails, partying, boozing as he piled on the pounds and became useless on the pitch.

In 2006 he admitted that he was an alcoholic and Inter allowed him to return to Brazil on unpaid leave to sort his head out. Perhaps this wasn’t the greatest way to shake the homesick problem, as he returned to Milan and was still fat and useless, scoring only five goals last season. It now looks as though he’s in last-chance saloon. He joined Sao Paulo on loan in the January transfer window, and fans have already seen both sides of his character. Before the season started he was involved in a car crash in Rio (in which Sao Paulo were almost too quick to point out he wasn’t drinking), but soon got down to business, scoring five goals in his first eight appearances as he spearheaded the Tricolor Paulista’s Copa Libertadores assault. However, last week saw him getting sent off for headbutting an opponent and he is currently awaiting his suspension.

We hope the big man enjoys his birthday, but not too much though. Check out what he’s capable of below and head over here tomorrow for more stories from back in the day.

February 16 – Stan Gets into Another Fine Mess

ONE of the major, if so far unreported, flaws of Richard Scudamore’s world domination plan for the Premiership is that footballers, like the best of us, get a bit giddy when they’re on their jollies and sometimes let themselves go. We could write a story every week telling you about the outrageous behaviour they get up to, but today it’s all about a certain Stanley Victor Collymore, who just couldn’t resist letting rip with a fire extinguisher at the exclusive La Manga resort whilst Leicester City were taking a mid-winter break today in 2000.

Stan was never one for the quiet life, as we’ve told you before. His career was hitting the rails at Aston Villa, so his move to Leicester City was seen by many as a last chance, with pundits question the wisdom of Martin O’Neil in signing him for the Foxes. His debut saw him hit a hat-trick and things were looking good. Not for long though, as it was only a week into his Leicester career when the squad packed their bags for a four-day spell in the Spanish La Manga resort, where a mixture of sun, relaxation and training was meant to revitalise the team before their League Cup final against Tranmere Rovers.

The team were given a midnight curfew, but we all know where this story is going. Boys being boys, they got on the sauce and in the wee hours of the morning “they were dancing on tables and being a general nuisance” with behaviour that was “totally and utterly unacceptable,” according to resort manager Tony Coles. Collymore wasn’t having trouble settling in at his new club and was acting as the ringleader and, as Ron Burgundy might say, things really escalated out there. Stan the Man couldn’t resist the lure of the fire extinguisher, spraying team-mates, guests and expensive hotel fixtures with foam, coving around 40 people.

Although this was probably a very funny scene, and we’d love to see the CCTV footage from that fateful night, it seems all were not amused. The team were kicked out of the hotel and ordered to pay up for the £15,000 worth of damage they had caused. As the instigator, Collymore was fined two weeks wages, which was impressive as he hadn’t even been at the club that long. Martin O’Neil’s first reaction was to growl that: “They will have to incur my wrath,” as he sounded like he was pitching titles for the sequel to Daniel Day-Lewis’ latest epic, but by the next day he calmed down enough to try and make the best of the situation. “I still believe it’s a risk worth taking but I would have to say that yesterday’s events will perhaps suggest to me that I need my head examining!” he would reason.

Despite the upheaval Leicester would go on to defeat Tranmere and lift the League Cup, back in the days when more than four teams won everything. However, it appears that no lessons were learnt from the debacle, as four years later the club were back at La Manga and back on the front pages of the papers. This time no less than nine players were arrested over a charge of ‘sexual aggression.’ Paul Dickov, Frank Sinclair and Keith Gillespie each had to spend a week in a gritty Spanish jail before being released. “You couldn’t score in La Manga” was the chant of choice that greeted them when they returned to Premiership action.

We’ll try (badly) to keep the moral highground by sticking to Collymore’s on the pitch antics below and make sure you come back for some Super Sunday action that, unlike that on Sky, won’t bore the socks off you tomorrow.

February 15 – Bad Luck Gazza

SOME people seem to have no middle ground, no even point, they are either very high, or very low.

In the world of football no one fits this description better than Gazza.

The Geordie midfielder spent his whole career either delighting fans with his exceptional ability, or in hot water because of all the crazy capers he got up to both on the pitch and with his mates Chris Evans, Danny Baker and Jimmy Five Bellies.

Today in 2000 was no different as he was up on an FA misconduct charge for an x-rated tackle on George Boateng during Middlesbrough’s match with Aston Villa.

The FA charge was literally adding insult to injury for Gascoigne as he was hospitalised at the time with a broken arm that he had suffered during his own clumsy challenge.

An FA statement said: “In reaching the decision, the FA is acutely aware that sadly, Paul sustained a serious injury himself from the incident. Everyone within the game will wish him a speedy recovery.

“However, we are committed to investigating allegations of violent play in the interests of the game as a whole.

“Having viewed video footage of the incident, we believe there is a case to be answered.”

This was not the first self-inflicted absence Gazza had suffered. In 1991, he ruptured cruciate ligaments in his right knee after a lunging tackle on Gary Charles in the FA Cup final against Nottingham Forest.

Three years later he was ruled out for 12 months after breaking his right leg in a training ground accident with Lazio – Italian newspapers claimed he had sustained the injury after a sliding tackle on reserve defender Alessandro Nesta, and in October 1998, he was admitted to hospital for two weeks with stress and drink problems.

And of course, there was the time he was ruled out of a Lazio game after straining his thigh – when getting out of bed.

At the time of his arm-breaking challenge Paul was playing for Middlesbrough after leaving Rangers in March 1998, but he would only survive another few months at the Riverside before he was reunited with his old Rangers manager Walter Smith for a Premier League swansong with Everton.

His spell at Goodison was the beginning of Gazza’s ‘Littlest Hobo’ phase as after leaving the Toffees he would pitch up at Burnley, Boston United and, most bizarrely Chinese outfit Gansu Tianma, before an ill-fated spell as manager of Kettering Town which lasted just 39 days.

To read about some of Gazza’s funnier exploits point your surf board in this direction, or have a look at his most famous England goal below against Scotland in 1996 when he was still at the top.

February 14 – Bob Paisley Passes Away

ROSES are red, violets are…bah, forget all that, you won’t find any soppy Valentine’s guff here at OTFD, as we’re today looking at one of English football’s greats, Liverpool’s Boot Room boy Bob Paisley who died today in 1996.

On today of all days, loyalty is an important thing and Paisley had it in droves. He first rolled into Liverpool in 1939 when the twenty-year old half-back joined from Bishop Auckland FC and didn’t leave until he retired in 1983. Eat your heart out Nicolas ‘mercenary’ Anelka. Like most footballers of that era Bob had to spend his early years down th’ pit before he got involved with the war effort. This delayed the start of his Liverpool career, but he would soon go on to become an integral part of the Liverpool side that won their first title in 24 years in 1947.

His playing career came to an end in 1954 when he moved into the back-room, as a physiotherapist. In those days you didn’t need fancy things like degrees to get those sort of jobs, as Paisley just had an uncanny knack of being able to diagnose injuries just from seeing how they were walking. When Bill Shankly arrived at the club in 1959 he chose Paisley as his right-hand man and the club transformed itself into one the greatest winning machines ever seen in football.

We’ve already told you about the day when Shanks rocked the red half of Liverpool and retired out of the blue, but as Sue Barker would say, what happened next? Panicking Koppites were worried that the glory days were over as they stressed over who would replace their legendary manager. It would’ve been a tough gig for anyone, just ask the Manchester United and Arsenal fans of today about how to replace one of the all-time greats, but Liverpool turned to their number two whose response to this challenge was to win more trophies that his predecessor.

Although he was initially reluctant to take on the mantle of Liverpool manager Paisley soon manned-up, and it didn’t take long for the medals to start flowing in. His nine years in the dug-out saw the Reds pick up a frankly silly 19 major honours, including Liverpool’s first three European Cups. When they won the big one in Rome against Borussia Moenchengladbach in 1977 Paisley showed a rare glimpse into his sense of humour, as he would say: “This is the second time I’ve beaten the Germans here… the first time was in 1944. I drove into Rome on a tank when the city was liberated.”

His record is one of the best ever seen and puts any other British manager to shame and unless Kevin Keegan achieves what the Geordie Nation expects him to, this won’t be beaten in a long time. Unlike other greats such as Shankly, Clough or Ferguson, Paisley was quiet and understated, refusing to self-promote himself as he just got on with what he was good at: being a top-notch manager. He retired in 1983 after 44 unbroken years at Liverpool and gave the reigns to another Boot Room old boy, Joe Fagan. When he died in 1996 the club were quick to honour the great man, opening up the Paisley Gates at Anfield. See what he meant to his former charges (and also some superb old-school commentary about one minute in) below and come back this way tomorrow for a man who’s personality was the polar opposite of Bob’s.

February 13 – Strach Turns His Back on Saints

REPORTER: “So, Gordon, in what areas do you think Middlesbrough were better than you today?”
Strachan: “What areas? Mainly that big green one out there.”

On this day in 2004 Gordon Strachan quit as manager of Southampton after news of his decision to leave at the end of the season leaked out making it impossible for him to carry on in the job.

Famed for his quick wit and tendency to show up journalists who asked lazy questions WGS (the W standing for Wee) had not been a universally welcomed appointment at St Mary’s, though he would quickly establish himself as a firm fans’ favourite.

Strachan was brought in in October 2001 to turn around the Saints’ fortunes as they stood second-bottom of the Premier League under Stuart Gray, who had taken over from his old boss Glenn Hoddle when he went off to live a new life at Spurs.

It looked like the South coast side were heading for Division One, which was where Strachan had just taken Coventry City in his first management job.

Appointing a manager who has only just been relegated to save your club from the same thing may not seem logical to most but bonkers and/or inspired Saints chairman Rupert Lowe pressed on, and it turned out to be a masterstroke.

In his first season WGS not only saved the club from the dreaded drop, but did it with ease with the team eventually finishing in a comfortable 11th place.

Next season was even better as a settled side including Wayne Bridge, James Beattie, Antti Niemi and Brad Pitt lookalike Brett Ormerod finished eighth in the league, and made it all the way to the FA Cup final where they lost to Arsenal, but secured a place in the Uefa Cup.

Strachan had continued the work Hoddle had begun by turning Saints from a team of perennial relegations strugglers into a top-ten side with regular European aspirations.

For Southampton’s fans, life had not been this good since Matt le Tissier was in his pomp. Sadly for them, the bubble was about to burst.

In early January 2004 Strachan was forced to admit that he had turned down repeated offers of a new contract from Lowe, and would leave the club at the end of the season when his current deal expired.

The Scot insisted his decision had been made two years before and was nothing to do with rumours of a strained relationship with the notoriously tight-fisted Saints chairman, or the precursor to taking over at Leeds United which had also been rumoured in the press.

“It is not a football thing or about money or about the club,” he said at the time. “I made the decision with my family a few weeks after I took the job that I would see out my contract and then walk away.
“I am not going anywhere else and I am not cracking up so people can stop looking too deeply into it.”

Lowe added: “Despite the fact that we may appear an unlikely partnership, I have very much enjoyed working with Gordon over the past two-and-a-half years.”

The wee man had intended to stay on until the end of the season but barely a month after his intention to leave leaked out, he had left the club for good.

Plymouth Argyle boss Paul Sturrock was brought in to replace Strachan but against a backdrop of player unrest he lasted just 13 matches before being replaced by coach Steve Wigley.

Wigley’s appointment smacked of Lowe’s decision to put Stuart Gray in charge after Hoddle left and so it proved as after just one win in 14 games Lowe shocked the football world by appointed ex-Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp as manager, and we all know how that turned out.

Meanwhile Strachan was given the chance to terrorise a completely new set of reporters when he landed the Celtic job in 2005 where he has won numerous trophies including successive league titles.

Here is WGS livening up some post match interviews (watch this one – it’s quality) and come back tomorrow or we’ll get Gordon to unleash his razor sharp wit on you.

February 12 – Strewth Sven

G’DAY cobbers and welcome back to OTFD. It’s time to park up the yute, grab a tinny and let those wallabies loose Bruce because today we’re taking a look at an England friendly that was played on this day in 2003 when the Three Lions looked more like a bunch of flaming galahs and Sven was throwing on subs like they were shrimps on a barbie.

Lazy stereotypes aside, and if you haven’t already worked this one out for yourself, England’s opponents that day for the match at West Ham’s Boleyn Ground were Australia.

Where to start with this one. Probably at the beginning. Before kick-off most England fans were acting like the colonial master of a couple of centuries ago about the Aussies trying to play the English national game.

“They may beat us at rugby, cricket, tennis, swimming and just about every other sport, but they will rue the day they took us on at football,” thought the English with a patronising chuckle. And when the Socceroos line up included such heavyweights as Stan Lazaridis, Tony Popovic and Paul Okon it was hard to see anything other than an England win.

However, pride comes before a Burton and a fairly full-strength England team (save for James Beattie playing in his first international) soon came unstuck through Crystal Palace defender Tony Popovic’s goal on 17 minutes. Harry Kewell (before he decided playing in anything other than the Champions League final was beneath him) added another to make it 2-0 to the Socceroos at half time.

Time for a stirring half-time team talk from Sven followed by a spirited comeback from England’s heroes against these colonial upstarts? Erm, no. Instead Sven substituted every single player to send out a completely changed side for the second half.

This experimental young side saw Wayne Rooney make his first appearance in an England shirt and play up front with forgotten man Franny Jeffers.

The young pretenders started to fair a lot better than their senior counterparts who had been booed off at half-time and Franny Jeffers pulled one back to mark what will surely be his only England start with his only England goal on 69 minutes.

A late goal from Brett Emerton ensured that Jeffers’ strike was nothing more than consolation as the away side ran out 3-1 winners to leave England officially crap at every sport ever invented.

At the time it seemed like the lowest ebb for the English national team, but then along came Second-Choice-Steve and his rather fetching umbrella to show us all what low really was.

And on that bombshell we leave you with some lowlights of the match. Unlike some other Australian franchises were are not going to shoot through to Channel 5 so come back tomorrow for more from us.

February 11 – Michael Owen Takes a Bow

NOWADAYS his name’s never mentioned without the prefix ‘injury-prone’ but in the run-up to France ’98 ‘next big thing’ was the way that Michael Owen was being described, as the fresh-faced 18-year old made his England debut today in 1998 against Chile, becoming the youngest ever England player of the twentieth century.

As a youngster Owen broke all kinds of records as he rapidly rose up the ranks. He was one of the most promising students at the FA School of Excellence in Lilleshall and the media got on his case early, meaning by the time he entered the international arena we all knew all about the young striker. Unlike his Liverpool and England under-21 debuts he didn’t find the net as Chile ran out 2-0 winners at Wembley. His first goal didn’t take too long as he scored against Morocco in a warm-up match for the ’98 World Cup, where he would score one of the greatest goals ever seen in an England shirt against Argentina.

Back then, the young Owen was a completely different type of striker, as his main weapon was his lightening-fast acceleration that would scare the life out of hardened centre-backs across the Premiership. Like us though, he isn’t as skinny as he used to be, as injuries have forced him to bulk up so that his rubbish hamstrings don’t go every couple of months.

Since his England debut he has since gone on to rack up 40 goals in his 88 appearances and if not for his horrible injury record he’d surely have broken Bobby Charlton’s England goal-scoring record by now. Only being 28, he still has time on his side, but now it’s in the hands of Don Fabio, who didn’t give him a run-out in last week’s friendly with Switzerland. Being at Newcastle, the graveyard of so many careers, may or may not help, but the lad’s a born goalscorer so we certainly won’t be betting against him.

See that famous goal for the 1,056th time below and make sure you come back tomorrow for more reminiscing about the beautiful game.

February 10 – Danny gets his Spurs

“THE great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”

Are you reading this Sam Allardyce?

Perhaps Big Sam would still be in a job at Newcastle if he had listened to those wise words from a Tottenham legend who was born on this day in 1926, and passed away in 1993 aged 67.

Northern Irishman Danny Blanchflower will forever be remembered as the man who inspired Tottenham to win the league and cup double in 1961 – the first team to do so in the 20th century.

Twice footballer of the year, Blanchflower was more than just a good player, he was also a superb captain who took his job very seriously and was to Spurs manager Bill Nicholson what Bobby Moore was to Sir Alf Ramsey for the England team.

Danny was an extension of the coaching and tactical staff who would often take it upon himself to make tactical adjustments during a match if things weren’t going their way.

He was also something of a revolutionary in terms of his ideas about training. He first came to England when Barnsley paid his first club Glentoran £6,000 for him in 1949. He then moved on to Aston Villa in 1952 but left the club in 1954 after becoming disenchanted about the the style of training – he was one of the first proponents of actually using a ball in training, as opposed to just running up and down the terraces to keep fit.

Spurs paid £30,000 for his services and he had finally found his footballing home. In ten years at the Lane he won the FA Cup twice, the championship once, and the European Cup Winners Cup, beating Atletico Madrid 5-1 in the final in 1963.

When he wasn’t pinging 30 yard passes for Jimmy Greaves to get on the end of at White Hart Lane, Danny was also captain of his country, and even took his Northern Ireland team to the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup, beating Italy along the way.

As is so often with great players Danny was unable to transfer his skills into management – perhaps surprising since he was such a good reader of the game when playing. He had two stabs at the old gaffer-game, first a two-year stint bossing his country, and then an even briefer stint of less than a year managing Chelsea before he packed in the game for good, to concentrate on his journalism career at the Sunday Express.

Blanchflower has one other claim to fame in that he was the first person to refuse to appear on This is Your Life, where celebrities are ambushed by Eamonn Andrews clutching his big red book. As he walked away from Andrews live on air Blanchflower explained: “I consider this programme to be an invasion of privacy. Nobody is going to press gang me into anything.”

Quite right Danny, you stand your ground son.

More tomorrow folks when we will be looking at one of England’s former greats so be there or be square.