February 9 – The One Million Pound Man

NO we are not attempting to remake a cheaper, British version of a 1970s Lee Majors-based classic TV show, but we do have the technology to bring you today’s football story from the murky depths of that great decade.

Now we are no economists here at OTFD and that’s probably why we don’t really understand inflation. It is a mystical force without any discernible origin that only seems to have one purpose and that is to constantly make the money in our pockets worth less and less and therefore us poorer and poorer.

One of the other effects it has is to push up the price of footballers to the point where we live in a world where Spurs can pay £16m for Darren Bent and Daniel Levy is not taken away in a paddy wagon for his own protection.

All this million-pound madness was kicked off on this day in 1979 when Trevor Francis became England’s first £1m-player when Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest bought him from Birmingham City.

To prevent this historic fee going to Trev’s head, Clough insisted the fee was actually £999,999 – one pound short of the £1m mark, although after taxes the actual cost of the transfer was nearer £1.1m.

In typical Clough style, he seemed to find the significance of his latest signing almost tiresome and turned up to Trevor’s unveiling press conference in his gym kit and brandishing a squash raquet, so eager was he to get the circus over with and get to his game.

Luckily for Clough his new one million pound man did not run in slow motion like his six million dollar man counterpart Lee Majors – quite the opposite in fact as Francis showed a nifty turn of pace and a steady head when he scored in the 1979 European Cup final just four months after he signed to give Forest the first of their two European trophies.

After two years at Forest Francis racked up his second million pound transfer when he moved to Manchester City. After spells in Italy with Sampdoria and Atalanta, and Scotland with Rangers, he came back to English football with QPR – where he took his first steps into management.

Sadly Trev was not really able to transfer his playing magic to the dugout and in spells with QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Crystal Palace he had little success.

Perma-oranged Palace chairman Simon Jordan showed there was no room for sentiment in football when he gave Trevor the old heave-ho in 2003

He said: “Trevor Francis didn’t take it very well. He just sat there quietly and said ‘But it’s my birthday’.
“I had no idea. What could I do? I said, ‘Many happy returns, Trev’, and gave him his P45.”

He’s all heart.

Unlike the Premier League, we won’t be galavanting off overseas so come back tomorrow for more of these historical football hijinks of which we are so fond.

Before you go have a goosey-gander at Trev’s finest hour in a Forest shirt as he scores the winner in that European Cup final in 1979.

February 8 – Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious

WHEN they’re not photoshopping England managers onto vegetables or banging on about immigration the British tabloid press have occasionally been known to come up with a genuinely funny headline or two. The best in recent memory came after Inverness Caledonian Thistle shocked Old Firm giants Celtic today in 2000, when the Sun went all Mary Poppins on us, chirping that: “Super Caley go ballistic, Celtic are atrocious.”

Plucky little Caley Thistle visited Celtic Park as huge underdogs for their Scottish Cup 3rd round tie that had fallen victim to the elements two weeks earlier when gales made part of the Parkhead stand unsafe. It was worth the wait for the 4,000 fans who had already made the pilgrimage across Scotland twice though, as they were to see one of the biggest shocks in Scottish football history.

Celtic were under the less than capable stewardship of John Barnes, who was having a torrid time stepping up from Lucozade ad-man into management. By the time Caley came to town he had the fans on his back after his team of big-money signings such as Eyal Berkovic and Stilian Petrov were letting Rangers run away with the SPL title.

Whilst 2-1 down, a half-time dressing room bust-up between Barnes and stiker Mark Viduka lead to the big-bonned Aussie refusing to re-take the field in the second half and things got no better for Celtic after the break, as Caley went on to complete their famous victory. As for Barnesy, he was summoned to the chairman’s office the next afternoon and given his p45. He’s had the sense not to return to management and now sticks to Strictly Come Dancing and talking very fast on Channel 5′s Italian football coverage. Kenny Dalglish stepped up from his Director of Football role, but didn’t fair too much better.

Inverness’ cup run was to come to an end in the next round against Aberdeen, but over the next few seasons they established themselves as a bit of a bogey-team for Celtic. Another Scottish Cup win over the Bhoys followed in 2003 and two goals in the last three minutes gave Celtic a 2-1 win to prevent a hat-trick of cup upsets for Caley in February 2007. Not a bad cup history for a team that was only founded in 1994.

Visitors to Caladonian Stadium are these days greeted to a framed copy of The Sun’s headline when they walk into the foyer and a whole host of t-shirts, posters and other merchandise fill the homes of Caley’s loyal fans.

See the whole story below and head over tomorrow for one of the landmark transfers in football history.

February 7 – Manchester United vs the Damn Yankees

SUCCESSFUL, rich, hated by everyone but their own fans and full of overpaid pretty-boys. It’s was only going to be a matter of time until the ying of Manchester United met their yang in the New York Yankees. It was today in 2001 that United tried to emulate the Beatles and crack America, as they announced a joint-marketing deal with America’s most iconic sporting franchise, the Yankees.

Back in 2001 Manchester United were still the richest football club in the world, as they were still milking the off-the-pitch profits that David Beckham bought to the side and saw the link-up as being the way to convert the American masses into the ways of soccer-ball. The deal was the largest ever joint-marketing link-up in the whole of sport and would see each other share market information, develop sponsorship and joint promotional programs and sell each other’s merchandise in club shops.

The deal faced all kinds of cynics right from the word go. Many thought that by broadening their horizons United were eyeing up a breakaway league and paying scant regard to tradition. But when Peter Kenyon, a man who is surely loved only by his mother, is involved people will always be upset. Looking like he had no clue what was going on, Bobby Charlton was in Manhattan to defend the partnership. “We are not in the process of selling our souls to another sport, this is to make friends and grow the sport,” he rattled on as if trying to convince himself as much as he was the public.

At the time of this move people were thinking that this was the best way for Premier League clubs to extend their presence on the other side of the big pond, but it never really caught on. Yankee-fever didn’t take over at Old Trafford and although we don’t make it over there every week, we’re pretty sure that the Bronx isn’t full of United shirts, particularly once Beckham left for Madrid in 2003.

When the Americans want something though, they’ll take it. There’s no need for marketing partnerships when they can just roll in and take over the place, as George W. proved in Iraq. The Glazer’s bought the club in 2005 and since then Villa, Liverpool and Derby have all succumbed to US investors with varying degrees of success in the mega-bucks post-Abramovich era.

As we at OTFD reminisce about days gone-by where the driving force behind football was the love of the shirt and not how to pay off multi-million dollar interest payments, take a look at few classic United goals and come back tomorrow for one of football’s greatest ever headlines.

February 6 – Munich Air Crash

AT 3.04pm today it will be 50 years to the minute since the British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway at the Munich-Riem airport in Munich, in what was then West Germany.

The plane was carrying the Manchester United team after they had played a European cup tie at Red Star Belgrade, and the plane had stopped at Munich to refuel.

Twenty three passengers on board the flight died either immediately, or later as a result of their injuries. Eight of the dead were United players, while many others were badly injured, including manager Matt Busby.

The Munich Air Crash caused shock waves throughout the world. Any air crash would have been big news, but this one was especially shocking, ripping apart as it did the famous Busby Babes, the exciting team of youngsters put together by Matt Busby that were set to dominate English and probably European football for a decade until disaster struck.

Babes they most certainly were; the team which had won the league title in 1956 had an average age of 23 and most of them had been brought to United by Busby when they were still apprentices.

Busby was so badly injured that he was read the last rites twice when it looked like he might not recover. His assistant manager Jimmy Murphy had not been on the plane as he was fulfilling his other role as Wales manager at the time, and it fell to him to try to keep the club going in the wake of the tragedy.

As well as all the things that had to be dealt with such as getting information out and arranging flights and hotels in Munich for the wives and families of the injured, Murphy also had to try and ensure United as a football team did not simply fold.

Their first game after the crash was an FA Cup tie at home to Sheffield Wednesday. Famously the team sheet in the match programme was left blank simply because Murphy had no idea who would be playing until the last minute.

He did manage to get team out cobbled together from youth team and reserve players with a couple of late additions brought in after the crash.

Wednesday seemingly did not have the heart to really have a go at the grieving team and United ran out 3-0 winners. It was to be the start of a remarkable cup run which took the team all the way to the final at Wembley where, watched by a slowly recovering Busby, they were finally beaten 2-0 by Bolton Wanderers.

Busby took charge of the team again the following season and slowly rebuilt a new side including George Best and crash survivors Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes which lifted the European Cup in 1968, ten years after the crash.

1968 was also the year Captain James Thain, the pilot of the plane was eventually cleared of any wrong-doing after he had initially been blamed for the crash by the German airport authorities.

The crash and United’s subsequent recovery under Busby has only added to the fascination which surrounds the club and their legendary manager. It was one of those events like the Heysel or Hillsborough disasters that compels football fans feelings to transcend those of club rivalries, if only for a little while.

Here is a list of the people that died 50 years ago today:

Manchester United players: Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards (survived the crash but died in hospital 15 days later), Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Liam ‘Billy’ Whelan.

Others: Walter Crickmer – Club Secretary, Bert Whalley – Chief Coach, Tom Curry – Trainer, Alf Clarke – journalist, Manchester Evening Chronicle, Don Davies – journalist, Manchester Guardian, George Follows – journalist, Daily Herald, Tom Jackson – journalist, Manchester Evening News, Archie Ledbrooke – journalist, Daily Mirror, Henry Rose – journalist, Daily Express, Eric Thompson – journalist, Daily Mail, Frank Swift – journalist, News of the World (also former England and Manchester City goalkeeper), Captain Kenneth “Ken” Rayment – British co-pilot, Bela Miklos – travel agent, Willie Satinoff – supporter, racecourse owner and close friend of Matt Busby, Tom Cable – steward.

February 5 – The Hunk With The Chunk

IT seems that if you were born today you had a pretty good chance of making a career out of this football lark. Among those blowing the candles out today are Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Francsco Varallo, Sven-Goran Eriksson and even John Aloisi. Many happy returns to the lot of them, but today we’re opting to look at the birthday boy with best nickname, as the one they used to call ‘the hunk with the chunk’ or Gheorghe Hagi as his mum knew him as, was born today in 1965.

Growing up in Ceau?escu’s Communist Romania wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but whether it was female swimmers with very deep voices or mustachioed lady weightlifters, those tricky Reds never ignored sport and Hagi would lead a ‘Golden Generation’ that blossomed in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s, coinciding with the fall of the Communist regime.

Widely recognized as the greatest Romanian ever to play the game, Hagi lead an entirely domestic based squad to Italia 90 after twenty years in the international wilderness. In 1994 they were tipped as Pele’s dark horses for the tournament, but despite this kiss of death they made the quarter-finals, thanks mainly to the talismanic presence of Hagi who scored three goals and was one of the tournaments most entertaining players.

His creative, unpredictable style meant that he won more than his fair share of medals at club level. Three league and cup doubles at Steaua Bucharest alerted the big boys in Europe, and Hagi was soon on his way to Real Madrid. Here he struggled to maintain his earlier form and was sold to Brescia where he helped the Italian side win promotion to Serie A before he became one of that brave (or is it stupid?) souls that can boast of playing for both Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Another nickname Hagi went by was ‘The Maradona of the Carpathians’ and it wasn’t just the Argentine’s silky skills that were comparable. He possessed a fragile temperament that would eventually put his playing career to bed, when he was banned for seven months in 2001 after spitting at and then stamping on the feet of a ref that had the gall to disallow a Galatasaray goal in an Istanbul derby against Genclerbirligi. This came months after his international career had ended in ignominy after being sent off in a Euro 2004 quarter-final against Italy following a shocking challenge on Antonio Conte, who accused Hagi of trying to break his leg.

Still though, you can’t help but admire the man’s genius on the pitch. Check out this highlight reel and head over this way for more historical musings tomorrow.

February 4 – Dedication’s What You Need

IF you wanna be a record breaker!

After yesterday’s post about Kevin Keegan’s appointment as manager at Newcastle United we are in danger of becoming a one-club blog here at OTFD as today’s offering also features the Magpies, dubbed ‘the club that sanity forgot’ by ummm, us.

When Keegan was at St James’ Park in the 1990s he made headlines by spending a massive £15m to bring local boy Alan Shearer to the club to help everyone get over the disappointment of not winning the league the previous season.

It was on this day in 2006 that Shearer proved he was worth every penny when he became the club’s highest ever scorer, beating Jackie Milburn‘s record of 200 goals which had stood since 1957.

Goal number 201 came in a home match against Portsmouth so Shearer was able to milk the moment like a ripe black-and-white friesian cow in front of the Toon Army, who had finally seen their hero and captain achieve something at the club, having failed to win any actual trophies in his ten-year stay.

Shearer had been due to retire at the end of the previous season (2004/05) but then manager Graeme Souness persuaded him to stay on for another term. The fact that Shearer was only nine goals short of Wor Jackie’s record may have had rather more bearing on his decision than anything the soon-to-be-sacked Scot had to say.

It actually took Shearer three games less than Milburn to achieve the feat, scoring 201 in 394 games, compared to Milburn’s 200 in 397.

Alan would go on to secure a final tally of 206 before hanging up his boots and swapping his black and white striped shirt for a natty maroon open-necked number, fit for only the blandest of pundits on the Match of the Day sofa.

Of course he would have taken the record some years earlier and by a country mile had the scouts at Newcastle not stuck him in goal at his trial and let him slip through their fingers to Southampton.

These days Shearer spends his time offering dull and uncritical analysis of football matches from the safety of a BBC bunker; while undermining every single man who is brave/reckless/stupid/desperate/skint enough to take the job of Newcastle manager simply by being Alan Shearer and refusing to rule himself out every time Lineker asks him about it.

Here he is breaking the record and come back tomorrow when we’ll have more from the crazy old mixed up world of football. Until then, take care of yourselves, and each other.

February 3 – The Geordie Messiah (Part Two of Three)

HERE at OTFD we are not afraid to admit we do have a few favourites in the world of football which is why we were delighted to hear a couple of weeks back that Mighty Mouse himself was back in the game.

You really would have to be a cold-hearted bastard not to love Kevin Keegan, a man whose passion for the game is matched only by his honesty. Could you ever imagine Steve McLaren admitting that he wasn’t quite up to the job of England manager as Kev did when he resigned in 2000? No, neither can we.

Loved everywhere he went as a player, it was on this day in 1992 that KK made his first foray into management when he arrived in the North East to take charge of Newcastle United, for the first time. Needless to say, hilarity ensued.

After leaving St James’ Park in a helicopter from the centre circle after his last game as a player in 1984 KK spent the next eight years living it up in sunny Spain before he took a call from Sir john Hall who had just gained control of Newcastle.

Keegan claimed it was the only job that could have tempted him back into football while on Sir John’s part it was a massive gamble to appoint a man who not only had no experience whatsoever as a manager, but had been out of the game altogether for the best part of a decade.

KK’s first job was to save the club from being relegated into the third tier of English football for the first time in their history where they were in serious danger of heading under his predecessor Ossie Ardiles. Once this was sorted King Kev set about turning the Magpies into a team of winners who romped to the Division 1 title to get promoted to the Premier League.

His charges proved just as effective in the top tier and the Newcastle team were dubbed The Entertainers for their exciting attacking style that so nearly won them the championship in 1996, which was also when KK had his legendary rant (see it here).

Eventually of course the little man couldn’t handle the pressure and resigned as manager in 1997. Spells at Fulham, with England and at Manchester City followed, before his remarkable comeback at St James’ Park last month.

His return was lauded by the Toon Army as the best thing since Byker Grove but Kev isn’t finding football is quite as he left it as his team has yet to win, or even score a goal. Still, give it time and there’s bound to be fireworks – with KK there always are, a we love it.

Here he is showing Beckham how a top class footballer should conduct an ad campaign – no moody pouting for the K-man!

February 2 – Italy Mourns

“DON’T worry, it’s nothing, but take me to the hospital.”

If only Sicilian policeman Filippo Raciti’s last words were true. Today in 2007 Italian football descended into chaos as Raciti’s death before the Sicily derby of Catania and Palermo rocked the Azzuri to it’s core.

At the risk of sounding stereotypical, Italian football is never far away from controversy. Italy’s World Cup win in 2006 was in the midst of the Moggi-gate scandal, but this would pale into comparison to the events that followed February 2nd 2007.

Masked hooligans, or ‘teppisti’, had begun to make their influence felt during the 2006/07 season and the Sicilian derby was earmarked as a potential hot-spot right from the word go. 1,500 policemen were drafted into the island as both clubs jostled for a Champions League spot.

The match itself would be suspended for forty minutes in the second half, as tear-gas thrown by policemen at rioting fans outside the stadium began to drift in. Clashes between the two fans resulted in over 100 fans being admitted to hospital. Forty-year old Raciti was killed from severe liver injuries caused by a blunt object, amongst claims at the time that he was hit by a homemade explosive device.

The Italian authorities were now being pressured into confronting the powerful ‘Ultra’ supporter groups that represented most of the top Serie A sides. The clubs themselves were hesitant to undermine the groups that have historically had the power to make or break the ruling regimes in Italy, but were ordered by Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri to play all matches under closed doors until the largely ignored Pisanu decree, that regulated Italian stadia, was adhered to. When UEFA announced that Euro 2012 was heading the way of Poland and Ukraine, many believed that Italy’s history of violence was the reason why.

By the start of the 2007/08 season all Serie A grounds were back to normal, but further damage to the Azzuri’s reputation ensued in November 2007 when a police officer was accused of accidentally shooting a twenty six-year old Lazio fan, Gabriele Sandri. This was another stalk reminder that Italy still has it’s fair share of demons to confront.

Scenes from one of Italy’s most shameful nights in recent history can be seen below. Tomorrow we’ll be back for some slightly less maudlin fare, as we get a sense of North East deja-vu.

February 1 – The Luther Blissett Project

AS Manchester miserablist Morrissey once sang “stop me if you’ve heard this one before”, but have you ever heard about the group of artists and social activists from Europe and South America that gave themselves the collective name of “Luther Blissett”? As nom de plume’s go, it’s an odd one, as why a group of international pranksters, hoaxes and general headcases would want to name themselves after the former Watford and AC Milan striker, who was born today in 1958, is anybody’s guess.

When piano and wig enthusiast Elton John sold Blissett from Watford to AC Milan for £1m in the summer of 1983 the striker had just been crowned Europe’s Golden Boot winner and much was expected from the England International. Milan gaffer Ilario Castagner said: “once he starts to score he won’t stop – take my word for it,” in La Gazzetta dello Sport. Unfortunately he would go down as one those players that fell into the ‘so bad they’re good’ category, as a series of misses, including a penalty at the San Siro that nearly left the stadium, caused much hilarity in Italy. Five goals in his solitary Serie A season tells it’s own story.

The main faction of the Luther Blissett Project was an organised network in Italy between 1994 and 1999 that played a series of pranks on the Italian media. Whether it was making up a chimpanzee called Loota who escaped an animal-testing lab to create paintings that were going to be exhibited in Venice, or the story of Harry Kipper, a British conceptual artist who disappeared whilst riding his bike around Europe tracing the word ‘art’ across the continent, Luther was blamed for all sorts.

The final part of the project was the publication of a novel entitled ‘Q’ that sought to show ‘the birth of all that is rotten in modern life.’ It became a bestseller in Italy and was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award when translated into English in 2003.

No one has ever really got to the bottom of why the project chose Blissett as their collective identity. Many believe it to be a statement against right-wing extremists in Italy who singled out Blissett, one of the first black players in Italy, for racial abuse. As for the man himself, he seemed to be fairly bemused by the whole thing, as you can see from his appearance with Baddiel and Skinner’s Fantasy Football League below.

We’ll leave you with the Fight Club-esque motto of the LBP and we’ll be back tomorrow for more tales from days gone by.

“Chiunque può essere Luther Blissett, semplicemente adottando il nome Luther Blissett”

Or in English, “Anyone can be Luther Blissett simply by adopting the name Luther Blissett.”