May 11 – Disaster at Valley Parade

MAY 11 1985 was supposed to be a day of celebration for Bradford City Football Club, they had won the Third Division title and captain Peter Jackson was presented with the trophy before the match against Lincoln in front of a full house of 11,000 fans.

With the title already in the bag, the team had perhaps taken their collective foot off the pedal a little and the match itself was drifting into fairly unremarkable 0-0 as the clock ticked towards half time, when disaster struck.

A stray cigarette butt, discarded in a plastic cup, ignited rubbish that had piled up underneath City’s antiquated main stand and within four minutes, flames had engulfed the wooden structure. The blaze spread so rapidly that chaos ensued with fans desperate to get out, and policemen dragging people from the stand onto the pitch and using their coats to extinguish the flames leaping from their clothes.

Bradford fan Geoffrey Mitchell said at the time: “It spread like a flash, I’ve never seen anything like it. The smoke was choking. You could hardly breathe.

“There was panic as fans stampeded to an exit which was padlocked. Two or three burly men put their weight against it and smashed the gate open. Otherwise I would not have been able to get out.”

Tragically, 56 people were not so lucky and died in the fire, including former club chairman, 86-year-old Samuel Firth. Hundreds of others were severely injured, among them, Stuart McCall’s dad Andy.

The stand itself was staging it’s last ever game, as it was due to be replaced by a modern concrete and metal structure over the summer, and would have been torn down just days after the match. As it burned down, the steel structure waiting to replace it could be seen in the car park behind it.

It remains the worst fire disaster in British football, but it might well have claimed the lives of many more had it not been for the courage of police and supporters – 22 of whom were later presented with bravery awards.

On Saturday 11 May 2002, the 17th anniversary of the disaster, a memorial with the names of those who lost their lives was dedicated at the new entrance to the redeveloped Sunwin stand, and today, as happens every year, a memorial service will take place in Bradford’s Centenary Square at 11am.

The Yorkshire Television commentator, John Helm had arrived at Valley Parade that day to commentate on the match, but ended up having to describe the tragic scenes that unfolded in front of him. Below is a clip of the unfolding events with Helm’s words.

May 10 – Scouse Off

WHAT’S the only thing in football better than winning trophies? Winning trophies at the expense of your most fierce rivals. Today in 1986 Liverpool capped a memorable season by beating their cross-town brethren Everton in the FA Cup final – seven days after pipping them to the league title.

In the mid-’80s the two scouse giants were as big as shoulder-pads and synthesisers, as Liverpool and Everton were easily the two best clubs in the country. The ’86 cup final was the first time that the two Merseyside clubs had met in an FA Cup final, meaning that the city ground to a halt, as those that didn’t hurtle down the motorway to north London held street parties back home. This was back in the day when you could describe a Liverpool-Everton clash as ‘friendly derby’ before any the two sides started sniping about whether they are ‘big clubs’ or not. That means you Rafa…

Liverpool came into the clash as freshly crowned league champions, as Kenny Dalglish was looking to finish his first season as player-manager with a flourish. A run of eight wins in the last nine games had propelled the Reds to the summit, consigning Everton to second place after they had lead for much of the campaign, so they were eyeing up a tasty slice of revenge.

The afternoon got started with the usual rendition of Abide With Me and the national anthem, but there won’t have been too many Liverpool players singing along, as they became the first ever side not to feature a single Englishman. Even Cardiff City’s 1927 cup-winning side managed a couple, but the closet Liverpool could get was Mark ‘I’m Irish, honest guv’ Lawrenson.

Everton piled on the pressure from the start. Gary Lineker, playing in his first cup final put the Toffeemen ahead after 27 minutes as they cruised to a one-nil half time lead.

The second half was a different story, as Jan Molby, possibly fuelled by a half-time pie (or seven), pulled the strings in midfield, orchestrating a barnstorming second half performance that saw Ian Rush bag a brace, either side of a Craig Johnston strike.

Liverpool ended up 3-1 winners and secured their first ever double, and became only the third club of the twentieth century, to achieve such a feat, much to the relief of Alan Hansen. “I’d played in four European Cup finals before that but I can’t recall ever being more nervous,” he admitted. “It was really hot, it was stifling. It was the Merseyside derby, we were going for the Double. I was always pessimistic and the thought of getting beaten in the Cup final, it made me unbelievably nervous.”

We’re pretty sure that come May 17th, Hansen and Lawro won’t take long to ruffle their fellow anchorman Lineker’s feathers and remind him of the day he suffered cup final heartache. Until then, you can watch highlights of the match below, and if you’re not at the mercy of a title or relegation scrap tomorrow, then come along for some more footballing history.

May 9 – England’s Last Amateur

WHILE the recent failures of the England national team might suggest otherwise, all the players in the squad are professional footballers, paid by their clubs to play football and do nothing else.

It was not always so and despite professionalism being legalised in England by the Football Association in 1885 amateurs were still a big part of the game well into the twentieth century.

On this day in 1936 a man named Bernard Joy made his first and only appearance for the full England side – he was the last amateur player to turn out for the Three Lions.

Joy was a Londoner who played for the University of London side while studying there, and joined the Corinthian-Casuals side after graduating. A centre half, he played for various other teams in the capital while with Casuals, and turned out for Fulham and Southend in the 1930s.

As well as winning the FA Amateur Cup with the Casuals, Joy also found time to sign for Arsenal in 1935, although he was brought in as a reserve and did not make his debut for the Gunners until April 1936. His senior Arsenal teammates won the professional FA Cup in 1936 but Joy was not involved in the game. Despite turning out for the Arsenal, Joy was still registered as a Casuals player, and therefore was regarded as an amateur.

He was soon to become the proudest amateur player in the land though when he was called up for the full England side for a match against Belgium in Brussels. Sadly it was not Joy unconfined (oh yes, we went there) for Bernard as his presence could not prevent the Belgians from beating England 2-3. He was 24 at the time, but it would be his only England cap, and he will surely be the last amateur to ever pull on an England jersey.

After his England appearance Joy went on to captain the British Olympic football team at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. He stayed with the Gunners and even won a league title medal in the 1937/38 season after an injury to established centre-half Herbie Roberts gave him a place in the team.

After serving in the RAF in World War Two he played one more season with Arsenal in 1946/47 when football resumed after the war, but carried on playing for Casuals until 1948. He then became a journalist, and was football correspondent for the Evening Standard and the Sunday Express until he retired in 1976. Old Bernard passed away in 1984 but we are sure he probably had many a drink bought for him while on Fleet Street being the only hack to have turned out for England.

Come back tomorrow folks when one city in the north of England tries to take complete ownership of the FA Cup.

May 8 – Jimmy’s Glass Definitely Half Full

There’s some moments in football that can only be describe through breathless, over-excited commentary:

“Jimmy Glass! Jimmy Glass! Jimmy Glass, the goalkeeper, has scored a goal for Carlisle United! There’s a pitch invasion! There is a pitch invasion! The referee has been swamped – they’re bouncing on the crossbar!”
Derek Lacey, BBC Radio Cumbria, May 8th 1999

Yes, today marks the anniversary of one the English game’s most famous last-minute goals, as on-loan goalkeeper Jimmy Glass scored in the last minute of the last game of the season to keep Carlisle up and send down Scarborough.

By the end of the 1998-99 season the permutations were simple. In order to maintain their 71-year spell in the Football League Carlisle needed a win at home to Plymouth. Fingernails were bitten, nerves were frayed and fans feared the worst as the clock hit 90 minutes with the Blues locked in a 1-1 draw.

A corner came five minutes into stoppage time and everyone, including Jimmy Glass, signed in an emergency load deal after the transfer deadline, flooded into the box. The ball found it’s way onto the right peg of Glass five yards out and the rest is history, as he smashed the ball into the Plymouth net, capping a story that Roy of the Rovers would be proud of.

Players and crowd alike went understandably mental, mobbing Glass who received a bloody nose in the resulting carnage. Under the management of Nigel Pearson, who has just performed another great escape with Southampton, Carlisle had stayed up and Scarborough had to face life in the Conference. Lacking in any kind of sentimentality, Carlisle chairman and former Old Trafford ball-juggling buffon Michael Knighton refused to make Glass’ move permanent.

Glass would only go on to play another three games in professional football, as he lived the journeyman life, never able to break into the first team of the likes of Brentford, Cambridge United or Oxford, hanging up his gloves in 2001.

Jimmy managed a few other brushes with fame before that fateful day in Cumbria. As a youngster he was part of the Crystal Palace side beaten by Giggs, Beckham and co in the 1992 FA Youth Cup final. Later that summer he found himself a holiday job, but unlike most of his contemporaries he wasn’t washing pots and pans, but found himself as Andre Agassi’s bodyguard as the American won the Wimbledon title.

He was also close to another of our favourite stories of the ’90′s when he was sat a few seats away from the Palace fan that Eric Cantona took objection to and in 1998 he became the first goalie to ever score an own goal at Wembley in the Auto Windscreens Shield final.

After retiring, Glass became an IT salesman in Bournemouth and now runs a taxi firm in Dorset. If we were him we’d have moved back to Carlisle, as there won’t be a pub in the town without any United fans queuing up to buying him a drink. He has, however, taking the local Sunday league by storm, where, somewhat ironically, he plays upfront, once scoring six goals for two weeks running.

Carlisle fans can raise a Glass (sorry) to their hero below as Jeff Stelling and the gang guides us through the emotional rollercoaster that only last-day survival can bring. Nice hair by the way Jeff. Join us tomorrow for the story of another player with a name that we can make bad puns of. Until then, you stay classy.

May 7 – City Back in the Big Time

IN 1998 they had been the first European trophy winners to be relegated into English football’s third tier, but today in 2000 Manchester City proved that they had bouncebackability in abundance when they defeated Blackburn Rovers to return to the Premier League.

The late 1990′s were a trying time to be a City fan. Under Alan Ball they were relegated out of the Premiership in 1996 as the club changed manager more times than Milan Mandaric in an indecisive mood. Good to see they’ve stopped doing that right Thaskin?

As Leicester City fans can vouch, a lack of stability in the dugout leads to only one thing: relegation. After being dumped out of the Premier League, City would find themselves at the wrong end of the table two years later, sinking to what was then called Division Two.

This was to be the kick up the backside that the club needed, as new chairman David Bernstein introduced a modicum of common sense and stability to the club. Under the stewardship of Joe Royle the Citizens were promoted at the first attempt, when they beat Gillingham in the play-off final at Wembley thanks to an injury time equaliser and heroics from Nicky Weaver in the penalty shoot-out.

City didn’t mess around next season, going into the final day needing at least a point at Blackburn to ensure Premiership football returned to Maine Road. Never doing it the easy way, City went behind to an early Matt Jansen goal, but when Kevin Horlock fed the goat, the floodgates opened. Shaun Goater’s equaliser propelled City to a 4-1 win, with the goals coming from Mark Kennedy, a Christian Dailey own goal and Paul Dickov.

Jubilant scenes followed and the City faithful finally had something to celebrate after dropping down the league and watching their cross-town rivals winning everything. Unfortunately they were relegated a year later before King Kev rode into town on his white horse.

See footage of City’s game at Ewood Park below and head over tomorrow for more end of season excitement.

May 6 – Jack’s Team Goes Down

ANOTHER day, another tale of relegation woe here at OTFD as it was on this day in 1999 that Blackburn Rovers dropped out of the Premier League.

The crushing low of relegation came just four years after the Lancashire club were Premiership champions. They are so far the only team to have won the Premier League, and been relegated from it.

After steel magnate Jack Walker bought the club in the early 1990s they had been on the up and up, winning promotion to the top flight in 1992, and with ex-Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish in the dug out, and Walker’s chequebook in the boardroom, exciting young players like Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton had fired the team to the league title in 1995 to cap an amazing few years for Uncle Jack and the club.

The fans were hoping this was the start of a period of sustained success that would see Rovers challenging at the top for trophies every season. Sadly it was not to be and title-winning manager Dalglish was moved up the proverbial stairs to become director of football. Despite the fact that his assistant Ray Harford had stepped up from No2 to become manager at his three previous clubs, only to make a hash of it and be sacked, Jack Walker thought it must be fourth time lucky and installed him as the new boss.

Things did not start well for Harford and he was not helped by long term injuries to key players like Graeme le Saux and Chris Sutton and a decidedly mediocre campaign ended with a seventh-place finish. Things did not get any better the following season, especially as goal machine Alan Shearer had been sold to Newcastle, and after not winning any of the opening 10 games, including losing to Stockport in the League Cup, Harford was history.

Long serving coach Tony Parkes took charge until the end of the season, guiding the team to a safe 13th place finish, while Jack Walker persuaded Sven-Goran Eriksson to take over as boss for the 1997/98 season. After the Swede reneged on the deal to become Lazio boss, Walker turned to Roy Hodgson, then Inter boss.

After a good first season in which he secured a UEFA Cup spot, Hodgson too was soon sent packing after a dismal start to the 1998/99 season left the club at the bottom of the table and in real trouble. The club turned to Manchester United coach Brian Kidd to save them, but just like Harford, a good No2 does not a boss make and the team were finally sent down after a 0-0 draw against Man United.

Unlike yesterday’s relegation fodder Coventry City, Blackburn have since regrouped, won promotion back to the Prem, and even won the League Cup. For all you Rovers fans check out the best day in your recent history below, and come back tomorrow for more from us.

May 5 – Sky Blues get the blues

IS there a more painful experience in football than relegation? Losing a cup final is painful, but at least you got to the final in the first place which is a success of sorts in itself. Losing your star player? That hurts, sure, but players come and go. Relegation is such a crushing finish to a season that will have been largely miserable all round as you watch your team throw away leads, defend hopelessly, and worst of all, issue meaningless rallying calls in the press full of platitudes like “We can have no excuses,” and “We’d be the first to admit we have not been good enough,” and “Our season starts this Saturday.”

If your club has just been promoted there is a fair chance you will be scrapping for your lives down at the bottom but it is perhaps harder to take when an established top flight club gets dragged into problems.

On this day in 2001 it was the turn of Coventry City to fall though the Premier League trap door. The club had been in the top division since 1967 when Jimmy Hill took them up and only Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton could boast longer stays in English football’s elite.

That only really tells half the story though as in that time Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton had all won league titles and cups aplently, and while Coventry had lifted the FA Cup in 1987 they had also been involved in a fair few survival scraps before the the hooded figure of relegation finally laid his bony hand on the club’s shoulder.

The club’s first season in Division 1 in 1968 set the tone when a last day draw was needed to stay up and many battles, interspersed with seasons of boring old mid table safety, followed.

Gordon Strachan was the manager who finally oversaw the club’s descent into the second tier. The wee man had been in charge at Highfield Road since 1996 and had kept the team safe since then but the departures of big players Robbie Keane and Gary McAllister proved too much for the club to cope with and a win was needed on the last day at Aston Villa, along with other results going their way, to secure safety.

In 1997 a last day win at Spurs had been enough to stay in the top flight and Sky Blues fans thought they were in for a repeat performance as Coventry were 2-0 up within 25 minutes thanks to a brace from Mustapha Hadji.

Cue an amazing comeback by Villa who, after a lacklustre first hour, scored three times through Darius Vassell, Juan Pablo Angel and Paul Merson to send Coventry down.

Famed for his quick wit and humour, Strachan was shellshocked.

“I’m angry about the game, just the game. Funnily enough, I’m focused only on that,” said the Scot.

“To be two nothing up in any game and to have as many chances as we did and then to lose the game is hugely disappointing.

“So I’m dealing with the game rather than anything else believe it or not.

“I’ve got between now and whenever to talk about the future, but now I’m only interested in the game against Villa.

“I’ve got plenty of time for the other issue. I want to give myself time to breathe and think.”

Despite chairman Bryan Richardson making all the right noises about Strachan keeping his job, he was given his marching orders early the following season after the club made a poor start to their division 1 campaign. The wee man was soon back in work at Southampton where he had a similar brief to that which he had at Coventry, and he kept the Saints up and took them into the top half of the table and the cup final in his two and a half years there.

Meanwhile Coventry fans will be celebrating today after only just avoiding another relegation to League One.

Have a look at happier times below with some highlights of the 1987 Cup final win over Spurs and come on over here tomorrow for more from us.

May 4 – Tragedy at Superga

TODAY in 1949 Italy suffered it’s greatest ever sporting disaster which would scar the country forever. A plane carrying the all-conquering Torino side of the 1940′s crashed, wiping out the greatest ever Italian club side.

Nicknamed ‘Il Grande Torino’, the club won a record five consecutive Serie A titles between 1943 and 1949, playing a free-scoring attacking style of football before they were struck down in their prime.

During this triumphant five-year spell no-one got close to Torino. They went 93 games unbeaten at home, with the 1947/48 season being a particular high-point, seeing them score 125 goals in 40 games, whilst only conceding 33, as the side broke all kinds of Serie A records, many of which still stand today.

On May 1st the team flew to Portugal for a friendly against Benfica. Sitting pretty at the top of the league, Torino were on the verge of another title when they began their journey home from Lisbon airport.

Weather conditions were atrocious; driving rain, fog and dark clouds enveloped the FIAT G212 aircraft as it began its’ descent into Turin.

Atop of one the city’s hills in the Superga district stood an 18th century basilica many pilots used as a reference point during landings. The plane carrying Il Grande Torino smashed into a wall at the back of the church, killing all 31 passengers and crew aboard as it burst into flames.

As news of the disaster began to spread hundreds of fans made their way up the hill in a spontaneous tribute to their fallen heroes.

Journalist and former Italy manager Viltorio Pozzo had the unfortunate task of identifying the victims at the scene. In his report for newspaper La Stampa he wrote:

“The Torino team is no more, it has disappeared, it is burnt, it has exploded… the team died in action, like a group of shock troops, in the war who left the trenches and never came back.”

Special editions of newspapers were printed across the country as mass grieving ensued. Workers all over Italy stopped to pay their respects to the team and one woman in Bologna even committed suicide upon hearing the news.

The accident had a massive attack on the Italian game, as Torino’s dominance came to a sudden end and the club has never hit the heights since. Italy’s national side also suffered, as the nucleus of the team was ripped apart, setting them back years, as the Azzurri failed to make an impact at any World Cup until 1970.

The national side suffered from ‘Superga Psychosis’ in 1950, when they travelled to the Brazilian World Cup by boat, taking a two-week trip that left much of the squad seasick and unfit. After a loss to Sweden in their first game they were knocked out, returned home, this time by plane.

The site of the crash at Superga is now a monument to the disaster, with a museum commemorating the great Torino side. Today, as has happened on May 4th ever year since the disaster, the current Torino team and family members of those killed will climb the hill to hold a mass at the basilica where the current captain, Alessandro Rosina, will read the name of his fallen predecessors.

See an excellent report from Channel 4′s Football Italia on the great Torino side and head over here tomorrow for more footballing history.

May 3 – Platini Makes His Mark

BONJOUR! Today at OTFD we’re hopping over the channel to look at how it all started for the most powerful ex-footballer in the world, as the now-UEFA president Michel Platini made his debut for Nancy today in 1973.

As a youngster Platini must have thought that fate was conspiring against him as he suffered setback after setback. As a sixteen year old he managed to bag a trial at his boyhood favourites Metz, but this went pear shaped when Platini undertook at breathing test on a spirometer and fainted. The Metz doctors believed him to have a weak heart, so told the club not to touch him with a barge poll.

Never one to give up easily, Platini signed for the Nancy reserve team in September 1972, scoring a hat-trick for the second-string in his debut against Wiltelsheim. He edged towards a full-debut in the first-team when he was named on the bench against Valenciennes, but when a fight broke out in the stands the youngster was spat at and had objects thrown at him, as he failed to get on the pitch.

In case these setbacks weren’t enough Platini then suffered a bad ankle injury in a reserve match, putting further distance between him and a first-team bow. However, all good things come to those who wait and Platini eventually made his debut against Nimes, and could finally get his career going.

By the 1974/75 season Platini was an integral part of the Nancy side, scoring 17 goals, many of them spectacular free-kicks, as they won promotion. Platini established himself in the French side, representing Les Bleus at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and also at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.

It was in Argentina where Platini earned his reputation for being a bit of prankster, as he spent his spare time squeezing toothpaste into his team-mates beds. Another of his favourite tricks was set firecrackers off on away trips and pretend to be dead. A crowd would gather and he’d jump up, presumably yelling the 1980′s French equivalent of ‘you been merked bro!’ Must be that whacky French sense of humour.

Michel’s finest hour came at the 1984 European Championships. By this time he had secured a move to Juventus and was tearing up Serie A, back in the days when it was the biggest and best league in the world. Playing the tournament on home soil, he captained the French to victory, bagging an incredible nine goals in just five games including a brace of ‘perfect’ hat-tricks against Yugoslavia and Belgium. A last minute winner against Portugal in the semi’s and the opening goal in the final against Spain help the French to their first ever major honour, with Platini being named player of the tournament.

He retired as a player in 1987 but was back as manager of the national side in November 1988, leading his side to the 1992 European Championships, where despite going in as one of the favourites following a 19-match unbeaten run, they wimpered out in the first round.

Next on the Platini career path was conquering the administrative side of the game. He cut his teeth organising the 1998 World Cup in France, then moved to the UEFA Executive Committee where he climbed the ranks before defeating Lennart Johansson in the election for the UEFA presidency in January last year. Since then he’s made a fair amount of encouraging noises about bringing the game back to the fans and away from the corporate and commercial folk, so good on him.

See how good he was on the pitch below and head over here tomorrow for more continental action.

May 2 – Super Stan Wins the Cup

IMAGINE being such a good player you have a match named after you. Lots of footballers have stands, stadiums and even people’s children named after them but few have their name inextricably linked with a particular match.

Sir Stanley Matthews is that man and the FA Cup final universally known as The Matthews’ Final took place on this day in 1953. It was the first final Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II attended after she ascended to the throne the year before – and what a match to pick as your first.

The man who was football’s first knight and the first winner of the Balon d’Or was in the last chance saloon when it came to picking up silverware as he was 38 at the time, and had already been on the losing side twice in the Cup final against Manchester United in 1948 and Newcastle in 1951.

Matthews had been dazzling the fans of Stoke and Blackpool for 20 years already when he lined up at Wembley that day and the most neutrals were hoping his Blackpool side would see off Bolton to give Sir Stan his first trophy.

From as early as the first minute it looked like one of the world’s greatest footballers was destined to end up trophyless when Nat Lofthouse scored early doors, but the Seasiders pulled back an equaliser ten minutes before half time through Stan Mortensen.

With 20 minutes left Bolton were 3-1 up and things really were looking bleak for Blackpool until Matthews stepped up to the plate and decided enough was enough. He began exerting his considerable skill on proceedings and slicing through the Bolton defence at will. Mortensen connected with Matthews’ cross to take it back to 3-2, and then with barely a minute remaining Mortensen scored a sensational free kick to level the tie, and score the first Wembley cup final hat-trick to boot.

The game now looked set for extra time but Sir Stan was not finished yet and in the most dramatic conclusion to a cup final ever he burst into the area and pulled the ball back for Bill Perry to fire into the net. Blackpool, and Stanley Matthews finally had their hands on the FA Cup.

It is a measure of his performance that day that despite Stan Mortensen scoring the first, and so far only hat-trick in a Wembley FA Cup final, the game is still known as The Matthews’ Final.

Sir Stan would go on playing at the top level until he was 50 years old but the 1953 FA Cup was the only trophy he ever won in his amazing career.

See a tribute to the great man below, including footage from that amazing day at Wembley, and come back tomorrow when we will have more footballing echoes from the past.