October 21 – Ugo’s in at Boro

SUPPORTERS of Bryan Robson’s managerial prowess always used to point to his success at Middlesbrough in his first job as a gaffer.

Two promotions and three major cup finals would indeed be a pretty good record, were it not for the fact that he also presided over relegation and lost all three finals, while it was only Terry Venables’ intervention that prevented a likely second relegation in his last season at the club.

Then there is his cash-based modus operandi which partly explains his utter failure in every other job he has had. Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson has deep pockets and was seemingly very willing to let Robson rummage around in them for cash to splash on a series of big money signings.

In 2000 he was at it again when he took his spending total to almost £80m since taking over in 1994 by signing Ugo Ehiogu from Aston Villa for club record £8m, with the defender making his debut on this day.

The centre-back was 27 and signed a five year contract with the club, with Robson insisting his expensive recruitment policy was justified. “There’s no risk at all spending that kind of money,” he said with all the confidence of a man who knows it isn’t his money. “Ugo has proved himself to be one of the best central defenders in England over the last five years. He’s good enough to play for his country.”

For his part, Ehiogu was pleased to leave Villa. “I felt I was going a bit stale at Villa and I needed a fresh start,” he said. “I didn’t get on too well with John Gregory; over the last few months I have been the lowest I’ve ever been. You can understand it when you’re not playing just for football reasons, but that wasn’t the problem for me. It was a clash of personalities as well.”

John Gregory proved Ehiogu’s feelings about him were entirely mutual with a parting dig at his former charge. “I always thought when he talked of playing for a bigger and better club where he could win things and enhance his England career that he was talking about Arsenal or Manchester United or someone like that,” he said.

The fee represented good value for money for Villa who had paid just £40,000 for the player when they signed him from West Bromwich Albion in 1991, although the Baggies did benefit from a hefty sell on fee.

Ehiogu made his much heralded debut at Charlton on this day, but the new record-signing man lasted just five minutes after he had to come off with a hamstring injury to cries of “What a waste of money” from the home fans ringing in his ears.

Despite a shaky first season at the club which saw Robson depart, Ehiogu went on to make Boro one of the meanest teams in the Premiership, forming a solid defensive partnership with Gareth Southgate, his former Villa club mate who joined in 2001.

As his career wound down and he was no longer required at Boro he went on loan to Leeds before signing for Glasgow Rangers in 2007. He was at Ibrox for just one year but forever endeared himself to the fans by scoring a spectacular winner against Celtic at Parkhead.

See that goal below, and don’t forget to join us again tomorrow for more footballing tales from the past. Also on this day, this was happening.

October 20 – Keegan’s Revenge

NEWCASTLE in living-up-to-fan’s-expectations-shock-horror! Believe it or not, once in generation Newcastle seem to come up with a performance and result that their supporters believe is their destiny.

Today in 1996 Gallowgate’s finest witnessed the high-point of the (first) Kevin Keegan era when they beat Manchester United 5-0 at St James’.

By 1996 King Kev had awoken the Toon from their Second Division slump and had turned them into genuine title contenders. The season before Newcastle had bottled a 12-point lead to finish second in the Premiership, but the summer signing of Alan Shearer surely meant the title was on it’s way to St James’, didn’t it?

The season didn’t start well when double-winners Manchester United thumped the Magpies 4-0 in the Charity Shield. When dealing with KK however, you know there’s going to be more ups and downs than the FTSE.

Manchester United had won the league and cup double the previous season and hadn’t lost 5-0 since October 1984, when Everton did them over at Goodison so the odds on such a score were as long as the faces are at White Hart Lane at the moment.

Peter Schmeichel had gone over nine hours without conceding a goal, but by the thirteenth minute his streak had come to an end, as Darren Peacock opened the scoring. David Ginola added a second, Shearer got the third and then after half-time Les Ferdinand added a fourth.

The Toon saved the best until last, as defender Philip Albert looped a left-footed shot over Schmeichel, putting the 36,500 fans at St James’ well and truly on cloud nine.

Kevin Keegan couldn’t believe his luck. “Undoubtedly the most enjoyable day I have had as a manager”, he said after the game. His only complaint that night was that “the league won’t give us more than three points for it.”

Fergie meanwhile was fuming, describing it as the worst performance of his career. As usual though, the Scotman had the last laugh, as Manchester United finished seven points clear of their rivals at the end of the season to win the title.

See all the goals below and see what else happened today here. We’ll be back tomorrow for more of the same.

October 19 – Norwich Stun Bayern

IT’S back to 1993 today and a look at the best English result on the continent since D-Day. Back when the Uefa Cup was more than a chance for Harry Redknapp to rest his starting XI, plucky little Norwich City became the only British club to ever beat Bayern Munich in their Olympic Stadium.

These days the most notable achievement of the last few seasons at Norwich have been the boozy half-time antics of their chairman and their impact on Asian betting markets. Allegedly. Back in the early ’90s though the Canaries were making a decent stab of the newly formed Premiership, finishing third in the inaugural season.

This gave them their first, and so far only, European jolly, as it meant qualification for the Uefa Cup. In the first round Vitesse Arnhem of the Netherlands were dispatched, only for the mighty Bayern Munich to be drawn in round two.

No British side have ever won at Bayern’s Olympic Stadium and no one expected this to change. Martin Samuel of The Times later claimed that “Norwich’s expedition was regarded as little more than an exotic day out with a football match attached.”

Manager Mike Walker was having none of this though, as he big-upped his side’s chances. His charges, featuring the likes of Ruel Fox, Mark Robins and Chris Sutton, went at Bayern from the get-go and, incredibly, after half an hour they were 2-0 up, thanks to a screaming 20-yard volley from Jeremy Goss and a header from Mark Bowen. “This is almost fantasy football!”, exclaimed a breathless John Motson in the commentary box.

Bayern would pull one back before half-time through Christian Nerlinger, but despite throwing the kitchen sink at the Norfolk side in the second half, the German’s couldn’t find an equaliser.

Norwich’s 2-1 win gave them the distinction of being first, and as Bayern moved to the Allianz Arena in 2006, only ever British side to beat to win at the Olympic Stadium.

Three weeks later they played the return leg at Carrow Road, drawing 1-1 in a game where a certain OTFD favourite by the name of Ade Akinbiyi made his debut. A 3-2 aggregate win sealed their passage to the third round where they would become unstuck by Internationale.

That famous night in Munich (no, not that one) has gone down in Norwich folklore as the pinnacle of their history. See the goals below and check out who else was scoring today here. We’ll be back tomorrow to banish those Monday morning blues, so until then, stay classy.

October 18 – Record Breaker

IAN Wright and Thierry Henry never played together, the former having left Arsenal a year before the latter arrived in North London.

Between them the two strikers bagged an incredible 411 goals for the Gunners and it was on this day in 2005 that Henry took Wright’s crown as the club’s record goal scorer.

The Frenchman achieved the feat in a Champions League tie away at Sparta Prague in a match he didn’t even start. He was recovering from a lengthy injury and had begun the game on the bench with manager Arsene Wenger planning on giving him a 30 minute run out towards the end.

An injury to Jose Antonio Reyes with just 15 minutes played meant Wenger had to turn to his talisman, who bagged a brace to take his tally to 186 – one more than Ian Wright.

“It sounds great to hear ‘Thierry Henry, record goalscorer for Arsenal’,” the French striker said after scoring his 186th goal for the Gunners.

“Wrighty was a great player and will always be a legend at Arsenal. To beat his record is tremendous.

“I wanted to do it at Highbury but if I get the chance to score I’ll take it. I was happy to put the ball in the net and delighted to get the record.

“Their fans didn’t realise why I was celebrating like that – I was trying to draw the number 186 in the air.”

Arsene Wenger was proud of his protege: “It’s an exceptional record. He’s beaten it in a short time and he’s not even a typical goalscorer. He’s an all-round player, not a guy who lurks in the box.

“It’s really unexplainable that a guy who is not only interested in scoring goals should score so many. He’ll not only have a place in the history of Arsenal but in the history of football.”

Even Wrighty managed to congratulate the man who took his record. He said: He deserves it, he is a fantastic player. He has won everything, apart from the Champions League, which I am praying he can do. It is no mean feat to come second to a player like that. It’s not easy for me to say something like that.

“It couldn’t happen to a nicer fella. He is a footballing person. It is all about the football and the fans.

“It would be different if it was someone you didn’t like and he was a horrible person, giving it all the time, but he’s not like that.”

Henry went on to rack up 226 goals for Arsenal in just 380 appearances for the club before leaving for Barcelona in 2007. He has also been named Arsenal’s best ever player by the club’s fans – Ian Wright came in at number four.

Have a look at some of Henry’s silky skills below, and come back tomorrow for more from us. Also on this day, a Fulham legend passed away.

October 17 – Cash in the Attic

Like a football version of Atlantis, Leeds City is the ancient lost club of football, and it was today in 1919 that the book was closed on the final sorry chapter in its history.

Unlike their yorkshire neighbours down in Sheffield, the city of Leeds was a little late in joining the football table. After a few false starts as teams such as Leeds FC, Leeds Albion and Leeds AFC came and went in the 1880s and 1890s there was a footballing void in the town, and after the demise of Holbeck Rugby Club in 1904 their former home Elland Road needed a new tenant.

It was by now 16 years since the formation of the Football League and Leeds were the biggest city in the country without a team in it. Leeds City FC was born in 1904 and the club immediately set their sights on joining the League.

The club joined the Second Division in 1905 and finished a very decent sixth out of 20 clubs, with th team’s success starting to draw in some of crowds more accustomed to watching rugby.

Despite financial problems which required the chairman to bail the club out, Herbert Chapman was hired to manage the club. He had spent five years managing Northampton Town, and immediately showed some of the promise that would make him the most famous and innovative coach of the next twenty years at Huddersfield and Arsenal.

Chapman boasted that he could get the team promoted and he nearly managed it in 1914 when the club finished just two points away from promotion. The First World War then intervened and the official football programme was put on hold, while Chapman left to help the war effort.

The club continued to play during the war with guest players turning out to play – something that would come back to haunt them soon.

As the club prepared for the 1919/20 season, the first after the war, full-back Charlie Copeland went all Ashley Cole on them and demanded a new contract worth £6 a week, a rise of £2 a week. As the directors wavered, Copeland rocked the club by stating that if he did not get the cash, then he would report City to the Football Association and the Football League for making illegal payments to players during the war.

The club did not bow to his demands and Copeland went to the FA, who set up an enquiry and demanded the club hand over their books for inspection. They refused and after the FA’s deadline came and went, the club were expelled from the Football League and were disbanded.

League chairman John McKenna announced: “The authorities of the game intend to keep it absolutely clean. We will have no nonsense. The football stable must be cleaned and further breakages of the law regarding payments will be dealt with in such a severe manner that I now give warning that clubs and players must not expect the slightest leniency.”

The club’s last ever match was a 4-2 over Wolves at Molinuex, with a hat-trick from star striker Billy McLeod. Suddenly the players had no club to play for and were facing an uncertain future before it was decided to literally auction them off to other clubs, alongside all other clubs assets like goal posts and boots.

The auction took place on this day in 1919 at the Metropole Hotel in Leeds with representatives from 30 other clubs among the bidders at this unique event. Top striker Billy McLeod fetched the biggest fee of £1,250 (what a bobby dazzler), while the entire squad went for less than £10,000 to clubs from all over the country Aston Villa, Manchester City and Notts County.

The club was well and truly dead, but from its ashes, Leeds United would be created, a club which would have its own fair share of well documented scandals over the years.

That’s all for today folks. We will be back tomorrow, but until then have a look at what else was happening on this day right here.

October 16 – Messi Makes His Mark

ANYTIME over the last twenty years that half decent Argentinian youngster comes to the fore, he’s immediately been dubbed ‘the new Maradona’. Players such as Ariel Ortega, Carlos Marinelli, Andres D’Alessandro and Javier Saviola are just some of the poor souls that have been burdened with the tag and not lived up to the hype.

Today in 2004 saw the Barcelona debut of perhaps the closest player we’ve got to El Diego yet, when Lionel Messi took the field for Los Cules against their local rivals Espanyol.

Barcelona had snapped Messi up from Newell’s Old Boys as a thirteen year old after he had been diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. River Plate were also after the highly promising youngster, but neither they nor Newell’s Old Boys could afford to pay the £500 a month that Messi required for his growth deficiency. Barca stepped in to foot the bill so long as he moved over to Spain.

When Messi made his debut in Barca’s 1-0 win at Espanyol the 17-year-old was the third youngest player to ever turn out for the side and the youngster to ever play in the La Liga. He would also break the record for the league’s youngest ever scorer later that season. During the next couple of seasons Messi slotted immediately into the Barca side, forming an excellent partnership with Ronaldinho, before the Brazilian’s fast-living ways had an effect on his football.

He was also building up a reputation for excellent goals and as a big-game player. Never was this more evident that in Barca’s El Clasico clash against Real Madrid at Camp Nou in the 2006/07 season when he bagged a hat-trick for ten-men Barcelona in the pulsating 3-3 draw. Barca fell behind three times, but the young Argentine almost single-handily dragged them back, with his injury-time equaliser meaning he had become the first player since Madrid’s Ivan Zamorano to bag a treble in world football’s biggest club game.

He’s also been doing it on the international stage. In 2006 he became the youngest Argentine to feature in the World Cup and would win the Young Player of the Tournament in the 2007 Copa America. This summer the boy wonder was strutting his stuff for the Albicelestes in the Olympics, playing some sublime football, along with two other ‘new Maradona’s', Juan Roman Riquelme and Sergio Aguero. Whilst he made not be fathering Maradona’s grandchild like Aguero, the great man himself has dubbed Messi as ‘my successor’.

See Messi doing his best Diego impression here and check out what else was going on in the world of football here.

October 15 – Cloughy Quits Derby

IF you thought that signing Robbie Savage was the most foolish thing Derby County have ever done then think again. Today in 1973 chairman Sam Longson’s ego got the better of him as he forced County manager Brian Clough out.

Cloughie had taken over at the Baseball Ground in at the end of the 1966/67 season, taking over a side that was languishing at the bottom of Division Two. Within two years Clough and Peter Taylor had built a promotion-winning side and Clough would have his first stab in the top flight.

Back in the good old days when promotion didn’t automatically mean a season scrapping around trying to reach the 40-point mark, Clough led Derby to a very respectable fourth-place finish. Derby were denied the chance to take part in Europe due to financial irregularities, but soon got over this blow and in the 1971/72 season put together a title challenge against the two biggest teams of the era, Leeds United and Liverpool.

Derby’s season finished a week earlier than their two rivals and with the Rams sitting on top by one point with Leeds and Liverpool still having a game to play, Taylor took the squad on holiday to Spain, while Clough went to the Isles of Scilly with his parents. When Derby’s rivals failed to win, they had won their first ever title.

Cloughy took his side on a European tour the next year, making it to the European Cup semi-finals where they lost to Juventus in controversial circumstances.

Ever the diplomat, Clough called the Italian’s ‘cheating bastards’ and questioned their effort in the war. Behind the scenes, chairman Sam Longson was fuming, as cracks in their relationship worsened.

Two months into the next season Clough had had enough and walked out. Taylor and all the loyal backroom staff followed and Derby were in a bit of a tight spot. Fans protested at their next game, calling for the board to resign and for Clough to be reinstated.

That didn’t happen and Clough and Taylor took the reigns of Division Three Brighton and Hove Albion. After less than a year on the south coast, Clough left Taylor to begin his well-documented 44-day spell in charge of Leeds United.

In 1975 the pair were reunited at Nottingham Forest and Derby fans had to watch their former manager take their greatest rivals to two European Cups. Ouch.

See some classic Cloughy below and see what else was going down today here.

October 14 – Goalkeeper’s Folly

IN the black and white days before substitutes were permitted footballers would routinely play on after picking up an injury. Before physios were a fixture of every football bench the best an injured player could hope for was a visit from the mysterious ‘trainer’ who would run on and dab ineffectually at the affected area with a magic sponge and then tell him to get on with it.

Encapsulating this attitude was former Partick Thistle manager John Lambie. On being told one of his strikers was concussed and did not know who he was, Lambie said: “That’s great, tell him he’s Pele and get him back on.”

In the 1956 FA Cup Final Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann famously carried on playing despite suffering a serious neck injury that left him groggy, and was later revealed to be a broken neck.

On this day in 2006 two Chelsea goalkeepers had to be carried from the field of play after coming a cropper during their match at Reading.

Jose Mourinho took his side to the Madejski Stadium for a League match that was just 16 seconds old when Chelsea ‘keeper Petr Cech went down to get the ball at the feet of Stephen Hunt, and was caught by the Reading striker.

It looked fairly innocuous at first but it was soon apparent Cech was in trouble and after a lengthy delay he was stretchered off and taken to hospital where, the following day, he had surgery for a fractured skull.

Meanwhile, Carlo Cudicini replaced him in goal at Reading, only to be stretchered off himself after being knocked unconscious late on in the match after he was caught by Ibrahima Sonko, leaving captain John Terry in goal for the remainder of the match which Chelsea won 1-0.

Adopting his siege mentality Mourinho lashed out at everyone from the referee Mike Riley to the Reading players and the South Central Ambulance Service who he said had not acted quickly enough, something they angrily denied.

Mourinho said: “The Cech one, the challenge is a disgrace. He is lucky to still be alive. I have to wait and see what the Football Association will do about it and I’m also waiting to hear what the experts think of both incidents.

“Carlo I think was knocked out as a consequence of the way he hit the ground, but a knee coming at Petr like that, at such speed – the boy was even laughing afterwards.

“It was unbelievable and players should respect each other more than that.”

Reading boss Steve Coppell said he was confident neither Hunt nor Sonko were deliberately trying to hurt the Chelsea keepers.

“Steve wanted to put Petr under pressure but there’s no way he’d want to make contact, I know what he’s like,” said Coppell.

Arsenal goalkeeping legend Bob Wilson said he was disappointed by Mourinho’s comments and agreed with Coppell that there was no intent shown by Hunt and Sonko.

“I was sad to hear Jose’s comments after the game,” Wilson told Five Live’s Sportweek programme.

“The first one looked bad because Hunt was trying to move his foot away from Cech but in doing so bent his knee towards his head.

“But keepers expect to get bumps and bruises, it’s part of what we do. We don’t want to be protected all the time.”

Despite initial fears that Cech’s goalkeeping days might be over, he recovered well and was back between the sticks four months later with his protective headgear now an extra piece of his kit which he is likely to wear for the rest of his career.

See the incident below, and just like another armageddon style headline about the economic crisis, we will be back tomorrow. Last year we were bringing you the story of comedy goalkeeper Mark Bosnich doing his Basil Fawlty impression.

October 13 – Did he not like that

IN the last few weeks there has been some essential television viewing for England fans, and it wasn’t the 5-1 win over Kazakstan on Saturday.

In 1994 Channel 4 broadcast one of the best documentaries ever made about football, or indeed any subject, An Impossible Job. In a decision he would surely come to regret, England manager Graham Taylor agreed to have a film crew follow him around during England’s qualification campaign for the 1994 World Cup in the USA. The film was re-shown for the first time by ITV this month, click here to see Taylor and others reflecting on the film.

Not only did Taylor grant the crew extremely close access, he also allowed his team talks to be recorded, and was wired up to a mic during matches which revealed to the public his penchant for the ‘f’ word and his memorable catchphrase: “Do I not like that.”

Taylor was under pressure following a 2-0 loss away to Norway in June, but some confidence was restored after England beat Poland 3-0 at Wembley in September.

Norway were by now looking good for top spot in the group leaving Holland and England to fight it out for second place. They met in the de Kuip Stadion in Rotterdam for the decisive game on this day in 1993. The victors would be in the box seat for qualification while the losers would be contemplating a long football-less summer in 1994.

The match was largely decided on two pivotal moments. On 56 minutes David Platt was sent through on goal and was wrestled to the ground by Ronald Koeman on the edge of the box.

The England players and coaches thought it was a penalty and red card for Koeman. Gary Pallister said later: “It was a blatant sending-off but because it was Koeman and it was in Holland, the referee [Karl-Josef Assenmacher, from Germany] bottled the decision. Everyone knew he should have gone, including the Dutch players.”

Platt said: ” I thought I saw the ref pointing to the penalty spot. I took them, so I collected the ball so I could control the situation. There was a melee around the ref. It was only then that I thought: ‘Shit, Koeman’s off as well.’ It looked like they were going to be down to 10 men and, if I knocked the penalty in, we would be a goal up. But I saw Incey remonstrating with the referee and realised he’d only given a free-kick.”

Taylor was incensed, and remonstrated wildly with the fourth official and the linesman while Phil Neal cemented his position as the world’s biggest yes-man by simply agreeing with everything Taylor said.

Tony Dorigo took the free-kick which was charged down by the Dutch wall and came to nothing, but five minuted later things got worse for Taylor and England. Another foul, this time on the edge of the England box, saw Ronald Koeman step up to take the free-kick. His first effort was charged down by Paul Ince, in much the same way the Dutch wall had dealt with Dorigo’s kick earlier, but this time Ince was booked and the referee ordered the kick to be re-taken.

This time Koeman made no mistake and curled the ball over the wall and past David Seaman into the net. Taylor was incandescent by now and continued to barrack the fourth official saying: “You see, at the end of the day, I get the sack. Will you say to the fella, the referee has got me the sack … Thank him ever so much for that, won’t you?”

He said later: “What people forget is that when we were awarded the free-kick, the Dutch wall encroached and the referee did nothing. Koeman, though, was allowed to retake his free-kick and Paul Ince was booked for doing just that. Well, I lost it. Things were not right. The fourth official, Markus Merk [now a top Fifa referee], was excellent to me. He could have sent me off. He knew that the referee had made a major mistake. He kept saying: ‘I know Mr Taylor, I know Mr Taylor, please sit down.’ All these years later I still feel the team was cheated. To my knowledge the referee never handled a top game again.”

Paul Merson hit the post for England but Dennis Bergkamp scored another to win the match 2-0 for Holland. Back at Wembley a month later England put seven past San Marino, despite famously conceeding to the part-timers in the opening seconds, but it was not enough and England had missed out on the World Cup. Taylor resigned and is in a two horse race with Steve McClaren for the title of worst ever England boss.

He said: “Because we lost and didn’t qualify, I received a lot of stick. Despite what people might say about the documentary, at least my passion was shown. I know I used the F-word 25 times in a 50-minute programme. But I was being filmed for two years. Tell me anyone in football who wouldn’t swear that many times over two years?”

We will leave you with some footage from the documentary of the Holland match below, but have a look at Taylor dealing with football journalist Rob Shepherd in a hilarious press conference before the match here. Today also marks the anniversary of the first ever Merseyside derby which you can read about here.

October 12 – England Book Their Place in Germany

REMEMBER the good ol’ days when England used to qualify for international tournaments? Thanks to Schteve McClaren, the joy of qualification isn’t something any England fans have felt since today in 2005, when the national side beat Poland to top their Group 6 and qualify for the next summers’ World Cup.

Following the penalty shoot-out loss to Portugal in the 2004 European Championships England were given a kind World Cup qualifying draw, being pitted against Poland, Austria, Azerbaijan along with a pair of derbies against Wales and Northern Ireland.

Nothing though, is ever easy with England and we had to put up with the usual highs and lows over the 13-month qualifying campaign. The main blip this time was a 1-0 loss to Northern Ireland, thanks to a David Healy strike in September 2005.

With only the winner of the group certain to go through, England went into the final match against the Poles needing to win all three points, after Poland had won all but one of their nine group games.

The match was played on a chilly Wednesday night at Old Trafford, as England’s hobo-like existence in the absence of Wembley Stadium continued. A nervy first half came to life in the final minutes as Michael Owen turned in a poacher’s goal, but Poland’s Tomasz Frankowski equalised just before the interval.

England toiled for much of the second half, and thoughts turned to a possible play-off. Then, with ten minutes left, Frank Lampard smashed home a superb volley and England could think about sauerkrauts and lederhosen next summer.

The tournament in Germany brought about the usual fun and games for England: a penalty shoot-out loss, metatarsal madness and the controversial selection of a 16-year-old named Theo Walcott. Whatever happened to him?

See highlights from England’s hi-jinks in Germany that summer belowe and find out what else happened today here.