December 21 – Thirteen Goal Thriller

LET’S get straight to the point, the Second Division game held on this day in 1957 between Charlton Athletic and Huddersfield Town was one of the classic matches of all time.

Huddersfield were managed by Bill Shankly and he was keen to keen to get his side promoted back to the top-flight from which they had recently been relegated. The team travelled down to the Valley to take on a Charlton side in a similar situation but no one involved predicted the amazing game that was to take place that afternoon.

Huddersfield right half Ken Taylor said Shanks’ pre-match team talk was pretty simple. “Bill just walked around the table, telling us how good we were,” he said. “ ‘Charlton? They’re not fit to be on the same park.’ He was a great motivator. That was his greatest quality.”

Shanks and his players were given a boost on 17 minutes when Charlton captain and centre-half Derek Ufton dislocated his shoulder and had to come off. In the days before substitutes the Addicks were forced to play the vast majority of the match with just ten men.

The numerical advantage began to show and by half time the away side were 2-0 up and looking good. As the half time whistle went some of the home fans, dispirited by the score line and perhaps thinking a come back looked unlikely given they were a man down, decided they had had enough of standing in the drizzle and went home. What a mistake.

As the Charlton players regrouped in the dressing room left winger Johnny Summers changed into a new pair of boots and was moved to play up front for the second period. It would prove to be a masterstroke and within three minutes of the restart he had halved the deficit when he scored from a miss-hit shot off his weaker right foot. Game on.

Town were obviously keen to kill the game off and on any other day they would have as they raced into a 5-1 lead to apparently crush any hopes of a Charlton come back. But the Addicks were not giving up just yet and immediately replied through Buck Ryan and another from Johnny Summers, again off his right foot and this time in off the post. 5-3. Ten minutes later, he completed his hat-trick, blasting a right-foot shot past the diving Huddersfield goalkeeper, Sandy Kennon. 5-4.

Only one thing was on Summers’ mind now and ten minutes later he scored the equaliser to make it 5-5 as the Charlton fans went bonkers in the stands. Still Summers wasn’t finished and in the 81st minute he hit yet another goal past the shellshocked Huddersfield defence to take the score to 6-5.

Huddersfield hit back on the 86th minute, scoring an equaliser on the muddy pitch to make it 6-6 as the fans of both clubs looked on in disbelief at what was unfolding in front of them, but incredibly it was not over yet.

With just seconds remaining the ball went across the field and the Huddersfield right back, Tony Conwell, moved through the mud to intercept it. “He had it all nicely covered,” Taylor said, “and he just slipped. He fell. Bang! And that was it.” Ryan met the ball perfectly and Charlton had won an absolutely astonishing match. There was pandemonium in the stands as the crowd hailed their heroes, in particular Johnny Summers who had scored five goals, and all on his weaker right foot. He told the press: “I’ll keep these boots for the rest of my life.” Sadly, that was not to be for long as he got leukaemia and he was dead within five years.

Ray Wilson, the Huddersfield left back and future World Cup winner said: “If you wrote a book about that match you’d get halfway through and you’d say, ‘What a load of b*****ks!’”

Huddersfield’s shocked manager tried to make sense of what he had witnessed: “Shankly was pacing up and down in the train,” Wilson said. “He was muttering to himself: ‘It’s just one of those things . . . It’s history . . .’ He was trying to sort it out in his mind, how it had happened.”

“He didn’t speak to anybody for days afterwards,” Ken Taylor said. “We had a good side. But when you played in muddy conditions like that, all sorts of things could happen. In many ways, football wasn’t as skilful a game as it is now, but it could be more exciting.”

But the day belonged to Charlton and the fans would not leave the ground, chanting for their heroes to reappear which they duly did to receive the applause and cheers that such a dramatic come back justified.

Phew, breathless stuff. There is obviously something in the stars that favours this date in terms of goals, as there was another high scoring match also on this day. More from us tomorrow folks, but have a look at another famous day in Charlton’s history below.

December 20 – Marco’s a Winner

WITH Shecond-Choishe Shteve having ensured England did not participate in Euro 2008, here at OTFD we found ourselves rooting for the boys in Orange. No, not the stadium stewards but the Dutch. They started well with 3-0 and 4-1 wins over Italy and France but ultimately exited the tournament at the quarter-final stage when they lost to Russia managed by Dutchman Guus Hiddink.

Still, no doubt their fans enjoyed the ride while it lasted. No terminally-boring-yet-scraping-through-thanks-to-a-75th-minute-Beckham-free-kick for the them; they played with an attacking freedom that caught World Champions Italy completely off guard, but then, that is typical of the Dutch national team.

In world football, the Netherlands have been punching well above their weight for decades. With a population of less than a third of that of England, the Dutch have invented total football, won Euro 88, reached two consecutive World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978, and their club sides have won the European Cup six times (only Italy Spain and England have provided more winners). All this despite the fact they were late starters, only forming a national league and embracing professionalism in the 1950s.

The country has also produced some of the best footballers in the world, with Dutch players having won the Ballon d’Or seven times – a joint record with Germany. It is one of those top players we are celebrating today as it was on this day in 1992 that Marco van Basten picked up the coveted award for the third time in five years. The feat equalled that of Dutch legend Johan Cruijff and Frenchman Michel Platini.

Hailing from Utrecht it didn’t take long for the academy of football AFC Ajax to snap him up and he quickly became a living legend and was the Dutch top scorer in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987. After winning the Dutch League and Cup each three times, plus the European Cup Winners Cup, Marco’s eye began to wander and in those days there was only one destination of choice for the world’s best players: Italy.

Silvio Burlesconi brought him to AC Milan in 1987 where he linked up with fellow Dutchmen Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard who joined the following year. In his first season Milan won their first scudetto in eight years and he followed this up by being top-scorer at Euro 1988 as Holland won the tournament. 1988 was also the year he was first named European Footballer of the Year, and he retained the title in 1989.

While at Milan he won enough trophies to sink a low-lying country including three league titles, two European Cups and the Italian Super Cup three times. In 1992 when he picked up his third and final Ballon d’Or he was also named World Footballer of the Year.

Eventually injury forced him to retire from playing in 1995 but by then he had won literally everything possible apart from the World Cup. He then turned his attention to management which he is finding a tad more difficult than playing.

But to paraphrase the Bee Gees, these are only words, and words are all we have, so have a look at the clip below to appreciate van Basten’s genius on the ball.

We’ll be back tomorrow but have a look here to read about some classic managerial blundering from our favourite man named Bryan who was once a great player but then turned into a crap manager.

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December 19 – Psycho Takes Charge

AFTER Stuart Pearce was named caretaker-manager of Nottingham Forrest today in 1996 he sat down and drew up his starting XI for their next game. Pleased with it, he apparently showed it to his wife, who immediately asked him why he hadn’t bothered with a goalkeeper. Who says coaching badges are a waste of time?

Psycho had been at the City Ground since 1985, when Brian Clough took a punt on a player that had been playing non-league football two years earlier. Still unsure of his future in the game Pearce advertised his services as an electrician in the Forest programme, but he didn’t have to moonlight for too much longer.

Over the next ten years he became club captain and cemented his place as one of the all-time great Forest players, so when Frank Clark stepped down after three and a half years in charge the board looked at Pearce to fill the void.

Give or take the odd early selection problem, Pearce did an admirable job to start with. After guiding Forest out of the relegation zone he was awarded the January 1997 manager of the month award and had the honour of becoming the first club manager to play for his country when Glenn Hoddle persuaded him to come out of international retirement and enlist in England’s World Cup 98 qualifiers.

Forest meanwhile, were taken over by the Bridgford Consortium in February 1997 and Dave Bassett was brought in to help the rookie manager. This only succeeded in blurring the lines of power and Pearce would leave at the end of the season, after claiming the player’s did not know who was in charge.

Later, Pearce would admit that he had been too naïve in his first managerial job, as he went about getting his coaching badges before being given the top job at Manchester City in 2005, having retired as a Citizen three years earlier.

A rather mundane two season for the City faithful followed and Pearce can now be found learning his trade as an assistant to Fabio Capello and as the England u-21 boss.

We’ll leave you with everyone’s favourite Psycho moment below and you can see what we were writing about last year here. If, like us, you haven’t even considered doing any Christmas shopping yet, then grab yourself the OTFD book, available here.

December 18 – ‘Arry’s ‘Orror Show

WITH Paul Ince this week finding out that being a promising young British manager isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, today we’re looking at another managerial career that almost came apart at the seams before it started.

Harry Redknapp took charge of his first game today in 1982 and after his Bournemouth side lost 9-0 to Lincoln City, even Harry himself might have been forgiven for thinking that he wasn’t suited for life as a football manager.

Redknapp was ushered into the dug-out as caretaker manager when Bournemouth sacked boss David Webb in order to halt a recent slide down the table.

Lincoln City provided a tough test for young ‘Arry, as the club was sitting near the top of the league. A competitive first half saw a decent performance from the Cherries, but a late own goal from defender Phil Brignull saw them go in two down.

Bournemouth then proceeded to fall apart in the second 45. The game was being played in icy conditions, with Lincoln having the common sense to wear AstroTurf boots, so unlike their opponents, they could still stand up.

Goal after goal came in the second half, until a club record nine had been conceded by Bournemouth. After the game Harry was asked if he was disappointed: “Yes, I thought the seventh goal was offside,” came his deadpan response.

The following week saw the supporters’ association clubbed together to buy the squad AstroTurf boots but Harry’s application to become full-time manager was turned down in favour of Don Megson. Harry remained with the club though, and at the end of 1983 he was given the top job after Megson was dismissed with Bournemouth near the foot of Division Three.

Harry began to make amends for the Lincoln debacle straight away, defeating FA Cup holders Mancehster United in the third round during his first season in charge and would win the Third Division title at a canter in the 1986/87 season.

He remained at Dean Court until 1992, where he learnt many of the wheeling and dealing tricks that he is so famous for today. We’ve used this clip of ‘Arry getting animated before, but it’s sheer genius, so have another gander. Check out what else was going on today here and you’ve still got time to order this year’s hottest Christmas gift, so head straight here for that!

December 17 – Michael ‘Ballon d’Or’ Owen

IT wasn’t meant to end up like this. Toiling up front alongside Shola Ameobi for a Newcastle team at the wrong end of the table, no doubt enjoying team talks laden with cockney expletives from ‘it’s a’ Joe Kinnear. Once upon a time Michael Owen was big time, but in the last few years his career seems to have mirrored that of Les Dennis.

As the nineties were winding down Owen was the ultimate up-and-coming young player of English football. Glenn Hoddle thought so and Owen announced his arrival to the whole world with that goal against Argentina, aged just 18. The sky was the limit, the world his oyster etc and so on.

Despite a dreaded hamstring injury in 1999 that would force him to change his game and not rely so much on his devastating pace, little Mickey cemented his place as a top striker for Liverpool and England. In 2001 he virtually singlehandedly won the FA Cup for the Reds when he scored two late goals against Arsenal, and he followed that up by notching up a hat-trick in England’s 5-1 demolition of Germany in Munich.

On this day in 2001 his place at world football’s top table was secured when he was awarded the Ballon d’Or by France Football magazine. He was the first Englishman to win the prestigious accolade since Kevin Keegan picked it up two years on the bounce in 1978 and 1979.

With a lack of foresight that would be funny were it not so tragic, Owen said at the time: “It’s great to know that a footballer doesn’t reach the peak of his career before 27 or 28 years old.

“I’m not in a hurry to be that old. I’m still a rookie in the football world. And there are still a lot of good seasons ahead. Being a good player is not enough for me, and it will never be.

“There are still a lot of steps to climb to become the best with Liverpool and with England. I’m still light years away from my best.

“I’m really proud to add my name to a list which features those of Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Rivaldo, Bobby Charlton and Kevin Keegan.”

Michael spent a couple more fruitful years at Anfield before deciding Liverpool were not likely to win the league and moving on to Real Madrid. That was where things started to go wrong. His talents were never truly appreciated at the Bernabeu by either the coaching staff or the fans but despite spending his time mainly as a substitute he still managed a decent return of 18 goals in about 40 games at Real.

He then moved on to Newcastle where his injuries once again curtailed his playing time. Finding himself injured and at a crisis club, he probably thought things couldn’t get any worse, but then Fabio Capello became England manager and suddenly he was no longer guaranteed a place in the team or even the squad. Never mind Michael, you’ll always have Paris.

Have a look at some of his finest goal scoring exploits below and come make sure you take five minutes out of worrying about the armageddon-like state of the economy tomorrow to read our next post.

Last year we told you about a goal-fest from this day in history, and by going here you can buy OTFD: The Book. Nice.

December 16 – Fair Play Paulo

WE do not often turn to Wigan manager Steve Bruce for philosophical or wise words but the boxer-nosed novelist-cum-lower-table-Prem boss hit the nail on the head on Saturday after his team beat Blackburn 3-0 to leave Rovers fans calling for Paul Ince’s head. “The Premiership is an unforgiving place,” he said, and he is right. No one gives you an inch in the harsh mega-bucks, god-eat-dog, winning is absolutely everything world of England’s top divison. Or do they?

Today we are looking at one of the rare incidents in Premiership history of that most British of ideals: fair play. And it was an Italian at the centre of it. Paulo di Canio is like the Gilles Villeneuve of football; brilliantly talented, hotheaded, always a crowd favourite and more than capable of being a right pain in the arse. Whether he was being lauded for his brilliance or chided for assaulting officials, di Canio was rarely far from the limelight.

Today in 2000 he lined up for West Ham United to play Everton at Goodison Park. The Toffees were trying to recover from a 5-0 hiding they had suffered at the hands of Manchester City in their previous game and the Hammers were hoping to strike while the going was good and the Everton back line leaky.

With 15 minutes remaining the fans inside Goodison were soaking wet and probably wishing they had stayed at home with the game still goalless, but Danny Cadamarteri warmed their cockles when he nodded home to give them the lead.

Freddie Kanoute equalised just eight minutes later but the talking point of the game came very late on. Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard came racing out of his area to try to reach a ball but he went down on the edge of the area, seemingly with a bad leg injury. Trevor Sinclair arrived and crossed the ball but instead of heading it into an empty net to claim the winner, di Canio caught the ball and began pointing anxiously at Gerrard, concerned for his state.

Gerrard was stretchered off although he was later revealed to have only a twisted knee, while the Goodison Park faithful rose to give di Canio a standing ovation for his actions. His manager Harry Redknapp was not quite to happy but could not condemn his player. “It was sportsmanship of the highest merit. Paolo thought the goalkeeper might have a broken leg and refused to take advantage,” he said, no doubt ruing the two dropped points.

Everton manager Walter Smith was more grateful and said: “Paolo has taken a lot of abuse for different things in his career, but he deserves great credit.” And credit is what he got, being awarded the FIFA Fair Play award the following year for what FIFA termed a “special act of good sportsmanship”.

Have a look at the move which left Redknapp speechless below, and come back tomorrow for more tittle tattle from us. Us, last year, this day, here.

There are just nine shopping days left until Christmas folks, so don’t miss the boat and order our book right here! Quick! Before they all get away!

December 15 – Sunderland Sink

WHEN Sunderland beat Liverpool 2-1 today in 2002 the Mackem fans could be forgiven for thinking they had turned the corner in a tricky season for the Wearsiders.

However, little did they know that it would be another two years and ten months before they would be celebrating another Premier League win, as they club went on a record-breakingly bad run.

After batting above their weight in the top half of the Premier League for a couple of seasons the 2002/03 season was not going to plan, causing chairman Bob Murray to sack Peter Reid and, somewhat bizarrely, bring in Howard Wilkinson.

As the season went on it became clear that Sgt Wilko was not the answer as Sunderland wimpered to a then-record low of 19 points at the end of the season as they finished bottom of the pack.

Two years later the Black Cats were back, this time under the stewardship of Mick McCarthy who had led them to the Championship title. Reasons for optimism were short-lived though, as Sunderland picked up exactly where they left off in the Premiership, losing their first five games back in the big show.

Their first three-point haul came at the end of September with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough, but with only two more wins that season Sunderland easily broke their lowest-point record, ending up with only 15.

Every cloud has a silver lining though, and the end of that season saw Niall Quinn and his oft-mentioned ‘Irish consortium’ look into buying the club, which, give or take the odd recent managerial change, hasn’t worked out too badly.

Check out a Mackem highlight reel below and see what else was going down today here. We’ll be back tomorrow, but if you need some fill in the meantime, have a gander at the OTFD book, available here.

December 14 – Villa 1 Drake 7

SOME people in life are annoyingly good at everything, and Ted Drake was one of those. As well as being one of Southampton and Arsenal’s greatest ever players Drake managed Chelsea to their only title in the twentieth century and was also a county cricketer.

Today in 1935 Drake was doing what he did best though – scoring goals. Lots of them in fact, as he netted every one of Arsenal’s seven in their 7-1 win over Aston Villa.

Drake was one of his era’s superstars. He began his career at Winchester City, where he supplemented his Saturday afternoons with work as a gas-meter reader. After missing a trial match for Spurs with an injury he signed for Southampton and in less than two seasons he scored 48 goals for Saints, before copping an admiring glance from innovative Arsenal boss Herbert Chapman.

A £6,500 move followed in March 1934 and although he arrived too late to pick up a Championship medal he was an integral part of their side that defended the title next season, scoring 42 goals in 41 games. This included a barmy three hat-tricks and four four-goal hauls.

England soon came a-knocking and Drake made his debut in the infamous ‘Battle of Highbury’ game against Italy and scored the winner in England’s bad-tempered 3-2 win.

Next season Drake bagged his seven goals against Villa at Villa Park, cheekily trying to take credit for an eighth that hit the bar and bounced down, 1966-style. Later that season he would win the FA Cup with the Gunners and would go on to pick up another League title in the 1937/38 season.
Throughout his career Drake would also dabble in county cricket, playing 16 matches for Hampshire, with a highest knock of 45.

Repetitive injuries forced Drake into retirement in 1945 after scoring 139 goals in 184 games for Arsenal, where he is currently joint-fifth in their all-time scoring charts. A move into management followed with Hendon before he became boss of Reading in 1947.

Drake was appointed Chelsea manager in 1952 and set about modernising the Stamford Bridge side, introducing scouting reports, a new training regime and also a new badge and nickname. He was rewarded for this with another championship medal, as the club picked up their first ever title in 1955. In doing so Drake became the first person to win the league as both a player and a manager.

We’ve got some cracking retro footage of Drake’s seven-goal haul below, so have a gander at that and see what else was going on today here.

December 13 – Robbo’s Quick Shot

WE may have been a bit unfair to Bryan Robson here at OTFD over the years and we have been less than complimentary about his managerial skills on more than one occasion. But today it is time to give old Bryan his dues and recognise that the man was a fantastic footballer.

Captain Marvel was a midfield colossus for both Manchester United and England and on this day in 1989 he was once again the decisive player in the Three Lions team when they took on Yugoslavia in a friendly match at Wembley.

The game was just 38 little seconds old when Robson headed England ahead to score the fastest ever goal in a senior game at the old Wembley stadium. According to the FA, Robbo’s double-quick time effort beat the previous best by seven seconds. Jackie Milburn scored after 45 seconds in the 1955 FA Cup final.

Haris Skoro levelled for Yugoslavia on 17 minutes and the sides went in 1-1 at half time. Robbo rolled up his sleeves and got England out of trouble again when he scored the winner on 68 minutes.

To add to the sense of occasion Robson’s winner meant England notched up their 100th win at the old Twin Towers stadium.

Amazingly the 38-seconder is not the fastest goal Robbo notched up in his playing career, and for many years he also held the record for the fastest goal scored in the World Cup finals when he whacked in an effort after just 27 seconds against France in 1982.

You can see Robbo’s Wembley goal right here, and have a look at him starring in probably the best team in the world below.

Come back tomorrow if that Sunday afternoon just seems to be stretching to eternity for a little light relief, and have a look at what else was happening on this day here.

What’s that? You still haven’t done your Christmas shopping? Well don’t panic, we have got it all sorted, just follow this link and all your wildest dreams will come true.

December 12 – ETA Stops Play

IT may very well be stating the obvious but terrorists really are the pits aren’t they? Quite apart from the actual terror they cause they have just made the whole world inconvenient. They have added on God knows how long to every plane journey and forced you to take off ever more items of clothing when you go through the security at the airport (first it was just bags, then jackets, then shoes and now belts!), they have also forced us all to walk around with litter in our pockets because you can never find a bin in a public place anymore for fear of terrorists leaving bombs in them.

Today in 2004 they started turning their attention to football when a Real Madrid game had to be called off with only a few minutes remaining because of a bomb scare. The Basque newspaper Gara apparently received a telephone call saying a bomb was due to explode at 2100 local time and more than 70,000 fans had to be evacuated from the Santiago Bernabeu, along with the Madrid team and their opponents Real Sociedad.

The match was evenly poised at 1-1 after Ronaldo had given the hosts the lead just before the break with a left foot shot, and Turkish striker Nihat Kahveci smashed home with an acrobatic finish to equalise mid-way through the second half.

After the whole place had been cleared police searched the ground with sniffer dogs but found no explosive device. “The police have said they have completed their search and have not found anything,” said Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.

“The best thing we can all do now is to put this nightmare behind us. The police said the threat was a credible one and that’s why we decided to evacuate the stadium a quarter of an hour before the deadline. The evacuation plan worked to perfection.”

Madrid midfielder Guti told private Spanish radio station Cadena Ser: “I have never seen this before and sport should be above it all.”

Initial reports suggested the Basque separatist group ETA may be responsible for the bomb threat. The Bernabeu was targeted by ETA on 1 May, 2002, when Madrid were about to play FC Barcelona in a Champions League semi-final. A car bomb exploded in a street outside the stadium and 17 people were injured.

It was all a bit more scary than a bomb scare at Molineux in 1996 when a ‘suspicious package’ turned out to be a sandwich, although quite how it was identifiable as such is difficult to understand after the army carried out a controlled explosion on the poor innocent snack.

The Spanish FA decided that the remaining few minutes of the game should be played and so the teams lined up in the Bernabeu for one of the shortest matches in history on January 5, with just two minutes and 40 seconds plus three minutes extra time on the ref’s watch.

In the time since the first match had ended and the rest of it replayed, Real Madrid had dispensed of their manager Mariano García Remón and replaced him with Brazilian Vanderlei Luxemburgo. Remón must go down in history as one of the only managers to have technically been sacked during a match.

Despite the tight time scale the two teams managed to squeeze a lot into the six minutes of play to entertain the 15,000 fans who had turned up for the shortest match they are ever likely to see. Madrid won a penalty and Zinédine Zidane converted it to give the hosts a 2-1 win. Luxemburgo even found time to throw on a couple of subs to run down the clock.

That’s a wrap for today folks so have a look at which trumpet playing South American was born on this day, and if your Spanish is in need of a top up you can watch the entire six minute match below (clue: “GOL!!!!” translates as ‘goal’).