January 21 – Bates’ Leeds United

THE difference between tragedy and comedy, dear reader, is often just time. If that is so, the fans of Leeds United will be rolling in the aisles in a few years once they’ve shaken that ‘surely-this-can’t-get-any-worse-oh-no-it-just-has’ look they all seem to be sporting now.

They really have been through t’mill over the past few years and today in 2005 things took a turn for the bizarre when ex-Chelsea and electric fence proponent Ken Bates bought control of the club.

On the face of it, it looked like a match made in an FA disciplinary committee hearing – one of the country’s most controversial clubs being taken over by the game’s most controversial chairmen.

After Roman Abramovich had bought Chelsea from him, Batesy had a pocket full of roubles and had already had his advances rejected by Sheffield Wednesday. Undeterred he targeted Leeds, still in the hands of a temporary board following Peter Ridsdale’s departure, who gladly accepted his offer and the 73-year-old Womble lookalike was back in the game and looking for “one last challenge”.

“I’m delighted to be stepping up to the mantle at such a fantastic football club,” Bates said. “I see Leeds as a great club that has fallen on hard times. We have a lot of hard work ahead to get the club back where it belongs in the Premiership, and with the help of our fans we will do everything we can.”

Despite the efforts of previous chairman Gerald Krasner and his board to reduce the club’s debt by some £80m, Leeds were still heading for administration and a ten-point deduction until Ken came hobbling over the horizon clutching a bag of reddies and a brand new pair of extra-thick, black-rimmed glasses. Despite the precarious financial state of the club, Krasner and co seemed only too happy to sell out to a man who had reportedly ran up debts of £80m at Chelsea who were only saved from financial meltdown themselves by Abramovich’s arrival.

Either way, the immediate threat of admin was avoided by Bates’ arrival and legendary player and former board member Peter Lorimer was pleased. “The board did a great job knocking £80m off the debts but now the club has to go forward and I’m sure Ken is the right man,” he said. “I’m sure he knows what is needed and what to do about the finances.”

Norman Hunter was also a brand new member of the Ken Bates Fan Club. “I’m delighted,” he said. “First and foremost, the situation is resolved at the moment. It was a trying situation and I don’t think it’s enough in the long run but I think Ken Bates will sort something out. If he does anything like the job he did at Chelsea, the Leeds public will be absolutely delighted.”

Even the fans were willing to overlook Bates’ controversial past if it meant they could avoid the dreaded spectre of admin. Leeds’ supporters club chairman Ray Fell told the BBC: “We’re looking for stable management and someone who knows the game and he fits the description,” he said. “He does things the Bates way, we’re all aware of that, but if he can do things the right way we’ll all benefit.”

Initially things went pretty well and a play-off final appearance in 2006 seemed to suggest Leeds were on the up once again. Sadly, the following season did not go so well and Bates notched up his first managerial sacking when Kevin Blackwell was given the boot. Dennis Wise was brought in to replace him but the club was relegated to League One and went into administration.

Despite a heroic effort to finish in the play-offs after a 15 point penalty, Leeds remain in League One, now on the fourth manager of Bates’ reign in Simon ‘Larry’ Grayson.

We’ll leave you now with some footage from happier times for Leeds United on a day in the 1970s when they absolutely hammered Southampton at Elland Road 7-0. Watch out for the flicks and tricks as the Leeds players toy with the opposition.

Also today, you might want to wish a happy birthday to this mentalist, and be sure to come back tomorrow for more from us.

January 20 – Arsenal Snap up Theo

ARSENAL were again the winners in the race to sign one of the game’s brightest youngsters today in 2006 as 16-year-old Theo Walcott packed his bags and left Southampton for north London.

Walcott had been making waves on the south coast ever since he had been a part of Saints’ youth side that had reached the final of the FA Youth Cup in the 2004/05 season.

That season he also found time to become Southampton’s youngest ever reserve team player at 15 years and 175 days as the media began to pick up on the young speedster. Walcott made his full Saints debut against Leeds United in October 2005, scoring his first goal as the big clubs began to circle.

With Southampton feeling the financial effects of relegation it was inevitable that Walcott would soon be moving to the Premier League, with Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal all interested in the teenager.

It was Arsenal that would win the race, signing Walcott for an initial fee of £5m rising to a possible £12m, which made him the most expensive 16-year-old in ever in England. Due to their ongoing financial problems Southampton had to settle the deal early, so the eventual fee has been £9.1m.

Young Theo spent the rest of the season in the Arsenal reserves as Wenger’s masterplan for his new charge was to break him into the first team gently. This was a strategy that England manager Sven Goran Eriksson obviously didn’t agree with, as he parachuted Walcott into the 2006 World Cup squad after he had given Theo his England debut against Hungary, before he had even made a Premier League appearance.

Eriksson’s leftfield decision took the football world by surprise, as the Swede said he wanted to “try something new” and not include a host of established Premier League strikers such as Darren Bent, Andy Johnson and Dean Ashton. Hmm, when you put it that way, maybe Sven was onto something.

Theo didn’t feature for the Three Lions in Germany, but following the tournament he would go on to progress at a more steady rate, making his Premier League and England Under-21 debuts.

The start of this season saw Walcott become a regular in the Arsenal side and he came back into the England set-up, where he truly announced his arrival on the international stage by bagging a hat-trick in England’s crucial World Cup qualifier in Croatia. Injury has kept him out since November, but we wouldn’t bet against him playing a big role in Arsenal’s battle to secure a Champions League performance this season.

We’ll leave you with Walcott’s finest moments as a Saint below and if you want to know which other youngster was making waves today, click here. Unlike Dubya, we’ll be back tomorrow, so see you then.

January 19 – Raining Cats and Dogs

AT Barcelona they’ve been known to throw pigs heads onto the pitch, but Charlton’s fans apparently prefer a more domestic animal missile. Today in 1982 a dull 0-0 draw with Luton at the old Valley was livened up when a dead cat was lobbed onto the pitch.

The incident occurred during the first half, as one of the home supporters without warning whipped out the feline fatality and threw it above the heads of the travelling fans and landed just short of the touchline.

The cat had narrowly avoided a policeman on the sideline who kicked it to one side and that was the end of it.

This isn’t, however, the most bizarre projectile from the stands we’ve heard of. Barcelona’s afore mentioned pig’s head and Italian tales of scooters being smuggled into the stands are all up there as was a protest by Reading against their under-performing players in 1999 saw 4,000 fans wave and throw a pair of pants on the pitch.

Possibly the most bizarre object to find it’s way onto the pitch was a hand grenade during Millwall’s game with Brentford in November 1965. Brentford goalie Chic Brodie was the intended target and showed remarkable poise, waving the officials over before the ref blew his whistle and encouraged everyone to make for the dressing room as quick as possible.

Things didn’t get better for Brodie as his career was ended in equally bizarre fashion five years later when a dog, believed to be a terrier, ran onto the pitch and hurled itself at Brodie, shattering his kneecap. Brodie would keep his sense of humour though, saying: “The dog might have been a small one, but it just happened to be a solid one.”

We’ll leave you with a clip from another pet-related story, so have a chuckle there and find out what else was going on today here.

January 18 – Wales off the Mark

THE Welsh have always been more into rugby and singing than football but their national team is the third oldest in the world, behind England and Scotland.

The first match the Welsh side ever played was a bit of a drubbing: a 4-0 defeat away to Scotland. The return leg wasn’t that much better as the Scots hit two goals without reply at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham on 5 March 1877.

The Wrexham Advertiser described the match thusly: “Both teams played remarkably well and the contest throughout was an exceedingly close one. The Scotchmen exhibiting the utmost proficiency in the essential art of passing while the home team worked admirably, the ‘Backs’ exhibiting some really excellent play.”

Everyone is a critic though and one fan wrote in the letters section of the Wrexham Advertiser: “It was noticeable that the Scotch forwards were not ambitious of doing the work of the back players and this was in contrast to the Welsh team. Had the Cymry forwards played well up in the first half several goals would have been scored in their favour, but they would persist in following the ball up and down the ground.” Everyone is an amateur manager.

So, two games played, no goals scored and six conceeded. The Welsh could have been forgiven for packing the whole thing in there and then, but bless them, they carried on and today in 1979 they played their third ever international fixture: England away.

The teams turned up at The Oval to find the ground covered in snow. Rather than call it off the two captains agreed they would play just 60 minutes instead of the usual 90. The delightfully named referee Richard Bastard (really) agreed and the match was on.

The atrocious weather and the fledging nature of the sport meant the attendance for this match was easily the lowest for any England game in history with reports varying from a ‘crowd’ of 85 to 300.

Herbert Whitfield got the scoring underway for England in the 8th minute and Thomas Heathcote Sorby added another 12 minutes later. Just when it was beginning to look like another hiding for the plucky Welsh, William Henry Davies of Owestry etched his name into history forever when he scored the first ever goal for Wales half way through the second shortened half. The press said he scored: “with his usual brilliant dash landed the first goal for Wales, amidst tremendous cheering”.

It may have been another defeat but at least the team was up and running in the goal-scoring charts and technically, they were still the third best team in the world. In 1882 they really got their act together when they took on the irish team and trounced them 7-1 in Wrexham.

Although it’s not quite from 1879, we’ve got some footage for you below of Wales’ Wyn Davies scoring against World Champions England at Wembley in November 1966. Davies goal was not much consolation though as England eventually put five past the visitors.

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Here at OTFD we think Man City have about as much chance of signing Kaka as Rafa Benitez does of beating Fergie in the mind game stakes, but the fact City are reportedly ready to pay the Brazilian £500,000 a week would not even have been allowed had it not been for Jimmy Hill and events that happened on this day in 1961.

January 17 – Record Breakers

HAVE you ever wondered what the record attendance for an English Football League match is? No? Well we are going to tell you anyway.

Today way back in 1948, 83,260 souls crammed inside Maine Road to watch eleven players kick a ball about in black and white.

The slightly interesting factlet about this stat is that the two teams playing that day did not include Maine Road’s owners Manchester City – Hitler had seen to that. The German Chancellor and shouting enthusiast had ordered his Luftwaffe to lay waste to Britain’s war-enabling infrastructure but the duffers had shown they were about as accurate as an England penalty taker when they dropped some of their bombs on Old Trafford in 1941. With much of the ground destroyed United were forced to grovel cap in hand to their cross town rivals for somewhere to play once football started up again after the war. City were only too happy to oblige, for £5,000 per year.

So it was that Manchester United were playing at the famous old ground that record breaking day when the visitors were Arsenal. The two sides ground out a 1-1 draw and the crowd went home, most likely unaware that they had helped set a new attendance record.

The season would shake out much as it has in recent years with Arsenal winning the League, ahead of United who finished as runners-up, although they did console themselves with the FA Cup – the first trophy of Matt Busby’s managerial tenure.

It is unlikely the record set that day will ever be broken given that all major stadia are now all-seater by law. Manchester United do of course still set the biggest modern-day attendance records but they now do it back at Old Trafford which with a capacity of 76,212 beats the nearest challenger the Emirates Stadium by nearly 16,000.

The Arsenal manager who was in charge that day was long time club servant Tom Whittaker who started as a player and then went on to be Herbert Chapman’s deputy, and that of Chapman’s successor George Allison. Whittaker took over after Allison left, but have a look at a nice little clip below of a camera-shy Chapman and Whittaker introducing the Arsenal starting 11 from way back when God was a boy.

That’s it for now folks, but have a look here to find out which South American star with possibly the best nickname in football was born on this day.

January 16 – Edu Eventually Ends Up at Arsenal

DODGY passports, immigration control and a legal wrangling that was the Tevez affair of it’s day. Who’d have thought Arsene Wenger’s pursuit of Edu would’ve been so eventful? Either way, the Arsenal boss got his man today in 2001 as the Brazilian midfielder signed for the Gunners.

With Wenger’s emphasis on what Edu’s most famous countryman dubbed ‘the beautiful game’ it was only a matter of time before he looked to Brazil for his inspiration.

After the Arsenal scouting network spotted Edu, or Eduardo Daude Gaspar as his mother calls him, winning the 2000 World Club Championship at Brazilian giants Corinthians they tabled a bid of £6m which was accepted in July that year.

Edu then hopped on a plane to Heathrow to meet up with his new team-mates, but once he touched down in the country custom officials had other ideas, as it turned out the midfielder was trying to blag his way into Europe on a forged Portuguese passport.

Next came the excuses, as Edu said: “I don’t know what happened. I arrived here and the people said I could not come in. I’m going back to Brazil to sort out the problem. I was told I did not need a visa.”

Arsenal themselves kept quiet on whether or not they had carried out any background checks on their new signing as they waited to see if Edu would be granted a work permit. As all fans of Football Manager know, this can be one of the more annoying things in football.

Eventually after six months of legal fun and games Edu qualified for a EU passport as Italian lineage was found on his father’s side of the family and the Gunners could complete the signing.

Things didn’t get much better for Edu as he only lasted 15 minutes on his debut before injury forced him off against Leicester City and played only four games in his first season.

He would soon become an integral part of Wenger’s team and played a crucial role in the 2003/04 ‘Invincibles’ as the Gunners played some of the best football seen in this country for decades and went unbeaten in the Premier League on their way to the title.

During this time rumours appeared the Edu was about to pull on the Three Lions’ shirt as gained British citizenship, but the Selecao quickly called him up to their squad for the Copa America in 2004.

Edu left Arsenal at the end of the 2004/05 season, signing for Valencia on a Bosman free transfer, where he has struggled with injuries but, if you believe what you read in the papers, he might be headed back to these shores in the January transfer window.

Sadly we don’t have footage of Edu’s face when he was told to sling his hook by passport control, so you’ll have to make do with some action from Arsenal’s unbeaten season instead. For some more bureaucratic bumbling that took place today click here and like a daft Manchester City transfer rumour we’ll be back tomorrow so see you then.

January 15 – Dalglish in at the Toon

ANOTHER new day, another new dawn at Newcastle. Today in 1997 the Geordie nation was anointing their newest messiah as Kenny Dalglish took over at the club following one of Kevin Keegan’s many departures.

Keegan had left St James’ ten days earlier, as the January blues proved to be too much for him, despite a 7-1 win over Spurs on Boxing Day 1996. The club looked to another former Liverpool legend to take over as he plumped for Kenny Dalglish, whom he hoped would complete a hat-trick of title-winning clubs, following his successes at Liverpool and Blackburn.

Since winning the Premiership with Blackburn in 1995, King Kenny had spent a year upstairs at Ewood Park as Rovers’ Director of Football before leaving the club.

The vacancy at Newcastle was enough to tempt him back into the game, and why wouldn’t it? He inherited a strong squad from Keegan, currently lying in fourth place in the Premiership and was amongst some of the self-confessed most passionate fans in the country.

Dalglish guided the Toon to a second place finish which secured the clubs’ first ever venture into the Champions League. Whilst the Toon Army were convinced they were on their way to a Premier League and European Cup double, lady luck had other ideas.

A long-term injury to Alan Shearer sustained in a pre-season friendly at Goodison Park meant that Newcastle’s favourite son only turned out 17 times, scoring twice that season as the Magpies slumped to a thirteenth-place finish. Dalglish did guide the club to a memorable 3-2 win over Barcelona and to the FA Cup Final, but their hopes of silverware were dashed by Arsenal as they lost 2-0 at Wembley.

A poor start to the next season was enough for Fat Freddie Shepherd to wield the axe, sacking the Scotsman just 20 months after hiring him. Ruud Gullit was installed as manager and Dalglish next pitched up at Celtic as manager John Barnes’ head coach. Once that went pear-shaped Dalglish was put in charge for half a season, winning the Scottish League Cup before leaving and has yet to return to football management.

See some footage of Dalglish in his pomp in the pitch below and see what delightful mess another of Keegan’s predecessors was getting himself into today here.

January 14 – Sir Matt Hands in His Notice

SIR Matt Busby’s name is synonymous with Manchester United. The legendary manager is the reason United are such a big club after the Scotsman masterminded their post-war success, overcoming even the Munich Air Crash to win the European Cup with his rebuilt side. Today in 1969 it was all over when he announced he would retire at the end of the season.

Oddly enough Sir Matt spent most of his playing career with United’s two principle rivals: Liverpool and Manchester City for whom he played with great distinction, captaining the former and winning the FA Cup with the latter.

With his playing career cut short by the war, Busby was looking for a job as the hostilities ceased and Liverpool offered him the role of assistant manager. Busby was having none of it though and through his friendship with Man United’s fixer Louis Rocca, he negotiated a deal with the club to become the new manager. He secured himself a five-year deal and also ensured that he had the final say over picking the team, training, and even buying and selling players – something no other manager in the country had. In some ways he invented the role of the modern British football manager.

The United board would not regret their handing over of control to Busby who transformed the club into the most popular and successful in the land. After winning the FA Cup in 1948 and the league in 1952 with his first team, Busby set about creating his Babes into the famous team that won the league in 1955 and 1957 and looked set to dominate domestic and European football for years until the Munich tragedy ripped it apart.

Undeterred, Busby rebuilt once again and in perhaps the most widely popular result in football history, guided his rebuilt side to the European Cup in 1968.

His destiny fulfilled, Busby decided he was getting too old for this kind of thing. Today in 1969 he held a press conference at Old Trafford to announce is retirement. “It’s time to make way for a younger man… a track-suited manager,” he said. “United is no longer just a football club, it is an institution. I feel the demands are beyond one human being.”

Bobby Charlton, one of the original Babes who survived the plane crash along with Sir Matt and went on to life the European Cup as a player in 1968 said at the time: “Matt Busby’s presence will always be at Manchester United. He is Manchester United.”

He was more right than he could have thought, for Sir Matt did not leave the club, but took on the new role of general manager, above the new coach Wilf McGuinness.

This arrangement was bound to fail and it did, with McGuinness getting the sack after just 18 months. Frank O’Farrell fared little better before Tom “the Doc” Docherty was given his chance. Dave Sexton and Big Ron Atkinson also had their shot at the Old Trafford big time, before Sir Alex Ferguson eventually returned the club to consistent winning ways, notably winning the club’s second European Cup in 1999, on what would have been Sir Matt’s birthday, after he passed away in 1994.

If praise from your peers is the highest praise their is, Sir Matt is well served by the words below from his friend and Liverpool legend Bill Shankly.

We’ll let Bill have the last word, but have a look here at a bit of argy bargy between two team mates that would have shocked both Busby and Shanks.

January 13 – England’s Ill-Fated Bid

Ah remember Euro 96? El Tel, Psycho’s penalty, thrashing the Dutch, Baddiel and Skinner, Gazza’s goal and so on. Brilliant wasn’t it? Well the FA suits certainly thought so, and given that the whole shebang went off with remarkably few cock-ups or problems and had been a jolly nice little distraction, the powers that be decided to go for the only thing bigger: the World Cup.

We hadn’t hosted the blessed thing since 1966 and as it looked like the only chance we might ever have of winning it again was by having it played on home soil. Anyway we invented the game so it was our birthright to have it, wasn’t it?

Today in 1997 the FA launched their bid for the 2006 tournament with 1966 hat-trick hero the man chosen to spearhead the English bid. What followed were three sorry years which saw England fall from heavy favourites and front-runners, to crushed losers as Germany eventually won the right to stage the 2006 competition.

The first problems occured a year after the England bid was launched. Fifa big cheese and incoming president Sepp Blatter was keen for the tournament to go to Africa for the first time and reports emerged that he had already promised the finals to South Africa.

Franz Beckenbauer stepped in and suggested that the only way to counter the South Africans was to have a joint bid between England and Germany. The FA dismissed the idea but would later wish they has listened to der Kaiser.

Soon even Tony Blair, sensing some popularist activity he could bask in the reflective glory of, jumped on board the England bandwagon and met with Fifa top bod Dr Joao Havelange who then promised he backing.

Things were looking good until France 98 when the old English problem of hooliganism reared its very ugly head in Marseille. England officials claimed it would not harm the bid but nobody fell for that one.

Then Manchester United were dragged into the sorry mess when the FA asked them to enter the Fifa World Club Championships in Brazil in 1999. The move caused huge controversy as it meant United could not enter the FA Cup. Despite a shocking performance in Rio, Alec McGivan, England’s campaign leader, said United’s participation helped the bid, “enormously”.

As the new millennium dawned South Africa were still the favourites but Germany were catching up fast. Two Scottish Nationalist MPs even announced they would support Germany against England as the bid started to really falter.

Things got even worse in June 2000 when England fans rioted in Charleroi. Sports minister Tony Banks said the situation was now, “very bleak”.

Despite a desperate last-ditch attempt to save the bid by Home Secretary Jack Straw when he introduced some rushed anti-hooligan legislation, it was clear the game was up. England were eliminated in July 2000.

It was claimed that the real reason the bid failed was that England had reneged on a gentleman’s agreement forged years earlier with Germany. In an accord reminiscent of the Blair/Brown deal, it was rumoured that Germany had promised to support England’s bid for Euro 96 if England would do the same in return for Germany’s World Cup 2006 bid. It got out that the English had done the dirty and the Fifa suits were none too impressed.

Still, now we can all look forward to the ways in which the committee will somehow conspire to muck up the 2018 bid.

In a sort of Bullseye “Let’s have a look at what you could have won” moment, have a look at a good montage of England’s 2006 campaign below, and check us out tomorrow for more sepia-tinged football memories. Oh, and before we go, guess which French super star car salesman signed his first professional contract on this day? Click here to find out.

January 12 – Galaxy Get Goldenballs

AS DAVID Beckham kicks off his AC Milan career it’s beginning to look like he’s got his escape plan from MLS sorted, as the rumour mill continues to churn out stories that he fancies sticking around at the San Siro.

It was all different today in 2007 though as he announced his big money move to LA Galaxy, spieling out rhetoric that we wanted to raise the profile of America’s fourth most popular sport. Oh, and there was the small matter of the £128m he would be earning in the process.

Before he announced the move Beckham was not having the best of seasons at Real Madrid. New boss Fabio Capello didn’t like the cut of his jib, preferring the Arsenal reject Jose Antonio Reyes on the right wing.

It emerged that Real were unlikely to renew the former England captain’s deal a the end of the season, so Beckham and his team of advisors began to look around. Speculation of a move back to the Premiership emerged, as did a possible stint at AC Milan, but Goldenballs threw us a curveball by opting to move across the Atlantic.

Over in LA the hype began, as MLS bosses claimed Beckham would be the first of many superstars to join the league. Galaxy owner Timothy J. Leiweke got very involved with the hyperbole, saying: “David Beckham will have a greater impact on soccer in America than any athlete has ever had on a sport globally.” No pressure then Dave.

Beckham meanwhile, had to see out the rest of the season in Spain and knuckled down, winning the affections of Capello who went back on his earlier claim that Beckham was finished at Madrid and reinstated the midfielder. The club went on to win the title that season, giving Becks his first gong at the club, and little did Beckham know at the time, saving his future England career and hopes of 100 caps in the process.

MLS’s ‘marquee signing’ was unveiled in July during a lavish ceremony and Galaxy shirt sales reached over 250,000. His first season with the club saw him play only eight matches due to injury as the Galaxy failed to make the play-offs.

Last season also proved disappointing for LA, as Ruud Gullit took charge but looked like he couldn’t really be bothered with the whole circus and was soon gone. A goal scored from his own half against the Kansas City Wizards, reminiscent of this beauty, was the most notable on-pitch action of the season for Becks.

In order to keep his place in the England squad Beckham has now moved on loan to Milan. After mixing it with the likes of Kaka, Ronaldinho and Maldini will he fancy going back stateside? Only time will tell.

Until then, have a gander at Beckham doing his thing in America and see what else was going on in the world of football today here. We’ll be back tomorrow for more of the same so see you then.