September 10 – The Birth of Crystal Palace and Beasant’s 11

The Eagles soar and Dave Beasant continues his quest to turn out for every professional football club in England in today’s round up from days gone by.

1905 – The Birth of Crystal Palace

IN 1905 a merry band of workers at London’s Crystal Palace decided they’d like to have the occasional kick-about, so they set about creating Crystal Palace FC. One of South London’s most popular clubs, Palace may not have the longest list of honours, but fans have had their fair share of personalities and drama over the years. Read their story here.

2002 – Beasant’s 11

ODDS are that if you support a football club in England than today’s subject has more than likely turned out for your side. Whereas some players are happy to remain the loyal husband to their hometown club, there are others who put themselves about more than Russell Brand at a sex-addiction clinic.

Big-haired goalkeeper Dave Beasant was just such a player and today in 2002 he signed on the dotted line for his 11th club, Bradford City, as the 43-year-old showed no sign of hanging up the gloves. Read on here.

The 2007 Selhurst Park vintage take on the crossbar challenge. Gabor Kiraly still doesn’t both to take those horrible tracksuit trousers off.

September 9 – Man Utd Sell Out and Happy Birthday Aki

Manchester United are snapped up and we celebrate one of the game’s characters in today’s trip through the OTFD history vaults.

1976 – Happy Birthday Aki Riihilahti

Today at On This Football Day we’d like to wish one of football’s more eccentric characters a very Happy Birthday. The mad Finnish midfielder Aki Riihilahti is thirty-one today. Whilst his performances for the likes of Crystal Palace were not that of a Cruyff or a Maradona, Aki was hard-working on the pitch and a bit of a live-wire off it. Find out just how crazy the Finn is here.

1998 – Manchester United Sell Out

AS multi-million pound takeovers are all the rage in Manchester at the moment we thought we’d bring you the story of a former suitor of the second biggest team in they city, as today in 1998 United confirmed they had accepted a bid from BSkyB to buy the club. Read on here.

Can anyone translate Aki’s ramblings for us? If we know Aki (and unfortunatley we don’t), we bet it’s worth it.

September 8 – Football League Kicks Off and Black and Whites in the Red

Two of the oldest footballing institutions go under the microscope today: Notts County and the Football League itself.

1888 – First Football League Matches Played

I won’t beat around the bush. In 1888 the game of football was a shambles, a total hotchpotch. The professional game had been legalised three years earlier but the clubs were now getting their collective knickers in a twist over their fixture lists. See what happened here.

2003 – Black and Whites in the Red

Notts County is the world’s oldest professional football club but today in 2003 the Magpies came within a whisker of extinction after 141 years of existence. Read the full story here.

Things have picked up at the Lane in recent months.

September 7 – Your Boys Take a Hell of a Beating and Norn Iron Sink Sven and

England fans look away now. It’s not a good day to be a Three Lions player, as today marks the anniversaries of two of their most unlikely losses.

1981 – Your Boys Took a Hell of a Beating!

On this day in 1981 Ron Greenwood’s England were playing away in Norway in a qualifier for the 1982 World Cup and were favourites to win, and put out a side including Ray Clemence, Kevin Keegan, Trevor Francis, Bryan Robson and Glenn Hoddle. Read what happened here.

2005 – Norn Iron Sink Sven

WHEN England lose, fans usually have a moan and a beer and then get back to supporting their true love, their club side. Tabloid headline writers however, rub their hands in glee. “Sack the Swede” and “Taxi for Eriksson” were two of the more generous headlines aimed at everyone’s favourite Swedish ex-England boss after Northern Ireland stunned the Three Lions with a 1-0 win in Belfast on this day in 2005. Check out the full story here.

Football commentator and English history buff Bjørge Lillelien gets his rant on.

September 6 – A Sting in His Tail and BSkyB Eye Up Man Utd

Everyone’s favourite madcap South American ‘keeper showboats as Murdoch looks to take his domination of English football up a notch.

1995 – A Sting in His Tail

MOST seasoned football fans think they’ve seen it all before. Stepovers, keepy-uppies, fancy back-heels – it’s all old hat. But just occasionally someone comes up with something new and we remember why we fell in love with the game the first time. Today in 1995 madcap Columbian ‘keeper Rene Higuita wowed the football world with his famous ‘scorpion kick’. Click here for the whole story.

1998 – BSkyB Confirm Talks to Buy Man Utd

It was supposed to be one of the “great partnerships in sport”. The biggest football club in the world were to be taken over by one of the planets biggest media empires that was the driving force in creating the richest and most popular league in the world. As money was becoming a bigger and bigger influence in the beautiful game, who would object to this new venture thought the two protagonists? Quite a lot of people it turned out, as it was on this day in 1998 that BSkyB confirmed that they were locked in talks to buy Manchester United. Read all about it here.

Bonkers.

September 5 – Sir Alan’s Apprentice and Daft as a Brush

A trip down to the Lane today, as Sir Alan utters his famous catchphrase and Gazza is called up to the England squad for the first time.

1988 – Daft as a Brush

WHAT a difference 20 years makes. It was today in 1988 that a cheeky young chappy by the name of Paul Gascoigne was first called up to the England squad ahead of their friendly against Denmark. Read on here.

1997 – Sir Alan Sugar’s Apprentice

HE was the Swiss man no-one had heard of who Tottenham Hotspur Chairman Alan Sugar decided was the future of the club.

Christian Gross was the relatively unknown manager of Swiss side Grasshoppers Zurich when Sugar appointed him Spurs boss in 1997 to the shock of the football world. See how it worked out here.

Strictly speaking not footy related, but very funny.

September 4 – Beware the Owls as Phil Babb Wipes Out

One of England’s oldest clubs is born and Phil Babb makes every man wince.

1867 – Beware the Owls

HERE in Britain, we really are a different breed to the Americans. They give their sports teams intimidating names like The Giants, The Broncos, and The Bulls, designed to portray an image of overwhelming strength and power. Here in England, we give our football teams nice cuddly nicknames like the Canaries, the Lilywhites, and the Owls, all of which sound about as intimidating as as baby bunny. Read on here.

1998 – Phil Babb Wipes Out

EVERY once in a while in football, something happens which transcends club allegiances, even if it is only for a moment.

Occasionally a sublime piece of skill, a spectacular goal, or just a magnificent performance can earn praise and applause from even the opposition fans.

It was on this day in 1998 that fans everywhere were all grimacing together, regardless of club when Liverpool defender Phil Babb clattered into the goal post with his legs either side of it. Cross your legs and click here to read the full story.

No matter how many times you see it, it still makes you grimace.

September 3 – Walking in a Robson Wonderland and Euro Sceptics

Uncle Bobby returns home as Europe’s big-wigs look further afield in today’s OTFD round up.

1999 – Walking in a Robson Wonderland

IT is fair to say that Freddy Shepherd is not everyone’s cup of tea, or bottle of Brown Ale for that matter. The former Newcastle chairman probably did the best thing for relations between himself and the Geordie faithful by selling his stake in the club earlier this year, and stepping down as chairman.

Whether it was calling Geordie women “dogs”, ridiculing club legend Alan Shearer as the “Mary Poppins of football,” or even laughing at Newcastle’s own fans for shelling out vast amounts of money for replica shirts, Shepherd was not what you would call a people’s chairman.

It was on this day in 1999 when Shepherd made one of his better decisions when he appointed fellow Geordie Bobby Robson as manager. Click here for the whole story.

1998 – Euro Sceptics

A LONG time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

It is a period of civil war. Rebel football clubs, meeting at a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Uefa Empire. During the battle, Uefa spies managed to see secret plans for the Rebel’s new European Super League, a new continent-wide league with enough power to destroy Uefa and domestic leagues. Pursued by the Uefa’s sinister agents, a mysterious man named Rodolfo Hecht races across Europe, custodian of the secret plans that could change football forever in the galaxy….

Strained Star Wars analogies aside, today in 1998 saw some of Europe’s top clubs meeting to discuss the possibility of starting a breakaway European Super League, outside of the control of Uefa. Click here for the whole story.

Europe’s big teams were up for a bit of this every week.

September 2 – It Started With Le Tiss and Stadia Mania

Two of England’s iconic stadiums open and Le Tiss takes a bow in today’s look through the OTFD vaults.

1986 – It Started With Le TIss

THE word ‘legend’ gets bandied around a lot these days, often unjustly. But today’s subject surely qualifies on more than one count.

It was on this day in 1986 that Matt Le Tissier made his Southampton debut at the Dell against a Tottenham side that included Matt’s own boyhood hero Glenn Hoddle – not the first time their paths would cross. Saints won the match 2-0 and although Matt himself didn’t score, it was not long before he was off the mark, scoring against Manchester United later in the year. Click here for the whole story.

1889/1899 – Stadia Mania

IF, like us here at OTFD you were watching Sky Sports News until the wee hours getting far too over excited as the transfer window slammed shut last night, then here’s a more serene story, as we go back to look at the opening of two classic Archibald Leitch stadiums that share a birthday. Read all about it here.

Le God.

September 1 – An Addiction is Born and Heskey Makes it Five!

Sven’s finest hour in the England dug-out and a pair of Everton fans try and ruin everyone’s life.

1992 – An Addiction is Born

Brothers Paul and Oliver Collyer have got a lot to answer for. Exams have been failed, relationships have ended and social lives ruined thanks to them. On this day in 1992 they unleashed the first edition of Championship Manager, the annoyingly addictive football simulation computer game. Read all about it here.

2001 – And Heskey Makes it Five!

FAR too many times on this website we’ve had to tell you about a shambolic/frustrating/heroic England defeat, so we thought it was time that we’d look at one of their better days at the office.

Today in 2001 there was no penalty heartache, no silly red cards, no broken metatarsals and no dodgy keepers, just a 5-1 win over Germany at the Olympiastadion in Munich. Click here for the whole story.

There’s no pain quite like that of losing at Championship/Football Manager