August 1 – Second-Choice Steve In and Happy Birthday David James

Two of the reasons why the English public were spared penalty heartache in the summer of 2008…

2006 – Second-Choice Steve Succeeds Sven

TODAY in 2006 England fans were asking “is that the best we can do?”, as Steve McClaren turned up for work at Soho Square for the first time after replacing Sven Goran Eriksson as England boss. Read all about the sorry mess here…

1970 – Many Happy Returns Calamity James

They say you have to be mad to be a goalkeeper; you spend most of the game standing around on your own, taking abuse from the opposing supporters behind you, and every mistake you make costs your team a goal.

With all that standing around watching the game play out in front of you, it is perhaps not surprising that most keepers are prone to the odd lapse in concentration when they are called upon to actually do something.

Some are of course more prone than others, but on an unrelated matter it was on this day in 1970 that hair-obsessed custodian David James was born. Read all about it…

This pair make a couple of appearances in our new book, England: On This Day, so click here to preorder your copy.