October 24 – Pizzagate and The Oldest Club in the World

The story of the world’s oldest football club and Arsenal and Manchester United find all-new ways to upset each other.

1857 – The Oldest Club in the World

WHEN your team’s nickname is simply ‘The Club’, you’ve got to have a bit of history to back it up. And history is one thing that Sheffield FC have more of than anyone else, as they are the world’s oldest club, established today in 1857. Read more here.

2004 – Pizzagate

OVER the seventeen seasons since the inception of the Premier League one clash has regularly stood above the rest. Whether it’s tunnel bust-ups, on-the-pitch brawls or Martin Keown’s goading, Manchester United and Arsenal clashes are always entertaining.

Today in 2004 the two rivals served up another tasty clash that took the animosity between them to new, evermore amusing levels: a food fight! Click here for the whole story.

Sadly we’ve only got the on-the-pitch action for you.

October 23 – The Stars Come Out For The FA’s Centenary and Kanu Believe It!

Kanu leaves it late and the FA get their telegram from the Queen in today’s round up.

1999 – Kanu Believe It!

LAST season Liverpool may have monopolised the late comeback, but they haven’t yet left it quite so late as Arsenal did today in 1999. With 15 minutes left the Gunners were 2-0 down to rivals Chelsea and it was looking like all three points were lost. Read on here.

1963 – The Stars Come Out For The FA’s Centenary

HOW are your birthday plans coming on for this year? Night out on the town? Dinner party? Bet it won’t be as grand as when the FA celebrated reaching the grand old age of 100, as Sir Alf Ramsey’s England team took on the best of the rest at Wembley Stadium, today in 1963.
Click here to read all about it.

Kanu, 47, scores a beaut.

October 22 – Triple Vision and the Man in Black

It’s a family affair in Southampton and we celebrate the birth of one of the 20th century’s greatest ever ‘keepers in today’s trawl through the OTFD history books.

1929 – The Man in Black

SO who’s the greatest goalkeeper ever to play the game? Schmeichel? No, his nose was too red and he was rubbish on Strictly Come Dancing. Dino Zoff or Gianluigi Buffon? Nope, even you’d look good behind those Italian defences. Our vote goes to the Russian Lev Yashin who was born today in 1929. Read more here.

1988 – Triple Vision

SOUTHAMPTON FC was always described as a ‘family club’ but during the 1980s it was literally true as the Wallace brothers came up through the youth system into the first team. On this day in 1988 when all three of the brothers lined up for Southampton in a match against Sheffield Wednesday at the Dell which ended 1-1. Click here for the full story.

The Black Spider in full effect.

October 21 – Ugo’s in at Boro and Shepherd You Old Spoil-Sport

Bryan Robson’s spending hits £80m at Boro, while Freddie Shepard play’s hardball with the FA.

2000 – 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. Read more here.

2000 – Shepherd You Old Spoil-Sport

It was on this day in 2000 that one-time FA chief exec and current postman Adam Crozier decided that a 67-year-old man who could never remember his player’s names was the guy to buck England’s ideas up. Click here for the whole story.

Downfall riff number 2,080: Hitler’s not impressed with the potential return of Freddie Shepperd

October 20 – Keegan’s Revenge and Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting

Happy days at St James’ and a proper dust-up in today’s trip down memory lane.

1996 – 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’. Read more.

1990 – Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting

HERE at OTFD we believe that fighting isn’t big or clever and there’s no place for it on the football pitch. Yeah right. Nothing beats a good set of footballing handbags, which is exactly what happened at Old Trafford today in 1990 when Manchester United and Arsenal got stuck into each other. Click here for the full story.

Manchester United fans look away now.

October 19 – Norwich Stun Bayern and ‘Remember the name: Wayne Rooney’

The Canaries are singing on the continent and a certain England striker announces his arrival.

2002 – ‘Remember the name: Wayne Rooney’

A FEW years ago now I turned up on a Saturday afternoon at Goodison Park expecting to see Arsenal outplay and certainly defeat a well organised and spirited, but nevertheless limited Everton team.

After going a goal down, the Toffeemen had managed to equalise through Tomasz Radzinksi and with ten minutes to go it looked like they were going to pull off a creditable draw against the gunners who were on a 30 match unbeaten run.

Cue 16-year-old Wayne Mark Rooney to enter stage left. Young Rooney was already being talked about on Merseyside as something a bit special but he was largely an unknown quantity elsewhere. Not for long, as it was on this day in 2002 that the Roondog scored his first Premier League goal. Click here for the full story.

1993 – 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. Read on here.

Seems a very long time ago now…

October 18 – Record Breaker and Haynes Passes Away

We pay tribute to a true legend of the game and north London’s finest va-va-vooms his way into the Arsenal record books in today’s rummage through the OTFD vaults.

2005 – Haynes Passes Away

TO get a mention here at OTFD, let alone your own entry, you have to fulfil certain criteria. You must have had some impact on the world of football, and either been truly exceptional, truly awful, or just truly funny.

Today’s subject was an exceptional player, but his impact on the game went way beyond his footballing talent.

It was on this day in 2005 that Johnny Haynes, latterly of Fulham and England, died aged 71, following a road accident the previous day. Read the full story here.

2005 – 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. Click here for the whole story.

Plenty more where these came from

October 17 – England Pole-Axed and Cash in the Attic

England get done by a clown and financial meltdown in Leeds, 80 years before Peter Ridsdale got involved with his goldfish.

1973 – England Pole-Axed

SEVEN years earlier, Sir Alf and his England side had been the toast of the nation, having reached football nirvana in the 1966 World Cup final. But today in 1973 was a different story, as England fell short in their attempts to qualify for the 1974 World Cup, as Poland held them to a 1-1 draw at Wembley. Read the full story here.

1919 – 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. Click here for the whole story.

The beginning of the end for Sir Alf.

October 16 – Same Old England and Messi Makes His Mark

The world’s best player makes his bow and the England cliche machine is in full effect in today’s OTFD round-up.

2004 – 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. Click here for more.

2002 – Same Old England

TODAY we’re looking at a game that encapsulates the frustration of following England. Dodgy goalkeeping error? Check. New player on the left? Check. Hot-head striker losing their rag when the tough gets going? Check. Failure to beat one of international football’s minnows? Check. Back in 2002 it was the turn of Macedonia to frustrate England as they held them to a 2-2 draw at St. Mary’s. Read on here.

Safe to say he’s kicked on a bit since his debut.

October 15 – Cloughy Quits Derby and Stan the Man

Ego’s abound at the Baseball Ground as Stan stumbles in today’s trip down memory lane.

1999 – Stan the Man

Stan the Man Collymore has seen the highs of playing for Liverpool and England and the lows of tabloid stories about his relationship with Ulrika Jonsson and his fondness for car parks.

It was on this day in 1999 however that a reluctant Stan was forced to crawl back to Villa after a loan spell at Fulham did not turn into a permanent deal. Click here for the whole story.

1973 – 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. Read the full story.

We miss Ol’ Big ‘Ead.