July 9 – Zizou Signs for Real

June 27, 2001: Juventus cheif executive Antonio tells Gazetta dello Sport star midfielder Zinedine Zidane is not going anywhere. “It’s not a question of figures. Zidane is not on the market because he has signed a five-year contract with us,” he said. “He’s an important man and we’re proud to have signed him when he was a promising player at Bordeaux for £2.25m.”

And his agent Alain Migliaccio conceded: “If Juve doesn’t want it Zidane won’t leave.”

On this day, just 12 days after Juve’s emphatic denial, Zinedine Zidane joined Real Madrid for £45.8m, making him the most expensive player in the history of football at that time.

“It is a great honour to come here to this great club,” Zidane said at Real’s presentation, before being handed the club’s famous all-white shirt by the club’s honorary president Di Stefano.

“I think that after five years at Juventus it was the right time to make a move and I hope that I will be able to do as well if not better than I did at Juventus.”

The Frenchman was club president Florentino Perez’s second ‘galactico’ signing after Luis Figo the year before, and the following summer the original Ronaldo also joined as Perez went on a spending spree that was unprecedented at the time.

Perez said: “Real Madrid was recently voted the best club in the world by Fifa and for that we must have the best players in the world.

“Zidane is one of those and we have no doubt that he will shine even more in Madrid than previously.”

He added: “Next year we want a great team for our centenary so that the fans can be both entertained and enjoy the football.

“We are building the Real Madrid of the 21st century. The arrival of Zidane is good for all Spanish fans who have the right to see the best players so that the Spanish league can be the best league in Europe.

“We are all happy, including the player, that Zidane is here and joining the great family that is Real Madrid.”

Perez and the Madrid fans were even happier at the 2002 European Cup Final when the investment in Zidane at least partially paid off when he struck the winner to give Real the trophy in their centenary season.

Zizou spent five seasons at the Bernabeu and also won La Liga in his time with the Spanish giants before he bowed, or butted, out from football altogether in 2006 – coincidentally, also on this day.

AND IT’S GOODBYE FROM US

Well folks, after two years and more than 700 articles on football’s glorious and sometimes not-so-glorious history, we are going to take a break for the moment. Our content will still be available to search through if you want to look up your club or favourite player and see what we have on them (Newcastle fans – we have loads!), and we have some other ideas about fresh football-based fun we might be bringing you soon.

In the meantime, thanks for visiting and reading our ramblings everyday, without that we may as well have been sitting in the pub telling each other these tales.

Enjoy the summer, and we hope that next season your club gets promoted, doesn’t get relegated, wins the FA Cup/European Cup/Johnstone’s Paint Trophy or just avoids going bust.

We’ll leave you with one of our favourite football quotes ever, and surprising, it’s not from OTFD favourite Kevin Keegan. Instead we turn to the wise words of former Partick Thistle manager John Lambie. George Shaw, one of Lambie’s strikers, collided with an opposition player and was knocked out cold. When he came round the trainer said to the manager: “Boss he’s got concussion, he doesn’t know who he is.” Lambie replied: “Tell him he’s Pele and send him back on.”

Rob and Joe
OTFD
July 2009.

July 8 – West Germany win Italia 90

ON this day in 1990 the biggest football match on earth, the World Cup Final, was played in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Just as four years previously at Mexico 86, Argentina faced West Germany, who had got past England on penalties in the semi-final to reach the show piece game.

While Italia 90 had plenty of great moments and enduring images, it had very few goals and with just a 2.21 goal-per-game average it is also the lowest scoring World Cup tournament in history.

Sadly, the final was in the same vein and never really got going, eventually being decided by just the one goal. Maradona, the hero of 1986 for Argentina, was no longer his win-a-match-single-handed old self and despite plenty of support from the Italian fans who worshipped him when playing for Napoli, he was not the same force he had been in Mexico.

After a pretty poor match it fell to Andreas Brehme to score the winner after 85 minutes from the penalty spot for the Germans to avenge their defeat four years earlier. And just when some excitement was threatening to break out with extra time or even a shoot-out. Spoil sport.

Still, for stat fans everywhere, the 1990 final did have a couple of ‘firsts’. When Pedro Monzón was sent off after 64 minutes he became the first player ever to see red in the World Cup Final.

He was followed shortly afterwards by his compatriot Gustavo Dezotti who was given a second yellow just three minutes from time.

ANother sorry stat for the Argentines was the fact that they became the first finalists not to score in the big game.

The Germans were managed by Der Kaiser himself Franz Beckenbauer. He became one of two men (with Mario Zagallo) to have won the Cup as player and as coach, and the only man to have won the title as team captain as well as coach.

Have a look at the key moments below, or check this out for one of the most shocking fouls and refereeing decisions in World Cup history.

July 5 – Chelsea Splurge £10m on Sutton

THE only time the Premier League title has been wrestled away from one of the ‘Big Four’ clubs was of course when Blackburn Rovers won it in 1995.

One of the reasons they were able to do it was the prolific strike partnership of Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton, both signed for record fees from Southampton and Norwich respectively.

Sutton scored 15 Premiership goals that season as his ‘SAS’ striek duo ran defences ragged up and down the country.

But the following season was a complete contrast for Sutton as he failed to score even one league goal and had a succession of injuries.

In 1996 he lost his strike partner when Alan Shearer left for Newcastle in a £15m deal, and on this day in 1999 Sutton got his own big money move when he signed for Chelsea for £10m.

“It’s very important coming to Chelsea now,” said Sutton. “There was a feeling about the place when I first joined Blackburn five years ago and there’s a similar one here.

“I was keen to get signed as quickly as possible. Chelsea have got some very experienced players and hopefully I can blend in here.”

In a reference to revered Chelsea forwards like Peter Osgood and Charlie Cooke, Sutton said: “There’s been many cult figures over the years and I just hope I can emulate those who have come here. This is a new start for me. I couldn’t have come to a better club.”

Chelsea boss Gianluca Vialli said: “He can be a tough player on the pitch, which is something sometimes that we missed last season and he’s got a great personality.

“Sutton is not a cheap player – £10 million is a lot of money – but I think sometimes you have to spend money if you want to improve the team. When Casiraghi got injured we were playing great football, but sometimes we were not scoring enough goals and I think we were lacking some aerial ability.”

At Blackburn, the chief executive John Williams said Rovers had been “determined to secure the best possible financial deal for the club. We now feel we have achieved that goal, the £10 million doubling the then British record fee we paid to Norwich City for the player some five years ago.”

The move would turn out to be a shrewd one . . . for Blackburn. Sutton never looked at ease in the Chelsea team, or with his massive price tag and it soon became a millstone around his neck as he struggled in the team. In 28 appearances for the Blues that season he scored just one solitary league goal.

Chelsea decided to cut their losses on him and amazingly found a club willing to pay £6m for him in the summer of 2000 when Celtic took him to Glasgow.

He had a much happier time north of the border and the goals started to come back. In 2004 he was even voted SPFA Player of the Year. But he will always be remembered by the Stamford Bridge faithful as a £10m flop.

Given that his best moments in a Chelsea shirt were few and far between, we’ll leave you with some footage of his time with Celtic. Until next time folks….

July 4 – The Miracle of Berne

THE legendary Mighty Magyars Hungary team of the 1950s was undoubtedly the best team in the world. They had come to England and humiliated the hosts in their own backyard, tearing the Three Lions apart 6-3 at Wembley.

In the return leg, they won 7-1 just to prove it was no fluke.

They went into the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland as heavy favourites for the crown and they marched through the early group games with ease, and disposed of Brazil and Uruguay in the quarter and semi-finals respectively to reach the final, on this day.

Waiting for them was West Germany. The Hungarians had already beaten the Germans 8-3 in the group game, but not needing to win, the Germans had fielded a reserve side. The result lulled the Hungarians into a massive false sense of security over the true strength of the German team.

Even so, the Magyars were still expected to turn the Germans over with relative ease, and it looked like it would become embarrassing for the Germans when Ferenc Puskas, playing despite not being fully fit, and Zoltán Czibor put the Magyars 2-0 up in the opening eight minutes.

But then the Germans hit back and were level before 20 minutes had been played. The two sides went in for half time at 2-2.

After the break the Hungarians poured forward looking for the winner, but each time they were foiled by the German defence, especially goalkeeper Toni Turek who pulled off a series of excellent saves.

With six minutes left and the Hungarians still desperately trying to score, the Germans produced a sucker-punch when Helmut Rahn scored from 20 yards out.

Puskas thought he had equalised just two minutes from time but the goal was ruled out for offisde.

The Germans held on to win and seal one of the biggest upsets in international football. So stunned were the Germans they still call the match ‘the miracle of berne’.

Much like Kenneth Wolstenholme 12 years later, commentator Herbert Zimmermann captured the moment perfectly and became something of a celebrity in his own right. “Call me crazy, call me nuts! Rahn has to shoot from the background, Rahn shoots – goal, goal, goal! Over! Over! Over! The game is over! Germany are World Champions, beat Hungary 3-2!”

More tomorrow folks, so keep it real, keep it OTFD.

July 1 – England Tame the Lions (Just)

ALTHOUGH Italia 90 is remembered by England fans for the progress to the last four and then penalty heartbreak (again), it was actually quite a low-scoring tournament in an era when organised, defensive football was coming into fashion.

One team in the competition eschewed these virtues like no other and on this day, Cameroon played out perhaps the best match of the finals with England.

Their World Cup story was already a fairy tale, with 38-year-old veteran Roger Milla at it’s heart. Having stunned the World Champions Argentina by beating them in their opening match, the Indomitable Lions also picked off Romania and Columbia (both 2-1) to earn their place in the last eight.

Meanwhile England had scraped through, helped by a late, late show by David Platt against Belgium in the previous match.

After an early chance for Francois Omam, the African team began to dominate but then in the 25th minute, against the run of play England opened the scoring – a bullet header from David Platt from a Stuart Pearce cross.

The match got to half time with no further goals and all the fans wondering when they would see goal-hero Milla. They didn’t have to wait long. He came on after the break and with an hour played he won a penalty. Emmanuel Kunde dispatched it. 1-1.

Now they had the momentum and were soon in front, Milla setting up Eugene Ekeke for 2-1. And how they deserved it.

But England were not done yet and with seven minutes left Gary Lineker came to the rescue again and scored a penalty to take the match into extra time.

In the 105th minute, joy for England and heartbreak for Cameroon when they conceded another penalty and Lineker made no mistake from the spot.

By now the Africans were spent and simply did not have the legs to have another go at England. The Three Lions were through to the semis, the Indomitable Lions had just enough energy in them at the final whistle to do a lap of the stadium as the crowd voiced their appreciation for the most exciting team of the tournament.

England boss Bobby Robson, who had apparently been told by his scouts before the match that Cameroon would pose no threat and that he basically had a bye into the semis, said: “Everybody had a bit of sympathy for Cameroon today – I know I did. We got in front with a good goal, a wonderful goal, but at the time they were the better team. And when they went ahead they were the better team. But we pulled it out of the fire.”

Goal scorer David Platt added: “It was a difficult game – they were strong and athletic, although tactically naïve at times. We weren’t surprised by them because they had done very well but we did expect to win.”

June 30 – Euro 96 Final

“Germany against England was the real final of Euro 96. That is why the competition now seems over even though the last game is still to come.” The words of Der Kaiser himself, Franz Beckenbauer.

But it wasn’t over and whatever Germany fans might have thought about the trophy being theirs to lose after dispatching England in the semi-final, they still had to actually go and beat the impressive Czech Republic, who had got to the final in their first Euros since the breakup of Czechoslovakia.

The two teams lined up at Wembley on this day in a match that, as Beckenbauer said, felt like something of an anticlimax after the latest chapter of the England/Germany rivalry.

After a goalless first hlf, it was the underdog Czechs who drew first blood when Patrick Berger converted a penalty with an hour played.

They held on to the lead for less than a quarter of an hour and with just minutes remaining Bierhoff equalised for the Germans.

The teams could not be separated in 90 minutes and so the match went into extra time. On this occasion however, the Germans had no need for their legendary nerves of steel in penalty shoot-outs, as Oliver Bierhoff scored again to win the match, and the tournament, with a golden goal just five minutes in to the extra period. It was the first time a golden goal had been scored in any major tournament and it handed the Germans a third European Championship trophy.

If you’re English, there’s a good chance you couldn’t bring yourself to watch the match so have a look at the key moments below. If you’re German, you’ve almost certainly seen the goals before, but it never hurts to have another look does it?

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Guess what England fans? This was also the day of yet another heartbreaking defeat in a major tournament for the Three Lions! Read all about it right here you lucky old lot.

June 27 – Zola’s Golden Chair

FOOTBALL is supposed to be a team game, but being human, we can’t help but single people out even within the team.

There always has to be a man of the match and even after a 20-pass move with 10 players that ended in a simple tap in for the striker, it is the goal scorer who gets the plaudits.

Then there are the individual awards. Player of the season, for club, league, country etc, and then the really big hitters like the Ballon d’Or or the Golden Boot at the World Cup.

Today in 1999 former Chelsea favourite Gianfranco Zola was celebrating when he was the recipient of the one of the daftest-named awards in football, nay the world.

The pocket-sized Italian was the proud winner of the prestigious Golden Chair award. No, that is not the Wycombe Wanderers player of the year award, but rather the gong handed out to the best Italian footballer playing abroad and so-called because it is sponsored by firms in the northeast of Italy who produce most of Europe’s chairs. How brilliantly random. Italy’s top overseas stars better hope the award sponsorship deal is never taken on by a toilet manufacturer or a purveyor of manure.

A panel of judges declared the top 10 as: 1 Gianfranco Zola (Chelsea), 2 Benito Carbone (Sheffield Wednesday), 3 Lorenzo Amoruso (Rangers), 4 Fabrizio Ravanelli (Marseille), 5 Gianluca Vialli (Chelsea), 6 Amedeo Carboni (Valencia), 7 Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea), 8 Michele Serena (Atletico Madrid), 9 Gianluca Festa (Middlesbrough), 10 Marco Simone (Paris St Germain).

Zola arrived in England in 1996 from Parma and was an immediate hit with the Chelsea faithful, and even helped them win the FA Cup in his debut season, with a memorable goal against Liverpool as Chelsea came from 2-0 down to win 4-2.

In his seven years at Stamford Bridge Zola’s sublime skill and cartoon-sized smile won him the hearts of the supporters who, in 2003, voted him the best ever Chelsea player.

Sadly, we have not been able to find out whether Franco received an actual golden chair as part of his prize, or whether he has now installed said chair behind his desk in the managers office at Upton Park, but if he has (and we’d like to imagine that he has) perhaps he sits back in it and contemplates some of his best moments like these:

Of course now he his making a name for himself across the capital in East London as a bright managerial prospect, much as this man once was in Yorkshire. We’ll have more for you tomorrow sports fans, so check it out.

June 26 – In the last minute of extra time!

OH the eternal and inevitable disappointment of being a football fan. Does it never end? Well, not really, or if it does, only very occasionally. Football is designed in such a way that almost all fans of almost every club end every season in disappointment – that’s what happens when you have 92 league clubs and only three domestic trophies anybody’s heard of, it means at least 89 clubs will end the season having won nothing. How typical of football.

For your international side the prospects are even worse, with only one chance every two years of winning anything. And even then the chances are tiny. No wonder we football fans are a melancholy lot.

And yet. We still love it. We still come back for more, time and again, knowing that the chances of failure far outweigh the chances of success. Why? Because just occasionally, very occasionally, something goes right, and precisely because of all the years of struggle and underachievement it feels amazing.

As a football fan you are supposed to suffer years and years of struggle and disappointment – it’s the only thing that makes winning every once in a while so good. That’s why you should never trust a Manchester United or Brazil fan. They don’t know what it’s like for the rest of us.

Today it is our pleasure here at OTFD to remind you of one of those days when it went right, for England fans at least. If you are Belgium you might want to look away now.

Today in 1990 England faced Belgium in Bologna, a place in the World Cup quarter-finals at stake. In the first half the Belgians seemed to have the edge as England looked a little off colour but as the break was looming the Three Lions got into gear and both Gary Lineker and John Barnes had goals disallowed, both marginal (wrong) calls.

The game hotted up in the second half as both sides pressed for a goal but it was Belgium who seemed to carry the greater threat as 90 minutes approached.

With no goals the game went to extra time and as so often happens, the pace slowed right down as the players on both sides tired and began to feel niggles and knocks all the more.

With the clock at 118 minutes and a penalty shoot-out just two minutes away, Paul Gascoigne went on one last run from midfield. Eric Gerets tracked him before bringing him down with the sort of tired challenge you see after such a long game.

Gazza chipped the ball into the area but it looked fairly harmless as it fell over David Platt’s shoulder but he somehow managed to turn with the ball to send a magnificent right footed volley back across goal and inside the far post.

Pandemonium. England had done it, as the commentator said, “in the last minute of extra time!” The players went mental, the fans went crazy, and even Bobby Robson did a little dance on the touchline.

It was sport at it’s dramatic best, especially if you were an England fan and more used to being on the wrong end of such results.

Of course, being England, there would be heartbreak before the tournament was out, but for a time, it was a glorious night to be an England fan, and those are all too rare.

Usually, being an England fan is more about this. More tomorrow folks, so until then, be cool and stay in school.

June 23 – Gaffer Idol

IT seems that no TV programme today is complete with a public vote to decide the outcome. How long until the likes of Eastenders have to film two alternative endings to each show so the public can vote which way it should go. “Text ‘MURDER’ to 61188 if you want to see Phil shoot Ian Beale in his chip shop, or text ‘EARRINGS’ if you want to see Pat doling out some useful grounded advice to Ricky.”

Even football is not immune. Last year we had Ebbsfleet United taken over by the thousands of members of MyFootballClub.com who now vote online for important decisions like new signings. But Ebbsfleet were beaten to the public vote thang but Luton Town.

Today in 2003 the new owner of the Hatters, the shady John Gurney, conducted a bizarre telephone vote to decide on the new manager of the club.

Gurney had sacked the previous incumbent, the popular Joe Kinnear and his assistant Mick Harford upon taking the club over – a move that left most fans furious and bewildered.

When the votes were counted, the recently-sacked Hartlepool manager Mike Newell was announced as the winner, having beaten Kinnear by just four votes.

“The vote was much closer than we anticipated,” said Gurney. “I would now make an appeal for anyone connected the club to get behind the club.”

Newell said: “The supporters will have a big say in this club and I’ve got to win them over. The only way you do that is with results.

“But I not only have to win over the supporters, I have to win over the players as well. I can only do that by being honest with them and proving I’m capable of doing the job.”

It then emerged that the players had held a separate vote in which they backed Kinnear to return. Newell responded: added: “I think it’s a natural thing for the players to have stayed loyal to Joe and I understand that fully.

“I think if the same thing had happened to me at Hartlepool I would have been guaranteed the players’ vote as well.”

But, as we’ve learned to expect from public votes, there was something afoot. For a start, Newell was very much the outsider, with Kinnear expected to easily win the telephone vote after garnering a lot of support during his time as manager at the club, not least among fans who were unhappy at the way he was sacked.

Even allowing for malicious Watford fans backing Newell in the vote it seemed odd that the rank outsider had beaten the heavily fancies favourite. There were also suggestions that Newell had ben offered – and signed – a contract before the results were in.

But, such is football with its twists and turns, whether the vote was rigged or not, it turned out to be a pretty good appointment for the Kenilworth Road club.

Despite off-field and financial problems Newell steadied the ship in his first season, and then took the club up as champions the following term. He followed that up by finishing an excellent tenth place in his first season in the Championship before an increasingly loose-cannon mouth and a down turn in results got him the sack.

Still, it was a novel way to appoint a manager, but we wouldn’t want Simon Cowell or John Gurney near our club.

Also on this day, the Scots were taking a leaf out of England’s book with a heroic World Cup failure. More tomorrow folks, so keep it OTFD. And real. Obviously.

June 22 – Psycho’s Penalty Passion

ENGLAND and penalty shoot-outs go together about as well as Newcastle United and Mike Ashley. It’s fair to say England have one of the worst records in the wretched things of all the major football nations.

Since they were adopted as a way of deciding a winner by both Fifa and Uefa in the 1970s, England have lost five games at major tournaments (and thus been knocked out) because of their inability to score from 12 yards.

The Three Lions have only ever won one penalty shoot-out in a major competition: against Spain in the quarter-finals of Euro 96 at Wembley on this day.

England had gone into the game expected to sweep past the Spaniards, having destroyed Holland 4-1 in their previous match.

Spain were not the force they are now but England could not find a way past them in 120 minutes of football and with the score at 0-0 after extra time, the dreaded shoot-out followed.

Alan Shearer and David Platt both scored theirs, while Fernando Hierro missed his. Next up for England was Stuart Pearce. Psycho had been one of the players whose spot-kick was saved in the defeat to Germany in the 1990 World Cup semi-final in Italy, yet he didn’t hesitate for a moment before volunteering to do his duty.

The whole of England held their breath as he ran up to the ball and then buried it in the back of the net. His reaction was one of the most enduring images of the competition as he punched the air in angry celebration, sex years of hurt finally exorcised.

Miguel Nadal (uncle to Rafa Nadal) missed his kick while Gazza scored and for once, England had done it, and won a penalty shoot-out.

Sadly another one would follow in the next game, the semi-final to you-know-who when Pearce again scored but Gareth Southgate was not so lucky.

Also on this day, it seems some international players could still do with a refresher on the rules of football. More from us tomorrow, so see you then.