September 11 – FA Cup Stolen and the Long and Winding Road to Wembley

England’s most famous trophy is pinched and Australia gets involved with Wembley: delays ensue.

ANYONE who watched the 2001 FA Cup final will know that Michael Owen and Liverpool robbed Arsenal of victory in the competition that year, but even the Scousers went to the trouble of playing the match to get their hands on the trophy.

It seems that not everyone can be bothered with the whole rigmarole of actually winning the cup because it was on this day in 1895 that the FA Cup trophy itself was half-inched. Find out more here.

2000 – Tie Me Stadium Down Sport

ANYONE who has seen Wembley’s stunning giant arch spanning across north London cannot fail to be impressed by the sight. The finished stadium may be impressive, but the journey to get there was like trying to drive across Siberia in an old Lada that keeps breaking down, with bandits shooting at you, while chucking bundles of £50 notes out of the window the whole way. In short, the whole thing was a bloody nightmare with more delays than the Millennium Dome, and just as many set backs.

It all started on this day in 2000 when Australian firm Multiplex signed the deal to build the new stadium for a maximum cost of £326.5m, with the, in hindsight laughably ambitious target of the 2003 FA Cup final as the opening match. Read the full, long, long story here.

Match – the magazine we all grew up with – gives us a tour of the home of English football.