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Those 9 matches...
What it is with us not ever seemingly
wanting to be part of Europe? The European Cup made its
debut in the 1955/56 and League champions Chelsea were drawn to play
Djurgårdens of Sweden in the opening round of the new competition. However, after strong objections from the Football League
Chelsea withdrew from the competition and were replaced by the Poles of
Gwardia Waraw. So the honour of becoming the first English side to play in
the European Cup went to Manchester United who were drawn against the
champions of Belgium, Anderlecht, in the Preliminary Round of the
1956/57 tournament. And those present at the first European Cup match
played on English soil - on Wednesday 26th September 1956 at Manchester
City's Maine Road ground (Old Trafford didn't have floodlights in
those days) must surely have wondered what all
the fuss was about. A newspaper match report described the first half: 'After
eight minutes came the first goal when Byrne sent a short volley to Pegg;
the winger beat two men, found the by-line and there was Taylor to flash
home a header like a bullet and send a spray of rain into the sky as the
white ball hit the net. From then on it became increasingly all United and
in the last 20 minutes before half-time four more goals came as United
played in an ecstasy.' United's team - who had an average age of just
22 - went on to win the match 10-0 and the tie 12-0. Never again have they
managed double figures in a single match in Europe.
Wednesday September 26th 1956,
European Cup Preliminary Round Second Leg
Manchester United 10 Anderlecht (Belgium) 0
Attendance: 43,635 (played at Maine Road, Manchester City FC)
Team: Wood; Foulkes, Byrne; Colman, Jones, Edwards; Berry, Whelan,
Taylor, Viollet, Pegg.
Goalscorers: Taylor 3, Viollet 4, Whelan 2, Berry.
*********
 If
there was a prize for the biggest shock in Football League history I think
that Ipswich Town winning the League Championship in 1961/62 must surely
be up there with a good shout of winning. The season before Spurs had
swept all before them by becoming the first club in the 20th Century to
win the League and FA Cup double. The next time round though the title
went to a club from deepest Suffolk who were playing their first season in
the top flight and in fact only their 17th season in the Football League.
Ably managed by one Alf Ramsey and a regular supply of goals from
Ray Crawford and Ted Phillips (they scored 61 of the 93 League goals
netted) they took the title with three points to spare. Ipswich drew
Floriana as their first European opponents the following season and with the Maltese champions
having been beaten 10-2 away to
Újpesti Dózsa in the ECWC in 1961/62 they were not expected to provide too
strong an opposition. Ipswich duly won 4-1 in Malta and at Portman Road
Ipswich repeated what Manchester United had achieved six years earlier in
their first home European tie. Ipswich won 10-0, Ray Crawford scored five
goals, but the Ipswich fans - a little bored by the one-way traffic -
reserved the biggest cheers for underdogs Floriana who played the game in the right spirit
and even had one 'goal' disallowed for offside.
It was downhill then on for Ipswich. There was no
disgrace losing in the next round to AC Milan, who went on to win the
trophy at Wembley in 1962/63, but the Suffolk side finished the season just above a
relegation spot. In 1963/64 though, after Alf Ramsey had moved to the
England job, Ipswich were relegated and suffered a 10-goal beating of
their own, against Fulham in the League
(10 goals in League
matches). Several years later one of the victorious Ipswich
team against Floriana, Ted Phillips, managed the Maltese club.
Tuesday September 25th 1962,
European Cup Preliminary Round Second Leg
Ipswich Town 10 Floriana (Malta) 0
Attendance: 25,287
Team: Bailey; Compton, Baxter,
Elsworthy, Stephenson, Moran, Crawford, Phillips, Malcolm, Blackwood,
Laurel.
Goalscorers: Crawford 5, Moran 2, Phillips 2, Elsworthy.
*********
 Sometimes
managers do get it dead right and perhaps wished they hadn't! Before this
European Fairs Cup match in 1969 Dundalk's manager Liam Tuohy said that there was
a ten goal difference in class between the two teams. And so it proved.
The opening goal came in the first minute, from Alun Evans, and others
followed steadily. Chris Lawler, Tommy Smith, Bobby Graham and Evans again
made it 5-0 at half time and another five followed in the second half
through Alec Lindsay (on his first team debut), Tommy Smith, Peter
Thompson, Ian Callaghan and Bobby Graham.
No-one would have argued with the report in the Liverpool Echo which said
'Dundalk were hopelessly outclassed,
out-paced, in fact out-everythinged. It wasn’t so much a football match as
an exhibition of torture by Liverpool.’
Until Strømsgodset came visiting five years later that
victory was to be Liverpool's record score and the match was also notable
as future manager Gerard Houllier's first
visit to Anfield. He watched the match from the Kop. Liverpool scored another
four, without replay, in the second leg but must have wished they had kept
just one of those 14 goals for the second round where they lost to
Vitória Setúbal of Portugal on the away goals rule.
Tuesday September 16th
1969, European Fairs Cup First Round First Leg
Liverpool 10 Dundalk (Republic of Ireland) 0
Attendance: 32,656
Team: Clemence; Lawler, Strong, Smith, Yeats, Hughes, Callaghan,
Graham, Lindsay, Evans, Thompson.
Goalscorers: Evans 2, Lawler, Smith 2, Graham 2, Lindsay, Thompson,
Callaghan.
*********
 Leeds
United came close to scoring double figures in a European match in the
1967/68 season when up against Spora Luxembourg in the Fairs Cup. After
winning 9-0 in Luxembourg - still the best away victory by a League side
in European competition and then a record high score for Leeds - they
'only' managed a 7-0 win in the return match at Elland Road. However in September
1969, the day after Liverpool had scored 10 in a Fairs Cup match, Leeds
finally scored 10 goals of their own in their first ever match in the
European Cup. The Norwegian
champions Lyn Oslo had not been expected to provide tough opposition and
after just 35 seconds that became apparent with Mike O'Grady scoring the
first for Leeds. The Lyn goalkeeper Sven Olsen had only arrived at Elland
Road half an hour before kick off and must have wondered if he should have
turned up at all - it was 3-0 after nine minutes, 5-0 at half time and
9-0 after 65 minutes. Then Leeds had an anxious wait before they reached
double-figures and with just a couple of minutes remaining Billy Bremner
scored the tenth and set a new goalscoring record for the League
champions.
Wednesday September 17th 1969,
European Cup First Round First Leg
Leeds United 10 Lyn Oslo (Norway) 0
Attendance: 25,979
Team: Sprake; Reaney, Cooper, Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, Madeley,
Clarke, Jones, Giles (sub: Bates), O'Grady.
Goalscorers: O'Grady, Jones 3, Clarke 2, Giles 2, Bremner 2
*********
 To
play only two matches in European competition and still set records is a
bit of an achievement, sadly for
Jeunesse
Hautcharage it's not something they will want to remember.
Unexpected winners of the Luxembourg Cup in 1970/71 they were drawn
against Chelsea in the first round of the 1971/72 European Cup Winners'
Cup. Perhaps in 1971 the Londoners weren't the accomplished European
maestros they later became but then they didn't need to be against
Jeunesse. Away from home they won 8-0 and then at Stamford Bridge they
recorded the Daddy of all scorelines recorded by League clubs in European
competitions - 13-0.
Two goals came from Peter Osgood in
the first six minutes. After 13 minutes it was 4-0 with goals from Alan
Hudson and John Hollins, a penalty, and it was 5-0 in the 22nd minute
following a clever back-header from David Webb. Then followed a quiet
period until a deflection off Peter Osgood made it 6-0 at the interval. A
cut eye saw Jeunesse 'keeper Lucien Fusulier receive three stitches during
the interval but there were no goals in the first 15 minutes of the second
half. Then Tommy Baldwin scored from a 20-yard shot followed two minutes
later by another from Peter Osgood and then followed another from Baldwin.
A big cheer went up for Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Bonetti when he touched
the ball for the first time in the second half in the 75th minute. Peter
Houseman made it 10-0, Osgood's fifth was 11-0, Tommy Baldwin's hat-trick
was 12-0 with lucky 13 for Chelsea being scored by Ron Harris.
The records? Thirteen goals is Chelsea's top score in a competitive match
and the aggregate of 21-0 is a record for any European competition,
although it was equalled by Feyenoord the following season against
Luxembourg side US Rumelange in the UEFA Cup. But it was not a record high for a single European match - that was recorded by
Sporting Lisbon in 1963/64 with a 16-1 ECWC home victory over APOEL
Nicosia of Cyprus The 17 goals in that match is also another record in
European competition. The Portuguese side only managed two goals in the away
leg against Apoel.
Wednesday September 29th 1971,
European Cup Winners Cup First Round Second Leg
Chelsea 13 Jeunesse
Hautcharage
(Luxembourg) 0
Attendance: 27,621
Team: Bonetti, Boyle, Harris, Hollins, Webb, Hinton, Cooke,
Baldwin, Osgood, Hudson, Houseman.
Goalscorers: Osgood 5, Hudson, Webb, Baldwin 3, Houseman, Hollins,
Harris
*********
 When it came to success in European football Bob
Paisley would become one the genuine greats in the years to come but no-one
present would forget the first European tie he had as manager of
Liverpool. OK,
Strømsgodset were never going to be the toughest of
opponents but Liverpool gave a clinical display which totally destroyed
the Norwegian part-timers in a European Cup Winners' Cup First Round
tie in 1974.
The first goal came after just 3 minutes following a foul on Tommy Smith
by
Strømsgodset keeper Inge Thun. The newspaper headline was doubtless then
written - THUN-DERSTRUCK - and a continuous stream of goals followed. It
was 5-0 at half-time and 8-0 with five minutes remaining before Tommy
Smith, Ian Callaghan and Ray Kennedy scored to take the total to double
figures and beyond. The 11-0 victory was - and still is - Liverpool's
record victory and amazingly nine Liverpool players scored goals. Brian
Hall was the only Liverpool outfield player not to get on the scoresheet.
A fortnight later Liverpool fielded an almost unchanged
side in the return fixture although Kevin Keegan was back for his first match after his Charity
Shield sending-off ban. Despite that a Ray Kennedy goal proved to be the
only one of a match. So 12-0 on aggregate but just as they did following
the victory against Dundalk they were beaten on away goals in the next
round, against Ferencváros of Hungary.
Tuesday September
17th 1974, European Cup Winners Cup First Round First Leg
Liverpool 11 Strømsgodset
(Norway) 0
Attendance: 24,743
Team: Clemence; Smith, Lindsay, Thompson, Cormack, Hughes, Boersma,
Hall, Heighway, Kennedy, Callaghan.
Goalscorers: Lindsay, Boersma 2, Thompson 2, Heighway, Cormack,
Hughes, Smith, Callaghan, Kennedy.
*********
 Derby County's previous match in Europe had
seen them lose a European Cup tie 5-1 away to Real Madrid after having won
the first leg 4-1 at the Baseball Ground. This time around though they
were not expecting that sort of challenge when paired with League of
Ireland side Finn Harps in a 1976/77 UEFA Cup First Round tie. Not that manager
Dave Mackay was taking the opposition lightly. Without a win in their
first five League matches of the season he gave his players a warning just
before the UEFA Cup match - 'I am giving them two games to prove their
worth and commitment. If they don't give me 100 per cent, there will be
changes.' Sadly for the Irish minnows Derby regained their form that
night. Kevin Hector scored the first of his five goals after just six
minutes with the Rams scoring 12 in the match including five goals in a
ten-minute spell. They followed up that record club victory with a 4-1
second leg win to progress 16-1 on aggregate. However they were to lose to
AEK Athens in the next round with Mackay losing his job soon afterwards.
Wednesday September 15th 1976, UEFA Cup
First Round First Leg
Derby County 12 Finn Harps (Republic of Ireland) 0
Attendance:
13,353
Team:
Moseley; Thomas, Nish, Rioch, McFarland, Todd
(sub: King), Macken, Gemmill, Hector, George, James.
Goalscorers: Hector 5, James 3, George 3, Rioch.
*********
 The
1980/81 season saw Liverpool win the European Cup for the third time and
for the third time score double figures in a European tie. Finnish minnows
Oulun
Palloseura were on the receiving end of the 10-goal walloping although the
Merseysiders did have their critics. Liverpool only managed a 1-1 draw in
the first leg in Finish against a side the newspapers described as being
of 'Fourth Division standard.' In the second leg at Anfield
Liverpool had a 4-0 lead at the break but amazingly the second half
started with a goal from the visitors, the only time a League side scoring
double figures in a European tie has let one in. And it came from a
Geordie - Keith Alexander scoring from a shot from the edge of the penalty
box. Normal service then resumed and Liverpool scored six in the second
half to win 10-1. A memorable moment came just two minutes from time when
Oulun sent on a 16-year-old substitute, Miika Juntunen - bless him he
didn't manage to touch the ball before the final whistle went!
Wednesday October 1st 1980, European Cup
First Round Second Leg
Liverpool 10 Oulun Palloseura (Finland) 1
Attendance:
21,013
Team: Clemence: Neal, Cohen, Thompson, R Kennedy, Hansen, Dalglish,
Lee, Fairclough, McDermott, Souness.
Goalscorers: Souness 3, McDermott 3, Lee, Kennedy. Fairclough 2
*********
 Not
many clubs can boast that their record victory was achieved in a
European tie. Fewer still that 8 different players scored goals in that
victory including an eleven minute hat-trick from a substitute, Ian Walsh. However that was achieved by
Welsh Cup holders Swansea City when they beat Sliema Wanderers 12-0 in an
ECWC First Round First Leg match played at the Vetch Field in September
1982. That
total was also the highest score by a Welsh side in any European match and
after Swansea won the second leg 5-0 a fortnight later in Malta the aggregate score
of 17-0 was another record for a Welsh side.
Wednesday September 15th
1982, European Cup Winners' Cup First Round First Leg
Swansea City 12 Sliema Wanderers (Malta) 0
Attendance: 5,130
Team: Davies: Marustik, Hadziabdic, Irwin, Kennedy, Rajkovic,
Loveridge (sub: L James), R James, Charles, Stevenson, Latchford (sub:
Walsh).
Goalscorers: Charles 2, Loveridge 2, Irwin, Latchford, Hadziabdic,
Walsh 3, Rajkovic, Stevenson.
*********
And Blackpool
deserve a special commendation for the 10 goals they scored against an
Italian side when defending a European trophy they had won the previous
season. Really, it happened! Blackpool won the Anglo-Italian Cup (it's a
European competition!) in 1971 and in their final group match in the 1972
tournament, on June 10th 1972, they beat Lanerossi Vicenza 10-0. That put
them into the final again although this time they suffered defeat, 3-1
against Roma in Rome.
*********
Last but not least to complete the
record of British clubs scoring double figures in a European tie three
Scottish sides have each scored 10 in ECWC home First Round ties -
Aberdeen 10-0 v KR Reykjavik in 1967/68, Dunfermline Athletic 10-1 against
APOEL Nicosia in 1968/69 and Rangers 10-0 against Valletta of Malta in
1983/84.
Two British sides have also been
beaten by double-figure scorelines in Europe over the years.
Crusaders of Northern Ireland lost 11-0 away to Dinamo Bucharest in
a European Cup 1st Round tie in 1973/74 while in Finland in 2011/12 HJK
Helsinki beat Bangor City of Wales 10-1 in a Champions League 2nd
qualifying round encounter.
**************
FA
Cup
As every anorak will know the record
score in the FA Cup is Preston North End 26 Hyde United 0. The First Round
tie was played at Deepdale on Saturday 15th October 1887 and has also
proved to be the highest score by any club in a senior match in England.
It seems a tad unfair but I guess that hardly anybody will have the
faintest idea of the second highest score in the FA Cup competition. That
honour goes to two clubs - Staveley who beat Sheffield Walkley 19-0
in a First Qualifying Round match in 1890 and Oswestry Town who beat
Badsey Rangers 19-3 in an Extra Preliminary Round tie in 1933.
*********
The FA Cup was a bit of an
international competition in its early days with clubs entering from
Ireland and Scotland as well as England and Wales. In one Third Round tie
in the 1886/87 season Northern Ireland's Cliftonville lost 11-0 at home to
Scotland's Partick Thistle.
On their way to the final in the
1883/84 season Queen's Park of Glasgow scored double-figures in both the
First Round (10-0 away to Crewe Alexandra) and Second Round (15-0 at home
v Manchester FC).
*********
When Arsenal met Lancashire
Combination side Darwen in the Third Round of the FA Cup at Highbury on
Saturday January 9th 1932 they led 8-0 at half time. At the final whistle
they had 'only' won 11-1.
*********
I find it hard to understand why there have been so
many double-figure scorelines in FA Cup replays - if two clubs are equally
enough matched to draw the first match why the mis-match in the replay?
The last time that happened was in the 1959/60 season when Fourth Division
Crewe Alexandra and First Division Tottenham Hotspur drew a Fourth Round
tie 2-2 at Gresty Road but four days later Spurs won the replay 13-2 at
White Hart Lane.
*********
Southend United defeated Southern
League Brentwood Town 10-1 in a Second Round FA Cup tie in December 1968
having nearly got double figures in the First Round when they beat another
Southern League side, King's Lynn, 9-0.
*********
When Bournemouth beat Southern
Leaguers Margate 11-0 in 1971 Ted MacDougal scored nine of them - five in
the first half, four in the second. It set a new record for the most goals
scored by a player in the competition proper of the FA Cup -
Full Story.
The last club to score double
figures in the competition proper was Shrewsbury Town. On Saturday
November 11th 1995 they defeated non-leaguers Marine 11-2 in the First
Round at Gay Meadow.
FA Cup results 1995/96
*********
The Football League was founded in 1888/89 and since
then in the competition proper - First Round onwards - the following
double figure scorelines have been recorded (*
indicates a non-league club at the time)
|
1888/89 |
3rd Round |
Chatham* |
1 |
- |
10 |
WBA |
|
1889/90 |
1st Round |
Bolton Wanderers |
10 |
- |
2 |
Belfast Distillery* |
|
1889/90 |
1st Round |
Everton |
11 |
- |
2 |
Derby County |
|
1889/90 |
2nd Round |
Bolton Wanderers |
13 |
- |
0 |
Sheffield United* |
|
1890/91 |
1st Round |
Aston Villa |
13 |
- |
1 |
Casuals* |
|
1890/91 |
1st Round |
Clapton* |
0 |
- |
14 |
Nottingham Forest |
|
1890/91 |
1st Round |
Sheffield Wednesday* |
12 |
- |
0 |
Halliwell* |
|
1890/91 |
1st Round rep |
Darwen* |
13 |
- |
0 |
Kidderminster* |
|
1893/94 |
1st Round |
Preston North End |
18 |
- |
0 |
Reading* |
|
1894/95 |
1st Round |
Sunderland |
11 |
- |
1 |
Fairfield* |
|
1896/97 |
1st Round rep |
Bury |
12 |
- |
1 |
Stockton* |
|
1905/06 |
1st Round |
Aston Villa |
11 |
- |
0 |
King's Lynn* |
|
1911/12 |
1st Round rep |
Wolves |
10 |
- |
0 |
Watford* |
|
1925/26 |
1st Round |
Farnham United Breweries* |
1 |
- |
10 |
Swindon Town |
|
1925/26 |
1st Round |
Oldham Athletic |
10 |
- |
1 |
Lytham* |
|
1925/26 |
5th Round |
Manchester City |
11 |
- |
4 |
Crystal Palace |
|
1926/27 |
1st Round |
Watford |
10 |
- |
1 |
Lowestoft Town* |
|
1929/30 |
4th Round rep |
Manchester City |
10 |
- |
1 |
Swindon Town |
|
1931/32 |
3rd Round |
Arsenal |
11 |
- |
1 |
Darwen* |
|
1934/35 |
1st Round |
Southend United |
10 |
- |
1 |
Golders Green* |
|
1937/38 |
1st Round rep |
Bradford City |
11 |
- |
3 |
Walker Celtic* |
|
1957/58 |
1st Round |
Gillingham |
10 |
- |
1 |
Gorleston* |
|
1959/60 |
4th Round rep |
Tottenham Hotspur |
13 |
- |
2 |
Crewe Alexandra |
|
1960/61 |
1st Round |
Bristol City |
11 |
- |
0 |
Chichester City* |
|
1965/66 |
1st Round |
Brighton |
10 |
- |
1 |
Wisbech Town* |
|
1968/69 |
2nd Round |
Southend United |
10 |
- |
1 |
Brentwood
Town* |
|
1971/72 |
1st Round |
Bournemouth |
11 |
- |
0 |
Margate* |
|
1995/96 |
1st Round |
Shrewsbury Town |
11 |
- |
2 |
Marine* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
League Cup
The League Cup kicked off in the
1960/61 season but since then only twice have clubs scored 10 goals in a
match in that competition.
The first of those matches was at Upton Park on Tuesday 25th October 1983.
Fourth Division Bury had lost the First Leg of a Milk Cup Second Round tie
2-1 at their Gigg Lane home against First Division West Ham but Bury
manager Jim Iley wasn't despondent going into the return leg in London. He
said 'West Ham will certainly know they've been in a match. We're going
there to win.' Fighting talk - but Bury lost 10-0!
*********
Fulham showed they had a sense of
humour prior to playing Liverpool in the Second Leg of a Second Round
League Cup tie at Craven Cottage in the 1986/87 season. In their last home
match prior to the Liverpool tie at Craven Cottage the programme notes
gave plenty of encouragement to the Fulham cause including details of
possible extra time and penalties if the aggregates scores finished level.
It was just a touch tongue-in-cheek as on Tuesday September 23rd 1986
Fulham had lost the First Leg at Anfield, 0-10!
**************
Other
Cup competitions
The FA Youth Cup started in
the 1952/53 season, Manchester United winning the
competition in each of the first five seasons. They set a goalscoring
record that still stands as early as the Second Round of the inaugural
competition when on November 4th 1952 they defeated Nantwich Town at their former
Cliff training ground in front of a 2,600 crowd - the score was 23-0. It
was men against boys with the United line-up including Duncan Edwards and
other 'Busby Babes' who were to become household names in the future.
Manchester United's team that
evening was - Gordon Clayton; Bryce Fulton, Paddy Kennedy; Bobby Harrop,
Ronnie Cope, Duncan Edwards; Alan Morton, John Doherty, Eddie Lewis, David
Pegg, Albert Scanlon. The goals were scored by Pegg 5, Doherty 5, D.
Edwards 5, Lewis 4, Morton 2, Scanlon and an E. Edwards og.
Link - FA Youth Cup Finals
*********
When
Dundee Harp beat Aberdeen Rovers 35-0 in a Scottish Cup First Round tie on
Saturday September 12th 1885 there was a disagreement between the match
referee - who thought 37 goals had been scored - and the Harp club
secretary who believed the score was 35-0. The ref accepted the lower
figure and the score was sent off to the Scottish FA with Dundee Harp
officials surely believing they had a record which would last for years.
Amazingly though on the same day in the same competition just 20 miles
away Arbroath beat Bon Accord 36-0 and they are still in the record books
as the top score in any first-class match in Britain. John Petrie’s 13
goals in that match also ranks as the top individual score in Britain.
Aberdeen side Bon Accord were in the competition by mistake. They were in
fact the Orion Cricket Club who mistakenly had received from the Scottish
FA an invitation that should have been sent to Orion FC to enter the
Scottish Cup. Taking the opportunity to try a different sport they adopted
the name Bon Accord, turning up at the match without proper playing kit
before being given a true footballing lesson. The recorded scoreline was
36-0 but the referee Dave Stormont had disallowed a number of good goals
to keep the scoreline to below 40.
Two
seasons later Arbroath hosted the real Orion FC in a Scottish Cup First
Round tie – with the scoreline being a far more respectable 18-0!
*********
The programme for the
Scottish Cup tie between Stirling
Albion and Selkirk played on Saturday December 8th 1984 included this bit
about the visitors - 'So
history has most certainly been created with a Border Amateur team
participating in the Scottish Cup proper for the first time. For Selkirk
FC today is their cup final.'
Well history was certainly made with Stirling winning 20-0, the highest
score in a senior match in Britain in the 20th Century. The score was 15-0
at halt-time with 8 different Stirling players scoring the goals.
Selkirk's keeper Richard Taylor was given the ball as a souvenir.
**************
Friendlies
Pre-season 2014/15 saw Cheadle Town
of the North West Counties League play a prestigious friendly - they
played host to Romania's Dinamo Burcharest, which Cheadle lost 5-0. On
Sunday October 5th 2014 another amazing fixture came their way - against
the Russian national Under-19 side. The Russians needed a warm-up game
before a European Championship qualifying tournament in Northern Ireland
and so a friendly against Cheadle Town it was. Cheadle fielded a mixture
of first team, reserves and Under-21 players - all of those sides having
previously played that weekend. The friendly proved to be a sensation on
social media - it trended on Twitter despite Chelsea and Manchester
United playing the same day. But not because Cheadle recorded a famous
victory - they lost 22-0.
*********
Another friendly thumping came when
an English Sunday League amateur side arranged a pre-season friendly in
West Germany in 1973 believing they were to play a side of a similar standing. In fact they
had arranged to play Mainz, a senior professional side, who thought they
were going to play Wolverhampton Wanderers. The match, played on 15th August
1973, attracted a 'sizeable attendance'. The Germans didn't need a penalty
shoot-out, they won 21-0!
*********
Another English side who probably wished that they had a better translator
was Norwich City who in July 2014 were in Italy as part of their
pre-season training programme. They were due to face Italian Serie C side
Novara in a friendly but that match was cancelled and replaced by a
fixture against Serie D team
Saint-Christophe Vallee d'Aoste. Norwich won that match 13-0 and proudly
boasted the fact on the club website. At that point Saint-Christophe
objected, denying that they had ever played the Canaries let alone lost
13-0 against them. It transpired that far from playing a Serie D team
Norwich's opponents that day were a 'regional select side' which was
probably a team selected on the basis of 'if you fancy playing a match and
have got a pair of boots...' Apologies followed from Norwich and that
result just seemed less impressive!
*********
Leeds United also made a pre-season visit to Italy in
July 2014 before the start of what was to be a difficult 2014/15 season,
both on and off the field. David Hockaday's short reign as manager started
off with a bang when they beat the Italians FC Gherdeina 16-0 in their
first match in Italy but their opponents were described as 'local
amateurs' which rather devalued the newspaper talk of it being a 'record'
Leeds scoreline. But at least they were up against a proper club (see
Norwich above!). Leeds weren't as lucky in the second friendly they were
due to play it Italy. Scheduled opponents
Vitorul Constanta of Rumania didn't
turn up and faced with a blank day Leeds United decided to play themselves
with supporters watching a Leeds Whites beating a Leeds Golds team 3-1.
*********
 Another
claim for a 'record' score in a friendly match was made when Peterborough
United played a war-time game back in their Midland League days against
the Royal Navy Depot. Service sides of the time were often of a good
standard with all the top footballers having enlisted but that wasn't the case when
Peterborough entertained the Royal Navy Depot side at London Road on
Saturday 23rd December 1939, less than four months after war was declared.
The visitors were 'all-at-sea' with Posh recording a club 'record'
15-2 victory. The Navy didn't come from from of the famous Naval cities
but from shore-based HMS Royal Arthur which was a
newly set up reception and training centre for recruits housed at the
naval stronghold of....Skegness! In fact the camp they used was Butlins so
perhaps the navy side included one or two redcoats in their line-up!
*********
Alfreton Town warmed up for their first Conference
season in 2011/12 with a prestigious home pre-season friendly against
Sheffield Wednesday...and Alfreton won 14-0. OK, it was a fairly youthful
Wednesday side but the scoreline on a million web pages is 14-0 and who is
going to look at the detail!
*********
The results sheet for non-league amateurs Corinthians
in the 1904/05 season - all their matches were friendlies - showed that
they recorded a 11-3 victory over Manchester United. I have no other
details about the match - but Manchester United lost 11-3. 'Nuff said!
*********
 You
just expect Brazilian sides to be a bit tasty but I guess like anywhere
else they have their crap sides and I think the Bela Vista side that
toured England in the early part of the 1958/59 season was perhaps one of
those. Brazil had just won the World Cup for the first time and great
things were expected from any side from Brazil, but Bela Vista didn't live
up to expectations. They played six matches in England - and lost them
all! Defeats were suffered at Birmingham City (0-5), Middlesbrough (0-4),
Sheffield United (0-4), Luton Town (0-8) and Spurs (1-3) but their worst
defeat was suffered on October 1st 1958 when a crowd of 25,395 at St
James' Park witnessed a 12-1 Newcastle United victory.
*********
Although I've never seen a club score double-figures in
a 'proper' match I guess when it happens in a friendly its an easily
forgotten boring mismatch of a game. The one exception I can think of was
when Moscow Dynamo toured Britain in November 1945. The war had just ended
and the country wanted to be entertained again and the footballers from
far-off Russia did just that. Unbeaten in their four matches against
Arsenal, Cardiff, Chelsea and Rangers they packed the grounds they played
in with many believing over 100,000 were at Stamford Bridge and not many
fewer being present at Ibrox. But when they played Cardiff City at Ninian
Park on 17th November 1945 Moscow Dynamo produced a masterclass in a
10-1 victory and British football was never quite the same again.
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