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FOOTBALL
ON THIS DAY.....
January Day by Day........
Football is a 365 day a
year game. A day by day reminder of some of the famous, record-breaking or
bizarre things that have happened in the month of January over the years.
Index
January February
March
April May
June July
August September
October
November December
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1st
January
Football
On This Day - 1st January 1927
George Camsell of Second Division Middlesbrough scored in his 12th
consecutive League match. That's an achievement in itself but what was
even more remarkable was that in those 12 matches he scored 29 goals with
a goalscoring run of 1, 1, 1, 4, 1, 4,
1, 2, 4, 5, 2, and 3. The 1926/27 season saw Middlesbrough score 122
League goals with Camsell scoring 59 of them - both were new records but
both records only lasted a season before being bettered.
Link - those 29 goals and Middlesbrough results 1926/27
Football On This Day - 1st January 1965
In
the New Year Honours list
Stanley Matthews became the first professional footballer to be awarded a
knighthood while still a player. His only League appearance in 1964/65 was
also his last, against Fulham on 6th February 1965, shortly after his 50th
birthday. He had made his League debut in 1932 but in later years said
that he regretted retiring so early, believing he could have played
on for another couple of years!
Football On This Day - 1st January 1966
It was not a Happy New Year for Chester when they entertained Aldershot in
a Division 4 match at Sealand Road on 1st January 1966. Both their
full-backs - Ray Jones and Bryn Jones (they were not related) - ended up
in hospital having both suffered broken legs in separate incidents.
Chester won 3-2 though!
Football On This Day - 1st January 2015
Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny didn't enjoy the best of starts to
2015. The Pole was at fault for both Southampton goals in the Gunners 2-0
defeat at St Mary's in the Premier League and after the match he was
caught smoking in the showers for which he was fined £20,000. Ouch!
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2nd
January
Football On This Day - 2nd January 1939
The crowd of 118,567 at Ibrox for their ‘Old Firm’ match between Rangers
and Celtic was, and still is, the highest attendance for a League match in
Britain. Rangers won 2-1 and went on to win the Scottish title with Celtic
as runners-up.
Football On This Day - 2nd January 1971
Tradegy
returned to Ibrox. The Scottish League match between Rangers and Celtic
was goalless until Jimmy Johnstone gave Celtic the lead in the 89th minute
at which point many home fans in the 80,000 crowd headed for the exits. In
the last seconds of injury time Colin Stein equalized but the headlines
weren't about the result but about a crush of fans on Stairway 13 which
resulted in 66 deaths and injuries to over 200 others, the worst tragedy
in Scottish football history. The original speculation was that the crush
occurred when excited fans tried to get back into the ground on hearing
the cheers for the Rangers goals but a subsequent inquiry concluded that
the tragedy was solely the result of the pressure of fans leaving the
ground. Stairway 13 had seen similar safety problems in earlier years -
two fans had been killed at an Old Firm match in September 1961, 8 were
injured in September 1967 and another 24 had suffered injuries in January
1969.
Football On This Day - 2nd January 1971
Blackpool
thrashed West Ham 4-0 in the FA Cup. That was bad enough for the Hammers
but then it was discovered that four of their players - and the club
physio - had been drinking at the nightclub of former boxer Brian London
until the early hours of the match-day. Manager Ron Greenwood had wanted
to sack the players - Bobby Moore, Brian Dear, Jimmy Greaves and Clyde
Best - but they received bans and fines. Dear and Greaves soon left the
club and it was said that the working relationship between manager
Greenwood and club captain Moore was never the same again.
Link
- FA Cup results 1970/71
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3rd
January

Football On This Day - 3rd January 1974
After a spat between Chelsea manager Dave Sexton and players Peter Osgood
and Alan Hudson the two Chelsea stars were suspended and transfer-listed.
Neither played for the club again, Hudson moving to Stoke City and Osgood
to Southampton.
Link - Chelsea results 1973/74
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4th
January
Football On This Day - 4th January 1958
There was a time when Leeds United and the FA Cup just didn't get on,
particularly when Cardiff City were their opponents. Three seasons in a
row - 1955/56, 1956/57 and 1957/58 - Leeds drew Cardiff at home in the
Third Round of the FA Cup, and each time Cardiff won 2-1, the last time
being on 4th January 1958. Those results were part of a disastrous FA Cup
run by Leeds. After beating Bradford PA in a Fourth Round tie on February
2nd 1952 they didn't manage another win in the competition until March 6th
1963 when they beat Stoke in the Third Round.
Link - FA Cup by
season
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5th
January

Football
On This Day - 5th January 1963
The
big freeze meant that only 3 of the scheduled 32 FA Cup 3rd Round ties
were played, with the last tie in that round not being decided until March 11th.
The Lincoln v Coventry tie was postponed a total of 15 times and 14 of the
other ties suffered 10 or more postponements. Between December 8th and
16th February Bolton did not play a single competitive match.
Link - postponed matches
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6th
January
Football On This Day - 6th January 1934
When
goalkeeper Stanley Milton made his debut for Halifax Town against
Stockport County in a Division 3 (North) match he was on the wrong end of
a 13-0 defeat, a record scoreline in a Football League match!
Link - clubs scoring double figures
in League matches
Football On This Day - 6th January 1954
Bill Shankly
took another step on his managerial path to Liverpool when he was
appointed boss of Workington, then in Division 3 North of the Football
League. Life was very different at Borough Park than he would later find
at Anfield. At Workington he was expected to do his share of answering the
phone and doing the banking but his biggest shock came on his first day at
the club when he discovered there was no electricity at the Workington
ground. In those pre-internet, pre-floodlight days all the lighting and
heating at Borough Park was gas-powered!

Football On
This Day - 6th January 1974
A
war in the Middle East causing a three-day working week in this country
led to the first senior Sunday matches being played in England. Four FA
Cup Third Round ties were played on Sunday 6th January 1974, the first
that kicked off was between Cambridge United and Oldham Athletic. Two
weeks later Football League matches were played for the first time on a
Sunday and football on the Sabbath was here to stay.
Link - Sunday football
Football On This Day - 6th January 1975
A home League defeat to Notts County over the Christmas period saw
Nottingham Forest sack their manager Allan Brown and on 6th January 1975
they appointed his successor....Brian Clough. After his failures at
Brighton and Leeds few would have expected great things at the City Ground
but he turned a mid-table Second Division side into League champions in
1978 and European Cup winners in 1979 and 1980. Amazing or what!
Football On This Day - 6th January 1990
A memorable day for Cardiff City. Their FA Cup Third Round tie against Queens
Park Rangers saw them bank then record club receipts for a match at
their former Ninian Park home - £50,517.75. Well, they would have banked it on Monday but
sadly for Cardiff's bank balance thieves broke into the safe over the
weekend and pinched the lot!
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7th
January
Football On This Day - 7th January 1956
Although the Busby Babes went on to win the League Championship in 1955/56
Manchester United were brought firmly down to earth with a 3rd Round FA
Cup defeat at Bristol Rovers that season. A 35,872 Eastville crowd saw
Rovers win 4-0 and record one of their most memorable results in what was
- amazingly to think of now - Manchester United's only cup-tie that
season. Only once since - in 1958/59 - have Manchester United played just
one cup match in a season. One of Bristol Rovers scorers that day was
Barrie Meyer who was also a talented cricketer, playing for
Gloucestershire in the summer. In later life he went on to became a Test
match umpire and so became the first player to score an FA Cup goal
against Manchester United and umpire a Test match - how's that for an
obscure sporting connection!
Link - football and cricket
Link
- FA Cup results 1955/56

Football On This Day - 7th January 1989
Just two years after winning the FA Cup Coventry City were on the wrong
end of a giantkilling act - losing 2-1 at non-leaguers Sutton United.
Link
- FA Cup results 1988/89
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8th
January
Football On This Day - 8th January 2000
I think that it
would be fair to say that referees never always get it right but back in
2000 Ref Rob Harris got it very wrong. On Saturday January 8th 2000 a
Fourth Round FA Cup tie between Tranmere Rovers and Sunderland at Prenton
Park had a lively last few seconds. Tranmere's Clint Hall was sent off in
injury time for a second bookable offence but during the ensuing on-pitch
confrontation a Tranmere sub, Stephen Frail, was sent on unnoticed by the
officials. Until the error was noticed - resulting in another
confrontation - Tranmere played with a full team, much to the displeasure
of Sunderland who lost the match 1-0. Sunderland manager Peter Reid said
'It was like Billy Smart's circus out there. I don't like talking about
officials instead of football - but someone has made a major error.'
The Wearsiders lost an appeal to have the match replayed but for the first
time match officials were brought before an FA Commission to examine their
actions. Ref Harris, assistant ref Tony Green and fourth official David
Unsworth were all said to have 'less than proficiently applied the laws
of the game' with Harris being given a ban as a result.
Link - referees
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9th
January
Football On This Day - 9th January 1979
Charlton Athletic players Mick Flanagan and Derek Hales were sent off in
an FA Cup Third Round tie against non-leaguers Maidstone United - for
fighting each other!
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10th
January
Football On
This Day – 10th January 1953
63,499 were at St James' Park Newcastle for the FA Cup Third Round tie
between Newcastle United and Swansea Town - but the match was abandoned
after just 8 minutes play because of fog!
Link
- abandoned matches
Football On This Day – 10th January 2015
Don’t mess with
tradition would seem to the belief of all football fans. So when at the
start of the 2012/13 season the Bluebirds of Cardiff City changed their
colours from blue to red it didn’t go down too well with supporters. Club
owner Vincent Tan made the change as part of a ‘rebranding exercise’ with
red being considered a lucky colour in Asia where Tan hoped to increase
the clubs’ popularity. But a 'Keep Cardiff Blue' campaign kept the
pressure on the directors and after only 4194 turned up for a home FA Cup
Third Round tie in January 2015 a change was announced. So on January 10th
2015 22,515 were at the Cardiff City Stadium to see Cardiff playing in
blue again - the Bluebirds were back with a 1-0 Championship victory over
Fulham.

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11th
January
Football On This Day – 11th January 2007
David Beckham shocked the footballing world by announcing that he would be
leaving Real Madrid to move to the US to play for LA Galaxy. It became
less of a shock when it was reported that he would earn £128m over the
five year contract!
Football On This Day – 11th January 2014
Overweight Norwich City fan Lee Coolahan had an embarrassing moment when
following the Canaries at Everton in a Premier League match on this day in
2014 - he got stuck in the turnstiles. He used that experience to change
his lifestyle and over the next 18 months his weight dropped from nearly
34 stone to just over 17 stone. An example in determination he should be
proud of.
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12th
January
Football On This Day - 12th January 2001
After
resigning from Lazio Sven officially took over as England manager and we
soon realised foreign managers were as crap as English ones!
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13th
January
Football On This Day - 13th January 1998
A 34-year-old David Moyes took charge of his first match as a manager,
stepping up from Preston's assistant manager when previous boss Gary
Peters resigned. His first match as the boss was in front of 1618 fans
at Macclesfield Town's Moss Road ground where Preston won 1-0 in an Auto
Windscreens Shield second round tie. Twenty years later to the day -
January 13th 2018 - David Moyes was the manager of the West Ham
United side who won 4-1 at Huddersfield Town and so became just the
fourth person to record 200 wins as a Premier League manager. The other
three at the time were Alex Ferguson, Arsène
Wenger and Harry Redknapp.

Football On This Day - 13th January 2004
At
40 years of age former England goalkeeper David Seaman announced his
retirement from football because of a recurring shoulder injury. Kevin
Keegan had signed him for Manchester City in 2003 and Seaman had enjoyed a
League career of over 20 years with Peterborough, Birmingham, QPR, Arsenal
as well as Manchester City and had played 75 times for England.
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14th
January

Football On This Day - 14th January 1933
One of the
greatest shocks in FA Cup history, Walsall beat Arsenal 2-0 in a Third
Round tie.
Arsenal were the top dogs in England at the time - they won five League
titles and two FA Cups in the 1930s - while Walsall were in the Third
Division.
Link -
FA Cup results 1932/33
Football On This Day - 14th January 1961
When
Cheung Chi Doy saw Blackpool play in Hong Kong in 1958 he decided that a
footballing career in England was for him so he travelled to England, had
a trial with Blackpool and signed for the First Division club. After
scoring regularly for the reserves he was picked to make his first team
debut for Blackpool against Wolves at Bloomfield Road on Saturday January
14th 1961. But the day that saw the first Chinese-born player appear in
the Football League was cut short - the match was abandoned after just
nine minutes because of fog! He made his official debut the following week
against Blackpool but made just one further first team appearance (scoring
a goal) before leaving Blackpool.
Links - Abandoned Matches,
Blackpool results 1960/61
Football On This Day - 14th January 2018
When you hear
that a referee kicked a player and then sent him off like me you might be
thinking in a Sunday League match perhaps. It did happen - and amazingly
it was in a French Ligue 1 game between Nantes and Paris St Germain. Ref
Tony Chapron had been knocked to the ground after an accidental collision
with Nantes defender Diego Carlos and he then then kicked the player and
sent him off after giving him a second yellow card. He was later banned
for six months, half of which was suspended. He got away with it lightly I
would have thought!
Link - Referees

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15th
January
Football On This Day - 15th January 1959
Second Division Liverpool were on the wrong end of an FA Cup shock, losing
2-1 away to Southern Leaguers Worcester City.
Link
- FA Cup results 1958/59
Football On This Day - 15th January 1997
Newcastle United played their first match under new manager Kenny Dalglish,
defeating Charlton Athletic in an FA Cup Third Round replay at St James’
Park. Dalglish lasted until the start of the 1998/99 season with his time
at the club being described as 'the only part of Kenny Dalglish's
career that came anywhere near failure.'
Football On This Day - 15th January 2000
Ipswich Town defender Gary Croft was wearing an extra bit of kit when he
came on as a 71st minute substitute in a First Division match against
Swindon Town at Portman Road on Saturday 15th January 2000 - an electronic
tag on his ankle. It was the first time in a League match that a tag had
been worn and was the result being released after one month of a four
month prison sentence he had received for driving while disqualified and
perverting the course of justice. He also had a curfew from 7pm to 7am so
it was a case of afternoon kick offs only until his punishment was over.
Link - Crime and Punishment
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16th
January
Football On This Day - 16th January 1974
Eamonn Andrews presented the 'This Is Your Life' red book to Wolves
striker Derek Dougan. His footballing guests on the programme were Jimmy
Hill, Pat Jennings, Malcolm Allison and Bill McGarry.
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17th
January
Football On This Day – 17th January 1948
The highest
attendance for a League match in England was recorded in the First
Division match between Manchester United and Arsenal - 83,260. The
match was played at Manchester City's Maine Road ground with Old Trafford
still closed because of wartime damage.
Football On This Day – 17th January 2011
Liverpool's
Ryan Babel became the first footballer to be fined for comments made on
Twitter. He was fined £10,000 for posting a doctored picture of referee
Howard Webb wearing a Manchester United shirt with the tweet 'And they
call him one of the best referees. That's a joke.' As you will have
guessed Babel believed that Webb had made a poor decision in a Liverpool v
Manchester United match!
Link - Crime & punishment
Football On This Day – 17th January 2015
Scunthorpe had the
misfortune of losing two goalkeepers with broken arms in their League 1
2-0 defeat against Bristol City at Glanford Park. First choice goalkeeper
Sam Slocombe and substitute keeper Jamie Severn both suffered their
injuries in the first half leaving outfielder Andy Boyce to take over
between the posts.
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18th
January
Football On This Day -
18th January 1961
A momentous date –
the day the maximum wage was abolished in English football. In 1961 the
most a footballer could be paid was £20 a week (£17 in the summer) and in
its campaign to get the wage cap ended the Professional Footballers
Association – led by Fulham’s Jimmy Hill – had called a players strike for
Saturday January 21st 1961. Three days before the planned
strike the League gave in and the maximum wage was no more allowing Hill’s
Fulham team-mate, Johnny Haynes, to become the first £100 a week
footballer in England. Ironically though the change didn’t see Hill get an
increase in his £18 a week pay before he retired while Haynes didn’t get
another pay rise in his remaining 9 years as a player.

Football On This Day -
18th January 1964
The United Trinity of Manchester United – George Best, Denis Law and Bobby
Charlton – played together for the first time and brought almost instant
success. United won 4-1 at WBA with the goals coming from Law (2), Best
and Charlton!
Link - Manchester United results 1963/64
Football On This Day – 18th January 1973
Manchester
United manager Tommy Docherty signed Celtic's Lou Macari for £200,000, the
most ever paid at the time for a player in the Scottish League.
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19th
January
Football On This Day - 19th January 1933
In their
second Football League season Mansfield Town suffered what is still their
record League defeat on Thursday 19th January 1933 when losing 8-1 at
Walsall in a Third Division (North) encounter. Amazingly just a few
matches earlier - on Tuesday 27th December 1932 - they beat Rotherham 9-2
at Field Mill to record what is still their record League victory. A month
between a club recording their long-standing record League win and record League defeat
is very much unique! I have to say though Mansfield had some amazing
results in 1932/33 with the sequence of League results around those two
matches being very strange - 3-6, 0-3, 9-2, 2-5, 0-6, 2-1, 1-8, 1-3, 2-0,
0-7, 2-5. You were never going to get bored watching them were you!
Link - Mansfield Town results 1932/33.
Football On This Day - 19th January 1952
Oldham
Athletic beat Chester 11-2 at Boundary Park in a Football League Division
3 (North) match. Amazingly Oldham weren't good enough to win promotion
that season and Chester weren't bad enough to have to seek re-election.
Just two run-of-the-mill teams sharing 13 goals - those were the days!
Link - Clubs scoring double figures in
League matches
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20th
January

Football On This Day - 20th January 1974
Two weeks after the first Sunday matches in the FA Cup twelve grounds
hosted Football League matches for the first time on a Sunday. The first
of those was at the Den when Millwall hosted Fulham in a morning Second
Division fixture. The 15,143 crowd was Millwall's best of the season to
date and with the other 11 clubs all recording better than average
attendances it looked like Sunday football might just catch on!
Link - Sunday football
Football On This Day - 20th January 2004
The first day of Rio Ferdinand's 8 month ban for missing a drugs test. He
said he forgot about it as he was moving house and had to go shopping. His
forgetfulness also cost him a £50,000 fine.
Link - Crime & punishment
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21st
January
Football On This Day - 21st January 1961
Fulham's Alan Mullery did something a tad unusual - he scored an own-goal just 30
seconds after the kick off before the opposition had even touched the
ball! Yep, Sheffield Wednesday made the perfect start without trying in
the First Division match at Craven Cottage and it didn't get much better
for the Londoners - they lost 6-1.
Link - Own goals
Football On This Day - 21st January 1997
Peter Shilton played his 1005th and last match in the Football League for
Leyton Orient against Wigan Athletic. The 9 matches he had played for the
O's had seen him become the first person ever to play in 1000 League
matches. Wigan won 2-1 and went on the win the Division 3 title.
Football On This Day - 21st January 2005
Obviously missing football after selling Chelsea to Roman Abramovich in
2003 Ken Bates announced that he had bought a new £10m toy - Leeds United!
Football On This Day - 21st January 2007
Watch a
recording of a goal being scored in the 1950s or 60s and it is interesting
to see the goal celebrations - usually just a handshake or perhaps a pat
on the back if feelings are really high. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger
must have wished the same was still true in 2007. Shortly after coming on as a
sub for Arsenal against Manchester United at the Emirates Robin van Persie
scored and in the celebrations that followed he broke a bone in his foot.
He was Arsenal’s leading scorer in the Premier League at the time and
despite not making another League appearance that season because of the
injury he still finished as the Gunners League leading scorer. Deprived of
his goals Arsenal finished a distant fourth in the Premier League that
season. If only he had just shook hands!
Link - Footballing Injuries
Football On This Day –
21st January 2017
The postponement of the League 1 match between Southend United and Bolton
Wanderers because of a frozen pitch was to prove a reminder to us all that
it takes a team of people to put on a football match. At Southend one of
that team, groundsman Ken Hare, was sacked and effectively blamed for the
postponement. Head groundsman Ken Hare had been at Southend for 27 years
with his efforts being rewarded with a club statement saying ‘People
generally lose their position as a result of not doing their job.’ A
nationwide campaign failed to get him his job back although part of the
‘mutually acceptable’ settlement reached four months later included a pair
of Southend season tickets for him!
Link - Postponed matches
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22nd
January
Football On This Day - 22nd January 1927
History was made at Highbury when the First Division fixture between
Arsenal and Sheffield United became the first football match to be
broadcast live on the radio.
In order to help the listener follow the play the Radio Times printed a numbered grid of the pitch with
commentator Henry Wakelam giving grid numbers in his commentary
Link - Football
in the media
Football On This Day
- 22nd January 1994
After suffering 7 League defeats on the trot Blackpool tried something new
to drum up some support for the Second Division visit of Swansea City -
free admission. The crowd of 7080 was to be their third highest League
crowd at Bloomfield Road that season...and they picked up a point in the
1-1 draw.
Football On This Day -
22nd January 2016
You would think that top footballers might enjoy the perfect lifestyle but
in reality they are as human as the rest of us. In a Jeremy Kyle
'celebrity intervention' the former Arsenal and Crystal Palace player
Kenny Sansom, who won 86 England caps, shared his 30 year problem with
alcoholism with the watching public. As usual the Jeremy Kyle Show was
more about Jeremy Kyle than his guest but I'm sure that everyone
wished
Kenny - and any every other person inflicted with the same problem - all
the best in their battle against the evils of alcoholism.

Football On This Day
- 22nd January 2018
Former World Player of the Year George
Weah was back in the limelight in a football stadium. No the 51-year-old
hadn't made a playing comeback but the National Stadium in Liberia - the
SKD Stadium in the capital Monrovia - hosted his inauguration ceremony as
the President of Liberia. A crowded stadium witnessed his oath of office
following his election as President in December when he promised to unify
the country and fight corruption. The striker had spent a short time in
the Premier League with Chelsea and Manchester City playing a total of 24
League and Cup matches in 2000 for the two clubs, most notably playing for
Chelsea in their FA Cup final victory over Aston Villa.

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23rd
January
Football On
This Day - 23rd January 2001
A goal for
Bournemouth against Cambridge United saw an 18-year-old Jermain Defoe set
what was then a post war scoring record. The striker, on loan from West Ham United, had
scored in 10 consecutive Football League matches.
Football On
This Day - 23rd January 2013
Swansea get to the Capital One Cup final but all the headlines are about
Chelsea’s Eden Hazard being sent off for kicking a ballboy.
Link -
This & That
Link
- League Cup results 2012/13
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24th
January
Football On This Day -
24th January 1912
Watford - then in the Southern League - fought out an excellent 0-0 draw
with mighty Wolves in the First Round of the FA Cup but when it came to
the replay on January 24th 1912 they didn't do quite as well - they lost
10-0!
Link -
FA Cup results 1911/12
Football On This Day -
24th January 1955
Stoke knocked Bury out of the FA Cup. What was remarkable though was that
the two clubs had played each other 7 times in a month. Twice in the
League over Christmas followed by five meetings in the FA Cup Third Round
- no penalty shoot-outs in those days with replays until a winner was
found. So it was quite a month with the clubs meeting twice at the
Victoria Ground, twice at Gigg Lane with 2nd, 3rd and 4th FA Cup replays
being played at Goodison, Anfield and Old Trafford. Five days after the
Cup victory over Bury Stoke were beaten at the first attempt by Swansea in
the 4th Round!
Links 1954/55 results -
Bury,
Stoke, FA
Cup
Football On This Day -
24th January 1976
The
next time you hear about a multi-million pound shirt sponsorship deal
spare a thought for the club who started what was a battle to get shirt
sponsorship accepted in this country - Kettering Town. Shortly after
arriving at Rockingham Road as player-manager and chief executive Derek
Dougan signed a four-figure deal with Kettering
Tyres to have their name printed on the club playing shirts. The first
match in the country to feature sponsored shirts was the Southern League
match between the Poppies and Bath City on 24th January 1976. The FA were
not amused and ordered the removal of the ads. The club then suggested
that the wording be shortened to 'Kettering T' - meaning of course, they
said, Kettering Town - but that was again blocked by the FA with a threat
of a fine for non-compliance. But it didn't take long for clubs to realise
that shirt sponsorship was a revenue earner and it soon became commonplace
- although not initially in televised matches.
Football On This Day -
24th January 2015
A reversal of fortunes for Watford 103 years to the day after the Wolves
defeat (see January 24th 1912, above). At half time promotion-chasing Watford were 2-0 down at home to
rock-bottom Blackpool who looked as if they might gain their first
Championship away win of the season. But Watford scored seven without
replay in the second half to win 7-2, Odion Ighalo scoring 4 of the
Hornets goals.
Link
- Watford results 2014/15
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25th
January

Football On This Day - 25th January 1995
After being
sent off In a Premier League match at Crystal Palace Eric Cantona launched
a king-fu attack on Palace 'fan' Matthew Simmonds. He narrowly escaped
going to prison for the attack but did receive an 8-month playing ban.
Link - Cantona's Kung Fu attack
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26th
January
Football On This Day -
26th January 1963
The Football Pools were a far more important part of life in the 1960s
than they are now and the postponements caused by the freezing winter
weather from December 1962 caused havoc with the Pools in the 1962/63
season. After three Saturdays in succession when the coupons were declared
void the 'Pools Panel' came into being. The first panel of experts
consisted of four former players (Ted Drake, Tom Finney, Tommy Lawton and
George Young) and a former ref (Arthur Ellis) and determined the results
for four more Saturdays and became a regular feature in the winters to
come. In their first Saturday of deliberations, January 26th 1963, the
chairman of the Panel, Lord Brabazon, declared seven draws, 23 home
wins and eight away wins.
Link - postponed matches
Football On This Day - 26th January 1993
A Tuesday night in January is probably never going to be the easiest
date to fill a football ground but on Tuesday 26th January 1993 one of
those did-it-really-happen records was set. Just 3,039 turned up at Selhurst Park for the Premier League match between
Wimbledon and Everton -
the lowest ever Premier crowd.
Link -
1992/93 Premier League table and all Premier results.
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27th
January
Football On This Day -
27th January 2002
Liverpool's Jamie Carragher was hit by a coin thrown from the crowd in an
FA Cup tie against Arsenal at Highbury. He threw it back into the crowd
for which he was red-carded followed by a police warning, £40,000 club
fine and three-match FA ban.
Link -
Crime & punishment

Football
On This Day - 27th January 2016
You probably couldn't think of anything
more sedate to do as the grey hairs take over - walking football. Similar
rules as the normal football but for the over 50s and played at a walking
pace. But in January 2016 when Canterbury Walking Football Club played
Herne Bay Walking Football Club - players were aged up to 70 - the outcome
was a tad surprising. Within five seconds there was a 'robust' shoulder
charge followed soon after by a 'crunching tackle' which was followed by a
brawl which included the ref. The match was abandoned after just two
minutes, proving that there is life after 50!
Link - Abandoned matches
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28th
January

Football On This Day - 28th January 1961
Amazingly on this day in 1961 Denis Law scored 6 goals for Manchester City
in an FA Cup tie against Luton Town - but still was to finish on the
losing side!
Link
- Full Story
Football On This Day - 28th January 1967
A Scottish Cup result that the Scotsman newspaper described as 'the
most ludicrous, the weirdest, the most astonishing result ever returned in
Scottish football'. Scottish Second Division side Berwick Rangers -
who had their home in England - beat mighty Glasgow Rangers in a First
Round tie. A record Shielfield Park crowd of 13,365 witnessed an amazing
1-0 victory for Berwick with Sammy Reid scoring the deciding goal.
Berwick's player-manager that day - goalkeeper Jock Wallace - set a unique
record in 1966/67 by playing in that Scottish Cup match after having
played earlier in the season for Hereford United in both the English and
Welsh FA Cups. He later went on to manage Glasgow Rangers.
Football On This
Day - 28th January 2008
Brechin City beat Hamilton Academical 2-1 in a Scottish Cup 4th Round
replay in front of 696 hardy fans at their Glebe Park ground to set
themselves up with an attractive 5th Round tie at Aberdeen - or so they
thought! It then emerged that Brechin had fielded Michael Paton who was
signed on loan from Aberdeen after the first match between Hamilton and
Brechin was played on January 12th and so was ineligible to play in the
replay. For that infringement of the rules the tie was ordered to be
replayed and Brechin were fined £10,000. Then is was discovered that
another member of the team - Willie Dyer who was recently signed from St
Johnstone - hadn't been eligible to play in the replay for the same
reason. For that Brechin were kicked out of the Scottish Cup. It's
important to know the rules!
Link - Crime and Punishment
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29th
January

Football On This Day - 29th January 1949
One
of the greatest giantkilling acts in FA Cup history - mid-table Southern
League side Yeovil Town beat mighty Sunderland 2-1 on the famous sloping
Huish pitch. More amazingly still they effectively did it with only 10 fit
players when winger Jack Hargreaves was injured after only 10 minutes and
was only a passenger after that - no subs in those days. A crowd of 17,000
saw Yeovil score through player-manager Alec Stock and Eric Bryant with
Jackie Robinson scoring for Sunderland.
Link
- FA Cup results 1948/49
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30th
January
Football On This Day - 30th January 1937
The 35 Football League and FA Cup matches played on Saturday 30th January
1937 ended in 25 home wins and 10 draws - not one away side managed a
victory.
Football On This Day - 30th January 1999
In an article printed in The Times on this day in 1999 England manager Glenn Hoddle gave his
views on reincarnation and his belief that people born disabled were
paying for sins committed in a previous life. Condemned by every
right-minded person three days later he became the ex-England manager!
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31st
January
Football On This Day - 31st January 1953
Another FA Cup shock. When League champions Manchester United hosted
Isthmian League Walthamstow Avenue there was only one expected winner -
but the unexpected happened. In front of a 34,748 Old Trafford crowd the
non-leaguers held their own and came away with a 1-1 draw. The replay the
following Thursday attracted a crowd of 49,119 - it was played at Highbury
- but the dream ended for the non-leaguers with United winning 5-2.
Link
- FA Cup results 1952/53
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