Foreign Players in the Football League: Introduction
The Football League was made in England and founded by a Scot, William McGregor. The world’s first professional league flourished from 1888 with the contribution of Scottish, Welsh and Irish talent. While Britain exported the game worldwide, for much of its history foreign players in the Football League were a rarity. That changed permanently in…
Notts County v Mansfield Town, 1987
Notts County met Mansfield Town in a rare Nottinghamshire derby in October 1987. County had spent the early part of the decade in the First Division, before successive relegations. Mansfield were in the Fourth Division until promotion in 1985-86. When the clubs met in the Third Division on Boxing Day 1986, it was their first…
Stoke City v Luton Town, 1982
Stoke City welcomed Luton Town to the Victoria Ground in September 1982. It was a high-scoring day in the First Division – results included Coventry 4 Everton 2, Notts County 0 Ipswich 6, Spurs 4 Forest 1, Watford 8 Sunderland 0, and West Ham 4 Manchester City 1. The game at the Victoria Ground matched…
Portsmouth v Southampton, 1987
Portsmouth hosted Southampton at Fratton Park in August 1987 in the first-ever meeting of the two clubs in the top division of English football. The former Southern League rivals had first met in the Football League in September 1920 as members of the newly-formed Third Division. Promoted in May 1987, Pompey were returning to the…
Sunderland v Brighton & Hove Albion, 1982
Sunderland went into this First Division fixture at Roker Park needing a win near the end of Alan Durban’s first season in charge. His side were struggling just outside the relegation zone, while visitors Brighton were comfortably in mid-table under manager Mike Bailey, also enjoying his first season at the South Coast club. David Snowdon’s…
David Snowdon: Give Us Tomorrow Now Interview, Part Two
David Snowdon continues to discuss his book Give Us Tomorrow Now, charting Alan Durban’s time in charge of Sunderland, and English football of the day – Part One is here. The area was renowned for producing players – you mention Kevin Dillon, Mick Harford and Mike Hazard, and Nigel Gleghorn was another, a Sunderland fan…
Give Us Tomorrow Now: Book Review & Interview with author David Snowdon
Give Us Tomorrow Now: Alan Durban’s Mission Impossible (Pitch Publishing, 2018) by David Snowdon reconstructs Alan Durban’s managerial reign at Sunderland with a wealth of detail, from his appointment in the summer of 1981 to his untimely sacking in March 1984. The background to the book is a very different era of English football, with…
Leicester City v Wimbledon, 1987
Leicester City welcomed Wimbledon for the first time in February 1987, as the two clubs met at Filbert Street. The Dons had been a league club for less than a decade, and were enjoying their debut season in English football’s top flight. Leicester were experimenting with a new management structure. Former Northern Ireland international Bryan…
Chelsea v Stoke City, 1974
Chelsea and Stoke City were First Division rivals in the early 1970s, and took part in the 1972 League Cup final. At the end of October 1974, the clubs met four times in a matter of weeks. Their League Cup Third Round tie required two replays, and was eventually won 6-2 by Stoke at the…
Wool City Rivals: A History in Colour by George Chilvers & John Dewhirst
Wool City Rivals is a photographic history of Bradford football from the turn of the nineteenth century. It offers a glimpse into the lost world of early football, when Bradford boasted two top-flight football clubs immediately before and after the First World War. It covers over half a century of images from the years when…
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