ON THIS DAY

A bad day for football news. The offices of West Ham United and Newcastle United were raided by HMRC officials investigating an income tax and national insurance fraud. French tax authorities were also involved in the investigation and Chelsea were implicated. Joey Barton was in trouble again picking up an 18 month FA ban for placing 1260 bets on football matches between 2006 and 2013 which included matches he was playing in. There was also speculation that the Premier League would block a possible £200million takeover of Southampton by a company owned by Chinese businessman Gao Jisheng. There were doubts as to whether he would pass the 'fit and proper' standard that the Premier League sets for club owners. The newspapers were full of it the following day with the prize probably going to The Sun with the stories making the front page and relegating Rhian and 'Her Best Bits' and Boris calling Jeremy Corbyn 'a mutton-headed mugwump' to the inside pages!

After two years the second Hillsborough inquest finally gave its verdict - the 96 fans who died as a result of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster were unlawfully killed. The inquest jury concluded that the tragedy was the result of failings by the police and ambulance services with match commander, Chief Superintendent David Duckinfield, being 'responsible for manslaughter by gross negligence'. The jury also ruled that Liverpool supporters - who police had originally blamed for the fatal crush - did not cause or contribute to the tragedy. So the truth is finally out - but isn't it a national disgrace that it took over 27 years and needed inquiries and inquests that cost over £100 million to get to that truth!

Be honest, if you owned the club you supported you would be tempted to get yourself picked for the team wouldn't you? Well that's exactly what the Doncaster Rovers owner did in 2003. In the final League match of the Conference season club owner John Ryan came on as a last minute sub in Doncaster's 4-2 win at Hereford United. He said after the match ' I didn't actually get a kick of the ball but I had a good run around' but his one and only appearance for them did see him enter the record books. He was just days short of his 53rd birthday at the time and became the oldest player to make an appearance in an English professional league beating the record set by Neil McBain in 1947.

One of the more unusual reasons for abandoning a match. T ranmere had a 2-0 lead over Mansfield Town in a Second Division fixture at Prenton Park in April 2003 when spectator Stephen Anglesey decided to have a wander - and climbed one of the floodlight pylons. He couldn't be persuaded down and jumped the gap between the floodlights and the roof of the Cow Shed stand. Fearing for his safety and the safety of the spectators the crowd of over 7,000 were asked to leave the ground at half time and shortly afterwards the match was abandoned by referee Mike Ryan with Anglesey still on the roof.

Heavily in debt Second Division side Newton Heath are saved when new investment came their way. As part of a fresh start they decided to make a few changes - their colours were changed from gold and green to red and white and their name became... Manchester United!