ON THIS DAY

What might have been. West Ham’s Dean Ashton was picked to make his England debut against Greece in Steve McLaren's first match as England manager but on this day in 2006, the day before the match, he broke his ankle in training and missed the rest of the season. He eventually played one match for England, playing the first half against Trinidad in 2008, but the following year he announced his retirement, aged just 26, because of the long-term problems associated with the ankle injury.

The first matches in the Premier League were played on this day with Brian Deane scoring the first goal after 5 minutes, for Sheffield United against eventual champions Manchester United.

Scarborough played their first match in the Football League and their programme notes started 'Today sees the greatest occasion in the history of the club. We have, at last, achieved Football League status and the goal of which we and thousands of our predecessors, both officials and fans, have dreamed for over a century.' To add to the dream their first opponents at their Seamer Road ground were one of the most famous names in the game - Wolverhampton Wanderers who were in their second season in the fourth tier. Sadly the dream turned into a nightmare. A day at the seaside saw many Wolves fans worse the wear for drink, violence broke out in the town and the ground, dozens of arrests were made, a food kiosk was ransacked, the start of the second half was delayed by 10 minutes and one of the Wolves fans who had climbed onto the roof of a stand fell 25 feet through it, thankfully escaping serious injury. A bleak day for football.

When Wolverhampton Sunday League side Oxbarn decided on a pre-season jaunt to Germany in August 1973 they wrote to the mayor of Mainz asking him to arrange a friendly against a club of similar standing to them. A match was arranged but something got lost in translation and believing the visiting club was Wolverhamption Wanderers the friendly was arranged against a local German League club. The Oxbarn side realised something was wrong when they saw the stadium they were to play in and the crowd that was there. They lost 21-0.