ON THIS DAY

The 2021/22 season marked the 150th anniversary of the first running of the FA Cup competition and it didn't take long for a new first to be recorded in that tournament. For the first time ever a club from the Channel Island of Jersey played in the competition and in the Extra Preliminary Round played on Saturday 7th August 2021 Jersey Bulls entertained Horsham YMCA at Springfield Stadium in St Helier. It was the most southerly tie ever played in the FA Cup and the match ended with a club record being set by the Bulls - a record victory. They led 4-1 at half-time but early in the second half the Horsham 'keeper was red-carded and Jersey Bulls went on to win 10-1.Jersey Bulls played 6 matches in their debut season in the FA Cup, reaching the 3rd Qualifying Round. The new Jersey connection to the FA Cup inspired a Jersey set of stamps marking the 150 years of the competition which were issued in May of 2022. In the style of Roy of the Rovers they are surely a must for stamp collectors...if they still exist 8 th August

Well, the early part of August 2012 saw Usain Bolt at the London Olympics in the process of retaining his 100m and 200m sprint titles. But on 7th August The Mirror newspaper ran a story wondering if the Jamaican was up to a change of sport - was he good enough to play for Manchester United? The article posed the question - We look at his football skills, his determination, coolness under pressure and how he deals with refs - could he make it? You decide... Bolt, who was a Man U supporter, was quoted as sayin g "I definitely think I'm good enough to play for Manchester United" but the call from Alex Ferguson didn't come and he had to make do with just being the greatest sprinter the world had seen.

To celebrate their centenary Manchester United played Real Madrid on this day in 1978. Sammy McIlroy and Jimmy Greenhoff scored two apiece as the Spaniards were beaten 4-0 in front of a 49,397 Old Trafford crowd. The only United player in the team who had played in the European Cup final ten years earlier - goalkeeper Alex Stepney - made a penalty save early in the second half.

While most of us were still preoccupied with bucket and spades Leeds were on their way to winning their first European competition. Leeds entertained Ferencváros of Hungary in the first leg of the 1967/68 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final held over to the beginning of the 1968/69 season and played on this day in 1968. Mick Jones scored the only goal of the match and with the second leg in September finishing goalless the trophy went to Leeds United.