ON THIS DAY

Macclesfield Town made their debut in the Football League, defeating Torquay United 2-1 at the Moss Rose ground.

Plymouth Argyle signed 38-year-old goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar on a 12 month contract despite the Zimbabwe international facing court proceedings for match fixing. Argyle’s manager Neil Warnock said ‘I realise he has got problems but what matters most is what he does on the pitch.’ He played in 36 of Plymouth’s 46 Second Division matches in 1996/97 and was later cleared of match fixing.

A big day for Crystal Palace. League members since 1920 it was on 9th August 1969 that they played their first match in the top flight - and that was against Manchester United at Selhurst Park. The attendance for that First Division match was 48,610 - a ground record at the time - and they paid gate receipts of £16,250. How times have changed! Palace went ahead twice with goals from Mel Blyth and Gerry Queen but the final score was 2-2. Palace won only 6 League matches in that inaugural season and only just escaped relegation. Back then all the clubs didn't play their final league fixture on the same day. With the bottom 2 relegated in those days Palace finished their League season on April 6th with a win to finish third from bottom with Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland below them in the relegation spots. But Sunderland didn't finish their season until April 15th (at home to Liverpool) with Wednesday's final match being on April 22nd (at home to Man City). If either of the home sides were to win those matches they would have gone above Palace who would have been relegated. They both lost!