ON THIS DAY

The Professional Footballers' Association bought a bit of footballing memorabila at Sotherby's - a painting by LS Lowry. Going to the Match depicts a scene of fans on their way to a match at Burnden Park, the former home of Bolton Wanderers and PFA Chief Executive Gordon Taylor said of it that it ' represented 'the heart and soul of the game - the anticipation of crowds going to the match ', It cost the PFA £1,926,500 which at the time was a record for a modern British painting. It was rumoured at the time that David Beckham was interested in making a bid for it but Victoria didn't fancy it on any of her walls...so that was the end of his interest! The PFA cashed in their investment in October 2022 and made a decent profit. It was sold by Christie's for £6.6m with an additional buyers premium increasing the cost to the buyer to £7.8m. The main problem of the day was the introduction of a maximum wage of £4 per week for players. Now known as the Professional Footballers’ Association, it is the oldest professional sports trade union in the world.

Brian Clough is well remembered for his League Championship titles and European Cup wins but he had his bad results as well. The worst of those came in the early days as manager of Brighton. A 4-0 home defeat by non-leaguers Walton & Hersham in a First Round FA Cup replay was followed three days later by a performance he said he was ashamed of. On December 1st 1973 Brighton lost 2-8 at home to Bristol Rovers in a Third Division fixture. Lets reminisce.....

Second Division Liverpool announced that Bill Shankly would be their new manager. The former Carlisle, Grimsby, Workington and Huddersfield Town boss proved to be the man who transformed the Anfield club into one of the English greats.

Following a clash of heads between Sim Raleigh of Gillingham and Paul Mooney of Brighton in a Third Division South fixture the Gillingham centre-forward collapsed and later in the day tragically died in hospital from a brain haemorrhage. Brighton defender Mooney was so distressed by the accident that he retired from playing football.