ON THIS DAY

It's not too unusual to find footballers on the front page of our daily newspapers but the Sun's front page on Thursday 9th January 2014 was a tad different in that two different stories about two different footballers shared the front page headlines. The 'loser' of the two was Manchester United defender Chris Smalling who had been pictured at a fancy dress party dressed as a suicide bomber. Those were the days when, sadly, suicide bombings were a too regular and tragic part of all our lives. The 'winner' was retired German footballer Thomas Hitzlsperger who had played for Aston Villa, West Ham and Everton. He became the first footballer to have played in the Premier League to have the courage to come out as gay in an era when, sadly, that wasn't a straightforward announcement to make.

On this day Liverpool entertained Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the League Cup four days after Arsenal had beaten Liverpool 3-1 in an FA Cup tie at Anfield. Both clubs made many team changes for the League Cup encounter but a close encounter was expected in a match between clubs occupying 3rd and 4th place in the Premier League. That wasn’t to be the case! Nine goals were scored – with Arsenal winning 6-3. It was the first time since the 1929/30 season that Liverpool had conceded 6 goals in a match at Anfield – it happened twice to them that season! Arsenal forward Julio Baptista, on loan to the Gunners from Real Madrid, scored four goals - and missed a penalty. The Brazillian became the first visiting player to score four at Anfield since Dennis Westcott for Wolves in 1946.

Charlton Athletic players Mick Flanagan and Derek Hales were sent off in an FA Cup Third Round tie against non-leaguers Maidstone United - for fighting each other!

I'm writing this when it seems you have to be royalty or a politician to dominate the headlines for any period of time but there was an age when footballers could do that. One in particular lived on the front-pages, as well as the back pages, of our newspapers....George Best. The first few days of January 1971 was one of those periods we heard quite a bit about him. On January 4th 1971 he was due before an FA disciplinary committee in London as he had clocked up three bookings. One of those was for a tackle in Manchester United's 4-1 home defeat against Man City in December which resulted in a broken leg for City's Glyn Pardoe which kept him on the sidelines for nearly two years. The problem was that George Best overslept and missed his train from Manchester to London leaving the committee members and his manager Matt Busby - who had travelled down to support Best - twiddling their thumbs until Best arrived after catching a later train. The committee handed down a suspended playing ban and £250 fine. Then on Saturday January 9th he was due in London again for Manchester United's first League match of the new year. A 53,482 crowd was present at Stamford Bridge for the match against Chelsea but there was one notable absentee - George Best, Yep, he had missed the train again! As before he caught a later train but rather than travel to Stamford Bridge and at least watch the match he decided to give the whole thing a miss. Instead he spent the weekend with Irish actress Sinead Cusack who lived in Islington. Best received a two-week club ban for that, bless him.

Manchester City recorded their lowest ever League attendance at Maine Road with just 8,015 turning up for their Second Division fixture with Swindon Town. City lost 2-1 with Mike Summerbee scoring one of Swindon’s goals. The next time Mike Summerbee played at Maine Road he was in the Manchester City colours – he moved north at the start of the following season and helped with a dramatic improvement in City fortunes. In 1965/66 when they won the Second Division title with the Maine Road crowd topping 63,000 for a cup-tie. More success followed over the next few seasons with City winning the League title, FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup-Winners Cup. So never despair – things can change!