ON THIS DAY

In one of those strange quirks of the fixture list Premier League new boys Bournemouth - the most southerly side who had ever played in the Premier League - entertained Newcastle - the most northerly side ever to play in the PL. On the same day at Carrow Road Norwich City, the most easterly club to have played in the PL, played Swansea City - you've guessed it, the most westerly side ever to play in the Premier League. There were 1-0 victories for Newcastle and Norwich. 8 th November

Less than a month after being appointed Huddersfield Town manager Malcolm Macdonald had to watch his side suffer a 10-1 Division 2 defeat against Manchester City at Maine Road. Three City players - Paul Stewart, Tony Adcock and David White - scored hat-tricks in the match. That was the last time a club scored ten or more goals in a League fixture.

Rochdale beat New Brighton in a Division 3 (North) match – and then managed to pick up just a single point in the remainder of the season. That was 27 League and cup matches with one draw and 26 defeats - including a 9-1 thumping.

When Aberdare Athletic were elected to the Football League at the start of the 1921/22 season it was a bit of a high-point for football in Wales. Wales - well south Wales - for the first time had 6 Football League clubs - Aberdare, Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Newport County, Swansea Town (as they then were) and Wrexham. Aberdare kicked off their League career with a 0-0 home draw against Portsmouth in front of 9,722 fans but times were financially difficult with the local coal-mining industry suffering tough-times in the 1920's. Their low-point came on Wednesday November 7th 1923 when a fire broke out at their Ynys ground. Money had been spent on rebuilding their stand to help gain League membership but the fire destroyed the stand, offices and press box. The dressing room and all its contents were also destroyed leading to appeals for boots and playing kit to give the players something to wear for the next match three days later. Their insurance was insufficient delaying the stand rebuild, they lost their League place in 1927 (to Torquay United) and went bust not long afterwards. Sad.