ON THIS DAY

Tofiq Bahramov will always be remembered with affection by England fans - he was the linesman who helped get awarded the controversial England third goal in the 1966 World Cup final. When his native Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union their national stadium was renamed in his honour complete with a statue erected outside. England visited the stadium for the first time on this day in 2004 for a World Cup qualifier with captain Michael Owen scoring the only goal of the match.

In an attempt to increase interest in the club Brentford gave free admission to everyone who attended their Second Division match against Peterborough United on Saturday October 13th 2001. The 11,097 crowd (who would have paid about £70,000 if they had all been charged for entrance) was about twice the size of the previous home gate but sadly was also twice the size of their next game at Griffin Park. It was a season of nearly but not quite for Brentford finishing one point short of automatic promotion and then being beaten by Stoke in the Play Off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.