ON THIS DAY

England played Russia on the artificial surface of the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and a 2-1 defeat was a major setback in their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008. They eventually finished third in the group – behind qualifiers Croatia and Russia – and equal on points with Israel. England manager Steve McClaren only lasted another month in the job following the defeat in Russia. 18 th October

England needed to beat Poland in front of a 100,000 Wembley full-house to get to the 1974 World Cup finals, anything less then Poland would be there. In his pre-match analysis TV pundit Brian Clough called the Polish ‘keeper Jan Tomaszewski a ‘clown’ and so, inevitable, he produced a brilliant performance in the 1-1 draw. England were out of the World Cup and after two memorable World Cup final tournaments they found themselves as being just ordinary again.

Leyton Orient have only ever played one season in the top flight of the League and on this day in that season they recorded their record highest score of 9-2. No, it wasn't against Liverpool or Manchester United - it was against Chester in the Third Round of the League Cup! It proved to be a rare good day in front of goal for Leyton Orient with the O's only managing 37 goals in their 42 Division One outings which saw them finish a distant bottom in the First Division table that season.

This I'm sure will never happening again. Just after the start of the 1919/20 season the footballing authorities closed down Leeds City and expelled them from the Football League with their fixtures being taken over by Port Vale. Their crime had been to make illegal payments to players during the First World War. That saw the need to auction off the club assets to pay the debts so on 17th October 1919 representatives of 30 League clubs assembled at the Metropole Hotel in Leeds to bid for everything from boots to goalnets to....the players! The Yorkshire Post newspaper described it as "a melancholy spectacle" as the playing squad was sold as if they were cattle. Billy McLeod was bought by Notts County for £1250, John Hampson (to Aston Villa) and Harold Millership (to Rotherham County) went for £1000 each while £100 was the bargain price Lincoln City paid for Francis Chipperfield. Their whole squad went for around £10,000. Almost slavery I would have thought but out of that hardship a new club was soon playing at the Elland Road home of Leeds City....Leeds United.