A MAN OF MANY CLUBS
THIRTY years ago football lost one of it’s finest ‘journeymen’ when Keighley-born Trevor Hockey passed away suddenly from a heart attack at the age...
THE STORY OF THE SWANS – Part One
By Vince Cooper SWANSEA Town Football Club we’re initially formed in 1906 and, without a permanent ground, played matches at various locations...
FA CUP 1963-64.
HAMMERS WIN BATTLE OF THE YOUNG UNS BY Vince Cooper WHILST it was two of the country’s most durable Cup battlers who took to the field at Wembley on...
FROM FOSSILS TO FOXES
THE HISTORY OF LEICESTER CITY BY Vince Cooper PART ONE 1884-1939 Leicester City weren’t always Leicester City. They started life as Leicester Fosse...
FROM THE RAMBLERS TO THE BRITANNIA
FROM THE RAMBLERS TO THE BRITANNIA BY Vince Cooper HAVING first opened for business in 1878, The Victoria Ground lasted as the home of Stoke City...
THE FIRST SKIPPER
THE FIRST SKIPPER BY Vince Cooper ON Saturday 5 March 1870 England met Scotland in an unofficial international at Kennington Oval. The game had...
TALES FROM THE SHED – THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT
Last year I was asked to contribute to Tales From The Shed, an anthology of 34 Chelsea-related stories which was being published to raise money for...
THE FIRST MAVERICK
THE FIRST MAVERICK BY Vince Cooper IN the 1960s and 70s the term ‘maverick’ has come to describe those footballers who defied convention, were seen...
ENGLAND’S NUMBER ONE #1
GORDON BANKS BY Vince Cooper IT is often said that the strength of any great football team starts right at the back. A great goalkeeper not only...
THE LITTLE TIN IDOL
1871-72 F. A. Cup. Charles Alcock creates, then wins, The Little Tin Idol BY Vince Cooper EVERY major sporting tournament in the world owes a debt...
TRAVELLIN’ MAN
TRAVELLIN’ MAN – The Peter Withe story (part one) BY Vince Cooper IT was a long and often winding road to the top for Peter Withe, but when he...
NEW BOOKS – MAY 2023
THE people at Pitch Publishing (www.pitchpublishing.co.uk) continue to put out great books on a wide range of football (and other sporting)...
Blue Army – John Bumstead
BLUE ARMY BY Vince Cooper John Bumstead Chelsea have had their share of ‘unsung heroes’ over the years. Peter Houseman, a hugely influential member...
THE LEGEND OF THE BUSBY BABES
By Jason Grant Shela MBE FRSA MA The Busby Babes February 6th 1958 is a day that is forever etched with sadness and sorrow in the hearts and minds...
THE WAR CUPS
BY Vince Cooper IT is often written that football stopped during World War Two and while it’s true that ‘official matches’ like the Football League...
FA CUP 1922-23. SUCCESS FOR WANDERERS AND THE WHITE HORSE
By Vince Cooper ON a bleak January day in 1922 a select group convened near the top of a hill in Middlesex. After a few preliminaries H.R.H. The...