KUBALA – THE MAN WHO BUILT BARCELONA
BY Vince Cooper IN 1999, Barcelona’s centenary year, a vote was held to decide the club’s greatest-ever player. Given the exploits since then of...
FRANK SOO – PIONEER
By Vince Cooper Whilst Viv Anderson is rightly feted as the first black England international his place as the first non-white to wear the national...
THE BIG FREEZE
BY Vince Cooper IN 2020 organised football all over the world was thrown into confusion by the coronavirus pandemic. In England many matches,...
CLAPHAM – THE FIRST ROVERS
In its early days the FA Cup was an almost exclusively southern affair, with the notable exception of the mighty Queen’s Park team from Scotland. A...
SNIFFER
BY Vince Cooper Denis Law broke the British transfer record fee twice, when both joining and leaving Torino. The man who surpassed Law’s record did...
ONE-CLUB, TWO-COUNTRY MAN
By Vince Cooper England’s Home International Championship match with Scotland at Wembley on 2 April 1955 was memorable for a number of reasons. It...
GAY GORDON
BY Vince Cooper IT is hard to imagine these days but there was a time when Scottish football wasn’t dominated by Celtic or even by the big two from...
FA CUP 1892-93. THE FALLOWFIELD FOLLY
By Vince Cooper Since it’s inception in 1872 the Football Association initially decided to keep final of the FA Cup in the south. Kennington Oval...
HAPPY HARRY
By Vince Cooper Many great players can look back and wonder how their career might have panned out were it not for the two great conflicts of the...
FA CUP 1946-47 ADDICKS GAIN REDEMPTION
By Vince Cooper The 1947 FA Cup final saw Charlton Athletic return to Wembley just a year after the heartbreak of an extra-time defeat to Derby...
GONE GROUNDS – ANNFIELD
BY Vince Cooper Prior to the 2nd World War, football fans in Stirling were served by the Kings Park club who played their home games at Forthbank...
The Wizard
When Chelsea were first admitted into the Football League the marquee signing was, of course, the £50 purchase of Willie Foulke from Sheffield...
THE MAN IN BROGUES
One of the first great footballers never wore boots when playing, preferring to ply his trade in his daily footwear. When league football started in...
Blue Army
I am proud and pleased to announce the publication of my first book, Blue Army. The book covers the history of Chelsea as told through the stories...
THE FIRST MANAGER
BY Vince Cooper Only Sir Alex Ferguson has won more English league titles than George Ramsay. Only Arsene Wenger has won more FA Cups than George...
THE PASS MASTER
THE JACK GREENWELL STORY BY Vince Cooper BARCELONA have become known as the epitome of the ‘pass and move’ team. The fluidity of their style has...