Puddy
By Vince Cooper HERE are a couple of great quiz questions; Q: Name the two clubs involved in the first-ever £5,000 transfer fee. A: West Ham United...
Nudger
By Vince Cooper WHEN no less an authority than Herbert Chapman says of you: “I shall always think he was the finest footballer I’ve ever seen” you...
A Clown Breaks England Hearts
By David Meier After memorably winning the World Cup in 1966 and putting up a brave show in the 1970 tournament, the qualifying draw for the 1974...
When Skies Are Grey by Mark Worrall
Book Review: When Skies Are Grey by Mark Worrall What can we make of the 2019-2020 season. Unprecedented? Fractured? A Mess? To some degree it was...
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...