Scottish League 1890

Yesterday FIFA marked the anniversary of the inception of the Scottish Football League on Twitter:

#OnThisDay in 1890, the first matches were played in the Scottish League. pic.twitter.com/qNir6DFEgB

— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) August 16, 2016

 Well Played The Hibs!
 Hibernian, however, were not founder members. Here is a list of the results of that first day of League football in Scotland:

Celtic	1	4	Renton
Cambuslang	8	2	Vale of Leven
Rangers	5	2	Heart of Midlothian
Dumbarton	1	1	Cowlairs

Teams not in action were Abercorn, St Mirren and Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers.
Dumbarton and Rangers shared the title after a drawn play off match. 

Must'nt touch it with the hands.

I'm sure these cards were intended to titillate rather than to promote a positive image of women's participation in sport. The young lady's shape suggests corsetry- it's a nice kit though. 

I recommend this site to anyone interested in cigarette cards and other sporting ephemera.

Association Football by J.L Jones (1904)

I cannot find words strong enough to express my disapproval. The habit of smoking, once started, may lead to grave disasters.

Jack Jones (1904)

Jack  Jones was born in Rhuddlan but grew up on Merseyside. Early in his career he played for Bootle, but his first taste of League football came at Grimsby Town.  His talent as a cricketer took him to Sheffield United Cricket Club and he then also signed for the Sheffield United Football Club. After 3 seasons at Bramall Lane Jones moved to Tottenham Hotspur. The fact that Tottenham were then in the Southern League meant that United didn't receive a transfer fee. United were further angered as the club had secured Jones a cricket coaching position at Rugby School.
Jones enjoyed 7 years at Tottenham Hotspur, and was captain of the FA Cup winning side in 1901. An outside left, he represented Wales on 21 occasions. 

Jones' book ran to 112 pages and featured chapters entitled The Disposition Of The Field; The Forwards; Half Backs; Backs; The Goalkeeper; Heading, Dribbling, Passing, and Shooting; Training For Football; The Rules Of Association Football; The Football Association  and The Offside Rule.

Managers

Here are some successful managers pictured during their careers as players.

The player in the centre of the back row of this photograph is Helenio Herrera. The team is Casablanca Roches Noires (1929).  As a manager in the 1950s and 60s he won La Liga 4 times, Serie A 3 times, The Fairs Cup twice, the European Cup twice, the Copa Del Rey twice and the Coppa Italia once. 

The legendary William Shankly of Preston North End. He guided Liverpool to 3 League titles, 2 FA Cups and a UEFA Cup. These figures mean nothing. His solid proletarian ethics and his philosophy of football cemented his place in the folklore of the game.

Guttmann Béla - Known outside Hungary as Bela Guttmann- the silk shirted dancing master who played at the heart of the great Hakoah Vienna side later won titles as a manager in Hungary, Brazil and Portugal ( he also managed clubs in the Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, Austria, Uruguay, Argentina, Italy and Greece!) . He won the European Cup twice with Benfica, and his parting curse on that club remains potent to this day. 

Sir Matt Busby built 2 great sides at Manchester United, winning the European Cup, 5 League titles and 2 FA Cups. In his playing days he represented Liverpool and Manchester City.

The Good Old Days...

Yorkshire Evening Post - 07.05.28

Old Trafford 1910

The Manchester Courier, 21.02.10

Its not just teams and individual players that make up the rich fabric of football history, but places too, iconic venues.

Manchester United's Old Trafford ground is one of the great venues in World Football. 

Opened in 1910, Old Trafford was Manchester United / Newton Heath's 3rd home. 

From 1878  to 1893 Newton Heath played at North Road. The highest attendance recorded at this ground was approximately 15,000 for a Division 1 game against Sunderland (04.03.93).

The second ground was Bank Street. The capacity was 50,000. In the last match United played there, however, the attendance was just 5,000 (22.01.10).

The opening match at Old Trafford (19.02.10) drew a crowd in excess of 50,000.

In 1911 58,000 watched the replayed FA Cup Final between Bradford City and Newcastle United. Old Trafford's 2nd FA Cup Final, the Khaki Final of 1915 (Sheffield United v Chelsea) had an attendance of 49,557. 

70,504 saw United lose 3-1 to Aston Villa (27.12.20) and the ground's first international (England 0 Scotland 1, 17.04.26) was attended by a crowd of 49,429.

Sandy Turnbull scored the first ever goal at Old Trafford, for United in a 4-3 loss to Liverpool. 

William Ralf Dean - 60 goals

A record that will never be broken.
During the course of the 1927-28 domestic season Bill Dean of Everton, known (to his displeasure) as Dixie, scored 60 League goals for Everton. He also scored 3 FA Cup goals and 4 goals in international friendlies.
During the record breaking season he scored 7 hattricks and was responsible for 58.8% of Everton's League goals (102).
Everton had sealed the championship before the final game , and 48,715 fans were at Goodison to watch the Arsenal match. Dean was on 57 goals. Arsenal went ahead after 2 minutes - Dean equalised a minute later, and in the 6th minute scored from the spot after he was fouled. The record-breaking  goal came in the 82nd minute, Dean heading in from a corner (a third of his 431 career goals were headed).

	Football League Division One					Goal
27.08.27	Everton	4	0	The Wednesday	Goodison	1
	Dean scored Everton’s 3rd.
03.09.27	Middlesbrough	4	2	Everton	Ayresome Park	2
	1926-27 59 goal sensation George Camsell bagged all 4 of Boro’s goals.
05.09.27	Bolton Wanderers	1	1	Everton	Burnden Park	3
10.09.27	Everton	5	2	Birmingham	Goodison	5
14.09.27	Everton	2	2	Bolton Wanderers	Goodison	6
17.09.27	Newcastle United	2	2	Everton	St James’	8
24.09.27	Everton	2	2	Huddersfield Town	Goodison	10
01.10.27	Tottenham Hotspur	1	3	Everton	White Hart Lane	12
08.10.27	Everton	5	2	Manchester United	Goodison	17
15.10.27	Everton	1	1	Liverpool	Goodison
	Dean’s first blank of the season, game 10.
29.10.27	Portsmouth	1	3	Everton	Fratton Park	20
05.11.27	Everton	7	1	Leicester City	Goodison	23
12.11.27	Derby County	0	3	Everton	Baseball Ground	25
19.11.27	Everton	0	1	Sunderland	Goodison
26.11.27	Bury	2	3	Everton	Gigg Lane	27
03.12.27	Everton	0	0	Sheffield United	Goodison
10.12.27	Aston Villa	2	3	Everton	Villa Park	30
17.12.27	Everton	4	1	Burnley	Goodison
24.12.27	Arsenal	3	2	Everton	Highbury	31
26.12.27	Everton	2	0	Cardiff City	Goodison	33
	Dean’s previous best season tally was 32 (1925-26).
27.12.27	Cardiff City	2	0	Everton	Ninian Park
31.12.27	The Wednesday	1	2	Everton	Hillsborough	35
02.01.28	Blackburn Rovers	4	2	Everton	Ewood Park	37
07.01.28	Everton	3	1	Middlesbrough	Goodison	39
	Dean passed Bert Freeman’s club record of 38 goals, set in the 1908-09 season.
21.01.28	Birmingham	2	2	Everton	St Andrew’s
04.02.28	Huddersfield Town	4	1	Everton	Leeds Road	40
11.02.28	Everton	2	5	Tottenham Hotspur	Goodison
25.02.28	Liverpool	3	3	Everton	Anfield	43
03.03.28	West Ham United	0	0	Everton	Boleyn Ground
14.03.28	Manchester United	1	0	Everton	Old Trafford
17.03.28	Leicester City	1	0	Everton	Filbert Street
24.03.28	Everton	2	2	Derby County	Goodison	45
	The previous record for most goals in a First Division season was 43, scored by Ted Harper of Blackburn Rovers in 1925-26.
06.04.28	Everton	4	1	Blackburn Rovers	Goodison	47
07.04.28	Everton	1	1	Bury	Goodison	48
14.04.28	Sheffield United	1	3	Everton	Bramall Lane	50
18.04.28	Everton	3	0	Newcastle United	Goodison	51
21.04.28	Everton	3	2	Aston Villa	Goodison	53
24.04.28	Burnley	3	5	Everton	Turf Moor	57
05.05.28	Everton	3	3	Arsenal	Goodison	60
	George Camsell scored 59 goals for Middlesbrough in Division 2 in 1926-27.
	FA Cup
14.01.28	Preston North End	0	3	Everton	Deepdale	1
28.01.28	Arsenal	4	3	Everton	Highbury	3
	Internationals
22.10.27	Ireland	2	0	England	Windsor Park
28.11.27	England	1	2	Wales	Turf Moor
31.03.28	England	1	5	Scotland	Wembley
17.05.28	France	1	5	England	Colombes	2
19.05.28	Belgium	1	3	England	Antwerp	4