Augusto Rangone

When we think of Italian managers in the pre war era the name of Vittorio Pozzo will, of course, forever dominate, leading the Azzuri on 95 occasions including 2 World Cup wins.
In the majority of other matches in this era the team was run by a group of coaches referred to as the Technical Committee. They were also overseen by Augusto Rangone for 24 matches, of which they won 12.
The Alessandria manager first contributed to the national scene in 1922 -24 as part of the Technical Committee (along with Umberto Meazza and Augusto Galletti, with Silva and Agostini also contributing for the game on 20.01.24).

03.12.22	Italy	2	2	Switzerland
01.01.23	Italy	3	1	Germany
04.03.23	Italy	0	0	Hungary
15.04.23	Austria	0	0	Italy
27.05.23	Czechoslovakia	5	1	Italy
20.01.24	Italy	0	4	Austria

This lack of success prompted the appointment of Pozzo as national coach, a position he held for 5 games, including the 1924 Olympic tournament.
In November 1924 the Technical Committee approach was given another try. This time Rangone, Milano and  Baccani formed the triumvirate.

16.11.24	Italy	2	2	Sweden
23.11.24	Germany	0	1	Italy
19.01.25	Italy	1	2	Hungary
22.03.25	Italy	7	0	France
14.06.25	Spain	1	0	Italy
18.06.25	Portugal	1	0	Italy

In November 1925 Rangone alone was entrusted with the running of the national side. Rangone contributed to the nations first 2 international honours- he oversaw the  first 50% of Italy's victorious Coupe Internationale européenne campaign of 1927-30 and led them to a Bronze medal at the 1928 Olympics.

04.11.25	Italy	2	1	Yugoslavia
08.11.25	Hungary	1	1	Italy
17.01.26	Italy	3	1	Czechoslovakia
21.03.26	Italy	3	0	Irish Free State
18.04.26	Switzerland	1	1	Italy
09.05.26	Italy	3	2	Switzerland
18.07.26	Sweden	5	3	Italy
28.10.26	Czechoslovakia	3	1	Italy
30.01.27	Switzerland	1	5	Italy
20.02.27	Italy	2	2	Czechoslovakia
17.04.27	Italy	3	1	Portugal
24.04.27	France	3	3	Italy
29.05.27	Italy	2	0	Spain
23.10.27	Czechoslovakia	2	2	Italy*
06.11.27	Italy	0	1	Austria*
01.01.28	Italy	3	2	Switzerland*
25.03.28	Italy	4	3	Hungary*
15.04.28	Portugal	4	1	Italy
22.04.28	Spain	1	1	Italy
29.05.28	France	3	4	Italy **
01.06.28	Italy	1	1	Spain **
04.06.28	Italy	7	1	Spain **
07.06.28	Italy	2	3	Uruguay **
09.06.28	Italy	11	3	Egypt **

*Coupe Internationale européenne
** Olympic Games 

As part of Technical Committee:

P	W	D	L	F	A
12	3	4	5	17	18

As sole coach/manager:

P	W	D	L	F	A
24	12	7	5	68	44

Last day drama -1903

On Saturday April 18th 1903 (which was FA Cup Final day) The Wednesday completed their League campaign with a 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion at Owlerton (goals from Andy Wilson, Fred Spikesley and Ambrose Langley).
Sunderland, in second place , just one point behind, had a game in hand.
The following Saturday Sunderland traveled the 20 km to play their local rivals Newcastle United at St James' Park. A win would see them retain the League title (they had won 4 previous titles in total; Aston Villa held the record with 5).
Newcastle went ahead in the 48th minute- a short range effort from Robert Smyth McColl. 
In the latter stages of the game, pressing for the  equalizer, Sunderland changed formation to 1-4-5 (Rhodes 'joining the halves'). Under the rules of the day  this led to  a lot of off sides- much to the anger of the Newcastle fans.

Newcastle United		Sunderland
Charlie Watts	GK	Ned Doig
Andy Aitken	RB	Jimmy Watson
William Agnew	LB	Ephraim 'Dusty' Rhodes
Peter McWilliam	RH	Billy Farquhar
Colin Veitch	CH	Alex Barrie
Jack Carr	LH	Dicky Jackson
Archie Turner	OR	Billy Hogg
Alec Gardner	IR	Robbie Robinson
Bob McColl	CF	Jimmy Millar
Bill Appleyard	IL	Joe Hewitt
Bobby Templeton	OL	Arthur Bridgett

'Toffee Bob' McColl was the founder of a chain of corner shops that can still be seen to this day.

The Oval

In the 1860s London's football was played in public parks such as Clapham Common and Battersea Park. There were no enclosed football grounds.
A significant change occurred on Saturday October 9th 1869, when The Wanderers v West Kent was played at the Kennington Oval, the home of Surrey Cricket Club. This was the first football match to be played at the famous venue.
The cricket ground had been laid out in 1845.
Charles Alcock had good connections in the cricket world. He played for Middlesex and would, in 1872, become secretary of Surrey. He was able to persuade the current Surrey secretary, William Burrup, that allowing the footballers to use the outfield in the winter months was a good thing.
The orientation of pitch was east to west.

Bell's Life in London and Sporting Chronicle - 13.10.69

Charles Nepean, scorer of the 1st goals at The Oval 

Over the following 23 seasons The Oval was England's leading football venue, hosting 22 FA Cup Finals (including 2 replays) and 10 internationals (8 v Scotland, 2 v Wales). It was also used as a venue for Rugby.

In 1892 Surrey County Cricket Club made it known that they wouldn’t be allowing any football to be played at The Oval until the end of October.Then, in January 1893, it was announced that because the square had been relaid there would be no football at The Oval that season.

Say it with flowers #1

Wherever it appears on the internet, this picture is invariably described as 

Copa America 1921. Emilio Solari, captain of  Argentina, greeting  Bartolome Brizuela of Paraguay at the 1921 South American Championship of Nations. 

However, Brizuela made his international debut in 1925 and did not appear at the South American Championship of Nations until 1926, whereas Solari's last appearance at the championships was in 1924. 

My theory is that the Paraguay player pictured is in fact the legendary Manuel Fleitas Solich.

The Edinburgh Cup

By my reckoning this competition (still played for today in the guise of the East of Scotland Shield) is the third oldest Association football cup tournament in the World. This despite the apparent slowness of the east of Scotland in taking to the game (Rugby was the favoured code).

Hibernian 1880

11.03.76	Third Edinburgh Rifle Volunteers	6	0	Thistle
	3ERV became St Bernard’s in 1878.
1876–77	Thistle	Walk over		Third Edinburgh Rifle Volunteers
	Revenge after a fashion for Thistle as 3ERV did not turn up.
20.04.78	Heart of Midlothian	3	2	Hibernian
	This match required 4 replays to produce a winner, and is credited with cementing the popularity of both clubs. 1 09.02.78 Heart of Midlothian 0 0 Hibernian 2 16.02.78 Heart of Midlothian 1 1 Hibernian 3 23.02.78 Heart of Midlothian 1 1 Hibernian 4 06.04.78 Heart of Midlothian 1 1 Hibernian 5 20.04.78 Heart of Midlothian 3 2 Hibernian
29.03.79	Hibernian	2	0	Heart of Midlothian
	Another replay, following a 1-1 draw (01.03.79) . 4,000 watched the first match, whereas the average attendance for the 5 matches the previous season had been 1200.
20.03.80	Hibernian	5	0	Dunfermline
	Another replay, albeit in different circumstances. Hibernian won the original match (06.03.80) by 6 goals to 3. Dunfermline protested that crowd encroachment had affected the game so a rematch was ordered. Dunfermline were not connected with the present day Dunfermline Athletic
02.04.81	Hibernian	1	0	St Bernard’s
	Hibernian were awarded the trophy in perpetuity having won it 3 times in succession.

Standard Athletic Club

1902

La Coupe Dewar was a knockout tournament contested by Parisian clubs from 1899-1900.
Standard Athletic Club won 4 of the first 6 editions.
Here we see action from the 1902 final in which Standard beat United Sports Club at the ground of Racing.
Standard's winner was scored by Wooley. Their players appear to have been predominantly Englishmen.

Coupe Dewar final, 1902. The ball goes into orbit.

Manchester United in Budapest

A flyer advertising Manchester United's visit to Budapest in 1908.