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Thirty Years Ago

Bob 70-71

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Note : The news from thirty years ago has an archive below

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August 1975

As appeared in Rothman's Football Yearbook 1976-77 (7th year) :

The Queen Anne Press, London 1976

August

Derby win the Charity Shield ... Bill Nicholson joins West Ham as a 'consultant' . . . Gerry Francis will captain England for the rest of the season . . . Bobby Charlton resigns at Preston . . . hooliganism is in the headlines again.

2 The season opens on a very hot afternoon with the Anglo-Scottish Cup and friendly matches ... Arsenal lose a friendly at Dundee, where Eddie Kelly captains the side in place of the transfer-listed Alan Ball... The best crowd of the day is in Glasgow where Celtic beat Derby 1-0 in a friendly in front of 44,000... Jock Stein is out of hospital where he has been recovering from serious injuries sustained in a car accident.

3 Jim Hollon is sent off in a friendly in Denmark. Manchester U. win 3-0 there, and their travelling fans behave impeccably . . . Ipswich finish third in a pre-season tournament, after beating Spartak Trnava 2-1 ... Everton winger John Connolly breaks his left leg in a game at Deventer, Holland, and will be out of football until Christmas.

5 Jimmy Meadows resigns as Stockport manager - Eddie Hopkinson takes over on a temporary basis. . . John Holsgrove leaves Sheffield W. and joins Stockport on a free transfer.

7 Goalkeeper Bryan King goes to Coventry from Millwall for the bargain price of £57,000. Only a year ago Millwall were asking £i 50,000 for King. Bertie Mee says. The transfer fee involved in Bryan King's move is one of the most significant things to happen. It seems to me to represent the moment when football finally moved out of cloud cuckoo land'. . . Ipswich win 6-0 in Norway in a friendly, but West Ham only scrape home 2-1 against Bergen ... Lou Macari is sent off in Denmark - the second Manchester U. player to be dismissed in warm-up friendlies.

9 Derby win the Charity Shield. Despite the tropical weather, 59,000 turn up at Wembley, where the Champions beat West Ham 2-0 with goals by Heclor and McFarland. Charlie George makes a promising debut for Derby. For the first time in England, numbered placards are used to signal substitutions . . . Player-manager Johnny Giles is injured in a friendly and will not be fit to open the season with West Bromwich.

10 Arsenal starlets come under attack from the club's chief scout Gordon Clark. He says, 'Some of our youngsters need a kick up the backside. Nobody is more anxious for them to make the grade ihan I am, but they will have to pull their fingen out.... In the meantime Arsenal arc beaten 2-0 in Split by the Yugoslav champions, Hajduk.. .Gerry Queen is transfer-listed by Orient.

13 Malcolm Allison receives an offer from Stockport, but decides to stay with Crystal Palace . . . John Lacy (Fulhatn) misses the start of the season due to cartilage trouble . . . Carlisle refuse a reported six-figure offer from Tottenham for their centre-back Bill Green.

15 Bill Nicholson joins West Ham in a general executive capacity. He will help with the youth sides and also do some scouting.

16 The season opens with the usual surprises on the field, and crowd trouble off it. Over 70 fans are arrested at Wolverhampton where Manchester U. are the visitors, and at Leicester who are at home to Birmingham . . . Brian Clough, the Forest manager, runs on to the pitch to stop an invasion, and orders the Plymouth supporters back to the stands ... At Peterborough a female 'streaker' livens up the proceedings... But attendances are down - especially in the lower divisions ... An excellent day for London and Manchester but a sad .1 for the Liverpool clubs. The four First Division London clubs collect seven points, with Q.P.R. (home to Liverpool) and West Ham (away to Stoke) recording convincing victories. Manchester U. mark their return to the top flight with a 2-0 win at Wolves. Newcastle win 3-0 at Ipswich, and Coventry beat Everton 4-1 at Goodison with David Cross getting the season's first hat-trick. Holders Derby draw 1-1 at Sheffield United. Both Sunderland and Southampton in the second division open their promotion bids with easy wins at the expense of Chelsea and West Bromwich respectively.

I8 Geoff Hurst, 33. signs for WBA for £20,000.

19 Arsenal's Sammy Nelson is ordered off at Sheffield United, but Arsenal win 3-1. Nelson is automatically suspended for one match and collects 12 penalty points according to the new disciplinary system . . . Manchester U. win 2-0 away at Birmingham and are the only team with maximum points in Division One after two matches. Slepney is taken to hospital during the match with a dislocated jaw -reportedly sustained while shouting at a team-mate!... 26 United supporters are arresied.

20 Mike England, back in football as a player, cannot prevent his new club Cardiff going down 2-1 to Bristol R. in the first leg of their League Cup tie... Arsenal pay £30,000 to Crewe for goalkeeper Brian Parker ... Gerry Francis is named as (he new England captain. Alan Ball, the previous skipper, is not included in the squad for the friendly against Switzerland . . . Martin Buchan is back in the Scotland squad for the European Championship tie v Denmark.

21 Bill Nicholson advocates a new points system in (he league, in an address given to the Press at the Rothmans lunch. He proposes a system with 10 points for a win, five for a draw, and a point for each goal scored . . . Bobby Charlton resigns as manager of Preston following a transfer dispute with the directors. He says: 'It is a sad day for me. But I refuse to have players at the club that I don't want. It was a matter of principle. The directors decided that a deal with Newcastle must go through. But 1 do not think it was a realistic deal. If they want to have somebody lo carry out their decisions, they can gel anyone to do that!' The proposed deal is the transfer of defender John Bird, to Newcastle, for £40,000 plus either Micky Burns or ex-North Ender Alex Bruce. . . Doug Livermore (Norwich) joins Cardiff for a £20,000 fee.

23 Stan Bowles scores a hat-trick for QPR in their 5-1 defeat of Derby ai the Baseball Ground. Ted MacDougall also gets ihree goals for Norwich, who defeat Aston Villa 5-3.

25 Nobby Stiles refuses the offer to take over as manager of Preston North End and leaves the club. 'My decision had nothing to do with my close friendship with Bobby Charlton', he says, 'It is a matter of principle.'

26 Liverpool win 3-0 at Leeds with goals from Ray Kennedy and lan Callaghan (2). During the match Leeds substitute Norman Hunter clashes with boss Jimmy Armfield, and walks away from the bench in apparent disgust. However, Armfield says, 'Norman and 1 are of entirely different temperaments, but now the incident is dosed. A substitute would have made no difference' . . . Peier Bonetti agreesto help out Chelsea in their present goalkeeping shortgage. He signs a monthly contract until John Phillips is back in action, but the veteran ex-Chelsea player is still available on a free transfer.

27 At Derby, the Champions beat Newcastle 3-2 in a controversial game, which sees the dismissal of Micky Burns following a disputed goal. Manager Gordon Lee says, 'What went on out there was a disgrace to the First Division, and a disgrace lo football' . . . Joe Kinnear signs for Brighton for a £5000 fee ... Hairy Catterick is the new manager of Preston. His first transfer deal is the one which has caused Charlton's resignation. John Bird to Newcastle for £50,000 plus Alec Burns.

28 Nottingham F. buy Tony Curran from Doncasler. Peacock and Miller plus a £50,000 cheque go to the Yorkshire club . .. Teny Hibbit moves to Birmingham from Newcastle for £100,000.

29 Nobby Stiles returns to Preston as chief coach.

30 Hooliganism makes the headlines again. Hundreds of Chelsea fans invade the pitch at Luton in an attempt to get the match abandoned because their team is losing 3-0. Some of them also attack Keith Barber, the Luton goalkeeper. But referee Eric Reed suspends play, and after the riot is quelled, completes the match. The Chelsea fans also vandalize the town after the game and their train back to London is wrecked ... Other trouble spots are Stoke, where there were 50 arrests-the visitors being Manchester U., Glasgow where there are 60 arrests following the first ever Rangers v Celtic Premier Division game and Crewe, where the railway is closed after a fire in a football special . . . Tony Waddington criticises Don Revie for not selecting Alan Hudson for the England squad. 'He has knocked the stuffing out of Alan's game. I think it is unfair that Don should recalj players like Hudson and Ball and then drop them as he has'.

31 Don Revie replies to Tony Waddington's criticisms by saying 'I want men who are proud to pull on the England shirt. I don't want any players with me in the World Cup who go running for the plane home if they are left out of one match. We want less talking off the pitch and more on it. I won't have managers using me as an excuse for their own mediocre start to the season. Stoke pay Hudson's wages and it is Tony Waddington's job, not mine, lo motivate his players' . , . There is strong reaction to the chaos and hooliganism of last Saturday. Chelsea chairman, Brian Mears, calls an emergency Board meeting to discuss measures to deal with the situation. Referee Eric Reed says, 'Bring back the birch or the cat. That would stop the hooligans.' And an MP proposes that grounds should be closed as a punishment for crowd disturbances . . . Barry Powell (Wolves) goes to Coventry for £75,000 ... Roy Chapman is the new manager of Stockport County,