1983: A Christmas football feast

It is a Christmas tradition up there with eating too much turkey, watching James Bond films, and numerous family rows. Football on Boxing Day may not have always been popular with players in the past, yet for supporters it has often provided the ideal palate cleanser.

So when news broke recently of a distinct lack of top-flight matches on Boxing Day, a gnashing of teeth could be heard up and down the country. Another brick removed from the wall of football tradition, the influence of television and a swelling calendar impacting the beautiful game. Never mind that there is a full Football League and National League fixtures that day, apparently it is the top table people want to feast at.

It hasn't always been this way. In fact there was a time when just like mince pies and chocolates, we overindulged in football at Christmas. The 1983/84 season was a prime example of this. The vast majority of clubs would play on both Boxing Day and December 27, players expected to be disciplined enough to forgo that extra glass of sherry and then perform twice in the space of 24 hours.

Golden goals: Peter Shirtliff (1987)

It is hard to think of the Football League without the play-off system in place. The drama provided by the end of season fixtures is a perfect conclusion to the league season - for neutrals at least - with the race to reach the play-offs just as exciting. Gaining promotion via this method is the sweetest thing; losing, the bitterest pill.

The first season of the play-offs was a mere appetiser for the feast that has followed since. There would be no Wembley showpiece final - this was introduced in 1990 - yet this did not take anything away from the entertainment, suspense and intrigue surrounding the new end of season events. Change can sometimes be good; the 1986/87 play-offs proved this point emphatically.

1986 FA Cup Third Round: Birmingham v Altrincham

It was a fitting chapter in the shambolic story of Birmingham City's 1985/86 season. When Gola League Altrincham visited St Andrew's in the 1986 FA Cup Third Round and left victorious, it says a lot about the state of the First Division side that it was not a huge shock. On and off the pitch, Birmingham City were spiralling out of control.

Manager Ron Saunders had predicted the trouble ahead. After leading the club to promotion in the previous campaign, the former Aston Villa boss urged chairman Keith Coombs to spend some money, otherwise the club faced an instant return to the Second Division. 

1983/84: Aston Villa v Birmingham City

The Second City derby is still a passionate affair, but it is unlikely that any fixture in the modern era can match the one contested between Aston Villa and Birmingham City in October 1983.

It was never likely to be a quiet affair. When ex-Aston Villa manager Ron Saunders took his Birmingham City team to Villa Park on October 15, 1983, he wasn't taking many shrinking violets with him. Tony Coton, Pat Van Den Hauwe, Noel Blake, Robert Hopkins, Howard Gayle, and Mick Harford are individuals that are often mentioned in a Who's Who of football's bad boys. But it wasn't all one way traffic. Colin Gibson and Steve McMahon would give as good as they got.

1980s: League Cup Fourth Round shocks

Three years ago I wrote about some League Cup Third Round memories from the 1980s.  So it is probably about time that I moved on to the Fourth Round of the competition. 

This time I am taking a look at some shocks from this stage of the League Cup, including a double dose of despair for Arsenal, the rise of Watford and Oxford, and a rare defeat for Everton in an otherwise fantastic season.