1980 FA Cup Third Round: Halifax Town v Man City

A look back this week at a genuine shock in the 1980 FA Cup third round, as big spending Manchester City suffered at the hands of lowly Halifax Town, and City boss Malcolm Allison shared the limelight with a hypnotist from his past.

1986/87: Aston Villa

Aston Villa's start to the 2015/16 season has brought back a few unwanted memories for any Villa supporter old enough to recall the unfortunate events of 1986/87. A campaign that saw the club relegated just five years after being kings of Europe, during a soul destroying nine months, involving two managers and just eight league wins. How had it come to this?

1985 UK Championship: Willie Thorne

The calendar year of 1985 was going so well for Willie Thorne. A breakthrough win at the Mercantile Credit Classic in January provided the perfect start, and although Thorne's performances towards the end of the 84/85 season and the beginning of 85/86 were not particularly encouraging, it looked as if the December would see the twelve months bookended with another ranking tournament win.

England football one cap wonders

A look back this week on the twelve footballers who made their only England appearance in the 1980s. Including a couple of trips to Australia, a profitable visit to Iceland for two players, hard luck tales, and a woeful performance in Saudi Arabia that did little to help the cause of players and manager alike.

1982/83: FA Cup First Round shocks

A look back this week on some FA Cup shocks from the first round of the competition in 1982/83, including a couple of teams in financial dire straits having angst piled upon their misery, giant-killers adding to their growing reputations, and Bede McCaffrey writing his name into the history books of North Shields.

1984 FA Cup: Howard Kendall

Extracted and slightly adapted from my blogs on the 1983/84 FA Cup, a look back on Everton's progress in the competition, and how winning the trophy provided the foundations for the success that followed under the sadly departed Howard Kendall.

Football League: Goals galore, Sept 25, 1982

Whilst browsing through my Telegraph Complete History of British Football book recently – I really, really must get out more – I stumbled across a section in the 1982/83 season that got me interested. It soon became clear that Saturday September 25 was something that I should be looking into. 

A day that would see 50 goals in the First Division alone, 151 in the whole of the Football League at an average of 3.35 a game, six hat-tricks, thrashings, outfield players in goal, and one player scoring four and ending up on the losing team. Football wasn’t always exciting in the 1980s, yet the events of this day in 1982 were refreshing to say the least.