On 15 October 1887, Preston North End delivered the biggest beating in English football history, crushing Hyde FC 26-0 in the FA Cup.
Although they had been playing football for only nine years, Preston had already established themselves as a rising power, reaching the FA Cup semifinals the previous season. When the returned to the tournament in the 1887-88 season, they met Hyde at Deepdale in the first round and proceeded to win 26-0. It remains the biggest margin of victory in English football (but still behind the British record, set by Arbroath's 36-0 Scottish Cup win over Bon Accord in 1885).
Preston advanced all the way to the final before losing to West Brom, but won the tournament the following season as part of the first English FA Cup and league Double. They repeated as league champions in 1990 and finished as runners-up in 1991, 1992, and 1993.
On 16 April 1905, Liverpool secured their second league title. It was the first time in league history that a newly-promoted team won the top flight.
Liverpool won their first league title in 1901, but three seasons later, they finished the season as the seventeenth-placed team out of eighteen and were relegated to the Second Division. But they returned at the first opportunity and were back in the top flight for the 1904-05 season.
Their return started poorly, with three losses in their first three matches. They turned things around quickly, however, winning twelve of their next fifteen to reach the top of the table by mid-December. Their good form continued into the second half of the season, with Preston North End in hot pursuit.
At the start of the day on 16 April, Preston were five points back with three games left to play. Liverpool were away to Bolton, where they lost 3-2. But fortunately for them, Preston also lost, falling 2-0 at Sunderland. That result put the title out of Preston's reach and made Liverpool the champions.
On 5 January 1963, the longest round in FA Cup history kicked off, as severe winter weather forced postponements that stretched out into the middle of March.
Britain's coldest winter since 1740 delivered a combination of snow and ice, sending the country into what commentators called "the Big Freeze." Consequently, all of the FA Cup matches scheduled for that Saturday were postponed except for three--two in the North West (Sunderland's 1-4 win at Preston North End and Tranmere Rovers' 2-2 draw with Chelsea) and one in the South West (West Brom's 1-5 win at Plymouth).
Some matches were played a few days later while others suffered repeated postponements. Birmingham City's contest against Bury included a replay, one match that had to be abandoned, and a total of 14 postponements before Bury claimed a 2-0 victory on 7 March. In all, there were 261 postponements over the course of three weeks.
The round finally ended on 11 March when Middlesbrough beat Blackburn in a replay.
On 25 September 1963, English center forward Tom Finney, who had spent all 14 seasons of his professional career at Preston North End, came out of retirement for one match. For another club.
One of the most dominant players of the era, Finney signed with Preston, his hometown club, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. But the suspension of football during the conflict meant that he did not make his debut for them until 1946. He was a standout for an otherwise largely unimpressive side, winning the Footballer of the Year award in 1953-54 and again in 1956-57. He stayed with them through the 1959-60 season, scoring a total of 210 goals in 473 appearances before injuries forced his retirement in 1960.
In 1963, George Eastham, the manager of defending Irish League champions Distillery FC, asked the then-41 year old Finney to play for them in a European Cup tie against Benfica, who had won the competition in 1961 and 1962. After convincing Finney that the offer was legitimate, the forward agreed to suit up for the Northern Irish club, but only for the first home leg. It was the only time in his professional career that he played an official match for a club other than Preston.
A crowd of over 19,000 turned out at Windsor Park in Belfast to watch the contest, as Distillery took the lead three times, only to see Benfica equalize each time. An 80th-minute goal from Eusébio in the 80th minute ended the match at 3-3. In the second leg, playing without Finney, Distillery lost 5-0.
On 14 September 1901, Arsenal legend Alex James was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. A deep-lying playmaker, he guided the Gunners to their first major trophy.
An inside forward, James began his professional career in 1922 with Raith Rovers, making 98 league appearances before moving to Preston North End in 1925. In four seasons at Deepdale, he scored 53 goals in 147 league appearances. But disputes over his pay and the club's refusal to release him for international duty with Scotland prompted his move to Arsenal in 1929 for a transfer fee of £8,750.
Although Arsenal, like Preston, were restricted by the maximum weekly wage of £8, they supplemented James's salary by landing a position for him at a London department store as a "sports demonstrator" for £250 per year. He repaid the club by helping them win the 1930 FA Cup, scoring the first goal in a 2-0 win over Huddersfield Town in the final.
At Highbury, James flourished as the primary playmaker, playing a critical role in the club's first title-winning season in 1930-31. Additional titles followed in 1933, 1934, and 1935, making Arsenal the period's most dominant side. They won another FA Cup in 1936 and four Charity Shields with James before he retired 1937.
After serving in World War II, he returned to Arsenal as a youth coach in 1949. He died of cancer in 1953 at the age of 51.
On 30 January 1937, the home sides went undefeated in all 35 FA Cup and Football League matches. Of the 16 FA Cup matches that day, only one involved two top-ten First Division clubs, as 6th place Derby County rolled to a comfortable 3-0 win over 3rd place Brentford in the FA Cup. Other First Division match-ups in the Cup included 15th place Preston North End hammering 14th place Stoke City 5-1, 10th place Everton beating 19th place Sheffield Wednesday 3-0, and 1st place Arsenal crushing 22nd place Manchester United, 5-0. Both Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester United would end the season in the two relegation spots.
Arsenal's margin of victory was the largest in the Cup that day, but was both matched and exceeded in Division Two, where Blackburn beat Newcastle 6-1 and, in the day's most lopsided result, Blackpool rode over Bradford Park Avenue, 6-0.
Meanwhile, Luton Town provided the Cup's shock of the day, as the Third Division South side held reigning League champions Sunderland to a 2-2 draw. Two other Third Division South teams provided upsets, as Millwall defeated First Division Chelsea 3-0 and Exeter City beat Second Division Leicester City 3-1. Exeter's victory looked even more impressive at the end of the season, as Leicester won the Second Division, while Exeter finished 21st in the Third Division South.
Four Cup matches went to replays, including York City's scoreless draw at Swansea. It was part of a pattern for York, who had earned home replays in the two previous rounds. But the pattern broke with Swansea, who won at York, 1-3. In fact, the visiting teams won three of the four replays for that round, with the only exception being Sunderland's 3-1 victory over Luton. Sunderland (pictured) proceeded to win the FA Cup that year, beating Preston North End in the Final.
On 13 August 1887, Scotland's Hibernians FC and England's Preston North End met in a match billed by both clubs' football associations as the "Association Football Championship of the World decider." Hibs were chosen to participate as winners of the 1887 Scottish Cup. For some unknown reason, the English did not choose Aston Villa, who had won that year's FA Cup, but instead selected Preston North End, who had been eliminated from the FA Cup in the semifinals by West Brom.
On the day, Hibernians claimed the title of World Champion with goals from inside forward and captain James McGhee and half-back James McLaren. Preston's lone goal was scored by forward John Goodall. After that match, however, the clubs' fortunes reversed. Hibs began a slow decline as Celtic became the dominant Scottish team and, by 1891, the club was defunct (though they re-formed in 1892 as Hibernian, dropping the "s").
Preston North End, meanwhile, went undefeated in 1888-89, the Football League's first season, to claim the first Double in English football.
On 28 March 1903, center-half Archie Goodall (pictured) scored the opening goal in Ireland's 2-0 victory over Wales in the 1903 British Home Championship. Goodall was 38 years and 283 days old, making him the oldest goalscorer in the history of the Irish national team.
Born in Belfast in 1864, Goodall spent his entire club career in England, starting with Preston North End in 1887. After one season in Deepdale and one with Aston Villa, he settled with Derby County for whom he made 380 league appearances (and scored 48 goals) between 1889 and 1903.
He received his first call up for Ireland in March 1899. Prior to that time, the Irish FA had refused to allow the national team to select footballers who were playing in clubs outside Ireland, making Goodall one of the first players based in England to don a shirt for the Irish national team.
Ireland's match against Wales on 28 March 1903 was their last of the tournament. Goodall's goal - the second and last of his international career - helped the Irish finish level on points with England and Scotland and, because there was no provision in the tournament rules to break a tie, the three sides shared the trophy equally. It was the first top finish for Ireland, who would finish as runners-up the following season, then win the title outright in 1914.
Goodall left Derby County in 1903 and spent a season with Plymouth Argyle before moving to Glossop North End as player-manager. After one season there, he moved to Wolverhampton in 1905, but made only seven appearances for Wolves before retiring later that year.
On 30 January 2006, second-division Derby County sacked manager Phil Brown after only seven months in charge.
Derby had taken a risk in hiring Brown, whose only prior experience in the top job consisted of five matches as caretaker manager of Bolton Wanderers. Bolton won four of the five, but gave the permanent position to Sam Allardyce, who retained Brown as an assistant.
After he took over at Derby in June 2005, the Rams won only seven of their 33 matches, with 14 draws and 12 losses. They were sitting in 19th place when Brown was fired. Derby replaced him with Billy Davies, who led the Rams to promotion for the 2007-08 season, but was himself fired in November 2007 as Derby floundered in the top flight.
Brown, meanwhile, moved to second-division Hull City in December 2006 and led them to the Premier League for the 2008-09 season. Unlike Derby, Hull managed to stay up in their first season, finishing one point out of the relegation zone. That season was not without controversy for Brown, who drew sharp criticism for his behavior, including one incident in which he kept his players on the pitch at halftime and shouted at them in full view of the crowd (pictured above).
Brown's contract at Hull ended in June 2010 after the club dropped into the Championship. In January 2011, he took over at Preston North End, but was unable to save the club from relegation and was sacked eleven months later. He is currently the manager at Southend United, talking charge in March 2013.
On 1 December 1959, Liverpool FC announced the appointment of Bill Shankly as the club's new manager. He would go on to become one of the Reds' most successful managers.
After a distinguished playing career that included spells at Partick Thistle, Carlisle United, Preston North End, and the Scottish national team, Shankly turned to management in 1949. His first post was a return to Carlisle, followed by moves to Grimsby Town (1951-54), Workington (1954-55), and Huddersfield Town (1956-59), before joining Liverpool. He had interviewed for the Liverpool post in 1951, but had been rejected in favor of Don Welsh.
When he arrived on Merseyside, Liverpool were sitting in tenth position on the Division Two table and had not been in the top flight since 1954. Shankly steered them to consecutive third-place finishes in his first two seasons, then earned promotion in 1962 by winning the division. He subsequently guided Liverpool to three league titles (1964, 1966, 1973), two FA Cups (1965, 1974), and one UEFA Cup (1973).
Shankly retired in 1974 at the age of 60 and died in 1981.
On 30 August 1919, English League football began its first season since 1915, when the League was suspended for World War I.
While many clubs fielded teams for regional competitions during that period, all Football League and FA Cup matches were cancelled for the duration of the war. When League play resumed on 30 August 1919, it picked up where it had left off, so that clubs who had been relegated or promoted in 1915 finally appeared in their new surroundings.
Both Derby County and Preston North End played their first League matches since achieving promotion at the end of the 1914-15 season by finishing first and second, respectively, in Division Two. Derby enjoyed their season debut with a 1-1 draw against Manchester United (whose 1919-20 squad is pictured above), while Preston suffered the top flight's most lopsided result of the day, a 4-0 beating at the hands of Blackburn.
Tottenham Hotspur, on the other hand, opened its season in the Second Division, relegated after finishing at the bottom of the First Division table in 1915. Their Division Two opener was a stellar 0-5 win away to Coventry City, which was the largest margin of victory that day in the second tier. The start was no fluke, as Spurs went on to win Division Two and earn promotion back to the top flight in 1920.
On 21 August 1936, football reporter and author J.A.H. Catton died at the age of 76. He was widely regarded as the greatest sports writer of his day and is considered the father of modern football journalism.
He got his start as a reporter in 1875 when he went to work for thePreston Herald and began covering local side Preston North End. In 1886, he began writing for The Athletic News, a weekly sports journal based in Manchester. He wrote under a pseudonym, first using "Ubique," and then "Tityrus." He later became the editor and helped drive circulation up to 50,000 by 1891, then to 100,000 by 1893 and 170,000 by 1919.
In 1926, Catton published a book, The Story of Association Football, which further helped publicize the increasingly-popular sport.
By the time of his death in 1936, newspapers in Britain devoted substantial coverage to football, due in significant part to his efforts.
On 30 April 1938, Preston North End defeated Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the FA Cup Final before a crowd of 93,497 at Wembley Stadium. The match is notable for being the first FA Cup final to be broadcast live on television.
The first 90 minutes were scoreless, so the teams went to extra time. In the last minute of extra time, the match was still scoreless and a replay seemed inevitable when BBC commentator Thomas Woodrooffe famously said "If there's a goal scored now, I'll eat my hat." Seconds later, Preston North End were awarded a penalty, which forward George Mutch scored by bouncing it off the underside of the crossbar, giving Preston the win.
Woodrooffe later kept his word, eating a hat made from cake.
On 22 March 1888, the Football League was founded by Scotsman William McGregor, then director of Aston Villa. The original twelve members were Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion, and Wolverhampton Wanderers. McGregor first proposed the idea in a letter to the clubs dated 2 March, proposing a meeting at Anderton's Hotel in London for later in the month. That first meeting on 22 March was "informal," with a formal meeting following on 17 April. The league's first season began a few months later on 8 September 1888.
Prior to the formation of the Football League, the individual clubs in England scheduled their own fixtures. With the League, however, each club played the other clubs two times - once home and once away - earning two points for a win and one point for a draw. Preston North End claimed the first league title.
Today, the Football League oversees levels two through four in the English pyramid - the Championship, League One, and League Two. Teams promoted from the Championship enter the Premier League, while teams relegated from League Two compete in the Football Conference.
On 15 October 1887, Preston North End delivered the biggest beating in English football history, crushing Hyde FC 26-0 in the FA Cup.
Although they had been playing football for only nine years, Preston had already established themselves as a rising power, reaching the FA Cup semifinals the previous season. When the returned to the tournament in the 1887-88 season, they met Hyde at Deepdale in the first round and proceeded to win 26-0. It remains the biggest margin of victory in English football (but still behind the British record, set by Arbroath's 36-0 Scottish Cup win over Bon Accord in 1885).
Preston advanced all the way to the final before losing to West Brom, but won the tournament the following season as part of the first English FA Cup and league Double. They repeated as league champions in 1990 and finished as runners-up in 1991, 1992, and 1993.
On 16 April 1905, Liverpool secured their second league title. It was the first time in league history that a newly-promoted team won the top flight.
Liverpool won their first league title in 1901, but three seasons later, they finished the season as the seventeenth-placed team out of eighteen and were relegated to the Second Division. But they returned at the first opportunity and were back in the top flight for the 1904-05 season.
Their return started poorly, with three losses in their first three matches. They turned things around quickly, however, winning twelve of their next fifteen to reach the top of the table by mid-December. Their good form continued into the second half of the season, with Preston North End in hot pursuit.
At the start of the day on 16 April, Preston were five points back with three games left to play. Liverpool were away to Bolton, where they lost 3-2. But fortunately for them, Preston also lost, falling 2-0 at Sunderland. That result put the title out of Preston's reach and made Liverpool the champions.
On 5 January 1963, the longest round in FA Cup history kicked off, as severe winter weather forced postponements that stretched out into the middle of March.
Britain's coldest winter since 1740 delivered a combination of snow and ice, sending the country into what commentators called "the Big Freeze." Consequently, all of the FA Cup matches scheduled for that Saturday were postponed except for three--two in the North West (Sunderland's 1-4 win at Preston North End and Tranmere Rovers' 2-2 draw with Chelsea) and one in the South West (West Brom's 1-5 win at Plymouth).
Some matches were played a few days later while others suffered repeated postponements. Birmingham City's contest against Bury included a replay, one match that had to be abandoned, and a total of 14 postponements before Bury claimed a 2-0 victory on 7 March. In all, there were 261 postponements over the course of three weeks.
The round finally ended on 11 March when Middlesbrough beat Blackburn in a replay.
On 25 September 1963, English center forward Tom Finney, who had spent all 14 seasons of his professional career at Preston North End, came out of retirement for one match. For another club.
One of the most dominant players of the era, Finney signed with Preston, his hometown club, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. But the suspension of football during the conflict meant that he did not make his debut for them until 1946. He was a standout for an otherwise largely unimpressive side, winning the Footballer of the Year award in 1953-54 and again in 1956-57. He stayed with them through the 1959-60 season, scoring a total of 210 goals in 473 appearances before injuries forced his retirement in 1960.
In 1963, George Eastham, the manager of defending Irish League champions Distillery FC, asked the then-41 year old Finney to play for them in a European Cup tie against Benfica, who had won the competition in 1961 and 1962. After convincing Finney that the offer was legitimate, the forward agreed to suit up for the Northern Irish club, but only for the first home leg. It was the only time in his professional career that he played an official match for a club other than Preston.
A crowd of over 19,000 turned out at Windsor Park in Belfast to watch the contest, as Distillery took the lead three times, only to see Benfica equalize each time. An 80th-minute goal from Eusébio in the 80th minute ended the match at 3-3. In the second leg, playing without Finney, Distillery lost 5-0.
On 14 September 1901, Arsenal legend Alex James was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. A deep-lying playmaker, he guided the Gunners to their first major trophy.
An inside forward, James began his professional career in 1922 with Raith Rovers, making 98 league appearances before moving to Preston North End in 1925. In four seasons at Deepdale, he scored 53 goals in 147 league appearances. But disputes over his pay and the club's refusal to release him for international duty with Scotland prompted his move to Arsenal in 1929 for a transfer fee of £8,750.
Although Arsenal, like Preston, were restricted by the maximum weekly wage of £8, they supplemented James's salary by landing a position for him at a London department store as a "sports demonstrator" for £250 per year. He repaid the club by helping them win the 1930 FA Cup, scoring the first goal in a 2-0 win over Huddersfield Town in the final.
At Highbury, James flourished as the primary playmaker, playing a critical role in the club's first title-winning season in 1930-31. Additional titles followed in 1933, 1934, and 1935, making Arsenal the period's most dominant side. They won another FA Cup in 1936 and four Charity Shields with James before he retired 1937.
After serving in World War II, he returned to Arsenal as a youth coach in 1949. He died of cancer in 1953 at the age of 51.
On 30 January 1937, the home sides either won or drew all 35 FA Cup and Football League matches.
Of the 16 FA Cup matches that day, only one involved two top-ten First Division clubs, as 6th place Derby County rolled to a comfortable 3-0 win over 3rd place Brentford in the FA Cup. Other First Division match-ups in the Cup included 15th place Preston North End hammering 14th place Stoke City 5-1, 10th place Everton beating 19th place Sheffield Wednesday 3-0, and 1st place Arsenal crushing 22nd place Manchester United, 5-0. Both Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester United would end the season in the two relegation spots.
Arsenal's margin of victory was the largest in the Cup that day, but was both matched and exceeded in Division Two, where Blackburn beat Newcastle 6-1 and, in the day's most lopsided result, Blackpool rode over Bradford Park Avenue, 6-0.
Meanwhile, Luton Town provided the Cup's shock of the day, as the Third Division South side held reigning League champions Sunderland to a 2-2 draw. Two other Third Division South teams provided upsets, as Millwall defeated First Division Chelsea 3-0 and Exeter City beat Second Division Leicester City 3-1. Exeter's victory looked even more impressive at the end of the season, as Leicester won the Second Division, while Exeter finished 21st in the Third Division South.
Four Cup matches went to replays, including York City's scoreless draw at Swansea. It was part of a pattern for York, who had earned home replays in the two previous rounds. But the pattern broke with Swansea, who won at York, 1-3. In fact, the visiting teams won three of the four replays for that round, with the only exception being Sunderland's 3-1 victory over Luton. Sunderland (pictured) proceeded to win the FA Cup that year, beating Preston North End in the Final.
On 15 October 1887, Preston North End delivered the biggest beating in English football history, crushing Hyde FC 26-0 in the FA Cup.
