Liverpool 1 Man United 3, January 30, 1960

You've got to love the Scousers. When Liverpool were drawn at home to Manchester United in the 4th round of the FA Cup in January 1960 it was immediately declared an all-ticket match, naturally enough as United had already attracted the two largest league attendances of the season, despite being in the bottom half of the table.

Today marks the fortieth anniversary of what could, with justification, be described as British football's forgotten tragedy. Whereas the disasters of Heysel and Hillsborough took place in front of the nation, live on the television, and the Valey Parade fire of 1985 took places in front of photgraphers and television cameras which ensured iconic images that became instantly part of our mental imagery of the decay of the game during the mid-1980s, the Ibrox Disaster remains obscure in the memory, but it claimed the lives of sixty-six people and had ramifications that would go on to effect the way that everybody in Britain now watches the game.

In the first of an occasional new series on football grounds that never quite came to be, Ian King takes a look at an ambitious post-war scheme to move Derby County into a then-state of the art stadium that came to nothing.

In 1997, Derby County left The Baseball Ground, their home of 102 years, for Pride Park.

Update: Between writing and posting this the English FA seem to have announced that a 2013 home international tournament would be a one off to celebrate their 150th anniversary. Ah, well. Still think I'm right.
And so the home internationals might be on the verge of a return thanks to the money of Vauxhall.

One of the most important developments within British football over the last ten years or so has been the growth of the understanding that football supporters can be empowered to control their own destinies. The notion that football clubs could only be run as the personal fiefdoms of the self-appointed "great and the good" has become more and more discredited as the first decade of the new century wore on and, and the relative success and stability of clubs that are run by supporters trusts has been obvious to anybody that takes the time to stop and examine them.

The English are known for their eccentricities. Stamp collecting is so passe for them. So is collecting football programmes. The English have this breed of people called anoraks who are absolute nutters. I remember on time going on a football special to Leicester (normal behaviour, nothing extreme there) and there was this nutter who was tape recording the sound of the train doors closing!

Heurelho Gomes has shown that he has adjusted well to British football by announcing that Spurs must ‘take each game as it comes.'

We are heading towards some crunch fixtures which will be pivotal in our desire for success this season. There are some vital games ahead in the league, while our FA Cup 4th round tie and the AC Milan clash begin to loom large.

My late father wasn't a big fan of Andy Gray. Being a rugby union fan from South Wales, dad had issues with Scottish sports commentators anyway but Gray got his back up so much that over the years he developed a special 'impression' of the FoxSky Sports analyst that more often than not sounded like one of the characters from Rab C.

Photo by Yellow Book

The recent death the England legend known as The Lion Of Vienna recently took me on a hunt of archival footage and interviews of Nat Lofthouse. In doing so, I uncovered an incredible collection of audio interviews with football legends which is a required listening for any soccer fan and reader of this site.