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

Click to see October 1970-71

October 1973

As appeared in Rothman's Football Yearbook 1974-75 (5th year) :

The Queen Anne Press, London 1974

October

1 ITV bid 50,000 pounds for the right to televise the England v Poland match ]ive . . . Scunthorpe pay 12,000 pounds to Blackpool for Chris Simpkin . . . Don Ford of Hearts replaces the injured Colin Stein in Scotland's squad v Czechoslovakia in Bratislava.
As Scotland have already qualified, this Wor]d Cup tie is of very little importance. . .
Phil Parkes (Q.P.R.) is the only newcomer into the England party for the decisive Poland match. Alan Ball will train with the squad, although he is suspended by FIFA. . . Birmingham pay a record 100,000 pounds fee for a goalkeeper when they buy Gary Sprake from Leeds.

2 Leeds sign David Stewart, the Ayr goalkeeper, for 30,000 pounds. . . Shock start to the second round of the League Cup-Tranmere beat Arsenal 1-0 at Highbury and Manchester C. draw 0-0 at Walsall! . . .
3 All six English teams progress into the second round in the European competitions.
Tottenham have the highest aggregate win-9-2 over Grasshoppers, Leeds are the highest scorers of the evening-6-1 v Stroemgodset of Norway, but Ipswich earn most praise for their 0-0 draw in Madrid v Real.

4 Alan Ball sustained a serious injury against Tranmere and might be out of football for six weeks. . . Len Stringer, Brighton'sJoint Chairman, has resigned for personal and business reasons.

5 Ron Greenwood drops goalkeeper Ferguson and defenders Lock and Tommy Taylor from the West Ham team against Burnley . . . Rodney Marsh says that football in England will be almost non-existent in ten years. In his opinion English football is at an all-time low and unless England qualify for the World Cup Finals, there is no way it could succeed. . . The Mansfield coach gets caught in a traffic jam on the way to Newport and the Fourth Division match has to be postponed.

6 Don Revie writes in the Leeds programme that the World Cup could turn into a bloodbath unless the referees get a firm grip on the players. He suggests a 'teach-in , for the officials well before the finals. . . Meantime in the English llague, four players are sent off and 40 are cautioned. . . Leeds, Bristol R., and Reading remain unbeaten, while in the First Division Birmingham and West Ham still haven't won a match. . . C. Palace lose again and are trailing five points behind the field. Malcolm Allison says that he must build a reasonably good team by Christmas otherwise his future with the club will have to be reviewed.

8 Ron Greenwood denies newspaper rumours that he is about to resign.

9 Stockport beat C. Palace 1-0 in the League Cup and Malcolm Allison accuses his own players of 'cheating'. 'I was disgusted. Our performance was terrible.' he says.

10 West Ham put Bobby Ferguson on the transfer list. Earlier in the week the goalkeeper had criticised the club in a newspaper article, saying that there are too many gutless players in the team. . . Poland, in preparation for Wembley, playa friend]y in Rotterdam and draw I-I with Holland. . . Manchester U. fine Lou Macari 400 pounds and put him on the transfer list because he refuses to turn out for the reserves. . . Colin Waldron, the Burnley centre-back is sent off at Cardiff, where the teams draw 2-2.

11 C. Palace sign Peter Taylor from Southend in a 120,000 pounds deal. . . It is revealed that Sir Alf Ramsey has asked the league to postpone several matches scheduled for next Saturday-four days before the Poland match. Len Shipman says that the request has been refused because the clubs would suffer financial loss and the fixtures are linked with the football pools.

12 Harry Johnston, the former England international and Blackpool player dies at the age of 54 . . . A group of businessmen make a takeover bid for C. Palace.
They are led by ex-director of the club Mr Charles Waters who would like to see the present chairman, Mr Roy Bloye, leave.

13 Alan Hardaker says in a radio interview referring to the England v Poland match and the league's refusal to postpone matches: 'It is a football match, not a war. Let us keep our sense of perspective-everybody is getting hysterical.
If we do lose, the game is not going to die. It will be a terrible thing for six weeks and then everybody will forget about it' . . . Leeds preserve their unbeaten record at Leicester where they draw 2-2 after being 2-0 down after 20 minutes. Bristol R.
and Reading are the other unbeaten teams in the league.

15 Brian Clough and Peter Taylor resign at Derby. This was the reaction to a letter that Clough received from chairman Sam Longston, telling him to discontinue his newspaper and TV work. . . Andy Wilson, the famous Scottish centreforward of pre-war days dies at the age of 77 . . . George Best plays brilliantly for Manchester U. against Shamrock Rovers in a friendly. Hundreds of youngsters invade the pitch to congratulate him, and the match is abandoned in the 81st minute with United leading 2-1.

16 England's Under-23s draw 0-0 at Plymouth with Poland Under-23s . . . John Jackson signs for Orient, C. Palace collect 30,000 pounds for the goalkeeper who played over 300 league games for them. . . In turn Ian Bowyer leaves Orient in a 40,000 pounds deal and signs for Nottingham F. . . . Southend pay 15,000 pounds to Newcastle for Billy Coulson, a 22-year-old striker.

17 England are out of the World Cup! They fail to beat Poland at Wembley in front of a capacity crowd. Domarski scores first after 57 minutes, and six minutes later Allan Clarke equalises from a penalty given for a foul on Peters. Two minutes from the end Kevin Hector comes on for Chivers, but it is of no avail.
The 1-1 draw gets Poland into the World Cup finals. After the game Sir Alf Ramsey refuses to comment on his own future as national team manager. . .
Scotland lose 1-0 to Czechoslovakia, but the match has no real importance as the Scots have already reached the last 16 . . . Don Shaw, a playwright, and Bill Holmes, an ex-footballer, initiate moves to reinstate the Clough-Taylor partnership at Derby. Chairman Sam Longston says: 'We will go into the Second Division with our heads in the air rather than winning the First Division wondering whether the club will be expelled from the Football League' . . . lain Phillip returns to his old club Dundee from Palace-the fee 50,000 pounds . . . Manchester C.
buy Motherwell goalkeeper Keith Macrea for 80,000 pounds.

19 The transfer market livens up with several deals completed before the weekend matches: Alan West from Burnley to Luton for 100,000 pounds; Rod Belfitt from Everton to Sunderland for 70,000 pounds; Derek Hales from Luton to Charlton for 10,000 pounds . . . Q.P.R. have confirmed the appointment of Steve Burtenshaw as coach. . . Gordon Jago makes an attack on Arsenal, accusing them of deliberately leaking to a newspaper that they would like to sign Gerry Francis and Phil Parkes.

20 A large crowd demonstrates at Derby before the start of their game against Leicester for the reinstatement of Brian Clough. Clough is at the ground, but leaves shortly after the kick-off. Derby win 2-1 and are four points behind leaders Leeds, who beat Liverpool 1-0 with a Mick Jones goal. . . George Best plays for Manchester U. and a near 50,000 crowd gives him a great reception. United win 1-0 against Birmingham with an Alex Stepney penalty. The goalkeeper is now the club's joint top-scorer . . . West Ham win their first league match of the season, when they defeat Coventry away. . . Arsenal deny that they have made concrete bids for any Q.P.R. player or that they have offered any of their players in exchange. . . Italy qualify for the World Cup finals by beating Switzerland 2-0.

21 Yugoslavia draw with Spain in Group VII, and the issue is still open, although now Spain are the favourites . . . Eire beat Poland 1-0 in a friendly at Dublin, but the visitors are without Wembley stars Tomaszewski, Gorgon, and Lato.

22 Derby's first team openly declare their allegiance to Brian Clough. The Players hold a special meeting and skipper Roy McFarland hands to chairman Sam Longston a letter signed by the entire first team squad asking for the reinstatement of Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor. . . Brighton sack Pat Saward, but the manager says that he still considers himself in charge of the club.

23 The dramatic Derby saga continues. The Board announces that they have engaged Dave Mackay, the club's former player, as manager. As a response, the players stage a sit-in at the ground, asking for a meeting with the management. But their request is refused, and the police are called in to clear the crowd.
As the players leave, one of them-an English international, says: 'Now, everyone can see who was right. Clough or Longston!' 24 'We might not play, Derby team warn confident Mackay' reports the Daily Telegraph. . . British teams had a mediocre start in the second rounds of the European competitions. Liverpool lost 2-1 at Belgrade and Celtic drew 0-0 with the Danish amateurs Vejle in Glasgow. In the Cup-Winners' Cup, Sunderland had a narrow victory over Sporting Lisbon, but Rangers lost heavily against Moenchengladbach. Trevor Whymark scored four goals against Lazio in Ipswich's 4-0 win over the Italians. Ajax, the holders ,beat CSKA Sofia 1-0 in the European Cup.

25 By the end of September, League gates have gone up in England compared with last season. . . The Derby players announce that they will honour their contractual obligations and travel to London to face West Ham. . . Bobby Tambling (C. Palace) joins the League of Ireland club Cork Hibernians. He will also work as a Jehovah's Witness missionary in Ireland.

27 Derby draw 0-0 with West Ham at Upton Park, and new manager Dave Mackay said that he is delighted with the players' professional attitude. Chairman Sam Longston adds, '1 could manage this lot!' . . . Alan Durban is cautioned at Southend after 30 seconds' play! . . . Manchester C. manager John Hart is taken ill hours before the kick-off against Leeds. His deputy, Tony Book, takes over and promptly drops himself from the team.

28 Australia draw 0-0 with S. Korea in Sidney and the crowd boo the home team off the field.

29 Charles Amer, Middlesbrough's chairman, criticises Benny Fenton for the remarks he made before last Saturday's match. The Millwall manager had warned his players, that Middlesbrough were a 'tough lot and if they dish it out we must not stand around and take it' . . . It is reported that Tottenham have proposed an exchange deal to Manchester C. They are willing to exchange Martin Chivers for Rodney Marsh, but Marsh says that he doesn't wish to leave Manchester.

30 A surprise result in the League Cup-Burnley 1 Plymouth 2. A happy return to his old club for Tony Waiters as manager of Plymouth. . . Francis Lee scores a hat-trick in City's 4-0 replay win over Walsall.

31 Dennis Burnett signs for Hull from Millwall for 60,000 pounds . . . Six of the seven third round League Cup ties end in draws, and the seventh produces this shock result-W.B.A. 1 Exeter 3. Fred Binney scores twice, bringing his season's Cup total to six. . . The Europe v South America showpiece produces eight goals-four for each side. The South Americans win 3-2 on penalties and take home the FIFA trophy. . . Newcastle striker Malcolm Macdonald will have a cartilage operation and might be out of football for two months.