On This Day – 3rd February

Bristol City Football Club were saved on this day in 1982, thanks to eight players tearing up their contracts and leaving the club in order for it to survive. The players were referred to as ‘The Ashton Gate Eight’. Club captain Geoff Merrick, along with Peter Aitken, Chris Garland, Jimmy Mann, Julian Marshall, Dave Rodgers, […]

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Football’s Greatest Hat-Tricks No.5

Paolo Rossi died on Wednesday at the age of 64. I wrote an obituary for him and this can be found here. The Italian striker scored a fantastic hat-trick for Italy against Brazil in the 1982 World Cup second stage against Brazil. The match is widely considered to be one of the greatest football matches […]

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On This Day – 13th November

Charlton Athletic completed the biggest shock transfer deals of all-time in 1982 as they brought in Allen Simonsen from Barcelona. He made his debut for Charlton on this day back in 1982.Simonsen had won the Balon d’Or just five years before and moved to the South London club after turning down Real Madrid and First […]

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Iconic Moments in Football No.41

This week’s iconic moment comes from the 1982 World Cup in a group game between France and Kuwait. France were already 3-1 up when Alain Giresse was played through on goal by Michel Platini.  A whistle was blown from somewhere in the crowd and several of the players from both sides thought that it came […]

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