August 1973

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

The Queen Anne Press, London 1974

August

2 Chris Balderstone, the Carlisle forward, decides to play out the cricket season, thus missing his club's opening matches. Alan Ashman takes the captaincy away from him. . . John Moores resigns as Everton chairman and is succeeded by the club's youngest director, Mr Alan Waterworth . . . UEFA has appointed a fulltime Press Officer. He is Rudolph Rothenbuhler, a Swiss sports journalist.

3 Chelsea beat Werder Bremen, the W. German club, 2-1 in a pre-season friendly. . .
Aston Villa sign Irish International Sammy Morgan for 25,000 pounds from Port Vale.

4 Hibernian win the first competition of the season in Britain. They beat Celtic 1-0 after extra time in the Drybrough Cup Final.

5 Brian Clough, in a sensational article in the Sunday Express, attacks the FA's decision to fine Leeds 3000 pounds and suspend the punishment. According to the Derby manager, Leeds should have been relegated into the Second Division, and Don Revie fined for his part in the club's bad disciplinary record. 'The men who run soccer have missed the most marvellous chance of cleaning up the game in one swoop.' writes Clough . . . Chile beat Peru 2-1 in a World Cup play-off match and will now meet Russia for a place in the finals.

6 Brian Clough turns down an offer from London Weekend Television, and will stay with Derby. . . Peter Dobing, the veteran Stoke forward, has been advised to retire because of a back injury. . . Sunderland beat Celtic 2-1 in a pre-season friendly at Parkhead.

7 Two famous players have announced their retirements from football due to eye injuries. Tostao, the 26-year-old Brazilian World Cup star, and Gordon Banks will not play again. Banks will be offered a job on Stoke's coaching staff . . .
Freddie Cox, the old Arsenal player, who managed Bournemouth until 1970, dies at the age of 52, following a heart attack. . . Plymouth sign Harry Burrows, the Stoke forward. . . Alec Stock, the Fulham manager, appeals to people inside football to stop knocking the game. . . Brian Clough joins London Weekend TV on a part-time basis. He will appear on both the 'On the Ball' and 'Big Match' programmes. Clough says, 'I merely switched channels. This is no different to the amount of TV work I have been doing in the last three or four years.'

8 Mick Jones, the Notts Co. defender, signs for Peterborough (6000 pounds) . . . Ray Pointer joins Blackpool as trainer/coach. . . Ajax beat Tottenham 4-1 in a friendly in Amsterdam. . . The players win the argument over the right to appeal against a caution, but in future the appeal must be lodged within seven days of the match in question, and if it is frivolous, the player's club may be fined and the suspension could be increased by one match. Basically the same points system will operate as last season, but clubs with poor disciplinary records will be heavily fined.

11 Bristol R. beat West Ham in the Watney Cup on penalties - 6-5! Stoke win 1-0 at Plymouth and the two Second Division clubs Hull and Bristol C. are safely through into the semi-finals. . . Alan Hardaker says on television that he is optimistic concerning attendances in the coming season. 'The three-up-and-three-down system is a step in the right direction, but I'd like to see some pruning of international and European football. The League must remain strong because it is the root for our football.' . . . COlchester sign Paul Aimson from AFC Bournemouth for 10,000 pounds.

13 Bolton publicly state that Jimmy Armfield must stay with the club as manager for the three-year term of his contract. This is in answer to rumours which link Armfield with Sheffield U. . . . Following a wave of violence at football matches during the week, police will film crowds leaving stations and car parks at Coventry's home game v Spurs on August 25. Len Shipman, President of the League says, 'Violen(;e on the terraces must be strangled at birth early this season. The League, police and local authorities must get together to work out a plan to stop this type of behaviour.'

14 Preston buy Francis Burns from Southampton for 35,000 pounds . . . Hull beat Bristol R. 1-0 in the semi-final of the Watney Cup through a goal scored by Malcolm Lord. . .
Arsenal are beaten 1-0 in a friendly by the Norwegian amateurs Frigg Oslo. Peter Storey is sent off, Pat Rice booked, and Alan Ball injured.

15 Manchester C. report a profit of over 250,000 pounds for the year ending May 31 . . . A Sunday League amateur side play at Mainz, W. Germany, where they are mistakenly billed as 'Wolverhampton'. The locals put out their strongest side, thinking that they will face 'Wolves' with Dougan and Co. In front of a sizeable crowd, Mainz win 21-0! . . . Stoke reach the Watney Cup Final by beating Bristol City 4-1 . . . Peter Storey is not reported to the FA concerning his sending-off at Oslo, as it was a friendly match.

16 Ajax have accepted a staggering 900,000 pounds bid for Cruyff from Barcelona. Half of of the transfer fee goes to the player. The Dutch FA veto the move because the official transfer season is over and no Dutch player can change clubs until December 1. As a consequence of this decision, all members of the Netherlands Players Union Management Committee resign. . . Billy Bingham fines three of his players for being 45 minutes late back in their hotel after an evening out in Sweden. Harper, Kenyon, and Bernard are each fined a week's wages.

17 Millwall's League game at Preston on September 10 is put back a day because Bobby Charlton, Preston's manager, has to attend a dinner given to him and his brother Jack at the National Sporting Club, and Prime Minister Edward Heath is amongst the guests. . . Three Swindon players are sent home by manager Les Allen from their West Country tour for disciplinary reasons. . . Frank Clarke joins Carlisle from Ipswich for a fee of 35,000 pounds.

18 The FA emergency committee will decide whether to accuse Brian Clough of bringing the game into disrepute. They sent him a letter asking about an article he wrote in the Sunday Express concerning the suspended fine imposed on Leeds.
Clough says, 'They are leaving a loophole. But I shall not take it.' . . . Gordon Banks officially confirms that he is retiring from active football. Banks, capped 73 times, will stay in football as a coach. . . Cambridge walk off in the 58th minute of a pre-season friendly v Colchester, but complete the match after two minutes' stoppage. Manager Bill Leivers says that he lost his temper after a goal was allowed to stand against his team, but decided to finish the game for the crowd's sake. . . Wolves beat Arsenal 3-1 in the FA Cup third place play-off at Highbury, and Burnley win the Charity Shield match 1-0 at Maine Road v Manchester C. . . .
Celtic beat Rangers 2-1 in the Scottish League Cup, and when the visitors score their goals late in the game, hundreds of supporters invade the pitch. . . Trouble spots in England-Huddersfield, York, and Hereford. 34 people are arrested after the Huddersfield v Leeds game; at York, fighting on the terraces spreads on to the pitc-h, and 95 Oxford fans are held by the police when their train back to Oxford is stopped at Worcester.

20 Len Shipman, President of the Football League, says that the time has come for the Government to bring back the birch to deal with soccer hooligans. 'Ruthless action is imperative,' he says, 'fines will not stop the violence.' But the police put the blame on the antics of the players during the game. The Police Federation Journal writes, 'When an England player in an international match is seen by millions of TV viewers to spend most of the first half trying to intimidate the referee, and gets himself sent off after attacking an opponent, what happens ? He is picked again and only prevented from playing again by higher authority. Can we wonder at the behaviour of young hooligans, who, after all, are not paid large sums for playing the game?' . . . Joe Kinnear wishes to leave Spurs but Nicholson says that he needs all his first team squad members.

21 Alan Hardaker says that the answer to soccer hooliganism is 'seats only' stadiums.
The League Management Committee might grant financial help to clubs which cannot afford to install seats on their terraces. . . Chelsea are fined 750 pounds and Ron Harris 25 pounds, because the player appeared in a friendly match last season when under suspension.

22 Manchester U. put the former England player David Sadler on the transfer list at 45,000 pounds . . . Don Revie asks the FA to send an a~sessor to Leeds' away matches.
Revie says, '70% of our bookings were on away grounds last season. The assessor would submit a report to me giving a personal view of any incident in which my players are cautioned.' . . . According to a Nairobi News Agency, a witch-doctor wrote to Sir Alf Ramsey and offered his help in getting England into the World Cup finals. He wrote, '1, Shariff Abubakar Omar, am the leading witch-doctor in East Africa with international repute in football and other matters. I have helped Kenya and Uganda national teams to win trophies in the past.'

23 Tip and Tap, the 1974 FIFA World Cup mascots are officially 'introduced' at a press reception by Sir Stanley Rous. 'It is a very expensive business to stage a World Cup. We need all the revenue, so we must restrict souvenir piracy,' said the FIFA President. . . Derek Dougan suggests a 'peace-formula' on the eve of the new season. He proposes monthly meetings between all interested partiesplayers, managers, legislators, referees--to iron out the game's problems. . . David Payne (C. Palace) signs for Orient for 20,000 pounds.

24 Chelsea drop Alan Hudson for the opening League match at Derby, but Ian Hutchinson is back in the team. . . John Jackson and lain Phillip are the surprise omissions from the C. Palace team. . . West Ham sign Paul Sussans, a 23-year-old amateur forward, as a full pro. He is a University graduate, a former Corinthian Casuals player, and according to manager Greenwood, is 'an exceptional prospect'.

25 A good start for the pre-season favourites in the First Division. Leeds, Liverpool. Arsenal, and Derby all win their home matches. . . Denis Law scores twice for Manchester C. against Birmingham and Derek Dougan gets two goals v Norwich. . .
Burnley win 2-0 at Sheffield, but the other promoted team, Q.P.R., only draw at home with Southampton . . . The first league goal of the '73/,74 season is scored by John Woodward of York City, who nets after 70 seconds. . . Brian Hornsby comes on as sub. for Arsenal three seconds before the final whistle. . . Sadly, football hooliganism still makes the front pages-at Derby there is a battle between Chelsea and Derby supporters on the pitch! The police are powerless to stop it, but later eight youths are arrested. . . Manchester U. fans cause damage at Euston station and there are other trouble-spots . . . Hugh Curran (Oxford) and Ian Lawther (Stockport) are sent off . . . The official attendance figures show a drop of 35,000 compared with last season.

27 Nat Lofthouse joins the Arsenal scouting staff . . . Mervyn Day makes his league debut in goal for West Ham. . . Bobby Charlton signs his old clubmate Nobby Stiles from Middlesbrough for 20,000 pounds.

28 Peter Kitchen (Doncaster) gets the first hat-trick of the season in a League Cup match at Nottingham, where the Fourth Division club surprisingly beat Notts Co. 4-3.

29 George Eastham is booked for the first time in his 18-year career at Manchester where United beat Stoke 1-0. . . Holland beat Iceland 8-1 in a World Cup match at Devemer.

30 Brian Clark (AFC Bournemouth) signs for Millwall for 35,000 pounds . . . The Football League asks clubs to cooperate in rearranging fixtures during the season in view of the World Cup. . . If games are postponed for any reason, they should be fitted in the fixture list as soon as possible. . . Stoke is to ask the Football League not to appoint ref. John Hunting to any of their matches this season.

31 The Alan West transfer from Burnley to Sunderland falls through due to medical reasons. . . Billy Jennings, the young Watford player, gets the first League hattrick of the season-his goals give a 3-2 away win to his club at Southend.