Morecambe have appointed caretaker Ged Brannan as their manager on an 18-month deal following the departure of former boss Derek Adams.

Adams left the club earlier in November to rejoin Scottish side Ross County for his third spell in charge.

Brannan, alongside John McMahon, took temporary charge for Saturday's 6-0 League Two thrashing by Wrexham.

"I'm absolutely delighted to be in charge of a club like Morecambe," Brannan, 51, told the club website.

"The fans are great, I've been here before as a player and I always loved it - I'm absolutely buzzing, I'm just so glad the board have stuck by me and given me this opportunity.

"If they [the fans] are anything like Saturday at Wrexham, that's all I can ask. Come down on Tuesday, sing your hearts out and get behind the team because you're an extra player for us, you've been brilliant so keep it going."

Adams, 48, had two spells in charge of Morecambe, first leading them to promotion from League Two through the play-offs in 2020-21, then again from early 2022 when he initially kept the club up in League One.

Although relegation to League Two followed last season, the Scot had stabilised the club upon their return to the fourth tier, with the Shrimps just outside the play-off places when he departed.

Brannan, whose playing career included spells at Tranmere, Manchester City and Wigan, made more than 60 appearances for Morecambe and returned to the club in a youth coaching role after his retirement following a spell as manager of Accrington Stanley Under-23s.

He takes charge of Morecambe with the club 12th in the table, two points off the play-off places, following Saturday's defeat, which was their third in a row in the league

Sunderland v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Wednesday November 29th - 19:45 ko
at the Estádio da Luz

Huddersfield Town travel to Sunderland to the Stadium of Light on Wednesday night for another Darren Moore masterclass in how to play football with ten defenders.

Hopefully we will have Danny Ward back after his comeback was halted on Saturday by a bout of illness. Talking of comebacks, can we have Stephen Chicken back at the Examiner, please. The new chief football writer at the Unexamined wrote in advance of the Southampton game at the weekend that Danny Ward hadn't played yet this season due to the form of Lee Nicholls, but did play a full game for Wales in the international break.

Really?

Sunderland have a very young side and dominated their game at Plymouth on Saturday, but still lost 2-0. They had 24 shots and 14 corners, but their kids couldn't find the back of the net, so it should be a stroll in the park for our experienced back three of Michal Helik, Tom Lees and Matty Pearson, who have over 1,300 professional matches played between the three of them.

Now, the thing is, the game of football is really all about scoring goals. So can we please have a go at this, Mr Darren?

Tickets:
Adults - £32
Over 65s - £29
Under 22s - £24
Under 16s - £14



A brief history of Sunderland AFC: Formed in 1879, the club has won six top-flight titles (1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913, and 1936) in the First Division, and has finished runners-up five times. The club has also won the FA Cup twice (1937 and 1973) and been runners-up twice (1913 and 1992), as well as winning the FA Charity Shield in 1936 and being finalists the following year. Sunderland have also been Football League Cup finalists in 1985 and 2014.

When formed all that time ago, it was by a bunch of school teachers and the team were known as Sunderland & District Teachers Association Football Club. That lasted a year when in 1880 they became just Sunderland Association Football Club.

They turned professional in 1885 and appointed their first manager, Tom Watson, in 1888. That same year, the Football League was formed. Sunderland weren't in it, but were elected a couple of years later in place of Stoke and actually went and won the title in their second season. They then retained the title in 1893 and came close to a hat trick of titles, but finished as runners up to Aston Villa, six points behind.

Not to be denied that third League title, they won it the following season, making it three out of four and played the Scottish champions, Heart of Midlothian, in a one off match at Tynecastle at the end of the season to decide who would be world champions. Sunderland won it 5-3, but their entire line up was made up of Scotsmen, so this was the first time that Scotland claimed to be the football world champions.

Johnny Campbell was top scorer at the club throughout this period and in 1896, his stepbrother Robert Campbell joined the club as manager when Watson moved to Liverpool.

Having had four different home grounds since their formation, in 1898 they moved into Roker Park, which would be their home for the next 99 years.

Campbell only stayed for three seasons and was replaced by Alex Mackie, who guided the club to it's fourth title in 1901/02. They had some bad financial moments in the next few seasons, which led to some directors being suspended and the club ended up selling Alf Common (pictured below) to Middlesbrough for a record fee, the first one thousand pound transfer.

Head to Head



Sunderland lead the head to head with 38 wins to Town's 24, with 27 draws.

We'd been avoiding each other in the league for the last twenty odd seasons, with last year's meetings being the first since 1998/99. We didn't win either of them. Ex Town Premier League flop, Alex Pritchard, who was booed throughout the game for some odd reason, scored the first for the Mackems and Amad Diallo got a late second as we lost 2-0. We were 1-0 down at half time at the Stadium of Light in the return match, but under the leadership of Neil Warnock, our brave lads fought back to equalise from a brilliantly finished goal from Josh Koroma.

They got their own back in 1950 at the 3rd round stage when Town traveled north to be beaten 6-0, a club record defeat for the FA Cup.

Things got worse a couple of years later when we lost 7-1 at their place in the league, which would've been a club record defeat had we not lost 8-0 at Middlesbrough a year earlier.

Our biggest league win over Sunderland was a 4-0 win at home on Christmas Eve 1955. Len Quested scored, as did Jackie Marriott, with Jimmy Glazzard adding the 3rd and 4th. That sadly, was the last meeting of the two clubs in the First Division, since when there have only been thirteen seasons that we have shared a league table, all in the 2nd tier.

We are well overdue a league victory over Sunderland. We haven't had one since 1985/86 when Mick Buxton was in charge. That was a 2-0 win at Leeds Road with two goals from Terry Curran, in front of only 7,150 spectators.

However, since that time, we have been drawn three times against them in the League Cup and strangely, given our piss poor record in this competition, we won all three, all whilst being at least one league below them. First came a 1991/92, 2nd round, two legged affair with the first leg played at Roker Park.

We won it 2-1, with goals from Simon Charlton and Phil Starbuck. We were in the 3rd Division and they were in the 2nd, but when they came to Leeds Road for the 2nd leg, the Terriers, managed by Eoin Hand, absolutely hammered them 4-0, in what was possibly the highlight of those dark days. Goals came from Iffy Onuora, Iwan Roberts (2) and Gary Barnett got us through to round three, where we were beaten by Swindon Town.

1. Extra Pilchard 
   
2. Adverse Twat 
   
3. Morton Byway 
   
4. Rascally Made 
   
5. Everest Cub 
   
6. A Whitened Head 
   
7. Phil Pinks Evil 
   
8. Bum Knit Cox 
   
9. Long Hair Cub 
   
10. Unreal Ale Vern 
    

Gamball: I decided against another Albion game!
Millwall - Sunderland

Others:
Newcastle - Man Utd
Burnley - Sheff U
Forest - Everton
WBA - Leicester
Hull - Watford
Leeds - Middlesbrough
Sheff W - Blackburn
Chelsea - Brighton
Bristol C - Norwich

Gamball: I decided against another Albion game!
Millwall - Sunderland

Others:
Newcastle - Man Utd
Burnley - Sheff U
Forest - Everton
WBA - Leicester
Hull - Watford
Leeds - Middlesbrough
Sheff W - Blackburn
Chelsea - Brighton
Bristol C - Norwich

THE MATCH

WEDNESDAY 29TH NOVEMBER KO 7:45PM

v

LAST MATCH



Back from the International break and another defeat despite an OK performance. We were the better team in the first half and took the lead in the last minute of the half, Windass free kick hit the post and Byers followed up to side foot into an empty net. Unfortunately Brum were level in injury time, Bacuna firing through a crowd of players with a slight deflection. Brum started the 2nd half better and had a few chances, before we came back into the game and also had a few chances. But it was Brum who got the winner, James firing home after his first shot was blocked

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and the league leaders come to Hillsborough, Leicester City. The Foxes look set to return to the Premier League at the first attempt as they already have a 10 point lead over 3rd place Leeds. They are managed by Enzo Maresca, who was one of Pep Guardiola's assistants last season when they won the treble. There leading scorer is Jamie Vardy (one of our own) with 7 goals so far this, then Iheanacho with 6, but also have the likes of Dewsbury Hall and Harry Winks in there squad.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 42
LEIC 40
DRAWS 28

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              -                                                                                               

LEIC                -                                                              

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

SAM BARROTT
Jonathan Hunt and Blake Antrobus
Fourth Official : Carl Brook

THE TEAM

Dawson
Palmer Bernard Ihekwe James
Musaba Bannan Byers Johnson
Gregory Smith

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-3 Vardy

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

30

ATTENDANCE

26578

BML LEAGUE

Washington 8
Maddix 4
Imre 4
Owlkev 1
SCO 1

BMPL

Stateside 3
Wereham 3
Pei -9

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Blackburn Rovers v Birmingham City
Leeds United v Swansea City
Southampton v Bristol City
Sunderland v Huddersfield Town
Ipswich Town v Millwall

HHHHH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

2 points for correct result
4 points for correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score   (correct score on a joker would give you 8 points)
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. Similarly with the badger, if your random prediction is affected by this, it'll be half the points.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  

End of season Play Offs: The one who finishes top of the league will still be champion, but after the season finishes there will be Play Offs between the top 4, with 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. This will take in stuff like the EFL Play Offs, FA Cup Final, final day of Prima Donna League, European Finals etc. It will be one matchday for the semis and one for the Final. It will be the individual scores for each matchday against the allotted opponent, with some kind of tie breaker for a drawn match.

The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

1. St Charles Owl = 334 pts
   
2. Baggiebob(BBB) = 322 pts
   
3. jjamez = 299 pts
   
4. themaclad = 285 pts
   
5. neonfoxinthebox = 275 pts
   
6. theo_luddite = 274 pts
   

Friday 1st Decemember:
Preston North End v Queens Park Rangers

Saturday 2nd December:
Swansea v Town
Town scorers:
Swansea scorers:

West Bromwich Albion v Leicester City (12:30)
Leeds United v Middlesbrough
Millwall v Sunderland
Plymouth Argyle v Stoke City
Sheffield Wednesday v Blackburn Rovers

Bonus matches:
FA Cup round 2:
Saturday:
Cambridge United v Fleetwood Town
Crewe Alexandra v Bristol Rovers
Gillingham v Charlton Athletic

Sunday:
Wrexham v Yeovil Town (15:45)

Premier League:
Saturday:
Burnley v Sheffield United
Nottingham Forest v Everton (17:30)

Sunday:
West Ham United v Crystal Palace (14:00)

Scottish Premiership:
Saturday:
Livingston v Ross County
Motherwell v Dundee




*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

1. Lord Snooty = 309 pts
   
2. ritchiebaby = 275 pts
   
3. WakeyTerrier = 271 pts
   
4. Devongone = 250 pts
   
5. Amelia Chaffinch = 236 pts
   
6. SHEP_HTAFC = 224 pts
   

Saturday 2nd December:
Swansea v Town
Town scorers:
Swansea scorers:

Birmingham City v Rotherham United
Hull City v Watford
Ipswich Town v Coventry City
Southampton v Cardiff City

Sunday 3rd December:
Bristol City v Norwich City (13:30)

Bonus matches:
FA Cup round 2:
Friday:
Notts County v Shrewsbury Town
York City v Wigan Athletic

Saturday:
Alfreton Town v Walsall (12:30)
Maidstone United v Barrow
Stevenage v Port Vale

Sunday:
Chesterfield v Leyton Orient (14:00)

Premier League:
Saturday:
Brentford v Luton Town
Newcastle United v Manchester United (20:00)

Scottish Premiership:
Sunday:
St Johnstone v Celtic (12:00)
Hibernian v Aberdeen (15:00)



*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Come marching into Town, for what really should be a stroll in the park, I for one haven't seen anything from this side under Darren Moore to suggest that we even have hope of laying as much as a finger on them. Or attempt for that matter taking into consideration some of our recent performances. I feel that Moore must really interview well when it comes to jobs, he hasn't shown it in his pre or post match pressers yet but i'll put that down to there being a camera shoved in his face. If this was the best we could do, or what we wanted, then what are we expecting for January? a late christmas miracle?

Our guests have finally got themselves going in the championship this season after an indifferent start, with some saints fans calling for the head of newly appointed Russell Martin. The Saints are unbeaten in 8 games, winning their last 3 games, including Carlos Corberans West Brom, they have also beaten Hull and Leeds in this unbeaten run, two teams that we made look like prime Barcelona. Its fair to suggest that this approach to matches is what is or will switch people off coming to games and once again we shall be in similar position as to what we were back when Chris Powell was manager, that is if we remain in this division, if we go down, then who knows what might happen. It could be a case where people wont want to come to watch as it is a poorer standard, it might be too expensive or some might stick around or come back as we could well start winning more. Although the last two are not guaranteed.

Going back to our visitors, they initially settled fairly well when they came down, beating Sheffield Wednesday on the opening weekend before a high scoring draw against David Wagners Norwich side. They rounded the opening month with wins against Plymouth and QPR. September saw the Saints struggle, a heavy defeat away at Sunderland followed by another heavy defeat against Leicester saw them concede 9 goals in two games. Two more defeats came against Ipswich and Middlesborough and this is when Martin suddenly found himself under scrutiny, mainly as the goals conceded were coming from mistakes at the back from their playing style. Which after watching Swansea last season, is heavily focused on having the ball, keeping the ball and moving it around, starting from the back. Since that defeat against Boro,  the Saints have gone unbeaten and the pressure that was on Martins shoulders seems to have lifted, with a further 3 points expected tomorrow.



In the summer transfer window, the Saints were quite active, and quite willing to spend some money, even if the only transfer fees went onto two signings, some of the loan deals wont have been cheap. Firstly the free agent market was raided for Joe Lumley from Boro to come as 3rd choice keeper, whilst Ryan Manning followed Martin from Swansea. Loans wise, Taylor Harwood-Bellis joined from Manchester City after impressing in the Championship the season before with Burnley. Former Barnsley academy graduate Mason Holgate joined on loan from Everton, the defender is rumoured to be on nearly £80k pw so i wonder how much Southampton are picking up here? Flynn Downes joined on loan from West Ham, he was at Swansea for a spell but I'm not 100% sure how much of it coincided with Martins time there. The final loanee to join was Ryan Fraser from Newcastle who moved back to the south coast where he played a lot of his career whilst at Bournemouth. The big fees were spent on Ross Stewart from Sunderland, who despite being out with a serious knee injury, Saints saw fit to spend over £9 million on. The final signing was another splurge of cash on a Manchester City youngster, something Saints fans are all too familiar with over the recent seasons, this time Shea Charles joined for £12 million, at the age of 19, this season is his first as a senior professional. Quite a big risk when you think about it, but Saints do like taking educated gambles on players and when you look at the recent past of having the likes of Van Dijk, Mane etc it is something that has worked.



Leaving St Marys, now this is where the money spent starts to make more sense. Some of the higher earners from when they were in the Premier League left, some on loan like Lycano, Romain Perraud, Paul Onuachu, Duje Caleta-Car and Armel Bella-Kotchap, whilst Theo Walcott and Willy Caballero both retired. Leaving for fees were Mislav Orsic who joined Trabzonspor for £2million, Moussa Djenepo joined Standard Liege for £3million, Mohammed Salisu moved to Monaco for £15million, Nathan Tella joined Bayer Leverkusen for £23million. Now we are talking the mega bucks as James Ward-Prowse moved to West Ham for £34 million, Tino Livramento made the move to Newcastle for £37million and finally Romeo Lavia joined Chelsea for £62 million. Oh to have players worth that much.



On the performance side of things, Adam Armstrong leads the way for both goals and assists so far this season, with 9 goals and 3 assists. Scottish international Che Adams is joint second with 3 goals along with midfielder Will Smallbone. Creatively Kamaldeen Sulemana is tied with Armstrong on 3 with Adams, Kyle Walker-Peters and Ryan Manning all having 2 so far this season. Compare that to Town who have Helik on 4 goals and Rudoni on 3, with Sorba Thomas having 4 assists, the next best is 1...

Team news for tomorrow sees Town hopefully welcoming back Danny Ward and David Kasumu, whilst no other injuries have been added to the list, we will still be without Rudoni, Turton, Burgzorg and Pat Jones. So this could see us possibly lining up with a few more attacking minded players in the side, we may also see Thomas moved away from wingback, into a position where he can focus more on pushing defenders back. Despite me not really liking the fact that we resigned him, i think Danny Ward coming back could be a big bonus, even if it is just from an experience point of view.

My lineup for tomorrow, considering i cant see Moore ditching the 3 at the back system, would be Nicholls in goal, Pearson, Helik and Lees as a back 3, Ruffles and Kasumu at wingback, with Hogg and Wiles in the centre of midfield, leaving Danny Ward to be flanked by Thomas and Koroma in attack.

As for Southampton, Ross Stewart made an appearance from the bench last time out but it may be a case of gradually building him back up. James Bree featured out of position at left back, and may see Manning replace him. Harwood Bellis and Holgate have been the heart of the Saints defence so far this season and I expect that to continue moving forward.

In regards to ones to watch, obviously Adam Armstrong is first to the plate. The striker has been around for a while it seems and initially struggled to make an impact in his career, maybe due to bouncing around on loan a few times whilst at Newcastle. He finally made his mark and got a move to the south coast, where he has found a happy knack of scoring goals. One of the Armstrongs captained the side last time out, but I'd imagine that was Stuart, the Scottish international. He had a good loan early in his career at Coventry which showed his goal scoring prowess, but it wasnt until he moved to Blackburn that he caught the eye of Premier League clubs.



Another to look out for is Kyle Walker-Peters. The Londoner started his career at Tottenham and featured sporadically for them, but often found himself down the pecking order. He joined Southampton in 2020, originally on loan before moving permanently. He had a half decent first season but soon found competition for places from Livramento, resulting in him moving to left back on occasion. During the relegation season he looked out of sorts, but since dropping down to the Championship he has started to look the part, with his pace causing teams trouble down the right hand side.



If you are interested in what Russell Martin said, he mentions something about Moore having what it takes to turn it around. Not sure what else he's said, but ill find a link and Bob it below. Not that it'll be all that interesting. Probably be more about how he won't be on the touchline tomorrow after picking up three yellow cards this season, and will be watching from the stands.

https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/ar...-vs-saints

Our head to head record against Southampton isn't too great, we haven't picked up a win against the saints since 2010, that being said, we haven't played them too much during either sides history. We have had a few draws against them of recent, mainly when we have met in the Premier League.

Played for both...

1- Giant goalkeeper Scott Bevan had a loan spell at town when we got relegated under Mick Wadsworth, he was useless and went on to have a pretty nondescript career. 

2- Jason Puncheon. He's number two and that's all he's getting

3- Oscar Gobern. The lanky midfielder began his career at Southampton before making the move to town for nearly a million through a tribunal. The midfield had moments of promise but really his main claim to fame is at saints when he got a straight red for a karate challenge. 

4- Neal Trotman. Old 50p head, he went on loan to Southampton the season before he came on loan to town. He played 21 times for town and was a bit hit and miss really, we've had a lot better but we've had a lot worse. He ended up as a lower league defender for all his career but will have made a decent living from it.

5- Adam Hammill. The winger had his first real taste of English football on loan at Southampton where he featured 25 times for the saints. He joined town on loan from wolves and impressed in a 16 game stint, leading to town signing him on a permanent deal. His time at town saw him being the mercurial player capable of moments of magic but his off field problems would sometimes catch up with him, his confrontation with a paramedic being one of them. His spell at Barnsley was where he featured heavily and put his past behind him. 

6- Chris Lucketti. The centre half joined town from bury and was a key member of the town backline before leaving to join Preston. He joined Southampton on loan from Sheffield united but only played four games. He rejoined town when Stan ternant was manager and was for want of a better word, awful. He's now assistant manager at Bradford.

7- Martin Craine. The versatile defender was signed for town by Chris Powell, but became a key squad member for David Wagner, operating in multiple positions. He began his career at Southampton and made a handful of appearances but made his name at Coventry and Barnsley whom he played for before moving to town. After leaving town he went on to play at Middlesbrough, sheffield united and Luton. 

8- Scott McDonald. The attacking midfield began his career in Australia and made the move to Southampton, he made two appearances before coming on loan to town. Another who didn't amount to much, but he did go on to have a good career in Scotland and later Middlesbrough.

9- Chris Marsden. Played over 100 games for town and Southampton. Captained Southampton in the fa cup final against arsenal. His time at town came a bit before me so I can't tell you much about him. 

Click the link to see pictures, but if you can't, here's what's in the article......

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67418972

The voice of BBC commentator Raymond Glendenning crackles out of the radio.

"And this time a neat backpass by Soo finds Matthews..."

The date is 20 October 1945. World War Two has only been over for a month. As people across England crowd around their radios, they can hear 54,000 fans roaring on their team against Wales at the Hawthorns.

Nearly 80 years on, while Stanley Matthews remains one of English football's most enduring names, Frank Soo is a relative unknown.

Yet Soo's story, one of adversity, celebrity and then obscurity, is significant. And slowly being recognised once more.

Short presentational grey line
Three years earlier - on 9 May 1942 - a 28-year-old Soo played his first game for England, also against Wales, in front of 30,000 people at Cardiff's Ninian Park.

It was a historic debut. Soo became the first non-white man to play for England. He was already the first Chinese player in the English Football League. And he remains the only player of Asian descent to represent England at senior level.

In the 1930s Soo was a star. A household name who appeared on cigarette cards and featured in newspapers, he was described as a talented half-back, clever, quick with an eye for an incisive pass and able to play in any position.

England team-mate Stan Mortensen summed up Soo's style. "Everything he did was hall-marked," wrote Mortensen in his book Football is My Game. "He seemed incapable of a clumsy movement."

But Soo's fame faded in the following decades. To the vast majority of fans, his name is unknown.

Soo was born in 1914 in Buxton, Derbyshire, a few months before the start of the First World War.

His mother Beatrice was English and his father Quan was Chinese. They met in the Manchester area and, at the time of their marriage, were registered as living at the same address.

In the 1911 census there were only 1,319 China-born citizens residing in England and Wales in a population of about 35 million. The main source of income for many Chinese immigrants, including Quan, was running steam laundries, a quintessential working-class job for many settlers.

Laundry work was traditionally performed by women, so the Chinese community faced less hostility because they were seen as taking women's jobs rather than men's.

Even so, Chinese workers were caught in an impossible situation. If they did work, they were accused of stealing local jobs. If they did not, they were deemed idle.

Women who married immigrants automatically lost their British nationality and became foreigners.

The hostility they faced would occasionally turn into social unrest. The first Chinese laundry in London was stoned soon after it opened in 1901. During the 1911 Cardiff riots all 30 Chinese laundries in the city were targeted.

Quan and Beatrice moved to Buxton and, after spells in different areas, had settled in West Derby in Liverpool by 1920, running a popular laundry on Town Row.

Soo's footballing abilities were clear from a young age and he joined Prescot Cables as an 18-year-old in 1932. Although he was scouted by Liverpool and Everton, Stoke City declared their interest and manager Tom Mather signed him for £400 in 1933.

Promoted to the top flight in Soo's first season, Stoke were a thrilling and elegant side, with Soo dovetailing with the legendary Matthews.

By 1938, a 24-year-old Soo was Stoke captain, and the demands of fans and journalists for him to be called up by England were increasing.

The outbreak of war delayed his promotion to the international stage before he made his debut in 1942.

Soo played 260 matches for Stoke between 1933 and 1945, including wartime friendlies and cup games, scoring 20 goals in the process.

He also became a national icon. His wedding with his first wife, Beryl Lunt, made headlines in the Staffordshire Sentinel in 1938 after attracting a crowd of 2,000 of well-wishers despite attempts to keep the ceremony a secret.

The article also revealed that the honeymoon would be spent in Bournemouth. The media rarely published details about footballers' personal lives, but Soo's stardom caused this excitement.

His Chinese heritage was part of the intrigue.

"It was regarded as a novelty," said Susan Gardiner, author of The Wanderer: The Story of Frank Soo.

"They were intrigued by the fact that this very young, talented Chinese player had joined Stoke City... rather than [being] hostile towards him."

Nevertheless, Soo had to deal with regular references to his race and his name being used in disrespectful pun-filled headlines.

Ronnie Soo, Frank's nephew, said in the documentary Frank Soo: The Forgotten Legend that there were "cartoons of him as a Chinese character with a football at his feet".

Generally, Soo received positive coverage and, seen grinning in photographs of the time, it is easy to understand why he was referred to as 'The Smiler'.

Soo served in the Royal Air Force in World War Two but continued to play club football after the Football Association suspended the Football League and organised regional Wartime Leagues. He also captained the Royal Air Force and Forces XI.

Soo played nine games for England, including a 3-2 win over Scotland in front of 133,000 fans at Hampden Park in 1944.

However, because he only played during the war and games were deemed unofficial by the FA, those appearances were never recognised with caps.

The usual club competitions were suspended at the outbreak of war and the practicalities of conflict affected international games.

"Players in the services or civilian work could only play if it did not interfere with their military service or war work," said Dr Alexander Jackson, curator at the National Football Museum and author of Football's Great War.

"While the FA encouraged good relations with the armed forces and the release of service players for international games, due to their value in raising morale and raising funds for charity, it could not compel the forces to release a player.

"The deployment of military personal abroad, and the loss of players through military service, meant that the FA was restricted in who it could select.

"The war would have placed obstacles in the way of FA selectors observing players and recommending them for international honours in the same way as in peacetime."

Soo was 25 when war broke out, the peak of many playing careers. By the time the war was over, he was 31.

He still came close to making his England career official. Called up for another peacetime England international in 1946, Soo pulled out with an ankle injury and was replaced by bright young star Billy Wright.

Wright, a future England captain, won his first official cap against Ireland eight months later, supplanting Soo in the team and ensuring his international career would never be officially recognised.

After short spells playing for Leicester City, Luton Town and Chelmsford City, Soo moved into management.

It took him abroad in 1952 and his memory faded from English football.

His reputation was reinforced overseas as he led Norway to the 1952 Olympics and won the Swedish top flight with Djurgardens IF in 1955.

Following his final recorded managerial role with Danish side Akademisk Boldklub in 1965-66, very little is known about Soo. It is suggested that he moved back to north-west England in the mid-1970s before settling in Stoke.

Fans recall seeing him at local matches, showing them cigarette cards from his glory days.

"When he was back in England, he was suffering from what's now known as Alzheimer's," said Ronnie. "He was in care but in later years he did deteriorate."

Soo died of dementia on 25 January 1991 in Staffordshire.

His ethnicity, his move abroad, the impact of the war and the relatively sparse media coverage of football in his playing heyday contributed to Soo's relative anonymity, but much has been done over the past decade to celebrate his achievements.

In 2016 Gardiner's book pieced together local history, family records and newspapers archives to produce the most comprehensive record yet of Soo's story.

A year later, coach and community champion Alan Lau, having read the book, founded the Frank Soo Foundation to promote Soo's story.

In 2020 the foundation worked with Google to feature Soo as the search engine's 'Doodle', putting his likeness in front of millions of web browsers worldwide.

This month he was inducted into Stoke's Sporting Hall of Fame, marked by a half-time commemoration at the Bet365 Stadium.

Across town, on the site of Stoke's former Victoria Ground home, there is Frank Soo Street named in honour of a club legend.

There is scope for further commemoration.

In March Jack Leslie was awarded a posthumous cap by the FA. Leslie was the first black player to receive an England call-up in 1925, but his invite to play for his country was withdrawn when, his family believe, selectors realised the colour of his skin.

Soo, and the Asian heritage players that have followed in his wake, still await a breakthrough England cap.

Li Ke, who was known as Nico Yennaris during his time growing up in London and playing for Arsenal, Brentford and England's age-group sides, in 2019 became the first naturalised player to represent China.

Jiang Guantai, known as Tyias Browning while playing for Everton, Sunderland and England Under-21s, is now a regular for China.

In the women's game, Aston Villa's Maz Pacheco has said she is undecided over whether to play for the Philippines or England.

Before them all came Soo - a pioneer for non-white representation in English football, a Stoke City icon and a successful manager who overcame adversity in life and is emerging from anonymity in death.

Fylde 0-2 Dorking
Aldershot 2-2 Halifax
Altrincham 2-1 Solihull Moors
Boreham Wood 0-1 Woking
Chesterfield 2-0 Eastleigh
Dag & Red 1-1 Rochdale
Gateshead 2-1 Southend
Hartlepool 0-1 Bromley
Maidenhead United 2-2 York
Oldham 3-0 Ebbsfleet
Oxford City 3-2 Kidderminster
Wealdstone 1-0 Barnet

League Table After Matchday 21

Spireitematt - 498
SaltergateBorn - 460
Amelia - 391
Dancing - 364
St Charles - 364
Lord Snoots - 342
Devon - 277