[Lord Snooty]

April 4:

Another day, another fight! Sounds like I'm a right hooligan, but I'm not really. This one was a year and a day after that fight in the car park at Swindon and this one was at Chesterfield in 1983. We'd gone on the Millbridge bus this time. The van must've clapped out for good by now. As usual, it was a monumentous piss up and for some reason we ended up in the wrong part of the ground. I can't remember much about it, but Town won 1-0 with a goal from Mark Lillis. That goal might've been the spark that kicked it off, but I think I sobered up quite sharpish.

Anyway, we went up that season, in 3rd place in the 3rd Division. The Spireites went down, bottom of the table.

Two years before that, in 1981, we were in another promotion battle. Chesterfield were one of our rivals, alongside Portsmouth, Rotherham, Barnsley and Charlton Athletic. On this date, we were away at Charlton. Me and my mates went down on one of the official coaches then, we hadn't discovered the Millbridge bus yet.

Anyway, we won, coming from a goal down to win 2-1, with Malcolm Brown and Steve Kindon scoring. The ITV cameras were there for this, for the Big Match. Yorkshire telly had their own version on Saturday night, I think the Beeb had lost Match Of The Day at the time, so when the coach dropped us off, it was a mad rush to get home to watch the highlights.

I got home in time, but mum n dad were watching Bucks Fizz winning the Eurovision Song Contest!

Luckily, as per usual, the Town game was the last on and so I got to see the goals. That was all, just the goals. But now you, yes you lucky Sportsbabble readers, can watch the full 15 minutes of highlights from the Big Match, with good old Brian Moore commentating. Enjoy.....

Now I've just realised that I missed reporting on a momentous occasion in Huddersfield Town's history on March 31st. That was the day, or more accurately, the night that we won promotion with a draw at Ayresome Park against Middlesbrough in 1970. My excuse for missing it was that it was so early in the year. Promoted before April! Who does that?

Well it wasn't that early really. It was game 40 out of 42. I think the league may have finished early to prepare for the upcoming World Cup. So on this date, game 41, we beat Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park 2-0 to win the 2nd Division championship. Frank Worthington scored both goals.

And finally for today, another Town player who died young. Tony Leighton was born in 1939 in Leeds. He started out his playing career with them down t' road in 1956 as a junior striker. He never made the first team there, but had a great scoring record at Doncaster and then Barnsley before he came to Leeds Road in 1964. He was still at Town when I first started going, but due to the emergence of a certain Frank Worthington, he was not getting the games his scoring record would suggest he ought to. He was sold to Bradford City in 68 and then finished his football career as manager of Bradford Park Avenue in the Northern Premier League.

He had a Sports shop in Heckmondwike whilst he was at Town, or maybe just after he left and when he left Town he had scored 44 goals from 97 games. He is now in 37th place in our all time goal scorers list.

The sad part of his story then came to light. He got motor neurone disease, a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. This eventually causes paralysis and early death, usually from respiratory failure.

He was given a testimonial match at Leeds Road in 1978, when a couple of all star teams turned out to play for the charity in his name. His ex team mate Frank was there, as were stars like Jimmy Armfield, who managed one of the teams, Nobby Stiles, Billy Bremner, Jack and Bobby Charlton, Bobby Collins and a young Barnsley lad called Mick McCarthy.

Me and my dad went and it was a real tear jerker when Tony was wheeled out onto the pitch. That game was in January. He died not long after, on this date in 1978, aged 38.