[Lord Snooty]

April 30:

Another day, another cup final!

Sixteen years and a day after beating Preston at Stamford Bridge in the 1922 FA Cup Final, they got their revenge at Wembley by beating us in the 1938 FA Cup Final. They were the favourites to lift the trophy this time, standing 3rd in the First Division, whilst Town were struggling in a lowly 15th and had been walloped at West Brom the previous Saturday, losing 5-1.

Alf Young, the club captain and inspirational centre back, missed that game at the Hawthorns and his place had been taken by Alan Brown, who had recently returned to the club after quitting to join the police force. But Alf was back and raring to go for this.

Another selection, one that didn't go down well with the supporters though was the selection of veteran Arsenal winger Joe Hulme instead of George Wienand. Hulme had only recently signed for Town from the Gunners and this match would be his fifth FA Cup Final, a record at the time. Did manager Clem Stephenson let sentiment get in the way of his judgement? The South African right winger Wienand, who also played first class cricket, had been awesome at Ewood Park in the semi final win over Sunderland and his omission perplexed a lot of Town fans.

Town's top two goalscorers of the season were involved though. Bobby Barclay, who had played for Sheffield Utd in the 1936 Final and Scotsman Willie MacFadyen, who was signed from Motherwell where he had set the club record goal scoring and also won the Scottish League title, was selected over Billy Price at centre forward. Sadly for Price, he wouldn't get another chance for a Cup medal as his best years would be stolen by the war, which was looming on the horizon.

Another player who's best years were stolen by the war was Edwin Watson. Not just that, but he lost his life serving with the RAF in 1944. He had also played in the semi final, but was stood down for the Final with Clem selecting Jimmy Isaac in his place.

So Town lined up as follows; Bob Hesford, Benny Craig, Reg Mountford, Ken Willingham, Alf Young ©, Eddie Boot, Joe Hulme, Jimmy Isaac, Willie MacFadyen, Bobby Barclay and Pat Beasley.

The Preston team included Andy Beattie and Bill Shankly and so with Town playing Eddie Boot, that meant that there were three future Town managers in this match. Both teams were presented to King George VI before the match, the same bloke who had been there in his previous capacity as Duke of York in 1922.

It was the first match to be televised fully live on the new fangled telly thing and had an estimated 10,000 armchair audience to add to the 93,497 in the stadium. And in the Town tradition of major finals, it was 0-0 after 90 minutes.

There was a lot of symmetry with the 1922 Final in that the winning goal came from a hotly disputed penalty. Last time it was Billy Smith fouled on the line of the penalty area who got himself back up to take and score the spot kick. This time it was Preston's George Mutch, who had been fouled right on the line by Town skipper, Young.

It was the last kick of the game, the ball hitting the underside of the bar and going in, giving Bob Hesford no chance of saving it.

That was the end of the era for Town. They would never make it to the FA Cup Final again, though they did reach the semis in the next season. It was our fifth Final, winning it just the once. Preston were also in their fifth Final, though this was their second win and they did make two more Finals, the last of which was in 1964 when they lost to West Ham.

Well that was all a long time ago. In more recent history.............

I can't believe it's 28 years since the Final Whistle, but it is. On this date in 1994, we played the last ever match at Leeds Road when we played Blackpool in the third tier of the English Football Pyramid, at the time calling itself Division Two and nowadays known as League One.

First opened in 1908, the old stadium was by this stage, old and crumbly after 86 years. But it had seen some glories and some dark despair in that time. It had seen some magnificent footballers over the years, some of whom were presented before the match in front of the crowd of 16,195. The oldest of them played in the 1920s and won a league title with the club under Herbert Chapman. He was Joe Walter and was 98 years old when he came to the game. Sadly he died a year later, just before the Play Off Final at Wembley against Bristol Rovers.

The match got off to a great start for the Terriers when local teenager Simon Baldry scored in the first minute. Blackpool equalised before half time, but shortly after the interval Phil Starbuck scored the winner and the last ever goal scored at the old place. The next home game will be at the shiny new Alfred MacAlpine Stadium, just across the other side of the river.

The second half was mostly played with a human touchline as many fans gathered too close to the famous field of play and so when eventually the ref blew his final whistle, there was a mad dash to the tunnel for the players as thousands invaded the pitch.

I've just spotted myself on this photo. 

There was another final whistle on this date. Not for us though. This was Brighton and on this date in 2011, they played their last game at the Withdean Stadium. They had been there since 1999 after they had become homeless when they were evicted from their home at the Goldstone Ground a couple of years earlier.

They are now an established Premier League team but back then, they were in the same division as us, League One. They would go up as champions, while we would fail in the Play Offs, but we interrupted their celebrations by winning this game. Benik Afobe, on loan from Arsenal, had twice given us the lead, only to get equalised. But then in injury time, up popped Danny Ward, on loan from Bolton, to score his first ever Town goal.