03-07-2022, 09:47
July 3:
On this day in 1925, Huddersfield Town appointed Cecil Potter to be the new manager, replacing Herbert Chapman, who had left to take up the vacant post at Arsenal.
Born in Sussex in 1888, Potter was an inside forward who had played for both Ipswich and Norwich before the war. During the war, he served with the Army as well as assisting Hull City during their Wartime League campaigns. After the war, he joined Hartlepools United as player/manager in the newly formed Division Three North, guiding them to a 4th placed finish.
He then had a go at a Second Division club in 1922, when he got the job in charge of Derby County, taking them to the FA Cup semi finals and twice narrowly missing out on promotion to the First Division.
Following his appointment at Town, Cecil's first task at his new club will be to get his players to adapt to the new changes to the offside law that has been introduced to boost the goal scoring rate. That new rule seemed to be working. It was not until Game 11 of the new season that a clean sheet was found in any of the games involving Town. One of those first eleven matches was a 5-5 draw with Spurs at White Hart Lane. Town's new boy, Alex Jackson scoring a hat trick in that game.
Other big wins were to come. A 5-1 win at Maine Road against Man City, a 5-0 win at home to Man Utd and a 5-1 win against Aston Villa at Leeds Road.
Potter had succeeded Chapman so well that with two games spare, Town had won the League for the third time in a row, by beating Bolton Wanderers 3-0 at home in April. The first team ever to do this.
But then just before the next season started, Potter resigned his post, stating ill health and he would be replaced by Jack Chaplin.
![[Image: vScWt8F.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/vScWt8F.jpg)
So, the offside law changed in 1925 from three players to two needing to be between the attacking team and the goalline, like it is today. The change worked a treat with 6,373 goals being scored in 25/26 throughout the Football League as opposed to the 4,700 in the previous season.
That was 97 years ago and given that they are spending an absolute fortune on technology to try and get it right, do you think the best thing to do would be to just scrap offside altogether?
On this day in 1925, Huddersfield Town appointed Cecil Potter to be the new manager, replacing Herbert Chapman, who had left to take up the vacant post at Arsenal.
Born in Sussex in 1888, Potter was an inside forward who had played for both Ipswich and Norwich before the war. During the war, he served with the Army as well as assisting Hull City during their Wartime League campaigns. After the war, he joined Hartlepools United as player/manager in the newly formed Division Three North, guiding them to a 4th placed finish.
He then had a go at a Second Division club in 1922, when he got the job in charge of Derby County, taking them to the FA Cup semi finals and twice narrowly missing out on promotion to the First Division.
Following his appointment at Town, Cecil's first task at his new club will be to get his players to adapt to the new changes to the offside law that has been introduced to boost the goal scoring rate. That new rule seemed to be working. It was not until Game 11 of the new season that a clean sheet was found in any of the games involving Town. One of those first eleven matches was a 5-5 draw with Spurs at White Hart Lane. Town's new boy, Alex Jackson scoring a hat trick in that game.
Other big wins were to come. A 5-1 win at Maine Road against Man City, a 5-0 win at home to Man Utd and a 5-1 win against Aston Villa at Leeds Road.
Potter had succeeded Chapman so well that with two games spare, Town had won the League for the third time in a row, by beating Bolton Wanderers 3-0 at home in April. The first team ever to do this.
But then just before the next season started, Potter resigned his post, stating ill health and he would be replaced by Jack Chaplin.
So, the offside law changed in 1925 from three players to two needing to be between the attacking team and the goalline, like it is today. The change worked a treat with 6,373 goals being scored in 25/26 throughout the Football League as opposed to the 4,700 in the previous season.
That was 97 years ago and given that they are spending an absolute fortune on technology to try and get it right, do you think the best thing to do would be to just scrap offside altogether?
![[Image: 2ZJuVRk.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/2ZJuVRk.gif)