[Lord Snooty]

August 3:

It's a happy birthday today to our centre back Matty Pearson. Born in Keighley on this date in 1993, he's 29 today.

Ten years later, he joined the Academy at Blackburn Rovers, but never got through to their first team, instead going out on loan to Lincoln City in the Conference. After that, he was released by Blackburn and signed for Rochdale. He played nine League Two games for the Dale, but then went down to the Conference with FC Halifax Town.

From the Shay, to Accrington Stanley, then on to Barnsley in the Championship, before dropping back down to League One with Luton. He got promoted with Luton, played in the Championship for them, then signed for us last summer.

Last season, he turned out 41 times for us, being leading scorer early in the season, but then got injured and missed the Play Offs.

Allan Gilliver was also born on this date, in 1944 and so is 78 today. Sadly, he's one in a depressingly long list of former footballers suffering with Alzheimers.

He played for Town in the 60s, but left just before I started going. We were his first club, but there were many more on Gilliver's travels. He left us to go to Blackburn and that was followed by Rotherham (his home town club), Brighton, Lincoln, Bradford and Stockport. He then went to the US of A and joined Baltimore Comets in the NASL. Never heard of them? Not surprising. They were dissolved after just two years of existence.

So he came back to England, joined Boston United, then Gainsborough, before settling down in Bradford with the Bantamweights. He stuck around there taking up various roles including groundsman, safety officer and commercial manager.

In his Town career, he scored 22 goals from 53 games, scoring on his debut, a 4-1 win at home to Swansea Town. Most of his goals came in 65/66 when he top scored with 18. He scored seven in the first four games of that season, including a hat trick against Middlesbrough at Leeds Road which we won 6-0 with Les Massie also bagging three.

John Haselden was born on this date in 1943, but sadly died in 2020 aged 76. He was born in Doncaster and played for Rotherham for seven years before going back to Donny for another six years.

After that he took up coaching and was first team coach at Mansfield when they won the 4th Division title and was then persuaded by Tom Johnston to leave there to take up a similar role with us at Leeds Road. Old Tom was just preparing for retirement though and his playing squad were lacking motivation, down in the 4th Division, just five years after being in the First.

When Tom retired, John took up the managers job, but only managed 14 games. Tom came out of retirement, before handing over to Mick Buxton, who made John his number 2 and the two of them turned the club around, going from the 4th to the 2nd Division.

Here he is, front row, 4th from the right.

Why do we never get squad photos anymore? Answers on a postcard please.......

Right then, back to the action on the field and on this date in 2018, the excellent preparations for the 2nd season in the Premier League came to a conclusion with a resounding 3-0 victory over RB Leipzig.

Having beaten Lyon on home soil, David Wagner took the lads on a training trip to Austria. We'd beaten Bologna 2-1 when we played Lepizig at the Sportzentrum Stadium in Schwaz.

Goals from a Steve Mounié header, Adama Diakhaby in a one on one with the keeper and Phillip Billing tapping home after being set up by Laurent Depoitre, set us up nicely now for the visit of Chelsea to the John Smith's in the first game of the new season next week.

How on earth did it go so spectacularly downhill from here? Answers on a postcard please...... or just post your answers below.