[Lord Snooty]

November 16:

We've had some sadness over the last few days. Today we've just got happy birthdays to sing.

England international Bob Kelly, was born on this date in 1893 in Ashton-in-Makerfield, a market town in Greater Manchester. He signed for Burnley in 1913 and either side of the war, scored 88 goals for the Claret Jugs.

They sold him to Sunderland in 1925 for a British record transfer fee of six and a half grand. Then at the age of 34 he signed for Town, missing the triple championship years, but he did make it to two FA Cup Finals with us. He stuck around for five seasons and was very much the veteran when he left for Preston.

He scored 42 goals for us, leaving him level with Ronnie Jepson and Lee Novak in our all time goal scorers chart. I really expected Danny Ward to have overtaken him by now. Come on Danny, lad.

Chris Balderstone was a proper all rounder. He was born on this date in 1940 in Huddersfield and made his debut for his home town club in 1960, scoring in a 2-1 defeat at Cardiff.

The year after, he made another debut, as a cricketer for Yorkshire. He was a right arm batsman and a left arm spin bowler. He left us both though, playing for Carlisle United (winning promotion to the First Division with them) and then Leicestershire. He also played two test matches for England in 1976. Unfortunately for him, it was against the all conquering West Indies.

His main claim to fame though was when he was a Doncaster Rovers player. In September 1975 he took part in a County Championship match and a Football League game on the same day. He was 51 not out for Leicestershire against Derbyshire at the end of day two of the match at Chesterfield. After close of play he changed into his football kit to play for Donny in a night match 30 miles away. They drew 1-1 with Brentford in a 3rd Division game. He then returned to Chesterfield the following morning to complete a century and take three wickets to help wrap up Leicestershire's first ever County Championship title.

After retiring, he became an umpire, making it onto the international list. Sadly he died in 2000 from prostate cancer aged 59.

Now then. Who remembers this fella? Born on this date in Kingston, Jamaica in 1995 and so celebrating his 27th birthday today. It's Rolando Aarons.

Twenty seven years old. Eight different clubs. Still hasn't made it to a hundred appearances. Apparently he's played 11 times for Town. Can't say I remember any of them.

On the field of play, we had a 7-0 win on this date in 1991. It was a 1st round game in the FA Cup and the opponents were non league Lincoln United. Goals that day came from Kieran O'Regan, Kevin Donovan (2), Frank Stapleton (just before he left to manage Billy Bantam's Circus), Iwan Roberts (2) and Iffy Onuora.

Rochdale away next.

A couple of international games to end today with. On this date in 1932, we had two players playing for England in a 0-0 draw at Wrexham against Wales. They were Roy Goodall and Alf Young. This was Alf's England debut.

Six years later, on this date in 1938, Town's Ken Willingham played for England in a 7-0 win against Ireland at Old Trafford. Future Town star Peter Doherty was in the Irish line up. Willie Hall of Spurs got five of the goals, with Tommy Lawton and Stanley Matthews getting one each.