[Lord Snooty]

April 9:

We'll start today with one from the Roll of Honour. Sidney James (not that one) was a centre half who was born in Sheffield in 1891. He started his Town playing career at centre forward though when the regular Frank Mann was out injured. He scored on his debut at Leeds Road against Leicester Fosse in a 2-1 defeat in December 1913. He scored again on New Years Day in another 2-1 defeat, this time, away at Barnsley.

He played 9 Second Division games that season, plus 2 in the FA Cup. The following season, he reverted to his favoured position in the defence, but only played three matches. The war had started by that time though and unlike the 2nd World War, the Football League continued to the end of 1914/15. Whether Sidney had signed up or not I don't know, but he did play 30 games in the Wartime League in the 1915/16 season as football continued as a way of keeping up morale on the home front.

His last game for Town was in April 1916, away at Leeds City. He had signed on with the Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) and the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and held the rank of acting lance corporal.

He died on this date in 1917. He was killed during the capture of the village of Saint-Martin-sur-Cojeul. Only 26 years old, he is buried in the Cojeul British Cemetery in the village.

Ernie Hine was born in Barnsley on this date in 1901 and died 74 years later in Huddersfield. In between those years, he played for both clubs as an inside right. He first joined Barnsley in 1921 and scored on his debut in an FA Cup game against Norwich. By the time he left for Leicester in 1926, he had scored 81 goals for the Reds. He did even better at Filbert Street, scoring twice on his debut, clocking up 148 goals in six seasons, as well as getting 6 England caps. 

The scoring on debut sequence ended when he signed for Town in 1932, we lost 0-1 at Portsmouth. He only played half a season for us before transferring to Manchester United. He did score in his second game though, a 4-1 home win against Leicester, the club he'd just departed. He followed that with two at home to Chelsea and another one at Brammall Lane, by which time he had four goals in six games. All going well.

But then he went eighteen games without a goal. The worst goal drought of his career. So he was offloaded to Old Trafford, where he stayed for a couple of seasons. Then he returned to Oakwell to play out the remainder of his playing career. Thirty three years old by now, he still managed to play another four seasons. In the second of those come back seasons, he scored a hat trick against Leicester and also scored the winner in an FA Cup game at Oakwell against Stoke in front of Barnsley's record crowd of 40,255.

He hung up his boots in 1938, by which time he had become Barnsley's all time record goal scorer, and still is to this day. He bagged 131 goals in 310 games and his overall goal tally stands at 287. But you can add to that 4 goals for England and 20 goals playing for a Football League XI on a tour of Canada in 1931.

On the field of play, the last match on this date was in 2016, with David Wagner coming to the end of his first half season in charge. Jamie Paterson gave Town the lead in the 40th minute and we led at half time. Hull equalised in the 76th minute, but Town won it in the last minute of normal time when some young lad called Harry Maguire put the ball through his own net. Lol! 

We didn't win it though, did we. Adama Diomande got Hull's second equaliser in the 3rd minute of added on time.

[theo_luddite]

So that's where young Mr. Maguire perfected the art of the own goal.

[Lord Snooty]

April 10:

It's a happy birthday today to our first team coach, Danny Schofield, who was born on this date in 1980, making him 42 today. He was playing amateur football when Peter Jackson signed him from Brodsworth Miners Welfare in 1998. And by the time he left in 2008, he'd had a brilliant few years with us, being instrumental in our rise from the foothills of 4th Division football, scoring a penalty at the Millennium Stadium along the way.

He was released by Stan Ternent and went to Yeovil. That left him with a total of 46 goals for Town and that has him in joint 31st in our all time leading goalscorers chart, alongside Jimmy Lawson, Alf Lythgoe and George McLean.

Another goal scorer has a birthday today. That's Craig Maskell, who is 54 today, born in Aldershot in 1968. He came to Town from Southampton in 1988 for our first season back in the 3rd tier following our disastrous relegation. He was signed with the money received for the sale of Duncan Shearer and when he left for Reading two years later, we bought Iwan Roberts with that money.

In those two seasons at Town, he was top scorer, bagging 33 in his first and then 21 in his second. Those 54 goals have him in joint 19th spot in our goalscorers chart, alongside Brain Stanton.

And going a bit further up that chart, we come across Dave Mangnall in 10th with 73 goals. He was born in Wigan in 1905 and signed for Town from Leeds Utd in December 1929 as a replacement for George Brown, who had gone to Aston Villa in the summer.

It was the 1931/32 season when he really made his name. He scored 42 goals that season, joint record holder with Sammy Taylor. In that season he also broke the record for scoring in consecutive matches, eleven in total, which you'll know all about if you've been reading my posts from the beginning. Before that run started though, in November 1931, he scored five goals in a match against Derby County at Leeds Road in a 6-0 win. He was the first Town player to score five in a game, which has since been matched by Alf Lythgoe and Jordan Rhodes.

After Town, he became a Millwall legend, scoring goals that got them to the FA Cup semi finals in 1937. That semi final was played at Leeds Road against Sunderland on this date in 1937 and it was Dave who opened the scoring on his 32nd birthday. A big crowd of 62,813 came to Huddersfield to watch this one, but it was Sunderland who reached the Final, eventually beating the Lions 2-1.

Later in life, he became manager of QPR, getting them their first ever promotion to Division Two in 1948. Then after packing in football altogether, he went down to Cornwall to be a publican. He became landlord of the Navy Inn in Penzance and it was there that he died on this date in 1962, aged 57.

Now while that semi final was being played in 1937 at Leeds Road, Town were away at Charlton. We lost 1-0, so nowt to talk about there. The last game played on this date was in 2021, at home to Rotherham. It was a goal less draw, so nowt to talk about there either.

We had a good win at home to Manchester City in the First Division in 1971. Trevor Cherry scored the only goal of that game.

We had another win in 1920 in that magnificent end to that most distressing season for the club. On this date we beat Barnsley 4-1 at home, with goals from Sammy Taylor, two from Jack Swann and an own goal.

And finally, another win in 1926. This was at home to West Ham with Alex Jackson scoring twice in a 2-1 win. That all meant that victory against Bolton on Monday could mean that we had won the League for the third time in a row.

[Lord Snooty]

April 11:

The most recent match on this date was in 2015 when Chris Powell took his Town side to the City Ground to play Nottingham Forest. And with a goal from super Sean Scannell, our brave lads came back with all three points in a 1-0 win.

That was the only game we have played on this date in this century, until we play Luton tonight. Prior to that, we had a win at the McAlpine Stadium against Crewe Alexandra in 1998. That was a 2-0 win and Wayne Allison and Grant Johnson scored the goals. That was Easter Saturday, with another long a fruitless journey to Carrow Road looming on Easter Monday.

And then back in 1992, we beat Wigan Athletic at Leeds Road with goals from Iwan Roberts, Simon Trevitt and Phil Starbuck netting in a 3-1 win. So that's three wins in the last three fixtures on this date. Let's keep that going tonight.

If you're a pessimist and want a bad omen for this date...... Back in 1952, we had the second 7-1 defeat of the season. That was against Sunderland at Roker Park and equaled the club record league defeat (it has been beaten since) which had been set in the previous September at home to Wolves. This season ended with Town relegated for the first time ever. George Stephenson had been manager, but he had left his post in March and for seven matches the team was being selected by the Board of Directors. A rudderless ship. Andy Beattie would get the job before the season was finished, but he couldn't stop the rot.

On a brighter note, in 1925, we also played at Roker Park on this date. This time we managed a 1-1 draw, with a goal from George Brown. Town were top of the league and would stay there to the end of the season, thus completing our second successive Football League championship.

[Lord Snooty]

There's a bit about that 7-1 defeat in the programme. The Town keeper, Willie Mills went off injured and Jimmy Glazzard had to go in goal.
Doesn't say what the score was at the time but it was Glazzard who got our consolation goal.
Maybe we took the lead.

[Lord Snooty]

April 12:

HAIL TOWN! THRICE CHAMPIONS!

This is the day. The day we won the third of our Football League titles, the first to win three in succession, by beating Bolton Wanderers 3-0 at Leeds Road, on this date in 1926.

It was a rearranged game, to be played on a Monday teatime. No, not Sky Sports messing around with the fixtures on this occasion. Cecil Potter was Town manager by now, having replaced Herbert Chapman, who left for Arsenal in the summer of 1925. And this win against the Trotters would mean that Chapman's new side couldn't catch his previous side in the league and so the title was ours.

A crowd of 20,829 turned up for this match, with a 5:30 kick off. No floodlights then so the game had to kick off in time for there to be enough daylight to see to the end of 90 minutes. As a result, many fans missed the start of the game, in which Town took an early lead. A perfect defence splitting pass from Sam Wadsworth found George Cook, who squared the ball for Billy Smith to rifle the ball into the roof of the net.

That was in the eleventh minute. Town were 2-0 up in the 15th, in a match where a point would be enough for the title. Smith shot and hit the bar, but Alex Jackson was there to put the rebound away with a diving header.

It was 3-0, done and dusted, just before half time. Smith again involved, crossing the ball for Jackson to nod down for Clem Stephenson to prod the ball into the net.

Sky Sports would've been getting over excited at the prospect of Town going to Highbury on the next Saturday, but the title was already decided by then. Arsenal won that game 3-1, but it was irrelevant in the end.

Six years earlier in 1920, Town took another giant stride towards promotion by beating Stockport County at Leeds Road, also on a Monday teatime. This was a 5-0 win and Frank Mann scored twice, but the prolific Sammy Taylor scored a hat trick, the third of which was his 30th league goal of the season.

The Town were still in second behind Spurs, but were putting some distance between themselves and 3rd placed Birmingham. The Cup run had left a backlog of fixtures though and games were being crammed in all over the place and after this Monday game, we had Wolves coming to town on the Wednesday.

And yet another big game on this date. Nothing as big as a First Division title decider though. This was 1980, the 4th Division and on this date, we played Walsall at Leeds Road. This was before the Play Offs had been introduced and so it was four automatic promotion places up for grabs, with five teams in the reckoning. Walsall were top, with Town in 2nd. The other contenders were Newport County, Portsmouth and Bradford City.

The visit of the Saddlers brought the highest crowd of the season into the old stadium with 17,233 turning up. We could've secured promotion with a win in this, coupled with a Bradford defeat, but it wasn't to be. Brian Stanton gave Town the lead, but late on, Alan Buckley, the Walsall player/manager equalised. And so we will have to wait for Tuesday night and the visit of Scunthorpe.

[WakeyTerrier]

2 games for me on this date.

2014
Derby County(as they were known before Wayne Rooney arrived) 3 v 1 Town
Nahki Wells putting Town in front before Town conceded three goals from Russell, Smithies (OG) and Martin
Att 25,809

and 1994
Town 3 v 0 Wrexham
Oooh Phil Starbuck giving us the lead with a penalty followed by goals from Rocket Ronnie Jepson and Andy Booth
Att 4,191
That win lifted us to 17th in the table and made it 6 games unbeaten since Town had qualified for the Autoglass Trophy final at Carlisle.

As a side note, I'm off to watch Wrexham next month at Wembley. Non League finals day of Wrexham v Bromley in the FA Trophy being the main event of the day which will follow the FA Vase match between Littlehampton Town v Newport Pagnell Town.
£25 for a ticket in the Neutral section in club Wembley seats, BARGAIN!!
Should be a good atmosphere as well with Wrexham expected to take nearly 30,000

[Lord Snooty]

Was that Smithies own goal the one when he dropped a cross into his own net? 

[Lord Snooty]

April 13:

A sad one to start with. Especially after yesterday's Thrice Champions date, as one of the stars of that era, Billy Smith died on this date in 1951, aged 55.

He had been through it all, starting out his Town career in 1913 and ending it in 1934. In that time he won promotion in 1920, but missed the FA Cup Final. Two years later though, he won the Cup with Town, scoring the penalty that won it, in 1922. Following that, he won the Charity Shield as well. Then of course there were the three League titles. And after that, two FA Cup runners up medals in 1928 and 1930.

And so with all that, he ended up top of our all time appearances chart with 574 (521 in the league and 53 FA Cup). He's also 4th in the scorers chart with 126. And that's all with four years missing due to the First world War.

Ron Staniforth was born on this date in 1924, just as Town were reeling in that first league title. He was born in Manchester and played for Stockport County, but when their manager, Andy Beattie became Town manager in 1952, Ron was his first signing. It proved to be a great signing as he played in every game of that first season (as did the entire defence), in which we won promotion back to the First Division.

He played 118 times for Town in his three seasons here and also won England caps. He played 8 times for England, including matches at the 1954 World Cup, alongside Town team mate, Bill McGarry.

Goalkeeper Bob Hesford was born on this date in 1916 in Bolton. He joined Town in 1933, becoming the regular goalie in the last three seasons before the 2nd World War. He had training to be a teacher whilst at Town and when he retired through injury in 1950, he became a teacher in Huddersfield before emigrating to Africa to teach.

He won an FA Cup runners up medal in 1938 when he played in goal for Town against Preston, only being beaten in the last minute of extra time from the penalty spot.

On the pitch, this was a special day for Alf Lythgoe in 1935. He scored five goals in a 6-0 home win against Blackburn Rovers. That equalled the club record set for goals in a match by Dave Mangnall in 1931. He came so close to beating it as well, with the score at 6-0, he hit the post.

This wasn't his first five goal haul of the season though. Having signed from Stockport earlier in the season, he had already hit five in a Division Three North game against Southport.

That was a 6-0 win. Also on this date, we had some big defeats. We had the Premier League trip to White Hart Lane in 2019 when we got stuffed by Spurs 4-0, with Lucas Moura scoring a hat trick. We had already been relegated at this stage of the season.


I hinted at this next one the other day, that was the trip to Carrow Road on Easter Monday 1998. Iwan Roberts scored a couple for Norwich as they hammered us 5-0.

[WakeyTerrier]

I've 3 games attended on this date, the latest being that Spurs game mentioned by M'Lud

I've also got
2010
Town 4 v 3 Walsall
Goals from Robinson and Rhodes giving us a half time lead of 2-0 after Walsall reduced to 10 men after 20minutes
It wasn't plain sailing though as 10 man Walsall to a 3-2 lead into injury time with goals coming from Deeney(x2) and Nicholls.
Our bacon was saved though when Kay equalised in the 90th minute and Novak hit the winner in the 93rd minute

Going right back now to 1985 and another trip to Oakwell
Barnsley 2 v 1 Town
Phil Wilson scoring for Town