[Lord Snooty]

OMG! I'd put the loos out of my mind.

[Lord Snooty]

Thanks for posing the questions, HB. I was supposed to put one on each day, but started to forget about all that around about January the 2nd.

[Lord Snooty]

August 21:

Ken Taylor of Huddersfield Town and Yorkshire CCC was born in Huddersfield on this date in 1935. He's still with us, 87 today and retired to Norfolk. After leaving school, he joined the ground staff at Town, where his brother Jeff was in the first team.

Ken worked his way up to the first team, making his debut in the First Division in 1954, a 3-1 win away at Liverpool, replacing the injured Don McEvoy. He stayed around until 1965, making over 250 appearances whilst also playing as opening batsman for Yorkshire alongside Geoffrey Boycott.

He won the County Championship seven times with Yorkshire, as well as the Gillette Cup. He also played three test matches for England.

After he'd finished playing sport, he became a professional artist, having studied at Huddersfield Art College and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. This led him to getting a job as an Art teacher in Norfolk, which he did for thirty years.

Another birthday today. Born in Galway on this date in 1978, it's Alan, Alan Lee. He's 44 today.

A bit of a cult with the Town fans, he always gave his all, but his scoring rate was zero for the first 25 games of his Terriers career. But then he went from zero to one in an FA Cup game away at Arsenal. A famous equalising bullet header in a match we were cheated out of.

He scored seven goals in the 2012 promotion campaign, with the best one coming against Brentford when he scored 1920s style by bundling the keeper into the back of the net. We were all expecting the yellow card to come out, but bizarrely the ref pointed to the centre spot for a goal.

Having been given a lifeline by a Preston own goal in midweek, Carlos Corberan took his Town squad to Bramall Lane on this date twelve months ago, 2021.

It was a poor first half, with yet again, no shots on goal. But then in the 75th minute, Sorba Thomas played a lovely ball through to Josh Koroma, who's shot was saved, but he composed himself nicely and slotted the rebound past the stranded keeper.

The Blunts pressurised the Town defence, which eventually creaked open in injury time with yond prick Billy Sharp getting the equaliser. Deflation all around the Town camp.

But off they went again, forcing a very late corner. It was cleared, but recovered by Naby Sarr. He laid the ball to Alex Vallejo, who laid it forward to Harry Toffolo in the box. Does Toffs shoot? No, he squares it unselfishly to the unmarked Levi Colwill to put us back into the lead and win the game, two on the bounce and the season's underway.

Absolute limbs again!

[Lord Snooty]

August 22:

Starting today's thread with a trip back to 1951. King George VI is still on the throne, Clement Attlee is the Labour Prime Minister and Huddersfield Town are still in the First Division, 31 years after winning promotion.

George Stephenson is Town manager, nine years after his brother Clem resigned following a magnificent pre war decade of top flight football at Leeds Road. However, the post war form had been very poor, with finishes in 20th, 19th, 20th, 15th and 19th since footy got back under way in 1946.

So when a crowd of 25,623 turned up at Leeds Road to see the Town play Man City on this date on a Wednesday teatime, they wouldn't have been expecting to see the Manc Blues get an absolute pasting.

But that's just what they got, with goals from Bill McGarry, Albert Nightingale (pictured) who got two, Harold Hassall and Jeff Taylor (who's brother Ken had just joined the club), gave Town a 5-1 win. And following on from a decent enough 2-2 draw down at Arsenal in the opening game on the Saturday before, we were in 4th position in the fledgling league table.

We didn't stay up there though, losing the next seven games. Nightingale flew off to Blackburn for a song. England international Hassall, trotted off to Bolton. Taylor moved to London, joined Fulham and became a world famous opera singer. Stephenson left in April, replaced by Andy Beattie, but the team got relegated.

Beattie got the Town back up, but after three seasons back in the First Division we were back down again. By 1959, he'd left and his buddy Bill Shankly was the manager and on this date, he took his team down to Portman Road for the opening match of the 59/60 season against Ipswich Town, who were managed by Alf Ramsey.

Bill McGarry was still in the side. Denis Law was in the squad, but missed this one. It didn't matter. His mate from Aberdeen, Gordon Low scored the second goal for Town, doubling the lead after Bob Ledger had got the first. Derek Hawksworth (who died last year aged 93) scored twice as Shanks's show ponies won 4-1.

Sadly for Town, Shankly left in December and spent the next decade getting Liverpool promoted back to the First Division and making them one of the best football clubs in the world.

By the time this date in 1970 came around, Town were back in Division One and following wins at home against Blackpool and Southampton, we were top of the league. Today we visited Anfield, the home of Shankly's Reds.

A crowd of 52,628 turned up to watch Liverpool take on the league leaders and most of them left happy as Terry Poole in the Town goal was beaten four times. They had future Town manager Ian Ross, playing at left back and future captain of A Question Of Sport, Emlyn Hughes alongside him in defence.

It was one of the not so well known names who opened the scoring though. John McLaughlin, an 18 year old striker, scored nine minutes into his debut and then scored again shortly before half time. He only scored once more in six years at Anfield.

It was a more regular scorer who got the two second half goals. That was Alun Evans, who would be their top scorer that season, before transferring to Villa when Shanks signed Kevin Keegan from Scunthorpe.

The defeat knocked the Terriers down to 9th.

[Lord Snooty]

August 23:

On this date in 1952, Huddersfield Town started their first Second Division season since getting promoted to Division One in 1920. That was of course, the season where we had to fight off a takeover bid by the newly formed Leeds United, who had taken over from the expelled Leeds City.

So who were the opponents on this opening day, thirty two years later? Leeds United.

They had John Charles in at centre forward, the Welsh international, who would finish the season as their leading scorer and later go and play for proper big clubs like Juventus, Roma and Merthyr Tydfil. We had Jimmy Glazzard, who was born in Normanton but never gained international honours because he was up against the likes of Nat Lofthouse and Jackie Milburn for that England no 9 shirt.

So which of the two big strikers came out on top in this match? It was of course gentleman Jim, who scored the only goal of the game in front of an opening day crowd of 35,230.

We won promotion at the end of the season, finishing as runners up to Sheffield United. Leeds finished 10th and would play another season in the Second Division.

Happy Birthday today to our former Head Coach, Jan Siewert. He was born in Mayen in 1982 and so it's his 40th today.

I think we've talked enough about him recently after he got sacked by Phil Hodgkinson just before his 37th birthday. He is, according to his Wikipedia page, Academy manager at Mainz, though that might not have been updated. Is he still there?

[HerefordBull]

Looks like in July this year Siewert was appointed manager of the Mainz reserves.........or was it Martin from Wakefield?

[Lord Snooty]

August 24:

We have a couple of hat tricks to talk about today. One in the League Cup and one in the Championship. But I'll start today with a heroic defeat against a Premier League giant.

That was last season, on this date in 2021 when we played Everton at home in the EFL Cup. This was just a few days after the morale boosting injury time winner against Sheffield United and was another good performance in which we were unlucky not to win.

After the Toffenoses took an early lead through Alex Iwobi, we stormed back at them with Danel Sinani, Fraizer Campbell and Duane Holmes coming close, with Duane being denied by the save of the season from Asmir Begovic. But he could no nowt about Tom Lees scoring with his nut from close range from a corner, right on half time.

So level at half time and then Town took the lead in the 57th minute, again from a corner, with Matty Pearson heading home to put Town 2-1 up.

Hold on. What's up wi' t' ref? Foul? Feck off, referee! Ya cheating Barsteward! Matt Donohue and his guide dog apparently saw a foul on the keeper by Fraizer. Video evidence afterwards was inconclusive, ie, it never was.

Then Mr Magoo took centre stage again, sending Everton's Moise Kean off for pushing Sorba Thomas in the face. A bit soft but, letter of the law an' all that.

So advantage Terriers and we pushed for the winner. But it was Everton who won it with a top piece of Premier League quality from Andros Townsend and so it was they who went through to the next round.

It was a great performance from the lads though, setting us up nicely for the visit of Reading on Saturday.

Back in 2003, we had a League Cup match away  at Scarborough, at the McCain Stadium. We had Neil Warnock in charge and he was making a return to the place where he started his managerial career, winning the Conference for them and a place in the Football League.

This was a 2nd leg after the first leg had ended goal less in front of a very low Leeds Road crowd of just 2,822. There seemed to be that many Town fans walking around the seaside town in the warm, sunny afternoon, but the official attendance was just 2,612. Possibly a lot of them never made it up the hill to the Theatre of Chips.

Anyway, it was all one way traffic in the game, with Town strolling at 3-0 with two goals for Iain Dunn and one from Iwan Roberts, when suddenly the floodlights failed. Play on, we all shouted. It was a nice clear night and we could see perfectly well. But no, the ref was having none of it. There's only about five minutes left.

It seemed like an eternity before anything got done and the light was darkening all the time. An abandonment was looking likely, but thankfully Warnock found a fifty pence piece deep down in his trouser pocket and stuck it in the meter.

And that was that. Next day we had the draw. Arsenal at home. Bring it on!

By 2005, the League Cup had dropped it's two legged games for the first two rounds and so on this date we played a one off tie at another lost football ground. This was Saltergate the home of Chesterfield and we won it 4-2.

The Twisted Spirestarters had our old Chief, Wayne Allison leading their attack, but it was our Polish ace Pawel Abbott who opened the scoring in the 9th minute. Derek Niven equalised though in the 41st and so it was all square at the break.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher restored Town's lead in the 56th minute, only for Kevan Hurst to equalise yet again. Come on, lads. Concentrate!

No worries though. Fletch scored again and then completed his hat trick in the last minute and the Terriers were through to round two of the Carling Cup, a trip to Premier League Blackburn Rovers.

On this date in 2013, Town took on AFC Bournemouth in the Championship. They'd just come up from League One. We had done it the year before.

They had Eddie Howe back as manager after his short stint up north with Burnley. We had Mark Robins and this was probably the highlight of his time as our boss as we won 5-1. The Cherries got their own back twelve months later of course, when they beat us 4-0 and Robins got the boot.

This game though was a triumph. Adam Hammill scored first against a defence led by Tommy Elphick. He's had a terrible time at the McAlpharm, hasn't he? A 7-1 defeat with Brighton and now this.

James Vaughan then scored a hat trick, including a penalty. Marc Pugh pulled one back, but then Adam Clayton completed the rout and we had a 5-1 win, our biggest 2nd tier victory since 1999, a game I shall be writing about in a few days time.

[Lord Snooty]

August 25:

The year is 1923. George V is on the throne, Stanley Baldwin is in no 10, our present Queen's parents had just got married, Wembley had held it's first Cup Final and the tomb of Tutankhamun had been opened. And on this date, another great dynasty became active. Today was the day that Huddersfield Town played the first game of their Thrice Champions league games.

It was a home game at Leeds Road against Middlesbrough. Herbert Chapman was in charge by now, winning the FA Cup in 1922 and finishing 22/23 in 3rd place in Division One. But who would've known what was about to take place over the next three seasons?

So this was a 1-0 win for the mighty blue n white stripes and it was Charlie Wilson with the goal.

That was a win against the Boro. The week after, we lost at Ayresome Park, a ground that would be a very difficult place for Huddersfield Town teams to win at. But on this date in 1962, we went there and beat the Smoggies 5-0.

It was the third game of the season and we had former player Eddie Boot, in as manager. He had been in the team that had been whupped 8-0 at this ground in 1950. Today, he got some kind of payback as Derek Stokes (who died in May this year) scored twice, Ray Wilson got one and Kevin McHale got another one to add to an own goal from Gordon Jones.

On this date in 2012, having won promotion to the Championship at the end of the previous season, we had our first win in the 2nd tier since we beat QPR at home in 2001. It was Burnley who were vanquished at the McAlpharm in this one. Joel Lynch, our new signing from the Nottingham Florists, scored his first goal for the club in the 7th minute, a header from a corner.

He's now playing for Crawley Town. The second Town scorer is still banging 'em in for the Terriers. That's Jordan Rhodes, but sadly this was his last goal for us while he was still in his prime and he would return in November with his new club, Blackburn Rovers and score against us.

Naughty boy!

[Lord Snooty]

August 26:

On this date in 1939, the dark clouds of war were gathering over the skies of Europe. The Germans had made a pact not to invade Poland, but Parliament had been recalled in Britain, as preparations for what seemed the inevitable were being made. Plans to evacuate children from the major cities were well underway. Army reservists and the civil defence were put on red alert, while the IRA kept up their sideline of terror on the home front with the bombing of Coventry, which killed five people and injured a further 70.

Meanwhile, the Football League started the new season as though none of this was happening and Huddersfield Town played their first match of the 39/40 season at home to Blackpool. Ken Willingham and Alf Young, who had been in the England team that had been forced to give a n@zi salute, both played in this one. As did future Town manager, Eddie Boot.

A crowd of 15,588 turned out at Leeds Road to watch as the Seasiders strolled away with both points, beating the Town 1-0.

On this date in 1992, Huddersfield Town were at home to Sunderland in the League Cup. We were in the third tier, know as Division Two then. Sunderland were a Premier League team. This was a first round second leg and I forgot to report on the first leg last week.

That was one of the greatest results of this time when we went to Roker Park and came away with a 3-2 win. England skipper Terry Butcher and Kevin Ball scored for the Rokerites, but we had goals from Phil Starbuck, Neil Parsley and Iwan Roberts to bring back home for this 2nd leg.

A disappointing crowd of only 6,737 came to this, but it was a tense affair which we lost 1-0, with Peter Davenport scoring. That took the game into extra time, but our brave lads held out for a famous win on the away goals rule.

Who've we got in round two? Just the Premier League champions, Blackburn Rovers.

We were all back up in the north-east on this date in 2009 for another League Cup match. This was in the 2nd round after we had beaten Stockport County in the first and now we had a visit to Sid James' Park to take on Premier League Newcastle United.

After making our way up a million flights of stairs, we eventually got sat down in the top tier of the Leazes Stand, with bats flying around our heads, awaiting kick off. It was a homecoming for Town manager Lee Clark, who had had seven years as a Newcastle player, but it was his old club that took the lead in the 36th minute.

However, Town were level within a  minute, when a long ball out of defence caught the home side flat footed and the speedy Theo Robinson got to the ball first and nutmegged the keeper to roll the ball into an empty net. It was 2-1 to the Terriers three minutes later, again Theo doing the damage. He had them beaten for pace once more, taking the ball around the keeper, Tim Krul, who brought him down. Penalty but no red card. Theo got up and gave us the lead.

We were going bonkers a minute after the break when Jordan Rhodes took the ball past Krul, who decided not to bring him down. It appeared as though Jordan had taken the ball too far, but he slotted it home from an impossibly tight angle and we were 3-1 up at a Premier League ground again.

Unlike the Sunderland game though, we didn't hold out for the win. Geremi pulled one back straight away and then the Prima Donna class cheating came into play. Shola Ameobi took a horrendous dive to win a penalty, stood up again and equalised.

Then another dodgy free kick, where a blatantly offside Ameobi headed back across goal for Kevin Nolan to win the game.

Ah well, we've had a nice day out and we've got Yeovil Town coming to ours on Saturday.

[Lord Snooty]

August 27:

Alonzo Drake played as a striker for Huddersfield Town in the 1909/10 season in the Midland League, the season before we were elected into the Football League. He played 17 times in that season, scoring four goals. He also scored five goals in the FA Cup run, scoring against Mirfield United in a 6-0 win, Rothwell White Rose in a 7-0 win, twice in a 5-2 win over South Kirkby Colliery and once against Rotherham Town.

He stayed on the books until his transfer to Rotherham Town in 1914, having earlier played for Doncaster Rovers, Sheffield United, Birmingham and Queens Park Rangers.

He never played a first team game in the years we made it into the FL, but did at the same time, start playing cricket for Yorkshire. He was a left arm slow medium bowler and took 480 wickets for the County in his five years there.

It was on this date in 1914 that he wrote his name into the Yorkshire CCC record books by taking all ten Somerset wickets in a County Championship match at Weston-super-mare. He is one of only three Yorkshire bowlers to achieve this feat, the others being Hedley Verity (twice) and Frank Smailes.

At the outbreak of the war, Alonzo tried enlisting in the army, but despite being a professional sportsman, he was deemed to be too unhealthy for military service. He was a heavy smoker and it turned out later that he had throat cancer. Tragically, he died of a heart attack in 1918, aged just 34.

Alf Young, who played for England in the infamous match in Berlin in 1938, died on this date in 1977, aged 71. He had played 309 times for the Town, a total which doesn't include the three games he played in the abandoned 1939/40 season.

More about Alf later in the year.

On the pitch, we had a win against PNE at Deepdale in 1923, the second game in our first Football League title winning season. This was on a Monday. Did they have August Bank Holidays back then? Billy Smith, Charlie Wilson and Clem Stephenson scoring in a 3-1 win.

More recently, we beat Charlton Athletic on this date in 2013 in the League Cup at home. Adam Hammill opened the scoring, before Charlton equalised. A Joel Lynch spectacular put us back in front, but then the Addicks went and scored another equaliser. It was Jonathan Hogg who won it though, scoring the winner in the 77th minute, if I remember correctly, he diverted a shot from Oliver Norwood into the net.

That was the first of the five goals Hoggy has scored in over 300 games for us. Prolific!

And finally, a 1-0 win at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on this date in 2016. This was the one when ex Wolves player Rajiv van La Parra scored the goal early on in the match and celebrated in front of the Yam Yams (is that right, theo?), who responded with polite applause.

That was four wins and a draw from the first five games and we were now two points clear of Fulham at the top of the Championship.

And finally, finally, a happy birthday today to West Ham legend Peter Butler. He was born on this date in Halifax in 1966 and is 56 today.

He started his career in 1984 with the Terriers, but was released in 86, after a loan at Cambridge Utd he joined Bury. He later joined Southend, who were a 2nd Division club then Ian Ross brought him to Leeds Road on loan to us for the back end of the 91/92 season. He helped us qualify for the Play Offs, but for some reason, the Shrimpy bastards refused him permission to play against Peterborough.

His seven games for us had been unbeaten and he'd formed a formidable midfield partnership with Chris Marsden and he was a big miss in the eventual defeat on Black Thursday.

Instead of signing for us, he'd obviously been tapped up already and Southend sold him to West Ham. He helped them win promotion to the new Premier League.

He's now a much traveled manager, having started with his home town club, Halifax Town. He has now managed in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, Botswana, South Africa and is now the Head Coach of the Liberia national team.

Here he is in March '92 on the ball in a 3-0 win against West Brom. Can we have a repeat of that today, please.