13 April 2008 - Tonight, He Dines At Anfield!

On 13 April 2008, Steven Gerrard made his 300th appearance for Liverpool. And he did it in style, scoring one goal and assisting another in a 3-1 win over Blackburn.

Born on Merseyside in 1980, Gerrard has been with Liverpool since joining them as a youth player in 1987. He became a professional in 1997 and made his first appearance in a 2-0 win over Blackburn in November 1998.

He became a regular starter in the 1999-2000 season, then won his first silverware the following season as the Reds claimed the FA Cup, League Cup, and UEFA Cup. He then became team captain in October 2003.

His 300th appearance came at Anfield, where the midfielder delivered the opening goal in the 60th minute, passing through two defenders and sending the ball through the legs of a third before putting it into the back of the net. He helped double the lead 22 minutes later, providing a cross that was knocked home by striker Fernando Torres. Forward Andriy Voronin added a third in the 90th minute before Rovers got one back in stoppage time to end the day as a 3-1 Liverpool victory.

Gerrard remains with Liverpool and has since pushed his appearance count to 577.

5 January 1963 - The FA Cup Gets Put On Ice

On 5 January 1963, the longest round in FA Cup history kicked off, as severe winter weather forced postponements that stretched out into the middle of March.

Britain's coldest winter since 1740 delivered a combination of snow and ice, sending the country into what commentators called "the Big Freeze." Consequently, all of the FA Cup matches scheduled for that Saturday were postponed except for three--two in the North West (Sunderland's 1-4 win at Preston North End and Tranmere Rovers' 2-2 draw with Chelsea) and one in the South West (West Brom's 1-5 win at Plymouth).

Some matches were played a few days later while others suffered repeated postponements. Birmingham City's contest against Bury included a replay, one match that had to be abandoned, and a total of 14 postponements before Bury claimed a 2-0 victory on 7 March. In all, there were 261 postponements over the course of three weeks.

The round finally ended on 11 March when Middlesbrough beat Blackburn in a replay.

29 August 1987 - The Football League's Mystery Milestone

On 29 August 1987, somebody scored the English Football League's 400,000th goal. But nobody knows who it was.



Established in 1888, the Football League governed the top four tiers of English football until 1992, when the uppermost division broke away to form the Premier League. It is believed that the league's first goal was scored by Aston Villa full back Gershom Cox, who put the ball into his own net in the 30th minute of a match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 8 September 1888. The other contender for the honor, though, is Fred Dewhurst, who netted from Preston North End in the third minute of their match against Burnley on the same day. Although Preston's match started after Villa's, lack of precision in the exact start times makes it impossible to say with certainty which goal came first.



Similarly, lack of details in match timing makes it impossible to say who scored the 400,000th goal. The records only make clear that it came on 29 August 1987. The day's 43 matches provided a total of 110 goals, with only four scoreless draws among them.



The day's highest score came from Division Three's Gillingham, who beat Southend United 8-1, while the highest tally in the top flight was Arsenal's 6-0 victory over Portsmouth. Darlington came close to that in Division Four, beating Hartlepool United 2-5. Sheffield United delivered the top score of the Second Division with a relatively modest 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers.



It took almost nine years for the league to reach 500,000 goals, with Huddersfield's Gary Taylor-Fletcher collecting the honor with a strike against Rotherham United.

10 April 1886 - I'll Bet Joe's Nickname Was "Sweetcheeks"

On 10 April 1886, Blackburn Rovers won their third straight FA Cup. It was only the second--and last--time any club won three in a row.

Founded in 1875, Rovers found early success in the FA Cup. They advanced to the Final in 1882 where they lost to Old Etonians, 1-0. After a Second Round exit in the 1882-83 tournament (which was won by local rivals Blackburn Olympic), Rovers returned to the Final in 1884 and 1885, winning both against Scottish side Queen's Park.

In the 1886 Final, they faced off against West Bromwich Albion. The two sides first met on 3 April at the Finals' usual venue, London's Kennington Oval, but played to a scoreless draw. West Brom proposed playing into extra time, but Blackburn declined, forcing a replay one week later.

The replay was held at the Racecourse Ground in Derby, the first time a Final had been hosted outside of London. A crowd of 12,000 watched as Rovers secured a 2-0 victory with goals from forwards Joe Sowerbutts and James Brown (who was also the team captain). Before then, the only team to win three consecutive FA Cups was London side Wanderers, who won the tournament in 1876, 1877, and 1888.

West Brom won the Cup two years later and have five FA Cups total. Blackburn meanwhile, went on to win it three more times for a total of six, with the last coming in 1928.

1 February 2006 - Bentley Rolls Over Man United

On 1 February 2006, Blackburn winger David Bentley scored the first Premier League hat-trick against Manchester United as Rovers won 4-3.

The match was Bentley's first as an official Blackburn player--he signed with them the day before after spending the first half of the season with them on loan from Arsenal. Playing at home before a crowd of 25,484, he celebrated the move by putting Rovers ahead in the 35th minute, finishing off a free kick that United keeper Edwin van der Sar tipped onto the bar.

United striker Louis Saha returned the favor in the 37th minute, but a poor clearance from Rio Ferdinand allowed Bentley to double his tally four minutes later. Rovers extended the lead to 3-1 before the break when Lucas Neill converted a 45th-minute penalty kick. Then, in the 56th minute, Robbie Savage found Bentley unmarked in the United box; the winger took the chance, claiming the first hat-trick against United since QPR's David Bailey did it in January 1992 when the top flight was still called Division One.

United's Ruud van Nistelrooy, who had come on as a second-half substitute, scored a brace of his own in the 63rd and 68th minutes, but the rally ended when referee Phil Dowd sent Ferdinand off in the 88th minute--Ferdinand's first career red card, earned by having drawn a second yellow card for a challenge on Savage that left the Welshman with a gash on his shin.

The win completed a Blackburn double over United that season, which ended with Rovers in sixth place and United in second. Bentley left Blackburn for Tottenham in 2008 and is currently on loan with Birmingham.

25 January 2006 - Veni, Vidi, Vidić

On 25 January 2006, center back Nemanja Vidić made his first appearance for Manchester United, coming on as a late substitute in a 2-1 win over Blackburn in the Carling Cup.

A Serbian international, Vidić started his professional career in 2000 with Red Star Belgrade, who promptly loaned him out to Second Division side Spartak Subotica for his first season. He returned to Belgrade in 2001 and became a regular feature in the league's second-best defense, allowing only 28 goals all season.

For the next two seasons, Vidić and Red Star reduced that number to 26, then 13--both league bests--while winning a league and cup double in 2004. That drew the attention of Manchester United, but Vidić moved instead to Spartak Moscow for two seasons (reportedly, as the most expensive defender in the history of the Russian league, though details of his contract were not made public).

Vidić eventually signed with United in January 2006 for a fee close to £7 million. With United leading Blackburn 2-1 in the second leg of their Carling Cup semifinal (and winning 3-2 on aggregate), Vidić came on in the 86th minute as a defensive replacement for striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.

He has since gone on to make almost 150 appearances for United, winning three league titles, three League Cups, and the UEFA Champions League. In August 2010, he became the team captain and has guided them to the top of the league.

29 March 1884 - The Scots Invade England

On 29 March 1884, Glasgow club Queen's Park FC became the first non-English club to appear in an FA Cup Final, losing 2-1 to Blackburn Rovers (pictured, with the Cup).

Queen's Park, founded in 1867, was Scotland's first football club. In 1870, they joined England's Football Association in order to challenge themselves against tougher competition than was available in Scotland (Scotland did not yet have its own FA at the time).

The Scottish side started the 1883-84 FA Cup in brilliant fashion, traveling to Crewe Alexandra, where they crushed their hosts 0-10 in the First Round. The did even better in the Second Round, beating Manchester FC 15-0, then kept their momentum with wins over Oswestry Town (1-7) and Aston Villa (6-1) in the Third and Fourth Rounds, respectively. Their closest match on the way to the Final was a 0-1 Fifth Round victory over Old Westminsters, but they regained their dominant form in the semifinals, beating Blackburn Olympic 4-0.

While Blackburn's road to the Final was not as dominating (despite a couple of 7-0 wins, the matches were generally closer contests), they proved to be more than a match for the Scots. The two sides maintained an even balance for the first twenty minutes until Blackburn roared ahead with two late first-half goals in quick succession. Queen's Park pulled one back before the half-time whistle, but could not find an equalizer as Blackburn bossed them around the pitch in the second half.

Queen's Park returned to the Final the following season, again losing to Blackburn, this time 2-0. They remained the only non-English side to reach the Final until Welsh club Cardiff City finished as runners-up in 1925. Two years later, Cardiff became the first non-English side to win the Cup, with a famous 1-0 victory over Arsenal at Wembley.

1 October 1996 - With That Name, He Had To End Up There Sooner Or Later

On 1 October 1996, Arsène Wenger officially took charge as manager of Arsenal. He would go on to become recognized as one of the best managers in football, becoming the first (and to date only) non-British manager to win the English Double and the first Premier League manager to go a full season undefeated.

Wenger was born in Strasbourg, France on 22 October 1949. He enjoyed a brief and undistinguished playing career as a sweeper for FC Mulhouse (1973-75), ASPV Strasbourg (1975-78), and RC Strasbourg (1978-81) before moving into management as an assistant with AS Cannes in 1983.

He received his first full mangerial position with Ligue 1 side AS Nancy in 1984. He stayed there for only three seasons, the last of which ended with the club being relegated to Ligue 2. In 1987, he moved to AS Monaco, where he earned his first managerial honors, winning Ligue 1 in his first season. His Monaco side also won the Coupe de France in 1991.

Wenger left Monaco in 1994 after the club's board denied him permission to speak with Bayern Munich about their managerial vacancy. In 1995, he went to Japan to manage Nagoya Grampus Eight and in 1996 his side won both the Emperor's Cup and the J-League Super Cup.

He moved to Arsenal in 1996 after the London club sacked previous manager Bruce Rioch. His first match in charge was a 2-0 Premier League away win over Blackburn Rovers on 12 October 1996. Arsenal finished in third place that season, but secured Wenger's record-setting Double the following season, winning both the Premier League and the FA Cup in his first full season in charge.

He won a second Double in the 2001-02 season, then won the league again in 2003-04 without losing a match.

17 July 1991 - From The Seeds Of Dissention, A Great League Is Born

On 17 July 1991, the 22 clubs in England's First Division executed the Founder Members Agreement, in which they each agreed to set up a new league that would be separate and apart from the existing Football League. The new league, called the Premier League, replaced the First Division as the top tier of English football.

The move was driven by five clubs in particular—Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur—amid concerns about the organization of the 90-member Football League. In particular, the breakaway clubs were unhappy with the fact that each of the 90 clubs in the First through Fourth Divisions of the League had an equal voice in League decisions. They also believed that the League was not taking full advantage of the revenue available from television contracts. Indeed, one of the "basic principles" set forth in the Founder Member Agreement concerned the division of television revenue, with 50% divided equally among the member clubs, 25% shared among the on the basis of league position at the end of the season, and the remaining 25% to be divided equally between the home and visiting teams of each televised match.

The agreement also provided that the system of relegation and promotion would continue as if the new Premier League were the top tier of the Football League, with Premier League teams also eligible to participate in the League Cup and FA Cup competitions. The split has led to some confusion in naming, however, as the former Second through Fourth Divisions are now known as the Championship, League One, and League Two, respectively.

While the founders' original intent was to operate the new Premier League under the authority of the English Football Association, they soon decided to break from the FA as well and, on 22 May 1992, formed a new company as the Football Association Premier League Limited.

The new Premier League began play with the start of the 1992-93 season with 22 members: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Wimbledon.

Manchester United claimed the first Premier League title. Since then, only four clubs have won it: Manchester United (11 titles total), Arsenal (3), Chelsea (2), and Blackburn Rovers (1).

9 July 1867 - The Oldest Firm In Scotland

On 9 July 1867, a group of unidentified men in Glasgow formed Scotland's first football club, Queen's Park FC. It was the first football club in the world outside of England and Wales.

Queen's first recorded match came more than a year later when, on 1 August 1968, they defeated Glasgow's now-defunct Thistle FC by the score of 2-0. Two years later, in 1870, Queen's joined the English Football Association and advanced to the final of the FA Cup in 1884 and 1885, losing to Blackburn Rovers both times.

Shortly after Queen's establishment, other clubs began to sprout up across Scotland and, in 1873, Queen's joined with eight other clubs to form the Scottish Football Association. They dominated the new league, not conceding a goal until 1875 and not losing a match until December 1876. They also won the first three Scottish Cups (1874-76). In all, they've won the Scottish Cup ten times, a number second only to Celtic and Rangers.

Queen's were so dominant in the early years, in fact, that when Scotland faced England on 30 November 1872, all eleven Scottish players were from Queen's. (The match was a scoreless draw.)

As the surrounding clubs turned professional at the turn of the century, Queen's remained staunchly committed to its principles as an amateur club. They joined the Scottish Football League First Division in 1889, but found it difficult to compete against the professional sides and were relegated to the Second Division in 1922. They last played in the top flight from 1956 to 1958 and have since bounced among the second, third, and fourth tiers.

Still playing as the Scottish Football League's only amateur side, they are currently in the fourth tier (known as the Third Division after the introduction of the Scottish Premier League in 1998).

9 June 1993 - Ince Leads The Three Lions

On 9 June 1993, Manchester United midfielder Paul Ince became the first black captain of the English national team, leading them against the United States in a U.S. Cup match before a crowd of 37,462 at Foxboro Stadium in Massachusetts.

Ince, who grew up supporting West Ham, played his youth football for the Hammers and started his professional career there in 1984 before transferring to Manchester United in 1989. He made his senior team debut for England in September 1992, impressing in a 1-0 loss to Spain in a friendly.

For the match against the United States, Ince's impressive form and injuries to team leaders David Platt and Tony Adams convinced manager Graham Taylor to give the captain's armband to Ince. Unfortunately for England, the match did not go their way as the U.S. earned a 2-0 win with goals from Thomas Dooley (42') and Alexi Lalas (72'), who had come on as a substitute for Dooley in the 69th minute.

Ince left Manchester United for Inter Milan in 1995 and subsequently played for Liverpool, Middlesbrough, and Wolves before becoming player-manager of Swindon Town in 2006 and then Macclesfield Town in 2007. He retired from playing after the end of the 2006-2007 season and managed MK Dons for 2007-08 season.

In 2008, he again made history with a move to Blackburn Rovers, where he became the first black manager of a team in England's top flight.

22 April 2006 - "Shear" Brilliance

On 22 April 2006, legendary Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer announced his retirement from football. The Newcastle native is the all-time leader in Premier League goals with 260 - 73 more than second-place Andrew Cole.

Shearer joined Newcastle from Blackburn Rovers in 1996 for the then-world record transfer fee of £15 million. He proceeded to lead Newcastle to second position in the final Premier League table at the end of the 1996-97 season and to the FA Cup Finals in 1998 and 1999. In all, Shearer made 404 appearances for the Toon, scoring a Newcastle record of 206 goals in all competitions.

He scored his 206th Newcastle goal in his last competitive match, played on 17 April 2006 against Newcastle arch-rivals Sunderland A.F.C. Shearer scored once in the 4-1 win, then tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in a collision with another player. He had previously declared his intent to retire at the end of that season, but the injury effectively ended his career with three games left.

Since retirement, Shearer has enjoyed a successful career as a television pundit, making regular appearances on the BBC's Match of the Day. In April 2009, however, he returned to Newcastle as temporary manager until the end of the season, standing in for Joe Kinnear, who is in poor health.