On 5 September 1910, Brighton & Hove Albion won their first and only national silverware, beating Aston Villa 1-0 in the Charity Shield.
England's Football Association began the Charity Shield in 1908 as a competition between the previous season's Football League and Southern League champions. For the first two years, the Football League claimed the honors. In 1910, Brighton and Hove Albion took up the Southern League standard against defending Football League champions Aston Villa.
The teams met at Stamford Bridge in London, where a crowd of 13,000 assembled to watch them engage in a defensive stalemate. With 18 minutes left in the match, Albion inside left Charlie Webb scored the match's only goal, giving his side the 1-0 win. While Brighton & Hove would go on to win four more lower division titles and advance to the 1983 FA Cup Final, the Charity Shield win remains their only national title.
In 1913, the Charity Shield format changed to amateurs against professionals, leaving Albion as the only Southern League team to win it. The format changed again over the years, so that the competition - now known as the Community Shield - currently pits the Football League winners against the FA Cup holders.
On 20 July 1974, controversial manager Brian Clough was named manager of Leeds United. He was dismissed from the post on 12 September 1974, after only 44 days in charge.
A star striker for Middlesbrough (1955-61) and Sunderland (1961-64), Clough's playing career was cut short by a knee injury. He turned to management and, in 1965, took over at Hartlepools United. He was then just 30 years old, making him the youngest manager in the League at that time.
In May 1967, Clough took over at Derby County, then languishing in the Second Division. Clough, along with assistant manager Peter Taylor, reversed Derby's fortunes and led them to the First Division title at the end of the 1971-72 season. Clough and Taylor soon fell out with Derby's Board of Directors over issues including transfer fees and Clough's propensity for making controversial statements (such as his criticism of the Derby supporters as "a disgraceful lot"), and the pair resigned in October 1973.
After a brief and unsuccessful spell at Brighton & Hove Albion during the 1973-74 season, Clough took the reins at Leeds, who were coming off their own First Division title. Taylor remained at Brighton.
Clough's move to Leeds raised more than a few eyebrows, as, during his time at Derby, he had been especially critical of Leeds and their previous manager, Don Revie. In particular, he had accused Revie's Leeds side of playing dirty and suggested that the club should be relegated and Revie himself fined.
Despite his appointment as manager, Clough reportedly remained vociferously critical of Revie and Leeds' prior tactics, which alienated him from many of the team's best players, including the midfield pair of Irish international Johnny Giles and Scottish international Billy Bremner. Clough's Leeds side won only one match and drew two from its first six, after which he was promptly sacked.
Clough cemented his status as a coaching legend, however, after moving to Nottingham Forest in 1975. At that time, Forest was a mid-table Second Division side, but Clough and Taylor (who joined Forest from Brighton in 1976) led them to promotion in 1977 and the Division One title in 1978. At Forest, Clough also achieved his crowning glory, winning back-to-back European Cup titles in 1979 and 1980.
Clough retired in 1993 and died in 2004. In 2006, author David Peace published a fictionalized account of Clough's time at Leeds, titled The Damned Utd. Critics generally praised the book, but Clough's family and former players—including Giles—claimed Peace's portrayals of events was inaccurate and painted Clough in an unfairly negative light. A film version of the book was released in 2009, starring Michael Sheen as Clough.
On 5 September 1910, Brighton & Hove Albion won their first and only national silverware, beating Aston Villa 1-0 in the Charity Shield.
