11 January 2007 - Birmingham Plucks The Vine

On 11 January 2007, Birmingham City signed striker Rowan Vine from Luton Town. It turned out to be a bad decision for both of them.

At the time Vine made the switch, Birmingham were on the top of the Championship table, but had suffered injuries to their strike force of Cameron Jerome, Nicklas Bendtner, and Mikael Forsell, prompting manager Steve Bruce to look to the transfer window. Vine, then 24 years old, had gotten Bruce's attention by scoring three goals against Birmingham that season, helping Luton taking four points from the teams' two meetings. And he had a scorer's pedigree with 31 league goals for the Hatters from 2004 to 2007. He also sat near the top of the club's assist charts for those seasons.

Luton, who had paid close to £250,000 for Vine, made a generous profit on the move, receiving £3 million from Birmingham, including a £500,000 bonus when Birmingham were promoted to the Premier League at the end of the season. Vine, however, did not share the club's good fortune.

He scored only 1 goal in 17 league appearances for Birmingham and went on loan to QPR in October 2007. The loan became permanent in 2008, but after contrubuting only 9 goals in 69 league appearances for the Londoners, he went on further loans to Hull City and Brentford in 2010. His loan spell at Brentford ended in January 2011, so Vine is back at QPR, though it remains to be seen for how long.

8 April 1996 - Busst's Bad Break

On 8 April 1996, Coventry City defender David Busst suffered one of the most horrific injuries in football history during a Premier League match against Manchester United.

Just under two minutes into the match at Old Trafford, Coventry won a corner kick and Busst (pronounced "Boost") rushed forward into United's penalty area. As the kick came in, United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel knocked the ball toward Busst, who slipped in between two United players to get a toe on it. Then, as Busst tells it, "that's when the screaming started." He fell to the ground with his right leg bent at an unnatural right angle - his tibia and fibula both had snapped in two after colliding with United's Brian McClair and Denis Irwin.

The match was delayed for 15 minutes while the ground staff cleaned blood off the pitch. Reportedly, Schmeichel was so disturbed by the sight of the injury that he vomited. He also later sought counseling to deal with the memory. Soon after the match, he visited Busst in the hospital, as did United's Alex Ferguson, Steve Bruce, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, and Eric Cantona, as well as Busst's Coventry City teammates.

Busst underwent a total of 22 operations to repair the damage, but while the doctors saved his leg, he never played professional football again. He remains involved with the game, however, and currently serves as director of Coventry City's Football in the Community program.

9 April 1995 - A Dark Day In The FA Cup

On 9 April 1995, 35-year old Crystal Palace supporter Paul Nixon died during an outbreak of violence before the FA Cup semi-final between Crystal Palace and Manchester United at Villa Park.

According to police reports, Nixon and a group of other Crystal Palace fans were outside a pub in Walsall, eight miles from Villa Park, when they were attacked by a group of United supporters. Nixon was stabbed and hit by a brick before falling and being crushed under the wheels of a bus as he tried to escape.

Nevertheless, the match was played, ending in a 2-2 draw. United won the replay four days later by the score of 2-0, with first-half goals from Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce. United then progressed to the final, where they lost to Everton. It was the first season since 1989 that United had failed to earn a trophy.

Tensions had been high between supporters of Crystal Palace and Manchester United since January of that year, when Manchester United played away to Crystal Palace. During that match, which ended in a 1-1 draw, star United forward Eric Cantona leapt into the crowd and kicked a Palace supporter he claimed had been issuing racist taunts. Cantona was suspended for the rest of the season and fined £20,000.