7 November 2009 - The FAI Might Have Had An Ulterior Motive Here

On 7 November 2009, the Football Association of Ireland expelled Derry City from the league. But their ban lasted less than a week.

The FAI action came one day after the club's last match of the season, a 2-1 win over Dundalk that secured fourth place in the Premier Division table, but it had nothing to do with Derry's performance on the pitch. Instead, the FAI had found the club guilty of breaking the league's financial rules by agreeing to illegal "secondary contracts" with several players.

While the club argued that the contracts merely replaced earlier, temporary agreements, the FAI discovered that Derry's secondary contracts avoided the league's wage restrictions and paid 22 players a total amount of €337,000 over the legal limits.In announcing the club's expulsion, FAI Chief Executive John Delaney said "[t]hat is why Derry City’s contract to play in the league has been terminated. Because [what they did is] unfair to the Brays and Galways and Droghedas who have gone about their business properly."

The ban also meant that Derry lost their claim to the €60,000 FAI bounty they had won with their fourth-place finish. When asked about it, Delaney stated "They can forget about it. That’s not on, absolutely not on."

Nevertheless, despite the speed and severity of the FAI's action, they five days later invited Derry City to reapply to the League of Ireland, albeit one division lower. They won the First Division the following season and returned to the Premier Division in 2011, where they qualified for European competition with a third-place finish.

6 November 1966 - The Oranje's First Red

On 6 November 1966, Johan Cruyff earned one of his earliest distinctions, becoming the first player to be sent off in a match for the Dutch national team.

It was only the second national team appearance for Cruyff, who was then just 19 years old and in his third season with Ajax. He had scored in his Netherlands debut, a 2-2 draw with Hungary a month earlier in a European Championship qualifier.

His follow-up was a friendly against Czechoslovakia, played before a crowd of 52,000 at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. The Czechs struck first, going up 0-1 with a 27th-minute goal from midfielder Ján Geleta. Dutch forward Sjaak Swart equalized for the hosts in the 51st minute, but they remained level for only three minutes, as midfielder Ivan Hrdlička restored the visitors' lead in the 54th minute.

In the 76th minute, with the Netherlands struggling to maintain possession, Cruyff committed a foul that drew the historic ejection from referee Rudi Glöckner. Czechoslovakia held on to win 1-2, while Cruyff's punishment continued far beyond the next match--the KNVB suspended him from international play for almost a year, so that he did not receive his next cap until 13 September 1967.

It was a costly suspension. Despite a storied career that included three European Footballer of the Year Awards (1971, 1973, 1974) he made only 48 national team appearances. But he still managed to score 33 goals for the Netherlands, a tally that ties him for fifth on their current all-time list.

5 November 2001 - Manager Of The Year Would've Made Sense, But Personality?

On 5 November 2001, new England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson was named Swedish football's Personality of the Year, beating joint Swedish national team managers Tommy Söderberg and Lars Lagerbäck.

The award was an acknowledgement of Eriksson's job improving the fortunes of England's World Cup qualification campaign. Prior to his appointment in January 2001, the Three Lions had gotten off to a rough start with a loss to Germany and a scoreless draw with Finland. Under Eriksson, England rattled off five straight wins, including a dominating 5-1 win over Germany in Munich.

A 1-1 home draw with Greece secured their qualification on 6 October, thanks to a 93rd-minute equalizer from David Beckham. Eriksson duly thanked Beckham when accepting the Personality of the Year award at the Swedish Football Gala in Stockholm and also thanked Tord Grip, his assistant at Lazio and England.

After quarterfinal exits in the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004, and the 2006 World Cup, the FA replaced Ericsson with his assistant, Steve McClaren. Eriksson moved on to manage Manchester City (2007-08), Mexico (2008-09), Côte d'Ivoire (2010), and Leicester City (2010-11).