Royce Franklin, a life member of the Association of Football Statisticians, digs up yet more fascinating facts about football
WHEN JERMAINE Beckford scored for Bolton against Blackpool in the third round of the FA Cup on January 4, 2014, it was the fifth consecutive year he had scored in this round.
Surprisingly all were for different clubs and on every occasion he was on the winning side.
The other years were 2010 for Leeds in a 1-0 win at Manchester United; 2011 for Everton in a 5-1 victory at Scunthorpe; 2012 when Leicester triumphed over Forest 4-0 in a replay and 2013 when Huddersfield beat Charlton 1-0.
With the emergence of agents into football, rarely do players stay with one club these days. Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are exceptions in the recent past.
The player with the most league appearances is Peter Shilton with 1,005. He played for eight clubs Leicester City (286 appearances); Stoke City (110); Nottingham Forest (202); Southampton (188); Derby County (175); Plymouth Argyle (34); Bolton (1) and Leyton Orient (9).
Three players have topped the 750 mark for one club – John Trollope 770 for Swindon 1960-80; Jimmy Dickinson 764 Portsmouth 1946-65 and Roy Sproson 761 Port Vale 1950-72.
Tony Hateley died aged 72 on February 1, 2014. Latics were his last club in English football and previously he played for Notts County (twice); Aston Villa; Chelsea; Liverpool; Coventry and Birmingham.
He scored his only goal for Latics in a 2-1 win at Brighton on September 19, 1973 (Latics’ promotion season from Division Three to Two). He made only five appearances for Oldham, four as the one substitute allowed in those days.
When he retired his reported total in transfer fees was £400,000 which was said to be a record at that time. How times change!
You must be logged in to post a comment.