The Big Match - Week 3

As Brian might say...

This week's Big Match comes from week 3 of the 1976/77 season and features the League Division Two match between Millwall and Chelsea.

Look out for two great goals, a howler from the Chelsea goalkeeper and the magnificent A-frames at The Den.

Match of the Day - Week 3

Match of the Day will preview a fixture from the coming weekend by looking back at that same fixture in a previous year.

This week's Match of the Day is Watford v Arsenal from September 1984, played out between the old out-sized Continental D's at Vicarage Road.



Pick of the goals for me is Charlie Nicholas' opener (at 2:30 in the clip). Just love the way the net kills the ball, leaving a long walk for Steve Sherwood, the Watford goalkeeper, to retrieve.

Which is your favourite goal, and why?

A-list A-frames - Olympiastadion München

A curiosity from 1972 - A-frames in Munich!

(Gerd Muller's hat-trick goal can be seen at 1.23.20)



Sadly, the rhyme or reason for their installation would appear to be lost to time.

They weren't installed when Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga on the last day of the 1971-72 season, and the standard Olympiastadion box nets were back for the Olympics later that summer.

Ajax were in the middle of their European Cup three-in-a-row at that time so perhaps we see the influence of Dutch football in the shape of the stanchions - check out PSV Eindhoven, for example.

They're awesome A-frames.

Just, what were they doing there?

The Big Match - Week 2

The Big Match for Week 2 is Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea in August 1978.


Tottenham's recent World Cup winning Argentine imports Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa attracted most of the attention at the time.

Connoisseurs of the goal nets will instead revel in the instantly recognisable White Hart Lane hardware and marvel at the software's ball retention properties.

Gerry Armstrong's rocket shot for 2-1 would rebound to the halfway line today, while Kenny Swain's header for 2-2 would pinball round box nets pulled taut and made of trampoline.

Check out the behind the goals replay for that equaliser, you just don't see nets this good any more.

The Big Match - Week 1

New season, new series...

Each week I'll post highlights of a game from the corresponding week of fixtures from a previous season, and openly marvel at the goalnets on display.

This week, starting with perhaps the most famous opening day fixture ever, QPR v Liverpool in 1975/76, featuring Gerry Francis' goal of the season. 

The goal of the season award was totally justified as the goal is totally awesome.

So too, is the Loftus Road hardware. OK, not the best for ball retention but compared to the high tech but homogenous square boxnets on display today, they feel like an old pair of Puma trainers you once chucked away, but would dearly love back. 

Or maybe that's just me...