Match of the Day - Week 28

Match of the Day is the heavyweight championship clash between Birmingham City and Leeds United, with three clips below showing the marvellous history of goal nets at St Andrews.

1973

Classic muddy winter pitch and classic blue A-frames - check out the ball hitting the stanchion at Bob Latchford's opener.

1979

The pitch is still muddy but the sensational saggy goal nets are now hanging off Continental D's.

1996

By the mid-1990's pitches were no longer muddy and goal nets were beginning to be pulled back tight, even if they were still supported by Continental D's. Check out Kevin Francis terrific opener about 3:00 in.

Match of the Day - Week 27

Match of the Day for this weekend is the Championship derby, Wolverhampton Wanderers v Birmingham City.

Until the recent box net era, Wolves had always supported the Molineux goal nets with Continental D's. As such, highlights of the 1996 match below are a Steve Bull late show, two crazy penalties and the classic Continental D's.

The Big Match - Week 8

This week's Big Match comes from the weekend of 17 October 1971 and features the fantastic old shallow A-frames at Loftus Road and a perfect hat-trick from Rodney Marsh as QPR thrash Birmingham City.



What is interesting is how well the Loftus Road nets retain the ball, in contrast to QPR's later reputation and despite the basic lack of area in which to do so.

Might this be down to the saggy software of big white squares, which was later replaced by the thin mesh-like net of the later 1970's?

Birmingham City

Last weekend, Birmingham beat Arsenal at Wembley.

Nearly 40 years ago, the goalnets at St Andrews used to hang on stanchions very similar to old Wembley's.


 From 1975/76 the nets at Birmingham shimmered on Continental D's.