My Top 3 - Duncan Spencer

Continuing our series of My Top 3, where members of the History of Goal Nets community nominate their Top 3 goal nets of all time.

This week's contributor is Duncan Spencer and Duncan's Top 3, in his own words, are:

Maine Road 1977

First up is the classic D frame from the 1977 FA Cup semi-final between Everton and Liverpool. Sheer white tight netting. The first goal displays the most magnificent ball retention.



Elland Road 1974

Next up is the old A-frame classic at Elland Road circa 1974, made even slightly quirkier as they had a small pouch of loose netting to catch a well-drilled low shot.




Estadio Santiago Bernabeu 1980

Thirdly, and for sheer European quirkiness, check out the 1980 European Cup final. Outstanding round stanchion.



Picking a Top 3 was very difficult so could I make an honourable mention of Blackpool 1974? I think it was the goal of the season against Newcastle, a mini version of the Stamford Bridge nets.



Wow, that's a top Top 3, Duncan - thanks very much for sharing!

Would you like to contribute your Top 3 to the community? DM Tony on Facebook.

Match of the Day - Week 16

This week's Match of the Day is the Merseyside derby.

A personal, all-time favourite goal is Andy King's half volley at Goodison Park in 1978. Not so much the shot itself which, with all the time in the world brings to mind Jose Mourinho's thoughts on Wayne Rooney's passing - you can tell me it's amazing, but mine is amazing too, without any pressure - but the way the ball hits the net.



The shot into the top corner probably hits the side netting then the A-frame stanchion and given the power with which it was struck, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect a huge rebound.

Yet somehow the 1970's technology clings to the ball, and somehow keeps it behind the line so Ray Clemence has to walk the walk-of-shame to retrieve it.

Match of the Day - Week 8 Special

The Monday night Liverpool v Manchester United match permits a second MOTD for the week and the Big Match series will follow Tuesday.

Previewing tonight's clash by looking back at two 3-3 classics and the wonderful ball retention at Anfield across two different methods of supporting the red goal nets.

April 1988 - the old red A-frames were still in place as late as 1988, with the nets hanging short, off the hardware. There are a couple of great goals among the six, particularly Steve McMahon's for 3-1 which goes straight in the corner - and stays there!



January 1994 - six years later, another six goal thriller. The Anfield goal nets were the supported by Continental D's but they had the same ball retention properties as the old stanchions. Check out Denis Irwin's free-kick for 0-3, its goes straight in the top corner - and stays there!

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?

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...

101 Great Goals - Steven Gerrard

Remember the premise behind the 101 Great Goals series?

What constitutes a Great Goal? As this is The History of Goal Nets, simply any goal can be considered Great if we enjoyed the aesthetics of ball striking net so much that we are moved to nominate that goal.

With this in mind, the next goal I'd like to study in terms of a greatness perceived immediately by the commentary and sold into folklore is Steven Gerrard's against Olympiakos.



In terms of technique and ball placement, the Gerrard goal is remarkably similar to the vastly underrated Graeme Souness goal v Manchester City (at 6.04) below.



The difference is, though scored in the Champions League, Gerrard's goal is pure EPL in terms of hyperbole.

Two things have conspired to transform a good Gerrard goal into a wonder strike.

Firstly, the aesthetics of the goal. Most pertinent for us who understand how the aesthetics of ball striking net can affect how a goal is rated, Gerrard's shot rebounded ridiculously off the software like a ball in pinball machine.

That's right - off the software - as there wasn't an atom of aluminium within a metre of the corner of the net.

Rebounds off the hardware can be ridiculously spectacular.


But as always argued that rebounds off 21st century box-nets pulled taut and made of trampoline are simply ridiculous and are ruining the aesthetics of the game.

Then there's the commentary from Andy Gray, which has become almost as famous as the goal itself.  Though it must be remembered he was there to sell "product," it must rate as highly doubtful that the Souness goal - which rebounded normally off the A-frame - would elicit such an immediate response from the commentator.

If you think it unlikely that the legend of Stevie G is down to poor ball retention at Anfield, ask yourself, does anyone remember the Graeme Souness shot which was the exact same goal without the rebound?

101 Great Goals - Gerry Francis

Though 101 Great Goals is primarily concerned with the aesthetic added to a great goal by the ball striking the net, it may also from time to time consider a great goal, the aesthetics of which have been soured by the on-field architecture.

Gerry Francis' superb goal on the opening day of the 1975/76 season against Liverpool heralded the arrival of an exciting QPR side and was as much a statement of intent as Roberto Bettega's similar goal at the 1978 World Cup. 

But the similarities of the goals ends when the ball hits the net.

The L-supports at el Monumental afforded Bettega's goal maximum ball retention and, with the ball dead in the net, the Argentine crowd and the watching audience at home are given time to reflect on a great goal, a great Italian performance and the host nation Argentina facing defeat.

When the stanchions at the old Loftus Road, notoriously planted mere inches behind the goal line, deflect Gerry Francis' shot immediately back into the field of play, they deny Gerry Francis and QPR (and Liverpool) that same moment of reflection. Yes, it was still a great goal, but could QPR maintain their challenge? Or would they, like the ball flashing in and out of the goal, be a flash in the pan?


)


Despite losing this opening game of the season Liverpool won the 1975/76 league title.

QPR finished second.

Walsall FC

From way back Walsall appear to have had distinctive hardware. About the time the Saddlers were becoming founding members of League Division 4, they kicked into a pair of big square A-frames.



Then, up to the early 1980's it was if Real Madrid had decamped to Fellows Park.



But by the time the European champions of the time Liverpool called in 1982, Walsall had installed Continental D's, which would stay in-situ until they moved stadium in 1990.



To their credit, in the era of the homogenous box-net, Walsall still play between a pair of classic Continental D's to this day.

UEFA Champions League - Dinamo Tbilisi

Check out the great stanchions at Dinamo Stadium as Tbilisi destroy Liverpool in the old European Cup.




Dinamo maintained their wonderful on-field architecture until the late 1990's.

UEFA Champions League Final Special - Parc des Princes

In 1981 Alan Kennedy's memorable goal secured Liverpool's third European Cup at the expense of Real Madrid.

The goal nets at the Parc des Princes that night were instantly recognisable as 'French'; free-hanging A-shaped nets, tied back to external box-net stanchions.




A quarter of a century earlier, at the same stadium, Real Madrid were contesting the very first European Cup final against Stade Reims.

The goal nets at the Parc des Princes that night were more Glaswegian than Parisienne.

A-list A-frames - Cardiff City

Congratulations to the Bluebirds on their promotion to the Premier League. When Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and the like come calling next season to Cardiff City Stadium, they'll be greeted by the sight of familiar looking box-nets.

When Real Madrid visited the old Ninian Park in 1971they were greeted by - and sent packing via - a classic set of A-frames.

A-list A-frames - Coventry City FC

True, by the time the Sky Blues were leaving Highfield Road, their home for more than a century, they were shooting into a generic set of box nets.



True too, that through the club's glory years in the 70's and 80's, Coventry were synonymous with Continental D's.


But go far enough back and you find that, at heart, Coventry were A-listers all along.

Goal Nets and the Gaffer's influence

Previously I've suggested Manchester United's modern-day success was down to changing the goals at Old Trafford from A-frames to Continental D's.

I went as far as to suggest that Sir Alex Ferguson - who'd enjoyed so much success at Aberdeen between a pair of Continental D's - was behind the change.

I've also written about how the decline of Liverpool could be dated back to their changing the Anfield A-frames for Continental D's, and the likelihood of Graeme Souness being the new broom behind such a sweeping move.

You may think it unlikely that a manager would get involved with choosing the goal nets but the re-appearance of red nets at Anfield this season is entirely due to the intervention of the Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers. As posted on Liverpool's website -

When Fabio Borini hammered home his debut Liverpool goal against FC Gomel last Thursday, the Italian became the first to put the ball in the back of Anfield's newly reinstated red goal nets.

Last sighted in L4 in the mid-90s, the distinctive red nets have been restored on the orders of Brendan Rodgers in the same way as the original 1974 'This is Anfield' sign was re-fitted in the tunnel a month ago.

Liverpool FC museum curator Stephen Done explained: "Brendan and his family were given their first glimpse of Anfield the day after he was unveiled as manager as part of a private tour of the stadium.

"At the end of the tour, we stood on the Kop and Brendan commented that he always remembered the goals at Anfield having red nets.

"The 1980s were formative years for him, in terms of him starting to watch and play football, and he seemed to recall the red nets quite vividly. He suggested we bring them back."

"Kevin O'Shea (of the Liverpool museum) and I agreed. It wouldn't win us a game as such, but if it gave us that tiny extra advantage by making the crowd and the team feel better, then why not?"

John Brodie, a Liverpool civil engineer, invented goal nets in 1889 and from that point on, all nets were required to be of a dark colour, as was the case at Anfield up until they changed to red at some point in the 1960s.

A picture taken during a clash with league champions-to-be Manchester City (above), shows the red nets were in place by at least 1968.

UEFA Europa League - Liverpool FC

Technological change is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal - Albert Einstein

Though only a select few such as Gheorghe Rotariu would call Graeme Souness a pathological criminal, his throwing the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater approach when taking over at Liverpool in 1991 saw him taking an axe to such fine Anfield institutions as the Boot Room, Steve McMahon and the old red A-frames.

1991-92 was the curtain call for the A-frames.



The Continental D's installed for the 1992-93 season heralded an unprecedented downturn in the club's fortune. Indeed, after that season's 6th place finish in the League, Liverpool failed to qualify for Europe for the first time in nearly 30 years.



That the A-frames were there for the first European campaign in 1964-65 shows the old red stanchions were as integral to the modern history of the club and its glory years as Shankly-Paisley-Fagan-Dalglish.



But not Souness.

Off the stanchions at Wembley - Steve Heighway

Liverpool celebrated Bill Shankly's last game in charge - the 1974 FA Cup final - by undressing the Newcastle defence.  Steve Heighway fired in Liverpool's second goal off the stanchion.


Is this the only goal to have ever been soured aesthetically by Wembley's on-field architecture?

Wouldn't the aesthetics of this goal have improved out of sight if the goalnets had retained the ball?

Check out the somewhat similar finish to the goal below.


 What do you think?

Hot Tub Time Machine - Brighton and Hove Albion FC

Tracing the Seagulls recent history of goalnets is like jumping into the same Hot Tub Time Machine as Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United and so many others.

In 2012 they're scoring against Chelsea into an identkit set of box goal nets at the Amex.



But jump in the Hot Tub Time Machine and in 1997 we see Stuart Storer lashing the last ever goal at the Goldstone ground into a set of Continental D's



In 1982 we see Jimmy Case and Andy Ritchie scoring into a classy set of hybrids (probably inspired by the goalnets at the World Cup in Spain the previous summer)



Then, climbing out the Hot Tub Time Machine in 80/81, Michael Robinson scores against Liverpool into a magnificent set of A-frames.



Digging the totally awesome goalnets from the past, does anybody honestly want to come back to 2012?

Does anyone want to be the Hero?

Heart of Midlothian FC

Too curvy by far to be included in any A-list A-frames series, the old stanchions at Tynecastle defy a Scottish or British categorisation even in an era of great diversity in goal design.


Might the possible source of inspiration for the Gorgie stanchions be those at the Bernabeu?

And might those at the Bernabeu have been inspired by the goals at the 1962 World Cup in Chile.

A-list A-frames - Everton FC

Tracing the history of Everton's goal nets, you follow a familiar lineage back from today's box goal nets


Through Championship winning Continental D's



Back to a set of A-frame stanchions straight out the 70's top drawer

Like kicking the ball against a wall in training

In posts on this site, you'll frequently spot the metaphor, Like kicking the ball against a wall in training.

It's a criticism of the bland aesthetic of the ball hitting the back of a modern box goalnet sprung like trampoline, and bouncing straight back out again.

Going forward it'd be useful for you to have a visual of this metaphor.

Below is Liverpool's Jimmy Case in the 1970's...



Kicking the ball against a wall in training

Off the stanchions at Wembley - Ian Rush

Looking back, it was amazing how many International and Cup final goals scored at old Wembley hit the stanchions, and how extra memorable those goals are, as a result.

The first goal in this Friday series is Ian Rush's second from the 1986 Cup final versus Everton. This goal was later immortalised when included in BBC Grandstand's opening sequence.