Fascinating football facts
Curiosities of Midlands football, with Tony Matthews
• The biggest-ever crowd to attend a football match at Old Trafford is 76,962 – for the Grimsby Town v Wolves FA Cup semi-final in March 1939.
• In May 1923, while on tour in Spain, Birmingham defender Alex Mcclure was sent off against Real Madrid for telling his goalkeeper Dan Tremelling where to stand when facing a penalty! The spot-kick was missed and Blues won the game 3-0.
• On the final day of the 1923-24 season the same Blues’ goalkeeper (Tremelling) saved a last minute penalty taken by Len Davies to deny Cardiff City a decisive victory at St Andrew’s. The game ended 0-0 but had Cardiff won they would have pipped Huddersfield Town to the League title.
Cup games
• In season 1934-35, Arthur Gale scored for West Bromwich Albion in their 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th round FA Cup wins over Port Vale, Sheffield United, Stockport and Preston North End respectively. He also played in the semi-final victory over Bolton but was dropped for the final which the Baggies’ lost 4-2 to Sheffield Wednesday.
• Percy Barton (Birmingham) and Frank Moss and Billy Walker (Aston Villa) played for England against Scotland in the first international staged at Wembley, on 12th April 1924. Moss captained England in the 1-1 draw before a disappointing crowd of just 37,250.
Hat-trick
• A record crowd of 23,600 attended Aston Villa’s home Central League game with Birmingham in 1928 – and they saw debutant Tom ‘Pongo’ Waring score a firsthalf hat-trick in Villa’s 6-2 win.
• Louis Page, normally a left-winger, was used as a centre-forward by Burnley against Birmingham in a League game at St Andrew’s in April 1926. The gamble paid off, big-time, as Page scored six goals in his side’s 7-1 win. This was Blues’ heaviest home defeat at that time. It would be equalled 34 years later when Albion won by the same score in a First Division match in April 1960.
• In March 2006, Liverpool inflicted upon Birmingham their heaviest home defeat in a major competition when they won a sixth round FA Cup-tie by 7-0.
• Goalkeeper Harry Hibbs (Birmingham) played against his cousin, Harold Pearson (Albion) in the 1931 FA Cup final.
• During a League game at St Andrew’s in February 2008, a tackle by Birmingham’s defender Martin Taylor broke the right leg of the Arsenal forward Eduardo de Silva in two places. Taylor was red-carded as the game ended 2-2. Afterwards Taylor received death threats, while de Silva missed the European Championships.
• The most League games won by Birmingham City in a single season is 26 – achieved four times, in 1946-47, 1984-85, 1994-95 and 2006-07.