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It Was Ten Footballing Years Ago Today...
July 9, 1979: Never mind all this £17m plus a right-back nonsense, when Aston Villa sold John Gregory to newly-promoted Brighton in 1979, they took just £300,000. Gregory was also a tireless midfielder and had just completed a season in which he had scored seven league goals when Brighton - managed by Alan Mullery - decided to build their team around the England international.
July 9, 1998: After three impressive years at Chelsea, Mark Hughes saw the writing on the wall with the signings of Pierluigi Casiraghi and Brian Laudrup and wandered down the road to Southampton for £650,000, with Dave Jones seeing him as an ideal replacement for the departing David Hirst. Things didn't exactly go to plan - Hughes scoring just two Premiership goals for the Saints - but he did provide experience and nous in a new role in the Southampton midfield. Oh and 14 yellow cards in his first season - a total which has never been, erm, bettered.
July 9, 2001: The man was Zinedine Zidane. The club was Real Madrid. The fee was a world-record £45.8m. Real were rewarded with the Champions League in Zidane's very first season, with the Frenchman scoring the specatular winning volley in the final. Seven years later and they are intent on breaking the record again. Will the result be the same?
And On This Day In Real History...
1540: Henry VIII divorces his fourth wife - Anne of Cleves, nicknamed the Flanders' Mare for obvious reasons. They had been married just six months.
1938: Brits are issued with gas masks in preparation for the impending war with Germany.
1984: York Minster is set on fire by thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening.
And At Number One...when Mark Hughes was making the move was Billie's Because We Want To.
