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It Was 44 Footballing Years Ago Today...
July 21, 1958: George Swindin, the Arsenal goalkeeper who had won three titles and an FA Cup, was appointed the club's manager. He lasted just under four years in the Highbury hotseat, failing to recapture the success he had had as a player, and was replaced in 1962 by Billy Wright. Swindin would go on to manage Cardiff and Norwich, live in Spain and make it to the ripe old age of 90. During Arsenal's title-winning season of 1947-48, Swindin conceded a mere 32 goals - a First Division record.
July 21, 1960: Trevor Ford made his return to English football when he moved from Eindhoven to Newport County. The reason for his absence? He had been suspended by the Football League after an investigation into illegal payments, brought to light by Ford himself in his book "I Lead the Attack".
Earlier, Ford had been British football's record transfer when he moved from Aston Villa to Sunderland for £30,000, or just over a day of John Terry's wages. He was famous for the rough treatemnt he dished out to goalkeepers, and famously advised John Hartson to shoulder-charge keepers, then apologise afterwards. The great John Charles named him as his idol. Ford, that is, not Hartson.
July 21, 1964: Scottish international John White, a key member and ever-present in Tottenham's famous 1960/61 double-winning side, was struck by lightning and killed on a golf course in Middlesex at the age of 27.
Bill Nicholson had snapped him up for Spurs when he was still in the army, impressed by the champion cross-country runner's fitness, paying Falkirk £22,000. He scored thirteen goals in the double-winning season, won another FA Cup and helped Spurs to the 1963 Cup Winners' Cup.
Later in the year a Tottenham XI faced a Scotland XI in a testimonial for the man nicknamed 'The Ghost' (no, before the lightning incident, because of his clever runs from midfield), whose portrait hangs in the entrance to the Scottish Football Association's Hall of Fame.
On This Day In Real History
1968: Man first landed on the moon, if we go on GMT. Quite a biggie, really.
1970: The Aswan Dam was finally completed after ten years of work.
1976: Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the British ambassador to Ireland, was killed by a car-bomb in Dublin.
1990: More than 150,000 people attended 'The Wall' rock concert in Berlin, to celebrate the dismantling of...well, you should be able to guess it from the name of the concert.
At Number One On The Day...that John White tragically died was 'Rag Doll' by The Four Seasons.
