August 9, 1962: A reminder of one of the gents of the game, Bobby Robson, who recently sadly announced that he was losing his battle with cancer. On this day in 1962 Robson returned to Fulham, the side with whom he started his playing career, from West Brom, going on to notch-up 302 league appearances for the Cottagers.
August 9, 1963: It's rare that a player is so universally loved and highly thought of as John Charles, the Welsh 'Gentle Giant' who returned from Italy for the second time 45 years ago. Charles started out as a centre-half at Leeds, moving up front and was signed by Juventus in 1957. Three league titles and 93 goals in 150 starts ensured he was voted as Juve's greatest ever foreigner in a 1997 fan survey, beating the likes of Michel Platini. After a brief return to Leeds, Charles was sold to Roma, from whom Swansea bought him on this day.
August 9, 2003: Roman Abramovich's summer of bonkers spending continues with the £15.8million purchase of Adrian Mutu, and while fellow signings Claude Makelele and Joe Cole went on to carve out impressive careers at Stamford Bridge, it all went horribly wrong for the Romainian. Things started well with early goals, but Mutu fell out with Jose Mourinho at the beginning of the next season, failed a drugs test for cocaine and was subsequently sacked in October 2004. He went on to rebuild his career at Fiorentina, but cheeky bastards that they are, Chelsea won a court case demanding Mutu pay them £9.6million in compensation for his misdemeanours in June of this year.
And On This Day In Real History...
480BC: A Sparta/Greece dream army are defeated by the Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae. If only they'd worn coats...
1936: In one of the few amusing moments of the Nazi regime, Jesse Owens picks a hole or two in that Aryan wheeze by winning his fourth gold medal (in the 4x100 relay) of the Berlin Olympics. Like the sulky bastard he was, Hitler does one rather than shake hands with the winners.
1945: The second atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki by the Americans, finally persuading Emperor Hirohito to admit defeat.
1969: The bodies of five people - including Sharon Tate, pregnant wife of Roman Polanski - are discovered at a house in Los Angeles, having been butchered by Charles Manson's Family. Amusingly, Manson was turned down for parole for the eleventh time in 2007.
And At Number One...while Charles was coming home was 'Sweets For My Sweet' by The Searchers.