The assertion that the signature of any player can quite literally change the identity of a club is so often hyperbole. However, is there a case for saying John Aldridge's arrival at Real Sociedad in the September of 1989, having found his first-team opportunities at Anfield limited by the emergence of Ian Rush and Peter Beardsley as Kenny Dalglish's preferred front two for Liverpool, did just that?
Back on April 12th the time had come for the next in our increasingly long line of football away day pilgrimages. This time we were heading towards the midlands and had chosen The Hawthorns as the venue for our latest first-time football experience. West Bromwich Albion were hosting Watford FC, with just a point between the clubs and both of them still harbouring ambitions for the Championship play-offs. As things have turned out, this would be my fourth time watching The Hornets, home and away, in the past couple of years. Amazingly, by the standards of Gino Pozzo, Tom Cleverley has been the manager of the away side for more than a year now, although it remains to be seen if he survives the coming summer.
Given that Portsmouth Women won promotion under Jay Sadler's stewardship last season at roughly around the same time as the men wrapped up the League One title, its perhaps not entirely surprising that both initially struggled to make the step up. However, John Mousinho's boys have given themselves a fighting chance with a good recent run of form, particularly at home, to take themselves up to seventeenth in the table after a long while spent looking up.
Following on from the traditional high point of the domestic calendar that is the FA Cup third round and the following rounds, you might have missed the ongoing debate around its Welsh equivalent and the potential for Cardiff, Swansea, Merthyr Town, Newport and Wrexham to re- enter as part of a shake-up, after originally being barred for not being part of the Welsh league system circa 1996. If you're wondering why Colwyn Bay aren't in that list, their application to return to the league of their fathers was approved in 2019 having spent time in the English non- league pyramid.
As we have settled into the new year, talk, as it often does, turns to the potential stars of the future. Over in Denmark, at FC Nordsjaelland, it would seem they have a more progressive view than most towards the process. The club, owned by the Right To Dream Academy, was founded back in 1999 by chairman Tom Vernon, formerly Manchester United's chief African scout. Originally independent of any professional club, it entered into partnership with the Tigrene (Tigers) in 2015- with the former Farum Park being renamed after Right To Dream a year later as part of the deal.