The Red Rose Football Blog (Number 38)

      

                        Number 38                                                              July 10 2017

Quiz of the Week (Answers at the foot of the Blog)

                  Each question has a Red Rose County club connection

1                    Who scored 16 Premier League goals in 2016-17 but in 2015 scored a hat-trick for Blackburn Rovers v Stoke City in an FA Cup tie?

2                    Which ex-Manchester United player was top scorer with 6 goals in England’s qualifying campaign for the 2016 European Championships?

3                    Who in 2015 became the first Everton player to captain England?

4                    Paul McKenna made 417 first team appearances for which club from 1997-2009?

5                    Dennis Stevens won an FA Cup Winners’ medal for Bolton in 1958 before moving on in 1962 and winning a League Championship medal with which club in 1963?

6                    Centre back Tom Aldred has been the rock in Blackpool’s defence making 90 appearances but he has surprisingly been sold on a free to which Red Rose club?

                                             Tom Aldred; the now ex-Blackpool hard man

7                    Which Red Rose club lost to Borussia Dortmund in the 1965-66 European Cup Winners’ Final?

8                    Which non-league club (ex-Football League) play at Haig Avenue?

9                    Willy Cabellero, the ex-Manchester City goalkeeper, is of which nationality?

10                Burnley gained promotion to the Premier League in 2009 following victory over which Kevin Blackwell managed side in the Play-Off at Wembley? 

Red Rose County Footballing Legends (Number 10)

Colin Bell Manchester City

The most famous race horse of the 60s and 70s was Nijinsky, The Lester Piggott mount swept all before him, winning all the classics in 1970 and was renowned for the ease of its galloping style and limitless stamina. The horse’s career overlapped that of Colin Bell and sports’ journalists of the day were quick to label the Manchester City midfield player with the Nijinsky nick-name, such was the similarity in running styles. Bell was a Geordie, born in County Durham who was signed by Bury in his youth. He captained the then 2^nd Division (Tier 2) team whilst still a teenager and was quickly courted by a host of top clubs. Joe Mercer persuaded him to join City in 1966 at the age of 20 and he quickly became the final piece of the Mercer/Allison jigsaw that immediately was crowned 2^nd Division champions in 1966, won the Football League in 1968, the FA Cup in 69 and in the following year, the Football League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup double. He had won the first of his 48 England caps against Sweden in 1968 and was a member of the 1970 World Cup squad in Mexico. In the build up to the competition, the players were put through a stringent fitness regime and the City midfield player was deemed to be far and away the fittest of the group. He became a regular in the England side once Bobby Charlton retired from England duty after the World Cup and his stamina, skill, reading of the game and goal scoring ability kept the Sky Blues in the forefront of the chase for honours for the next 5 years before a serious injury picked up in the Manchester derby in 1975 caused him to lose close to 18 months of his career. He never fully recovered and finally retired in 1979 after amassing 475 league appearances and scoring 142 goals, a tremendous number for a box to box midfield player. He is still City’s 3^rd highest goal scorer but the memories are all about that stamina and movement. It is a question that is unanswerable but has anyone in the history of English football ever cruised so effortlessly across a pitch at speed? Honours have of course come his way since retirement. An MBE from the Queen, the only stand at the Etihad to be named after a former player and he is a member of various Halls of Fame. In an era dominated by media personalities such as Best, Marsh, and Summerbee in the North West alone, Colin Bell never made headlines beyond the back pages. “The Reluctant Hero” was the apt title of his autobiography and he is still probably regarded as City’s greatest player; a true legend.

Colin Bell; hair flowing and poetry in motion

Review of the Premier League, 2016-17

Chelsea first, Tottenham Hotspur second certainly sums up the 2016-17 Premier League season for the Red Rose clubs. Putting it simply, our top clubs were left in the wake of the two London giants which meant that the two Manchester and the two Liverpool clubs were chasing the scraps for the last month of the season. Not that the scraps are unimportant of course; Champions League places are the passport to untold wealth, but in terms of honours, it was disappointing. Historically, London one-twos are rare. In the 117 completed seasons since league football commenced, it has only occurred 3 times compared to 22 Red Rose County club doubles.  Slightly more ominous however is that the score is only 6-3 to the North West since the inception of the Premier League. Manchester City were just about everyone’s tip for the title when they kicked off last August. Initially Pep Guardiola’s side did not disappoint. They made a flying start and led the table for the first 10 games but following a defeat at Tottenham, they rarely looked likely to add to their tally of 4 League Titles. In spite of having the manager who had never known the meaning of failure, somewhere down the line it became clear that he did not understand what is necessary to win in, if not the best league in the world quality wise, certainly the most competitive. Few could believe his requirements for a footballing goalkeeper. Surely the number one priority for the custodian of the goal is to make saves a la Joe Hart, but apparently not. His ageing defence at times looked unfit for purpose and although he spent £160million during the season, the only defender amongst them was John Stones, still to totally convince. An FA Cup victory seemed possible but they lost out to Arsenal at the semi-final stage and they failed to hold on to a 5-3 first leg lead in the Champions League against Monaco, going down 3-1 in the second leg of their last 16 tie on the French Riviera. Sky Blue fans will be disappointed with the 3^rd place achieved in the Catalan’s first season in charge. The jury was out on Liverpool pre-season. Jürgen Klopp bought frugally, in fact he made a £17million profit on the year in net transfers and they too made an excellent start. Apart from a shock 2-0 defeat at newly promoted Burnley in their second game, they stayed unbeaten until the end of November, winning away at Chelsea and briefly topping the league. The bizarre 4-3 defeat at Bournemouth signalled the start of an inexplicable run of results to the end of the season where they lost to sides from the lower reaches of the league but remained unbeaten against the high-flyers. There were question marks about the defence from time to time and they had to win at West Ham and beat Middlesbrough at home in their two final games in order to keep Arsenal at bay and clinch the final Champion’s League spot. This they managed comfortably with 4-0 and 3-0 wins respectively. With lengthy injuries to Coutinho and Sturridge, the modern day “sick note”, the Reds probably performed as well as could be expected. Sadio Mane was an inspired signing but his stint with the African Nations Cup robbed the Merseysiders of a month of his services mid-season and the Senegalese was injured for the final month. Their cup exploits were similarly difficult to fathom. A shock defeat to Southampton in the semi-final of the League Cup, losing 1-0 both home and away was followed by a 4^th Round home loss to a poor Wolverhampton side in the FA Cup.

Years when an area of the country achieved 1^st and 2^nd in Tier 1        (Red = Red Rose County, Blue = London, Green = West Midlands)

Year	Champions	Runners-up
1889-90	Preston North End	Everton
1890-91	Everton	Preston North End
1905-06	Liverpool	Preston North End
1911-12	Blackburn Rovers	Everton
1914-15	Everton	Oldham Athletic
1920-21	Burnley	Manchester City
1946-47	Liverpool	Manchester United
1953-54	Wolverhampton Wanderers	West Bromwich Albion
1955-56	Manchester United	Blackpool
1963-64	Liverpool	Manchester United
1967-68	Manchester City	Manchester United
1976-77	Liverpool	Manchester City
1979-80	Liverpool	Manchester United
1984-85	Everton	Liverpool
1985-86	Liverpool	Everton
1986-87	Everton	Liverpool
1987-88	Liverpool	Manchester United
1993-94	Manchester United	Blackburn Rovers
1994-95	Blackburn Rovers	Manchester United
2003-04	Arsenal	Chelsea
2004-05	Chelsea	Arsenal
2008-09	Manchester United	Liverpool
2011-12	Manchester City	Manchester United
2012-13	Manchester United	Manchester City
2013-14	Manchester City	Liverpool
2016-17	Chelsea	Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester City; Champions in 2014, the last great Red Rose season

The heady scent of success was in the air across the city in Manchester when Jose Mourinho took up residence at the Midland Hotel in July. After indifferent campaigns (by Sir Alec’s standards) with Moyes and then van Gall at the helm, this was surely the time for Manchester United to be restored to their default position at the top of the Premier League. Was it an outstanding season or not? Two trophies and Champions’ League qualification (even by the back door route) would say yes but a 6^th place in the Premier League and a 6^th Round FA Cup defeat to Chelsea at the Theatre of Dreams tell a different story. Mourinho bought just 4 players on arrival, but two of them were marquee signings. Zlatan Ibrahimovic came from Paris St Germain on a free transfer but his wages, the signing on fee and allegedly his £100.000 plus per goal would have broken the bank at the majority of Premier League clubs. Paul Pogba arrived from Juventus with the label of the World’s most expensive player; so much was expected of him. The Old Trafford club also started with gusto but once they lost the home Manchester derby, they never looked like becoming Champions and the search was on for alternative silverware. To be fair to the team, they did not fail in this area and although progress was far from smooth, they qualified for the knockout stages of the Europa League. Likewise they gained some revenge in the League Cup for their loss in the derby and edged their way to Wembley with a less than decisive two legged win over Hull City in the semi-finals. The final, against Southampton, was a classic with the Reds surrendering a two goal lead before Ibrahimovic notched his second to take the trophy back to the North-West. In the Europa Cup, the absence of big clubs gave them a fairly easy ride to the final where Ajax of Amsterdam were expected to give them a close game. By this stage, Ibrahimovic was out injured and Mourinho literally gave up on 3^rd/4^th spot in the Premier League, knowing that victory over their Dutch opponents would guarantee a Champions’ League spot. As it was they finished 6^th but comfortably defeated a talented but inexperienced Ajax team in the final. Everton had obviously splashed out a large chunk of cash to secure the contract of Ronald Koeman, prising him away from Southampton. Everton played some attractive football throughout, the manager was never afraid to blood young players and if Harry Kane had not scored seven times in his last two league games, the Toffees would have had the country’s leading scorer in Romelu Lukaku. The Merseyside Blues finished 7^th, qualifying for the Europa League but those fans who expected big things from a side recently taken over by the eminently wealthy Farhad Mashiri must have been quite disappointed. Burnley were the bookies favourites for the drop. Sean Dyche had brought them up two seasons before only for them to fall back at the first time of asking. After immediately winning the Championship, this was the manager’s second stab at trying to guarantee survival. It was always going to be a tough ask but they grabbed 3 points on 10 occasions at Turf Moor with a solitary away win at Crystal Palace. They drew with Manchester United and Chelsea, cobbled together enough points to reach the magical 40 with 2 games to spare and finished 16^th, 6 points clear of relegation. A 5^th Round shock home defeat to non-league Lincoln City dashed any hopes of a trip to Wembley, but they will once more join the “big four” as the Red Rose County’s participants in the Premier League next season. Hopefully the spoils will this time head back up the M6.

Post Weekend Musings

Even with the success of the British Lions in New Zealand, the exploits of Andy Murray and Johanna Konta at Wimbledon and Joe Root’s sensational start to his captaincy of the English cricket team, the gossip and speculation surrounding the football transfer market has had its share of this summer’s back page press headlines. To add to that there was the triumph of the England U/19 World Cup winning side and the brave failures of the U/21 side which went down on penalties to Germany in the semi-final of the European Nations Cup. The draw for this coming season’s FA Cup was published during the week, barely 40 days after Arsenal’s Wembley victory in the 2016-17 Final and lo and behold, Blackburn Rovers played their first friendly of the season on Saturday. You do therefore have to ask yourself the question……”is there a close season for football in this day and age?” 

Five of our league clubs commemorate noteworthy anniversaries in the fast approaching season.. When you discover that Manchester City are only in 4^th place in the list of our clubs (see below) to have resided in Tier 1 and that Oldham Athletic are the 11^th to reach a century of seasons, you can understand the magnitude of the history, tradition and longevity of football in the Red Rose county which, along with the West Midlands, was the cradle of league football the world over. The determination of the officials and the loyalty of supporters who have made this possible since 1888 should never be forgotten. Thankfully it continues to this day.

Club	Anniversary
Manchester City	90th season in Tier 1
Blackpool	110th season in the Football League
Oldham Athletic	100th season in the Football League
Rochdale	90th season in the Football League
Wigan Athletic	40th season in the Football League

                   Wembley 1990; arguably the greatest period in the history of Oldham Athletic

Alex Neil rarely hit the heights in a professional career with Airdrieonians, Barnsley, Mansfield Town and Hamilton Academicals. Towards the end of his career he was appointed player-manager for the South Lanarkshire side and immediately led the unheralded “Accies” into the Scottish Premier League. After an excellent start, Neil was lured away to Norwich City and the Scotsman just as quickly catapulted the Canaries from the Championship to the Premier League. They fell back after one season and when they struggled to keep track with the leaders, he was sacked. After a short break, he has replaced the Sunderland bound Simon Grayson at Preston North End and although he knows that the club is one of the poor relations (financially) of the Championship, his pedigree suggests that North End will at minimum be tough opposition, particular at Deepdale.  

Burnley have played in the Premier League in 3 separate seasons, 2009-10, 2014-15 and 2016-17. On each of these occasions, the title has been won by Chelsea so if you are looking for omens and you have some spare cash, back the Londoners for 2017-18.

There will be time to consider the achievements of Wayne Rooney. I believe that once his career comes to an end, history will rank him amongst the greats of English football. For the moment the media, being what the media is, suggests something below legendary status but records are not erased (except in athletics) and not easily broken. Rooney’s CV stands comparison with almost all of the greats, but for the moment he has a new job; leader of the pack at Goodison Park where it all began in 2002 at the age of 16. He has arrived for free although his wages will “cost a bonny penny” as they once said in Lancashire. He seemed to lose his sparkle last season but the former England captain needs to play regularly. He is neither an “off the bench” merchant nor a “super sub”. His experience will help Koeman’s talented youngsters and Pickford and Keane will shore up the back, making the Toffees  more difficult opposition as they look to improve on 7^th place. But with Lukaku off to Manchester United, where are the goals coming from? Last season he led with 25 and Ross Barkley was 2^nd with 5. Is there a genuine number 9 on his way to join Wayne at Everton?

Quiz Answers

1 Josh King, 2 Danny Wellbeck, 3 Phil Jagielka, 4 Preston North End, 5 Everton, 6 Bury, 7 Liverpool, 8 Southport, 9 Argentinian, 10 Sheffield United.  

The Red Rose Football Blog (Number 37)

  Number 37                                                              July 3 2017

                            Red Rose County Footballing Legends (Number 10)

Tom Finney – Preston North End

One club men are rare, one club men born in the street next to the ground where they played all their football are even rarer, but this was Tom Finney. He scored 187 league goals in 433 appearances and 30 international goals in the 76 games he played for England. These are figures to be proud of in any age, but he never kicked a football as a professional until he was 24. He signed for Preston North End when he left school at 14 in 1936 but the outbreak of the war meant that he played his first league game in 1946. This was no physical giant of a man. He was a mere 5’8” tall and scarcely 10 stones wet through, but he had everything that was required to play the game at its highest level. He was virtually two-footed although he favoured his left but as he attacked a full back, he could go either way. He was a right winger who could go round the outside and knock over pin-point crosses or cut in and score with his left foot; impossible to mark out of the game. Throughout his career he won one winners medal; PNE were 2^nd Division champions in 1951. He also captained the Preston side which reached the FA Cup Final in 1954 but lost 3-2 to West Bromwich Albion. Preston were a strong side in the 50s, although many referred to them as a one man team; probably unfair as they lost the 1953 title to Arsenal on goal average and were runners up to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1958. Tom played one more season before retiring, playing as a deep lying centre forward. I saw him against Blackburn Rovers that season where he led Matt Woods, a very competent Rovers centre half, a merry dance at Ewood; North End winning 4-1. Just to add fuel to the “one man team” argument, the season after he retired, his club was relegated and in the succeeding 57 seasons, has yet to return to Tier 1. Many claim that he is the finest ever English player and the statement is difficultlt to refute. What is certain however is that he was a gentleman of the game and the bestowing of a knighthood in 1998 attracted not a single dissenting voice. He remained President of PNE up to his death in 2014 at the age of 91, his funeral bringing traffic to a halt in the city and the famous signed “Splash” photograph of the legend himself at Stamford Bridge, given to me by my sons for my 60^th birthday, adorns my wall.

Tom Finney at Stamford Bridge; Can you make out the Chelsea player in the spray?

Post Weekend Musings

When a football manager has worked successfully on a low budget for 4 years, bringing a club with loads of tradition from the earliest years of the game back into the Championship and consolidating that position with two 11^th placed finishes, you have to feel somewhat sad when a sleeping giant comes calling. I have no criticism whatsoever of Simon Grayson. He comes across as an average sort of guy, no airs and graces and certainly no ego, but like us all, he will want to progress in his chosen line of work. Sunderland may have been a Premier League joke for the last few years, experts in escapology, but they are a club with far more potential than Preston North End. Even though many of their supporters display a penchant for walking off before half-time, an average gate of 41.286 in a disastrous season says much about the loyalty and dedication of the fans and the income generated. I for one will wish him all the best and also hope that Preston will find a similar type of replacement. Deepdale was something of a fortress last season and if the replacement can build on that, the club may just be in contention for the Play-Offs in this ultra-competitive division, but like many of the Red Rose town clubs, I suspect they require a massive cash boost from a wealthy owner.

                            Simon Grayson with one of his “Manager of the Month” Awards

July is here; the transfer window is now open. It is an exciting time so we can expect to see big Premier League signings from Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool. I suspect the record Pogba transfer fee will be broken, possibly by one of the London clubs.

It is not only the managers that follow the money in those crazy months of summer. Conor McLaughlin is out of contract at Fleetwood Town and half of the Championship clubs seem keen to sign Northern Ireland’s regular right back, voted into the EFL League 1 Team of the Year by his peers. Millwall appear to be leading the hunt and the Cod Army have withdrawn their increased offer of a new contract, a sure sign that they know he is on his way, Similarly Shay McCartan at Accrington Stanley, probably the chief architect of their wonderful late surge up the League last season, has left for Bradford City for an undisclosed fee. The Bantams were close to gaining promotion to the Championship in May, losing out to Millwall at Wembley and the Stuart McCall side will be promotion favourites this time around. Stanley therefore had no chance of hanging on to their exciting prospect. The 23 year old made his Northern Ireland debut earlier this month and he is one for the future. Two sad stories from our poorer clubs but it has been ever thus in professional football.

Even at Premier League level, it is difficult to hang on to your prospects. Michael Keane is a fine centre half and those in the know reckon that he is a shoe in for the 2018 World Cup in Russia should England, as expected, qualify. Unfortunately, the chance of representing Burnley by then is looking remote. There is a certain pecking order in all levels of football and the Clarets are ranked somewhat below the likes of Everton who appear to be at the front of the queue to sign him. As a result, he will leave Turf Moor and Sean Dyche, who is sufficiently pragmatic to understand where clubs stand in relation to each other, will already be looking for the best replacement he can find. Looking at it from the other side, Koeman was extremely scathing of the Everton recruitment policy when he arrived at Goodison last season. Steve Walsh, brother of the Republic of Ireland’s Mickey Walsh who scored important goals for Blackpool and then Porto (via Everton) in the 70s, had only just arrived, having performed wonders as joint assistant manager at Leicester City under both Nigel Pearson and Claudio Ranieri. He has left no stone unturned this year in his role of Director of Football and has moved quickly to set in motion the transfer of Keane to add to the likes of Schneiderlin and the young Lookman in January, followed by Jordan Pickford and the Dutchman Davy Klaassen from Ajax; sending out  notice of intent to their rivals. Steve Walsh is a Lancastrian, a real Red Rose man who worked for years as a Head of PE at Croston near Chorley before moving into the professional game late in life. He spent years working with talented schoolboy footballers in the Lancashire Schoolboys set up, so it is good to see him now reaping the rewards.

Michael Keane; it looks as though he has played his last game at Turf Moor

Quiz of the Week (Answers at the foot of the Blog)

                  Each question has a Red Rose County club connection

1                    The Rowley brothers hold the record for the most goals scored by siblings in English football. Arthur netted a record 434, mainly for Leicester and Shrewsbury and Jack scored 208, winning the FA Cup final and League Championship for which Red Rose club in the 40s and 50s?

2                     Who was the last Englishman to manage Liverpool FC?

3                     Who made 240 appearances in goal for Burnley between 1992 and 1998 before being transferred to Middlesbrough?

4                     Gary Jones captained Bradford City in the 2013 League Cup Final v Swansea City but prior to that he had made a record 463 appearances for which Red Rose club?

                  Gary Jones in Bradford colours with Ashley Williams prior to the 2013 Wembley final

5                     Who is the only member of the Everton starting XI in the 2009 FA Cup Final at Wembley who is still at the club?

6                     Which Red Rose club was managed by Stan Ternent, Neil Warnock and Graham Barrow between 1995 and 2005?

7                     Which club were FA Cup runners-up in 1926, 1933, 1955, 1981 and 2013?

8                     Sam Allardyce made 198 appearances for Bolton Wanderers, but he also played 93 league games for which other Red Rose club?

         9                     Who became the first player to be capped by England whilst playing for Wigan    Athletic in 2007? 

10                 Who was the ex-Manchester United star who managed Morecambe when they were promoted into the Football league in 2007?

Review of the EFL Championship, 2016-17

As I mentioned briefly in Blog Number 36, there was little to shout about in the Championship last season for the Red Rose clubs. Wigan Athletic had come straight back up from League 1 and Preston North End, having finished 11^th in their first campaign back in Tier 2, could justifiably hope for a decent shot at the Play-Offs at least. For Blackburn Rovers, a new manager was in place but Owen Coyle had history in East Lancashire, the wrong sort of history for a Rovers fan. He had managed Burnley, sufficient proof for a section of the Blue and White brigade to forever brand him as an untouchable. With previous boss Paul Lambert having left in the summer, citing a complete lack of ambition by the Ewood owners, there was cause for concern from the off. All three of our clubs made disastrous starts. The Latics won only 2 of their first 14 games, at which point the Chairman sacked manager Gary Caldwell. He had been something of a hero as a player, captaining the side in the Premier League and as manager, guiding them back into the Championship. His replacement was Warren Joyce, the highly regarded reserve team manager at Old Trafford but he too found the going tough. He was at the helm for 21 games, winning just 5 and once again, the young chairman handed out a P45; the loyal assistant Graham Barrow being left to try to salvage something from the wreck. Ultimately he failed and Wigan were relegated with 42 points, 9 from safety. Blackburn had sold Hanley and Duffy, their two no nonsense centre backs to Newcastle and Brighton for around £10million in total and spent only £250,000 on replacements, although they did manage to persuade the experienced and talented Charlie Mulgrew to come down from Celtic on a free transfer. By mid-February, with just 7 wins to his name, Owen Coyle was axed, immediately after the 5^th Round FA Cup defeat to Manchester United. He was replaced by the experienced Tony Mowbray who lost just 3 out of 15 games, but with 7 draws and too much of a deficit to make up, the Rovers were relegated on the last day of the season with an unusually high total of 51 points. Simon Grayson was well established as manager at Deepdale, entering his 4^th season at the club but they too made a poor start, winning just twice in their first 8 games. But from then onwards, particularly at home, they certainly gave their fans value for money. They only lost 3 home games (to Newcastle, Leeds and Norwich) from mid-September to the season’s end and following their 5-0 crushing of Bristol City on April 4^th, the Play-Offs were a genuine target, but 1 point from their final 6 games somewhat took the gloss off their season. They finally finished in 11^th place once more with 62 points, a whopping 18 behind 6^th placed Fulham. Nevertheless it proved to be yet another positive season – a top half Championship position is not to be scoffed at, and until Thursday evening, the PNE faithful would have had much to look forward to from August onwards. However with the loss of Grayson to the north-east, there will be apprehension in the town. But whoever is in the frame, he will need to improve the fire power; Jordan Hugill their top scorer amassed a meagre 10 goals. Sides hoping for glory need a better return than this. Looking ahead, North End will have only Phil Parkinson’s Bolton Wanderers for company from the Red Rose County as the new season commences. Hopefully there will be more to celebrate in 12 months time.

The Red Rose Leading League goal scorer in each of the Top 5 Tiers

Tier 1: Premier League

Romelu Lukaku celebrates one of his 25 goals for Everton

Tier 2: Championship

                 Not even Danny Graham’s 12 goals could save Blackburn Rovers from relegation

Tier 3: EFL 1 

                 James Vaughan; the one-time “wunderkid” knocked in 24 goals for Bury last season

Tier 4: EFL 2 

 

            Mark Cullen; his 13 goals contributed so much to Blackpool’s late promotion push

                       Billy Kee, also with 13 goals, was leading scorer for Accrington Stanley

Tier 5: National League

                Byron Harrison; his 19 goals came close to guiding Barrow to a Play-Off place

Quiz Answers

1 Manchester United, 2 Nottingham Forest, 3 Marlon Beresford, 4 Rochdale, 5 Leighton Baines, 6 Bury, 7 Manchester City, 8 Preston North End, 9 Emile Heskey, 10 Sammy McIlroy.