This weekend sees the entrance of the Premiership and Championship clubs in to the F.A. Cup as the worlds oldest domestic cup competition continues in its 128th year. It’s one of those weekends that gets football fans excited, throwing up all kinds of memories for fans of every club from every level of the domestic game. For fans of all clubs, the F.A. Cup offers us all the chance to dream that this could be our year.

This weekend the fans of Barrow, York City Luton Town and Forest Green Rovers will be bursting with pride as the take on league opposition. Disappointingly for the fan in me, only four non-league sides have made it through to the third round this season but there are still some tasty ties for this years game.

Stoke City, Sunderland, Southampton and Notts County will be the clubs trying to avoid the ignominy of a defeat to a non-league side, but with all three of the bigger clubs at home, I don’t think we’ll see any shocks in those particular ties. There are several ties that are eye opening for several reasons though and of those, Manchester United entertaining Leeds on Sunday is the pick of round. Leeds’ fall down the leagues has been spectacular, but they currently sit on top of Division One, looking certainties to return to the Championship.

It’ll be interesting to see how this resumption of the cross pennine rivalry will be played out, with no love love lost between either side. Of the top four sides in the Premiership, Arsenal certainly have the most difficult tie, with a London derby trip to West Ham United on Sunday as well. Chelsea and Liverpool should make light work of Watford and Reading respectively whilst Tottenham should win easily against Peterborough United.

Overall though, the chances of any Premiership clubs getting knocked out by lower league opponents look slim to be honest but there are a couple of tricky ties. Portsmouth will be hoping Coventry City won’t bring their recent good form to Fratton Park, whilst Birmingham City face a dangerous trip to Nottingham Forest. Manchester City visit Middlesbrough who have been bang out of form since they sacked Gareth Southgate but should be too strong.

Of the other recently promoted sides, Burnley and Wolves both face potential banana skin games at Milton Keynes Dons and Tranmere Rovers and may view the match as a chance to give secondary players a run out. Bolton Wanderers fans will probably be viewing the clash with Lincoln City, now managed by Blackburn Rovers old boy Chris Sutton, with renewed optimism following Gary Megson’s sacking earlier today.

What ever happens, 3 Premiership clubs will be out of the competition no matter what with three all Premiership ties in the third round. Aston Villa welcome Blackburn Rovers, whilst Wigan will be trying to put tonight’s thrashing at Old Trafford out of their minds as Hull City visit the D.W. Stadium and Arsenal travelling to West Ham United.

Overall though, this isn’t really a weekend for shocks, but the F.A.Cup has a reputation for shocking you when you least expect it and that’s why it’s still the best cup competition in the world. Here’s to a great weekend of cup football before we get back to the Premiership.

Southampton and Wales legend Ron Davies is the latest guest on the EPL Talk Podcast, the daily Premier League interview and analysis show.

To say that Davies is a legend to Southampton supporters is an understatement. In his first season with the Saints, Davies scored an incredible 43 goals. Heralded as “the best centre forward in Europe” by Matt Busby and the “best header of the ball” by teammate Mick Channon, Davies was a one-of-a-kind goalscorer whose feats included scoring four goals against Manchester United at Old Trafford, four goals against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and four goals against Aston Villa. Between 1966-69, he scored 90 times in 123 league games. It’s no wonder that football commentator Martin Tyler names Davies as his hero.

In addition to playing for Southampton, Davies also played for Manchester United, Norwich City, Luton Town, Chester City, LA Aztecs, Seattle Sounders and other teams, as well as for his country, Wales.

In this exclusive interview, Davies discusses:

• his memories of that day in 1969 when he scored four against Man United at Old Trafford,
• what it was like to play alongside George Best in the NASL and what Harry Redknapp was like at Seattle Sounders,
• the story of how he got discovered as a young footballing talent,
• what it was like playing for Wales against England and Brazil, and playing alongside John Toshack, Wyn Davies and other Welsh legends, and
• the secret to his success of how he was able to jump so much higher than his opponents during football matches.

This is a must-listen interview with a legend of football who is definitely a gentle giant of this beautiful game.

Don’t forget that the EPL Talk Podcast is the only Premier League interview and analysis podcast available for free. In the past few weeks, we’ve interviewed legends of the game such as Steve McManaman, Efan Ekoku, Martin Chivers and Robbie Earle as well as experts such as Declan Hill, Simon Kuper, Misha Sher, Matt Dickinson and many others. Why pay $40 a year to rival podcasts when you can subscribe to the EPL Talk Podcast for FREE featuring interviews with the biggest names in football?

Plus stayed tuned for upcoming interviews coming this week including John Harkes (of Sheffield Wednesday and Derby County fame) and more. Plus you can hear interviews on our sister podcast MLS Talk with Thomas Dooley, Jaime Moreno, Jimmy Conrad, Sacha Kljestan and Stuart Holden.

Later this week I’ll have the distinct pleasure of interviewing Ron Davies, a football legend who achieved incredible success at Southampton and Norwich City, as well as playing for Manchester United and several other clubs.

In fact it was while playing for Southampton against Manchester United at Old Trafford in August 1969 where Davies scored an incredible four goals. It’s no wonder then that United later signed the Welsh forward in 1974.

Davies later went on to play in the NASL for the LA Aztecs, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Seattle Sounders.

In preparation for my interview with Ron Davies, I’d like to ask you – the readers – for suggested interview questions. Please post them in the comments section below between now and midnight Wednesday, December 2nd. If your question is selected, your name will be mentioned on air when the EPL Talk Podcast episode is published.

In the annals of Arsenal’s history, one name conjures images of a bygone era, baggy shorts and a dead eye for goal. In the record books, his name still stands alone for the most goals scored in one season, with 44 in the 1934-35 season. In the modern era, first Ian Wright and then Thierry Henry surpassed his overall record but that shouldn’t overshadow Drake’s achievements for Arsenal.

Drake was born in Southampton in 1912 and was an adept sportman through his schooldays excelling at cricket and football, though when he left school he became a gas meter reader. A chance to play regular non league football for Winchester Town came along, and Drake took the opportunity with both hands, whilst continuing the meter reading! After two goal filled seasons, in 1931 Southampton came calling and Drake returned to his home town team.

Drake’s first season saw him become accustomed to the hustle and bustle of Second Division football but by the end of his first season, he’d got 7 goals and had established himself as Southampton’s main striker. The Saints were a poor side and even with Drake’s goalscoring prowess, the highest they finished whilst he was at the club was 12th, nowhere near promotion. Drake’s first season had caught the eye of the legendary Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman and he made an attempt to sign him in the summer of 1933 but Drake didn’t want to move that far north!

That first full season had seen him plunder 20 league goals and after turning down Arsenal’s advances, Drake hit the ground running in the 1933-34 season. He scored 8 goals in his first 5 games and continued in the same vein eventually getting 22 goals before Arsenal came back in for him in March 1934. This time, frustrated by the lack of progress Southampton were making and with the club facing financial difficulties, Drake moved to Highbury for £6,500.

Arsenal were top and Drake continued to score goals, hitting another 7 in the 10 games he played for the Gunners but missed out on a League Championship medal through lack of appearances. He was to get his hands on one the following season though and hit 42 league goals in 41 games, with 3 hatricks and 4 four goal hauls in his stats for the season setting a record that still stands today.

The following season Drake continued to hit the goals and on December 14th 1935 he set another record when he hit 7 against Aston Villa in a 7-1 rout. Incredibly, he also had another goal chalked off as it cannoned off the crossbar, bounced over the line and back out but the referee didn’t see it.

What makes Drake’s record for the Gunners even more remarkable was that he constantly battled injury problems throughout his career, especially a niggling back injury that would catch up with him at the end of his career. Yet Drake continued to push himself through the pain barrier to make Highbury his hunting ground and whilst Cliff Bastin mesmerised opponents with his wonderful ball skills, Drake would punish any lapses in the penalty area.

Drake was rewarded with his fine form with being called up for England and scored 6 goals in 5 appearances, injuries curtailing his opportunities to represent his country more than just a handful of times. He made his debut in the game that became known as the “Battle of Highbury” against Italy in November 1934, one of an incredible 7 Arsenal players to start the game. Typically, Drake scored the winner in a bad tempered 3-2 win.

As the decade continued, Drake finished as Arsenal’s top scorer in 5 consecutive seasons, as Arsenal continued to be the dominant force in English pre-war football. Between 1931 and 1939, Arsenal’s lowest position was 6th in the 1935-36 season, but they managed to win the F.A Cup with a 1-0 win over Sheffield United. Guess who scored the winning goal. Another League Championship medal came along in the 1937-38 season as Arsenal pipped Wolves by one point.

As with most of his contemparies, Drake’s career was stopped dead in its tracks with the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939 aged just 27. Drake went to serve in the RAF but continued to play for Arsenal in wartime fixtures. On the resumption of League football, Drake was injured against Reading and was forced to retire from playing. Despite this set back he took over as manager of non-league Hendon in 1946, moving to Reading in 1947 were after 5 seasons, Chelsea came calling.

Upon his arrival, he completely revamp the club, who were classed as London’s poorer side. Changing the badge, the motto, the kit and the club’s philosphy for big signings who continually failed to deliver, he used his knowledge of the lower leagues to sign the quality of player that Chelsea needed. As his team knitted, Chelsea became a force to be reckoned with and won the league in 1955 shocking the two titans, Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers. With it, Drake became the first person to win the league as a manager and a player.

It was as good as it got for Drake as Chelsea amazingly didn’t finish in the top ten again that decade and in 1961 he was removed from his position as manager. He continued to keep involved with football, having spells as Assistant Manager at Fulham and Barcelona under Vic Buckingham. He continued to love football and would often travel to all the clubs in London, for the simple pleasures of just enjoying watching football.

Drake passed away on May 30th 1995, aged 82.

• Scored 139 goals in 186 full appearances for Arsenal from 1934 – 1939
• Two League Championship medals 1934-35 & 1937-38
• One F.A. Cup Winners medal 1935-36
• 5 Appearances for England, scoring 6 goals
• First man to win League title as a player and manager
  
• Scored 7 goals in one match against Aston Villa on December 14th 1935
• Arsenals top scorer in every season from 1934-1935 until 1938-39
• Became Life President of Fulham
• Played County Cricket for Hampshire from 1931 until 1937
  

How is it that an international striker with 16 goals in 34 games for his country and a Premiership strike rate of one goal in under every 3 games simply keeps being moved on? Now I could understand it if the player in question was a boorish, thuggish hooligan who whines about not being treated fairly and then beats up team mates in training, attacks children in hotels and puts lit cigars out in youth players eyes.

Yet Peter Crouch comes across as a genuinely nice lad, pleasant, well spoken, always gives 100% wherever he plays and has a zero reputation for assaulting members of the British public. Crouch looks set to leave Portsmouth for a second time and seemingly has a straight choice between Fulham or re-joining Harry Redknapp for a third time at Tottenham.

With a transfer price of £12 million being already accepted form Sunderland, which Crouch has turned down due to geographical location, Crouch looks set to move for the 7th time on a permanent deal. His career has seen him sold by Spurs, QPR, Pompey, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Southampton. He’s had loan spells at Norwich City, Dulwich Hamlets and IFK Hässleholm making 9 different clubs he’s turned out for in just 9 years.

Why does no-one rely on the likeable striker? His longest spell at one club was the 3 seasons at Liverpool he spent from 2005 until 2008, even finishing as top scorer one season but deemed not as good as Andrie Voronin or David Ngog. Here’s a lad that is never late for training or has his picture taken falling out of nightclubs every night of the week. Surely something else must be going amiss?

Crouch is one of those players, in football terms anyway, who stands out simply through his physical characteristics. At 6′ 7″, he’d hardly be noticed on a basketball court, but on the pitch he’s a giant. The popular misconception about Crouch is that because he’s tall, he must be good in the air. Whilst he’s no slouch, it’s certainly not the strongest part of  his game but surely everyone knows that now don’t they?

He’s a good footballer, you don’t score over 100 goals in your career by luck, or hit a hat trick against Arsenal which was deemed as one of the perfect hat tricks * and not be skilful. Crouch can play football; he’s just a lot taller than a lot of people that also play the game. As is the current state of the world we live in, anyone who’s slightly different suffers from bad press. Now I’m not saying that Crouch is the world’s best striker, but he will always try for the team he plays for.

It seems he now faces a straight choice between two of England’s best club managers for where he wants to take his career. Does he take a risk with someone he’s never worked with before in Roy Hodgson or go with the familiar manager in Harry Redknapp. I’m a massive fan of Hodgson, he’s easily the most under rated manager in the Premiership by some distance but Redknapp may have the upper hand here. Some Spurs fans think he’s garbage and shouldn’t be brought back to Tottenham. That’s the problem with being a Spurs supporter; we’ve too many fans who still think it’s 1962 or 1984.Crouch would be a great signing. No arguement.

Anyone who thinks Peter Crouch isn’t good enough for Tottenham needs to take a reality check. These are the same fans that never gave Darren Bent a chance and if he chooses Fulham over Spurs then it’s Tottenham’s loss.  Personally I’d love to see him back at White Hart Lane and if he goes to Fulham then they have a player that will always give his all.

* A perfect hat trick is deemed to be one when a player scores one with his left foot, one with the right foot and with a header.

It appears the pitch isn't winning as many fans at Wembley

Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger’s post match reactions following last weeks FA cup semi finals predictably brought up the issue of the Wembley pitch. To be fair to the man with a KBE and his old rival, the surface at Wembley doesn’t seem fitting to a stadium as iconic (and costly) as the re-built Wembley. But as Guus Hiddink rightfully pointed out “If you go to a lot of places in Europe and Africa you get pitches that are a lot worse than that. I don’t think you should start talking about the pitch, whether you win or lose. Fergie used the pitch as an excuse after seeing his plans to field fringe players backfire, claiming in post match interview he didn’t want his strongest team to go to extra time on the much-maligned surface because it “Looked spongey and dead”.  It is worth putting on record to say the team he fielded in no way let themselves down but I’m sure a full United side would have had more chance of winning the game. 

The pitch conditions are more often used as an excuse in domestic cup ‘giant killings’ by the losing manager. An example i remember very clearly was the league cup semi-final first leg at Bramall Lane between Sheffield United and Liverpool. Liverpool were beaten 2-1 in a scrappy encounter in which United only really looked dangerous for 20 minutes. Houllier blamed the defeat on a poor pitch and the over-physical approach of the Blades. I was at that game and accept that readers will perceive a level of bias here but I didn’t see this as the case. United were (and have been perennially) like most teams at that level, packed with of triers that try to make up for a lack of quality with work rate, commitment and trying to make games into a battle. Surely a team of Liverpool’s quality should have cruised it? Incidentally Liverpool prevailed (and deservedly so) 2-0 after extra time in the return leg and went on to lift the cup. Rafa Benitez opted not to blame the Turf Moor pitch for their defeat to Burnley in 2005 after Traore’s gaffe that dumped the Reds out of the FA Cup in 2005

Football is often labelled as a ‘man’s game’ and teams at Premier League level should be more than capable of adapting to any ailments and conditions that the weather or the pitch would throw at them and still be capable of grinding out a win against a team who in terms of quality are inferior. Surely triumphing in the face of so-called adversity is the mark of champions?

Every season we see big clubs from the Premier League take on lower division clubs and normally prevail comfortably, the reason being these players are top of their profession. They are not only physically capable of prevailing in such challenges but they are gifted enough to make the ‘lesser teams’ look like donkeys.  The long and short of it is a poor pitch maybe an excuse for an ugly game but not a defeat - especially when it is concerning players that earn the sort of wages that make the rest of us wince.

Three other silly excuses i’ve heard in football:

1) Heavy traffic affecting preparations for Sheffield Wednesday according to boss Brian Laws earlier this season. Granted the players may have cramped up in the second half due to a shortened warm-up but Wednesday lost 6 – 0 to Reading.

2) The penalty changed the game according to Harry Redknapp . Now it appears to me Spurs were leading 2-0 at the time of this undoubtedly poor decision. They shipped another four after Ronaldo converted the controversial spot-kick. For the record I’m sorry to pick on Harry, this excuse is used by a manager at some level every week.

3) A Grey shirt. This hilarious incident occured at The Dell in April 1996. Manchester United played the first half in their snazzy grey number and found themselves 3-0 down at the interval away to Southampton. Fergies storms in, orders the players to change into their blue and white third kit. They lost 3-1

I’m sure there are many of these but i can’t think of them at this moment. Please submit them, they always make me chuckle.

If, like me, you’re always looking around the Internet for those hard to find football shirts from your past, frustrated as someone gazumps on you on e-bay for the classic 1987 Tottenham away kit with 3 seconds to go, then there has to be only one website for you to visit: www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk

To say it’s extensive doesn’t do it justice, this is a site that has kits from the 1970′s up to the 2004-2005 season, all originals, no fakes and no re-issues. It’s a football fans dream, a real goldmine of memories for people like me who were placed as the football boom really returned in the late 1980′s in the UK.  The 1980′s were when the kits got trendier, sponsors names started appearing all over the place and away and third kits began to appear for the first time.

It also saw the boom period for when people actually wanted to buy replica kits, a strange concept to us these days that football merchandise at the beginning of the decade seemed to consist of bland scarfs, hats, rosettes and gloves in your teams colours.Between 1987 and 1990, the football shirt fashion came from out of nowhere, now its seen as normal.

I just love browsing the site, clicking here and there on link after link after link, each one reminding me of certain moments of my footballing life, like a polyester time capsule, bursting with memories about the girls I kissed at the time, the music I was listening to, the great players and the world around me. So, I thought I’d ask the Doug, one the guys  behind this wonderful website a few questions:

Paul : First of all, thanks for taking the time to talk about the website with me, I really appreciate it. So, to anyone out there who doesn’t know about you, what can you tell us about www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk?

Doug : We are essentially an online shop which sells original and official replica shirts for a wide selection of clubs and national teams from all around the world, from the late 1970′s through to the 2000′s. For the big teams, we stock quite large quantities of home, away and third shirts from many different seasons in a range of sizes. But we try to offer something for everyone from Manchester United to Accrington Stanley, AC Milan to Bari, Boca Juniors to Chicago Fire, England to the USA.

Paul : I’m amazed at some of the kits you’ve got on the site, what gave you the idea to start?

Doug : The two directors of the site were both students when the idea came about and to make ends meet, realised there was money to be made in original, vintage football shirts. The company has grown from this very small base to a relatively large online store stocking close to 10,000 shirts!

Paul : I’m a bit of a football shirt collector, with probably about 80 to 100 myself, but what are the site’s top sellers?

Doug : The most popular shirts are the Holland home shirt from their famous triumph at Euro 88, the Manchester United Newton Heath design away kit from 1992-1994, Liverpool shirts from the time of their last league title, the Arsenal kit worn on that glorious night at Anfield in 1989, the England home shirt from Spain 82 and generally anything that has a great design, sparks memories of great victories or shirts that are very obscure.

Paul : How do price the kits that you sell on the site?

Doug : The shirts are priced first and foremost on the rarity. If it will take us a year to source another one then we have to charge a price for it that takes that into consideration. After that, it goes down to size and condition. Shirts have to be suitable for an adult to fit into really and the most popular sizes are M, L and XL. We try to stock shirts in excellent condition, this means that they may have been worn in the time between when they were first purchased in the shop in whatever year and when they arrive with us, but don’t really show any real signs of this and are great examples for their age.

Paul : Do you just sell replica kits?

Doug : We also sell shirts that have been worn by players. These bear a number of different features that set them apart from the replica kits that you could buy in the shop. We have people who have had the shirt thrown to them in the crowd, handed to them at the training ground or passed on from a family friend etc, selling these type of shirts to us. In the past we’ve had some great items worn by quite a few legendary players.

Paul : So what are your personal favourites and what are the fashion disasters?

Doug : A favourite of mine are the tiger skin pattern design shirts worn by Hull City between 1992 and 1995, but they are only for the brave to wear them really! All of the Italian club and national kits from the late 80′s and early 90′s have a great style and class to them. As for a design that’s pretty shocking, look no further than the infamous grey Manchester United away shirt from the 1995-96 season. Ferguson blamed the shirt for United trailing 3-0 at half time against Southampton at the Dell and they were never seen again!!

Well Doug, thank you very much for spending some time talking about your fantastic website with me and the readers of epltalk.com. All the best for the future and if I can recommend one website out there for fans, collectors or just curious  fans who want to get a feel about how kits have moved on in the last 30 years, www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk certainly ticks all the boxes.

A big day of FA Cup action and the team I’ve been following for this round, League Two strugglers Bury, pulled off a big upset by knocking out Championship side Norwich City with a 2-1 win in their 3rd round replay at Gigg Lane. The win sets up a fourth round match away at Southampton (another Championship club) for The Shakers.

Bury does have some interesting history in the FA Cup tournament. They last won the FA Cup back in 1903 (also won it in 1900) and were actually thrown out of the FA Cup in 2006 for fielding an ineligible player (Stephen Turnbull — who was a loan signing from Hartlepool) in their 3-1 second-round replay win over Chester City. The win over Norwich will help erase the memories of that embarrasment and they’ll be looking to score another upset in the next round.

Luton’s hopes of an upset were crushed by a Steven Gerrard hat-trick as Liverpool cruised to a 5-0 win. Luton are beset by financial problems and are currently in administration. They have sold two of their star players and let three others leave since they held Liverpool to a draw on January 6th. Midfielder David Edwards was sold to Wolves for £675,000 and defender Chris Coyne went to Colchester for £350,000. There may be some hope on the horizon as Luton have agreed on a takeover deal with a consortium led by English television personality Nick Owen but the deal has yet to be ratified by the Football League.

One other note from the game was that both sides formed a guard of honour before kick-off as Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher celebrated his 500th appearance for the club.

Tottenham held off Reading after an early Robbie Keane goal to setup a 4th round fixture against Manchester United.

All the scores from Tuesday’s replays:

Bury 2-1 Norwich
Millwall 2-1 Walsall
Liverpool 5-0 Luton
Reading 0-1 Tottenham
West Brom 2-2 Charlton (WBA win 4-3 on penalties)