The Football History Boys

The story of North Wales' historic side, Wrexham AFC, has captured the footballing world in recent months. Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and  Rob McElhenney took control of the football club officially in February 2021  and proffessed their ambitions of taking Wrexham to heights they had not seen for decades. Finlay Stanley ( @AFCFinners ) has written for us about one previous time that Wrexham stunned football... We all love a good cup upset. Seeing a team from the lower leagues defeat one of the best teams in the country is one of the sport’s favourite pastimes. But one of the greatest cup upsets in Welsh football history came from Wrexham AFC. And this wasn’t in the FA Cup, nor the league cup. Fourth-tier Wrexham produced an incredible upset on the European stage. In the 1980s, they qualified for the European Cup Winners’ Cup, and would face FC Porto in the competition. It was the ultimate David VS Goliath encounter, that has gone down in history.  In 1984, Wrexham AFC had to ap

Scotland face another dramatic play-off soon when it's decided who they will play in their final qualifiers for World Cup Qatar 2022 (semi-final then play-off 'final' match).  @AlexHTheMAX looks at the Scots rollercoaster rides in qualification play off ties through nearly 60 years dating back to a game against eventual World Cup finalists and including a trip 'Down Under'. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- World Cup 1962   Scotland's first "play off" decided who qualified from a three team group for the 1962 World Cup in Chile. Scotland were going for a World Cup qualification hat-trick after appearing at the 1954 and 1958 finals. Czeckoslovakia and the Scots finished on equal points in Group 8 European qualifying, but despite the Czechs having a better 'goals for' column, due to a thumping 7-1 win over Rep of Ireland, this wasn't counted back in the early 1960s. so it was onto t

We love having guest blogs here at The Football History Boys, and so when Roger  Deason got in touch about what he described as 'the shambolic history' of early 20th century London club Southern United, we jumped at the chance to tell their story! Enjoy, as we take a dive into a football club that was very much, 'what could've been': Surrey was a stronghold of amateur football. The first professional team in the county was the long forgotten Southern United, founded in 1904, meaning they pre-date Crystal Palace and Chelsea as professional London teams. Two of those teams are now well known. Southern United’s shambolic history is little known.  Brown's Ground - The home of Southern United Southern United were largely the brainchild of Baron William von Reiffenstein, a Scottish born stockbroker with a penchant for sailing close to the wind. He played football, officiated, acting as linesman in the 1899 Surrey Junior Cup Final and was a leading figure at West Norwo