When David Beckham made his mark...

What connects a global celebrity who was one of England's greatest ever football players and little old Doncaster Rovers?

Making his mark within minutes (Photo: Unknown)

Saturday 4th March 1995 is a date which is a long time ago now; over a quarter of a century in fact, so there's every probability you might not have a clue what happened on that day.

In the UK, Celine Dion's Think Twice topped the singles charts, someone scooped a whopping £8.8 million on the newly-created National Lottery, whilst Manchester United put nine goals without reply past Ipswich Town; Andy Cole scoring five of them, to set a Premier League record which remains to this day.

The first chapter of what would be another great story in the footballing world, however, was being written elsewhere in Lancashire.

Only a few days earlier, one of the youngsters on the books at Old Trafford had made an unremarkable month-long loan move to Third Division side Preston North End in a bid to gain some much-needed first team experience. He'd signed a modest £400 p/w contract for the duration, which included an extra £50 if he made an appearance. Accommodation and expenses were also covered.

The lad in question was a young David Beckham.

The matchday programme from Beckham's league debut.

As stated in his autobiography years later, he was reluctant to make the loan switch initially as he perceived it that Alex Ferguson was trying to get rid of him. No doubt, when he saw the scoreline from Old Trafford afterwards, he probably wondered just how on earth he'd ever break into United's team.

Beckham's afternoon was far different to the one enjoyed by his parent club as a modest 9,764 turned out at Deepdale to see the Lilywhites host struggling Doncaster Rovers.

The youngster was named on the substitutes bench, but was introduced for what would be his league debut at half-time replacing Paul Raynor (who now acts as Steve Evans' assistant - and is probably the exact polar opposite to Beckham in every way possible) after Graeme Jones' header put Rovers into a 1-0 half-time lead.

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long for young Beckham to make an impression as his first corner-kick caused all manner of problems before his second caught the wind and flew directly over Rovers' 'keeper Perry Suckling before ending up in the back of the net to put PNE back on level terms.

He rejuvenated Preston's overall performance and played a minor role in their second goal as Simon Davey was on target, but Sammy Chung's Rovers at least salvaged a point thanks to Russ Wilcox's late header.

Beckham's positive showing led to more game-time and after scoring one of his trademark free-kicks against Fulham only a week later, he made a handful of appearances before going back to Old Trafford and... the rest is history!

Doncaster Rovers, however, will forever be the answer to the quiz question: 'Which team did David Beckham score against on his Football League debut?'

Deepdale as it appeared during Beckham's loan spell (Photo: Unknown)

Best (and worst) of 2019/20: Under 23s/18s

As the season has officially been over for the Under 23s/18s for a few weeks now, these are my personal choices on the best (and worst) bits of the past 12 months.

The EFL still haven't decided/announced what formula they'll use to (potentially) decide league tables, though I'd expect there might be an announcement sooner rather than later.

Total Games Seen: 35
Total Goals: 143
Highest Scoring Game: 8 Goals (U23s 6-2 vs Huddersfield, U18s 6-2 vs Huddersfield)
Lowest Scoring Game: 1 Goal (Various)
Money Spent: Too Much!

Best overall game: Scunthorpe 1-2 Doncaster (U18s), 27th September
Although others might choose the 2-1 success at Mansfield in early February, this victory at Scunthorpe was my personal favourite. Not only did the lads show maturity to come from behind and get the three points (even after losing Will McGowan to injury), it put an end to a dodgy run of results.

Most enjoyable/dramatic moment: Luca Nelson's winner (vs Notts County U18s), 7th March
Without any doubt, this was the best moment of the season. It was Luca Nelson's first goal of the campaign and the timing couldn't have been better; a last-gasp strike to stretch the lads' winning streak to five games and keep them clear at the top of the FLYA by some distance.

Least enjoyable game (and worst DRFC team display): Mansfield 4-3 Doncaster (U18s), 29th October
I wasn't at the 6-3 cup defeat to the Stags in September, so can't comment on whatever happened in that one. However, this defeat at Field Mill was frustrating because with half-an-hour played, the lads were on top and 1-0 up, before they crumbled. When you score three goals in a game, you shouldn't end up on the losing side. That's what happened though, so we move on...

Best DRFC goal scored: Jack Watson (Vs Lincoln), 22nd February
At the time I didn't fully appreciate the good build-up play which preceded the goal but, after watching it back afterwards, it was of a really high quality. I've attached the video below so you can see it for yourselves. Fair play, lads...

Best opposition goal scored: Adam Hammill, 2nd March
Scunthorpe's Adam Hammill was on target in this game with a stunning, instinctive effort from the halfway line direct from a re-start. It was sublime - even though Rovers' trialist 'keeper should have done a lot better. The only other goal which comes close was Rio Molyneaux's strike (and Mansfield's fourth goal) in the FA Youth Cup defeat at Field Mill.

Worst miss: Alex Kiwomya (vs Huddersfield U23s), 5th November
Remember, remember the 5th November... or Alex Kiwomya's 'open goal' miss? Shane Blaney's curling free-kick ricocheted off the post towards Kiwomya who, despite being unmarked and in a great position inside the six-yard box, somehow, put the follow-up wide. It's a good job it didn't happen in a first team environment otherwise it might have ended up on a bloopers DVD in years to come.

Best DRFC team performance: Vs Grimsby (U18s), 3rd August
This was a very accomplished and commanding team display which set a high benchmark for the rest of the season. The lads dominated from the first whistle, ripped their opponents to shreds, and were 3-0 up with less than 20 minutes on the clock. It was also perfect revenge on the Mariners who'd won the FLYA the previous season (at the expense of Rovers) courtesy of an injury-time goal.

Best opposition team performance: Exeter vs Doncaster (U23s), 24th February
The Grecians have a damn good academy due to the large catchment area in which they can attract players and would have won this game had it not been for Louis Jones' sheer excellence between the posts. Gary McSheffrey described them afterwards as 'Probably the best team we've faced this season' and I'd agree with that.

Worst opposition team performance: Scunthorpe vs Doncaster (U23s), 2nd March
Maybe I expected too much from Scunny ahead of this game, who knows? Regardless, they got plopped 6-1, it should have easily been a bigger scoreline and they looked dreadful. Yes, DRFC played exceptionally well, but equally the visitors were awful.

Best individual DRFC performance: Jack Watson (vs Burton U18s), 31st August
Across the Under 23s and 18s, there's been some terrific individual displays which all deserve a mention; Max Watters and Kian Johnson at Rotherham in October being two, Louis Jones' display against Exeter being another, whilst Will McGowan's vision and technique has also sliced open so many opposing teams. My choice though is Jack Watson's display against Burton in August, because, to score four times in a game is some achievement. One strike won him the LFE Goal of the Month award as well.

Best individual opposition performance: John McAtee (Scunthorpe), 19th November
After some thought I've chosen John McAtee in this category. His movement was on a different level during the 1-1 draw at Cantley Park in November, even though his finishing was awry. Others who made a lasting impression during the course of the season were Harry Jessop (Scunthorpe), Elliot Goldthorp (Bradford) and Rio Molyneux (Mansfield).

Best DRFC performer(s) overall (U18s): Ben Blythe
As mentioned many times, Ben Blythe has led by example all year long - producing several mature, confident and impressive displays in defence. Special mentions must also go to Will McGowan, Jack Watson and Junior Smith who, once he found consistency, was another top performer.

Best DRFC performer(s) overall (U23s): Max Watters
Max Watters wins in this category due to the fact his displays earned him a call-up to the first team squad where he featured a handful of times. Others who've done well over the course of the season are AJ Greaves (always tough/combative), Branden Horton (who has looked accomplished at both left-back and left centre-back) and Danny Amos (who has continued to get better).

Most dramatic comeback: Grimsby (U23s), 3rd December
With only a quarter-of-an-hour to go, it seemed inconceivable that Grimsby would get anything from the game as they trailed 2-0 down and hadn't played particularly well. Somehow though, they did just that - capitalising on some poor defending to strike three times in quick succession!

Biggest surprise: Scunthorpe (U18s) title-race capitulation
When Scunthorpe beat Rovers, 3-2, at Cantley Park in December, they closed the gap at the top of the FLYA table to just two points, though they had four games in hand. It was hard not to put them as title favourites, especially as they'd won seven of their nine games up to this point. However, they achieved just four more points from six games after Christmas! What on earth went wrong?

Worst referee/decision: Dane Carrick (various U23s games)
I don't want to hang referees out to dry, especially ones who give up their spare time to do midweek afternoon games. However, there were probably a few players wishing Dane Carrick hadn't bothered to turn up as he handed out seven yellows in one fixture which wasn't overly aggressive. After showing zero cards during his next appearance, he reverted back to dishing them out like confetti in another game later in the season. Some of the cards were absolutely ridiculous and, unfortunately, I haven't seen a worse referee in the last 12 months.

Best facility visited: PPG Canalside, Huddersfield
Although this place isn't your traditional training ground, it's somewhere I enjoyed visiting. Located on the outskirts of the town centre, bizarrely just behind a McDonalds Drive-Thru, it boasts decent facilities including a well-maintained grass pitch on which DRFC put goals six past their counterparts in a ruthless performance.

Weirdest facility visited: St George's Park (Graves), Chesterfield/Sheffield
This is a weird place. Firstly, it's not actually in Chesterfield - it's on the outskirts of Sheffield, squeezed behind a small retail park which includes a Greggs/Costa Coffee. There's literature telling you not to wear high heels or take pushchairs onto the pitch and you have to 'sign in' to access the facility - even if you're just a spectator! The lads played on the 4G pitch as Chesterfield's Fans Club had organised a match on the adjacent grass pitch against another set of supporters! They'll be no trip here next season, nevertheless, as the Spireites are closing their academy (to an extent) as knock-on effects of relegation from the EFL, two years ago, continue.

Day 17: Malaga

With palm trees everywhere and glorious sunshine pretty much all-year long, then you'd be hard pushed not to enjoy your time in Malaga - a city famous for being the birthplace of Pablo Picasso!

Situated in the heart of Andalusia on the Costa Del Sol, it's a place which has a relaxing atmosphere and is packed with several things to see/do. It's not a huge place by any means, therefore, most of the major landmarks are all within close proximity (walking distance) to one another.

You'll most probably arrive at Malaga Airport; the fourth-busiest in Spain behind Madrid, Barcelona and Palma, from where it takes about 20-30 minutes to get to the city centre by the metro which seemed reliable, efficient and cheap when I visited in December 2018.

One of Malaga's most picturesque attractions is the Alcazaba de Málaga - an old Moorish castle built upon the ruins of a Roman bastion nearly 1,000 years ago. It has plenty of greenery around it and offers some remarkable views of the city below, overlooking the nearby Plaza De Toros (La Malagueta) where bullfighting still takes place to this day. Also located nearby is the impressive 'Catedral de la Encarnación de Málaga' which, you probably wouldn't be able to say if you walked 5-10 minutes in-land and got p*ssed in one of the many tapas bars/restaurants around the main square. Venture a few minutes from there and there are plenty of museums to visit, should you be that way inclined and want to learn more about the city's past.

If you're just wanting to soak up the sunshine, however, then you'll love Playa la Malagueta - a long and sweeping golden beach which certainly wasn't particularly crowded on my visit. Or, if you fancy doing some shopping, then the city has plenty to whet the appetite in that respect too.

Football fans might be aware that Malaga CF, the city's football team play at the Estadio La Roseleda. It's a stadium that was used in the Spain '82 World Cup and has decent facilities compared to many others in the country. On matchdays, you can freely wander around the stands to get different views as security is lackadaisical to say the least. Whilst the team did reach the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League less than a decade ago, they've since fallen on hard-times and currently find themselves languishing in the nether regions of the Second Division. Nevertheless, it does mean ticket prices are slightly cheaper (around €10-€20) than what they would be if they were back in La Liga.

There's so much more I could write about Malaga and it's somewhere you should definitely consider visiting - even if it's just to escape the winter blues in the UK. However, the photos will tell the story of how great this place is. Enjoy!

Best (and worst) of 2019/20: First Team

As the final game of the season (the Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley) was meant to be earlier this week, it seems an appropriate enough time to reflect on the best/worst moments of games which I watched over the past 12 months.

In total, I saw 59 first team matches in 2019/20 and, quite remarkably considering I've developed a habit over the years for picking sh*te games to go to, there were actually only two goalless draws amongst them.

I was planning to reach the landmark of having seen 1,000 competitive English/Scottish games by the end of this season but someone eating a wild bat in China put paid to that plan.

Anyway, including a few random facts, these are my best/worst choices for this season:

Total Games Seen: 59
Total Goals: 136
Countries Visited: 6
Highest Scoring Game: 6 Goals: Rangers 6-0 St Joseph's
Lowest Scoring Game: 0 Goals: Peterhead 0-0 Inverness, Huddersfield 0-0 Middlesbrough
Biggest Attendance: 59,626: Tottenham vs Bournemouth
Money Spent: Too Much!
Highlights: Rangers (July), Dinamo Zagreb (September), South Wales Derby (October), Tottenham (November), Rochdale (January), Manchester Derby (January)

Best overall game: Rochdale 1-1 Newcastle, FA Cup Third Round.
This could have been an all-time cup classic, but it was certainly memorable in any case. The League One team were utterly rubbish for much of the first half, looked way off the pace, and deserved to be 3-0 down but Newcastle couldn't take their chances - partly because Joelinton was in the side! After half-time, Rochdale looked transformed and absolutely battered their opponents, eventually equalising and being unfortunate not to snatch a late winner.

Most enjoyable DRFC game: Doncaster 3-1 Wycombe, 29th February
This game, which turned out to be the last match at the Keepmoat before lockdown, was really enjoyable. Wycombe were (and still are, if the season resumes) a good team yet Rovers did a very effective job and took their chances to get the three points. The officials weren't very good either that day, which aided the atmosphere a bit and made the occasion even more enjoyable.

Worst (and also least enjoyable) game overall: Huddersfield 0-0 Middlesbrough, 23rd October
Imagine 70 minutes of mind-numbing, sterile nothingness between two toothless teams who wouldn't have been able to score in a brothel. I left 20 minutes before full-time safe in the knowledge that I'd not miss anything else!

Best goal: Niall Ennis (Doncaster Rovers)
The only strike which instantly springs to mind is Niall Ennis' goal for Doncaster against Lincoln way back in August. He showed a good touch, then technique to bring a long downfield punt under control and finished with aplomb.

Worst miss: Tom Nichols (Bristol Rovers)
The undoubted winner here is Tom Nichols' spot-kick, which was saved, for Bristol Rovers at Doncaster in October. It wasn't a great penalty to start with - by no means the worst I've ever seen but certainly not the best either. This choice is more down to the fact that plenty of strikers have misfired over the years, but his appalling average of 1 goal every 29 appearances, at the time, takes bad statistics to a whole new stratosphere.

Best team performance: Forest Green Rovers (vs Salford), 28th September
Forest Green's total destruction of Salford City in September was brilliant. They won 4-0, were leading after only a couple of minutes and it was a faultless performance - even to the point where they were defending professionally and astutely up to the final whistle to 'cash in' with the clean-sheet bonus. It was a very, very high quality display, so it surprised me they crashed badly in the second part of the season.

Best Doncaster Rovers performance: Vs Oxford United, 1st January
I'd plump for the game-management in the New Year's Day win over Oxford with this category. The visitors were one of the best teams in the division yet came unstuck due to a very good and mature defensive showing. Better still was it came on the back of the worst team display of the season in the home defeat to Sunderland.

Worst team performance: Sunderland (Vs Scunthorpe), 12th November
Phil Parkinson named a strong line-up, on paper you'd have thought they'd win, yet they got hammered and were gutless. Yes, it was only the Mickey Mouse Trophy, but even still... Another dreadful display worth mentioning was Cardiff's limp, lacklustre and truly sh*te showing in the South Wales Derby - a big occasion on which they badly let their fans down.

Best comeback: Doncaster (Vs Rotherham), 7th September
Had Jan Vertonghen not made a last-ditch challenge to stop a Bournemouth play breaking clean through on goal in the dying seconds of Spurs' 3-2 win over the Cherries in November, then that game would be the winner. Therefore, I'll have to go with Doncaster's 2-1 league win over Rotherham in September on the basis that the visitors were miles superior in the early stages but were out-smarted in the second half.

Biggest cock up: No outright winner as such!
No mistake in particular springs to mind, but Doncaster have conceded some pretty poor goals due to messing around and 'over-playing' at the back. I admire the bravery in some ways (even though playing out from the back is the latest, modern day phenomenon in football), but there's a time and place to do it and it's resulted in two or three cheap goals being conceded.

Worst refereeing decision: Sebastian Stockbridge (Doncaster vs Oxford)
This season's remarkable officiating disaster was provided by Seb Stockbridge who lost the ability to count out 10 yards, when Oxford had a free-kick, in their 1-0 loss at Doncaster. The U's players and fans weren't happy and after footage emerged afterwards, it soon went viral.

Best atmosphere: Rochdale vs Newcastle, 4th January
It was raucous, red-hot atmosphere after Aaron Wilbraham equalised for Rochdale in this game - a moment where David seemed capable of toppling Goliath. The Geordies played their part by creating a racket beforehand and it was a proper cup game with a good atmosphere.

Best stadium visited: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Tottenham's new stadium is a fantastic venue, steeped in history and club memorabilia which pays tribute to White Hart Lane. You can wander around freely in the upper tiers to enjoy different views and it's definitely worth visiting if/when you get the chance. £39.50 (which I think was the ticket price) well spent!

Worst stadium (and with the worst atmosphere) experienced: Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb
It's Croatia's national stadium and where Gary Neville scored an infamous own goal with a back-pass that hit a bobble on the pitch and went over Paul Robinson's foot in a European Championship qualifier several years ago. However, it has no roof, Dinamo Zagreb attract just a few thousand fans despite the capacity being over 35,000 and it just felt very underwhelming.

Biggest surprise: Chesterfield (from worse to even worse)...
The Spireites never cease to amaze me but you'd think, given their (lack of) achievements in recent seasons, I might have learned that they're not very good nowadays. However, having seen them twice (and thankfully no more) even I thought they'd have performed better than getting caught up in another relegation battle in the National League.

Least surprising thing to have happened: VAR being hated
Having seen VAR used abroad in games before this season then I knew it'd cause problems over here, but even I didn't expect players to be penalised for fractional (and farcical) offside decisions, or perfectly good goals to be chalked off - as happened at Sheffield United in January when Declan Rice was penalised for a trivial handball following a long and lengthy delay.

Day 16: Valencia

I've moved a few hundred miles down the Mediterranean coast to Valencia - the third-largest city in Spain behind Barcelona and Madrid and famous not just for its oranges, but for also being where paella originates from!

Even though I was only here for a couple of days (and that was primarily to watch Valencia play Real Sociedad), there was still enough time to soak up the sweltering sunshine and see a few bits and pieces of what the city has to offer.

It's a city with a great culture, very good cuisine, but perhaps not as many notable or eye-catching tourist attractions as other cities in Europe.

I was based in the Old Town (which can be seen in many of the photos) and it was lovely to have a stroll around, even though the boiling hot sunshine made me want to hide away in shaded areas. Other attractions include 'Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencas' - which is basically a state-of-the-art science and culture park and L'Oceanografic - a large aquarium with sharks and dolphins in a building which has similarities in its design to the Sydney Opera House.

The Turia River, once upon a time, flowed through Valencia but nowadays it's a public park. Basically, when it over-flowed and devastated three-quarters of the city during the 1950s, the local authority decided to make sure something similar would never happen again by completely re-routing the river away from the centre and into the Mediterranean Sea - thus allowing for the chance to turn what was previously the river into green spaces!

Football fans will no doubt be aware that Estadio Mestalla, which is one of the most iconic venues in Europe due to its steep and sloping stands, is situated in the city. It's around an half-hour walk from the Old Town but there are a couple of metro stops much, much closer to the ground, it's not too far from the sea-front and it's an absolute 'Must Visit' for anyone interested in football - especially considering that Valencia have plans to finally move to a new stadium in the next decade or so!

The club actually began construction on a brand-new ground during the late 2000s but had to halt construction amidst a financial crisis, even though plenty of concrete and steel-work had already been erected. Eerily, in the 10 years since, the site of where the new stadium would be has been pretty much abandoned. The club have mooted at plans in the last couple of years to recommence with construction, but then Covid-19 came along - so, what happens next, who knows? There is a third stadium within the city boundaries called Estadi Ciutat de Valencia which is home to Levante who have infrequently yo-yo-ed between La Liga and the Segunda Liga for much of the past 20 years.

Finally, it's worth a mention that Valencia is on the Costa Blanca - though both Benidorm and Alicante, around 100 miles south, probably have better beaches!