DEBUTS

A souvenir programme and national media coverage for an 'A' team match between Notts County and Nottingham Forest. Yes it happened on 10th February 1979 when Trevor Francis, who had just become Britain's first £1 million footballer after his move from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest, made his debut for Forest in a Midland Intermediate League match.

His manager, the great Brian Clough, wanted to ensure that his debut was in the sort of surroundings that would keep his feet firmly on the ground. Francis made his League debut a couple of weeks later, coming on as a sub for Martin O’Neill against Bristol City at the City Ground. His signing in February meant that he was ineligible to play in Europe until Forest reached the European Cup final in May and he repaid much of that fee by scoring the only goal in the defeat of Malmo in Munich.

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Goalkeeper Tony Coton was an instant hit with the Birmingham City fans when he made his debut for the Blues against Sunderland on Saturday December 27th 1980. Within a minute Blues defender Joe Gallagher gave away a penalty and Coton's first touch of the ball on his debut was to save John Hawley's spot-kick.

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Another goalkeeper didn't have such an enjoyable debut. When Stanley Milton made his debut for Halifax Town against Stockport County in Division 3 (North) on Saturday January 6th 1934 he was on the wrong end of a 13-0 defeat, a record scoreline in a Football League match!

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Nowadays you would think that a player making his League debut would know everything about how he would fit into his own team and about the opposition. Such was not always the case. When Jack Charlton made his debut for Leeds United against Doncaster in April 1953 he waited in vane in the dressing room before the kick off for his manager Raich Carter to give him some guidance as what he should be doing in the match. As he was about to leave the dressing room he finally asked Carter what he wanted him to do. The manager thought for a moment and said 'See how fast their centre forward can limp.'

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Jimmy Greaves was another player who didn't receive any tactical advice before his League debut for Chelsea in 1957. Despite having managed Chelsea to the League title Ted Drake's pre-match encouragement was generally to wish the team 'all the best.' Mind you that didn't seem to hamper Jimmy Greaves. He scored on his League debut for Chelsea (against Spurs on August 23rd 1957) and made scoring debuts for every senior team he played for - England Under 23s (against Bulgaria on September 25th 1957), England (against Peru on May 17th 1959), AC Milan (against Botafogo on June 7th 1961), Spurs (against Blackpool on December 16th 1961) and for West Ham (against Manchester City on March 20th 1970).

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Jonathan Woodgate signed for Real Madrid from Newcastle in August 2004 but injuries prevented him from making his competitive debut for Real until September 22nd 2005 against Athletic Bilbao. And what a debut it was - he scored an own-goal and was sent off after 65 minutes for his second yellow card. In 2007 he was voted the worst signing by a Spanish club in the 21st century.

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When Neil McBain made his League debut in 1947 for New Brighton - then in Division 3 (North) - he made history. In his prime he was an excellent centre-half who had played three times for Scotland but his prime had long gone - he was 51 years and 4 months old when he made his debut, as an emergency goalkeeper! McBain was manager of New Brighton and team selection problems meant that he had to select himself between the posts for the match at Hartlepools United on Saturday March 15th 1947. Hartlepools won 3-0 but McBain had an excellent match. Neil McBain made his first-class debut for Ayr United in 1915 which meant that his playing career spanned an amazing 32 years.