Football Trivia Question of the Day (continued)

[George Hannah]

Hamann?

not Didi or Budgie

 

[moon]

Robert Hopkins?

 

[George Hannah]

Robert Hopkins?

not Hoppy either

 

[aguero93:20]

Fowler?

 

[DunneyMonster]

John Gidman

 

[George Hannah]

Fowler?

not John Gidman and not Robbie Fowler either - although he did for Chairman Bernstein!

 

[lancs blue]

Bert Sproston, signed from Spurs. I'd read this somewhere before, knew Spurs were the club but struggled to recall the player.

 

[George Hannah]

Bert Sproston, signed from Spurs. I'd read this somewhere before, knew Spurs were the club but struggled to recall the player.

absolutely correct

in June 1938 Sproston, who had played 130 games for Leeds United , was sold to Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £9,500. However, he found it difficult to settle in London and in November 1938 he was transferred to Manchester City for £10,000.
In his autobiography, The Way It Was, Stanley Matthews remarked that Sproston was "a tough and uncompromising full-back... who, according to the joke of the time, lived on a diet of raw meat and wingers like me."

In May 1938 Sproston was selected for the England tour of Europe. The first match was against Germany in Berlin. Adolf Hitler wanted to make use of this game as propaganda for his Nazi government. While the England players were getting changed an Football Association official went into their dressing-room and told them that they had to give the raised arm Nazi salute during the playing of the German national anthem. As Stanley Matthews later recalled: "The dressing room erupted. There was bedlam. All the England players were livid and totally opposed to this, myself included. Everyone was shouting at once. Eddie Hapgood, normally a respectful and devoted captain, wagged his finger at the official and told him what he could do with the Nazi salute, which involved putting it where the sun doesn't shine."

It's said Sproston told Stanley Matthews "I know nowt 'bout politics and t'like. All I knows is football. But t'way I see it, yon 'Itler fella is an evil little twat".

The FA official left only to return some minutes later saying he had a direct order from Sir Neville Henderson the British Ambassador in Berlin. The players were told that the political situation between Britain and Germany was now so sensitive that it needed "only a spark to set Europe alight". As a result the England team reluctantly agreed to give the Nazi salute.
After the war Sproston returned to Maine Road and helped Manchester City win the 1947 Second Division title. In 1949 he moved to non-league Ashton United.

Bert Sproston died on 27th December 2000.

 

[lancs blue]

I'll set the next one then, probably fairly easy tbh.

Which three players who have appeared for City's first team also played first-class cricket?

 

[moon]

Dyson rings a bell from somewhere