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  • How did they decide who the substitute was when they only had 1?

    From Mark@21:1/5 to All on Sat Sep 28 20:21:28 2024
    And for my 2nd random question of the day...

    Back when each team only had 1 substitute, how did they decide what
    position to make the substitute? If the substitute was a defender and a
    forward got injured, that wouldn't be much good.

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  • From MH@21:1/5 to Mark on Sat Sep 28 21:45:22 2024
    On 2024-09-28 14:21, Mark wrote:
    And for my 2nd random question of the day...

    Back when each team only had 1 substitute, how did they decide what
    position to make the substitute? If the substitute was a defender and a forward got injured, that wouldn't be much good.

    Players were comparatively much better all rounders in those days. A
    lot more were two-footed, or so it seems.

    My impression was there were two approaches

    1) get a very good allrounder that was regularly used as a sub and could
    fit in most places. Gary Mabutt was such a player for example.

    2) have a super sub who was an attacking player (a la Fairclough) and
    just be confident that some of your midfielders were comfortable enough
    moving back into defence

    I remember all sorts of instances of players playing well out of
    position (eg. Frank Stapleton playing central defence for Man Utd in a
    cup final vs. Everton (probably 1985) after Kevin Moran was sent off.

    And multiple instances of outfield players having to pull on the
    goalkeeper's shirt.

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  • From MH@21:1/5 to Futbolmetrix on Sun Sep 29 18:08:58 2024
    On 2024-09-29 16:14, Futbolmetrix wrote:
    On Sun, 29 Sep 2024 3:45:22 +0000, MH wrote:

    On 2024-09-28 14:21, Mark wrote:
    And for my 2nd random question of the day...

    Back when each team only had 1 substitute, how did they decide what
    position to make the substitute? If the substitute was a defender and a
    forward got injured, that wouldn't be much good.

    Players were comparatively much better all rounders in those days.  A
    lot more were two-footed, or so it seems.

    My impression was there were two approaches

    1) get a very good allrounder that was regularly used as a sub and could
    fit in most places.  Gary Mabutt was such a player for example.

    2) have a super sub who was an attacking player (a la Fairclough) and
    just be confident that some of your midfielders were comfortable enough
    moving back into defence

    But the one-player bench was an English thing, right?

    It lasted a lot longer in England (and I think Scotland as well, though
    I vaguely remember Scotland went to two subs before England) - it was
    not until the 1987-88 season that England went to 2 subs.

    I think Serie A in
    the late 1970s allowed a three-player bench (typically one goalkeeper
    and two outfield players, numbered 12, 13 and 14), with one substitution allowed. 13 and 14 would then be an all-rounder-ish defensive player,
    and an all-rounderish attacking player.

    By the early 80s the Bundesliga allowed two subs, for sure. With, I
    think 5 players actually on the bench. Maybe 4.
    Same was true of European matches by then


    Apparently substitutions were first introduced into the Laws of the Game
    in 1958 (though they had been used before that in various ways and
    places). But no subs were allowed at the World Cup until 1970.






    And multiple instances of outfield players having to pull on the
    goalkeeper's shirt.

    Oh yeah, lots of those.

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