A CLASSIC example of no smoke without ire, we have been able successfully to rekindle the curious case (Backtrack, September 28) of Cloughie and the purloined pipe.

Bit between the teeth, he really did appear with it in Sunderland's 1961-62 preseason photograph - and Alan Brown, the disciplinarian manager, still smiling in the front row, may have been the only member of the briar brigade not to get a whiff.

"He was furious, " Clough recalled in Walking on Water, his 2002 autobiography.

The pipe had been pinched from the whitecoated pocket of longserving physio Johnny Watters where ? different days ? it was a semipermanent feature.

The unidentified player to Clough's right seems unamused to a Victorian degree, though full back Len Ashurst - between Clough and Watters - was clearly into the whacky baccy humour of early 60s Sunderland.

Recently returned to Wearside after 30 years in Wales, Len hasn't been available. But the relationship between him and Clough quickly soured when Clough forever blamed him for the misplaced pass which effectively ended his career.

"That moment has rebounded on me many a time, " Ashurst recalled in Patrick Murphy's Clough biography.

"He was never the same person after he got injured; not that I thought too much of him before." Colin Harrison in Knaresbrough and Alan Archbold and Peter Charlton, both in Sunderland, all offered copies of the photograph.

Peter also had chance to recount his claim to fame - other than being star man for Houghton-le-Spring CC third team - which is that he was born in the house in St Nicholas Avenue, Sunderland, where Clough subsequently lived.

It became a club house, in which Welsh international centre half Ray Daniel ? who died, aged 71, in 1997 - had lived previously.

"There were club houses all over Sunderland, but in those days players were more like serfs, " says Peter.

"When Ray Daniel moved in he had nothing and had to buy the carpets and curtains in a separate deal.

"A footballer's life has changed an awful lot since Brian Clough got into trouble for smoking a pipe pre-season."

RICHARD Jones, a member of by far the greatest dominoes team the world has ever seen, reports a remarkable statistic from The Times - not that he buys it, of course, he picked it up on the train.

The Thunderer, at any rate, carried a table of the number of games since British football clubs lost by more than a single goal.

Celtic led with 90-odd; Arsenal, to no greater surprise, were second with 50-something. It was the third-placed club, Darlington, which was the eye opener.

It's exactly 11 months and 39 games, the 3-1 setback at Oxford on November 1 2003 - technically David Hodgson's first game as manager - since the mid-table Quakers last lost a League match by more than one goal. The 14 subsequent defeats included a 4-3.

Hodgson himself was unaware of the singular company the Quakers now keep. "Obviously the goalkeeper and defenders must take credit but it was worth an extra point to us last season because our goal difference was excellent, " he says.

"We're a very difficult side to beat. At the moment we just aren't good enough to win."

WHATEVER the long time reverberations, that earth moving experience at Tow Law this week was dealt with by someone accustomed to keeping cool in a crisis - assistant club secretary Steve Moralee, a polliss in Ferryhill. The admirable PC Moralee even found time to e-mail pictures of the crater, which opened up in the bottom goal mouth, and with an appropriate header. "When you're in a hole, " it said, "stop digging."

LAST week's piece on the 1892 Liverpool v Stockton programme - minimum offer price £1,500 - prompts a note from Liverpool fan John Milburn in Chester-leStreet, whose oldest programme is a mere 1946 issue.

"It was a pretty long trek for a friendly, but possibly train travel was quicker and cheaper in 1892 than it is today, " he muses.

In 1975, he insists, the journey from Durham to Liverpool was quicker than the existing three and a half hours and the return fare very much cheaper than the present £52 - "a second mortgage job, " says John.

None of it compares with the £204 which Virgin Rail wanted last season to charge London-based Liverpool fans Andy Roll and Chris Dominic to see their heroes against Aston Villa at Anfield.

For half the price they flew from London to Brussels and thence to Liverpool, completing the journey in under four hours.

"It was perfect, " said Rolle, "especially when we beat Villa 1-0."

HE played ten times for Scotland, was named Coventry City's all-time cult hero and was for five years the darling of Stamford Bridge.

Now the diminutive David Speedie, bought and sold for millions but a makeweight in the deal which took Alan Shearer from Southampton to Blackburn Rovers, is set for his debut tomorrow in the fourth division of the Over 40s League.

The 44-year-old managing director of a Wigan-based recruitment company, he has signed for Darlington Railway - across town from Feethams, where he is also fondly remembered.

Railway play the Willow Pond, on a council playing field in Sunderland.

"I think it'll be a bit different from Hampden Park, " says Andy Scullion, Railway's secretary, goalkeeper and manager.

His friend Speedie joined the Quakers from Barnsley for just £6,000, managed only four goals in 47 midfield appearances in his first season but had 18 in 47 when pushed up front in the second.

Chelsea paid Darlington £180,000 and made a £600,000 transfer profit when he signed for Coventry ? 142 appearances, 34 goals.

Liverpool paid the Blues £675,000 before the move to Blackburn.

Now living near Doncaster, he has become a familiar and still competitive figure in NorthEast charity matches, including the Save the Quakers game in January, when Scullion paid £5,000 to keep goal.

"David's still incredibly tenacious but a little bit calmer now and hopefully a bit too fast to get kicked up in the air, " says Andy.

"I've been nagging him for ages to play for us, though we scored five last week so mightn't really need him." League secretary Kip Watson is delighted. "He'll love it, " he insists.

And finally...

The player who scored the first Premiership hat-trick (Backtrack Septembner 28) was Eric Cantona, Leeds against Tottenham on August 25 1992.

John Briggs in Darlington today invites readers to name the last two teams to beat Arsenal in the Football League Cup (by whatever name).

Fast forward to Speedie, the column returns on Tuesday.

Published: 01/10/2004