YOU CALL THAT AN INJURY? THIS IS AN INJURY...

IT doesn't take much to leave a modern-day footballer writhing on the turf.

The merest suggestion of a tackle can send a superstar sprawling and God forbid if there's a real injury involved.

A hint of a problem and the player is substituted, the doctors summoned and the tests begin as the science-mad clubs do their upmost to protect their prized assets.

What does Bert Trautmann make of it all?

As seen here the Manchester City goalkeeper was injured in the 1956 FA Cup final between City and Birmingham.

Only this was no ordinary injury - colliding with Birmingham's Peter Murphy when diving at his feet, the German was knocked out and it later emerged he had in fact broken his neck.

Trautmann said: "I flew forward and he came into me - it was like a train crash. I got his thigh in my neck and in that moment I was gone.

"The only treatment I got on the pitch was the 'magic sponge' and cold water. From then on I couldn't remember anything. All I saw was like a fog; a greyness. I saw things moving but didn't really recognise them as players, but instinctively I carried on. I can't explain it, nobody can.

"When I saw it later on the TV I broke down a couple more times and made a couple of saves, but it was like watching a stranger. That was the luckiest time of my life - lucky that I got to play in an FA Cup final and lucky that I could carry on playing after the injury."

No substitutes were allowed so Trautmann, who settled in England after being a prisoner of war, amazingly played on for the final 15 minutes of the match, even making a couple of saves to preserve City's 3-1 lead and help them lift the cup.

Three days later an x-ray revealed the shocking extent of the break - he had dislocated five vertebrae, the second of which had snapped in two. The third had wedged against the second, preventing further damage which could have cost him his life.

Trautmann made over 500 appearances for City, boasted a 60 per cent save rate when facing penalty kicks and in 2004 he was awarded an OBE.

Lev Yashin, Gordon Banks and Stanley Matthews have all lauded the skills of the man who kicked off his football career with St Helens Town.

But he will always be remembered as the man who played on with a broken neck.

BIG-TIME BURNLEY

BURNLEY fans with a long memory will be puzzled at the giant-killer tag they have picked up this season in beating Everton and Manchester United.

Back in the 1950s and 60s, it would have been a surprise if those teams had left Turf Moor with (as it was then) two points as the Clarets were among the big four of the time.

They won the Division One title in 1960 and were second in 1962 with a team that featured genuine greats in midfield - Jimmy Adamson and Jimmy McIlroy.

Burnley were relegated at the end of the 1975-76 season and flirted with dropping into non-league before coming back with a bang this season.

Even the relatively bleak 1970s saw them unearth gems like Ralph Coates who made a big-money move to Tottenham and Everton benefited from taking Martin Dobson and Trevor Steven from Turf Moor.

HERBERT CHAPMAN ON FOOTBALL (1934)

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THE FIRST MATCH OF THE DAY - AUGUST 1964

MATCH OF THE DAY kicked off on August 22, 1964, broadcasting highlights of just one game, Liverpool v Arsenal, on BBC Two, which had launched earlier that year.

A television audience of just 20,000 watched - less than half the figure that witnessed the game first hand at Anfield as Liverpool won 3-2.

The first words of the show came from Kenneth Wolstenhome:

"Welcome to Match of the Day, the first of a weekly series on BBC Two. This afternoon we are in Beatleville..."

November 1969 saw the programme's first colour transmission, with Bill Shankly's Liverpool overcoming West Ham at Anfield.

FOOTBALLERS IN ADVERTS: KEEGAN

DEAR, oh dear - King Kev, what were you thinking?

There's been some terible ads with footballers in over the years - and this one takes some topping.

If you can find any worse, feel free to post them here. Good luck with that...

80s CLASSIC: JOSSY'S GIANTS

"SWAPPING their homework for footwork, kicking the ball till its dark,

We're called Jossy's Giants, football's just a branch of science, head the ball, now Jossy's scored . . . Jossy's Giants!

Dependable, reliant, put your faith in Jossy's Giants. Get stuck in, we're gonna win . . . Jossy's Giants! boom boom"

IT'S A FUNNY OLD GAME...

REMEMBER when you used to laugh at your dad for going on about "the good old days"?

And here I am, going on about the good old days.

But one thing that bugs me (amongst the many things that do) is the lack of a decent footie show on the telly these days.

I used to love a bit of Saint & Greavsie for a not-too-serious look at the game and there was another great show on BBC2 years ago - Standing Room Only - which was like a televised fanzine presented by Simon O'Brien and Shelley Webb (remember the 'supporterloo'?).

Baddiel and Skinner's Fantasy Football was another classic – introducing the football world to 'Statto' and the hilarious 'Phoenix from the Flames' which saw the pair act out a famous moment from football with someone from the incident in question...on a park, with jumpers for goalposts!

These days, well what is there? There's Soccer AM but that's long been past its sell-by date.

And there was that weird show on Setanta where loads of fans sat in a mini-stand and talked about the weekend's issues – but of course that channel has now gone kaput.

It's all far too serious now for my liking – too many gadgets, too many experts and too much analysis.

What happened to the fun bit?