On 18 April 1896 Fred Spiksley scored a goal that could be faster than Louis Saha’s goal for Everton in the 2009 final. The Manchester Guardian reporting that the goal was scored after “scarcely 20 seconds had passed”. Other newspaper reports  substantiate this claim, while most do not rule out that the goal is faster than Saha’s 25 second effort.

In August 2015 we submitted our review of Fred Spiksley’s opening goal in the 1896 FA Cup Final to the Football Association. You can view the report yourself by clicking on the cover image below. Sadly there is no-one at the FA who can make a judgement on our work.