On this day in football

Post by **Knots & crosses** » Thu May 12, 2011 1:00 pm

THERE’S been plenty of drab FA Cup finals in recent years (Chelsea versus Manchester United in 2007 and Arsenal’s win over United in 2005 both spring to mind immediately) where you wish you’d only watched the last five minutes, but when Arsenal and United fought it for the famous old trophy today in 1979, it was all about the last 300 ticks of the refs watch.

For 85 minutes the game had proved to be pretty unremarkable, with Arsenal scoring twice in the first half through Brian Talbot and Frank Stapleton. It looked as though a routine win was on the cards, with Liam Brady in a particularly potent mood that afternoon, strutting his stuff on the right of midfield.

When Gordon McQueen bundled the ball home from a set-piece with five minutes to go, it appeared to be merely a consolation, but straight after this Sammy McIlroy went on a mazy run and ended up dispatching his shot past Pat Jennings in the Arsenal goal.

But, as LL Cool J once warned us, don’t call it a comeback.

As half of the 100,000-strong Wembley crowd were in raptures, believing their team had grabbed an extra-time lifeline from the jaws of defeat, Arsenal’s eyes went firmly back on the prize, and Alan Sunderland bagged a last-minute equaliser for the Gunners.

After the most frantic end to a Cup Final Wembley had ever seen, Arsenal were climbing the 39 steps and Pat Rice hoisted up the cup for the fifth time.

Post by **hang the dj** » Thu May 12, 2011 1:03 pm

Didn't Neil Lennon get a 5 match ban on that day?

Post by **Dartfrog** » Thu May 12, 2011 1:06 pm

Finals seem to disappoint more than entertain these days perhaps due to the financial pressures.

Post by **Knots & crosses** » Thu May 12, 2011 1:08 pm

Dartfrog wrote:Finals seem to disappoint more than entertain these days perhaps due to the financial pressures.

Added to the fact they come at the end of 60+ game seasons these days, invariably involving at least one team who has played that number.

Post by **Dartfrog** » Thu May 12, 2011 1:11 pm

True. And lets not forget the fact the two teams involved could have played each other half a dozen times that season taking the magic out of it.

Post by **Knots & crosses** » Thu May 12, 2011 1:13 pm

Oh, and new wemberlee is shite.

Post by **Furious Wolfie 180** » Thu May 12, 2011 1:23 pm

Lovely stuff when it actually ment something.....big hair..big tashes...jumpers for goalposts...

Post by **Knots & crosses** » Thu May 12, 2011 2:34 pm

Classic finals are sadly a thing of the past it seems, but luckily this is the month of may so many shall be recounted here!!

Post by **Knots & crosses** » Fri May 13, 2011 10:35 am

SUPPORTERS of Dutch second division club PEC Zwolle watch their football in the Johan Cruyff stand. Cruyff never played for the club but they did provide the opposition when he played his very last match, on this day in 1984.

When property developer Marten Eibrink took over Zwolle in 1982 he had the club’s stadium renovated and decided to commemorate the moment by renaming the stadium’s main stand after the Total Footballer.

Cruyff’s final season as a player was not at his beloved Ajax, but instead with Feyenoord. After leading Ajax to a league and cup double in 1982-83, Cruyff was incensed when the club decided not to offer him a new contract, presumably because they thought he was past it.

Cruyff responded to the snub by signing for arch rivals Feyenoord but initially he might have feared the worst: in the first meeting between the two clubs since Cruyff’s switch Feyenoord were absolutely hammered 8-2 – their heaviest ever defeat.

But Cruyff and Feyenoord responded brilliantly, dishing out a 4-1 defeat in the return fixture several months later. And just to prove the Ajax directors spectacularly wrong, Cruyff played 33 of 34 league games and led Feyenoord to the double – so much for being past it.

Ajax ended the season trophyless and with more egg on their faces than Edwina Currie (on this website even our jokes are historical).

So the Total Footballer played his last ever match at PEC Zwolle and the story of the most gifted and remarkable player to ever emerge from Europe was over. Oh, and he went out a high – Feyenoord won 2-1.

Post by **Dartfrog** » Fri May 13, 2011 10:43 am

'Feyenoord were absolutely hammered 8-2 – their heaviest ever defeat.'

Apart from getting pumped 10-0 off of PSV this year.
Good story though, must have been good to prove them wrong, you'd have thought he might have given it a few more years if he was still picking up doubles.

Post by **Knots & crosses** » Fri May 13, 2011 11:15 am

Aye, he could have come to Scotland and cleaned up.

Oh no, that was 3/4s of the Dutch national team in the late nineties.

Post by **DMA** » Fri May 13, 2011 12:05 pm

Last FA cup Final I went was Liverpool v Arsenal 2001 at the millenium. Was a decent game but my heart was sinking after 75 mins with the gooners winning one nil. Up stepped a Michael Owen who was intrested in football back then not racehorses like he is now and history was made. About time we got to another FA Cup Final come on Kenny lets go for it next season.

Post by **Knots & crosses** » Fri May 13, 2011 12:15 pm

I'm sure Ickle mikey treasures that medal.

I'm sure he will treasure the league winners medal he is about to get more.

Post by **DMA** » Fri May 13, 2011 12:23 pm

Knots & crosses wrote:I'm sure Ickle mikey treasures that medal.

I'm sure he will treasure the league winners medal he is about to get more.

I am sure he will Knots, Did you hear the story he got a bollocking at Newcastle for not going training as he was doing something with horses. Can't see Fergie putting up with that shite if Owen tried it.
I think Owen maybe out of old trafford in the summer, big wages they don't need to pay out.
Citeh allready have a 40m bid lined up

Post by **Dartfrog** » Fri May 13, 2011 12:23 pm

Has he played enough games to get a league medal?

Post by **Knots & crosses** » Fri May 13, 2011 12:25 pm

Dartfrog wrote:Has he played enough games to get a league medal?

Aye, he is past the ten game mark.

As for him leaving, his wage wasn't huge, he took a hefty cut to go to united that was mostly based on appearances and goal bonuses.

That being said, he'll be out the door.

Post by **Knots & crosses** » Sat May 14, 2011 12:09 pm

TOTTENHAM Hotspur manager Keith Burkinshaw stunned British football when he signed Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa in 1978. Spurs had just been promoted back to Division One and Burkinshaw brought in the two Argentine World Cup stars to boost his side – they were the first high profile foreign stars to be brought to an English club.

Some claimed it would be a disaster, that they would never keep up with the pace of the English game, and even that they would not be able to adapt to the colder climate.

But the two proved all their doubters wrong and became two of the most celebrated players in Spurs’ history.

Today in 1981 Ricky Villa cemented his place in Tottenham legend when he scored the best goal ever seen in an FA Cup Final.

The first time Tottenham lined up to face final opponents Manchester City, Tommy Hutchison was both hero and villain for City when he scored for them, before also scoring an own goal, meaning the tie was level at 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes.

In those days the Cup Final went to a replay and it was in that second match that Villa got his shooting boots on. He scored his first in the eighth minute before Steve MacKenzie got one back just three minutes later. A Kevin Reeves penalty followed by a Garth Crooks goal meant the teams were again level, this time at 2-2.

The Villa stepped up to the plate. He picked up a pass from Tony Galvin on the edge of the area and then weaved his way past Tony Caton, Ray Ranson then, almost humiliatingly, Caton again before sliding a shot beyond the advancing Joe Corrigan.

Tottenham had won the Cup and Villa was an instant hero, and his goal was later chosen as the best goal ever scored at Wembley. He said: “That goal immortalized me, I even received a prize for it. It was a goal in the Argentine way: cunning and imaginative.”

And he knows the place his goal has in English football, adding: “I recognise that I am a little part of the history of English football.”

His pal Ossie Ardiles says Ricky has a script when asked about the goal. “People ask the question and it’s like he’s turned a tape recorder on,” he said. “I know exactly what he’s going to say. Seriously, he only talks about it when he’s been asked and it deserves the attention. It was a wonderful, wonderful goal and I am so pleased that it has been chosen as one of the best FA Cup goals ever.”

Post by **Dartfrog** » Sat May 14, 2011 12:15 pm

Ah the days of Cup Final replays...seems a strange concept now.

Post by **Knots & crosses** » Sun May 15, 2011 8:12 pm

WHEN Bryan Robson opened his Christmas presents in 2004 you could have forgiven him for being a tad preoccupied. His West Brom team sat at the bottom of the Premier League pile, with just a solitary league win, and as everyone knows, the team that’s bottom at Christmas is always relegated.

But, as he no doubt sat down that afternoon to watch Steve McQueen iconically motorcycling his way out his POW camp in everyone’s favourite Christmas Day movie, he might have just got inspired, as he set about leading the Baggies back from the brink.

Fast-forward five months and it all came down to Survival Sunday, today in 2005. After 37 rounds of Premier League action not a single team had been relegated, as West Brom, Southampton, Crystal Palace and Norwich all took turns to flit between bottom of the league and that all-important 17th place.

Sky Sports, meanwhile, couldn’t believe their luck and turned the hype-o-meter up to 11. Adverts for Survival Sunday flowed thick and fast on our screen, dripped in hyperbole, as Jeff Stelling prepared and the lads got ready for one of hell of an edition of Soccer Saturday (er… on a Sunday though).

Norwich started the day safe, two points from bottom of the table West Brom. Saints and Palace sat level on points between the Canaries and the Baggies, so there were enough permutations knocking around to confuse even Stephen Hawking.

The only team with their destiny in their own hands were Norwich, and boy did they make a dog’s dinner out if, as Delia’s finest crumbled 6-0 away to Fulham. Southampton had the unenviable task of hosting Manchester United and would lose 2-1, meaning their 27-year spell in the top-flight was over, much to the distress of club legend Matt LeTissier. Le Tiss wasn’t in the Sky Sports studio that day, but foolishly put himself through the mixer three years later as Saints dallied with relegation from the Championship.

Palace meanwhile, were 2-1 up at Charlton with less than 20 minutes to go, which put Ian Dowie’s men in the box seat for survival. On a day featuring more plot twists than an hour in the life of Jack Bauer, Jonathan Fortune bagged an equaliser and now it was West Brom, winning 2-0 at home to Portsmouth, that were in the promised land of fourth-from-bottom.

The final whistle at the Hawthorns brought about mass scenes of celebration, as the homes fans swamped the pitch and were joined in the party atmosphere by the visiting Pompey support, revelling in their bitter rivals Southampton’s relegation. We’re not saying this was a fix, but if we had the conspiratory mind of an Italian, then who knows?

Bryan Robson’s masterplan was complete, be it equal parts luck, design and even more luck. This was the first time since Sheffield United beat the drop during the 1990/91 season that the bottom-placed team at Christmas had survived.

Having said that, West Brom had the worst record of any Premiership team to survive, having mustered just six wins and 34 points. And at the time of writing, they’re giving it another go this season.

Post by **Knots & crosses** » Mon May 16, 2011 11:27 am

HUNGARY’S 6-3 win over England in 1953 was seen by many as the day that English football was overtaken and the Three Lions’ superiority ended.

Look further back though, and you’ll see that the writing was on the wall long before the Mighty Magyars rode into town, as today in 1929 saw England lose 4-3 to an up-and-coming Spain side that were starting to get the hang of this international football lark.

England had over 50 years worth of international experience in the locker, since the early clashes with Scotland in the 1870s, and believed they had pre-ordained right to be the best at the sport they had invented.

Spain were the rising stars of the continent and were managed Jose Maria Mateos who was assisted by an ex-pat Englishman Fred Pentland who had turned out five times for England.

England had arrived in Spain after 4-1 and 5-1 wins over France and Belgium respectively, but newspaper the Daily Sketch and Graphic saw some flaws in the England team: “The Englishmen played none too well. They lacked speed and will have to play better if they are to beat Spain, who a month ago beat France by eight goals to one,” they said.

England started the match all guns blazing, as Joe Carter bagged two early goals to put his side 2-0 up after only 20 minutes. Spain weren’t over-awed by this though and evened things up by half-time through goals from Gaspar Rubio and Jamie Lazcano.

Realizing they had a fight on their hands England again took the lead when Joe Bradford scored and it looked like the Three Lions had put the Spaniards to bed.

But, with England being England, nothing is ever that simple. Lazcano scored an equalizer that prompted a pitch invasion at the Estadio Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, as England tired in the blistering afternoon heat.

The onrushing crowd were forced off the pitch by civil guards brandishing swords and two minutes later Severino Goiburu scored a famous winner for the home side.

The Daily Express was shell-shocked, writing: “I never thought I would live to see the day when 11 Spanish players humbled the might – more or less – of English soccer.”

Whilst Spain’s oft-forgotten win over England is not heralded as the beginning of the end for the England team, it was a distinct marker for the advancement of the international game.