Matthew Eastley - From Ronnie Radford to Roger Osborne: When the FA Cup Really Mattered Part 2

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2014
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

Matthew Eastley, 2014

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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library

Print ISBN 978 1 90962 645 4

eBook ISBN: 978 1 90962 673 7

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Chelsea v Leeds United
11 April 1970

Chelsea v Leeds United (replay)
29 April 1970

Arsenal v Liverpool
8 May 1971

Leeds United v Arsenal
6 May 1972

Sunderland v Leeds United
5 May 1973

Liverpool v Newcastle United
4 May 1974

West Ham United v Fulham
3 May 1975

Southampton v Manchester United
1 May 1976

Manchester United v Liverpool
21 May 1977

Ipswich Town v Arsenal
6 May 1978

Arsenal v Manchester United
12 May 1979

This book is dedicated to the

memory of

Derek Hamersley

25 June 1958 to 22 April 1975

H UNDREDS of people were kind enough to share their memories with me during the research of this book. I would like to say how grateful I am to everyone who responded with such enthusiasm to my requests for help. I would like to extend special thanks to the following people the brackets indicate which team they support: Ray Ashworth (Leeds), Ian Brunton (Manchester United), Bernie Butt (Arsenal), John Cross (Ipswich), George Forster (Sunderland), Dean Goodman (Arsenal), Mick Gorman RIP (Manchester United), Rosemary Gorman, Peter Hamersley (West Ham), Mick Kelly (Arsenal), Ray Leonard (Sunderland), Carole Parkhouse (Leeds), Mike Paxton (Newcastle), Tony Ryan (Manchester United), Jeanette Sutton (Sunderland), Derek Thornton (Newcastle), Jeff Van Doom (Chelsea), Steve Van Doorn (Chelsea), Les Wake (Leeds), Chris Wood (Liverpool), Emilio Zorlakki (Arsenal).

Big thanks also go to Dave Barber at the Football Association, the brilliant football reporter Ken Jones, formerly of the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the Independent newspapers, as well as the following fans: George Ackinlose (Newcastle), Malcolm Adams (Millwall), Colin Appleby (Newcastle), Kevin Appleby (Newcastle), John Archer (Newcastle), Roy Arrigon (Arsenal), Ken Banham (Arsenal), Di Betts (Arsenal), Joe Blake (Newcastle), Stephen Blank (Manchester United), Peter Boyle (Manchester United), Dave Bowman (Sunderland), Alan Brabon (Newcastle), Geoff Buffey (Newcastle), Phil Carmichael (Newcastle), John Carrick (Newcastle), Frank Cozens (Newcastle), Peter Darby (Manchester United), Richard Davis (Arsenal), Paul Devine (Ipswich), David Dickie (Newcastle), John Doyle (Newcastle), Ken Dyer (Ipswich), Chris Eaton (Arsenal), Wendy Edgar (Kilmarnock), Stu Eglon (Newcastle), Alan Findley (Newcastle), John Foley (Chelsea), John Gateshill (Newcastle), Brian Gleghorn (Newcastle), Peggy Goulding (Arsenal), Andy Griffin (Newcastle), Paul Griffin (Manchester United), Dennis Guildford (Newcastle), Geoff Hall (Arsenal), Tom Hall (Arsenal), Peter Harris (Southampton), Barry Hatch (Arsenal), Michael Hoban (Manchester United), Peter Hollingworth (Arsenal), Keith Hudson (Newcastle), Gary Humphrey (Arsenal), Mick Hush (Newcastle), Rob Innis (Southampton), Damian Inwood (Chelsea), Colin Johnson (Newcastle), Colin Kriedewolf (Ipswich), Dale Lang (Newcastle), Peter Lawson (Newcastle), David Lewis (West Ham), Steve Lillico (Newcastle), Bill Lisgo (Newcastle), Paul Lockett (Manchester United), Tony Mallon (Newcastle), Niall McKenzie (Newcastle), Mick McNeill (Newcastle), Andrew McTernan (Newcastle), Alan Millen (Newcastle), Alan Mitchell (Sunderland), Jonathan Morley (Ipswich), Richard Morris (Arsenal), Layne Morrison (Newcastle), Ian Morton (Newcastle), Pauline Nicholas (Liverpool), Alan Oliver (Newcastle), Steve Oliver (Newcastle), Terry Paddison (Newcastle), Ken Parkin (Newcastle), Don Richards (Arsenal), Clive Risbridger (Southampton), Alex Royffe (Spurs), Ian Ruddick (Newcastle), Ronnie Rutter (Newcastle), Andrew Sanderson (Newcastle), Pete Sanderson (Newcastle), David Schofield (Manchester United), Liam Shannon (Newcastle), John Shelley (Newcastle), Ian Short (Manchester United), Ken Smith (Arsenal), Ian Snelling (Arsenal), Jonathan Stott (Newcastle), Graham Stubbins (Arsenal), Phil Stubbs (Leeds), Bill Tebay (Newcastle), Keith Udale (Manchester United), John Whiteoak (Newcastle), Brian Wood (Manchester United), Pete Woods (Southampton).

Thanks also to the following journalists, website owners and press officers who provided me with valuable assistance and publicity: Steve Parish, Andy Exley, Paul Chronnell, Chris Hall, Andy Philip, Brad Jones, Biffa at www.nufc.com, Barney at Red News, Philip Ham at www.twtd.co.uk, Simon Walter, Peter Blythe and Susan Swinney.

Thanks also to the staff in the central libraries at Leeds, Liverpool, Sunderland (Phil Hall), Southampton (Vicky Green), Manchester and Newcastle.

T HE FA Cup is a shadow of its former self and especially so the FA Cup Final. It used to be a showpiece, a truly glamorous event that transcended football and stopped the nation in its tracks. It wasnt just another game. It was the biggest occasion of the domestic sporting calendar.

This book articulates this magic through the eyes of fans who were lucky to attend these famous matches which are etched in the memories of football supporters all over the globe.

It begins with the epic 1970 Chelsea v Leeds FA Cup Final, two matches which encapsulated the true drama of the competition. This book is about the 1970s, which was a particularly magical decade for the cup when the wonderful David and Goliath stories that were part of the fabric of the competition at last spread to the final itself.

Though the First Division at that time was usually fought out between Liverpool, Derby County, Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Arsenal, for some reasons none of these top clubs were able to assert a stranglehold on the FA Cup, allowing less fashionable teams like Sunderland, Southampton, West Ham United and Ipswich Town their moment in the limelight and their fans a journey of unimaginable joy.

The stories of these successes are known by most football fans everywhere. For instance, they know that, in 1973, Sunderland produced one of the greatest shocks in FA Cup football when a goal from Ian Porterfield was enough to beat Don Revies mighty Leeds side, or that, three years on, a late goal from Bobby Stokes gave Southampton victory over Manchester United.

But, what arent known are the stories of the fans who were at these games. Fans who went to extraordinary lengths to get tickets for the greatest match on footballs calendar, fans who defied the Football Associations unfair ticket allocation policy to watch their team at Wembley.