If broad analogies relating to long ago times in the FA Cup are for you, then regular followers of this blog will know your genial host here at SAMTIMONIOUS.com draws them with the widest possible sweep of his pen.
Indeed, they do not come any broader than one now attached to the fourth round ties of 1975-76 when in footballing terms supersonic craft came up against family saloons – this in the same late-January week of 1976 when Concorde made its first commercial flight and Chrysler announced they were ending their 13-year production of the Hillman Imp.
In less fanciful parlance (but only just), the draw for round four had also brought together juggernauts in the context of four all-Division One ties. Yet the fixture that would draw the most publicity was, to further broaden the analogy, an articulated lorry coming up against a Ford Escort van in respect of an Elland Road meeting between star-studded Leeds United and third division Crystal Palace – the fedora hat publicity-shy Palace manager Malcolm Allison had taken to wearing, the equivalent of two furry dice hanging from the rearview mirror.
Given that Leeds had reached three FA Cup Finals so far during the decade, were only eight months on from a losing European Cup Final appearance and currently second in the table made such a contest appear a bye in all but name.
The same school of thought, by and large, applied to the only team above Jimmy Armfield’s near all-international XI. Manchester United, having raced into pole position on their top flight return following a one-season second tier tenure, also faced a game of dumper truck/dinky toy proportion as they prepared to entertain Peterborough United of Division Three – entertainment an operative phrase in relation to the Old Trafford outfit, whose dynamic, attacking play was matched by consistency in recent weeks, Tommy Docherty’s swashbuckling side arriving at the first division summit in the midst of a nine match unbeaten run.
Beneath the two clubs holding down first and second place, the FA Cup field was about to shorn of several heavy-duty vehicles as third-placed Liverpool travelled to fourth in the table Derby County, seventh or sixth would go out with Stoke City playing host to Manchester City, with two of Coventry City/Newcastle United and Ipswich Town or Wolves also on the verge of seeing their hopes of an early May visit to Wembley about to vanish for another year.
The meeting of fourth division Bradford City and Isthmian League outfit Tooting & Mitcham United (the only remaining non-league entity), paired the two lowest ranked sides left in the cup against one another, while a quartet of all-second division contests – Charlton Athletic v Portsmouth, Southampton v Blackpool, Sunderland v Hull City, York City v Chelsea – guaranteed at least four second tier clubs would have a stake in the fifth round draw.
It was, however, highly unlikely given how Sunderland, against the odds had lifted the trophy from their Division Two standing just three years before, that this once in a generation lightning flash of a second division side winning the cup, would strike again in the same place anytime soon.
48 hours before the majority of fourth round games took place, ITV broadcast the network premier of ‘The Italian Job‘ a 1969 crime caper film starring Michael Caine. In one scene his criminal associates are driving through the streets of Turin on their way to committing a robbery in a white Ford Thames van, which on the side has names of several English footballers (this on the premise of an Italy v England international match taking place in the city that day).
One of the players in immortalized in such a way is Peter Osgood, once a star striker of Chelsea and member of their 1970 FA Cup winning line-up. Having moved from SW6 to the slightly less glamourous surroundings of Southampton in 1974, Osgood at least had glorious FA Cup memories to reflect upon – the chances of creating any more somewhat slim with the Saints now drifting along in the confines of Division Two……..
Selected FA Cup Fourth Round ties 1975-76 (Saturday 24 January 1976):
LEEDS UNITED 0 CRYSTAL PALACE 1:
Given the wealth of experience built up through years of chasing down honours, Leeds were beginning to resemble William Holden’s gang in iconic 1969 Sam Peckinpah western ‘The Wild Bunch‘ – aging gunslingers they might be, but still capable of shooting themselves out of most situations.
So when a crew of low-ranked renegades came riding up over the horizon, it was not likely to take much ammunition in seeing them off. But as things transpired it was Leeds who shot themselves in the foot.
As an appraisal, however, such is slightly unfair on Palace, who moved the ball around with purpose in negating most of what Leeds had to offer while firing off several salvos of their own. The one which proved most decisive arrived in the 24th minute when Dave Swindlehurst powered a header past Leeds ‘keeper David Harvey, the Palace striker connecting with a superbly flighted free-kick from England U-23 international winger Peter Taylor, who was in suitably excellent form all afternoon.
At the other end visiting goalkeeper Paul Hammond saved well from ex-England forward Allan Clarke, while Welsh international Terry Yorath had an effort cleared off the line. But all told Palace progressed without too many alarms and clad in their Barcelona-like strip carried out a superior containment job on Armfield’s men than the Spanish giants managed in an Elland Road European Cup semi-final first-leg the previous April – proof that flamboyant boss Allison still had a head for tactical nous as well as natty headgear.
While for Leeds this was not quite the bitter end, (they would reach the semi-finals 12 months later), being dumped out of the cup on their own patch by third division opposition running around like they owned the place, signaled the best of ’70s times were behind them – none more so evident in the second half substitution of one trophy-winning stalwart for another, the net effect of Norman Hunter coming on to replace inspirational skipper Billy Bremner being the last FA Cup appearance either would make as a Leeds player.
DERBY COUNTY 1 LIVERPOOL 0:
If there was notion around the Baseball Ground this could be their time, 30 years on from winning the first post-war FA Cup Final, then it was becoming apparent Derby might well have to do things the hard way.
After eliminating Everton in the previous round, the reigning league champions were now presented with a challenge from the other side of Stanley Park and while Liverpool had already accounted for holders West Ham in round three, Dave Mackay’s side on their turf – where there was some to be found on a generally quagmire pitch – represented an altogether sterner proposition.
Having been held to a surprising stalemate by bottom of the table Sheffield United the previous week, Bob Paisley’s side again fired nothing but blanks on their visit to the East Midlands – this hard-fought encounter decided 18 minutes from time by Rams striker Roger Davies, who had only just entered the fray as a substitute.
Liverpool responded to their cup exit by dishing out a 4-0 hammering to hapless West Ham the following week and when they travelled to the Baseball Ground again three weeks later it would the visitors who scored late – Ray Kennedy netting in the 86th minute to claim a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw.
Derby, meanwhile, after removing two significant obstacles from their pathway, were just starting to see a first FA Cup Final appearance since 1946 on the distant horizon.
STOKE CITY 1 MANCHESTER CITY 0 (Played 28/1/76):
On the day when most of the other FA Cup runners were involved in fourth round action, Stoke were contesting a third round replay against visiting Spurs, the tie rearranged from the original date due to parts of Victoria Ground being damaged by gale force winds to have recently hit the Potteries.
In the event Tony Waddington’s side won through against Tottenham, their reward being a midweek visit from happy as they come Manchester City, the Maine Road club having secured a place in the League Cup Final seven days earlier.
If seeking origin to the old dictum of ‘a feisty, freezing night in Stoke‘ it could well be this encounter. Temperatures were around freezing while tempers stayed in a constant state of inflamed. In the days when two leading top division clubs named full-strength teams to face each other in the FA Cup and ties were played with all the edge both sets of players could muster, even a referee with the experience of Pat Partridge had a job maintaining order – and even then he lost patience with Stoke full-back Mike Pejic, dismissed for a foul on Dennis Tueart, with opposite number Willie Donachie also ordered off when overstepping the mark in fouling Stoke winger Jimmy Robertson.
In the end this blood (literally) and thunder (metaphorically) clash was decided by a Jimmy Greenhoff goal nine minutes from time, Stoke weathering this particular storm of two tough FA Cup ties in four days while removing any hope in Tony Book’s team of making a second Wembley visit before the season was out.
COVENTRY CITY 1 NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 – Replay 28/1/76: NEWCASTLE UNITED 5 COVENTRY CITY 0;
Another side with designs on making two Wembley visits before 1975/76 came to an end were Newcastle.
One was already assured, The Magpies heading south to face League Cup Final opponents Manchester City in four weeks time, maintaining hopes of a second dependent on how they fared on a visit to fellow mid-table merchants Coventry.
While the Sky Blues held home advantage, the visitors, with only two defeats in the last 14 league and cup games had current form in their favour. These portents resulted in honours even at Highfield Road where a 29th minute goal from Alan Gowling was cancelled out after the break, Coventry replying through Donal Murphy (68) to necessitate a Tyneside replay.
But if things had been heavy weather at Highfield Road, it was plain sailing for the hosts at St James’ Park, Newcastle with goals from Micky Burns (23) and Gowling (38) having one foot in round five by half-time. The addition of three more – Malcolm Macdonald (70/75), Tommy Cassidy (90) – without reply after the break, set in motion a scoring spree that would see Gordon Lee’s side score 15 times in four games, their next three games yielding two three’s and a four.
YORK CITY 0 CHELSEA 2:
Six years before, when the Kings Road welcomed home their cavalier FA Cup winners, York were a million miles down stream floating around in the calm mid-table waters of Division Four.
But in the here and now of 1975/76 they were on equal second division footing (the two sides having played out a goalless Stamford Bridge draw back in October), the upward curve of York apparent in a second season in Division Two, while a steady ’70s decline found Chelsea in new, albeit reduced circumstances.
The swinging times of the late-60s and early-70s might be fast-fading memories, but Chelsea still bowled up at Bootham Crescent with four (Peter Bonetti, Ron Harris, Charlie Cooke, Ian Hutchinson – five if including manager Eddie McCreadie), of their 1970 FA Cup winning ensemble in tow and while the reality of relegation was taking time to comprehend judging by erratic recent results, there was still a touch of swagger beneath the swirling surface.
Buoyed by an early Bill Garner goal (14) the visitors made relatively light work of advancing to round five, the furthest they had ventured since a quarter-final appearance in 1973. But the sense an era was ending rather than a new dawn being at hand could be viewed through the prism of a 67th minute strike from long-serving forward Ian Hutchinson.
Scorer of the late-Wembley leveler against Leeds in 1970 that resulted in the ultimately triumphant Old Trafford replay, the goal that settled this Bootham Crescent contest proved his last in a Chelsea shirt.
MANCHESTER UNITED 3 PETERBOROUGH UNITED 1:
Invariably, the biggest crowd of the day gathered at Old Trafford where the hosts, undefeated since mid-November comfortably asserted their HGV status over Peterborough – the visitors quickly back-peddling as goals from Alex Forsyth (8) and Sammy McIlroy (11) soon had United in the driving seat.
Posh, in the charge of Noel Cantwell, skipper when Manchester United last raised the trophy 13 years before, reduced the deficit when striker John Cozens struck ten minutes shy of half-time, although any doubts about the outcome were banished by a superb strike 73rd minute strike from Gordon Hill in front of a rapturous Stretford End.
With a home match against relegation-threatened Birmingham City the following week, two years on from the doom and gloom of relegation chat, Old Trafford talk now centred on whether a league and cup double could be achieved.
SOUTHAMPTON 3 BLACKPOOL 1:
Eighteen months on from their surprise relegation from Division One (England striker Mick Channon leading top flight marksman in 1973/74, the campaign that saw Saints demoted), Southampton were also having difficulty adjusting to their new circumstances, often capable, but too frequently unreliable.
On paper at least they could put out a side that looked too good for Division Two, if one that sometimes flattered to deceive – a 4-3 Bloomfield Road reversal against The Seasiders back in October being a case in point.
Much like three singers, Perry Como, Slim Whitman and Roy Orbison, who all topped the U.K. album charts in the first two months of 1976 (Orbison number one in this particular week with his ‘Greatest Hits‘ compilation), Saints had a clutch of players, Peter Rodriques, Mel Blyth, Hugh Fisher, Jim McCalliog, Channon and Osgood, who seemed to have been around forever – The Dell quickly in good voice on Channon breaching the Blackpool backline after just five minutes.
Before the afternoon was done he scored a second (67) and while the visitors made the scoresheet through midfielder John Evanson at the death, the outcome had long since been decided – Saints put firmly in charge when forward Bobby Stokes secured a 2-0 advantage four minutes after the break with his first FA Cup goal of the season.
It would not be his last.
The FA Cup Fourth Round of 1975-76:
Bradford City 3 Tooting & Mitcham United 1 (13,127); Charlton Athletic 1 Portsmouth 1 (26,361) (R): Portsmouth 0 Charlton Athletic 3 (31,722); Coventry City 1 Newcastle United 1 (32,044) (R): Newcastle United 5 Coventry City 0 (43,445); Derby County 1 Liverpool 0 (38,200); Huddersfield Town 0 Bolton Wanderers 1 (27,894); Ipswich Town 0 Wolves 0 (29,486) (R) Wolves 1 Ipswich Town 0 (31,333); Leeds United 0 Crystal Palace 1 (43,116);
Leicester City 1 Bury 0 (27,331); Manchester United 3 Peterborough United 1 (56,352); Norwich City 2 Luton Town 0 (24,328); Southampton 3 Blackpool 1 (21,553); Southend 2 Cardiff City 1 (12,894); Stoke City 1 Manchester City 0 (Played 28/1/76 – 38,073); Sunderland 1 Hull City 0 (Played 2/2/76 – 32,320); West Bromwich Albion 3 Lincoln City 2 (26,878); York City 0 Chelsea 2 (9,591);
NEIL SAMBROOK is also the author of MONTY’S DOUBLE – an acclaimed thriller available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book: