For those taking note of such things, the sense of change accompanying the start of a new decade was never more apparent than the opening months of 1970.
As the 70s dawned, The Beatles, nominally, were still together, England reigned as football world champions and the UK was governed by a centre-ground Labour party led by Harold Wilson. Yet by mid summer the Fabs had splintered into three serious solo artists and bon vivant Ringo, the Jules Rimet trophy now belonged to Pele and Rivalino rather than Moore and Ramsey – with 10 Downing Street now the domain of newly elected Prime Minister Edward Heath, the Tories regaining power following a shock General Election result.
Despite the changes, be they unexpected or unwelcome, 60s stalwarts The Kinks, the Rolling Stones and The Who, kept the flag flying with regard to English rock music at its most innovative and exciting. Indeed, The Kinks and The Who having their respective roots in north and west London was a notable irony relating to domestic football, as the first full season of the 70s would result in three clubs from the capital capturing four major trophies – the League Championship, FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup all coming to rest on a mantlepiece within a decent goal-kick of the Metropolitan Line. London hauling, so to speak.
Befitting a season when television coverage of football completed its transition from monochrome to full illumination (with one notable exception), the football played in 1970-71 was suitably colourful, hugely compelling and not without controversy – contentious refereeing decisions having a significant bearing on a neck and neck, two-horse title race and the outcome of each FA Cup semi-final, both of which were highly-charged affairs.
Whether viewed in isolation or as the opening chapter in a momentous decade for English football, 1970-71 was dramatic, distinct and at times bordered on the deranged – defined for the most part by these twenty matches.
TWENTY GREAT GAMES of 1970-71
DERBY COUNTY 4 MANCHESTER UNITED 4 (26/12/1970): More than a festive feast, this Boxing Day blast at the Baseball Ground can be viewed as a tear-up between the coming men and ghosts of the decade past. Remaining the biggest draw around (no pun intended) even with Best, Law and Charlton in harness the lustre of Manchester United could still be seen, even if it was becoming less frequent.
In attack they would re-enact the Charge of the Light Brigade but defended like the local Boys Brigade company – this scintillating snow-bound encounter providing evidence of both.
As for Derby, the nucleus of their title-winning team of eighteen months later had taken shape and in the middle year of the decade they would be champions again. 1975 would also bring United their first title of the 70s – winning Division Two after being relegated the previous season.
COLCHESTER UNITED 3 LEEDS UNITED 2 (FA Cup fifth round – 13/2/1971): Twelve months before, a shock FA Cup defeat at Watford had been the catalyst for Liverpool manager Bill Shankly to begin replacing several of his red redoubtables of the 60s – but in February 1971 Leeds remained at their peak and such was their mix of brilliance and belligerence, giant-killings were something that happened to those less focused.
So what happened on that extraordinary Essex afternoon? Judging by the highlights Colchester somehow managed to reduce a normally hard-nosed Leeds defence into a hesitant wreck, goalkeeper Gary Sprake particularly affected as the home side created havoc in taking a three goal lead.
Leeds hit-back twice and came within inches of forcing a replay, but the fourth division hosts held out to cause the biggest post-war FA Cup upset (to date).
STOKE CITY 5 ARSENAL 0 (26/9/1970): As the 60s gave way to the 70s there were a clutch of topflight sides – Stoke, Wolves, Newcastle, West Ham among them – whose attacking instincts were such that from time to time they could stick it to anyone irrespective of their pedigree or reputation.
Each were capable of playing dream football one week and being simply dreamy the next, title-aspirants Arsenal rolling into the Potteries on this late September afternoon to receive the cup and saucer of all shellackings.
With the home side in such rampant form, most left the Victoria Ground sporting wide smiles at what they had just witnessed – although ultimately it would by Arsenal who had the last laugh.
EVERTON 1 v LIVERPOOL 2 (FA Cup semi-final – Old Trafford 27/3/1971): In retrospect it seems ironic the most pivotal Merseyside derby of the decade should take place within sight of the Manchester Ship Canal. Three days after a controversy-ridden European Cup quarter-final exit against Greek champions Panathinaikos, the ideal riposte for the land of Evertonia would be reaching the FA Cup Final at the hands of their nearest and severest rivals.
For an hour it looked on the cards, a goal from Alan Ball emphasising their early dominance. But for the reigning league champions such time in the sun was drawing to a close, Liverpool responding through Alun Evans and Brian Hall to change the course of the tie and with it the balance of power in Scouse-based soccer for years to come – Anfield home to just about every trophy going (in some cases more than once) before silverware once more found its way to Goodison Park.
SPURS 0 v ARSENAL 1 (3/5/1971): For a team whose remarkable exploits during the season were lauded more for their grit than guile, it is hard to deny the sense of destiny, not to say style, attached to Arsenal clinching the title at the home of their near neighbours.
With over 50,000 inside White Hart Lane and estimate of the same number left outside when the gates were locked, Arsenal made the short trip to N17 needing a win or goalless draw to take them above Leeds in order to become champions. When top scorer Ray Kennedy headed home with three minutes left Arsenal secured their first league championship since the days of post-war rationing – trophies now arriving at Highbury in a glut.
BLACKPOOL 4 WEST HAM UNITED 0 (2/1/1971): Few people would pass on the chance of a jolly-up in Blackpool but doing so on the night before a third round FA Cup tie when you are captain of your club and country can only be viewed as poor form – something the great Bobby Moore was rarely accused of.
The fact that he and three team-mates, including Jimmy Greaves, headed to a nightclub believing a severe frost would render the Bloomfield Road surface unplayable or their combined beverage intake would not have kept Oliver Reed’s whistle wet for five minutes was beside the point, it was the blatant disregard for club discipline that so incensed Hammers manager Ron Greenwood – whose disposition was not improved by a pitiful 4-0 defeat the following day after the pitch passed a mid-morning inspection.
Torn apart by the majestic ball play of ace Blackpool midfield man Tony Green, the hangover from the Friday night furore, in relation to Moore, Greenwood and the club, lasted far longer than a sobering Saturday afternoon at the seaside.
CHELSEA 1 EVERTON 2 (Charity Shield: 8/8/1970): As an attractive curtain-raiser for the season ahead, a Charity Shield involving FA Cup winners Chelsea and league champions Everton was nigh-on impossible to top – flash and dash merchants of the King’s Road faced by a Goodison Park outfit who had won the title in Corinthian-style.
At the outset of a decade that would turn difficult for both, on this evidence few could have envisaged the lean years to come.
ENGLAND 3 SCOTLAND 1 (22/5/1971): Regarded by Sir Alf no less as the best England performance of the period, there are instances, particularly in the first half, when the great man has a point – their attacking play containing a conviction they would often struggle to find in the seasons to come.
Unusually when Moore and Gordon Banks were in tandem England concede a sloppy goal, but overall if Ramsey had any reservations they would have been centred on not converting overwhelming second-half superiority into a bigger margin of victory.
COVENTRY CITY 3 EVERTON 1 (3/10/1971): Just as the best-selling 1971 album ‘Amercian Pie‘ by New York singer-songwriter Don McLean was elevated to ‘classic’ status on the strength of one song (the title track), so this autumn fixture was distinguished by the most eye-popping piece of ingenuity English football was to produce in the entire decade.
In order to circumnavigate the Everton defensive wall at an edge of the box free-kick, City midfield man Willie Carr gripped the ball between his heels and flipped it into the air. As it dropped striker Ernie Hunt swung back his right foot to unleash an unstoppable shot into the top corner.
Audacious and spectacular in equal measure, the following April it was named ‘BBC Goal of the Season’ – by which time the ‘donkey kick‘ routine, as it had been christened, had been banned by the FA.
SPURS 4 BURNLEY 0 (7/11/1970): Containing the eleven-pass (all on the deck) move that earned Spurs ‘Team Goal of the Season’ acclaim when Steve Perryman finished with aplomb, this was early 70s Tottenham at their most incisive.
The ‘pass and move’ White Hart Lane ethos of twenty years before updated into a style where Martin Peters did the thinking and Martin Chivers the finishing, it was testament to the progressive approach of boss Bill Nicholson – returning three trophies in as many seasons.
SHREWSBURY TOWN 2 ASTON VILLA 1 (10/4/1971): Declaring an interest here, for my hometown team this represented the most high-profile league encounter Gay Meadow had hosted since Shrewsbury Town entered the Football League 21 years before. No matter Aston Villa had slipped down snakes to Division Three, they were only a month on from a (losing) League Cup Final appearance against Spurs – a huge travelling support swelling the attendance to three times that normally seen down Shrewsbury way.
Those claret and blue thousands who travelled to beside the Severn came to witness Villa maintaining their promotion charge, but a stunning winner from former Villa Park man Dave Roberts dented those hopes – which ultimately would not be fulfilled until the following season.
ARSENAL 2 LIVERPOOL 1 (FA Cup Final – 8/5/1971): The hottest temperature (88F) recorded pitch-side at the FA Cup Final since the 1948 Manchester United v Blackpool classic, its 1971 counterpart did not reach the same level of accomplishment – the drama that there was largely confined to extra-time.
After Steve Heighway deceived Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson with a shot to the near post that put Liverpool ahead, the Gunners double aspirations looked shot. But before the first period was done Eddie Kelly scrambled home an equaliser (thus becoming the first substitute to score in the cup final) for the ultra-resilient Highbury men.
In the searing heat thoughts were turning to the relative cool of a midweek replay – only for Charlie George to become an Islington icon for evermore, his thunderous twenty-yarder winning the match and clinching for Arsenal the league and cup ‘double.’
LEEDS UNITED 1 WEST BROMWICH ALBION 2 (17/04/1971): ‘Leeds will go mad and they have every right to‘ opined Match of the Day commentator Barry Davies when referee Ray Tinkler allowed the second Albion goal to stand – the man in the middle overruling the raised flag of a linesman who was indicating Colin Suggett was in an offside position when Tony Brown broke into the Leeds half.
For the purposes of context, Leeds were leading the table but Albion (courtesy of the prolific Brown) were ahead in the match, things coming to a momentary standstill before the West Brom forward received a signal from Tinkler – who deemed Suggett was not interfering with play, to play on.
With the Leeds defence rendered stationary by the linesman continuing to signal, Brown advanced on goal before slipping a pass to centre-forward Jeff Astle (whose offside position was not spotted by a linesman no longer up with play), the former England man scoring easily from close range.
As Davies makes his interjection Leeds players are remonstrating with the referee and linesman, the scene becoming even more unruly as angry spectators enter the pitch to vent their displeasure. Those forcibly removed from the field, where Leeds boss Don Revie has ventured to make his feelings known, are all sporting a collar and tie, contradicting somewhat the ‘bovver boy‘ image associated with those generally thought responsible for football-related disturbances of the time.
Things, however, took an even more ugly twist when the linesman on the far side of the field was struck by an object thrown from the crowd.
For Leeds the episode would have both short-term and far-reaching consequences. Defeat against West Brown (the home side pulled one back late on but still lost), allowed Arsenal to make ground in the Championship chase, which they would come through to win by a whisker, while as punishment for the disorder Leeds were ordered to play their first four home matches of the following season away from Elland Road – dropping points in two of those fixtures costing them dear in the 1971-72 title reckoning.
EVERTON 1 BORUSSIA MUNCHENGLADBACH 1 (European Cup second round, second-leg – 4/11/1970): With both Milan clubs, Real Madrid and Benfica among the absentees, the 1970-71 European Cup looked the most open field in years, the second-round draw pairing the Football League and Bundesliga champions – the West Germans with an array of talent that included Netzer, Vogts and Heynckes, widely regarded as the best side in the running.
After drawing 1-1 on German soil, the teams did likewise in a pulsating Goodison encounter, Everton pegged back after scoring through Johnny Morrissey inside the first minute. With no further scoring in normal or extra-time, the first penalty shootout in European Cup history ensued (UEFA introducing the stalemate breaker at the start of that season).
In circumstances that flew in the face of what would transpire down the years, it was the English who held their nerve to prevail – that said, the clinching kick in a 4-3 triumph was dispatched by Scottish full-back Sandy Brown.
STOKE CITY 2 ARSENAL 2 (FA Cup semi-final – Hillsborough 27/3/1971): If in the course of an all-conquering campaign 90 minutes can be said to define a season, for Arsenal in their 1970-71 vintage, this was the day the ‘double’ became doable.
Second best for much of the first half as The Potters went two up and looking likely to repeat their autumn annihilation of the same opposition, Arsenal, with the steely application that had become their trademark clawed themselves back into the match.
Mind you, it required a last-minute penalty from midfield enforcer Peter Storey to snatch a replay – referee Pat Partridge awarding a stonewall spot-kick only seconds after waving away appeals that world number one goalkeeper had been fouled in the preceding attack. Being denied said free kick would come to nestle in many a Victoria Ground grudge bank, especially when Arsenal comfortably won the Villa Park replay.
Not to be overlooked, however, is that John Mahoney at 2-0 and Jimmy Greenhoff at 2-1 had chances for Stoke to clinch the Hillsborough tie.
LEEDS UNITED 1 JUVENTUS 1 (Inter-City Fairs Cup Final second-leg – 3/6/1971): If 1970-71 belonged to Arsenal then theoretically the last word of the season went to Leeds – who secured the Fairs Cup three days into June.
With fixture congestion now a way of life for Leeds, the 55th minute abandonment of the scoreless Turin first-leg due to a waterlogged pitch forced the teams to wait two days before trying again – the visitors twice coming from behind to force a 2-2 draw.
In the Elland Road return Allan Clarke gave the home side an early lead, Juventus levelling before half-time through Pietro Anastasi, at the time the most expensive (£440,000) footballer in the world. Despite including such talents as Bettaga, Causio, Capello and Haller they were unable to make any more headway and even when resorting to rough stuff met their match.
Holding on to take the trophy by virtue of away goals (the final decided in such a way for the first time), Leeds gained a degree of compensation for narrowly missing out on the league title, winning the last Fairs Cup before it became the UEFA Cup for 1971-72.
ARSENAL 4 MANCHESTER UNITED 0 (22/8/1970): If their Fairs Cup triumph of three months before had ended an eighteen-season trophy drought, this early season demolition of Manchester United served notice Arsenal were right back in the honours business.
For most of this Highbury humbling the collective United demeanour looks as blue as their change shirts, 60s sparkle replaced by 70s slovenliness (particularly in defence) as John Radford helps himself to a hat-trick.
At times the visitors appear at cross-purposes with each other, unsure whether they are there to dazzle or toil and in truth not doing much of either. But for Arsenal there is no such conflict of interest, the Gunners purposeful and precise in setting out their title credentials.
WOLVES 1 CHELSEA 0 (13/2/1971): Another from the personal recollection bank of your genial host. The greenness of the Molineux pitch and distinctly etched white lines from a position high up on the terraces next to my dearly missed dad, created a lasting memory for an impressionable (junior) schoolboy – and that was before two teams who spent Saturday afternoons in the early 70s compelled to play attacking football took the field.
Centre-forwards Dougan and Osgood ensured both defences were constantly occupied in thwarting danger, the ‘Doog’ with a flashing header forcing an acrobatic save from Peter Bonetti in the South Bank goalmouth.
The match was decided by a rasping second half drive from young Wolves midfielder Kenny Hibbitt of the sort that would become his forte in the seasons ahead.
ASTON VILLA 2 MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (League Cup semi-final second leg – 23/12/1970): Three months on from their hammering at Highbury, redemption for the out of sorts Old Trafford outfit arrived in the form of a two-leg League Cup semi-final against Aston Villa – a big fish currently floundering in the small pool of Division Three.
Even after being held to a 1-1 draw in the Old Trafford meeting, United were still likely to progress from the Villa Park second-leg played two days before Santa began making his rounds – a merry Christmas in prospect when Brian Kidd put them ahead with a fine Best-like solo effort.
But in the face of intense Villa pressure United were reduced to festive flops, headers from talisman Villa centre-forward Andy Lochhead and Pat McMahon exposing defensive frailties that were glaringly apparent without being addressed.
Having blown the best chance of reaching a domestic cup final to have come their way in years, over the next few seasons indignities would arrive thick and fast at Old Trafford. Villa meanwhile, headed to Wembley for the first time since defeating United in the 1957 FA Cup Final – giving another good account of themselves before succumbing to a brace from Martin Chivers as Spurs registered their first League Cup success.
CHELSEA 2 REAL MADRID 1 (European Cup Winners Cup Final Replay – 21/5/1970): If there was a final irony to the 1970-71 season it was that Chelsea, purveyors of the most colourful football around, should have their 90 minutes of glory recorded in black and white.
After Real Madrid levelled with the last kick of the first instalment, the two sides and a large contingent of Chelsea support remained in Athens for a further two days in order to contest and attend the replay.
Goals from centre-back John Dempsey and the routinely superb Osgood put clear distance between the teams, Chelsea unable to capitalise on the stylish promptings of Alan Hudson, a Galactico of the Bridge rather than Bernabeu.
Despite Real reducing the arrears with fifteen minutes to go, Chelsea would not yield any further – the last minute bringing one last reminder of how fortunes in football can change in twelve months.
Seeking another last-gasp equaliser Madrid hoist a corner into the Blues’ six-yard box. Displaying all the composure that eluded him when a nervy display between the sticks cost England dear in losing a World Cup quarter-final to West Germany the previous year, Bonetti rises among a clutch of forwards and defenders to make a safe catch.
Such impressive goalkeeping would not win him favour with Sir Alf again – but the ‘Cat’ had just ensured Chelsea would win their first European trophy.
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.