Given the high number of clubs who have represented England in the UEFA Cup and its present day guise of the Europa League, it is surprising to reflect that only once prior to the imminent meeting of Chelsea and Arsenal have two contested the final.
Indeed, the one previous occasion when two clubs from England met – the curmudgeonly way I tend to view present day football prevents me from labelling Wednesday night as ‘all-English’ – came forty seven years ago when Wolves played Spurs over two legs in the very first UEFA Cup Final.
In the interests of context it is duly noted the UEFA Cup became a one-match final after 1997 and rebranded as the Europa League twelve years later. But those familiar with my evocations on football from yesteryear will have realised already where this heading – all the way back to a couple of nights in May 1972.
To clarify. As an 11 year-old I stood with my Dad on the lower reaches of the South Bank for the Molineux first-leg, while for the second at White Hart Lane, listened to Maurice Edelston and if memory serves Peter Jones, describe the action on the radio I had received as a Christmas present five months before – a 1-1 draw securing the trophy for Tottenham after their 2-1 win in Wolverhampton a fortnight before.
Ten days ago my Dad and I watched the first-leg highlights, viewing the incidents together for the first time since the actual events unfolded before us on Wednesday 3rd 1972 (my Dad far more animated by what he saw than at any point during the Manchester City v Watford FA Cup Final that we watched half an hour later).
Thus was re-stated his oft-voiced opinion – with a better goalkeeper Wolves would have had more than FA and League Cup semi-final defeats combined with the UEFA Cup Final loss, to show for the attractive football they frequently produced in that era.
It would be wrong to blame Phil Parkes entirely for Wolves losing their only European final to date, but he was certainly at fault when Martin Chivers headed Spurs ahead in the first-leg – his hesitancy again proving costly at White Hart Lane, when Tottenham skipper Alan Mullery scored the goal that ultimately decided the outcome.
That said Parkes could be a very capable performer – his performance at Old Trafford in a 1976 FA Cup quarter-final is outstanding, almost single-handedly earning Wolves a replay (a YouTube reminder of this display may not change a view held for over forty years, but jogged a few memories, particularly as father and son saw that match as well).
When revisiting the 1972 UEFA Cup Final, consideration of the two goalkeepers seems an appropriate place to start. At the opposite end to Parkes was the unflappable Pat Jennings – who in terms of consistency and capacity for brilliance at that time, was second only to Gordon Banks.
In the first-leg Jennings safely makes a catch in the Spurs goalmouth, despite John Richards and team-mate Cyril Knowles contesting the same headed cross – the Northern Ireland international not indulging in any pause for applause, instead he quickly bowls out a pass to set Spurs moving forward once more.
Despite the first-leg being played in early May, the highlights portray a dank evening that could easily be November or February. Resplendent in their plain (club badge aside) green jerseys, Jennings and Parkes each wear gloves at Molineux, but for the return on May 17 both play in bare hands – by which time the White Hart Lane pitch is fine and dry (in his ITV commentary Brian Moore makes reference to the excellent condition of the playing surface), the night looking much closer to summer than spring.
From the highlights of both games it was hard not to be impressed with some enterprising team play from each side and instances of eye-catching individual skill.
The class of Martin Peters is celebrated nowhere near enough – while a near 50-yard, purposely dispatched lob from Wolves midfielder Danny Hegan, which forces Jennings to scramble and concede a corner, is a sublime moment on the part of both players. (The effort from Hegan draws a ‘Pele‘ comparison from BBC first-leg commentator David Coleman).
Of the five goals scored over the two games Wolves second-leg equaliser, a ferocious left-foot drive from Dave Wagstaffe, just edges out the fierce twenty-yarder by Martin Chivers that decided the Molineux encounter, as pick of the bunch.
But scoring the best goal is mere consolation as over the 180 minutes Spurs, boasting nine full internationals in their team – opposed to four in the Wolves line-up – always appear to have enough control to see them through (my 11 year-old self would never have admitted that).
During the 1971-72 season the teams met four times, the league fixtures yielding an opening day 2-2 Molineux draw and then later on a comfortable home win for Tottenham, which indeed suggests Spurs held superiority over Wolves at the time – reiterated when they recorded a 4-3 aggregate win when the teams met in a two-leg League Cup semi-final at the end of the year.
While the UEFA Cup Final was the first of three near misses for Wolves (less than 12 months later they lost an FA Cup semi-final to Leeds by the only goal, Spurs by contrast won the League Cup in the year either side of their UEFA Cup win), for me 1971-72 was a formative season.
Spurs win the 1972 UEFA Cup:
During an astonishing mid-season 11-match unbeaten run, Wolves climbed to the dizzying heights of second in Division One – their highest league placing (so far) of my lifetime. First visits were made to Victoria Ground, The Hawthorns, Old Trafford and Maine Road, Wolves winning at all except the latter, where the grand, undefeated run came to a painful end – with European football also seen for the first time.
My UEFA Cup debut occurred at the quarter-final on March 22 when Wolves faced Juventus. Level at 1-1 following the first-leg in Turin, just over 40,000 converged on Molineux for the second leg (more, strangely enough, than the 38,862 who saw the Tottenham match six weeks later), Wolves winning through with goals from Hegan and Derek Dougan – despite the Italians scoring with a late penalty.
From twelve yards the spot-kick was converted by Helmut Haller, whose distinctive blond hair as he stepped up to score is my abiding memory of that night – for reasons that require the following explanation.
Five years before ‘The Boys’ Book of The World Cup 1966‘ by Kenneth Wolstenholme, was the first football book I had ever been given.
Devouring the pages night after night led to me being able to quote the score, scorers and venue of every match in the tournament (still can), leading to a widespread fascination with ’66 at large – I’m tempted to say ‘ever since I was a young boy,’ but being fascinated by them came much later.
As Haller stepped forward to strike his penalty kick I must have felt a connection with July 30th 1966, the West German midfielder scoring the first goal in the final.
By 1971-72 I had seen three of the victorious England team play – Gordon Banks, Alan Ball and Roger Hunt (George Cohen, Ray Wilson and Nobby Stiles, I never managed to see) – but that season also brought a first sight of World Cup winners, Jack and Bobby Charlton, Martin Peters, Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore when their clubs visited Molineux.
Moore had became one of those players (Denis Law, Colin Bell, Peter Osgood) my Dad would make a point of going to watch. His adage of not booking a family holiday until fixtures for the following season were released (to the occasional consternation of my Mum) served he and I well in 1971-72 – as Tottenham (Peters) and Manchester United (Bobby Charlton) had been August visitors to Wolverhampton.
After Wolves were relegated to Division Two in May 1976, the following February brought a visit from Fulham for whom Bobby Moore was now playing. As the second half became a rout he began to resemble General Custer at Little Big Horn, his fellow defenders overrun everywhere he looked.
Sensing the easy pickings on offer Wolves began scoring at will – but amidst the celebrations of the fourth or fifth goal, I do recall my Dad commenting on how sad it was to see our great World Cup winning captain reduced to second division canon-fodder.
So imagine my surprise last week when highlights of the 1972 UEFA Cup Final gave me another, yet previously undetected link, to the greatest day in the history of English football.
At the Molineux centre-spot captains Jim McCalliog and Alan Mullery are sharing a pre-match handshake, when commentator Coleman introduces the referee as ‘a man with whom viewers are likely to be familiar.’
He is none other than Tofik Bakhramov – the Russian linesman who in 1966 signalled the shot from Geoff Hurst had crossed the line as England took a disputed 3-2 extra-time lead in the final.
Strange the things that are found in memory lane.
This article was first published on 27/5/2019.
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