More than scoring a century for England, becoming the ‘fifth’ Beatle or marrying one of Pan’s People, for successive generations what most young men dreamed of was winning an FA Cup winners medal.
In order to do so would first mean making the grade as a professional footballer – but given how many enjoy playing as children compared to the few who go on to play for a living, the odds on the dream becoming a reality narrows considerably.
Even among those who do succeed in becoming professionals, the chances of reaching an FA Cup Final are slim – indeed, many of the greatest players throughout history, for all their other numerous achievements, never experience the thrill of being presented with an FA Cup winners medal.
Therefore, twenty four of this richly talented, yet unfortunate, group have been gathered into two teams by your genial host and given the opportunity to correct this crick in an otherwise illustrious career.
As the terrific two dozen graced pre-Premiership eras, this FA Cup Final will not be sacrificed on the altar of the paymaster. Kicking off at 3pm on the first Saturday in May, the only shirt markings will be a club crest and number.
The Wembley turf will inevitably be described by those in the commentary box as ‘strength sapping‘ – the huge television audience, some watching in colour for the first time, reviving for ‘Abide With Me‘ after having their attention sapped by watching ‘Cup Final Grandstand’ for the previous four hours.
With so many wonderful players on show, an FA Cup Final to grab the imagination, up there with 1948, 1953, 1966, 1970 and 1973, looks certain to ensue. When the final whistle sounds and whatever the outcome, none of these greats will be lessened by the outcome, twelve of whom will finally be in possession of that elusive honour – for their opponents, however, we can only hope the opportunity will come again.
Without further ado, the two teams:
HOPEFUL HOTSPUR:
of his own;
- GORDON BANKS: World & League Cup winner, greatest save of all time, last word in goalkeeping excellence, the great Gordon held all these titles – but not that of FA Cup winner. Collected a losers medal with Leicester City in 1961, although a semi-final defeat to Arsenal while playing for Stoke City nine years later was known to rankle – as it still does in the Potteries.
2. SIR ALF RAMSEY: Winning the league as a player at Spurs and manager at Ipswich Town, Ramsey also proved no slouch as boss of the England team. But as an accomplished full-back FA Cup glory eluded him.
3. DAVID NISH: When transferred from Leicester City to Derby County in 1972, this stylish full-back not only became the most expensive player in British football but was already the youngest captain of a cup final team, skippering the Foxes in their 1969 defeat to Manchester City. Won a League title and Charity Shield at the Baseball Ground, where he reached an FA Cup semi-final but no more.
4. DUNCAN EDWARDS: Killed along with several Manchester United team-mates in the 1958 Munich air crash, we can only speculate on the amount of honours for club and country that would have come the way of this formidable footballer. Even in a career cut so tragically short he won two League Championships, 18 England caps and an FA Cup runners-up medal.
5. STAN CULLIS: Dominant centre-half and astute manager, after retiring as a player Cullis led Wolves to FA Cup triumphs in 1949 and 1960 (with three league titles in between). As a player in the old gold, a cup winners medal in 1939 looked a formality with Wolves odds-on to beat Portsmouth – only for Pompey to upset the form book with a 4-1 win.
6. COLIN TODD: Classy defending in the 70s was personified by Todd as two league titles and Charity Shield with Derby attest. But aside from a losing semi-final in 1976, a cup winners medal rarely looked a possibility.
7. GEORGE BEST: The greatest player never to play in an FA Cup Final, Belfast-born Best captured League, European Cup, Player of the Year Awards in England and Europe – and the imagination of an entire generation of football watchers. Came off second best, so to speak, as Manchester United lost three FA Cup semi-finals during his Old Trafford tenure.
8. ALAN BALL: Another World Cup winner for whom the FA Cup proved elusive. Ball, an incredible combination of energy and exquisite skill, a beaten finalist with Everton (1968) and Arsenal (1972).
9. TOMMY TAYLOR: Another to lose his life at Munich, Taylor, like Edwards had been a member of the Manchester United team beaten by Aston Villa in the 1957 final. Already an England regular, hard to conceive a career for this barnstorming centre-forward that would not have contained an FA Cup winners medal.
10. TONY CURRIE: Even among great 70s ball players, Currie was a prince, his dazzling array of skills illuminated Saturday afternoons throughout the decade. Collected a late-career runners-up medal with QPR in 1982, but FA Cup wise that was it.
11. BRYAN DOUGLAS: Represented England at the 1958 & 1962 World Cups on the back of producing, for home-town club Blackburn Rovers, some of the most hallowed wing play of the times. Such form was key in taking Rovers to the 1960 FA Cup Final, but at Wembley Wolves proved too strong.
12. DENNIS VIOLLET: Munich survivor Viollet was in the Manchester United team beaten by Bolton in the 1958 final and despite a prodigious talent (bringing latter-day comparisons to Best, Law & Charlton), had departed Old Trafford by the time United returned to win at Wembley in 1963.
ASPIRING ATHLETIC
1. PETER SHILTON: Instrumental in the impressive late-70s/early 80s trophy haul of Nottingham Forest, Shilton, a shot-stopper extraordinaire, also won a record number of England caps. But thirty years involvement as a player in the FA Cup yielded just a 1969 runners-up medal with Leicester and two losing semi-final experiences.
2. GEORGE COHEN: Plaudits aplenty ‘the best full-back I played against‘ (George Best), ‘England’s greatest right-back‘ (Sir Alf Ramsey), but no prizes out of 459 appearances for Fulham, his sole club. In fact the only medal of his entire career came on the occasion of his 30th England cap (of 37); the date – Saturday 30 July 1966.
3. ROGER BYRNE: Skipper of the ‘Busby Babes,’ Byrne, a pioneer of the modern, attacking full back, had already won three league titles, an FA Cup runners-up medal and 33 international caps by the time tragedy struck at Munich. As 1958 dawned was considered an England captain in waiting.
4. JIMMY McILROY: As they broke the league title stranglehold of Manchester United and Wolves in 1960, McIlroy was dubbed ‘The Brain of Burnley.’ An outlandishly talented Northern Ireland international, he became revered for slide rule passing and immaculate ball control. An FA Cup runner-up with the Clarets in 1962.
5. ROY McFARLAND: Great positional sense, strong in the air, his central partnership with Colin Todd was the rock on which Derby built two league titles wins during the 70s. Plenty of England caps in his locker too – but little in the way of FA Cup success.
6. HOWARD KENDALL: Watching late 60s/early 70s footage of Kendall in sublime form for Everton, begs the question of just what else he could have done to win an England cap. In FA Cup Finals had two bites of the cherry – the youngest ever finalist (then) when Preston lost to West Ham United in 1964, on the losing side again when Everton went down to West Bromwich Albion four years later.
7. TOM FINNEY: There have been very few players who could excite a watching football crowd like the ‘Doyen of Deepdale.’ Brilliant dribbling skills, supreme balance, an eye for goal, the Finney v Matthews debate for king of the era, always too close to call. But where Stan had an edge was in FA Final terms – Finney on the losing side for Preston a year after the ‘Matthews Final’ of 1953.
8. ARCHIE GEMMILL: League, League Cup and European Cup glory all came the way of ‘Artful Archie‘ – along with an all-time great World Cup goal scored for Scotland at the 1978 Finals. Yet despite a significant medal haul with Derby and Nottingham Forest, the FA Cup Final was a plateau he failed to reach.
9. MALCOLM MacDONALD: Quick, strong and always a threat in the air, ‘Supermac‘ was a scourge of defences throughout the 70s as over 200 top flight goals suggest – but in losing FA Cup Final appearances for Newcastle United (1974) and Arsenal (1978) was largely anonymous on both occasions.
10. JOHNNY HAYNES: Like Fulham team-mate Cohen, Haynes had no medals to show for a long Craven Cottage career (18 years, 590+ appearances) – but that fails to tell the story of a player who could pass with perfection off both feet and whose deftness of touch enthralled all who saw it. 56 England caps (22 as captain), great players like Haynes, irrespective of their medals, are the reason we become so enraptured by football to begin with.
11. MARTIN PETERS: Omitted from the West Ham side who triumphed in 1964 (although back in situ for their Cup Winners Cup success twelve months later), World Cup winner Peters, even when collecting early 70s honours with Spurs, never came close to an FA Cup Final again. Shame – such an occasion would have been made for the exceptional talents of this most elegant of footballers.
12. JOHN RICHARDS: My game, my rules, so John Richards is in. Twice a League Cup winner, the Molineux scoring machine was deserving of far more than a solitary England cap and three losing FA Cup semi-final appearances.
As this article began with references to dreams it seems appropriate to close it that way.
Some nights into the dreaming of a 58 year-old boy and his 88 year-old father come images of the Wolves v Leeds United Maine Road FA Cup semi-final of April 1973 and a shot from John Richards that strikes the inside of the post – although not the disheartening scene that follows of it rebounding to safety. No, the ball nestles in the back of the net – where it belonged.
Now having talked about it, more than a Kinks reunion, writing a bestseller or leading England to Ashes glory, it will be that dream, my FA Cup one, which I have tonight.
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller available as an Amazon Kindle book.
