It was somewhat ironic that during the week in March 1973 which brought an episode of brilliant BBC sitcom ‘Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads’ entitled ‘That Old Magic‘, the following Saturday should come about with four FA Cup quarter-finals liberally sprinkled in stardust.
Returning to the screen in January 1973 to update the story of Geordie pals Bob Ferris (Rodney Bewes) and Terry Collier (James Bolam) from their mid-60s ‘Likely Lads’ persona, amidst the skillfully crafted humour, writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais insert some pertinent impressions of early-70s England into the mouths of the two main characters.
More often than not Bob and Terry were seen and heard not as funny people in everyday situations, but ordinary people who said funny things – their musings on the present day and where life would go, often tempered by the notion it could never quite match up to a past gloriously shared.
Four days after ‘That Old Magic‘ was broadcast, (Bob and Terry behaving as latterday lotharios with typically amusing results), some of those still involved in the FA Cup were living glory days almost on a weekly basis – the last three winners of the cup and reigning league champions accounting for half of the quarter-finalists.
Aside from the Sunderland v Luton Town encounter, guaranteeing a semi-final place for a second division team, the other six sides could be found upward from tenth in the top flight – the three all-Division One ties consisting of a London derby, Midlands derby and showdown between two sides whose bitter rivalry came steeped in the mutual antipathy felt between the opposing managers.
With an acute sense of the perverse, the quarter-final draw paired champions Derby against cup holders Leeds, ensuring resumption of the fiery verbal sparring of Brian Clough and Don Revie. Leeds boss Revie was reviled by Clough for overuse of the footballing dark arts he felt the Elland Road outfit were always ready to call upon, Clough disliked by Revie for his temerity and trouble-making – the situation exacerbated when Derby pipped Leeds to the championship the previous season, thus denying them a league and FA Cup double.
Despite growing up only streets apart in the same northern town, Bob and Terry they were not – the only thing Clough and Revie likely to share over a pint being insults.
The last-eight London derby was at Stamford Bridge where Chelsea, whose league form was a perplexing mix of sublime and ridiculous, entertained Arsenal, who in making the short trip to SW6 took with them an impressive record of just one defeat in their last eighteen league and cup matches.
Tucked in just behind league leaders Liverpool, only a trophy would take European football to Highbury in 1973-74, finishing second no longer a viable route after rivals Spurs had already booked the London UEFA Cup spot for next term in winning the League Cup a fortnight before – the Football League still applying its one city/one club rule to the competition. (It would be revoked under pressure from UEFA in 1975).
Like Arsenal, Chelsea were almost two years without a trophy, a repeat of their 1970 FA Cup success the only workable option in not just returning to the European stage, but taking attention away from a fitful season that was in danger of ending among the also-rans.
Indeed, when the Sixth Round ties kicked off at 3pm on Saturday 17 March, Chelsea, for all their off-the-cuff creativity, were muddling along in mid-table, looking up at eighth-placed Coventry and higher still at Wolves, who crossed swords at Molineux.
Despite having lost out to Spurs in a two-leg League Cup semi-final in December, the home side had recovered to the extent of holding a seven game unbeaten run going into the quarter-final, whose outcome would likely be determined by what Coventry came up with in quelling the threat posed by Wolves prolific strike partnership of Derek Dougan and John Richards. If they succeeded where plenty failed, the Sky Blues had the capability to win through – but conceding an inch to a forward pairing whose prowess was increasing by the week would likely end Highfield Road cup ambitions for another year.
With the quarter-final playground mainly occupied by big lads, the Roker Park meeting between Sunderland and Luton was part of the quadrangle given over entirely to Division Two. Both too far down the field to chase Burnley and QPR who had long since occupied the promotion berths, neither Sunderland or Luton could be taken seriously as possible cup winners, but there were worse ways of spending the first Saturday in April than contesting an FA Cup semi-final – reaching the last four no mean feat for a second division side, even in the event of being dispatched by a heavy hitter one game from Wembley.
Sunderland, galvanised since the autumn arrival of manager Bob Stokoe and whose fifth round Roker replay victory over Manchester City had given Wearside its finest FA Cup moment for a generation, would have to make home advantage the telling factor – something they had failed to do earlier in the season when The Hatters went home with both points following a 2-0 victory.
No look back at March 1973 would be complete without reference to ‘The Dark Side of the Moon‘, Pink Floyd releasing their panoramic, if disconcerting distillation of contemporary life. While not the place to appraise its undisputed status as a landmark rock record, for the purpose of this article attention will only fall on a couple of lines from ‘Money‘, one of any number of tracks to resonate from the album:
‘New car, caviar, four star, daydream/Think I’ll buy me a football team.’
By a strange quirk of fate, the Vice-President of third division Watford was currently number one on the UK album chart with his ‘Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player‘ set – Floyd as ever, impeccable in their timing.
Much the same as Lorimer, Osgood and Richards would be on the weekend in question…………..
FA Cup Sixth Round – Saturday 17th March 1973:
DERBY COUNTY 0 LEEDS UNITED 1 (38,350): Just two weeks before, on a Baseball Ground pitch resembling a muddy beach at low tide, Derby and Leeds had shared 55 free-kicks and five goals – the visitors winning a spite-ridden contest 3-2 in bringing to an end any hope Clough’s men had of retaining the league title.
It is therefore hard to downplay the significance of the combatants meeting again so soon, Derby offered immediate opportunity for revenge in ousting the cup holders while securing a semi-final place.
Beyond the customary sniping between Clough and Revie, the fixture had a season-defining look with regard to where the sides stood in relation to one another. Derby had won a close run championship race the previous season, but victory at the same venue a fortnight before had seen Leeds complete a league double over The Rams. Both still had Europe to occupy their minds (Derby – European Cup/Leeds – Cup Winners’ Cup), the FA Cup their only realistic means of landing a domestic prize – advancement at the expense of the other moving a major obstacle from the Wembley-bound road.
In the event and for all the prior antagonism, it proved a strangely low-key affair. The day was won by a superb Peter Lorimer goal and impressive application from a Leeds side showing such tactical discipline it would be replicated later in the decade by Nottingham Forest – when they came under the charge of a manager who obviously recognised efficient team play when he saw it.
With both teams wearing unfamiliar strips of (Derby) all-blue and (Leeds) all-red, (under FA rules at the time if opponents could not agree on colours each had to change, reluctance to back down evident before a ball was kicked), the match, in contrast to the recent league encounter was played on a drying, bumpy pitch – not that either was a factor when Lorimer ultimately settled the issue.
Receiving a nod down in the 29th minute from centre-forward Mick Jones, the Scottish winger struck decisively with a shot of trademark ferocity.
Four games into a what would prove a nine match unbeaten run, the visitors look solid and composed, Derby in lacking the penetration out wide normally provided by injury-absent winger Alan Hinton, unable to seriously trouble the Leeds rearguard.
Despite the managerial malevolence, there is little in the way of on-field feuding, Revie seeing his side reach their sixth FA Cup semi-final in nine seasons in greater comfort than he might have imagined. For Derby not only were cup hopes dashed for another season, but the faithful had just witnessed the last time Clough would be at the helm for an FA Cup tie – departing the scene seven months later after going up against the directors once too often.
CHELSEA 2 ARSENAL 2 (37,685) – (Replay – 20/3/1073): ARSENAL 2 CHELSEA 1 (62,746): The most resonant new film of March 1973 was the latest adaptation of Raymond Chandler novel ‘The Long Goodbye‘, Elliot Gould well cast as laconic L.A. private eye Philip Marlowe. Broadly speaking, the theme is of things coming to an end, in this case, friendships, marriages, Hollywood as a glory palace – the parallel with Stamford Bridge as decaying dream factory unmissable as 1973 continued to unfold.
Almost two years on from lifting their last piece of silverware, the only title now being mentioned in relation to Chelsea was that of ‘those most likely in flattering to deceive’. True, in the right mood they could still find the fizz and finesse that made them such an attractive proposition, but out of sorts had become a soft touch.
Since the turn of the year there had been little to cheer those taking their custom to the King’s Road. One win in seven league outings included a January defeat at the Bridge against a side now returning for a cup quarter-final, poor league showings marginally offset by steady cup progress.
It would, however, need concentration along with class to overcome their sternest FA Cup test of the season – goal scorer supreme Peter Osgood rising to the challenge on both counts, netting with a spectacular 15th minute Shed End volley that would later be declared BBC ‘Goal of the Season.’
But within three minutes, as was their want, Chelsea go from wonder strike to causing wonder at what the defence are doing, Alan Ball left totally unmarked in heading home a George Armstrong corner. If permitting the smallest player on the field to level with close-range free header was slipshod, then falling over themselves in allowing Charlie George to give Arsenal a 21st minute lead took defensive disorder to a whole new level – Chelsea in their guise as a fluent, attacking force drawing level eleven minutes before the break with a sweetly-struck John Hollins drive.
As for a spring afternoon in the sunny climes of SW6 that was about it, the sides reconvening three days later in front of an eye-popping Highbury attendance of almost 63,000 – the sense of desperation palpable on the part two teams, one of whom would be diminished in outlook by defeat.
Once again Chelsea strike first, Peter Houseman on hand to give them a 20th minute lead only for Arsenal to draw level in contentious circumstances. There appears little doubt Steve Kember has fouled Armstrong inside the Clock End penalty area, but referee Norman Burtenshaw awards an edge of the box free-kick. Persuaded by protesting Arsenal players to consult his nearside linesman, Burtenshaw receives confirmation on where the offence occurred, a formative use of VAR (very ambiguous refereeing) resulting in the referee overruling himself to award the penalty.
BBC commentator Barry Davies makes some pointed ‘right outcome/wrong means‘ remarks, describing it as ‘penalty by protest, which cannot be right’ – the annoyance in Chelsea ranks continuing long after Ball has restored level terms from the spot. On the hour Ray Kennedy heads home an inch perfect Bob McNab centre to secure for Arsenal their third consecutive FA Cup semi-final appearance – completing a hat-trick of cup final visits well within the capabilities of a side whose good form shows little sign of abating.
As for Chelsea the last eight league matches of 1972-73 would result in five straight losses followed by three successive wins and as summation of the campaign it was a run that spoke volumes. Over the next two seasons consistency only came with negative connotations, the relegation of April 1975 traced back to Highbury in March 1973, the start perhaps of the long goodbye…………..
WOLVES 2 COVENTRY CITY 0 (50,106): Having returned to Division One together in 1967, this Molineux quarter-final also served as a yardstick to measure respective progress during the past five years. In returning a fourth placed finish in 1970-71 and then reaching the UEFA Cup Final twelve months later Wolves had made the biggest strides, but needed a trophy to cement their position back among the front-running fraternity, a place they had not inhabited since the (very) early-60s.
For Coventry, one brief Fairs Cup experience and innovative, if now outlawed Ernie Hunt/Willie Carr free-kick aside, the years since winning promotion had been spent establishing top flight credentials, although to move beyond their current billing they also needed a major honour – progress to the FA Cup last four bringing paydirt one step closer.
If home advantage was negligible in the local derby setting, Wolves had a distinct edge in possessing two forwards carrying a renowned goal threat, the deadly duo of Dougan and Richards needing to be nullified if Coventry were to advance. But best-laid Sky Blue plans quickly turn to worst-case scenario – the ‘Doog’ rising above City centre-back Ron Barry in heading into the path of Richards who races away to score his 27th goal of the season, Wolves thereafter rarely looking likely to relinquish their sixth minute lead.
Opposing midfielders Kenny Hibbitt and Dennis Mortimer give an excellent account of themselves in suggesting international recognition could not be far off (surprisingly, neither would win a full England cap), although come the end of the season Richards would make his solitary appearance in the national team. On the hour he is at the point of netting again when bundled over in the box, Hibbitt converting the ensuing penalty to complete the scoring.
So, in the short term it is Wolves in the ascendancy – yet when Coventry finally went all the way in winning the FA Cup fourteen years later, it came at a time when Wolverhampton Wanderers were a fourth division club.
SUNDERLAND 2 LUTON TOWN 0 (53, 151): If there was a point when plausibility seemed to vanish from the 1972-73 FA Cup, it came with this Roker Park rumble – fantasy suddenly holding sway over the form book, omens taking on greater significance than outcomes.
No matter Luton had completed a second division league double over Sunderland, the Kenilworth Road half of the equation occurring a week before they travelled back to the North East – a region where they had tasted victory not only at Roker Park but also on Tyneside, knocking top flight Newcastle out of the cup in an earlier round. But what did cold hard fact count for when Sunderland had last won the FA Cup in ’37, which as everybody realised was ’73 in reverse – that triumphal cup journey including a home win over Luton.
Fourth-bottom when Bob Stokoe took the reins at the end of November, Sunderland had lost just three of the sixteen league and cup games played since, but even now Luton still remained eleven places higher in the table, boasted an impressive away record and shown enough capability to take points off promotion certainties Burnley and QPR.
Luton had mathematical probability in their favour, yet with Sunderland was a momentum rapidly building into something potent. Following a goalless first half, the hosts’ break the deadlock seven minutes after the restart when central defender Dave Watson meets a Bobby Kerr corner in scoring with a forceful header – the game up for Luton in the 82nd minute when skipper Kerr delivers a flag-kick that eventually finds Ron Guthrie, the full-back ensuring safe passage to the semi-finals by virtue of a volley from six yards.
Despite all the lucky portents being bandied about by the populace of Wearside, there remained little chance of Sunderland going any further than the last four and while Stokoe was to be commended for guiding them through, at best it would be a springboard for the following season.
In the ‘Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads‘ episode entitled ‘I’ll Never Forget Whatshername‘ that had been shown the previous month, Terry recalls a girlfriend from the past by saying, ‘Her father was a Sunderland supporter, so it was hardly a house of gaiety and merriment.’
Which was far from the case in March 1973 – or in the weeks to come…………
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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.
