Just when it appeared the close-run title race of the previous season was a once in a generation thing, 1971-72 proved lightning could strike twice in the same place – the identity of the champions again not known until full-time of the very last match of the season.
After Arsenal and their ‘double’ accomplishments of 1970-71, the following campaign brought a more even spread of honours, while an all first division UEFA Cup Final ensured England maintained a trophy winning presence in Europe.
‘England’ in the literal sense saw at close quarters how they were being left behind by the progressive football now being played on the international stage, West Germany leading them a merry (and modern) dance at Wembley. But two months before, a cup shock monumental in scale showed the FA Cup remained a competition like no other and with George Best as an individual, Lee, Bell and Summerbee as a trio and Leeds as a unit showing irrepressible form, topflight English football continued to be bold and often breathtaking.
To the accompaniment of career highs for The Who, Rod Stewart and The Kinks, these twenty games endorse the view of 1971-72 being the standout season of the 1970s.
TWENTY GREAT GAMES of 1971-72
HEREFORD UNITED 2 NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 (FA Cup third round replay) 5/2/1972: In February 1972 on hearing Newcastle had conceded goals to Radford and George in losing an away match, any right-minded football follower would assume them to have lost at Highbury and as such not altogether surprised.
But in suffering a third round FA Cup replay defeat at Southern League Hereford United, Newcastle were on the receiving end of a giant-killing so epic in proportion, the highlights have become the most familiar images of domestic football in the early 1970s.
From the quagmire, cabbage patch to pitch invasions by parka-clad schoolboys to acclaim Hereford goals by Ronnie Radford and Ricky George, the 21st Century ‘magic of the FA Cup’ commentary cliche has its origins on such an extraordinary day.
England striker in-waiting Malcolm MacDonald had put the first division side ahead with eight minutes left – only for the 85th minute rocket-shot equaliser from Ronnie Radford to become arguably the most famous FA Cup goal of all time and certainly the most repeatably shown on television.
Beaten by a first period extra-time winner from George, a week after their Edgar Street embarrassment Newcastle recorded an impressive 2-0 victory at Old Trafford. But such is the magnitude of their cup defeat, not even space age gadgetry like the internet can reveal who Hereford, the lowest ranked club ever to inflict an FA Cup defeat on a topflight team, played in their next Southern League fixture.
WOLVES 5 ARSENAL 1 (20/11/1971): If there is one match from a football-filled childhood to which my lasting love of the game can be traced, it is this extraordinary fixture played on an afternoon where Wolverhampton doubled as the set for ‘Ice Station Zebra.’
In wintry pre-Christmas conditions, which do not occur anymore, the temptation is to add neither does football containing such unbridled excitement.
Double winners the previous season, Arsenal took a first half lead by virtue of a well-struck Ray Kennedy effort – but just after half-time the skies and floodgates opened in tandem. Winger Dave Wagstaffe levelled with a ‘Goal of the Season‘ contender and from attacking play that was decisive and direct Wolves conjured further goals scored by Kenny Hibbitt, Derek Dougan, Jim McCalliog (penalty) and John Richards.
Having beaten eventual champions Derby County the previous week, Wolves were embarking on a winning streak that would take them within touching distance of top spot by mid-January, Arsenal reacting to their Molineux mauling by setting in motion the overtures that would result in England World Cup winner Alan Ball moving from Everton to Highbury the following month.
Attending the match with my dad, it was a fixture we spoke of many times for almost fifty years – there being a sad and ironic poignancy in coming across highlights in the week after he died earlier this year.
LEEDS UNITED 1 ARSENAL 0 FA Cup Final (6/5/1972): Disparaged at the time for being overly physical and indicative of how brutal English football had become, to those critical voices of 1972 the obvious riposte is be careful what you wish for – the 21st Century version of the FA Cup Final technically sophisticated, but visually boring, neither of which applies to this, the Centenary final.
True, there is attitude and antagonism, but nothing that qualifies as Premiership petulance. Knocks are given and taken, yet for the most part skill levels remain impressive, befitting two sides with notable early 70s pedigree. The outcome was decided by a sublime diving header by England striker Allan Clarke, his second half winner giving Leeds their first (and to date only) FA Cup triumph, holders Arsenal falling at the last in their attempt to retain the trophy.
Picking up their first domestic silverware of the decade, 51 hours later Leeds had aspirations of quickly doubling that haul – heading to Molineux where a point against Wolves would be enough to see them crowned champions in securing the league and FA Cup double.
STOKE CITY 2 CHELSEA 1 League Cup Final (4/3/1972): For those inclined to think in such a way, young male teenagers in other words, respite from the daily round of six o’clock headlines appertaining to terrorism and industrial strife, was generally found in the great cup finals and rock music of the early 70s. The latest in a run of north v south encounters and all the industry v artistry connotations they evoked, this memorable League Cup showdown, if equated to the pop charts, was victory for folk rock over glam.
In their first major cup final, Stoke perform with a collective sense of the day belonging to them. Chelsea on the other hand, for whom such occasions were becoming a regular occurrence, fail to summon their usual swagger against opposition displaying admirable will.
That said, it still required Gordon Banks to be at his exemplary best – Stoke indebted to their goalkeeper par excellence in seeing them through the closing stages.
MANCHESTER CITY 3 MANCHESTER UNITED 3 (6/11/1971): If not a follower of City or United, this could easily lay claim to being the most enthralling Manchester derby of them all.
By the first Saturday of November, they stood top and third in the table, the last hurrah of Best, Law and Charlton seeing them hit the front, while at the same time City were giving credence to the claim by manager Malcolm Allison of his side being the best in the country.
This rumbustious, rip-roaring affair is noteworthy for any number of thrilling moments – the scoring started by seventeen-year-old Sammy McIlroy, the Belfast-born debutant on target for the visitors along with Brian Kidd and Alan Gowling, but United twice let the lead slip, once from a position of winning 2-0. City hit-back through their own holy trinity of Bell, Lee and Summerbee in a match that is high class testament to the excitement of early 70s English football.
Play that is so open and cavalier make highlights of this fixture a fascinating watch – but also serves as evidence why neither would lift the title.
WOLVES 2 LEEDS UNITED 1 (8/5/1972): Not for the last time during the 1970s would the destination of the league title be determined at Molineux. As an enthralling season built to a suitably dramatic conclusion, the fixture schedule became even more complicated due to England facing West Germany at Wembley in a European Championship quarter-final first leg seven days before the FA Cup Final – and two English clubs, Wolves and Spurs, winning through to a two-leg UEFA Cup Final in the first weeks of May.
Having received short shrift from Football League secretary Alan Hardaker in regard to an alternative date for a fixture likely to involve them playing for the league title, the inevitable occurred – and two days after winning the FA Cup, Leeds headed to the West Midlands for the point required to make them champions and thus complete the double.
Unable to call upon centre-forward Mick Jones who dislocated a shoulder as Leeds wrestled the FA Cup from Arsenal, manager Don Revie deployed Billy Bremner in an advanced role as the visitors made clear their intention to seal the deal with both points.
Against the run of play, however, Scottish centre-half Frank Munro scored for Wolves, who the previous week had gone down 2-1 to Spurs in the UEFA Cup Final first-leg, their half-time lead extended on the hour when talisman striker Dougan fired low past David Harvey.
Showing fatigue but no lack of fortitude Leeds revived their hopes when Bremner reduced the deficit late on, but in the face of intense pressure Wolves held firm and in denying Leeds a draw ensured the League Championship was bound, via Majorca – where the Derby players were enjoying an end of season holiday – for the Baseball Ground.
Eleven months later Leeds gained a degree of revenge by defeating the Molineux men in a hard-fought Maine Road FA Cup semi-final, the irony not lost on a generation of Wolves supporters of the team performing far better that day than when defeating Leeds a year earlier.
ENGLAND 1 v WEST GERMANY 3 European Championship Quarter Final first-leg (29/4/1972): If the 1953 Wembley defeat by Hungary shattered self-anointed notions about English football, this humbling at the hands (or quick feet to be precise) was the 70s big bang.
Adopting some tippy-tappy brand of the game those ‘know nothing’ continentals had the temerity to call ‘total football‘ the visitors, playing in a style likely to have been laughed out of any ground in England, showed in their patience and tactical flexibility just how much the game had developed beyond the White Cliffs of Dover even since the 1970 World Cup.
In contrast England, for the most part, look stale and confused, Plan B just a more physical and one-dimensional version of Plan A – although a tactician with the nous of Sir Alf Ramsey would surely modify his thinking when time came to qualify for the 1974 World Cup.
It took thirteen years to fully repair the damage done to the prestige of English football after the ransacking done by Hungary in Coronation year, a recovery for which Sir Alf deserved much of the credit – but only two years into the 70s, West Germany were already way ahead in the football space-race, England having to play catch up ever since.
NEWCASTLE UNITED 3 LIVERPOOL 2 (21/8/1972): At a time when engaging Geordie folk-rockers Lindisfarne were homegrown Tyneside heroes, St James’s Park took to its heart London-born centre forward Malcolm Macdonald – a £180,000 1971 summer signing from Luton Town.
Brave, strong and packing a lethal left shot, the new king was ordained by virtue of this hat-trick on his home debut – a penalty, thunderous left-footed strike and instinctive finish the sum parts in many knockout afternoons he would enjoy in the black and white stripes, this particular one ending with ‘Supermac’ leaving the field concussed following a collision with opposing goalkeeper Ray Clemence.
Liverpool, with fledgling 70s superstar Kevin Keegan now in their ranks, play their part in a hugely entertaining game, not least when Emlyn Hughes smashes them into an early lead with his fiercely struck shot from twenty yards.
MANCHESTER UNITED 2 SHEFFIELD UNITED 0 (2/10/1971): While the country at large enjoyed usually warm temperatures as the 1971-72 season unfolded there was also something of an Indian summer at Old Trafford, where an impressive start to the campaign raised hopes that one last glory ride might be in store for Matt Busby’s 60s buccaneers.
With the Best-Law-Charlton golden triangle seemingly rejuvenated under new boss Frank O’Farrell, beneath clear October skies early season surprise package Sheffield United crossed the Pennines – the return trip set to be made with a point until George Best makes an intervention of the sort only he could muster. Displaying supreme balance and mesmeric ball control that fifty years on is still to be marvelled at, he glides past a succession of defenders before firing home from the tightest of angles.
When Alan Gowling scores the second with a powerful header there is a sense all this is heading somewhere – but what looked awesome in autumn had been shattered by the following spring, Manchester United already down a road where drama and incident was outstripping achievement.
ASTON VILLA 2 BOURNEMOUTH 1 (12/2/1972): The generation of football followers who came of age in the late-60s/early 70s had no notion of Aston Villa being among the elite, the club now in its seventh season of top flight exile, 1971-72 the second spent in the modest surroundings of Division Three.
The previous campaign had brought stirrings of a revival with a League Cup Final appearance, even if a quick return to the second tier ultimately eluded them. But now no such slip-ups were countenanced, over 48,000 converging on Villa Park as the home side came from behind to topple one of their main promotion rivals.
Within three years Villa would be back in Division One – somewhere prolific Bournemouth striker Ted MacDougall (Manchester United/West Ham/Norwich City) and Cherries boss John Bond (Norwich City/Manchester City) were also bound.
LEEDS UNITED 7 SOUTHAMPTON 0 (4/3/1972): Denied in frustrating fashion when they reached the European Cup Final three years later, this annihilation of the Saints revealed Leeds in the Spring of 1972 as arguably the best club side in Europe.
Like late-80s Liverpool and early Millennial Arsenal, this is highly skilful football played at its most ruthless – in other words, if you have capacity to slaughter the opposition then do-so by scoring at every opportunity.
For hapless Southampton, who come to resemble a pub side in the face of such ruthlessness, it was not even their heaviest defeat of the season.
SCOTLAND 0 ENGLAND 1 Home International fixture (27/5/1972): Even by its own confrontational standards, this was a Scotland-England encounter where the friction was full on.
The visitors, smarting from their disheartening European Championship quarter-final exit against West Germany, headed north of the border with a strong sense of damage intention – a side with Norman Hunter and Peter Storey deployed in midfield unlikely to blind anyone with science, the tone set when Hunter scythes down Leeds club-mate Billy Bremner during the crash-bang-wallop of the opening five minutes.
Amidst the physical cut and thrust there are some fine passages of play and although England win the day with a scrambled first half goal from crowd provocateur Alan Ball, the honours long-term belonged to Scotland as steady progress through the next fifteen months secured qualification for the 1974 World Cup – something England would fail to achieve.
Over thirty years would pass before an England team would take the field again in such belligerent mood – mind you, when they hit Dublin in 2003 there was a Grand Slam at stake for Martin Johnson’s men.
STOKE CITY 3 WEST HAM UNITED 2 League Cup semi-final 2nd Replay (26/1/1972): While it has often been said the hardest job in 70s football was managing England, a less enviable task still fell to the poor ladies (if you will pardon the gender stereotyping) in charge of washing the kit – their work well and truly cut out after this magnificent encounter.
On the sort of misbegotten night Manchester can conjure at will, Old Trafford as a neutral ground played host to a League Cup semi-final second replay between two sides whose attacking instincts would not be compromised by a pitch with the consistency of quick sand.
Even the great Bobby Moore came off caked from head to foot (Moore going through entire seasons without his strip looking so disheveled), although in fairness he had spent much of the night in goal, deputising when Bobby Ferguson left the field through injury – the England captain even managing to save a Mick Bernard penalty before the Stoke midfield man followed up to open the scoring.
Undeterred West Ham hit back to lead, but there is a feeling of destiny about the way Stoke eventually prevail – Hammers, hell and (literally) high water not denying them a first visit to Wembley.
CHELSEA 3 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 League Cup Semi-Final first-leg (22/12/1971): At the end of a successful calendar year when they had both lifted silverware, this was one way of deciding who could be more satisfied with the past 12 months – two excellent, well-matched sides, bringing the 1971 football equivalent of deciding between the Stones ‘Sticky Fingers‘ and ‘Muswell Hillbillies‘ by The Kinks.
With the vibrant Kings Road of the early 70s within earshot there is plenty of dash and dazzle in evidence, on the night things are settled by a late John Hollins penalty – a winner that proved crucial when the post-Christmas White Hart Lane second leg ended all square at 2-2.
Thus Chelsea advanced to their third major cup final in two seasons and in the wider scheme of things Mick, Keith and the other occasional Rolling Stone residents of Knightsbridge had just edged out the Muswell Hill mob – not that Arsenal devotees Ray and Dave Davies would take kindly to the Tottenham analogy.
MANCHESTER CITY 5 WOLVES 2 (29/1/1972): As no highlights of this enthralling encounter appear to exist, you will have to take the word of SAMTIMONIOUS.com of it being a high-quality match.
On their previous visit to Manchester three weeks before, Wolves in the midst of an unbeaten run stretching back to early November had won 3-1 at Old Trafford, staking a claim as serious title contenders.
Occupying top and third spot respectively, there ensued a veritable feast of attacking play, goals exchanged at regular intervals with the outcome always in the balance until Division One top scorer Francis Lee netted twice to complete his hat-trick.
Wolves departed Maine Road with reduced notions of grandeur (although they would reach the UEFA Cup Final three months later), while City boss Malcolm Allison increased his already bountiful forward options by forking out £200,000 for Rodney Marsh who was bought from QPR – but only three wins in their last eight matches saw them fall just short in the title race.
EVERTON 8 SOUTHAMPTON 0 (20/11/1971): On the same cold afternoon Arsenal were taking some icy blasts at Molineux, eighty five miles north Southampton had not a snow ball’s chance in hell by half-time of taking anything from Merseyside – given they were already 5-0 down.
In a rare outbreak of early 70s Goodison gladness, a Mersey derby victory of the previous week was followed by this demolition of The Dell-sters.
As ever, things would turn out bittersweet in the land of Evertonia – the goal by Alan Ball shortly before half-time has been described in wondrous terms by attendees at the School of Science, yet would prove his last in an Everton shirt, the England man signing for Arsenal three weeks later.
AJAX 2 ARSENAL 1 European Cup Quarter-Final first leg (8/3/1972): At a time when Great Britain was near to joining the Common Market, this European Cup last eight clash said much about English football in relation to Europe.
The clash of styles is apparent from the off – the Dutch masters and reigning European champions pop the ball around with neatness and care, but shabby defending allows Ray Kennedy in for a vital away goal.
With Arsenal there was never any likelihood of over-elaboration, but they display admirable application in denying Ajax time and space. The equaliser when it comes is a curious affair – the visitors undone by a momentary lapse in concentration as Cruyff and co show how direct they can be when the need arises.
One Charlie George near miss aside, the second half belongs to the home side and if it is not quite Alax wiping the (kitchen) floor with the opposition (as stated in a television commercial at the time), they stretch Arsenal to the limit while patiently probing – but are somewhat fortunate to be awarded the penalty which decides things, this on the back of being denied a stonewall spot-kick five minutes earlier.
Two weeks later in the Highbury second-leg Ajax control the match for long spells in recording a 1-0 win, their winning formula of patience then penetration already making retention of the European Cup look a formality.
As the UK moved toward closer integration with Europe, the football implications would be noted by those frequenting the Anfield boot-room – two European Cup triumphs by the end of the decade testament to a willingness to adapt.
LIVERPOOL 2 MANCHESTER UNITED 2 (25/9/1971): Having lost their only league game so far across the way at Goodison Park, more Merseyside misery looked in store for Manchester United when they went 2-0 down to a rampant Liverpool at Anfield.
But then, right in front of The Kop, 1971 disappears and in its place comes a 60s throwback – George Best turning virtuoso in creating the opportunity for Denis Law to reduce the arrears, before slipping a pass into the path of Bobby Charlton who levels with a sweetly struck right foot drive.
Losing only twice in the league before the turn of the year, a dismal start to 1972 would see Old Trafford title hopes packed away with the Christmas decorations.
DERBY COUNTY 3 MANCHESTER CITY 1 (4/12/1971): Taken either as a stand-alone 45-minute exhibition of incisive, fluent football or conclusive proof a serious championship was developing, the first half dismantlement of high-flying City served notice Derby had what it took.
Turning the clock to those times brings appreciation of just how effective great wing play could be, top notch purveyors such as Wagstaffe, Woodward, Cooke and Armstrong or in this case Alan Hinton, made the fundamentals (looking up when crossing, centres delivered with absolute precision), look the most natural things in the game.
From opening the scoring with a penalty, Hinton gives the City defence a torrid time – crossing with pinpoint accuracy for Ron Webster and then Alan Durban to score with forceful headers.
By the narrowest of margins Brian Clough and Peter Taylor would guide Derby to the championship – and when they next basked again in title glory, just a short way down the road at Nottingham Forest, it would be John Robertson creating the danger out wide.
WOLVES 1 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 UEFA CUP Final first-leg (3/5/1972): Quite what the continentals made of an all-England UEFA Cup Final is open to question. Across the channel it may well have been viewed as kick and rush rather than move and touch, but as a home front spectacle there is much to enthuse over.
Wolves keep presenting Martin Chivers with the sort of opportunity he will not allow to pass all evening, while at the other end Pat Jennings is typically acrobatic and aware, needing to be both in thwarting an audacious fifty-yard first half lob from Danny Hegan.
Just as Wolves are building up a head of second half steam, Chivers punishes hesitant defending by the home side to head Spurs in front – which brings the response of a Jim McCalliog equaliser who scores after more quick thinking from Hegan. But two minutes from time the sting is knocked out of their efforts aimed at taking a lead to North London when Chivers whacks home an unstoppable twenty-five yarder, the tide now turned in Spurs’ favour.
The second leg also has its moments, a Dave Wagstaffe thunderbolt levelling things on the night after Tottenham skipper Alan Mullery has capitalised when Wolves are once more uncertain in defence – Spurs ending an extraordinary season for football in England by becoming the first English club to win two different European trophies, the UEFA Cup added to a 1963 Cup Winners Cup success.
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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.
