40 years ago on Sunday

[Eskimo]

I was there standing on the terrace at the front near the half way line. There was such a camber on the pitch that Woodward on the on the other side of the pitch looked like he had no legs from the knees down. Not being very clever it took me a while to work it out what was going on.

 

[Selly]

My big brother had just started at Birmingham University and I got dragged down to Birmingham to see him, I spent the afternoon sitting in my dad's car in a car park in Selly Oak listening to the commentary on Radio 2. My brother ended up working at Selly Oak hospital for a while and fate would have it that I was there again seeing him on Boxing day 1979..... You might be relieved to know that I have no plans to go anywhere near the damn place this season.

Glad to hear it...

 

[Darren]

Wasn't the main error there Len Badger and John Flynn backing off when Best receives the ball, allowing him to turn and then accelerate? By the time Reece moves in to challenge, it is too late and even Hemsley would not to have able to send him wide by that point.

 

[Silent Blade]

Wasn't the main error there Len Badger and John Flynn backing off when Best receives the ball, allowing him to turn and then accelerate? By the time Reece moves in to challenge, it is too late and even Hemsley would not to have able to send him wide by that point.

Over to Bergen!

 

[Bergen Blade]

Over to Bergen!

Agree with Darren that Flynn should have closed him down. His reason for backing off instead is probably the Man Utd player on the left making a forward run, and he may have felt that Badger should have done it. Being full backs they may both have been slightly uncomfortable closing down a player in such a central position?

Hockey almost gets back and by his reputation you may have expected him to take Best down? Would he even have got a booking for that in those days?

Lastly Colquhoun and Badger are too close to eachother and do the job of one man as Best gets into the box, see photo.

Besides that, superb goal for me, very Messiesque.

 

[Darren]

Agree with Darren that Flynn should have closed him down. His reason for backing off instead is probably the Man Utd player on the left making a forward run, and he may have felt that Badger should have done it. Being full backs they may both have been slightly uncomfortable closing down a player in such a central position?

Hockey almost gets back and by his reputation you may have expected him to take Best down? Would he even have got a booking for that in those days?

Lastly Colquhoun and Badger are too close to eachother and do the job of one man as Best gets into the box, see photo.

Besides that, superb goal for me, very Messiesque.

I agree about Hockey - he could have just too Best's legs from behind but strangely pulls away. Flynn was a centre back by the way.

 

[super_pig]

>Flynn was a centre back by the way
yep it all went downhill when he got injured and not replaced properly (read Morgan?).. just having a giggle about the darlo comment.. that was a crazy night

 

[Silent Blade]

Agree with Darren that Flynn should have closed him down. His reason for backing off instead is probably the Man Utd player on the left making a forward run, and he may have felt that Badger should have done it. Being full backs they may both have been slightly uncomfortable closing down a player in such a central position?

Hockey almost gets back and by his reputation you may have expected him to take Best down? Would he even have got a booking for that in those days?

Lastly Colquhoun and Badger are too close to eachother and do the job of one man as Best gets into the box, see photo.

Besides that, superb goal for me, very Messiesque.

The best defender to jockey and get close to Best would have been Dave Powell (who had a bad injury at QPR 7 months earlier and never played again for us in the 1st team). Flynn wasnt comfortable playing against ball artists and Colquhoun was similar. Powell was usually quick off his mark and gets near to his opponent before making interceptions similar to what Bobby Moore did. The team were two class players short of being title challengers and had Powell not been badly injured then only one more class player would be needed

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Went over with a mate when we really didn't have permission to. Thought if we got there just before kick off we would slip in un-noticed.

What a shock when we came out of the station, couldn't get past the ford dealers, I'd never seen so many people.

Felt like we were sneeking back on the train and were thinking that if we got back earlier enough we'd have got away with it.

No idea what had happened until MOTD.

 

[Newbury Blade]

I was there - travelled over from Sheffield but went to my parents' house in Cheshire (Man U stronghold) in the evening and in the local pub all the Man U fans were saying how well we played. TC came in for particular praise. I was so proud of the Blades, and despite losing the game, still top of the league.

 

[Silent Blade]

TC came in for particular praise.

My memory of TC that day was that he took a short throw in early in the game and a teammate played a simple return pass to him but TC failed to control the ball and the ball trickled under his foot and out of play. I thought at the time that his rare mistake was due to being too nervous!