Wemberlee, Wemberlee - 50 Years of FA Cup Memories

[wardonia_blade]

The third round brings around 50 years of FA Cup football for me. My first match was January 1965 against………..Aston Villa. Can’t remember much except Kettleborough was sent off very early and we lost 2-0.
I have been looking back over this 50 years and picked out a few random memories and statistics to share.
The FA Cup in the Currie era was particularly frustrating. The Cup was big news in those days and this was our best chance to win something as we could beat anyone on our day, but even with Currie, Woody, Badger etc in the team for the most part, in the ten years 68-69 to 77-78 we won just 3 matches. One of them, however, was a magnificent victory over champions Everton, the best cup match I have ever seen.
In 1971 I went to Portsmouth. At this time we beat them 5-1 twice at Fratton and 5-0 at the Lane but once again a cup disaster. Lost 2-0. No efficient motorway network in these days and the two coaches set off at 9pm on the Friday night arriving home on Sunday morning.
Nothing much happened in the eighties but the number of victories increased as we were playing Burscough etc by then. This improved when Bassett took over and we got to the 5th round in 88-89 and the quarters the following year.
1993 was the start of a golden era (relatively). During the next 20 years just about every team who has won the top league in my 50 years were beaten at the Lane in this 20 year period. This includes ManU, Arsenal, Man City, Blackburn, Villa, Leeds and Forest. Liverpool were beaten in the League Cup as well.
The 3 semi-final runs (93,98, 03) were unusual in that the whole sequence only included one away win, the very first match was replayed at Burnley and Deane got a hat trick.
It is still my dream to see United in an FA Cup Final, more so than having one unsustainable season in the premier league. It is not impossible as Millwall, Cardiff and Bradford have shown. I have never seen United get anything other than thrashed at Villa Park but you never know. This could be our year. What do you reckon?

 

[Silent Blade]

Be nice if Nigel wins a trophy that his dad didnt! I became a committed Blade after watching YTV highlights of us beating Everton 2-1 in the 3rd round in 1970. My first FA Cup match was at Portsmouth in 1971. My dad and I travelled in the Train Special that went direct to Portsmouth (no changing in London), goals by Ray Hiron and Mike Trebilcock (he scored 2 for Everton in the 1966 final against Wendy) sent us crashing out. Next year we lost 3-1 at home to Cardiff. Missed the 1-0 win at Watford in 1973 because I went with my school class to watch Pinocchio at the Crucible. In the next round my jinx continued as my dad and I went on the Train Special to Carlisle to see us lose 2-1. Typing this, I now realise that my first time in seeing the Blades win a FA Cup match was the 2-0 win against Bristol City in 1975 (Dearden scored the first converting a fierce cross by TC, TC made the game safe with a splendid goal using the outside of his foot and it swerved the ball past Ray Cashley). Went to Leicester in 1976 (Keith Edwards debut) to see us lose to a Chris Garland hat trick. In 1977 Steve Faulkner had a rare good game in the 0-0 draw against Newcastle. 1978 saw us being hammered at home by 5-0 to Arsenal. was supposed to watch Blades v Aldershot in 1979 but heavy snow forced the postponement (I was back at boarding school on the re-arranged date) so my dad and I went to S6 to see the memorable 1-1 between Wendy and Arsenal. After the half time break, Wendy fans threw countless snowballs at Pat Jennings (who was catching them all before deciding to retreat and the ref refused to restart the game until fans stopped throwing the snowballs. A furious Jack Charlton marched over to the Kop to tell them to stop it but Wendy fans lobbed even more snowballs at him. Charlton was shocked, bowed his head, turned around walking back to the dugout and then the snowball throwing died out. It was really funny! The second time I saw us win a FA Cup match was the 3-0 win against Burscough in November 1979. The Bassett years were great for FA Cup wins compared with 1970 to 1988!

 

[Ballinpigpubs13]

Setting off on a Friday night and coming home sunday morning is a common experience on Shreds ale tours to this day.

 

[Darren]

Be nice if Nigel wins a trophy that his dad didnt! I became a committed Blade after watching YTV highlights of us beating Everton 2-1 in the 3rd round in 1970. My first FA Cup match was at Portsmouth in 1971. My dad and I travelled in the Train Special that went direct to Portsmouth (no changing in London), goals by Ray Hiron and Mike Trebilcock (he scored 2 for Everton in the 1966 final against Wendy) sent us crashing out. Next year we lost 3-1 at home to Cardiff. Missed the 1-0 win at Watford in 1973 because I went with my school class to watch Pinocchio at the Crucible. In the next round my jinx continued as my dad and I went on the Train Special to Carlisle to see us lose 2-1. Typing this, I now realise that my first time in seeing the Blades win a FA Cup match was the 2-0 win against Bristol City in 1975 (Dearden scored the first converting a fierce cross by TC, TC made the game safe with a splendid goal using the outside of his foot and it swerved the ball past Ray Cashley). Went to Leicester in 1976 (Keith Edwards debut) to see us lose to a Chris Garland hat trick. In 1977 Steve Faulkner had a rare good game in the 0-0 draw against Newcastle. 1978 saw us being hammered at home by 5-0 to Arsenal. was supposed to watch Blades v Aldershot in 1979 but heavy snow forced the postponement (I was back at boarding school on the re-arranged date) so my dad and I went to S6 to see the memorable 1-1 between Wendy and Arsenal. After the half time break, Wendy fans threw countless snowballs at Pat Jennings (who was catching them all before deciding to retreat and the ref refused to restart the game until fans stopped throwing the snowballs. A furious Jack Charlton marched over to the Kop to tell them to stop it but Wendy fans lobbed even more snowballs at him. Charlton was shocked, bowed his head, turned around walking back to the dugout and then the snowball throwing died out. It was really funny! The second time I saw us win a FA Cup match was the 3-0 win against Burscough in November 1979. The Bassett years were great for FA Cup wins compared with 1970 to 1988!

Rare! How very dare you!

 

[brownie4583]

I think my best FA Cup moment was when Pembo smashed home the winning penalty against Blackburn at BDTBL and we were on our way to Wembley 1993 against Wendy.Felt totally elated at that moment!

 

[pommpey]

I think my best FA Cup moment was when Pembo smashed home the winning penalty against Blackburn at BDTBL and we were on our way to Wembley 1993 against Wendy.Felt totally elated at that moment!

But the next game was a heartbreaker.

pommpey

 

[brownie4583]

But the next game was a heartbreaker.

pommpey

Yeah,then 1 of worst moments

 

[Gibbo89]

Yeah,then 1 of worst moments

To my mind it was the worst in my 50 odd years following the Blades. Sod 1979 that they keep going on about, that was just another game. Hell of a long boozy weekend in London for the semi but once I sobered up quite a few days (about a week) later it hurt even more than my kidneys

 

[boo radley]

Good thread. I hope no one mentions a certain stupid referee!

 

[Grecian2000]

Fully with Warders and the opening post.

Easily my favourite competition and a hatful of painful memories in my 50+ years.

I think the proudest cup moments have come in defeat. Two 3-2 setbacks in East Anglia (Ipswich 3 Blades 2 being one of the best halves of football I can remember) and Norwich 3 Blades 2 (when we were two divisions below) being one of our best performances. Add to that the 1-0 at Old Trafford against Arse.
I also agree perhaps the best overall performance was the Everton game. They were a top, top team in those days and we were fantastic that day.

Two biggest "let downs"? Travelling to Aldershot and getting dumped out in the fog (and the twat MacNally refereeing), and Altrincham.

 

[grafikhaus]

But the next game was a heartbreaker.

Now that could be United's motto! (A bit like the England cricket team are only one innings away from collapse.)

Some good stuff on here from our 'older' posters. The FA Cup meant something back then.

I particularly remember the 1970 (wasn't it '69?) win over Everton. I was but a mere pup at King Teds and it seemed the entire school was indoctrinated into supporting Wednesday*. At 12.30, the 'prefects' had heard the draw on t'radio and posted it up to a crowd of us kids. I well remember the guffaws that these Wednesday pigs came out with when they saw little old United had drawn the Champions. Still remember the game quite well. I think around 29k in the ground (although back then you could add around 10k as crowd fiddling was rife.) Everton playing in a faux Brazil kit (quite revolutionary back then) and Alan Ball and Whittle in white boots (ditto).

* Jump back to 1966. Wendy had reached the FA Cup Final v Everton, I was at junior school and we were all ordered to support Wendy. Fuck that! I thought. Raided my mums sewing drawer and made a big Everton flag which I took to school.
The day after the final (Sunday), we were visiting rellies over Hillsbro way and Wendy had a 'homecoming welcome' (The first time, I believe, that a losing Final team had indulged in this way. Probably explains why, to this day, they can pretend a defeat is a win.)
Thousands lined the route and, when the coach was going past Hillsbro Park couldn't resist shouting 'Everton!' and 'Fuck Wednesday!' before legging it, chased by a fair few piggies!

 

[Darren]

Fully with Warders and the opening post.

Easily my favourite competition and a hatful of painful memories in my 50+ years.

I think the proudest cup moments have come in defeat. Two 3-2 setbacks in East Anglia (Ipswich 3 Blades 2 being one of the best halves of football I can remember) and Norwich 3 Blades 2 (when we were two divisions below) being one of our best performances. Add to that the 1-0 at Old Trafford against Arse.
I also agree perhaps the best overall performance was the Everton game. They were a top, top team in those days and we were fantastic that day.

Two biggest "let downs"? Travelling to Aldershot and getting dumped out in the fog (and the twat MacNally refereeing), and Altrincham.

Agree on the Arsenal game. I took my then 7 year old son and was pretty apprehensive about us being hammered. Arsenal had won the double the previous season and, if memory serves they didn't rest any of their stars.

Fact is we completely matched them and could easily have won. An abiding memory for me was late on (I think just before the "greatest save ever") we were pushing forward and Henry broke through more or less on his own. It looked like he would make the game safe for Arsenal, but Jags got back and tackled him superbly.

Of course, we still lost :-(

 

[JJ Sefton]

Some of Walthamstow Snr's cup memries...

1959-1960

After that was the FA Cup 5th Round game against Watford. United won again, thanks to Doc Pace getting all three of our goals. It wasn't an easy game, though. Even though Watford came from a lower division they played well and had deadly twin strikers in Dennis Uphill and Cliff Holton. Holton scored both Watford's goals, he was an old hand who'd played with Arsenal. Watford must have made an impression on John Harris because, not longer after, he signed Barry Hartle from them...

This set the scene for the 6th Round FA Cup tie. This was at home against Sheffield Wednesday, and the city was in great excitement about it. Tickets were in great demand and hard to come by. Bramall Lane still had the cricket pitch then and a temporary extension was erected from the pavilion seating. I managed to get a ticket for this area and got to see the game. Wednesday at that time were in their first season back in Division 1 after getting promoted in 1958-9. To be fair, they had some good players. Ron Springett was an athletic goalkeeper, the full backs Johnson and Megson were steady and dependable. Right Half was Tom McInearney who was a class player. The other two half backs were Swan and Kay. Both were crude, Swan as a stopper, Kay in midfield. The forward line was very handy. Alan Finney and Bobby Craig were both very skilful players, while Wilkinson, Ellis, and Fantham were effective strikers.


Program for the Cup tie against Wednesday

On the day United were the best team by a long way. They had Wednesday pinned back in their own area for much of the game but Springett had one of his best ever games. Wednesday were obviously scared stiff of Doc Pace and Swan played a game not so much as sweeper but rather more like an ale-house bouncer. He played dirty and got away with it. Wednesday had two break-away attacks and Wilkinson scored from both of them. He took his chances well and we got stuffed. Bugger!

1960-1961

Perhaps this was Cup nerves, because we were in the Semi-Final of the FA Cup and drawn against Leicester. My brother-in-law was twelve years older than me, (still is, come to that), and he took me up to Leeds to see the Semi-Final. The ground was packed. Before the kick-off some Leicester supporters carried a mock coffin round the pitch with "Sheffield United" on the side. For us, an elderly gent dressed in red and white with a long red and white baton walked round the pitch escorted by two young lasses with United hats and scarves. The game was real end-to-end stuff, and both sides had goals disallowed. Doc Pace hit the ball into Leicester's net, but the ref ruled he had handled it first. Doc pointed to a mark on his shirt, to show he had chested the ball, but there was no change. Ever after, I cited this as evidence we had been robbed, but I heard that Doc, just before he died, admitted he had handled the ball.


Program for the semi final in Leeds

The game ended 0-0 and the replay was a few days later at Notts Forest's ground. We were at school, and the teacher let us listen to the second half commentary on the old school radio. This was 0-0 again. The third, and deciding, match was won by Leicester 0-2. They went on to lose in the Final to Spurs who were in their Double-winning year. We took comfort by saying we could concentrate on the promotion drive.

 

[Grecian2000]

if memory serves they didn't rest any of their stars.

Apart from Henry who was only sub. Remember him languidly juggling the ball around at half time with the other subs and looking a class apart even doing that.

 

[Darren]

Apart from Henry who was only sub. Remember him languidly juggling the ball around at half time with the other subs and looking a class apart even doing that.

Ah yes - I thought he played given that late run I recall!

 

[Grecian2000]

I heard that Doc, just before he died, admitted he had handled the ball.

Good memories from W Snr.

Couldn't help but laugh at that. I can just imagine him on his deathbed whispering to his nearest and dearest "I did handle it" before shuffling of this mortal coil.

NB: I DO realise he wasn't reffering to an actual deathbed confession.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

The first memory I can put a date to was the FA Cup Final on 4th May 1974.
I was 5 and a bit so I must have earlier memories but none that I can find out exactly when they happened.
My Mum's parents came to our house to watch the match, not sure why, maybe their telly was on the blink?
Liverpool beat Newcastle 3-0 and Keegan played a blinder scoring two.
I was a confirmed fan of both for a while, then Man Utd for a bit and then the Mighty Blades took hold.

FA Cup Final day was always one of the best days of the year when I was a kid.
Up bright and early with the TV on at 9:00 for 6 hours of build-up on both channels.
"Meet the Teams", "How they got there", "Walking in the grounds of their hotel", "On the team bus"...
"Cup Final Mastermind", "Cup Final Question of Sport", "Cup Final Celebrity Squares" (probably).
Frank Bough, Dickie Davies, Jimmy Hill, Saint & Greavsie, John Motson, Barry Davies, Brian Moore.
"Abide with me", Teams meet the royals, "How come them buggers allus get tickets?" etc...
Alan Taylor, Bobby Stokes, Jimmy Case, Jimmy Greenhoff, Paul Allen, Willy Young, "Professional foul".
Royal box, Cup aloft, Lid on head, poached egg on toast for tea. Wait to watch it all again on Match of The Day...

 

[Grecian2000]

FA Cup Final day was always one of the best days of the year when I was a kid.
Up bright and early with the TV on at 9:00 for 6 hours of build-up on both channels.
"Meet the Teams", "How they got there", "Walking in the grounds of their hotel", "On the team bus"...
"Cup Final Mastermind", "Cup Final Question of Sport", "Cup Final Celebrity Squares" (probably).
Frank Bough, Dickie Davies, Jimmy Hill, Saint & Greavsie, John Motson, Barry Davies, Brian Moore.
"Abide with me", Teams meet the royals, "How come them buggers allus get tickets?" etc...
Alan Taylor, Bobby Stokes, Jimmy Case, Jimmy Greenhoff, Paul Allen, Willy Young, "Professional foul".
Royal box, Cup aloft, Lid on head, poached egg on toast for tea. Wait to watch it all again on Match of The Day...

Indeed it was THE footballing day of the year Sothers.

Add to those programs the greatest quiz show the BBC ever produced "Quiz Ball". Is David Vine still alive? Get it brought back now!

 

[Silent Blade]

* Jump back to 1966. Wendy had reached the FA Cup Final v Everton, I was at junior school and we were all ordered to support Wendy. Fuck that! I thought. Raided my mums sewing drawer and made a big Everton flag which I took to school.
The day after the final (Sunday), we were visiting rellies over Hillsbro way and Wendy had a 'homecoming welcome' (The first time, I believe, that a losing Final team had indulged in this way. Probably explains why, to this day, they can pretend a defeat is a win.)
Thousands lined the route and, when the coach was going past Hillsbro Park couldn't resist shouting 'Everton!' and 'Fuck Wednesday!' before legging it, chased by a fair few piggies!

Best moment came from Eddie Cavanagh!

 

[Dnblade]

We never seemed to do much in the Cup for years growing up,although I've got vague memories of getting to the Quarter Final in the late 60's losing 1-0 to Leeds after beating West Ham at Upton Park.
Best memories for me are Coventry at Highfield Road,1 down and then Marcello equalised and then Shirt off with us going mental..Then the replay..winning on Pens,then OT v Newcastle.
The Blackburn game aswell..winning on Pens..pity about the Semi v Wendy,great atmosphere though,but gutted.
The Arsenal semi was a good memory despite losing,we have them a game and great backing.
Some not so good memories Altrincham 3-0 defeat,Arsenal 5-0 late 70's.

 

[Grecian2000]

I've got vague memories of getting to the Quarter Final in the late 60's losing 1-0 to Leeds after beating West Ham at Upton Park.

1968. My first visit to Elland Road (2nd came a week later when we played in the League and got beaten 3-0). Twats, always hated them.

Over 20 years before we reached that stage again, seemed like an eternity.

 

[Revolution]

Good thread: Cup memories I have no one has mentioned so far above:

Agana's fantastic winner at Huddersfield in my first away match in 1989 in the 3rd round
Veart's header against Arsenal and Whitehouse's equaliser in the first game
United hitting the woodwork 4 times in 10 seconds at Norwich in 1997
Craig Short taking out Tarricco at Ipswich in 1998 and not bothering to wait for the red card
The heart stopping 4-3 win over Ipswich in 2003, with Brown's 2nd goal being one of the hardest shots I've ever seen

 

[Silent Blade]

Good thread: Cup memories I have no one has mentioned so far above:

Craig Short taking out Tarricco at Ipswich in 1998 and not bothering to wait for the red card

It was Chris, Craig's brother!

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

The third round brings around 50 years of FA Cup football for me. My first match was January 1965 against………..Aston Villa. Can’t remember much except Kettleborough was sent off very early and we lost 2-0.

My first FA Cup match, too. I was six at the time.

I don't remember that much, either, although I do recall there was a minute's silence for Churchill, who had died the previous Sunday.

I remember Kettleborough being sent off. A book I have says it was for a tackle from behind on Wylie. Would that be Ron Wylie?

I've a feeling that Tony Hateley scored at least one of the Villa goals.

The only other thing I can recall is the Villa fans chanting "easy, easy..."

 

[Silent Blade]

My first FA Cup match, too. I was six at the time.

I don't remember that much, either, although I do recall there was a minute's silence for Churchill, who had died the previous Sunday.

I remember Kettleborough being sent off. A book I have says it was for a tackle from behind on Wylie. Would that be Ron Wylie?

I've a feeling that Tony Hateley scored at least one of the Villa goals.

The only other thing I can recall is the Villa fans chanting "easy, easy..."

http://www.11v11.com/matches/sheffield-united-v-aston-villa-30-january-1965-212200/

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

Everton playing in a faux Brazil kit (quite revolutionary back then)

Fully with Warders and the opening post.

Easily my favourite competition and a hatful of painful memories in my 50+ years.

I think the proudest cup moments have come in defeat. Two 3-2 setbacks in East Anglia (Ipswich 3 Blades 2 being one of the best halves of football I can remember) and Norwich 3 Blades 2 (when we were two divisions below) being one of our best performances. Add to that the 1-0 at Old Trafford against Arse.
I also agree perhaps the best overall performance was the Everton game. They were a top, top team in those days and we were fantastic that day.

Two biggest "let downs"? Travelling to Aldershot and getting dumped out in the fog (and the twat MacNally refereeing), and Altrincham.

Definitely wrong about the Everton kit, Grafik. They were in their normal blue shirts - if I can get some assistance with it I'll post a photo later to prove it! You're right about the third-round draw, though. It was a big event at school and plenty of lads would take radios with them to ensure they heard it.

Grecian's comments about the quality of the Everton team in those days are spot-on. Ball, Newton and Labone were all internationals and went to Mexico with England later that year. Kendall and Harvey were top-class, too. United hit the woodwork three times that day and thoroughly deserved their win.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Be nice if Nigel wins a trophy that his dad didnt! I became a committed Blade after watching YTV highlights of us beating Everton 2-1 in the 3rd round in 1970. My first FA Cup match was at Portsmouth in 1971. My dad and I travelled in the Train Special that went direct to Portsmouth (no changing in London), goals by Ray Hiron and Mike Trebilcock (he scored 2 for Everton in the 1966 final against Wendy) sent us crashing out. Next year we lost 3-1 at home to Cardiff. Missed the 1-0 win at Watford in 1973 because I went with my school class to watch Pinocchio at the Crucible. In the next round my jinx continued as my dad and I went on the Train Special to Carlisle to see us lose 2-1. Typing this, I now realise that my first time in seeing the Blades win a FA Cup match was the 2-0 win against Bristol City in 1975 (Dearden scored the first converting a fierce cross by TC, TC made the game safe with a splendid goal using the outside of his foot and it swerved the ball past Ray Cashley). Went to Leicester in 1976 (Keith Edwards debut) to see us lose to a Chris Garland hat trick. In 1977 Steve Faulkner had a rare good game in the 0-0 draw against Newcastle. 1978 saw us being hammered at home by 5-0 to Arsenal. was supposed to watch Blades v Aldershot in 1979 but heavy snow forced the postponement (I was back at boarding school on the re-arranged date) so my dad and I went to S6 to see the memorable 1-1 between Wendy and Arsenal. After the half time break, Wendy fans threw countless snowballs at Pat Jennings (who was catching them all before deciding to retreat and the ref refused to restart the game until fans stopped throwing the snowballs. A furious Jack Charlton marched over to the Kop to tell them to stop it but Wendy fans lobbed even more snowballs at him. Charlton was shocked, bowed his head, turned around walking back to the dugout and then the snowball throwing died out. It was really funny! The second time I saw us win a FA Cup match was the 3-0 win against Burscough in November 1979. The Bassett years were great for FA Cup wins compared with 1970 to 1988!

Ditto your experiences as regards Bristol city 75, I was on John street, and Burscough in 79.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

The first memory I can put a date to was the FA Cup Final on 4th May 1974.
I was 5 and a bit so I must have earlier memories but none that I can find out exactly when they happened.
My Mum's parents came to our house to watch the match, not sure why, maybe their telly was on the blink?
Liverpool beat Newcastle 3-0 and Keegan played a blinder scoring two.
I was a confirmed fan of both for a while, then Man Utd for a bit and then the Mighty Blades took hold.

FA Cup Final day was always one of the best days of the year when I was a kid.
Up bright and early with the TV on at 9:00 for 6 hours of build-up on both channels.
"Meet the Teams", "How they got there", "Walking in the grounds of their hotel", "On the team bus"...
"Cup Final Mastermind", "Cup Final Question of Sport", "Cup Final Celebrity Squares" (probably).
Frank Bough, Dickie Davies, Jimmy Hill, Saint & Greavsie, John Motson, Barry Davies, Brian Moore.
"Abide with me", Teams meet the royals, "How come them buggers allus get tickets?" etc...
Alan Taylor, Bobby Stokes, Jimmy Case, Jimmy Greenhoff, Paul Allen, Willy Young, "Professional foul".
Royal box, Cup aloft, Lid on head, poached egg on toast for tea. Wait to watch it all again on Match of The Day...

In 74 we`d had the lecky disconnected so dad`s mate monkey mulk Mulkearn, of Heeley, let me go watch there. Whilst engrossed in the game, his 2 young daughters supped a tot of Domestos each and the mum took them to A and E.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

http://www.11v11.com/matches/sheffield-united-v-aston-villa-30-january-1965-212200/

11 v 11 has the swindon game today as a nil nil draw....weird....