FA CUP BOOK 5

FOR THE THE HISTORY OF THE FA CUP FINALS, 1872 - 2012

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THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ As fans line the streets of Manchester, City footballers celebrate with the FA Cup trophy while riding in an open-top, double-decker bus following their 1-0 win over Leicester City in the 1969 Cup final.

MANCHESTER CITY WIN FA CUP, NOW AIM FOR

EUROPEAN SUCCESS I

By Donald Saunders at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, April 26, 1969

f the 1969 FA Cup had ended shortly after 4 o’clock at Wembley this afternoon it would have qualified for a place in the soccer history books as a classic tale of two cities. However, it lingered on for another half-hour and died tamely.

Manchester City, which defeated Leicester City, 1-0, today, now turns their gaze once more towards the distant horizon of a European triumph.

Leicester, the FA Cup loser, now prepares for an immediate resumption of their struggle for First Division survival.

For 30 minutes this afternoon, it was a superb demonstration of bold, artistic, attacking soccer.

At half-time, it could tastefully be described as a very good game and at the 60-minute mark it was still far above average. But in the last 30 minutes of the contest, the match became boring.

During a breathlessly exciting first half hour, the scoresheet might have read: Leicester City 3, Manchester City 3. Instead, Manchester City led by Neil Young’s 24thminute goal.

Thereafter, the men from Manchester seemed to

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remember they were playing in a Cup final and began to doubt the wisdom of the entrerprising policy that had given them command of the match.

Manchester City’s winning goal was made possible by Mike Summerbee collecting a throw-in from Francis Lee, holding off a challenge by Alan Woollett, and stumbling along the by-line before pulling back a shin-high crossing pass to Young.

Young then thumped the ball into the roof of the net for the winning goal.

Leicester, however, had one great opportunity to wipe out that lead. It came in the 53rd minute and poor Andy Lochhead must still be wondering how he managed to lift the ball over the bar from his penalty shot.

Score Box

MAN. CITY 1 YOUNG, 24

LEICESTER CITY 0

FA CUP MEMORIES For Leicester City they hoped this final would be fourth time lucky for them. For Manchester City the target was an FA Cup triumph to follow the previous season’s successful tilt at the League Championship. And in one of those special FA Cup quirks this was the fourth season in succession the two clubs had met in the competition.

A City win in the 5th round in 1965-66 had been followed by a 3rd round win the following season. Leicester City had been the victors, 4-3, in a 4th round replay in 196768. Now they were meeting in the final itself.

Leicester’s place at Wembley was secured with a late semi-final winner by Allan Clarke, Britain’s costliest player, when signed from Fulham the previous summer.

City was a team of many talents − with the trio of BellLee-Summerbee being as popular with the Maine Road fans as Law-Best-Charlton were across at Old Trafford.

The final itself was played on the last Saturday of April and the pitch was heavy underfoot. Leicester were in a relegation dog-fight with five league games still to play after proceedings were completed at Wembley. They ultimately went down. The Midlanders more than played their part in the final, but were undone when Mike Summerbee crossed for inside-left Neil Young to crash home. Peter Shilton, the youngest goalkeeper to play in the final, was unable to prevent it.

It was the only goal of the game and City manager Joe Mercer had completed the Double of winning as a captain, for Arsenal in 1950, and now as a manager nineteen years later. Mercer was part of a managerial duo with the flamboyant Londoner, Malcolm Allison, as his younger sidekick.

This was also the final in which there was another contest on the Wembley pitch − and the alternative one, BBC Sport v. ITV Sport ended ungraciously in an oldfashioned punch-up!

As always the two competing broadcasters were “on their marks” at the end of the game to grab the key individuals for post-match interviews. The BBC thought they had a contract with the eventual winners, Manchester City, whilst ITV had got live reaction from Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison throughout the match and, then with at least three of their staff incongruously dressed in track-suits, chased down the victorious City players as they celebrated their success.

Things got heated − over-heated actually − and the odd punch was thrown by members of the two broadcasting giants as they literally fought for the first key interview.

In the aftermath both channels claimed they were in the right − and so the FA and Wembley stepped in and demanded a more sensible system.

I was part of that “sensible’ system” − the pre-match drawing of lots in the 1980’s for “who would get who first,” but I can tell you as the final whistle went − the instructions always sent out were: “Try and get the winning captain, the goal-scorers and the Cup itself − and get them first!”

And “they are not on our list” was a conversation that never took place − until the following Monday!

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LEADING OFF THE MOMENT THAT COUNTS ■ Leicester City goalkeeper Peter Shilton tries in vain to stop the winning goal from Manchester City footballer Neil Young in the 24th minute of the Cup final at Wembley.

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CHELSEA WIN CUP

REPLAY

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By Donald Saunders at Old Trafford, The Daily Telegraph, April 29, 1970

s Chelsea carried the FA Cup joyfully around Old Trafford tonight, Leeds United walked slowly to their dressing room at the end of a season that had promised them so much and left them with nothing but memories.

A goal, headed by David Webb in the 14th minute of extra-time, was enough to give Chelsea a 2-1 victory over Leeds United before a crowd of 62,078. The match was a replay of their Cup final at Wembley 18 days ago that finished in a 2-2 extra-time draw that was played before a crowd of 100,000.

It was the first replay in 56 years and would take a total of 240 minutes to determine a champion.

Webb’s goal came after Ian Hutchinson booted a long, high kick from the Leeds corner post that curled into the goalmouth. Jack Charlton managed to get his head on it, spinning the ball upwards.

For a second or two, the ball seemed to hang in the air.

Then Webb soared above friend and foe to head it firmly into the net.

Everyone in Old Trafford knew that this historic battle had been won and lost in the 224th minute. Leeds, however, would not believe this horrible truth until the whistle sounded for the last time 16 minutes later.

Leeds took the lead at 36 minutes into the first half, when Allan Clarke left three defenders trailing him, then slipped the ball to Mick Jones in the middle, who got past Chelsea’s John Hollins and John Dempsey and fired a rising shot into the roof of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Chelsea finally evened up the score in the 78th minute.

It came on a perfectly-executed play by Peter Osgood, Hollins, and Hutchinson, who caught the Leeds defence napping. Charlie Cooke then chipped the ball into the penalty-box area, which Osgood connected with on a header that got past David Harvey, the Leeds goalkeeper.

From that moment, Chelsea’s hopes began to rise and Leeds’ grip on the game began to loosen.

REPLAY JOY ■ Chelsea captain Ron Harris and his teammates celebrate after winning the Cup replay.

Score Box

CHELSEA 2 OSGOOD, 78 WEBB, 104

LEEDS UNITED 1 JONES, 36

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FA CUP MEMORIES The Cup final of 1970 was scheduled to be played early in April to give defending world champions, England, their best chance of acclimatising for the big test ahead in Mexico.

But, as is often the case, the best laid plans ...

This FA Cup final became the first to go to a replay in Wembley history and, indeed, the first since 1912. But it also delivered two remarkable matches − a beauty and a beast − and a winning goal created from one of football’s newest phenomenon.

On Saturday April 11, Leeds United faced Chelsea − a classic North v South encounter.

The match was played on the worst pitch that Wembley had ever provided its finalists. The Royal International Horse Show had been staged in the stadium a week before and left the famous turf looking like a ploughed field.

Jack Charlton opened the scoring at 21 minutes and Chelsea equalised twenty minutes later on Peter Houseman’s tame shot, which slipped through Gary Sprake’s arms.

Sprake would be dropped for the replay.

The second half buzzed at both ends, near-misses for both sides. After some indifferent recent finals, this was a belter. At six minutes from normal time, Clarke headed against the post, but Mick Jones was there to drive home the rebound.

With the League lost, and their European Cup hopes in the balance, it seemed that the FA Cup was finally on the way to Elland Road. But no, two minutes later, Hollins crossed and Hutchinson, him of the long throw, headed dramatically home. 2-2.

Extra-time delivered more thrills but no more goals.

A replay at Old Trafford would be next, but not until April 29th, by which time Leeds United had gone out of the European Cup in a 2-1, second-leg defeat by Celtic in front of an astonishing crowd of 136,505 at Hampden Park.

The FA Cup was the final leg of the fast-disappearing treble and a crowd of 62,078 looked on as Chelsea and Leeds locked horns again.

The game, which was played on a Wednesday evening drew a remarkable TV audience of 28 million − the second largest ever for a sports event on British television. Only the 1966 World Cup final itself has actually topped that number of viewers.

The game was used by both sides to settle old scores, tackles were wild and wilful. Players squared up to each other, flattened each other, and were involved in mass brawls.

While this was all going on, a match broke out! Mick Jones again from Allan Clarke’s promptings, fired home for Leeds.

Peter Osgood kept his record of scoring in every round by heading an equaliser 12 minutes from time.

The game was finally won in extra-time, when Ian Hutchinson, his arms spinning like a windmill, projected a long throw into the Leeds penalty box. These “missiles” from the Chelsea inside-forward had become a new feature − his throws measured at some 115 feet, the longest in modern football. His throw that night was back-headed by John Dempsey and David Webb, who was there to force it over the line.

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY â– Arsenal players are mobbed by enthusiastic fans as they climb the famous 39 steps to the Royal Box to collect the FA Cup trophy, which completed an historic Double.

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ARSENAL’S EXTRA-TIME CUP WIN EARNS LOFTY DOUBLE FOR

GUNNERS

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By Donald Saunders at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 8, 1971

ow that Arsenal has become the second club of the 20th Century to win the FA Cup and League Championship in the same season after their 2-1 victory over Liverpool in extra-time, they inevitably will be compared with Tottenham, the only other footballers to achieve that distinction since 1897.

It is as difficult to measure, fairly, the Spurs of 1961 against the Gunners of 1971.

There was a graceful ease about Tottenham’s twin triumphs.

Arsenal earned their successes by determined hard work in the face of adversity.

Although both teams today appeared close to scoring the winning goal in the initial 90 minutes, the match score was 0-0 at the end of regulation time and an extra-time period was added to determine a winner.

The extra-time period of 30 minutes proved to be filled with plenty of scoring.

Barely more than a minute after kick-off, Steve Heighway collected a long, carefully judged pass from Peter Thompson, who left Arsenal’s Pat Rice and George Armstrong hopelessly confused.

Thompson then drove the ball from the narrowest angle into the far corner of Bob Wilson’s net for a 1-0 lead.

Ten minutes later, Arsenal evened it up when Eddie Kelly dribbled the ball under George Graham’s foot and into the net.

Kelly was the first substitute to ever score in a Cup final.

The winning goal came in the 111th minute.

John Radford collected the ball out on the left, pulled it back firmly into the middle, and passed to Charlie George, who hammered it past Ray Clemence, the helpless Liverpool goalkeeper, for a 2-1 advantage.

The next day, a crowd of more than 200,000 roared as Arsenal captain Frank McLintock lifted the Cup high into the air at Islington Town Hall.

Score Box

ARSENAL 2 KELLY, 101 GEORGE, 111

LIVERPOOL 1 HEIGHWAY, 91

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FA CUP MEMORIES The 1971 FA Cup final was a special one for me. It was the first final I actually attended in person − the first of many.

I had got my hands on a prized ticket for the game − beating off my brother for the opportunity to go and see my team at Wembley.

It was actually my second trip to the famous old stadium as the year before I had gone there on a school trip to see England’s last game on home soil before they defended the World Cup in Mexico.

That was a mid-week night game; the Cup final was in its traditional slot − a Saturday afternoon kick-off at 3 p.m.

And it was a very hot day.

The Arsenal v. Liverpool Cup final threw up two teams at different stages of their development.

The Gunners had actually clinched the League title earlier in the week at the home of their North London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur. So they now had the “Double” in their sights. Ray Kennedy had scored the vital goal.

Liverpool, themselves, were a team in transition. A crushing FA Cup sixth round defeat at Watford the previous season had forced their manager, Bill Shankly, to reluctantly jettison some of his old faithfuls and move the club forward.

Included in their new line-up were two University graduates, wingers Steve Heighway and Brian Hall, who were affectionately dubbed as “Big Bamber” and “Little Bamber” after TV’s University Challenge presenter, Bamber Gascoigne.

On a stifling hot afternoon at Wembley the initial ninety minutes were goalless and almost incident free.

Heighway finally got the scoring underway with an extra-time goal, his near-post shot bamboozling Arsenal’s ’keeper, Bob Wilson.

For me, at the far end of the stadium it was an unforgettable moment − and along with thousands of other Liverpool fans we celebrated the goal in song until …

Nine minutes later, a scruffy Liverpool defender let Eddie Kelly in to push the ball goalwards, and George Graham seemingly brushed the ball on its way past Ray Clemence and into the Liverpool goal.

It was almost a “phantom” touch and later the goal was officially credited to Kelly. He thus became the first substitute to score in the FA Cup final.

Whatever, it dulled the noise at the Liverpool end of the ground and set the Gunners up for a final tilt at landing the elusive Double.

Nine minutes from regular time, with the players, socks rolled down and wilting in the heat, the vital goal was struck.

Arsenal’s John Radford laid the ball across for Charlie George. His right foot rocket from outside the box flew past Clemence and landed George flat on his back and with a place in football immortality.

Young, arrogant and talented, George became the toast of North London − or, at least half of it!

“George has done it!” screamed the BBC commentator ... and he had. The Double was Arsenal’s.

FA CUP MEMORIES Life was never simple with Leeds United. Under the astute leadership of manager Don Revie, they had become a powerful force in English football.

League Champions in 1969, FA Cup finalists in 1965 and 1970, League Cup winners in 1968, European Fairs Cup winners in 1968 and 1971 − these were just some of their achievements. They had also finished runners-up in the League on four occasions since being promoted to the First Division in 1964.

They could be mean, moody and magnificent − and often all on the same afternoon. But they also had a growing reputation for being “nearly men” despite their trophy haul.

As they approached the climax of the 1971-72 season they were in reach of emulating Arsenal’s Double-winning achievement of the previous campaign − they had an FA Cup final to play on the Saturday, ironically against the Gunners, and then 48 hours later a final League game of the season away at Wolves, where a draw would be good enough for the Yorkshiremen to win the crown.

They had tried to have the Wolves game moved − claiming, with some justification, that to be asked to play a game in the week of the final, the final itself, and then to play the match with Wolverhampton two days later was too much. But the authorities stood firm.

Allan Clarke’s fine headed goal at 53 minutes from a cross by Mick Jones proved to be the Wembley matchwinner. And, once again, Alan Ball, a World Cup winner at Wembley, and now an Arsenal player, failed to land domestic football’s most famous trophy.

For Jones, the final was to end in heart-break as he dislocated his left elbow late in the game. It would keep him out of the Leeds team at Wolves but, despite being in agony, he would not be denied his chance of picking up a Winners’ medal from the Royal Box. After both teams had collected their medals, Jones, wrapped in bandages and aided by Leeds hard-man Norman Hunter, made his way up the thirty-nine steps to the Royal Box, where he received his Winners’ medal from the Duke of Edinburgh. The crowd cheered him all the way.

All was set for the trip to Wolves on Monday. Revie, an earnest, committed man made no bones about the size of the occasion. “I’ve waited and sweated years for this.”

Instead of enjoying their FA Cup success, it was heads down and prepare for Monday night. They went straight to their hotel in Wolverhampton from Wembley − perhaps the wrong move. They hadn’t got Wembley out of their heads and bodies.

The game at Molineux turned into a nightmare for Leeds. They lost, 2-1, and Liverpool drew, 0-0, at Arsenal, thus failing to take advantage of Leeds’ slip-up. This left Derby County, with their season already completed, and on holiday in Majorca, as the new champions of England.

Derby’s manager, Brian Clough, sitting with his feet up on his own family holiday in the Scilly Isles, expressed his surprise and delight.

Of course, his own short spell in charge at Elland Road in 1974 was less successful − lasting just a painful 44 days.

LEEDS WIN FA’S

100TH CUP

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By David Miller at Wembley The Sunday Telegraph, May 6, 1972

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n the 100th anniversary of the first Cup match at Kennington Oval between Wanderers and Royal Engineers, Leeds United won its first Cup final after three attempts in the past eight years. A packed Wembley crowd of 100,000 watched as Don Revie’s squad defeated Arsenal, 1-0.

Leeds, the most consistent team in European soccer for the past eight years, carried off the centenary FA Cup in a final that proved to be one-sided.

After losses in the Cup final in 1970 against Chelsea, and in 1965 against Liverpool, Leeds showed from the start of the match they were transparently the better side, and by the finish they had outplayed the opposition in almost every phase of the game, even if they only controlled it for the last half hour.

What they beat, of course, was not only Arsenal but their own psychological barrier, the unhappy reputation of the team which often tripped in the final.

It was significant when the Leeds manager Don Bevie decided before the start of the match to go with David Harvey as his goalkeeper rather than with Gareth Sprake.

After Arsenal’s missed attempt by Pat Rice on a deep diagonal cross, Leeds’ winning goal came at the 53rd minute.

It began with Jack Charlton slipping the ball forward to Peter Lorimer. He fed it out to Mick Jones, who had moved to the right wing. Bursting past Bob McNab on the outside, Jones pulled the ball back and there was Allan Clarke, moving wide of Arsenal’s Peter Simpson and Frank McLintock to send the ball beyond Geoff Barnett, the Gunners’ goalkeeper, with a stooping, precise header.

It was as if a cloud had been removed from over Leeds.

Suddenly, their play began to sing and 37 minutes later the Cup finally belonged to Leeds.

But two days later their luck did not hold up. Leeds lost to Derby County, 2-1, and was unable to capture the double.

Score Box SWEET SUCCESS

LEEDS UNITED 1 CLARKE, 53

ARSENAL 0

■ Leeds’ Norman Hunter (6) leaps into the air to celebrate after teammate Allan Clarke scores the winning goal against Arsenal.

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FA CUP MEMORIES If one image best sums up the FA Cup final it may just be that of Sunderland manager Bob Stokoe in his rain mac, trilby hat on his head, running full pelt across the Wembley turf to hug his goalkeeper, Jim Montgomery, as the Second Division side clinched a famous victory over all-conquering Leeds United.

Sunderland, who had finished sixth in the Football League’s Second Division, had beaten the FA Cup holders, Leeds United, who was rightly recognised then as part of English football’s aristocracy.

The match swung on two incidents. Firstly, the only goal of the game scored by Sunderland’s Scottish midfielder, Ian Porterfield.

As a 15-year-old he had a trial with Leeds United but returned homesick to Scotland, where he joined Raith Rovers. Sunderland signed him in 1967.

Porterfield scored from close range with a searing rightfoot volley following a Billy Hughes corner. The goal, which came after 32 minutes, set up a second half where Leeds would relentlessly try and turn the game around.

And only the save of a lifetime, and possibly FA Cup final history’s best-ever, prevented them from doing it.

As Leeds’ pressure piled on, Jim Montgomery pulled off a remarkable double-save, firstly from a diving header from Trevor Cherry and then from the close-range rebound from Peter Lorimer, when a goal seemed absolutely certain.

He managed to push Lorimer’s effort onto the underside of the bar and out. Some Leeds players were already celebrating a goal and the referee seemed poised to give it.

Lorimer looked on in amazement while Cherry bashed the turf in frustration.

In the space of a few seconds, Montgomery had miraculously thwarted the first division hot-shots − not once but twice − with a save that many believe was as good as Gordon Banks’ marvellous World Cup effort against Pele three years before.

I later interviewed “Monty” and he modestly explained how he had denied Cherry, then Lorimer − and you knew he had told the story many times before. Daily on Wearside, no doubt. Sunderland born and bred, Montgomery’s save became part of the legend of the FA Cup. As Leeds’ resolve was broken, Sunderland attempted to extend their lead but to no avail.

On the final whistle the stadium exploded with the Wearside fans in ecstasy. And Stokoe made his famous dash towards Montgomery.

Stokoe, who had covered his bright red Sunderland track-suit with a mac, as the weather had worsened throughout the afternoon, had only been manager at the club for six months but had led them to a slice of Cup final history.

Sunderland were the first Second Division side to win the final since 1931 and only Southampton in 1976 and West Ham United in 1980 have repeated the feat.

Jim Montgomery would end his career at Nottingham Forest, where he was an unused substitute on Forest’s European Cup-winning side of 1980.

2ND DIVISION SUNDERLAND WIN

LOFTY CUP S

By David Miller at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 5, 1973

underland won the FA Cup, 1-0, because Leeds United passed it to them and then goalkeeper Jim Montgomery hung on just when Leeds should have snatched it back.

That is the inescapable truth which Leeds, possibily the most powerful favourite of all-time, must now swallow, choking with disappointment, at a result which lets the Cup go to the Second Division for the first time since West Bromwich Albion won in 1931.

Sunderland’s sensational achievement owes so much to their wonderful resonance, their heart and their spirit, which can not be rivaled, and their will to run when there was no strength left on which to run.

They made history − the most improbably romantic winners in 101 years − because with great determination they made their own luck. This was no fluke.

Much of the football may not have been memorable.

But there has not been such tension, nor such excitement, at Wembley since Manchester United won the European Cup. Sunderland’s lone − and winning − goal came 30 minutes into the first half, when Ian Porterfield swept a 30yard crossfield pass to Bobby Kerr on the right.

Seeing David Harvey, the Leeds goalkeeper, off his line, Kerr floated a high chip shot, and Harvey had to backpedal hard to turn the ball over the bar.

Billy Hughes sent over Sunderland’s first corner shot, which bounced off Vic Halom’s chest and headed down to Porterfield, who with the aplomb of Pele, caught the ball on his left thigh, swivelled and cracked it into the roof of the net with his right foot for a 1-0 lead.

Leeds should have led, 3-1, at half-time, instead of

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being one down to Porterfield’s stunning, ultimately matchwinning volley. They had several chances to even up the score − but each time Sunderland rallied to hold their slim lead.

In the second half, Leeds also had more chances to take the lead. In the last half hour, they attacked with 10 men.

Repeatedly, Sunderland was on the ropes, hanging on, ducking and weaving their way clear again and again.

With 26 minutes left to play in the match, Sunderland goalkeeper Jim Montgomery made two heart-in-mouth, unforgettable saves, which were assisted by Peter Lorimer’s galling, incredible misjudgement a few yards out.

That was the death-blow to Leeds, the current Cupholders.

When time had expired, Sunderland manager Bob Stokoe dashed across the pitch, with his raincoat flapping in the wind, and hugged Jim Montgomery, his goalkeeper, who had made the miraculous second-half double-save against Cherry and Lorimer.

Following the match, Stokoe noted, “I can’t say enough about the team. They gave everything they had. Winning the Cup is great for the club and great for soccer. To think just three months ago we were a Second Division team of nobodies and now we are known by all. It must be marvellous for the game.”

Score Box

SUNDERLAND 1 PORTERFIELD, 31

LEEDS UNITED 0

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Sunderland captain Bobby Kerr exits the open-top bus with the Cup, following a parade with the prized trophy from their 1-0 Cup final victory over Leeds United.

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CUP MAGIC ■ ABOVE: Second Division Sunderland’s 1-0 upset of powerhouse Leeds United is one of the greatest stories from the Cup’s legendary history. RIGHT: Sunderland manager Bob Stokoe hugs goalkeeper Jim Montgomery after his club had defeated Leeds United to win the Cup. OPPOSITE PAGE: The Sunderland team enjoys their open-top bus celebration as thousands of their fans line up to cheer their great success.

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KEEGAN’S 2 GOALS RETURN THE CUP BACK TO

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LIVERPOOL

iverpool, whose remarkable endurance and teamwork promised until recently to bring them the coveted Double, seized the FA Cup trophy effortlessly with a 3-0 victory over Newcastle United as their due reward for an admirable contribution to a fascinating season.

After a disappointing first half, Liverpool won its second Cup by scoring three memorable second-half goals − two of them by Kevin Keegan and the other by Steve Heighway − which Newcastle, increasingly in disarray, simply had no answer.

This was Newcastle’s first defeat in six Wembley finals.

It was also the first time in 14 years that any team had won the Cup by such a clear margin.

Ironically, it was done by a team which has often been criticised in the past for its alleged inability to put the ball in the net often enough.

Liverpool was able to score so freely because of their attacking skill and Newcastle’s defensive frailty.

Keegan’s goals and the excitement his overall performance generated made him the game’s outstanding contributor.

After a scoreless first half, Keegan’s thunderous shot announced Liverpool’s determination to attack more purposely in the second half. Only six minutes had expired when Alec Lindsey scored one of the best “goals” ever to be seen at this historic stadium.

Roaring up in support of his attack, Lindsey accepted what appeared to be a return pass from Keegan to volley the ball irresistibly past Ian McFaul, the Newcastle goalkeeper, from the most acute of angles on the left.

Lindsay was still rejoicing among the photographers when

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 4, 1974

it was noticed that a linesman had his flag up and the referee was awarding a free kick for offside against Keegan.

Liverpool’s disappointment lasted only six more minutes. After getting a centre pass from Tommy Smith, Keegan turned just inside the penalty area to hammer a right-foot shot into the roof of the net for a 1-0 lead.

At the 74th minute, Peter Cormack chipped the ball to John Toshack, which he headed square to Steve Heighway and the winger ran wide of the Newcastle defence on the right before planting his shot beyond McFaul to give Liverpool a 2-0 lead.

With two minutes left to play, and Newcastle’s spirit broken completely, Brian Hall and Tommy Smith exchanged passes, then Smith burst down the bye-line on the right to put over a low centre pass, which Keegan hooked into the net at the far post for his second goal and a 3-0 lead.

The Liverpool legions sang their heads off and, at the final whistle, two supporters who had managed to find a way onto the pitch, paid the ultimate homage to Bill Shankly, the Liverpool manager, as they knelt and kissed his feet.

RED GLORY ■ RIGHT: Liverpool captain Emlyn Hughes holds up teammate Kevin Keegan as they celebrate their FA Cup win. OPPOSITE PAGE: Assistant manager Bob Paisley (left, with the Cup) and Bill Shankly (right, with the Cup) enjoy their open-top bus parade after defeating Newcastle at Wembley.

Score Box

LIVERPOOL 3 KEEGAN, 52, 88 HEIGHWAY, 74

NEWCASTLE 0 318

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THE BEST OF WEMBLEY â– More than 100,000 travelled to the Liverpool city centre to celebrate Bill Shankly and his team following their return from Wembley with the FA Cup trophy.

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FA CUP MEMORIES Bill Shankly is one of English football’s greatest managers. His arrival at Liverpool in December 1959 lit a fuse that would rocket the club into a hugely successful future.

Shankly, a proud Scotsman, was the founding father of the modern Liverpool Football Club, and the catalyst for change and improvement. He demanded the best for, and from, his players, and for, and from, the loyal Liverpool supporters.

In May 1974, he was about to watch his last game as the Liverpool manager. Whether he, or we, knew it at the time − who knows? He would dramatically retire from his managerial hot-seat later that summer − a decision he likened to “a walk to the electric chair.”

Back on Cup final day, his job was to outsmart his friend and Newcastle manager, Joe Harvey. It started early.

On Cup final morning, both managers took part in a live two-way television interview, and the twin-shot from the two different hotel locations graphically portrayed the differing moods in the respective camps.

Shankly was in his element − ebullient. Full of quips and curiosities. Pure Shankly. Joe Harvey, by contrast, was quiet and a little uncomfortable. It was akin to the first live U.S. election television debates when telegenic John Kennedy’s style clearly outpointed a morose Richard Nixon and helped send him on the road to the White House.

The Cup final morning interviews were a mirror image of what happened on the afternoon at Wembley.

Liverpool destroyed Newcastle United. The pre-match hype had been based on Geordies’ star striker Malcolm MacDonald, who believed that he, and Newcastle, would have a big day at Wembley.

He didn’t and they didn’t.

Instead, two goals from rising star Kevin Keegan, and another Cup final notch from Steve Heighway put clear water between the two sides. And it could have been more.

As the game entered its final stages, all eyes were on Shankly. The television cameras captured him sitting on the bench, dramatically moving his arms left, right, up and down. Directing the football traffic, conducting his own marvellous soccer symphony.

After the Cup was duly handed over to Reds captain Emlyn Hughes, the Liverpool fans greeted their heroes with typical Scouse fervour. The loudest cheer, however, was left for the man who had set the whole ball rolling some 15 years earlier.

And, although a trifle excessive, it wasn’t surprising to see two Liverpool fans race on the pitch and actually kneel down and kiss the Scotsman’s feet.

Shankly’s take on the day was typical. “I’m happiest not for myself, the players or the staff but for the multitudes. I’m a people’s man, a socialist. I’m sorry I couldn’t go amongst them and speak to them. I’m happy that we have worked religiously, that we didn’t cheat them and that we have something to take back to them tomorrow.”

Shankly left behind a club with ambition and bite, a bag-load of trophies and a million memories.

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THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ West Ham’s Billy Jennings and Pat Holland enjoy their lap of honour with the Cup trophy around the Wembley pitch following their 2-0 win over Fulham.

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FULHAM FADES UNDER HAMMERS’

GREAT DAY OF GLORY A

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 3, 1975

lan Taylor, a Fourth Division player less than six months ago, will remember the second allLondon FA Cup final with a glow for the rest of his life; Peter Mellor, the Fulham goalkeeper, will not be allowed to forget it. That, in essence, is the story of today’s slight miscarriage of justice at Wembley, which West Ham United won convincingly, 2-0.

West Ham took home the FA Cup for the second time in their history, mainly because Fulham did not have a goalkeeper to match the rest of their excellent team.

It hurts to say that, because Mellor is one of the nicest players in the game; nevertheless, it is true.

Twice, the blond giant erred in the second half, and twice the predatory Taylor was on hand to make him pay and to reduce to nothing all of Fulham’s astonishing firsthalf superiority.

So, Wembley rang to the sound of Bubbles. And the dream Bobby Moore and Alan Mullery had of a fairy-tale ending to their long and distinguished careers faded and died.

The thunderstruck Fulham fans were forced to console themselves with the thought that it was a case of defeat with honour.

West Ham was outmanoeuvred and outplayed at almost every turn in the first half by Second Division Fulham.

Alan Taylor, however, settled this final in four dramatic minutes of the second half.

First, at the 60th minute, he drove an angled shot past Mellor after the diving goalkeeper could only push aside Billy Jennings’ fierce shot to one side.

The blame on that occasion rested as much with Fulham’s John Cutbush as with Mellor. For it was the fullback’s indecision that allowed Pat Holland to intercept the ball and pass to Jennings.

Holland, playing for the injured Keith Robson, also figured crucially in the second of Taylor’s goals in the 64th minute.

It was his pass that allowed Graham Paddon a shot almost identical to Jennings’ from out off the left.

This time, the ball was aimed at the near post, not the far post.

Taylor became the first player in 18 years to score a total of six goals in the Cup’s last three rounds.

Score Box

WEST HAM 2 A.TAYLOR, 60, 64

FULHAM 0

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FA CUP MEMORIES The beauty of the FA Cup is it throws such wonderful stories of sporting derring-do. And the 1974-75 campaign did not let the romantics down.

The 1975 Cup final featured two London clubs: West Ham United from the top flight and Fulham from the Second Division.

Fulham had taken a tortuous route to the final − 11 matches and ____ hours of Cup football. In miles and matches no team, to that point, had taken longer to reach Wembley.

This was Fulham’s first FA Cup final but in their ranks they boasted two of English football’s most revered elder statesmen.

Former West Ham legend, Bobby Moore was gradually bringing his glittering career to a close and had signed with Fulham in March 1974.

Now 34, Moore, was playing against the very team he had lifted the Cup for in 1964.

Alongside him on the Fulham team was their captain, Alan Mullery. He, too, had been a Cup-winner, with Spurs in 1967, and now at 33 was leading out his first club, at Wembley.

Neither man could probably believe it.

Another man pinching himself was West Ham’s striker, Alan Taylor.

Signed for £40,000 the previous November from Rochdale, and on his 21st birthday, Taylor had taken the latter stages of West Ham’s Cup run by storm.

He scored both goals in their quarter-final win over London rivals, Arsenal, at Highbury.

And he was on target again with a pair of goals in their FA Cup semi-final replay win over Ipswich Town at Stamford Bridge.

Taylor had risen from Fourth Division obscurity to FA Cup folklore − and there was more to come. In the final itself, Taylor once again struck gold.

With the game just past the hour, and still goalless, Fulham goalkeeper Peter Mellor parried a cross from Hammers’ Billy Jennings and there was Taylor to gleefully sweep it into the net.

Four minutes later, the same combination, a mistake from Mellor and another piece of opportunism from Taylor put the game out of Fulham’s reach.

“We’re forever blowing bubbles” rang around Wembley Stadium as West Ham lifted the trophy for the second time in their history.

Moore looked on, but both he and his veteran teammate, Mullery, knew just having another big day out in football’s most famous knock-out competition was a bonus in itself.

Moore and Taylor went into retirement in due course.

Taylor spent a couple more years at Upton Park before going on a footballing travelogue with spells at Norwich City (twice), Vancouver Whitecaps (twice), Cambridge United, Hull City, Burnley and Bury.

In many ways his glory days were captured inside three months and three games.

STOKES GRABS CUP FOR

SOUTHAMPTON

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 1, 1976

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he Southampton Saints and Jim McCalliog, in particular, proved there is simply no substitute for experience − not even the apparently inexhaustible, young and now bitterly disappointed Manchester United, which lost in the Cup final to the Saints, 1-0.

It was McCalliog, a 29-year-old veteran of Sheffield Wednesday’s appearance here in the final ten years ago. and, irony of ironies, a Manchester United reject, who ultimately determined the outcome of a match that caught fire late in the day.

It did so when McCalliog, who had dominated the second half with a telling display of the old-fashioned inside-forward skills, found Stokes unmarked in a pocket of space between the United defence and midfield seven minutes from the end.

Striding forward towards the edge of the penalty area, Bobby Stokes struck the ball left-footed before the lunging Brian Greenhoff could reach it and the shot snaked low into the far corner of the net, past United goalkeeper Alex Stepney’s unsuccessful dive for the winning goal, at the 82nd minute.

No FA Cup final would be complete without its fairy-tale element and Stoke’s winning goal was it on this occasion. At one point earlier this season, Second Division Southampton almost sold their unsung hero. Today, Stokes twice missed on shots high above the bar before he finally lowered his sights for the winning goal.

Score Box

SOUTHAMPTON 1 STOKES, 82

MAN. UNITED 0

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FA CUP MEMORIES

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Sunderland’s Peter Osgood (right) and Manchester United’s Stewart Houston battle for possession in the second half.

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Steve Coppell played over 300 times for Manchester United in an 8-year career that was cut short by injury.

A hard-working wide man, Coppell had started his professional career at Tranmere Rovers before Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty signed him in February 1975.

And all this while Coppell was busy studying for an Economics degree at Liverpool University. I know that because I was there with him!

Coppell had decided to complete his studies before moving full-time into football. A typically noble gesture, which he saw through to a successful conclusion.

It meant we had a student pal who was regularly featured on Match of the Day and who we starred on in topical features on TV’s Football Focus and Kick Off when they wanted to highlight his unusual dual existence.

In his first full season with United, back in the First Division after a one-season drop into the lower flight, the Red Devils made it to Wembley. And his University mates, me included, went there, too. It was a little awkward for me, as a devoted Liverpool fan, but it was great to see a mate on the field in the FA Cup final.

Coppell was part of a dual-wing strike force formed

by Tommy Docherty. Gordon Hill had been signed from Millwall and scored both goals in a semi-final win over Derby County. It was to be his second trip to Wembley − his first had been to see a speedway final!

Opponents for United were Second Division Southampton, who were twice beaten finalists in 1900 and 1902. Lawrie McMenemy had cannily put together a side packed with experience − and FA Cup final experience at that. Captain Peter Rodrigues (Leicester City, 1969), Jim McCalliog (Sheffield Wednesday, 1966), Peter Osgood (Chelsea, 1970) knew their way around FA Cup final day − and also in their ranks was the vastly experienced Mick Channon.

On the day itself, however, it was one of their less wellknown players, Bobby Stokes, who scored the game’s only goal just seven minutes from regular time.

Stokes took a through ball from McCalliog and steered it past Alex Stepney in the Manchester United goal. Appeals for offside were in vain. A Cup final upset was landed.

The Southampton striker won a car for scoring the winning goal in the Cup final and told reporters he had been taking driving lessons prior to the match because he felt sure he would win it. Sadly, Stokes died prematurely of bronchial pneumonia at the age of 44.

For Steve Coppell and Gordon Hill there would be a better final for them twelve months later − against Liverpool.

On that occasion I made it clear to Steve there was only one team I wanted to win − and it wasn’t United.

Mind you, four days after his disappointing Wembley experience against Southampton, footballer turned student Coppell was back with his University colleagues and actually playing in goal for our Department side in the school’s annual Cup final. Unfortunately for Steve we lost that one, too, giving him a rather unenviable unique Double.

FA CUP MEMORIES Twelve months after losing to Southampton, Manchester United were back in the Cup final at Wembley.

This time their opponents were the team from just down the M62: Liverpool.

The Merseyside Reds were in a heady period of success. They had just clinched their 10th League Championship and were just five days away from a date with European destiny in Rome There they would face German champions, Borussia Mönchengladbach, who were themselves clinching their third successive Bundesliga title as England’s two most successful clubs were duelling on the same day at Wembley.

Liverpool’s manager, the wily Bob Paisley, conscious, that any replay of the final would be held in the height of summer, picked a team to win it on the day.

Out and out striker, David Johnson was chosen ahead of midfield stalwart Ian Callaghan in the Liverpool manager’s starting line-up.

Those positions would be reversed in Rome.

The match was being described to BBC viewers, for the first time, by John Motson, a voice that became synonymous with the FA Cup final. To this date he has commentated on no less than thirty four.

The game, played on a typically hot Cup final afternoon, was goalless in the first half but exploded into life early in the second period. Stuart Pearson scored at 50 minutes with a shot Liverpool goalkeeper Ray Clemence probably should have saved.

The equaliser just two minutes later was a cracker.

Liverpool’s eccentric full-back, Joey Jones, lifted a crossball to Jimmy Case on the edge of the United box, and the mid-field player juggled with it, turned on the proverbial ‘sixpence’ and volleyed home.

Amazingly the winner was just three minutes away − a shot from Lou Macari being deflected beyond Clemence by the midriff of Jimmy Greenhoff. The former Stoke City striker claimed it − as all forwards do.

Liverpool had missed out on a domestic Double and indeed a possible unique Treble − United went on to actually achieve this in 1999 − but they used the long train journey back to Merseyside to put their Wembley disappointment behind them and turn their minds to all things Rome.

Of course, they would enjoy a glory night in the Eternal City five days later, winning the European Cup final, and writing an immortal page in their illustrious history.

Their FA Cup final defeat was devastating, but that win in Rome eclipsed it.

Manchester United revelled in their victory over their close rivals but their manager, Tommy Docherty, was only at the club for a short while longer.

He would later go on ... and on (from club to club) and when with his special brand of managerial magic. In later life he became a big hit on the after-dinner speaking circuit.

His best day at United though was putting Liverpool to the sword and in doing so he put right the wrongs of the previous year.

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Martin Buchan, the Manchester United captain, accepts the Cup from the Duchess of Kent after their memorable 2-1 Cup final win over Liverpool.

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UNITED STOP LIVERPOOL’S

TREBLE DREAM

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By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 21, 1977

iverpool’s dream of the Treble is no more. It lies in pieces on the Wembley turf, shattered by their own uncharacteristic mistakes in defence and a burst of devastating finishing

by Manchester United early in the second-half of a curiously uneven FA Cup final, which United won, 2-1.

Twice, inside six minutes, Liverpool was punished instantly for committing elementary errors that opponents usually find them guilty of once or twice in a whole season; and Jimmy Case’s reply, in between, became nothing more than a defiant, but hopeless, gesture.

Although the scoring pattern was a distorted reflection of the first-half play, it did have the merit of transforming what promised to be a final as onesided as that between Liverpool and Newcastle three years ago into a genuine contest.

Until Stuart Pearson drove the first goal past Liverpool goalkeeper Ray Clemence, five minutes after the secondhalf re-start, United had not really been in the match.

In the 50th minute, Liverpool’s Emmlyn Hughes and Tommy Smith floundered as Jimmy Greenhoff suddenly found Pearson clear slightly to the right of the Liverpool

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goal. Clemence then allowed Pearson to beat him with a low shot inside the near post that the goalkeeper could have been expected to save.

Two minutes later, Liverpool reacted spiritedly to that setback when Case confirmed his development this season into a player of the highest class by bringing down a centre pass from teammate Joey Jones, turning, and then driving the ball high out of the reach of United goalkeeper Alex Stepney’s left hand to even the score at 1-1.

But the cheers died in Liverpool throats three minutes later when a mistake by Smith lost possession to Greenhoff inside the penalty area. Greenhoff ’s first shot was blocked, but Lou Macari’s alert followup flew into the net off Greenhoff ’s body for a 2-1 lead.

Score Box

MAN. UNITED 2 PEARSON, 50 J.GREENHOFF, 55

LIVERPOOL 1 CASE, 52

FA CUP MEMORIES There are many ways famous FA Cup-winning goalscorers are fondly remembered and their special moment marked, but perhaps Ipswich Town’s Roger Osborne had one of the more unusual. For every time his manager, the hugely likeable Bobby Robson, took the family pet dog for a walk in the lovely Suffolk countryside, his cry of “Come here, Roger!” would be heard.

Robson, later Sir Bobby Robson, of course, had named the dog after Osborne, the 28-year-old son of a cowhand from a small Suffolk village of 500 inhabitants. He was one of the Cup final’s less likely heroes.

Osborne had got the only goal of the final against Arsenal after 19-year-old David Geddis’ cross had been steered into the striker’s path by the Londoner’s Scottish centre-half, Willie Young.

The goal and goal-scorer was greeted with mass hysteria by “the tractor boys” following the Suffolk side and Osborne was engulfed by jubilant team-mates Geddis, Mick Mills, Charlie Woods, Paul Mariner and George Burley.

Overcome by it all, Osborne needed medical attention and had played his last telling action in the game. His place in the history books was, however, secure.

This was a great triumph for Robson and his men.

Appointed manager of the club in January 1969, Robson had built up a stylish team, thriving under the unique offfield leadership of the Cobbold family, who were at the helm of the club for many decades.

Robson was a wonderful footballing man, and I had the privilege of spending many hours in his company. His love for the game was total, his enthusiasm limitless and his knowledge of his sport supreme.

At Portman Road he had built a Cup-winning side based on the defensive strength of the likes of Alan Hunter and the great Kevin Beattie, the mid-field guile of John Wark and Clive Woods, and front-line sharpness of Paul Mariner.

But, it was two of the less celebrated, Geddis and Osborne, who combined to give the Ipswich fans a special Wembley moment.

For Arsenal, it was just a bad day at the office, and for their centre-forward, Malcolm MacDonald, late of Newcastle, another Cup final anti-climax.

The Gunners would have a more memorable time 12 months later − as indeed would one of the VIP guests at the 1978 Cup final. Margaret Thatcher, the Leader of the Conservative Party, would secure the keys to 10 Downing Street, in a historic win over the Labour Government in May 1979, a year earlier she had been at Wembley for football’s big day out.

Making sure she was seen to be involved in every part of British social life she had gone along to the final − and was delighted, no doubt, that the team in blue had won the day.

When later asked on BBC Radio who was her Man of the Match, the choice of “Number 10” wasn’t surprising, but the name Trevor Whymark raised a quizzical eyebrow from her inquisitor. Whymark, you see, was named in the matchday programme but didn’t actually play!

OSBORNE LEADS IPSWICH TOWN TO

VICTORY

IN 50TH WEMBLEY CUP FINAL

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 6, 1978

A

t the 50th Wembley Cup final, Ipswich Town finally shook off the bad luck, which has dogged them for six years and denied them the major trophy their steady progress under Bobby Robson has merited.

Against all the odds, the patched-up and unfancied Suffolk side won the FA Cup for the first time in their history. In their Wembley debut, the 1-0 victory over Arsenal came on a late goal by Roger Osborne.

Until Osborne finally put the ball past Arsenal goalkeeper Pat Jennings, there was an uncomfortable feeling that whoever, or whatever, that frowns upon Ipswich's endeavours would force them to remain empty-handed once more.

Perhaps the biggest and most pleasant surprise of this Cup final was the contribution of David Geddis, who, at age 20, displayed the self-belief of which many an older player would have been proud. His was an astonishing performance.

It was both predictable and fitting, therefore, that Geddis made the opening for the goal that will transform Ipswich into something considerably livelier than a sleepy

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East Anglian town for days to come.

Ipswich dominated the first half almost totally, with Jennings stopping a pair of attempts by Geddis and Kevin Beattie.

In the second half, Ipswich's frustration continued as John Wark missed on a shot that hit the post and Jennings made a save on a perfectly-placed header by George Burley.

Finally, with 13 minutes left to play, Geddis broke down the right side, got past the Gunners' Alan Hudson and Sammy Nelson, then drove the ball low into the goalmouth.

Arsenal's Willie Young could only block the shot and Osborne snapped the rebound into the net for the winning goal.

Score Box

IPSWICH TOWN 1 OSBORNE, 77

ARSENAL 0

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Ipswich’s Kevin Beattie and Clive Woods celebrate on the lap of honour after their 1-0 Cup final victory against Arsenal.

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BRADY MASTERMINDS

GUNNERS’ LATE FA CUP WIN

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 12, 1979

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FA CUP MEMORIES

VICTORY LAP ■

(Left to right): Arsenal’s Graham Rix, Pat Rice and Liam Brady, parade the FA Cup around Wembley after their thrilling 3-2 win over Manchester United. A total of three goals were scored in the last 5 minutes of the Cup final.

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iam Brady made nonsense of the confident prediction that this would be the most evenly-balanced FA Cup final for years. More than that, this Republic of Ireland midfield player gave Arsenal a 3-2 victory over Manchester United they did not entirely deserve.

Brady insisted recently that the theory Arsenal is only half a side without him is totally wrong. Yet it could be no coincidence that on the two occasions he touched the ball seriously in the first half, the Gunners scored, and that it was his pass which rescued victory from the jaws of extra-time.

United was clearly the better side for long periods of a somewhat scrappy, undistinguished game that boiled up into a dramatic climax with three goals in the last four minutes. Still it was a heartbreak finish for United, who dragged themselves even with two late goals only to see Brady rub their noses in the famous turf with another of his inspired passes.

Arsenal’s first goal came after 12 minutes in the first half. It started when Brady intercepted the ball at midfield, accelerated past Lou Macari, who had kept a tight rein on him until he evaded Mickey Thomas, and passed to Frank Stapleton on the right touch-line.

Stapleton sent a pass to David Price, who beat Martin Buchan, then pulled the ball back across the goal, where three Arsenal players − Brian Talbot, Alan Sunderland and Graham Rix − were fighting to put the ball in the net.

It is not entirely clear who finally sent the ball flying past United goalkeeper, Gary Bailey, but Arsenal later credited the goal to Talbot.

Until Arsenal scored in the 43rd minute of the first half, the Gunners were extremely hard pressed.

With United preparing to settle for being only one goal down at half-time, Brady uncorked another of his magical runs to mesmerize Arthur Albiston and Buchan and offer Stapleton a free header at the far post for a 2-0 lead.

By the 85th minute, Arsenal was confident enough of victory to bring on Steve Walford, a defender, to replace Price and set up shop in the back. It did not work, because, one minute later, Gordan McQueen scored on a low pass from Joe Jordan to cut Arsenal’s lead to 2-1.

Then, with only two minutes remaining, Sammy McIlroy forced his way past Arsenal’s Walford and David O’Leary, drawing Pat Jennings from his goal-line, and steered the ball into the net off the bottom of a far post to even up the score at 2-2.

United’s joy lasted only one minute. Brady sent a deep centre pass to Sunderland, who met it firmly with his right foot at the far post for the winning goal.

Score Box

ARSENAL 3 TALBOT, 12 STAPLETON, 43 SUNDERLAND, 89

MAN. UNITED 2 McQUEEN, 86 McILORY, 88

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The 1979 FA Cup final has been dubbed the “FiveMinute Final” because all the drama in the game was captured in a remarkable sequence of scoring in the dying embers of the match.

In that time Manchester United pulled back a two-goal deficit only to see their last-gasp heroics upstaged with a late, late winner from Sunderland − of Arsenal.

All this Wembley high jinks on a hot day in May had looked a million miles away when Arsenal started their FA Cup trek with the longest-ever tie in the history of the competition proper.

Arsenal met Sheffield Wednesday no less than five times in sixteen January days to try and resolve their 3rd round tie.

Arsenal goalkeeper, Pat Jennings had actually been hit with snowballs in the first of those games at Hillsborough; in May he was celebrating with ice-cold champagne.

Manchester United had gone to replays with Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool en route to Wembley.

The final had an early goal. Arsenal’s Brian Talbot and Alan Sunderland arrived at exactly the same moment to lash the ball home from close range after just twelve minutes.

It was almost impossible to decide who got the last or most significant touch but Talbot was given the nod. He was already on his way to making Cup final history by being on different winning sides in successive finals.

Liam Brady, who was leading the United defenders with an Irish jig, centred for Frank Stapleton to score the Gunners’ second goal at the 43rd minute. Dublin-born Stapleton would score for United in a later FA Cup final.

And then the game went to sleep. I know I was there. On a hot afternoon, Arsenal didn’t chase any more goals and United couldn’t get started. It was a tough watch.

Indeed, the game was meandering to a boring conclusion (unless you are a Gunners fan!) and then all hell broke loose.

At 86 minutes, a cross from Steve Coppell was deflected into the path of United centre-half, Gordon McQueen, who swept the ball past Jennings.

Two minutes later, United unbelievably were level.

Again Steve Coppell was the architect with a through ball brilliantly dispatched on the run by Sammy McIlroy.

There was bedlam in the stadium, United fans were in ecstasy, Arsenal fans in agony. Any neutral that had slipped off early had missed one of the greatest finishes in Cup final history. And there was more to come.

Within a minute of United equalising they were behind again and this time decisively. Brady broke brilliantly down the wing, Rix centred and Gary Bailey in the United goal mis-read the ball’s flight and was unable to keep it out.

Sunderland was on hand to apply the coup de grace for the Gunners − and this time, it was his goal for sure, and the final act in a dramatic finale.

His celebration run after scoring, chased by substitute Steve Walford is one of the final’s most iconic images − although lip readers may find it a little naughty!

The game that had become an ugly duckling had turned into a beautiful swan.

FA CUP MEMORIES I have spent many hours in the company of West Ham legend Sir Trevor Brooking − first, when he worked at the BBC as a football pundit, and then more significantly when we both found ourselves working at the Football Association.

A respected football man and good company, conversations with him would often turn to the day he won the FA Cup for his beloved Hammers as he scored a rare, but decisive, headed goal against Cup holders, Arsenal, after 13 minutes.

Even the TV cameras on the day had a double take, cutting up a close up of West Ham striker, Stuart Pearson before realising that it was Brooking who had stolen in to head home from the edge of the six yard box. After all, a Trevor Brooking header was something of a collector's item.

Brooking had an outstanding game, passing and tackling, as was demanded.

He was a leading light on a West Ham team that were a Second Division club as they set out on their Road to Wembley.

West Brom, Orient, Swansea, Aston Villa fell to the Hammers and then Everton were taken out in a dramatic semi-final replay. The scorer of the extra-time winner, left-back Frank Lampard (Senior), celebrated by famously spinning around the nearest corner flag. His son, Frank Jr., would often be urged to later repeat that special celebration when he scored vital goals.

Arsenal, their Wembley opponents, were in their third successive final, a remarkable feat, but not before a marathon fight to the finish against Liverpool in the semifinal. The tie went to four matches before Brian Talbot, who was fast becoming an FA Cup legend, headed the lone goal in the tie’s third replay, which was staged at Coventry City.

The final also marked the appearance of the youngestever Wembley finalist at 17 years 256 days. Paul Allen very nearly topped that achievement by scoring a second goal for the Hammers.

Only a crude tackle by Willie Young denied him the chance to get on the Wembley score-sheet − and then celebrate with a lemonade!

For Arsenal, it was third time unlucky, and as the final whistle went, their attentions turned to the following Wednesday’s European Cup-Winners’ Cup final against Valencia in Brussels.

That game went to extra-time and ultimately to penalties − with no goals being scored in the 120 minutes.

Both teams fielded their star-men for their opening penalties, but World-Cup winner, Argentinean Mario Kempes, and Gunners Irish wizard, Liam Brady, missed. Every other penalty-taker hit the mark until in sudden death Graham Rix had his effort saved.

Two finals in five days. And no silverware for the Gunners.

The Hammers would have to wait a further season for elevation to the First Division but in the first FA Cup final of the decade, they lifted the famous trophy for the third time in their history − and the modest Trevor Brooking, later knighted, no doubt briefly allowed it to go to his head!

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ (Left to Right): West Ham’s Geoff Pike, Paul Allen and Ray Stewart celebrate with the FA Cup trophy following their 1-0 win over Arsenal.

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2ND DIVISION WEST HAM IS SUNNY SIDE UP IN

CUP WIN

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By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 10, 1980

ondon now belongs to West Ham United. In broiling heat, the Second Division Hammers upset the Arsenal aristocrats from North London, 1-0, with a goal by Trevor Brooking. West Ham was the lowest-placed team to collect the Cup since Wolverhampton in 1908. Arsenal was the first team since Blackburn Rovers, in 1886, to reach the Cup final for a third straight year.

FA Cup history was made at Wembley's third Cockney Cup final, which was played in sublime, sunny conditions.

Receipts were officially £729,000, but television fees and other extras pushed them beyond the million-pound mark for the first time.

Seventeen-year-old Paul Allen of West Ham also made history by being the youngest player to appear in a Cup final. The England Youth captain beat the record set by Howard Kendall in 1964, when he appeared as a fresh-faced youth for Preston North End − by coincidence against West Ham. It was also a memorable afternoon for Arsenal full-back John Devine, who had been preferred to Sammy Nelson.

The Republic of Ireland defender set out ambitiously to help his side win their second successive final.

Brian Talbot, who had won Cup-Winners medals with Ipswich in 1978 and Arsenal last year, showed with Liam Brady, Graham Rix and David Price that they meant to

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stifle the West Ham midfield and not allow Brooking and Alan Devonshire the free travel warrants Everton had given them in the semi-final replay.

A strong competitive showing was missing in the early stages, as so often happens in Wembley finals with sides slow to settle down. West Ham was the first to show something beyond the ordinary in the 12th minute.

Stuart Pearson got away on the left and centred low across the goalmouth, away from a string of Arsenal defenders. Geoff Pike took possession and fired a left-foot shot, forcing Pat Jennings, the Arsenal goalkeeper, to make a good save.

This gave West Ham added confidence, and glory.

They went into a surprise lead a minute later.

Trevor Brooking beat Pat Rice and Talbot in a powerful run and his centre kick got past Jennings for a 1-0 lead.

In the 67th minute, Arsenal made a run at West Ham, with Rix unleashing a wicked, angled shot, which Phil Parkes, the goalkeeper, playing in his first Cup, did well to block.

Score Box

WEST HAM 1 BROOKING, 13

ARSENAL 0

VILLA LEAD TOTTENHAM TO CUP VICTORY IN

MEMORABLE REPLAY

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icardo Villa, the Argentine who left the pitch in tears last Saturday after being substituted, returned to Wembley tonight to score two goals that earned Tottenham the distinction of winning the 100th FA Cup final in a 3-2 replay victory over Manchester City.

The two teams played to a 1-1 extra-time draw at Wembley before a crowd of 100,000 five days ago.

Tonight, Villa brought the most exciting match Wembley has staged for years to a memorable climax, with a goal that deserves to take its place among the great ones scored during a century of finals.

It came in the 76th minute, shortly after Spurs pulled themselves back from the brink of defeat, for the second time in five days, to finally defeat City.

Villa collected a pass from Tony Galvin near the lefthand corner of the penalty box, then went striding boldly past two defenders.

As he searched for an opening wide enough for a shot, he went past two defenders before driving the ball beyond Joe Corrigan into the net.

Tottenham scored first when Steve Archibald’s rebound was powered firmly into the net by Villa eight minutes into the first half.

By Donald Saunders at Wembley, The Daily Telegraph, May 14, 1981

But within three minutes City had evened up the score at 1-1 with a spectacular goal by Steve MacKenzie.

In the 50th minute, City took the lead after Dave Bennett forced his way into the penalty box area, was elbowed off-balance by Paul Miller, then bundled over by Chris Hughton.

With commendable coolness, Kevin Reeves placed the penalty kick to the left of the diving Milija Aleksic and into the corner of the net for a 2-1 advantage.

In the 60th minute, Glenn Hoddle rose to the heights with a beautifully-judged, delicate chip shot into City’s penalty area. Archibald quickly turned the ball back, but Garth Crooks swept in with a booming kick that soared past Corrigan to even up the score at 2-2.

Villa’s goal sixteen minutes later would be the decider for Spurs.

Score Box

TOTTENHAM 3 VILLA, 8, 76 CROOKS, 70

MAN. CITY 2 MACKENZIE, 11 REEVES, 50 (pen.)

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A GREAT CELEBRATION ■ Ricky Villa of Spurs, who scored 2 goals, celebrates the 3-2 win over Manchester City.

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LEADING OFF ?? ■Garth Crooks (not pictured) scores the second goal for Tottenham in the second half to level the score at 2-2. After Ricky Villa’s goal 6 minutes later, Spurs would have the winning edge.

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FA CUP MEMORIES Odd things you’ve done in your life? Well, amongst mine has to be one morning in May 1981 when I stepped into a central London store and helped choose two generous lengths of ribbon − one white, the other sky blue − for a very special occasion.

Indeed as tradition dictates one set of ribbon would never be seen again, the other would be the most photographed stretch of fabric in the world for just a short period of time. Incongruous though it might seem, I was out buying the ribbons that would adorn the actual FA Cup when it was to be presented to the winners of the 100th FA Cup final.

I was now working for BBC Television and filming a documentary, tracing the history of the FA Cup. Which is how I found myself, on the Friday morning before the final being led down the endless corridors of the FA headquarters at Lancaster Gate to a strong room at the back of the building.

A heavy door was swung open and there in its unspectacular wooden case was the FA’s jewel in the crown − the actual FA Cup itself. I felt like I was being introduced to a famous celebrity. In reality, I was.

I then helped lift the case onto a trolley and wheeled it up to the front door and a waiting security van. We duly pushed the VIP passenger up a ramp and into the vehicle.

The door was slammed shut and we waved the trophy off for its date with destiny.

The final itself was a memorable one − fitting for such an auspicious occasion. Manchester City v. Tottenham.

The first game was a draw, courtesy of Tommy Hutchison’s head − a first-half goal for Manchester City − and his shoulder, a second-half deflected equaliser for Tottenham Hotspur. It meant the celebrations of staging the 100th FA Cup final went into a second week and a Thursday night replay. And it would be a stunning game of football.

Argentinean Ricky Villa had been substituted in Saturday’s match and had trudged slowly down the Wembley touchline to the dressing rooms.

On Thursday evening of the replay, it would be a different story, as he would be the central figure in a fantastic feast of football.

The colourful Argentinian, combined with his fellowcountryman, Ossie Ardiles, put Spurs ahead, 1-0. City’s Steve Mackenzie, age 19, volleyed a superb equaliser.

City finally went ahead via a Kevin Reeves second-half penalty. Spurs levelled on 71 minutes through Garth Crooks and the stage was set for one of the Cup final’s greatest goals.

Tony Galvin raced down the left and passed inside to Villa. This time the bearded South American buccaneered his way through the retreating City defence. He went on ... and on.

“And still Ricky Villa ... what a fantastic run ... amazing goal,” were the famous words of BBC commentator John Motson.

Villa’s despair on Saturday had been replaced by ecstasy on the following Thursday.

337

HODDLE’S PENALTY KICK

WINS REPLAY

By Donald Saunders at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 27, 1982

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FA CUP MEMORIES

TWO CUPS IN A ROW ■ ABOVE:

Tottenham’s Graham Roberts and Glenn Hoddle celebrate with the FA Cup trophy after their 1-0 replay victory over Queens Park Rangers. OPPOSITE PAGE: Glenn Hoddle scores the match-winning penalty past QPR’s goalkeeper Peter Hucker.

T

ottenham took the FA Cup home again today after Glenn Hoddle became the first player to settle the Wembley final with a penalty kick since George Mutch gave Preston North End the victory in 1938.

Preston had to wait until the last minute of extra-time to defeat Huddersfield Town, 1-0. However, Hoddle’s goal against Queens Park Rangers came after only six minutes.

Tottenham and the Rangers finished at 1-1 after extratime five days ago at Wembley, before a crowd of 100,000.

There was no doubt about the correctness of referee Clive White’s decision. In the sixth minute Graham Roberts was clearly brought down by Queens Park’s Tony Currie as he broke into the penalty box.

Nor could anyone call Hoddle’s shot indecisive. He fired it, low and firm, inside Rangers’ left-hand post, as Peter Hucker dived the other way.

But Rangers do have doubts about whether that should have been the only penalty of the match. They claimed Mr. White also should have pointed to the spot when Bob Hazell slumped to the turf, following a tackle by Paul

Miller in the second half.

I suspect, however, that Mr. White may well have seen the linesman’s flag raised for offside before Hazell was tackled.

Rangers were a little unlucky not to enjoy the satisfaction of at least taking their opponents into extratime again.

Gary Micklewhite put the ball in Spurs’ net after Currie’s 43rd-minute free kick − which gave QPR fans a ray of new hope. But Mr. White had spotted some pushing and did not allow the goal.

The win gave Tottenham its seventh Cup − with wins also in 1901, 1921, 1961, 1962, 1967 and 1981.

Score Box

TOTTENHAM 1 HODDLE, 6 (pen.)

QUEENS PARK RANGERS 0 339

The National Anthem was sung with a special poignancy and gusto on the day of the FA Cup final at Wembley in 1982.

It was the crowd’s way of reflecting the public mood as the nation’s servicemen fought to repel the Argentinean invasion of the Falkland Isles.

Tottenham were in the final again, but this time both their Argentine maestros were appropriately missing from the line-up as they faced London opposition in QPR, ironically managed by ex-Spurs star Terry Venables.

Multi-talented Venables had already authored a fiction work, “They Used to Play on Grass,” in 1973, when eight years later QPR turned that title on its head by laying an artificial pitch.

I remember attending its launch at Loftus Road back in 1981 and thinking to myself that the bounce of the ball on the surface was both erratic and high. It would prove a telling advantage to QPR as they were allowed to stage home Cup ties on it, despite opposition from rivals.

Nowadays, FA Cup ties are not allowed on artificial surfaces despite their vast improvement.

Anyway, back in 1982, QPR got three home draws on their way to the semi-final and an away 4th round tie was drawn and taken back to Loftus Road.

Venables, who was also co-authoring the “Hazell” detective novels, had a footballing namesake, Bob Hazell, in Rangers defence, and an exciting pairing of Tony Currie and John Gregory in midfield.

Simon Stainrod played up front with 21-year-old Clive Allen, the son of Les and cousin of Paul, both Wembley FA Cup winners.

For the second time in succession the final went to two matches. The first instalment was a poor game with two late goals; Hoddle put Spurs ahead before Terry Fenwick scored a late leveller.

I had a bird’s eye view of that goal, as I was sitting directly to the side of the goal − not on the side of the pitch but about two yards from the actual net itself. An amazing privilege − and one captured in a photo in the match day programme for the replay.

I got such a fantastic viewing spot because I had been chosen to act as one of BBC’s “heavies” to grab the game’s key interviewees as they did their lap of honour.

In those days there wasn’t the large gap between final whistle and trophy presentation that there is now, so interviews were carried out after the medal ceremony.

As always there was a gentleman’s agreements with our friends and rivals at ITV − later my other broadcast home − but a lot of that bonhomie went up in smoke when the final whistle went and orders came down from on high to get “so and so” and “so and so” − even if they weren’t on our list!

The replay was won by yet another goal, a penalty, from Glenn Hoddle. QPR’s young side fought hard but just came up short.

One of the men watching from the bench was last year’s hero, Ricky Villa. His appearance raised a huge cheer from Spurs fans. It was a very emotional time.

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Manchester United celebrates their 4-0 Cup final victory against Brighton & Hove Albion. United previously won the Cup in 1909, 1948 and 1963.

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ROBSON’S 2 GOALS LEAD CRUSHING CUP REPLAY WIN; PROVIDE PERFECT BIRTHDAY GIFT FOR

M

SIR MATT

anchester United, on the 74th birthday of Sir Matt Busby, their president, shrugged off a season’s accumulation of frustrations at Wembley tonight to take home the FA Cup with a 4-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.

United, which is obligated to settle for third place in the League Championship behind Liverpool, who defeated them on this pitch in the Milk Cup, and was almost beaten

by Brighton in extra-time last Saturday, rose to full height to win an entertaining replay by the most decisive margin in a Wembley final since 1903. For a record third straight year, the Cup final had to be determined by a replay.

Five days ago, United and Brighton finished in a 2-2 draw at Wembley in the original Cup final match.

Two goals by Bryan Robson and one apiece by Norman Whiteside and Arnold Muhren, gave Sir Matt, who built a great post-war United team, and another after the Munich air disaster of 1958, an extraordinary birthday present.

The match was decided, in effect, in a five-minute period midway through the first half, during which United was transformed from a team full of uncertainty to a confident side with a two-goal lead.

By Donald Saunders at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 26, 1983

Arthur Albiston began the first move, in the 25th minute, with a pass to young Alan Davies, whose quick, accurate kick into the middle was driven home by Robson.

Five minutes later, Arnold Muhren’s corner kick was booted back into the middle by the alert Davies, and headed powerfully into the net by Whiteside for a 2-0 lead.

United increased their lead to 3-0 just in the 44th minute, after Muhren’s free kick was headed down

by Frank Stapleton and Robson kicked it past helpless Graham Moseley and Steve Foster for his second goal.

Seventeen minutes into the second half, United made certain that victory was theirs when Muhren drove a left-footed penalty kick into the corner of the net for a 4-0 lead. The free kick was set up by Gary Stevens pulling Robson by the arm.

Score Box

MAN. UNITED 4 ROBSON, 25,44, WHITESIDE, 30 MŰHREN, 62 (pen.)

BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION 0 341

FA CUP MEMORIES Breezing down the Brighton promenade on the top of an open-air double decker seemed a perfect way to start FA Cup final week in 1983.

I was directing a short film for BBC’s Sportsnight and with me was presenter and die-hard Seagulls fan Desmond Lynam. Our quarry was Brighton caretaker manager Jimmy Melia and his glamorous girl friend, Val. They had become an “item” and a news item as Brighton made their unlikely way to the FA Cup final.

Melia had become the story of that year’s FA Cup. Chief Scout at the start of the season, he was ending it by leading his team out at Wembley. The man with the “disco” white shoes hailed from Liverpool and had five brothers and five sisters. The Melias could field their own football team.

Jimmy had played for Liverpool and knocked them out en route to the 1984 final.

For the final the Seagulls flew to the Wembley area – by helicopter. And Brighton were up to give favourites Manchester United a real game.

And they nearly won it. Again, I was perched directly behind the goal, and watched Gordon Smith opened the scoring for the South Coast side. With a Cup final goal now to his name he would be more famous for missing one later.

Stapleton equalised for United in the second-half before going ahead through a superb effort from Ray Wilkins.

Brighton refused to lie down and equalised through defender Gary Stevens three minutes from regular time.

Into extra-time and with no further goals until the last few seconds of the game, this opportunity provided Gordon Smith with a chance to write his name in FA Cup legend.

And he did – by missing it.

Peter Jones, that brilliant BBC Radio commentator, immortalised Smith’s close-range miss with the words: “And Smith must score ...”

When I was CEO at the FA I spent some time in Smith’s company. He was my equivalent at the Scottish FA. It is fair to say barely a day went past when that miss wasn’t brought up by some inquisitive or mischievous football follower.

Smith would be patience personified, answer their questions, listen to their quips, and only once quietly reminded me, “I scored too you know.” He was a good guy.

The replay was more straight-forward for United – three goals up by half-time and a fourth in the second period; Ron Atkinson’s men were brilliant and made up for having lost the Milk Cup final to arch-rivals Liverpool earlier that year.

And to cap a great evening they did it on Matt Busby’s 74th birthday – and the United fans serenaded their iconic figure with a hearty blast of Happy Birthday.

For Brighton, it was so near, yet so far, and the season would see them also lose their place in the First Division, and Jimmy Melia his job. Afterward, Melia, and his white shoes, headed off to Portugal. Brighton went to the Second Division. And Manchester United continued on their “holy grail” quest of adding league success to FA Cup glory.

342

LEADING OFF THE GOALS CONTINUE ■ Bryan Robson (left) celebrates after scoring the first of two goals against Brighton in the Cup Replay. His goals came at the 25-minute and 44-minute mark.

343

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Everton captain Kevin Ratcliffe and his teammate Kevin Richardson (left) parade the trophy around Wembley in their lap of honour after beating Watford, 2-0, in the Cup final.

344

EVERTON STOP WATFORD FOR 4th

CUP WIN

J

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 19, 1984

ust about everything went according to script as Everton returned to Wembley to claim the FA Cup with a 2-0 victory over Watford − their first trophy since 1970 and rich consolation for having lost to their city rivals, Liverpool, in the final of the Milk Cup two months ago.

Playing before a Wembley crowd of 100,000 and a televison audience of 300 million, the now redoubtable Everton defence proved strong enough, if only just at times, to hold Watford’s rampart attack in check.

At the other end, however, Watford was undone by the inexperience of their youthful back four and the fallibility of their erratic goalkeeper, Steve Sherwood, as much as by any generosity on the referee’s part towards Everton over their second disputed goal.

Everton finally got on the scoreboard seven minutes before halftime when Graeme Sharp scored the first goal.

The second, by Andy Gray, came six minutes into the second half.

Afterward, Everton gradually began to control and dominate the match.

Everton’s first goal occurred after Peter Reid set Kevin Richardson free down the left side, who then passed to Gary Stevens. The full-back did not score, but Watford’s marking was so poor that the ball went straight to Sharp, who was standing freely. He fired from 10 yards and the ball hit the post and bounced into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Everton’s second goal, at the 51st minute, was set up

by Stevens’ centre pass, which an off-balance Sherwood stretched backward to reach and Gray headed out of the goalkeeper’s hands and into the net to give the Merseysiders a 2-0 advantage.

A SPECIAL PASSION ■ Elton John, a life-long Watford fan, loved his football team so much he later became the team’s major shareholder.

Score Box

EVERTON 2 SHARP, 38 GRAY, 51

WATFORD 0 345

FA CUP MEMORIES Elton John had a Wembley date already in his diary when Watford’s Cup run began in January 1984.

June 30th, it was, headlining a stadium concert that also included pop stars Kool and the Gang and Nik Kershaw.

But “The Summer of ’84 Concert” was to be preceded by the FA Cup final of ’84, and his Watford boys were in it.

Elton, formerly Reg Dwight, had the FA Cup final in his blood. Cousin Roy was a member of the winning Nottingham Forest side, which beat Luton Town in 1959.

Roy scored a goal in the Cup final and broke a leg.

Already a musical mega-star, he was now chairman of Watford and was seeing his first Cup-tie of the Hornets’ run to Wembley. Touring, concerts, recording in Montserrat, oh, and getting married, had kept him busy in the first five months of the year.

But he was here on his club’s big day, and in the middle of the Wembley pitch, I had a chance meeting with him. I was on BBC duty, but with blue blazer, blue tie and Scouse accent I probably oozed “Everton.”

Elton wished me luck for the afternoon and I returned the kind gesture in a “footballer’s kind of way!”

Graham Taylor, Watford’s manager, had done a magnificent job of getting his team through the divisions, and despite some criticism of their “long ball” game, they were a credit to themselves, their area and to the many families who followed them.

Everton were a club about to emerge from being in their neighbours’ long shadow. From being the more famous Merseyside club for many decades, they had to sit and watched as the Reds conquered England and Europe in equal measure.

Everton manager Howard Kendall, an FA Cup finalist with Preston in 1964, had been close to being moved on before two Cup runs, the Milk Cup and the FA Cup, secured his job. He would go on to do great things at Everton – and this FA Cup final was just for starters.

Preceding the game came the traditional singing of Abide with Me and Elton John was just one of the backup singers, along with 99,000 others as The Combined Bands of the Guards Division steered us along.

Indeed a marvellous camera close-up caught Elton, overcome with the emotion of the day, with a tear rolling down his cheek.

On the day itself his new single, Sad Songs, was being plugged – and it was an appropriate ditty for a young Watford side ultimately swept aside by a goal apiece from Everton’s blue-hot strikers, Graeme Sharp and Andy Gray.

Taylor later contested the validity of Everton’s second score, when Gray bashed into Watford goalkeeper Steve Sherwood, as he made contact with the ball. In many ways it was a Cup final goal from an earlier decade.

For Elton, Taylor and Watford it was a defeat but still a high-watermark in the club’s history.

And to parody an earlier Elton hit, the Hornets were “still standing” at the end of the game.

But it was Everton who were left with the Cup, knowing “I guess that’s why they call us the Blues!”

FA CUP MEMORIES George Best. Two words that spark the imagination of football fans of a certain vintage.

The word legend is too loosely bandied about these days but in George Best’s case it was a fitting label. He was that good.

He had been discovered by the famous Belfast scout, Bob Bishop.

A touchline guru who knew a genius when he saw one, Bishop also knew a mere top-class prospect when he saw one, too. And that’s how Norman Whiteside ended up at Old Trafford in the early 1980’s. Bishop spotted him and sent him to the place George Best had graced.

Whiteside was a different shape and size than Best. A man-boy, a youngster who could mix it up with his elders. A tough nut – but a clever footballer. He had made his debut for Manchester United at the age of sixteen.

Whiteside also knocked Pele off his perch by becoming the youngest player to appear in the World Cup, when he was part of the famous Northern Ireland team of 1982. He was just seventeen.

A year later he became the youngest player to score in both Milk Cup and FA Cup finals. And now in 1985 he was on course for a big Cup final performance against Everton.

Whiteside-Best, Best-Whiteside. The link was too good to miss. And that’s why I found myself outside a West London flat on a hot Cup final Saturday morning.

I had suggested to BBC Grandstand bosses that George Best would make a great studio guest at Wembley. And everybody agreed – with reservations! After all Best had a habit of not turning up – for United, let alone a TV date.

Still, I rang the door-bell of George’s flat – but there was no answer. A bead of sweat ran down my neck. I rang it again – no luck.

Now these were pre-mobile phone days so I found a telephone box, which was thankfully in working order, and relayed the bad news to the BBC guys at Wembley.

“Told you so” came the unhelpful reply.

This went on for about an hour and a half – ring doorbell, no answer, use phone-box. Repeat again. Finally, just as I was ready to pack it all in and head to Wembley for a dressing down and an uncomfortable afternoon, the curtains in the flat twitched and a smiling George Best looked out.

“I’ve been watching you for the past hour! Just winding you up! Let’s get going.”

As many before me I accepted Best’s playfulness with good grace and triumphantly landed him at Wembley – just in time.

On-air, he was charm personified and exactly the right man to have with us when United’s Irishman, Kevin Moran, became the first man to be sent off in the FA Cup final, and then when George’s fellow-Belfast man, Norman Whiteside, scored a glorious extra-time winner. It was a wonderful goal – a goal even Best would have been proud of.

Manchester United had won the Cup again, Everton were denied a remarkable Treble – and I’d got George Best, who’d never played in the FA Cup final, to Wembley in time.

It was a memorable day.

346

UNITED CRUSH EVERTON’S

TREBLE DREAMS

A

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 18, 1985

truly heroic performance by Manchester United on a warm, oppressive afternoon at Wembley defeated Everton, 1-0, in extratime and deprived them of their remarkable Treble and redeemed an FA Cup final which had almost failed completely to realise its rich promise.

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Bryan Robson, the Manchester United captain, lifts the Cup trophy at the Royal Box after winning the 1985 FA Cup final.

Everton had won the League championship and the European Cup-Winners’ Cup and had hoped to add the FA Cup to their hardware collection.

What changed the whole character of the contest was the controversial sending off of Kevin Moran, one of United’s central defenders, 13 minutes from the end of normal time for committing what is known in the business as a professional foul on Everton’s Peter Reid.

Moran gained, in the 104th FA Cup final, the dubious distinction of being the first player to be sent off the pitch in any Cup final. United was then forced to play with ten men for the remainder of normal time and the thirty minutes of extra-time.

United responded to the harsh dismissal of Moran by lifting their game to such a level of inspiration that Norman Whiteside, their young Irish international, was able to score a winning goal that no one could say that he and his team did not deserve.

347

Mr. Willie’s decision to dismiss Moran from the field took everyone by surprise, including Moran. The referee merely appeared to be booking the United defender when he suddenly pointed him towards the bench.

At first, Moran could not believe he was being given his marching orders. But when the fact was confirmed, the Irishman reacted so angrily that he had to be restrained by his teammates from putting his point of view forcibly to the referee.

For the fourth time in the last five FA Cup finals, an extra 30 minutes was needed to determine a winner.

With 20 minutes left in extra time, Mark Hughes beat Everton’s offside trap with a pass out to Whiteside on the right wing. The youngster carried the ball forward and scored on a curling shot that went beyond the reach of Everton goalkeeper Neville Southall’s dive and just inside the far post.

Score Box

MAN. UNITED 1 WHITESIDE, 110

EVERTON 0

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Liverpool’s Jan Molby celebrates one of the three goals he set up in this Cup final of cross-city rivals. Liverpool won easily, 3-1, against Everton.

348

LIVERPOOL

WIN MERSEYSIDE CUP TO COMPLETE DOUBLE

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 10, 1986

I

t was almost as though fate had decreed long before today’s tumultuous events at Wembley that Liverpool should become only the third club this century to complete the classic Double of the League championship and the FA Cup, after defeating Everton, 3-1.

In a thrilling match of curious shifts and changes, Liverpool won the first ever all-Merseyside final after appearing to be at the point of taking a heavy beating from their old rivals. The refusal of a legitimate penalty claim by Everton was perhaps crucial.

Gary Lineker gave Everton a 1-0 lead at the 28th minute. Ian Rush’s at 12 minutes into the second half evened up the score at 1-1.

Rarely has Liverpool been so outplayed as they were most of the first hour.

What saved the day for the Reds was the determined Jan Molby, their bulky Danish international, who stamped his influence on this showpiece occasion.

Freeing himself from the dominance of Peter Reid and Paul Bracewell, Mobley constructed Liverpool’s two goals for Rush and Craig Johnston and also contributed

BRAGGING RIGHTS ■

Liverpool’s 1986 Cup final win gave the Reds the legendary Double – the league championship and the FA Cup. During the next year, Everton fans would be constantly reminded of this historical fact.

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Score Box

LIVERPOOL 3 RUSH, 56,83 JOHNSTON, 62

EVERTON 1 LINEKER, 27

FA CUP MEMORIES In 1986, the first all-Merseyside FA Cup final took place. Sure, they had met at Wembley in the 1984 Milk Cup final and also later that year in the FA Charity Shield but this was the FA Cup final. The one the whole world watched.

My Cup final week was spent in Liverpool garnering the thoughts, both red and blue, on this momentous occasion, and there was no end of takers – and talkers.

Everybody had a view.

Liverpool had just been crowned champions, on the final day of the League season. Indeed, player-manager Kenny Dalglish had actually scored the decisive goal against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The team Liverpool pipped were Everton.

The FA Cup final represented different challenges for the two Merseyside teams. For Liverpool it was a chance to be only the third team thus far in the 20th century to win the Double. For Everton, it was a chance to land a major consolation prize after the crushing disappointment of losing the league title at the “last fence.”

I spent the night before the final in the Liverpool team hotel, a coach ride from Wembley. Not unnaturally I had been given the Reds as my responsibility for BBC’s Cup final coverage.

I had a good relationship with the club and its players, which my bosses felt may prove helpful later in the day.

I went down to breakfast on Cup final morning, allowing myself a silly childhood dream that I was preparing for the big afternoon ahead, but a hearty plate of eggs and bacon probably gave the game away to any neutral observer!

The game itself was a good one. Gary Lineker, who had spent all season scoring at will for Everton, got the opening goal for the Toffees, outstripping Liverpool centreback and future broadcast colleague, Alan Hansen, with a first-half flourish.

Liverpool hit back in the second-half, with the big Dane, Jan Molby, directing affairs in mid-field.

First, Ian Rush, then Craig Johnston and, finally, Rush again put Liverpool out of sight and they became the first team since Arsenal in 1971 to win the domestic Double.

Rush would be a constant thorn in the Everton side throughout his Liverpool career, a point not lost on his close mates and fellow Welshmen, Everton’s Kevin Ratcliffe and Neville Southall. He was also be a scoring sensation in the FA Cup final itself, scoring no less than five goals in domestic football’s annual showpiece in just three appearances.

For Dalglish, and Liverpool, the season had been a big move in the right direction after the damaging affairs of the previous season.

For Howard Kendall and Everton it was a case of putting behind a “nearly not quite” season and bounce back.

They accomplished this the following season by winning the League Championship.

The day after the 1986 Cup final, both teams shared the same plane back to Liverpool. After their arrival, they took an open-bus tour of the city, which brought both red and blue supporters out on the street to welcome their heroes.

TRIUMPH ■

Alan Hansen (left) and Jim Beglin parade the FA Cup around Wembley after Liverpool’s 3-1 victory.

significantly to the third goal, which Rush finally crushed Everton’s spirit.

Lineker’s goal came on a rebound of his first shot that Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar had stopped. But Lineker was too quick on the second shot and got the ball past Grobbelaar for the match’s first goal.

Liverpool’s equaliser came after Rush fielded Mobly’s pass and the deadly Welshman went wide of Everton’s Bobby Mimms to find a narrow scoring angle for his shot from the left 57 minutes into the match.

350

Six minutes later, Molby sent a centre pass to Kenny Dalglish, which he couldn’t reach, but Johnston was there and he powered it inside the far post to give Liverpool a 2-1 lead.

It was Molby who put Liverpool on top for good with a searching pass from midfield to Ronnie Whelan. The Irishman then floated a pass across to the far side of the penalty area, where Rush lurked unmarked. He took the ball forward a few steps, then drove it firmly into the net and beyond all hope for Everton.

LEADING OFF FLAGS OF WAR ■ Liverpool fans brought out their best flags for the Cup final – and each had unique messages. The most memorable read: “City of Manchester: Trophy-Free Zone.”

351

SKY BLUES UPSET SPURS IN EXTRA-TIME TO WIN

FIRST CUP

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 16, 1987

352

C

oventry City’s name really was on the FA Cup, just as they said it would be. The claim may have started out as bravado, or a bit of crude psychology, but it turned out to be perfectly true as the Midlands side upset the odds and defeated Tottenham, 3-2, in extra-time and won the Cup on their first trip ever to Wembley, which was played before a crowd of 100,000 and millions more on television.

It was Tottenham’s first loss in the Cup final in eight appearances.

Coventry carried the Cup away in deserved triumph, because Tottenham’s Gary Mabbutt was unfortunate enough to deflect a Lloyd McGrath centre pass into his own net six minutes into extra-time – this was the deciding difference after 90 minutes of one of the most exciting finals in many years.

Yet that stark statistic does scant justice to the powers of recovery displayed by Coventry on a cool, but sunlit, afternoon.

A goal down almost before they had time to take in the twin towers, the Sky Blues twice had to hit back to even up the score at 1-1 and 2-2.

Spurs made the perfect start by taking the lead after only two minutes when Clive Allen headed-in his 49th goal of the season.

Such an early setback would have been enough to crush the spirit of some teams.

Coventry, however, simply pulled themselves together, gritted their teeth and evened up the score at 1-1 seven minutes later, with a lovely bit of skill by Dave Bennett, who tucked the ball into the Spurs’ net after sidestepping Spurs goalkeeper Ray Clemence, inside the six-yard area.

Spurs controlled most of the first half, so it was fitting that they should have gone in after 45 minutes, leading by one goal.

It came five minutes before intermission, when a Glenn Hoddle free kick was stabbed home by Mabbutt for a 2-1 advantage.

Keith Houchen evened up the score at 2-2 after 63 minutes with a diving header from a centre pass that Bennett curled beautifully behind Spurs’ defence.

Coventry was forced to face the extra 30 minutes without Brian Kilcline, their injured goalkeeper. But the man who replaced him, the young substitute, Graham Rodger, played with real authority in defence, and also provided the pass that led to Coventry’s winner six minutes into extra-time.

It was McGrath, who was clear running down the right, who connected with Rodger’s pass.

Mabbutt then raced back to intercept as McGrath drove the ball in the direction of Spur’s goal, but succeeded only in tipping the ball, sending it looping over Clemence’s straining fingers into the net.

FA CUP MEMORIES

THRILLING ■ ABOVE: Coventry’s Cyrille Regis proudly holds aloft the trophy at the end of their 2-0 win against Spurs.

OPPOSITE PAGE: The Sky Blues celebrate the biggest win in their club’s history.

Score Box

COVENTRY CITY 3 BENNETT, 9 HOUCHEN, 63 MABBUTT, 96 (o.g.)

TOTTENHAM 2 C.ALLEN, 2 MABBUTT, 40

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The unlikely sound of the Eton Boating Song was the musical inspiration behind Coventry City’s surprise win over Tottenham Hotspur in the 1987 FA Cup final.

The song that began its life in the famous English public school, Eton College, had seen its words adapted by that great football and broadcasting character, Jimmy Hill, when he was the innovative manager of the Sky Blues in the early 1960’s.

Tottenham Hotspur were playing in their eighth FA Cup final – and had yet to lose one. Coventry were playing in their first.

Spurs had David Pleat at their helm; Coventry had a management duo of George Curtis and chief coach, John Sillett. Essentially it was the Sillett and Curtis show.

The two main strikers in the spotlight on Cup final afternoon were contrasting figures. Spurs’ Clive Allen, a Cup finalist with QPR in 1982, had just been awarded both the PFA and FWA Player of the Year Award. He went into the game having scored a remarkable 48 goals.

Within two minutes of the game starting it was 49, as he brilliantly got on the end of a Chris Waddle cross to head home. Great goal.

Coventry equalised through Dave Bennett before centre-back Gary Mabbutt put Spurs ahead again.

Middlesbrough-born, Keith Houchen led the line for the Sky Blues. His career would ultimately be played out in the shallow waters of lower profile clubs, but on May 16, 1987, he had his “fifteen minutes of fame” – some.

Houchen had once scored a critical penalty in an FA Cup-tie against Arsenal when playing for York City. On Coventry City’s 1987 Cup run he scored a winner at Old Trafford and goals in both the quarter- and semi-finals. The journey-man footballer was hot.

Starting the second-half move himself from midfield, he saw the ball reach winger, Dave Bennett. His cross was inch-perfect and Houchen dived horizontally to thunder a header to the left and wide of veteran Spurs goalkeeper Ray Clemence. It nestled in the corner of the net.

Houchen later called it the “perfect” header and thousands agreed with him as it was awarded BBC’s prestigious Goal of the Season Award.

Ironically, the man who scored it had nearly missed the game through food poisoning, after eating a dodgy trout.

And a biography of his career was later called “A Tenner and a Box of Kippers.” All very fishy!

Houchen’s career would gradually drift away but he left it as a Cup-winner, whilst Mabbutt joined Charlton’s Bert Turner and Manchester City’s Tommy Hutchison by scoring for both clubs.

Mabbutt deflected a Lloyd McGrath cross past Ray Clemence in extra-time to key Coventry’s victory. It would be the great goalkeeper’s final match.

Coventry’s post-match celebrations were long and lusty and television images of Sillett and Curtis walking along the touch-line arm in arm became iconic, especially as John gave everybody the clear indication they should have a good old drink to mark the Sky Blues’ great success.

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LEADING OFF BLUE HEAVEN ■ Coventry City’s Keith Houchen (10), while on the ground, watches as his spectacular diving header, evens the score at 2-2.

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WIMBLEDON WIN MEMORABLE CUP

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UPSET

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 14, 1988

rom now on, Wimbledon will be known to 500 million television viewers around the world for much more than its tennis. Dave Beasant, the captain of the unpretentious Southwest London club, and his teammates saw to that at Wembley.

Wimbledon’s 1-0 victory over Liverpool was the biggest FA Cup final upset since Sunderland beat Leeds United by the same score in 1973.

This feat allowed them to make post-war history by claiming the oldest, and most coveted, trophy in the world only 11 years after coming out of the Southern League.

No one can begrudge Wimbeldon of their famous victory.

They deprived Liverpool of a second League and FA Cup Double in three seasons, with Lawrie Sanchez’ firsthalf goal, then, working like dogs in the oppressive heat of a spring afternoon, denied Liverpool the space they needed to fashion any sort of counter-strike.

Beasant played a true captain’s part in this win. The 6-foot, 4-inch, goalkeeper not only saved a second-half penalty kick by Liverpool’s John Aldridge − the first ever save in a Wembley FA Cup final − but thwarted Liverpool time and again.

Sanchez finally got his goal at the 37th minute that settled a tense absorbing final. Aldridge had not missed on 11 penalty kicks this season. Following the kick and save, Beardsley’s teammates mobbed him in relief and jubilation.

Beasant made five first-half saves, including the memorable one against Aldridge in the 25th minute.

Frustrated Liverpool fans point to the disallowed goal

by Peter Beardsley in the first half as one that should have counted. But the referee had blown his whistle for a foul by Andy Thorn on the little Liverpool striker, Peter Beardsley, long before he delicately chipped the ball over Beasant.

However, it was Beasant’s fine goalkeeper play that gave Wimbledon the confidence to attack Liverpool and take the lead after 37 minutes.

Before Sanchez scored, John Fashanu had already alarmed Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar by meeting a Dennis Wise centre pass and sending a shot sliding narrowly wide of the far post.

Then, as Wimbledon attacked down the left, Terry Phelan was fouled by Liverpool’s Steve Nicol.

Wise took the kick and floated it in to the near post.

In what looked like a well-rehearsed set-piece move, Sanchez’s head went up between those of Nichol and Gary Ablett to flick the ball beyond Grobbelaar and into the far corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Liverpool almost evened it up two minutes before the end of the match with a diving header by Nichol.

But the Merseysiders were unable to raise their game enough to deprive Wimbledon of the most wonderful moment in their short history as a Football League club.

Score Box

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Vinnie Jones raises the FA Cup trophy

WIMBLEDON 1 SANCHEZ, 37

LIVERPOOL 0

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for Dons’ supporters in the village of Wimbledon to see following their 1-0 Cup final win against Liverpool. A crowd of 50,000-plus attended this celebration.

FA CUP MEMORIES Wimbledon is a name synonymous with strawberries and cream, hot late June afternoons, beautifully-tendered grass courts and, of course, the best tennis players in the world.

But for a brief moment in the late 1980’s, the name and game that flashed around the world was Wimbledon FC and football.

Unfashionable, quirky, unique – the Dons of Plough Lane became the toast of English sport when they had an unlikely FA Cup final win over hot favourites, Liverpool.

But Wimbledon were beautifully different. Their ramshackle ground had a seating capacity of just 16,000; their chairman, Stanley Reed, was a wonderful old English gentleman, and his side-kick, Sam Hamman, was an eccentric Lebanese businessman who drove the club forward.

Bobby Gould and Don Howe had put together a set of players drawn from all over English football’s wide canvas.

Some first-chancers and some last-chancers. This, after all, was a club that had won the FA Amateur Cup at Wembley in 1963 and had been a non-league club as recently as 1977.

And then there was Vinnie Jones, who had come off a building site and had a role in part-time football at Wealdstone, before joining Wimbledon less than two years before their big day at Wembley.

Jones had already made a big impression on English football – not least because of his ferocious tackling in midfield and his “up and at ’em” attitude. He was part of the inner spirit of the Dons.

Of course, everybody wanted a photo of when, tough as teak, Jones met the elegant Princess Diana, the day’s Royal Guest before the game. It was a special moment.

Liverpool, the league champions, had prepared properly for the final. Indeed their Cup final record, The Anfield Rap, all part of the tradition, had reached the dizzy heights of No. 3 on the UK pop charts. They were up for it.

Wimbledon, however, were determined to give the Reds the needle and put them in a spin. They were “sledging” in the tunnel and then Jones crashed into his mid-field rival, Steve McMahon, in the opening minutes.

The match itself turned on three key incidents.

Firstly, Liverpool’s Peter Beardsley had a goal disallowed by referee Brian Hill, who brought the game back for a freekick to Liverpool.

A minute later came the only goal of the game. The Dons diminutive winger, Dennis Wise, floated a free-kick into the Liverpool penalty area and Lawrie Sanchez deftly headed home.

Into the second half, and Liverpool applied a champions’ pressure. Wimbledon resisted bravely until Clive Goodyear upended Liverpool striker John Aldridge in the penalty area.

Aldridge got up and took the penalty-kick himself but Dons keeper, and captain, Dave Beasant saved it brilliantly.

It was the first penalty saved in an FA Cup final and Beasant became the first goalkeeper to lift the trophy.

Liverpool had been beaten. Just. And Wimbledon partied ... and partied.

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THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ A remote camera inside the goalmouth shows Everton goalkeeper Neville Southall lying on the ground after failing to stop Ian Rush’s extra-time shot, which hit the back of the net for Liverpool’s winning goal.

LIVERPOOL TRIUMPH IN MERSYSIDE CUP

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By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 20, 1989 iverpool did today what they had made up their minds to do some weeks ago, and won the FA Cup against cross-town rival, Everton, 3-2, for the 96 fans who died so tragically at Hillsborough at the start of the Merseyside club’s ill-fated semi-final against Nottingham.

But it was not achieved without a titanic struggle or several jarring notes.

Just when Liverpool appeared to be coasting to victory on the strength of John Aldridge’s early goal, Everton evened up the score at 1-1 on a goal by Stuart McCall, a substitute, just one minute before the end of regulation time.

Obligated to play an extra half hour in heat that made 90 minutes alone an exhausting business, the teams responded with a flood of goals attributable as much to tiredness as to the undoubted skill of their scorers, Ian Rush and McCall.

Rush, the Liverpool striker who has been looking for his form ever since he came from Juventus, got the one that mattered at the 104th minute; and only the magnificence of Everton’s Neville Southall’s goalkeeping in the last 15 minutes prevented a real rout.

Aldridge’s goal in the fourth minute − his 30th of the

A KODAK MOMENT ■ Ronnie Whelan with the Cup after receiving it from The Duchess of Kent at the Royal Box.

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Score Box

LIVERPOOL 3 ALDRIDGE, 4 RUSH, 95, 104

EVERTON 2 McCALL, 89, 102

LEADING OFF WELCOME HOME â– The victorious Liverpool team enjoys an open-bus ride through the city with the Cup held high for all of their fans to see. More than 200,000 attended the parade.

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season − was produced by a delightful four-man move that split Everton open right down the middle. Peter Beardsley laid the ball back to Steve Nicol, he pushed a long through pass on the end of Steve McMahon’s penetrating run, and Aldridge wafted the midfielder’s devastating early pass into the top corner of the net.

In the second half, Everton was considerably enlivened by the introduction of the bustling McCall for the flagging Paul Bracewell after 58 minutes. Liverpool no longer had things all their own way in midfield and McCall helped his team step up the pace in the last ten minutes.

Bruce Grobbelaar, the Liverpool goalkeeper, dealt successfully with a header from Graeme Sharp, and a wicked centre kick from Trevor Steven, but he could only push out Dave Watson’s low centre blast, which whipped across from the right in the 89th minute.

McCall then prodded the loose ball over the line − and

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the blue end of Wembley went bananas.

But not for long. Just four minutes into extra-time, Rush showed the doubters that he had lost none of his old skill by controlling a centre pass from Nicol, turning past Everton’s Kevin Ratcliffe quite beautifully and driving the ball into the far corner of the net for a 2-1 lead.

McCall’s second equaliser, which came eight minutes later, was equally thrilling.

When Liverpool’s Alan Hansen powerfully headed out a Ratcliffe free kick, McCall volleyed the ball straight back and into the Liverpool net from 25 yards out to even the count at 2-2.

This time, Everton’s elation lasted only two minutes.

John Barnes floated a centre pass to the near post for Rush to demonstrate his heading ability with a flick of the neck muscles that sent the ball gliding into the net’s far corner, putting Liverpool on top for good at 3-2.

FA CUP MEMORIES The Hillsborough Disaster was the darkest day in English football, when 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives – just for going to watch a football match.

It remains an unbelievably sad fact that those supporters, who had attended the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough Stadium, were lost to their loved ones forever.

Justice is still being sought for those that died – and will be until it is delivered, but the people crushed to death at the stadium’s Leppings Lane End were the innocent victims of poor decision-making by the senior police officers in charge of operations that day.

Liverpool Football Club, the city of Liverpool itself, and football, in general, was the centre of a huge outpouring of grief. Indeed the pitch at Anfield became a sea of flowers spread from, and on the Kop, down to the halfway-line. It became a shrine.

The FA Cup final itself came five weeks after the tragic events at Hillsborough. Before proceeding with the Cup final, the FA and Liverpool Football Club had spent considerable time deciding whether the competition should be completed. They finally decided it should go ahead.

In a re-arranged semi-final with Nottingham Forest, Liverpool came through in a suitably subdued atmosphere at Old Trafford.

Their opponents at Wembley would be their near neighbours, Everton. A fitting occasion, not least because the Everton fans had joined their Liverpool counterparts in reflecting Merseyside compassion for those lost at Hillsborough and those loved ones left behind.

The final itself was different than many that had gone before. Fences came down and supporters were allowed to sit on the outskirts of the pitch. Gerry Marsden led the whole crowd in an emotional rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone and a minute’s silence was observed for the Hillsborough victims.

The game itself was a fitting memorial to those lost football fans, because it was a match brimming with exciting football, marvellous goals and plenty of twists and turns.

Liverpool went ahead after just four minutes when Scousers Steve McMahon and John Aldridge combined to allow Aldridge, who had missed a penalty the previous year, to score a brilliant goal.

The game was in its closing moments when Blues substitute, Stuart McCall, scrambled a late equaliser.

Into extra-time and Liverpool’s own substitute, Ian Rush, turned in a virtuoso display of finishing. He put Liverpool ahead, only to see McCall hit an unlikely and brilliant equaliser – again.

Finally came the game’s decisive goal, with John Barnes’ cross and Rush headed home with marvellous precision.

The Liverpool captain, Ronnie Whelan, lifted the trophy and the triumphant Merseysiders went on a lap of honour around Wembley, which was punctuated with celebrating fans, many of whom had surrounded the pitch.

It was a fitting ending that Liverpool had won the final.

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LEADING OFF SILENT MEMORIES OF HILLSBOROUGH ■ Liverpool fans brought flags and other items to Wembley to remind the crowd of the 96 who had died and 766 who were injured during the FA Cup semi-final accident at Hillsborough Stadium on April 15, 1989.

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MARTIN & SEALY LEAD UNITED TO 7TH FA CUP

VICTORY

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By Colin Gibson at Wembley, The Daily Telegraph, May 17, 1990

hen the definitive history of Manchester United leaves the presses, there will always be a chapter for Lee Martin, Les Sealey, Alex Ferguson and a balmy night at Wembley.

When United moved into the record books tonight, two players who cost them nothing, on a team that cost them millions, secured their seventh Cup final success with a 1-0 replay victory over Crystal Palace, before a crowd of 80,000.

United now joins Aston Villa and Tottenham with the most number of Cup wins.

Martin, a local boy and a rare graduate from the Old Trafford youth scheme, arrived in Crystal Palace’s penalty area to ensure that a season of trauma ended in glory.

Five days earlier, the two teams had played to a 3-3 draw in front of 80,000 in Wembley’s first all-seater Cup final.

Tonight’s Cup win belonged mostly to Sealey. On loan from Luton Town, Les Sealy, United’s back-up goalkeeper, suddenly discovered that he would receive the replay’s starting assignment ahead of Jim Leighton, who had started at goal for United in Saturday’s draw with Palace. It could have been a costly decision born out of desperation, but it proved to be a master stroke by Ferguson.

During the first 32 minutes of the match, 16 fouls were called − mostly on Crystal Palace.

It appeared that Palace’s strategy of controlling Mark

Hughes, United’s most dangerous player in Saturday’s match, was to lure him into petty squabbles and distract him from footballing matters. But Hughes managed to keep his temper until the 62nd minute, when he was booked for kicking at Palace’s Andy Thorn.

Referee Allan Gunn, critised in some quarters for his leniency on Saturday, may have to shoulder some of the blame for giving the players too much rope.

With it, Palace attempted to strangle United. They took their man-to-man marking system to extremes. Mercifully, it was spectacularly unsuccessful.

As the shackles fell away, United emerged from the Stone Age brawl to deliver the only glimpses of skill.

Neil Webb’s 59th-minute cross-field pass cut Palace’s defence open. Martin, venturing forward from his full-back position, took it cleanly on his chest, brushed aside John Pemberton and sent the ball flashing into the Palace net for a 1-0 lead.

Thirty-one minutes later, Bryan Robson − who for a few heart-stopping moments lay on the Wembley turf, clutching his shoulder after another Palace foul − climbed the 39 steps to Cup glory.

Score Box

MAN. UNITED 1 MARTIN, 59

CRYSTAL PALACE 0 364

FA CUP MEMORIES

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Jubilant Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson hugs his goalkeeper, Les Sealey, as they celebrate their 1-0 FA Cup replay win over Crystal Palace.

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Mark Robins would probably not be named amongst the top twenty players who’ve graced the Manchester United shirt since Sir Alex Ferguson took control of the club, way back in 1986.

Well, on ability and number of games maybe not, after all, the competition is really tough but, on sheer impact, perhaps think again.

It all began on January 7, 1990, in the FA Cup 3rd Round, Nottingham Forest v. Manchester United. It was a Sunday afternoon and a pivotal game for Alex Ferguson.

United were 15th in the league, without a win in eight games, out of the League Cup and the Scotsman to date had delivered no trophies to Old Trafford.

The game at the City Ground was tight but ended in a narrow 1-0 win for United, courtesy of a Robins secondhalf headed goal. Forest even had a goal disallowed in injury time.

Robins would score two more FA Cup goals that season, including the winner in a replayed semi-final against Oldham to set up the FA Cup final with Crystal Palace.

The Eagles were managed by ex-United star Steve Coppell. He was making headway as a young manager, who had gained revenge for a 9-0 League defeat at the hands of Liverpool by surprisingly beating them in an epic semi-final, 4-3.

United’s semi-final tie against Oldham, played later that afternoon, followed high-scoring and ended, 3-3.

A month later, the lively 1990 FA Cup final kept up the high-scoring averages, ending 3-3 after extra-time.

Coppell’s team had gone ahead through Gary O’Reilly on 19 minutes, before Robson’s deflected header restored first-half parity.

Mark Hughes put United ahead on the hour before Coppell introduced his scene-stealer, Ian Wright.

Wright, a late entrant to professional football, had been carrying an injury, and was brought on with just over 20 minutes of the final left. Within three minutes he’d equalised for Palace, following a brilliant mazy run.

The game went into extra-time and the ebullient Wright put Palace ahead. It was Glad All Over at Wembley as the Palace song goes. But United weren’t finished just yet, and deadly Mark Hughes scored his second, and United’s third, to square things up and take the final to a replay.

The game five days later, on Thursday, saw United back in their traditional red shirts and Crystal Palace in black and yellow stripes. Ferguson made the big news by dropping his Scottish international goalkeeper, Jim Leighton, and replacing him with much-travelled Les Sealey.

The game did not have the drama of the first match.

Sealey played well and the only goal of the game was scored by another less-celebrated United player, Lee Martin.

Martin, 22, a local lad, failed to make a long-term slot at Old Trafford – but one of his only two goals he got while there was a Cup final winner.

Sealey graciously gave his Winners’ medal to a distraught Jim Leighton, but later received his own from the Football Association.

BRAVE SPURS SHRUG OFF BAD LUCK TO SHATTER

CLOUGH’S CUP DREAM

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hat had begun as the last act of a rather tiresome football soap opera, ended as an epic performance by a doomed team. Tottenham won the FA Cup in the manner of men determined to leave an entry in the history books.

Having started this final under threat of dismemberment because of the club’s parlous financial state, Spurs had to overcome two early, shattering setbacks when Paul Gascoigne was carried off seriously injured soon after Nottingham Forest had gone ahead.

When Gary Lineker was then denied what looked like a perfectly legitimate equaliser and missed a penalty, it seemed this was not to be their day.

Gritting their teeth, however, the London side eventually found the target in the second half and won the match in extra-time.

It hardly mattered that the winning goal was put into his own net by Forest’s England defender, Des Walker.

Tottenham had taken such a grip and given a display of such character, that they deserved to win.

So Brian Clough was again denied the one trophy that had eluded him throughout his distinguished, 25-year career as a manager. Presumably, he will have been as

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Daily Telegraph, May 19, 1991

disappointed as most neutrals at the failure of his team to play to their normal form.

Forest’s passing game did not stand up to Spurs’ quickness to cover and tackle. Accuracy eluded most of their players, and the neutralising of Nigel Clough by Howells’ close-marking removed their attacking focal point.

Tactically, the match was a triumph for Terry Venables.

Sticking to the same team that had beaten Arsenal so memorably in the semi-final, he asked Lineker to operate as a lone striker, supported by a five-man midfield.

The most influential member of that quintet was Paul Stewart. Said to be on his way back to Manchester City in the near future, the former striker gave a mid-field performance to remember.

Stewart complemented his natural strength and power with a delicacy of touch and sharpness of vision that enabled him to win control of the vital central area for his team. With the help of the perceptive Vinny Samways, he made up superbly for the loss of Gascoigne.

What made that blow worse for Tottenham was that it was self-inflicted. Gascoigne damaged the ligaments in his right knee, while bringing down Gary Charles just outside the Spurs area with a wild, scything tackle.

Apart from anything else, the foul could hardly have been committed in a more dangerous place when you are

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playing against Stuart Pearce. Taking the free-kick on the outer edge of the semi-circle, the Forest captain drove a curving shot of awesome power and accuracy into the top, left-hand corner to put his side ahead after 15 minutes.

As the Forest end of the stadium erupted in celebration of the goal, and play restarted, Gascoigne went down in pain, clutching the injury for which he had received treatment before Pearce’s free-kick.

A stretcher was called and Gascoigne departed, in tears once more. While it is never pleasant to see a player carried off in any match, let alone a Cup final, it was difficult to feel much sympathy for the man who had carried Tottenham to Wembley almost single-handed.

Gascoigne’s tackle on Charles was not his only indiscretion. Inside the first minute he had kicked right

Score Box

TOTTENHAM 2 STEWART, 55 WALKER, 94 (o.g.)

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1 PEARCE, 16

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Tottenham celebrate their 2-1 Cup final win as they travel home, to North London, on an open-top bus following their FA Cup final victory against Nottingham Forest.

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FA CUP MEMORIES Paul Gascoigne, Gazza, remains one of post-war English football’s most famous personalities. A one-off.

A hero to some, a fool to others. A gifted individual, a wastrel? Gazza splits opinions like he did defences − and always will.

Paul John Gascoigne was born in May 1967 − the month and year, Terry Venables won the FA Cup as a player with Tottenham Hotspur. Twenty four years later they were in tandem as manager and star player at Tottenham.

And they were also in the FA Cup final. Off the pitch, Venables had guided them with shrewd tactical know-how and, on the pitch, Gascoigne had electrified their Road to Wembley, with match-winning performances aplenty. He’d been unstoppable.

Gazza had made himself a national hero the previous summer at the 1990 World Cup in Rome.

With the nation on the edge of their seats throughout England’s gallant journey, the loveable Geordie became one of the most famous people in the country. His tears, shed on realising a semi-final booking against Germany had taken him out of any potential final appearance, was a tragic moment of Shakespearian proportions.

He was a football genius wrapped up in a personality that was both troubled and a bundle of fun − and often both at the same time.

As Gazza prepared to go out onto the Wembley pitch against Nottingham Forest, Venables was trying to contain his player’s high-octane excitement.

Having met Princess Diana before the game, Gascoigne piled into Forest’s Gary Parker, catching him high in his chest. Referee Roger Milford let him off with a lecture. It wasn’t enough.

Minutes later, Gascoigne took out Gary Charles on the edge of Spurs’ box, again a bad tackle. Once again, no firm action was taken by the referee, but Gazza’s rash action had its own comeuppance.

He needed treatment for an injury sustained in felling Charles and when the game resumed Forest captain Stuart Pearce, crashed the ball home from the resultant free-kick.

Gazza’s Cup final, however, was over − he had severely damaged his cruciate ligaments. It would be a long repair job.

He was off to the hospital and ultimately Spurs won the Cup without him − despite Gary Lineker, having a penalty saved by Forest’s Mark Crossley.

Paul Stewart levelled in the second half for Spurs, and in extra-time Des Walker, another of Gazza’s England colleagues, put through his own goal to clinch victory for the North London club.

Forest boss Brian Clough, another footballing genius, had shown the more eccentric side of his nature when refusing to give his players a team-talk before extra-time started. He spent the rest period in conversation with some police officers.

Gazza’s teammates took the Cup to his hospital bed.

His visitors included Lazio officials, who had been on the verge of taking him to Italy.

WELCOME HOME ■ A Spurs supporter wearing a Paul Gascoigne mask joins the party after Tottenham returns home following their victory in the Cup final against Nottingham Forest at Wembley. through the ball and finished with his boot in Parker’s chest as the Forest player came in to challenge him.

Referee Roger Milford chose not to show Gascoigne a card of any colour. To the detriment of the game, he maintained that excessively tolerant attitude until Hodge’s nasty tackle on Nayim, well into extra-time, left him with no option but to take a name.

Although Gascoigne’s departure for a hospital X-ray brought a hush to the Tottenham fans, his loss seemed to have a galvanising effect on his teammates. Three times in the remaining 28 minutes of the second half they came close to equalising.

They were wrongly deprived of a goal, it seemed, when a linesman flagged Lineker offside after he had finished off a clever move between Paul Allen, a major force on the right flank, and Samways.

Then Allen dived to head a Lineker centre into Crossley’s hands, after Thorstvedt had kept Spurs in it with a save from Crosby.

Pressing forward at the risk of leaving themselves open to the sort of counter-attack in which Forest specialise, Tottenham cut their opponents open again in the 32nd minute, Stewart sending Lineker clear with a shrewd pass.

The England striker knocked the ball wide of Crossley,

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but was brought down by the goalkeeper as he dived at his feet. It was a clear penalty, and perhaps cause for further punishment by the referee, but Lineker was unable to bring Tottenham level.

Crossley may have moved a little early − what goalkeeper does not these days − and Lineker’s shot may have been hit inexactly, but there was no denying the excellence of the save as he turned the ball away for a corner.

Venables’ half-time talk must have been quite something, because Tottenham took over almost completely after the interval. Stewart, set free by Allen, smashed in a right-footed cross-shot in the 55th minute.

Only a one-handed save by Crossley and the help of Parker stopped Howells’ scoring in the last minute of normal time. What is more, Tottenham hit the bar early in extra-time when Walsh, on for Samways, beat Crossley with a looping header.

Spurs were now rampant. A corner followed and Nayim took it from the right.

Stewart, influential to the last, headed the kick on across goal and Walker headed spectacularly into his own net as he dived to stop Mabbutt doing the same thing.

LEADING OFF WEMBLEY WONDERS â– Spurs captain Gary Mabbutt proudly holds aloft the trophy after receiving it from Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

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THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Bruce Grobbelaar, the Liverpool goalkeeper, dances with the Cup trophy and an umbrella after the Reds won their fourth Cup final by defeating Sunderland, 2-0.

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LIVERPOOL PUT AN END TO SUNDERLAND΄S

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WEMBLEY CUP DREAM

By Conlin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 9, 1992

underland’s hopes of recreating their famous giant-killing act against Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup final were blown away by two magnificent goals from Michael Thomas and Ian Rush in the second half of an entertaining match.

The Second Division side was at least the equal of their First Division opponents in the first half, but they found it impossible to sustain their game at that high pitch once Thomas had opened the scoring soon after the restart.

From then on, there was going to be only one result.

The key to the change was the switching of Steve McManaman from left flank to right late in the first half.

The young winger, who came back from a knee operation to replace the injured John Barnes, sparked the victory with a breathtaking display of old-fashioned dribbling skills.

It was a vitally important win for his club it was, too.

At the end of a season that has seen the smoothrunning Anfield machine in danger of falling apart for a number of reasons, Liverpool desperately needed the revenue and the prestige that comes from qualifying for Europe.

It was certainly the best possible get-well present the

Liverpool players could have given their manager, Graeme Souness, who took the risky step of sitting on the bench only a day after emerging from the hospital and only a month after undergoing triple-heart-bypass surgery and suffering two relapses.

Souness wisely allowed Ronnie Moran to lead the team out, but was clearly determined not to take a back seat. Emerging from the tunnel shortly before the kickoff, dressed in a dark blue tracksuit and mobbed by photographers, the Liverpool manager plonked himself down on the front row of his club’s benches.

The club doctor was in attendance to make sure Souness did not get too worked up, and it was just as well considering how Liverpool gradually lost control of the first half after dominating the opening 10 minutes with the confident flow of their familiar passing game.

Making light of the odd puddle and greasy spot left by a steady morning downpour, the Merseysiders should have scored in the second minute. An inspired through pass from Ray Houghton, flicked with the outside of his right foot, sent Michael Thomas running clear, but he shot over as Tony Norman came out at him.

Most of Liverpool’s early attacks saw Steve Nicol getting forward so dangerously from left-back that McManaman, playing his first senior game since chipping a kneebone during the first semi-final against Portsmouth,

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was rendered almost redundant.

The matter ceased to have any further relevance until shortly before the interval. In between, Sunderland began to play with such vigour, determination and skill that Liverpool had the utmost difficulty in keeping them at bay, especially the experienced Peter Davenport and John Byrne.

The Wearsiders might have scored four times between the 12th and 19th minutes as they probed at Liverpool’s aerial weakness in defence, compounding their discomfort by moving the ball quickly and incisively on the floor.

Bruce Grobbelaar, soon after banging his head painfully on a post, turning a 30-yarder from Anton Rogan for a corner, was relieved to see the unmarked Byrne, a scorer for Sunderland in every previous round, miskick completely six yards out when Kevin Ball headed a corner back to him.

Score Box

LIVERPOOL 2 THOMAS, 47 RUSH, 68

SUNDERLAND 0

FA CUP MEMORIES Back in the spring of 1992 “Barwick Towers,” our humble family home was having a bit of a make-over.

“About time too,” I can hear my wife, Gerry, saying.

In charge of the electrical repairs was a lovely chap, Paul, who had been born in Sunderland, but like many, before and since, had followed the work down South.

And he was a big football fan, well a big Sunderland fan really. And so, as he fed wires behind walls and through into sockets (I hope that makes sense!) we talked football − and specifically about that year’s FA Cup because both our teams were making good headway in the competition.

Sunderland were still on course for their first Cup final since that famous win over Leeds United, in 1973, and Liverpool were still hoovering up trophies, although now under the management of Graeme Souness.

The semi-finals soon loomed, Sunderland against Norwich City and Liverpool against Portsmouth. Tea-break conversations in our house eventually turned from sockets to tickets − Cup final tickets!

The Black Cats edged through to Wembley with a 1-0 win, as did the Reds − with a penalty shoot-out win in a replay against Pompey. Alas, Liverpool and Sunderland were in the FA Cup final.

At the same time, our “sparks” work started to slow up.

After all, Paul didn’t want to finish the job before the odd ticket might land on our doormat.

As it happened I would be at the final for certain as I was one of the key editorial figures working on BBC’s coverage of the big match. I would be at Wembley − or rather outside it, in one of the main TV trucks.

A work force of something like 170 people would be working on the televising of the game in all manner of presentation, commentary, production and technical capacities. It was a small army really.

The UK audience for the final would be around 15 million, the world-wide audience something like 500 million!

Nerves were always around on big days like these, but once in the TV van it was business as usual.

As it was for Liverpool.

Two second-half goals, first from Michael Thomas, the man whose goal for Arsenal had denied the Reds the Double three years before, was followed by the clincher from that man Rush again − his fifth in Cup finals, a record.

Souness watched his team’s success draped in a blanket and with the club’s doctor close-by. He had undergone major heart surgery in the weeks leading up to the final and was under orders to take things sensibly. His assistant, Ronnie Moran, proudly walked out ahead of the Anfield team.

Sunderland were mistakenly acknowledged as winners as they collected their medals. They received the Winners’ medals rather than their actual losers’ medals and a quick swap had to be made on the pitch before the two teams went on their respective laps of honour.

And my mate, Paul? I got him a ticket – but I did keep him waiting. After all, I wanted that electrical job done and dusted just as much as he wanted the ticket. It was a deal and we rounded off on a decent day by going for a pint!

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Then, with Jan Molby becoming too casual inside his own penalty area and passing to Paul Bracewell instead of Rob Jones, only a last-second deflection by Mark Wright sent the Sunderland midfielder’s firm shot spinning inches wide.

Davenport’s ability to turn on a sixpence enabled him to wriggle past Wright on the by-line soon afterwards.

Indeed, Liverpool was probably fortunate not to concede a penalty when Jones, otherwise a model of skill and good judgment, crashed into the Sunderland striker as he sought to make something of the chance.

Philip Don, the referee, waved play on, as he did again a minute before the interval in the face of an even more clear-cut case for a penalty.

Television showed beyond all doubt that Bracewell had taken McManaman’s legs from under him as the youngster drove dangerously into the Sunderland area.

Liverpool was entitled to nurse a sense of injustice during the half-time break, but it was soon forgotten as McManaman quickly began to tear apart the left side of the Sunderland defence with his refreshing willingness to run at and waltz past opponents.

He did precisely that to Brian Atkinson and Gordon Armstrong a minute after the restart.

Atkinson got nowhere near him, but Armstrong’s challenge was late and heavy.

Even so, McManaman contrived to chip the perfect pass to Thomas. Standing just inside the right-hand corner of the Sunderland penalty area, Thomas let the ball bounce before hooking it violently into the far top corner of the net. Norman got a hand to the shot, but there was no way he was going to stop it.

The Sunderland goalkeeper was more successful with the dipping volley with which Molby, the majestic hub of Liverpool’s game, suddenly tested him, but it proved merely a question of delaying the inevitable. A minute after Saunders had headed a Nicol centre against the bar, it was all over as a contest.

Saunders began the move with a run and pass through the middle. Thomas, finding his route blocked, sensibly passed short and square to Rush, who buried the ball carefully in the bottom corner of Norman’s net with the inside of his right foot.

Sunderland sent on both of their substitutes, Paul Hardyman and Warren Hawke, in a desperate attempt to turn things round, but Liverpool might easily have scored again in the remaining 23 minutes. Houghton nearly found an empty net with a spectacular, 40-yard lob and Norman had to beat a Saunders shot over the bar as Sunderland’s bright ambition was reduced finally to keeping the score down.

MERSEYSIDE MADNESS ■ (Left to Right): David Burrows, Dean Saunders, Rob Jones, Mark Walters and Mark Wright of Liverpool stand on the top deck of the tour bus while holding the Cup trophy aloft during their homecoming after winning the 1992 Cup final.

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LINIGHAN’S LASTMINUTE REPLAY CLINCHER

SETS NEW CUP RECORD

A

rsenal’s Andy Linighan, suffering from a broken nose and broken finger after a first-half clash, provided the most unlikely twist to the longest Wembley final in FA Cup history tonight. The Cup Final took a total of 240 minutes spread out over two matches in less than six days. In their intial Cup final meeting, on May15th, before a Wembley crowd of 79,347 Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday played to an extra-time 1-1 draw.

Five days later, the Arsenal defender, whose Highbury career has been threatened since the February acquisition of £2 million Martin Keown, chose what could be his last appearance to be his most memorable.

With only seconds separating Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday from becoming the first sides to decide a Cup final on penalties, Linighan burst through to embrace glory and a 2-1 victory.

Paul Merson’s 119th-minute corner hung invitingly for the towering defender to send his powerful header goalward. The next second will live with Linighan and Chris Woods, the England goalkeeper, forever.

Woods, not as assured as David Seaman, his opposite

By Colin Gibson at Wembley, The Daily Telegraph, May 20, 1993

number and a rival for his international place, fumbled the ball again on this soaking North London evening.

He had escaped in the closing moments of normal time, when he recovered to prevent Merson’s shot from trickling into the net.

This time there was to be no reprieve. The ball spun into the air above Woods’s head and the despairing efforts of Chris Bart-Williams could not keep the ball out.

The Cup had slipped through, what are generally believed to be, the safest hands in English football.

The joy of Arsenal, Cup winners for the first time in 14 years, was already echoing to East Anglia.

For Linighan, who has seemed a misfit ever since his £1.3 million move to the Gunners three years ago, had not only won the Cup but had sent his old club, Norwich, into the UEFA Cup. It was a cruel end to Sheffield Wednesday’s Wembley experience. After exactly five hours of football they were left with nothing but losers’ medals.

Until Linighan’s contribution, however, it seemed that if anyone was going to clinch this final without the aid of penalties it would be Wednesday, who had been inspired by a goal from Chris Waddle after 70 minutes.

Waddle had been a fringe performer on the Wembley stage once again, until Wednesday shook off their lethargy with 20 minutes of another undistinguished game

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remaining.

While there was a little more ingenuity in tonight’s match there was still the frenzy that wrecked today’s spectacle and an aggressive undertone that, at times, threatened to get out of hand.

Arsenal, though, always appeared the more measured team, especially after Wednesday seemed to lose their discipline in the rugged opening. From the moment that Mark Bright planted an elbow into the face of Linighan, Wednesday was distracted.

By the time the majority of the Wednesday fans had escaped the traffic jams of London, their side were a goal behind. It was, predictably, Ian Wright, again playing despite a broken toe, who scored the opening goal.

George Graham’s decision to replace the youthful exuberance of Ray Parlour with the experience of Alan Smith worked perfectly. In the 35th minute, Smith

Score Box

ARSENAL 2 WRIGHT, 35 LINIGHAN, 119

SHEFFIELD WED. 1 WADDLE, 70

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ David Seaman, the Arsenal goalkeeper, begins the Wembley post-match celebration with the FA Cup trophy after the Gunners’ 2-1 replay win.

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SIX AND COUNTING ■ ABOVE: The Gunners gather for a post-match Cup victory photo. It was Arsenal’s sixth Cup final win. They also took home England’s greatest football trophy in 1930, 1936, 1950, 1971 and 1979. OPPOSITE PAGE: Ian Wright scored Arsenal’s first goal in the Cup final replay. threaded a pass into the path of the galloping Wright.

For a moment, Paul Warhurst and Carlton Palmer, who was replacing the injured Viv Anderson as both central defender and captain, were lost. Wright punished the slip with a delightful finish.

It was Wright’s fourth goal in FA Cup finals − one short of Ian Rush’s record − his 10th in the competition this season and his 30th in all matches for Arsenal.

But, just as today, Arsenal could not build on the lead Wright had given them. Twice it appeared Smith, who was later booked for the first time in his career, would score and twice he failed.

Wednesday, while only a goal behind, sensed, despite their lack of attacking intent, that they still had a chance of a revival.

It came in their first menacing attack. John Harkes, who had switched to the right to allow Waddle to occupy the adventurous Lee Dixon, squeezed over a crossing pass, which fell deep in the Arsenal penalty area.

Dixon, a major attacking force for Arsenal in the first half, failed to deal with the original cross and then deflected Waddle’s subsequent shot beyond Seaman.

Suddenly Wednesday, with Roland Nilsson’s stamina outstanding in his second game in 24 hours, looked the

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stronger side. Graham Hyde’s terrier-like tackling in midfield helped Wednesday rip the initiative away from John Jensen, who, on another night with a stricter referee, might have been at least booked.

With Wright forced to leave the field Arsenal was happier to take a Wembley replay into extra-time for the first time.

And then, with the stadium bracing itself for penalties, Linighan emerged to score the winner in the 119th minute.

It was victory for Arsenal, a place in Europe for Norwich and tears and frustration for Wednesday. At least there was some drama this time.

FA CUP MEMORIES Steve Morrow and Andy Linighan are not two of football’s most famous names, but they were to be Arsenal’s unlikely match-winners at a pair of five-star Wembley finals played in the space of just six weeks. And, uniquely, their opponents on both occasions, the League Cup final and the FA Cup final, were Sheffield Wednesday.

And with the FA Cup semi-finals also both being staged at Wembley that season and the final itself going to a replay, the two clubs played each other three times at football’s headquarters − and also they each played their near-neighbours, Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur in their respective Wembley semi-finals. It was deemed only fair that if the North London clubs played their game at Wembley so should the two Yorkshire clubs.

Phew ... got all that. We are about to go on a statistician’s dream ride. Strap yourselves in.

Firstly, the League Cup final. It ended 2-1 to Arsenal, the winning goal coming mid-way through the second half from Steve Morrow. A Northern Ireland international, it was rare goal for him − and when Arsenal skipper Tony Adams celebrated after the game by lifting, then dropping him, it was painful business. Morrow’s arm was broken in the fall and he had to be rushed to hospital.

And that is why he created history when he was presented with a Winner’s medal before a Cup final − he received his League Cup medal before the kick-off of the FA Cup final!

The FA Cup final was deemed the “longest-ever” − because both the original game and the replay went to extratime – and only a penalty shoot-out would have stretched it further. It was also the last ever FA Cup final to go to a replay − beginning in 1999 the FA decided the final had to be decided on the day.

It was the first FA Cup final in which squad numbers were used, continuing the experiment that had been carried out in that season’s League Cup final.

Sheffield Wednesday’s John Harkes was the first American to play in a Wembley FA Cup final and it was to be David O’Leary’s last appearance for Arsenal. The first match on Cup final Saturday ended, 1-1. with Ian Wright scoring for the Gunners and David Hirst equalising for the Owls.

The replay was played in rainy conditions, and the kick-off had to be delayed 30 minutes, due to Sheffield Wednesday fans being not able to get to Wembley on time because of traffic problems.

The replay was actually only watched by just over 62,000. Ian Wright opened the scoring before Chris Waddle’s deflected effort squared things up. Waddle had scored a wonderful goal for Wednesday in their semi-final win over neighbours, United.

Extra-time was in its dying moments, and the FA Cup final’s first penalty shoot-out was looming when from a Paul Merson corner, Andy Linighan, one of four footballing brothers, headed home from close range.

His nose had been broken in the game, but now it was his turn to break the Wednesday fans hearts.

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THE BEST OF WEMBLEY â– Manchester United captain Steve Bruce proudly escorts the Cup from the Royal Box after their 4-0 win against Chelsea.

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CANTONA’S 2 PENALTY KICKS IN CUP ROUT OF CHELSEA LEAD UNITED

TO DOUBLE

M

anchester United made their own bit of history today with a second-half display that destroyed Chelsea, 4-0, and confirmed their right to become only the fourth club this century to win the coveted League and FA Cup Double − after Tottenham (1960-61), Arsenal (1970-71) and Liverpool (1985-86).

Up to half-time, the London club had looked eminently capable of frustrating United’s ambitions; after that, though, they could not keep up with the best team in the land at full throttle.

Chelsea was undone by an irresistible burst of attacking in which United scored three times in nine minutes. Two of the goals were penalties − as many as Alex Ferguson’s side have had in the previous 62 games of their allconquering season − and calmly converted by Eric Cantona.

The others came from the boot of Mark Hughes, the attacking partner with whom Cantona has shared 47 goals in this remarkable season, and Brian McClair.

Sadly, because the day had begun with the warm, summery weather traditionally associated with this event, the game kicked off under heavy cloud cover and in a steady downpour. At least the rain took some of the mugginess out of the atmosphere and lowered the temperature to a level more appropriate for an intensely

By Conlin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 14, 1994

competitive encounter.

As if relishing their escape from an afternoon of suffocating warmth, the teams quickly got down to business. Not much more than a minute had elapsed when Frank Sinclair suggested that he did not intend to spend all of his time in defence, matching Andrei Kanchelskis for pace.

Bursting between the Russian international winger and Roy Keane, Chelsea’s left-back found the dangerous Gavin Peacock in space to his left and ran on to accept the return pass. In the end, only a clutch of United bodies, in which Paul Ince’s was the most prominent, kept out Sinclair’s firmly-struck shot.

United responded with a counter-attack that carried the promise of a goal until Erland Johnsen sent Ryan Giggs spinning through the air with a body-check that was quite deliberate and disturbingly brutal. Fortunately, the United prodigy’s remarkable balance and athleticism saved him from injury, but referee David Elleray had no hesitation in reaching for the yellow card.

As a statement of intent Johnsen’s challenge could not have been clearer. Chelsea’s tackling carried real bite as they strove successfully to contain United’s early attacking surge. At the very least, the London side was determined not to be intimidated physically by the favourites.

A measure of Chelsea’s success in riding the storm and coming out to do some attacking of their own was the booking of Steve Bruce after 18 minutes for a late tackle on John Spencer.

Glenn Hoddle had pinned his faith in the tiny strike

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force of Spencer and Mark Stein, rather than using the height of Tony Cascarino, and it looked like a good decision as the first half unfolded on a pitch made slick and treacherous by the rain.

Stein very nearly made something of the low centre the increasingly influential Sinclair aimed for the near post after 22 minutes; and he was ready to pounce again shortly afterwards until Gary Pallister rescued United with a tumbling clearance after Spencer had a shot blocked.

Under this kind of pressure, the United defence began to exhibit unexpected signs of nerves. In the 27th minute, for instance, Pallister cleared the ball straight to Peacock, then held his breath, along with everyone else in red, as Chelsea’s danger man struck the bar with a shot guided carefully over Peter Schmeichel.

Jakob Kjeldberg, one of Chelsea’s impressively-sound Scandinavian centre-backs, was less successful in evading United’s Danish international goalkeeper when he tried to finish off a free-kick attack. There was no doubt, though, which team had enjoyed the better of the opening 45

Score Box

MAN. CITY 4

CANTONA, 60 (PEN.), 66 (PEN.) HUGHES, 69 McCLAIR, 92

CHELSEA 0

DOUBLE DOSE ■ ABOVE: After the Cup final win over Chelsea, Manchester United became the sixth English football club to win the Double in the same season. The other Double winners were: Preston North End (1889), Aston Villa (1897) Tottenham (1961), Arsenal (1971) and Liverpool (1986) OPPOSITE PAGE: United’s Steve Bruce and Peter Schmeichel celebrate their Cup final win. minutes as half-time approached.

United rallied in the closing minutes of the half, but their only attack of any real consequence had been launched by a right-wing centre from the lively Giggs.

Cantona made a rare contribution to the proceedings by heading the ball back invitingly for Hughes, but Dmitri Kharine got there first with an athletic leap and catch.

The statistics of the first half were revealing. They showed that United had managed not a single shot on target, while Chelsea had had three. Giggs remedied that situation a little by letting fly from 25 yards with his left foot early in the second half, but Kharine clutched the ball comfortably to his midriff.

A Kanchelskis centre pass also threatened danger as it became clear that United, stimulated no doubt by Alex Ferguson’s half-time team talk, was mounting a major offensive.

Challenged by Eddie Newton, Cantona could not get enough power into his header as he tried to angle the ball

away from Kharine – but consolation was waiting just around the corner.

Chelsea’s resistance finally cracked on the hour.

Marvellous work by Giggs, who beat two men in a determined run, opened a gap for Denis Irwin. Running into the Chelsea area, the United full-back was upended

by Newton.

Even the Chelsea man, who held his head in horror, knew the only decision the referee could give was a penalty.

Cantona stepped forward and sent Kharine the wrong way with a carefully judged spot-kick – something the Frenchman was to repeat six minutes later.

This time, Sinclair was the offender. He knocked Kanchelskis off balance as they chased a finely-judged through ball from Hughes and again Mr. Elleray pointed to the spot.

It looked a harsher decision than the first, but the referee was deaf to Chelsea’s vociferous protests.

That goal effectively killed any chance Chelsea might

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have had of winning this game. So the angled shot Hughes drove past Kharine after 69 minutes, following a slip by Sinclair, was just an embellishment.

There could have been more had Kanchelskis and Giggs not wasted a wonderfully promising break and Cantona not rolled the ball into the side-netting after running clear from the halfway line. But these were minor details alongside an achievement of towering proportions.

Hoddle’s introduction for Craig Burley after 67 minutes led eventually to a Chelsea revival so spirited that Schmeichel had to make three fine saves to deny Peacock, Tony Cascarino (substitute for Stein) and Spencer.

As if that were not bad enough, United then broke away in injury time for Ince to present Brian McClair (substitute for Kanchelskis) with a fourth goal on a plate.

Chelsea chairman Ken Bates must now wait a little longer to end the club’s 23-year spell without a major trophy, though they have the consolation of a place in the European Cup-Winners’ Cup next season.

FA CUP MEMORIES After twenty-five difficult seasons, when League Championship success had evaded them, Manchester United were off and running again. Fergie’s men had won the inaugural Premier League title in 1993, and a year later had retained it. Now they had the Double in their sights.

Only Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Liverpool had achieved that footballing landmark to date in the 20th century and United were keen to be part of that very elite group.

They had actually been on course for the Treble but caught Aston Villa on a hot streak in the League Cup final and left well beaten. Now, their FA Cup final opponents were Chelsea − not yet the potent Chelsea that would follow in years to come, but still potentially tricky opposition.

United had actually been minutes away from going out of the Cup in their semi-final against Oldham, at Wembley, but Mark Hughes had scored a marvellous individual goal to earn them a replay, which they duly won.

Hughes enjoyed playing at Wembley that season. He had scored in the season’s curtain-raiser, the FA Charity Shield, notched in the League Cup final and had got that vital semi-final goal. He would complete the set by scoring against Chelsea on the FA Cup final.

Along with Mark Hughes up front for United was the imperious Frenchmen, Eric Cantona.

Cantona’s impact on life at Old Trafford was immense.

He had won a Championship medal with Leeds United before joining Sir Alex Ferguson’s men.

Another title followed, and then another one.

AndCantona was in the midst of all the magic. He had arrogance only the very best players are entitled to have. He knew he was that good and we knew he was that good.

His stay at Old Trafford was relatively short, November 1992 to May 1997, but his impact there was profound.

In his first FA Cup final in 1994, he scored twice, both from the penalty spot, both “passed” into the net, both in the same bottom corner.

Mark Hughes added his “Wembley” goal, and in injury time Paul Ince unselfishly laid in Brian McClair for a fourth United goal.

The margin of victory was probably a little heavy, but the Red Devils enjoying their elevation to football peerage.

And King of the Hill was Cantona.

In due course, he would serve a long suspension for jumping into a stand, kung-fu and kicking a fan. His talk of seagulls, trawlers and sardines bemused us all. He played with his collar up and his shoulders proud, won more titles with United, scored a future FA Cup-winning goal and would leave the Old Trafford faithful begging for more. Life with Cantona was never dull.

In 1994, some nineteen months after leaving Elland Road he had helped their rivals at Old Trafford build on the progress that Alex Ferguson was working towards with his United side.

Cantona had already become the on-field ring-master, conjuror, magician, and occasional clown rolled into one person. A brilliant footballer. An enigmatic man.

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EVERTON’S CUP OF JOY PLUNGE UNITED'S HOPES

INTO DOUBLE DESPAIR

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 12, 1995

M

anchester United’s worst fears were realised today, when they were left empty-handed at the end of the season to which they have contributed so much.

Desperately missing the guile of the suspended Eric Cantona, the deposed English champions had no answer to Paul Rideout’s firsthalf goal for Everton or the tenacity with which the Merseysiders clung to the FA Cup − their first trophy in eight years.

United certainly worked hard enough to break down Everton, especially in the second half, but on the few occasions they did pierce a defence that has let in only one goal throughout the Cup run, they found Neville Southall

Score Box

EVERTON 1 RIDEOUT, 30

MAN. UNITED 0

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THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Everton captain Dave Watson receives the Cup trophy from H.R.H Prince Charles and his son, Prince Harry, after the Merseyside team’s 1-0 defeat of Manchester United. OPPOSITE PAGE: A jubilant Everton squad poses for the newspaper photographers.

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LEADING OFF FAN’S CHOICE ■ Paul Rideout celebrates with an excited crowd of Everton fans after scoring the game’s only goal.

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FA CUP MEMORIES

FRUSTRATION

■ Manchester United’s goalkeeper, Peter Schmeichel, is left dejected at the end of the match.

in no mood to let his 650th appearance for the Goodison Park club be spoiled by having to pick the ball out of his net.

Southall, 36, was outstanding, as was Dave Watson in central defence and Anders Limpar in attack. Limpar’s speed of thought and movement was the key to the counterattacks with which Everton won this absorbing, though unremarkable final, and he probably deserved the Man-of-the-Match award even more than Watson, who got it.

Limpar was one of a number of players who did not last the whole of a bruising contest. The most serious loss was that of United’s Steve Bruce for the second half. Yet the enforced departure of their captain and defensive linchpin enabled them to introduce Ryan Giggs, whose ability to beat a man and take the ball into dangerous places threatened to undo Everton at times.

Like Everton’s Duncan Ferguson, Giggs was not risked from the start because he had just recovered from injury.

While Ferguson had played only 45 minutes’ football since undergoing an operation for a double hernia a month ago.

Giggs had not played at all since pulling a hamstring in the FA Cup semi-final replay against Crystal Palace five weeks ago.

So, as both were confined to the substitutes’ bench, Everton kept faith with the team who had pleased manager Joe Royle by sweeping aside Tottenham in the semi-finals with a quality of football that surprised a few people.

Rarely in this game, though, did Everton reproduce the

fluency, imagination and efficiency of that performance.

The discrepancy is unlikely to worry Royle, whose only concern must have been not losing to Alex Ferguson at a late stage of this competition. At the very least, this hardearned victory will more than make up for the two-semifinal defeats Royale’s Oldham Athletic suffered against United in recent years.

It also projects Everton into next season’s European Cup-Winners’ Cup, an unlikely achievement considering they have spent most of the season fighting for their Premiership lives. That they pulled off that little Double of their own is a testament to the leadership qualities of Royle, who inherited a team anchored to the bottom of the table.

The secret of his success has been imbuing his old club with the will to overcome adversity. Their play has not always been pretty to watch, but they are devilishly difficult to beat, as United discovered today. Above all, Everton played with the self-belief of a united team.

They were slightly slower from the blocks than Manchester. Lee Sharpe headed a centre from Nicky Butt, Gigg’s young replacement, over the bar. Only a minute later, however, Peter Schmeichel was desperately shovelling Limpar’s low shot for a corner when the Swede and Graham Stuart smuggled the ball through a crowded United penalty area.

United had another chance to score when a shot by Paul Ince spun off Watson’s heel and left Sharpe with an uninterrupted view of Southall from 10 yards. The

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When you talk about English football’s nice guys, Joe Royle perfectly fits the bill. Born in Liverpool, Royle went to the same senior school as I did, Quarry Bank High School, although another alumnus, John Lennon, was just a little bit more famous than either of us!

Royle was a great footballer but the school’s headmaster wouldn’t allow him to play for representative teams other than the school itself. He was keen that studies came first.

A handicap to Royle’s footballing progression perhaps, but he still made it onto Everton’s record books and, indeed, into their first team at the tender age of sixteen.

Royle, an England international, won a Championship medal with the Toffees in 1970 and was an FA Cup finalist in 1968. Some twenty-seven years later he was back at Wembley with Everton, now as their manager.

His highly successful management time at Oldham Athletic included top division status, a League Cup Final appearance and two losses in 1990 and 1994 to Manchester United in the semi-finals of the FA Cup final.

But he was back home when he returned to Goodison Park to take up the reins of a struggling Everton team as their manager in November 1994.

The club’s Latin motto: “Nil satis Nisi optimum” – “nothing but the best is good enough” suited the Quarry Bank lad, whose school’s Latin message had been “Ex Hoc Metallo Virtutem,” which translates as “From this rough metal we forge virtue.”

Enough Latin lessons. But both thoughts helped shape some of Royle’s thinking.

At Everton, Royle quickly put together a side, extremely difficult to beat, pulled away from any relegation problems and conceded only one goal − a penalty − on their Road to Wembley.

For Everton, it was their first FA Cup final since being beaten by Liverpool in 1989, and on the Blues’ Wembley team was a player, Gary Ablett, who’d played for Liverpool, in that earlier game.

A Cup winner in 1989, Ableet would be a winner again in 1995, but, sadly, he died in 2011 after a long illness. He was another one of football’s good guys.

Everton’s FA Cup final opposition was Manchester United − Double-winners the previous year, but now potentially trophy-less for the season having been pipped to the Premiership by Blackburn Rovers.

Royle hit on a phrase “Dogs of War” to describe his tenacious midfield in which Barry Horne and Joe Parkinson excelled. Sometimes that phrase worked against the Everton boss, but on Cup final day an all-round team effort got them over the line Paul Rideout got the all-important goal following up a header from Graham Stuart that had hit the bar, and Everton’s experienced Neville Southall made some telling saves.

For Royle, the final whistle was sweet music, and thirteen years went by until the next English manager lifted the famous old trophy − Harry Redknapp, with Portsmouth in 2008.

winner snatched at the ball, though, and sliced his shot badly. Even more worrying for the United camp was the realisation that, without Giggs, and the injured Andrei Kanchelskis, there was no width to their play.

All of their attacks were driven through the middle of the field by the combative central midfield unit of Pail Ince and Roy Keane and the makeshift attacking partnership of Mark Hughes and Brian McClair. Worse still, this was a day on which Ince developed an unfortunate habit of giving the ball away.

When the England international did that after half an hour, Everton streaked away to the end of the field. Since Limpar had Stuart in space to his left as he carried the ball deep into Everton territory, he looked to have chosen the wrong option when he played the ball out to Matthew Jackson, overlapping on the right.

However, the right-back wrong-footed a depleted United defence by checking back inside the lunging Gary Pallister and rolling the ball across the penalty to Stuart.

He took careful aim, but somehow swept the pass against the underside of the crossbar from 10 yards.

Stuart held his head in his hands only briefly, because Rideout spared his blushes. Leaping higher than Denis Irwin, Everton’s leading scorer headed the rebound back past Bruce, who was vainly trying to guard the goal on his own. Schmeichel having dived to his right in an attempt to anticipate Stuart’s shot.

Stuart nearly scored again seven minutes later when Ince presented the ball to Everton once more and Limpar scampered away down the left. This time the Swedish international delivered a perfect pass into the path of Stuart, who failed to beat Schmeichel with a shot on the run.

Giggs’s arrival at the start of the second half galvanised United. His was the centre that offered Butt a shooting chance at the far post after 46 minutes, but Southall saw to it that the ball did not enter his goal. It was also a Giggs pass that enabled Everton’s goalkeeper to cover himself in more glory later in the half.

Paul Scholes, who was on for Sharp, seemed to have the Everton goal at his mercy until Southall blocked the substitute’s first shot with his hands, then kicked away the second with his right leg. And when both Pallister and Schmeichel went forward to see what their height could do, Southall flung himself to his right to hold a header from the England defender.

Southall did not stand alone as Everton fought to keep United’s increasingly insistent attacks at bay. When McClair beat him with a looping header from a Griggs centre, the ball rebounded from the crossbar and Joe Parkinson had to be brave and strong to head over his own goal as Hughes closed in hungrily.

With Ferguson on for the injured Rideout, and the United defence short of height in the absence of Bruce, it seemed likely the Cup holders would be destroyed in the air. Yet Ferguson was more effective on the ground.

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LEADING OFF ONE STRIKE ■ Everton’s Paul Rideout scores the game-winner against Manchester United during the Cup final at Wembley.

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THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Manchester United’s Eric Cantona and his teammates celebrate receiving the Cup at the Royal Box. The 1-0 win against Chelsea gave United their second Double.

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CANTONA CROWN UNITED΄S SEASON OF

DOUBLE DELIGHT

H

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 11, 1996

istory was made at Wembley today by the Frenchman who seems to do nothing else. Eric Cantona, the newly crowned Footballer of the Year, scored the goal that won this severely disappointing FA Cup final for Manchester United, 1-0, and conferred upon them the unique honour of becoming the first club to complete the coveted League and Cup Double twice.

Cantona also made a handsome contribution to United’s winning of the Premiership title, of course.

His return last October, after serving an eight-month suspension for attacking an abusive Crystal Palace fan, was rightly seen as the catalyst that enabled the Old Trafford club to overhaul Newcastle United after being 12 points behind.

The very fact that today’s clinching goal was Cantona’s 19th of the season indicates as clearly as possible his determination to make up for an avoidable absence that probably cost United the Double last season. Little wonder he ran like a man demented to celebrate his winner with the United fans and bench.

The self-control which has enabled the volatile French international to resurrect his career was also in evidence.

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As captain in the absence of the injured Steve Bruce, he climbed the 39 steps to collect the Cup from the Royal Box. En route, a Liverpool supporter presumably, spat in his face. For one terrible moment it looked as though he was going to react, but, much to his credit, he quickly regained control of his emotions.

United deserved their victory because they were always the better side in a match that failed miserably to live up to its billing as a celebration of two of the youngest and most talented sides in the land. Liverpool, crowded out in midfield and unusually sloppy with their passing, were unrecognisable as the team who had twice troubled United severely in the Premiership this season.

It was, essentially, a triumph based on hard work and sound tactical planning. Although there were very few flashes of the inspired football everyone had expected from such a plethora of talent, one could not help but admire

Score Box

MAN. UNITED 1 CANTONA, 85

LIVERPOOL 0

the unflagging industry and concentration of men like Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs in United’s midfield.

Together with Nicky Butt and David Beckham, Keane and Giggs prevented John Barnes, Jamie Redknapp and Steve McManaman from establishing any kind of hold over the area of the field where most of the Merseysiders damaging moves begin. McManaman, harried at every turn, never looked like he was getting the time and space to be Liverpool’s match-winner, as he has so many times before.

Stan Collymore and Robbie Fowler were no more impressive up front. Fowler, the scourge of United until today, was not allowed even the sniff of a chance and could count himself lucky, perhaps, that it was Collymore, and not he, who was taken off when manager Roy Evans decided to introduce Ian Rush for the final 16 minutes.

In addition to his ineffectiveness all over the field, Fowler became involved in an unpleasant scuffle with Keane during the first half. The fiery Irishman thrust his head into Fowler’s face when the little striker tapped his ankles and Fowler responded by angrily pushing Keane away.

Collymore was certainly more effective than United’s Andy Cole, another expensive striker who suffered the disappointment and indignity of being substituted in this final. Preferred to Paul Scholes because manager Alex Ferguson thought his pace might unhinge the Liverpool defence, Cole failed abjectly to build on his crucial, first-touch goal in the Premiership decider against Middlesbrough.

Had the £7 million striker not lapsed back into the erratic finishing, which has plagued him all season, United might have gone into the lead quite early in the game.

Three times in the first 16 minutes he was the recipient of chances that a striker of his value really ought to have turned into at least one goal.

Instead, he miskicked horribly when David May, again an impressive deputy for Bruce in defence, headed forward powerfully and Cantona’s head flicked the ball on. Then Cole contrived to waste all the space Beckham had given him with a crossfield pass that curved quite wonderfully from right to left.

Cole was in even more space when the Liverpool defence unwisely chose to wait for an offside flag that was never raised, but again he lost the advantage Gary Pallister’s long ball over the top had offered him. It must have seemed like blessed relief to the United fans, when Ferguson admitted his mistake and sent on Scholes to replace Cole with 27 minutes still to play.

Despite Cole’s failings, United might still have taken an early lead. But for an exceptional save by David James, Beckham would have blasted his side ahead from the square pass Giggs rolled invitingly across the penalty area.

With that sensational flying leap alone, James underlined the vast improvement in his form this season.

There was more evidence of the value of Joe

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FA CUP MEMORIES

THE HIGH AND LOWS OF VICTORY ■ United teammates gather to rejoice Eric Cantona’s game-winning goal, with five minutes left to play in regulation time. This moment also left a Chelsea player in great disappointment.

Corrigan’s coaching at the start of the second half, when James got down very quickly for such a big man to keep out a Cantona volley at the far post. Already renowned as a shot-stopper, James also dominated his area with great authority − especially in the air − until that fatal moment for Liverpool near the end.

Only twice in the whole game did Liverpool really look like scoring. Early in the first half, Collymore tested Peter Schmeichel at his near post after rounding Phil Neville on the outside. Then, just before the interval, Redknapp blazed a shot over the bar after McManaman had wriggled free on the left and Mark Wright had laid his low centre back to Redknapp.

Once James had saved from Cantona soon after the restart, the match seemed to be drifting inexorably towards extra-time with only the substitutions of Scholes for Cole,

Rush for Collymore and the bookings of Phil Babb and Neville to relieve the tedium. Then, five minutes from the end, United won a corner out on the right.

Beckham took it, but the kick seemed destined to end in frustration for United when James came majestically off his line to claim the ball. This time, though, the goalkeeper had misjudged things slightly and could only punch away weakly towards the edge of the penalty area, where Cantona was waiting. A moment later, a crisp, right-footed volley flew into the net through a crowd of players and the rest, quite literally, is history.

United may not have made it in style, but there is no denying the magnitude of their achievement. In any case, the major trophies are won over the course of a season and not just in one showpiece match at Wembley.

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The chaps will be wearing Emporio Armani Suits, with red- and white-striped ties, light blue shirts and white Gucci shoes. On their lapel will be a small floral display.

“The chaps” were Liverpool Football Club’s players; the occasion the 1996 FA Cup final, the outcome − a sartorial blunder, and a duff performance.

Yes, along with the traditional FA Cup final song, the FA Cup final team hotel, the FA Cup final ticket row and the FA Cup final homecoming, the FA Cup final suits was a hardy perennial.

Every year players would arrive at Wembley in their brand new suits, shirts and ties − and it was also obvious who hadn’t “made the cut” in the suit distribution as the odd fringe player, or member of the backroom staff, would be very self-consciously in “last year’s fashion.”

For completeness Liverpool’s on-pitch apparel would be “Green and White Shirts, Green Shorts, Green and White Socks.” Oh, and red faces, because this was a final where the men from Anfield, cruelly dubbed “The Spice Boys,” barely turned up.

And to make it worse, their opponents were their archrivals, Manchester United, who had just bagged their third title in four years and were on course for an unprecedented “Double Double.”

Victory in this, their third successive FA Cup final, would secure that remarkable achievement and Alex Ferguson, no doubt, felt it was another building block in tearing down the long-held supremacy of his main rivals from down the M62.

Captaining Manchester United was the mercurial Frenchman, Eric Cantona, who had threatened to walk away from English football the previous summer whilst serving his eight-month suspension for his conduct at Crystal Palace the previous January. Ferguson used all his persuasive powers to keep him on board despite many believing he should let him go.

Cantona’s scoring comeback on Sunday, October 1st, had been against Cup final opponent, Liverpool, and his influence throughout the season had been a major reason why United had lifted another League title.

To round off an unlikely story, he was also the scorer of the only goal in the final.

The game itself had been a damp squib, no goals and little memorable action. Both sides playing within themselves.

But that changed with five minutes from regular time, when a Denis Irwin corner was punched clear by Liverpool’s erratic goalkeeper, David James, and it fell to Cantona on the edge of the penalty area.

His volley was a difficult art brilliantly executed, and the resultant shot steered its way through a group of Liverpool defenders into the net.

The United end of the stadium went crazy as they sensed the game only had one goal in it − and Cantona had just scored it.

Captain Cantona had indeed secured victory for United and the Double Double.

CHELSEA WIN ON DI MATTEO΄S BOLT FROM

THE BLUE

C

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 17, 1997

helsea won the FA Cup for only the second time with two excellent goals but not a lot else. The London team was so superior on the day, they ought to have won a disappointing final with far more style and authority. Middlesbrough, perhaps exhausted at the end of their long and trying season, offered little resistance.

The game was over almost as soon as it had started, with Chelsea’s Roberto Di Matteo striking a knockout blow with a stunning goal in record time. Middlesbrough never really recovered from the setback and rarely threatened Ruud Gullit’s achievement of becoming the first foreigner to manage an FA Cup-winning team.

Sadly, Gullit’s Middlesbrough counterpart, Bryan Robson, is left to pick up the pieces of a shattered and shattering season. It will take a considerable feat of management by him to renew the ambition of the Teesside club after losing two Wembley finals and being relegated to the First Division.

The battle of the two little geniuses, Chelsea’s Gianfranco Zola and Middlesbrough’s Juninho, did not live up to expectations but was clearly won by Zola. While Juninho struggled to escape the midfield attentions of Di Matteo, rightly voted Man of the Match, Eddie Newton and Dennis Wise, Zola set up his side’s second goal and nearly got one himself.

When the teams were finally announced shortly before the kick-off, Mikkel Beck, Middlesbrough’s Danish striker, was probably the most disappointed man in the stadium.

Bryan Robson chose to sacrifice Beck’s striking power for the sake of having Phil Stamp’s battling qualities in the crucial, ball-winning area of the field.

The good news for the Middlesbrough fans, of course, was that Fabrizio Ravanelli was regarded as having recovered sufficiently from the back problem which had threatened his appearance in this match. Even so, there had to be an element of risk in selecting someone who had not played since limping out of his club’s thrilling 3-3 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford, less than a fortnight earlier.

Like Beck, Chelsea’s Gianluca Vialli had nothing to smile about. He, too, was relegated to the substitutes’ bench, though that was fully expected after the Italian international’s failure to keep Mark Hughes out of the side all season and his well-publicised differences of opinion with Gullit.

Score Box

CHELSEA 2 DI MATTEO, 1 NEWTON, 83

MIDDLESBROUGH 0 392

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ More than 100,000 Chelsea fans line up along Fulham Road for the open-top bus parade to celebrate the team’s 2-0 Cup final win against Middlesbrough.

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FA CUP MEMORIES Sometimes an FA Cup final just can’t live up to its billing as the annual showpiece of the English game.

The 1997 final between Chelsea and Middlesbrough was one of those occasions.

Middlesbrough had lost the Coca-Cola Cup final after a replay earlier in the spring and had ended the season relegated from the Premier League.

The FA Cup final, their first, was a consolation in a difficult season, but once again they were to leave Wembley empty-handed.

Roberto Di Matteo’s 42-second strike had broken existing records as the fastest FA Cup final goal (ironically since topped by Louis Saha for Everton against Chelsea in 2009) and Eddie Newton’s second-half goal clinched victory for the London side.

The game was mundane, but it had been earlier in the competition that both teams came through memorable “squeaky bum” matches.

Chelsea were two-nil down at half-time in their 4th round home tie with Liverpool when they introduced that old FA Cup war-horse, Mark Hughes, to proceedings. That afternoon he scared the Liverpool defence to death with his tough, committed approach. He was the game-changer.

He reduced Chelsea’s arrears shortly after coming on and then watched as the Blues Italian striking duo shared a further three goals − Gianni Vialli scoring twice after Gianfranco Zola had popped up with the all-important equaliser.

It was a come-back that inspired a Cup run − and Hughes would claim his fourth Winners’ medal. And Ruud Gullit would be the first foreign manager to claim FA CupWinners status.

Middlesbrough’s route to the final included one of the Cup’s greatest semi-finals and one of its most controversial incidents.

Their opponents were Chesterfield, who were attempting to become the first team from outside the two top divisions to make it to the final.

Under manager John Duncan, the Spireites were playing in the third tier of English football but they were on a great quest to get to Wembley.

Unbelievably, a semi-final win against Middlesbrough would put them in the record books and on a coach to Wembley − and the game didn’t disappoint.

Chesterfield got two goals ahead at Old Trafford − and the dream looked real! ’Boro got one back, then Chesterfield’s Jonathan Howard fired a shot against the underside of ’Boro’s crossbar and it bounced down over the goal-line.

However, the ball bounced straight back out into play and a goal wasn’t given. In that moment, Chesterfield’s bubble was all but burst.

The game went into extra-time via a ’Boro equaliser and then the Teessiders went ahead. Chesterfield’s equalised in the final moments of extra-time to make it 3-3, but they were decisively beaten, 3-0, in the replay staged at Hillsborough.

Even Vialli’s face must have lit up, though, at the sensational start Chelsea had on this hot, humid afternoon.

They took the lead in the first minute with a searing shot from Di Matteo. Picking up a pass from Wise, who had won the ball from Robbie Mustoe, the Italy midfielder ran unchallenged from inside his own half before beating Ben Roberts from 25 yards with a shot that dipped wickedly over the young Middlesbrough goalkeeper and went in off the crossbar.

It was a stunning blow made possible not only by Di Matteo’s mastery of technique but also the clever, diversionary run by Hughes that removed Nigel Pearson as the last line of a defence.

The goal was timed at 42 seconds, which made it the fastest scored in an FA Cup final this century.

It beat by three seconds the goal with which Jackie Milburn put Newcastle ahead against Manchester City in 1955.

Juninho raised Middlesbrough’s hopes of an equaliser with a typically astute through ball, but Frode Grodas beat Stamp to it with a well-timed dash from his goal.

Middlesbrough suffered another severe blow after 21

minutes when Ravanelli limped off the field following his unsuccessful attempt to beat Frank Sinclair to a through ball. Obviously, the Italian’s recovery had been far from complete in the short time available for convalescence.

Only five minutes after Beck had replaced Ravanelli, Middlesbrough made another substitution: Steve Vickers replacing Mustoe. It was not entirely clear whether Mustoe was injured or simply replaced. Afterward, Vickers went into the back-four alongside Pearson, thus releasing Gianluca Festa to take over from Mustoe as the midfield anchorman.

Chelsea’s domination of the midfield brought them other scoring chances in the first half. Pearson needed to be at his most alert and determined to head a Dan Petrescu lob off the goal-line, while Roberts had to fling himself across his line to stop Zola increasing Chelsea’s lead with more Italian virtuosity at a free-kick.

Yet another of the many Italians on show, Gianluca Festa, climbed well at the far post to head Stamp’s centre past Grodas in stoppage time at the end of the opening 45 minutes, but the defender-turned-midfielder was reduced to arm-waving frustration by the referee’s correct decision

A DAY TO REMEMBER ■ ABOVE: The win over Middlesbrough earned Chelsea a second Cup final crown – their first since 1970. OPPOSITE PAGE: Eddie Newton’s goal at the 83rd minute sealed Chelsea’s 2-0 victory.

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to disallow the goal for offside.

The second half began unpromisingly, with only the booking of Chelsea’s Di Matteo and Middlesbrough’s Festa to relieve the tedium. Not until Frank Leboeuf failed to cut out Beck’s back-header from Clayton Blackmore’s long throw, after 64 minutes, was there even the sniff of a scoring chance. But Pearson prodded the ball wide.

Chelsea’s strange unwillingness, for a long time, to go in search of a second, clinching goal encouraged Middlesbrough to go forward but they could not attack with sufficient co-ordination to pierce the Londoners’ defence.

Now and again, too, Chelsea reminded their opponents of the damage they were capable of inflicting when the

spirit moved them.

In one marvellous little cameo, Zola beat three men before cutting back inside from the byline and striking the sort of shot that had sunk England here not so long ago.

This time, Roberts avoided the embarrassment suffered by Ian Walker and stopped the ball beating him at his near post − seemingly with his face.

Juninho did not have any impact on the match until, perhaps losing his temper, he began a running feud with Leboeuf in the last 20 minutes. Fouled by the French defender, the little Brazilian used a quick free-kick to release Vickers on the left for a shot Grodas saved with his legs as he came off his line.

But Middlesbrough’s final, desperate attempt to draw

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level cost them dear as Chelsea hit them on the break. At the 83rd minute.

The ball shuttled between Newton and Petrescu before the Romanian chipped a pass to Zola, who was running in at the far post. It looked to be going behind him, but the diminutive Italian improvised brilliantly by flicking the ball back with the outside of his right foot.

It was a perfect pass to Newton, following up in the middle of the goalmouth, and all the midfielder had to do was steer the ball into the net with his left foot as it bounced up in front of him for a 2-0 lead. That was the signal for Gullit to let Vialli have his two minutes of fame as a substitute for Zola, and for the stadium to fill the overwhelming sound of Blue is the Colour.

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Martin Keown and Tony Adams (right) bring the trophy over to the Arsenal fans to give them a close-up look at the prized silver hardware after the Gunners won the 1998 Cup final. OPPOSITE PAGE: Adams, the Arsenal captain (left), proudly holds aloft the Cup as he celebrates with goalkeeper David Seaman and Lee Dixon after the trophy presentation at the Royal Box.

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CUP WIN EARN ARSENAL A

RICH REWARD

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 16, 1998

I

n the end, it was all so predictable.

Arsenal won the FA Cup and completed the fabled Double just as easily as everyone had expected. There may have been only two goals in it, but the shots planted in the back of Newcastle United’s net by Marc Overmars and Nicolas Anelka were scarcely an accurate reflection of the Londoners’ overall superiority as they became only the second club to twice win both of English football’s major trophies in the same season.

Newcastle, to their credit, never stopped trying to take something from the game. But they lacked the creative spark and the cutting edge to disturb Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger’s well-organised and self-confident side.

The Magpies must have known there was to be no escape from a thoroughly miserable season when, in the second half, Nicolaos Dabizas and Alan Shearer hit the woodwork with the score at 1-0.

Arsenal, it has to be said, rarely played with the fluency and driving intensity which had brought them 10 consecutive Premiership victories and the title: but the truth is that they did not need to. All that was required from them was the defensive solidity for which they are famed and a shrewd exploitation of the Newcastle rearguard’s chronic lack of pace.

Both goals came from balls hit over the top for the speedy Overmars and Anelka to outstrip the Newcastle defence, which they duly did. Indeed, it was surprising

Score Box 397

ARSENAL 2 OVERMARS, 23 ANEIKA, 69

NEWCASTLE 0

Arsenal did not score any more goals that day, such was the amount of space left between Shay given and his defenders.

Ray Parlour, voted Man of the Match, did some clever and useful things, but he was no more influential than either of Arsenal’s midfield powerhouses, Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit.

As the 1-4 booking-count indicates, Newcastle clearly felt that their best chance of victory lay in trying to muscle Arsenal out of their normal rhythm.

Shearer had his name taken for a reckless late tackle on Tony Adams at the end of the first half, while Newcastle’s Warren Barton, Dabizas and Steve Howey and Arsenal’s Nigel Winterburn were shown the yellow card during the second 45 minutes. Shearer’s caution was obviously the product of the mounting frustration he felt at being unable to make any impression on Arsenal’s cast-iron back four.

Arsenal suffered much less from the loss of an influential player than Newcastle did from the absence of

winger Keith Gillespie. The hamstring injury that kept Dennis Bergkamp on the sidelines might have unsettled some sides, but not these cohesive Gunners.

Resisting the temptation to bring back Ian Wright, Wenger continued to rely on Christopher Wreh, who has deputised for Bergkamp before this season with an impressive competence.

Anelka, in the 20th minute, had the first clear scoring chance of the game. Fractionally mistiming his run onto the box, the young French striker headed over the bar from no more than six yards after Parlour had taken Lee Dixon’s clever through pass, accelerated outside Howey and cut back a perfect, head-high centre.

Arsenal’s disappointment did not last long. Three minutes later, Petit hoisted a pass up the left wing for Overmars to chase.

The little Dutchman got there before Alessandro Pistone headed the ball forward and then held off a challenge from the tall Italian defender. All Overmars had

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to do then was prod a shot past the advancing Shay Given to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead.

There was not much more to the first half than that.

Wreh and Parlour wasted reasonable scoring chances by shooting over the Newcastle bar, while David Seaman pulled down a shot from Temuri Ketsbaia at the other end.

The real excitement started after 63 minutes, when Dabizas won a free-kick on the left by diving as he was challenged by Adams.

Rob Lee flighted the kick carefully enough for the Greek defender to rise above everyone at the far post and clip the Arsenal bar with a header.

A minute later, Martin Keown trod on the ball as he was about to clear it and gave Shearer exactly the chance for which he had been waiting. Swooping on the gift, the England striker broke left before a powerful, left-footed shot across Seaman, which flew past him from the base of the far post.

Arsenal was rocking at that point, yet they still managed

FA CUP MEMORIES

STILL A FAN’S GAME ■ ABOVE: Arsenal’s most enthusiastic supporters came dressed for the big day at Wembley.

OPPOSITE PAGE: The Gunners take in open-bus victory tour through North London to celebrate their Double. to increase their lead five minutes following their narrow escape. Again it was a long ball that did the damage.

Parlour launched it for Anelka, looking suspiciously as though he might have been offside to accelerate away from Howey and belt a right-footed shot into the far corner to make it 2-0.

That goal decided the game, to all intents and purposes, but Newcastle refused to accept the fact. Bringing on Steve Watson for Warren Barton and Andreas Andersson for

Stuart Pearce, they launched a frantic late assault on the Arsenal goal which brought a number of near misses.

A free kick from Shearer and a shot by Gary Speed both whizzed a foot wide, but the clearest chance fell to Shearer when a shot from Ketsbaia was blocked. Seaman’s goal was at the mercy of one of the world’s finest strikers, but Winterburn suddenly came from nowhere to nick the ball away from him and make sure that Arsenal and Wenger took their place in history.

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In October 1996, Arsenal introduced their new manager to an expectant football world. A slim, bespectacled, unknown Frenchman was their surprising choice − and the sceptics were on to it quickly.

Undoubtedly his first name “Arsène” was promising, but a track record which included spells as boss at Nancy, Monaco and the Japanese Nagoya Grampus Eight was hardly headline-making stuff. And Monsieur Wenger had been only a so-so player.

What transpired over the next sixteen years was the stuff of legend. “Le Professeur,” as he was quickly dubbed, was to become one of the most celebrated figures in the long and illustrious history of the North London club.

League titles, FA Cup wins, stylish players, intelligent football, great rivalries and a recent drought in trophy lifting have all been features of the Wenger reign.

But, no one can doubt his ability to find and improve footballing raw material and turn it into world-class performance.

Some of the football played by the Gunners over the past few years has been simply sublime. And it has set new standards on terms of fluency and flair.

C’est magnifique!

And it started quickly. Built on the famous Arsenal back-four with the English oak, Tony Adams, at the helm, Wenger was able to bring new talents to the club like Frenchmen Patrick Viera and Emmanuel Petit and up front, the world-class Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp.

In his first full season, Arsenal overhauled frontrunners, Manchester United, to win the Premier League and made it to Wembley to meet Newcastle United and clinch the Double.

Their Actual Road to Wembley, however, was a bumpy trip, with penalty shoot-out wins over Port Vale and West Ham, in the 3rd and 6th rounds, respectively, and tight wins over Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough and finally, Wolves, in their semi-final at Villa Park.

As the VIP guests at Wembley enjoyed a pre-match glass of Sauvignon Blanc, 1996, Wenger put his 1998 vintage through final pre-match paces.

Amongst was a young French teenager destined for a big career in England and elsewhere, 19-year-old Nicolas Anelka. His thin frame, fast pace and deadly finishing would make him a transfer target for the next decade or so − on this day he scored Arsenal’s second goal.

Marc Overmars had scored Arsenal’s first goal, and outside of the Geordies’ favourite, Alan Shearer, striking a post, Newcastle were disappointing and rarely threatened.

And so, Wenger had emulated the famous Arsenal side of 1971 in landing the Double, and he would do it again, even more spectacularly, in 2002.

The football world were soon off to France for that summer’s World Cup tournament. During that tournament we saw the early international strides of a certain young French player: Thierry Henry.

He, we, and Arsenal were all about to be better acquainted very soon.

UNITED’S RUNAWAY TRAIN GOES STRAIGHT

THROUGH NEWCASTLE

T

here is just no stopping Manchester United. Newly crowned as champions of England, they brushed aside Newcastle United’s challenge for the FA Cup today with something approaching disdain. Now, having made history by becoming the first club to complete the fabled Double three times − and all in the space of five years − they now seek an unprecedented Treble, and sporting immortality, when they play Bayern Munich for the European Cup in Barcelona on Wednesday.

This victory was all the more meritorious because it was achieved, in effect, without Roy Keane, Manchester United’s captain and major driving force. Keane had to go off injured early in the game because of the sort of tackling by Newcastle, which amounted almost to attempted intimidation.

Ironically, it was Teddy Sheringham, Keane’s replacement, who opened the scoring and gave United a grip on the game they rarely relaxed in. Once Paul Scholes added a second goal early in the second half, we might as well all have gone home.

United put out a stronger team than had been expected. There was no place for the suspended Denis

By Colin Malam at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 22, 1999

Irwin, of course, and wisely it was decided not to risk Jaap Stam’s sore Achilles tendon four days before the European Cup final, but the champions were below full strength in only one other respect: the choice of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in attack to replace Dwight Yorke, who was said to be under the weather.

With Stam on the bench − an encouraging sign in itself for Wednesday’s game in Barcelona − United must have been relieved that Duncan Ferguson was also among the substitutes. Ruud Gullit obviously decided it was too big a risk to start the game with the big Scottish striker, who is about to undergo surgery on his troublesome groin injury.

But Gullit’s really big decision was to prefer the Peruvian, Nolberto Solano, to Warren Barton as Didier Domi’s partner down the left flank.

Newcastle’s determination not to freeze on this occasion, as they had against Arsenal here last year, was clear from the opening moments of the game. Not much more than a couple of minutes had gone when Scholes and Keane were flattened with crushing tackles by Dietmar Hamann and Gary Speed respectively.

Hamann’s challenge was so fierce that he hurt his thigh, but the damage Speed inflicted on Keane was much more significant.

After limping around in obvious distress after Speed’s clattering tackle had damaged the Irishman’s ankle, Keane had to take his leave of the match in which, having been suspended from the European Cup final, he had intended

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to make his last hurrah of the season.

With Nicky Butt in cotton-wool for the European Cup final and without another central midfielder on the bench, Alex Ferguson had to do some quick thinking.

His answer was to send on Sheringham after only eight minutes to play up front. That meant pulling Solskjaer back to play wide on the right so David Beckham could switch inside to take over from Keane. But this decision yielded dividends quicker than the United manager could have hoped.

Just 96 seconds after the substitution, Sheringham put United ahead at the end of a sharp, slick, three-man move that sliced open the heart of the Newcastle defence.

Andy Cole started it by winning the ball with his back to the goal, wheeling to the right and finding Sheringham with a short pass. Sheringham then played the ball back to Scholes before moving cleverly into space for the return pass, which he dispatched neatly past Steve Harper with

Score Box

MAN. UNITED 2 SHERINGHAEM, 10 SCHOLES, 58

NEWCASTLE 0

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson attempts to get the attention of his players during the Cup final.

The 2-0 win over Newcastle gave United their ninth Cup final win.

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THE WINNING LOOK ■ ABOVE: Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (left), David Beckham (middle) and Gary Neville (right) – all have big smiles after the 2009 Cup victory against Newcastle. OPPOSITE PAGE: Alan Shearer of Newcastle (right) duels with Manchester United’s Ronny Johnsen during the Cup final. his right foot for a 1-0 lead.

From then on, Manchester United controlled most of the first half. Sheringham was only inches away from heading a Beckham free-kick at goal and Nikos Dabizas had to scuttle back desperately to hack the ball away, when Cole lobbed Harper and the ball was seen bouncing slowly towards an empty net.

Newcastle’s response to all this had been fairly limited, with Nolberto Solano forcing Peter Schmeichel into a diving save with a first-time volley and then floating a freekick harmlessly on to the roof of the United net.

In fact, not until Hamann found his shooting range, late in the first half, was Schmeichel under serious threat.

Taking a square pass from Temuri Ketsbaia, the tall German midfielder ran the ball across the face of the United penalty area until he discovered enough space to strike a low, swerving shot that taxed Schmeichel as he threw himself to his left to turn it away for a corner. Even then, United had the last word before the interval, with

Sheringham heading a Gary Neville cross only a foot wide.

As at the start of the game, Newcastle began the second half with real determination. Only four minutes after replacing Hamann at the interval, Duncan Ferguson was bearing down on the goal. He was foiled by Schmeichel, who threw himself on the ball after Scholes had swung at it and missed. But the next time the little red-headed midfielder was within striking distance of the ball, he made no mistake.

Coming late into a move constructed by Solskjaer and Sheringham with crisp, short passes, Scholes beat Harper comprehensively with his left foot from the edge of the penalty area to give United a 2-0 margin. Most of the credit for the goal had to go to Solskjaer, who had intercepted an ill-judged clearance Dabizas made under pressure.

Newcastle did come back at their tormentors with a shot from Ketsbaia that glanced off the foot of a post after Schmeichel had made a rare mistake and dropped the ball

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near the edge of his penalty area, but it was little more than a gesture of defiance.

Yorke, who was on for Cole after an hour, should have put the result beyond all doubt a few minutes later, but headed Ryan Giggs’ centre over the bar from a couple of yards range because he had got himself slightly under the ball.

Giggs, with a volley, and Solskjaer, with a mis-hit shot, also caused Harper some concern as United began to take aim at their opponents’ goal at will. Typical of the finesse that they were now able to demonstrate was the careful chip by Sheringham that beat Harper completely, but bounced on top of the bar.

Newcastle could not even grab a consolation goal when the opportunity arose eight minutes from the end. When a mistake by the otherwise blameless David May allowed substitute Silvio Maric, on for Solano, a clear sight of the goal, the Croatia international pulled the ball wide of goal with Schmeichel struggling to intervene.

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LEADING OFF GREATNESS ACHIEVED ■ Manchester United players celebrate at midfield after their 2-0 Cup final win against Newcastle, which gave United the Double for the third time in six years. Four days later, United would win the 1999 European Football Championship.

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FA CUP MEMORIES

HARRY’S CUP ■ With Prince Harry watching in the Royal Box, Teddy Sheringham of Manchester United celebrates holds the Cup aloft to signify United’s fourth Cup final win in ten years.

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The 1999 FA Cup competition marked the end of semi-final replays. From that forward the semi-finals would be one game with extra-time and penalties, if needed. So it was fitting that the last semi-final replay went out with a triumphant bang rather than a whimper.

Manchester United and FA Cup holders, Arsenal, drew the first tie at Wembley, 0-0, and the battle re-convened between these major rivals at Villa Park three days later.

That game’s key players were a “Who’s Who” of the time: David Beckham put United ahead, Bergkamp scored a deflected equaliser, Roy Keane got sent off, Peter Schmeichel, due to retire from English football at the end of the season, made a crucial penalty save and Welsh wonder Ryan Giggs scored one of the FA Cup’s most famous winning goals as the game’s extra-time reached its closing stages. Racing down the left, he twisted and turned, leaving Arsenal defenders in his wake and thrashed the ball past David Seaman.

Giggs then ripped his shirt off and waved it above his head in wild celebration. Truly memorable.

The FA Cup final itself was a tamer affair. Once again Newcastle United were the other finalists, this time under the control of Dutch superstar Ruud Gullit.

Once again the Geordies came up short.

Manchester United, already League Champions, had their eyes on two other targets: the FA Cup and, four days later, the Champions League Final against Bayern Munich in Barcelona.

Suspended from the European final, Paul Scholes and Roy Keane filled central midfield for the Mancunians at Wembley and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was paired with Andy Cole up front.

Teddy Sheringham had been disappointed to be left out − but not for long. He came on early in the game for injured Keane and scored just ninety seconds later. Scholes provided the clever telling pass. Eight minutes into the second half, Sheringham returned the favour by setting up Scholes for United’s second and then scored the Cup-clinching goal.

Two down and one to go.

Four days later, on an unforgettable evening at the Nou Camp, Fergie’s men turned their attention to trying to win an unprecedented Treble. The wily Scotsman made five changes from Saturday’s Wembley line-up and then watched as his team trailed to an early goal by the Germans.

It was not a classic match and seemed to be petering out to a mundane Bayern victory when football fate took a hand. With two late throws of the dice, Fergie sent on substitutes, Sheringham and Solskjaer. But still nothing.

Then, in injury-time, United unbelievably turned the game on its head with two late goals.

First, Sheringham steered in an unlikely equaliser and then, moments later, Solskjaer poached the winner. An absolutely astonishing turnaround.

“Football. Bloody hell!” was Fergie’s famous after-match comment, before he and the team went off to a swish hotel in the upmarket Barcelona marina to celebrate long into the night and prepare for a triumphant return to Manchester.

MILLENNIUM BIG MOMENTS â– Roberto Di Matteo scores the game-winner in the packed penalty Area to give Chelsea A 1-0 Cup victory Against Aston Villa.

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DI MATTEO’S GOAL BRINGS THE CUP

BACK TO CHELSEA

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By Colin Malam At Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 20, 2000

hese two famous clubs could not make the 72nd, and last, FA Cup final at the old Wembley Stadium one of the best; but at least they prevented it from being remembered as the worst. Even that did not seem possible following a first half of quite dreadful quality. Thankfully, however, a vast improvement after half-time brought a more acceptable level of entertainment and a deserved winning goal by Chelsea’s Roberto Di Matteo for a 1-0 victory.

That strike by Di Matteo, who also scored the quickest goal in an FA Cup final when Chelsea beat Middlesbrough, 2-0, in 1997, proved sufficient for his club to take the trophy and qualify for next season’s UEFA Cup. But, in truth, the Londoners’ collection of classy foreigners were toying for most of the second half with Aston Villa, whose dubious consolation prize is the entry into the InterToto Cup. It was not difficult before the start to tell the rival supporters apart, and not just by the colours they were wearing. Having not attended this event since 1957, when their team overcame the emerging Busby Babes of Manchester United, 2-1, Villa fans were much the noisier

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and more excited. By comparison, the sophisticates of Chelsea, here only three years ago to see their heroes beat Middlesbrough, 2-0, seemed positively blase.

There was certainly a marked difference between the two starting line-ups. While Villa’s included eight Englishmen, there was only one − captain Dennis Wise − in the Chelsea ranks. The London club compensated to some extent by naming three others − Jody Morris, John Terry and Jon Harley − as substitutes on a bench that, rather surprisingly, did not contain a fourth, £10 million striker Chris Sutton.

Equally surprising was the decision by Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli not to start with his regular attacking partnership of Tore andre Flo and Gianfranco Zola. Zola was there for the kick-off, but he had veteran Liberian international George Weah alongside him instead

Score Box

CHELSEA 1 DI MATTEO, 73

ASTON VILLA 0

CRIES OF JOY ■ ABOVE: Chelsea celebrates their third Cup final win. RIGHT: An emotional Marcel Desailly, the Ghanaborn French midfielder, enjoys his brief time with the Cup. of Flo, who was on the bench. Perhaps it was seen as a last chance for Weah, 33 and on loan from AC Milan, to play in an FA Cup final.

George Boateng, one of the few foreigners on the Villa side, had given advance warning of his intent to match the aggression and industry of Wise in midfield. So it should have come as no surprise when, after only two minutes’ play, the powerful young Dutchman shook the Chelsea captain with a crunching tackle that referee Graham Poll felt deserving only of a warning.

The first serious attack of a poor first half, coming after 10 minutes, showed that the little England international had suffered no serious damage. When Gareth Southgate headed out a Zola centre, Wise met the clearance with a ferocious volley that goalkeeper David James clutched to his midriff.

That, sadly, was just about the only moment of real excitement the packed house was offered before the interval. There were plenty of bookings, but very few other scoring attempts.

Villa’s Gareth Barry and Chelsea’s Mario Melchiot were cautioned for fouls on each other and Wise, surprise, surprise, was shown the yellow card for a spot of sly

retaliation on Boateng.

But, with both sides giving the ball away with depressing regularity and the defences on top, the volley Paul Merson curled speculatively past the right-hand angle of the Chelsea goal after 25 minutes was the only other scoring attempt that carried any kind of threat.

The start of the second half was much more promising.

Whatever the two managers said during the break − and one cannot imagine it was very complimentary to their players − produced three scoring chances in the first four minutes.

Almost immediately, Ian Taylor and Southgate headed wide from crosses by alan Wright and Merson, then Weah shot a foot wide at the other end.

The Liberian was given a sight of the goal, first by Didier Deschamps, and then by Zola, who threaded the ball through to him in a shooting position.

It was the beginning of a period of Chelsea supremacy, during which they put the ball in the Villa net without reward, after Weah was ruled offside after Wise had been quick to punish James’ fumble as the goalkeeper tried to deal with a pass from Di Matteo.

Weah had two chances to atone quickly for his

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unfortunate part in Chelsea’s disallowed goal. However, he was guilty of poor finishing from six yards out at the far post as he met the centre Zola curled cunningly in from the right; then, when the ball sat up kindly for him in a goalmouth tussle with Ugo Ehiogu, James came rushing off his line to block the Chelsea striker’s attempt to flick a shot over the goalkeeper.

The lead the London club took after 73 minutes was deserved. Again James erred, again the ball was put away from close range, but this time there was no infringement of the laws. When James came roaring off his line to deal with Zola’s free-kick from the left, he fumbled the ball against Southgate’s chest and they could only watch in horror as Di Matteo blasted the rebound into the roof of the net.

Benito Carbone should have equalised three minutes later in a situation similar to the one from which Di Matteo had scored, but he failed abysmally. Ed de Goey’s failure to catch a Merson free-kick cleanly left Villa’s little Italian striker with a clear view of goal.

He struck the ball so weakly with his left foot, though, that Frank Leboeuf was able to clear off the line quite comfortably.

Villa manager John Gregory rang the changes in the last 12 minutes as his team searched desperately for an eqauliser.

But the introduction of Steve Stone, Julian Joachim and Lee Hendrie for Taylor, Carbone and Wright yielded just one more scoring chance, with Ugo Ehiogu heading the ball over the crossbar when he needed to direct it across goal to the better-placed Dion Dublin.

THE FINAL CURTAIN AT WEMBLEY ■

ABOVE: A pair of young Aston Villa fans before the 2000 Cup final. RIGHT: In a tribute to Wembley’s last Cup final before construction begins on the new stadium, a large quantity of red, white and blue balloons are released to commemorate the occasion.

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FA CUP MEMORIES Seventy-seven years after staging the first FA Cup final to be held at the brand spanking new Wembley Stadium (in 1923), English football’s spiritual home was to host the latest chapter of this competition’s remarkable history.

But this time it was different, as the stadium was due to close later that year for much needed renovation − so the first FA Cup final of the new millennium was to be the last under the imposing Twin Towers.

This year’s competition had been thrown into controversy when current Cup holders, Manchester United, opted out of defending the trophy to take part in FIFA’s World Club Championship in Brazil.

This was part of an attempt to help England win their bid to stage the 2006 World Cup. The bid ultimately failed and United, in a no-win situation, had a poor time in Brazil and were heavily criticised for not competing in the FA Cup. Some people have never forgiven them.

The 2000 Cup final pitched Chelsea, in their third appearance in seven years, against Aston Villa, a team with a rich background in the competition, who were at the climax of the Cup for a tenth time.

So, the scene was set for the last final at the “old” Wembley, and despite its historic nature, the match couldn’t live up to the occasion.

As a sign of the influx of foreign players and their growing influence on English football, and the Premier League, in particular, Chelsea fielded no less than ten overseas players. The only Englishman in the starting line-up being their captain, Dennis Wise.

The game in England was now truly international.

If Chelsea had a potential match-winner in the mercurial Gianfranco Zola, Villa had their own Italian magician, Benito Carbone.

Carbone would play for no less than 16 clubs in his colourful career but his brief spell at Villa Park included a match-winning hat-trick in their 5th round Cup win over Leeds United.

The final itself was decided by a single goal. Scored in the 73rd minute, Villa goal-keeper David James, late of Liverpool, fumbled a cross and Roberto Di Matteo scored from close range.

He, of course, was the man who had opened the scoring inside the first minute of the 1997 FA Cup final and was on target again in the following year’s League Cup final.

James, himself, would have better luck in the FA Cup final eight years later with Portsmouth.

And so walking up those famous 39 steps for the last time at an FA Cup final as winners were Chelsea.

And, in one of those wonderful acts of footballing fate, when the famous stadium re-opened for business seven years later, it was Chelsea again who walked up those historic steps to receive the FA Cup, but this time the journey would be up 107 steps.

The final itself was to go on the road and the next six matches would be played in their new temporary home at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

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MILLENNIUM BIG MOMENTS ■ It was despair for Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman as Michael Owen’s goal at the 88th minute seals Liverpool’s victory for at the Millennium Stadium.

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UNLUCKY ARSENAL STUNG BY OWEN’S

DOUBLETAKE

By Colin Malam at The Millennium Stadium, The Sunday Telegraph, May 12, 2001

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ichael Owen just becomes more astonishing by the game. Today in sun-kissed Cardiff the young man, who enthralled the whole of England with his spectacular 1998 World Cup goal against Argentina, and has offered other delights since, brought Liverpool back from the dead in the dramatic closing minutes of the first FA Cup final to be staged at the magnificent Millenium Stadium and outside of England.

Arsenal, deservedly leading by a fine goal from Fredrik Ljungberg 18 minutes from the end, looked to be coasting to a comfortable victory when Owen suddenly demonstrated in full measure that gift he has for putting the ball in the net when it matters. In the final eight minutes of the game, a classic, close-range volley and then an eel-like run through the remnants of a previously imperious defence punished the Gunners for the criminal wastefulness of their finishing.

Those two goals took Owen’s haul from Liverpool’s last four games to an extraordinary eight goals, with seven of them coming in the last three. With the Worthington Cup already in the bag, they also enabled Liverpool to become

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only the second club, after Arsenal, to win both domestic Cup competitions in the same season. Now it is on to the UEFA Cup final, and the possibility of a unique Treble, against Spanish side Alaves in Dortmund on Wednesday.

Arsenal has only themselves to blame for finishing the season without any kind of silverware. Although they were most unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty early in the game, that decision would not have mattered had Thierry Henry, in particular, taken some of the numerous scoring chances that came his way as the many Frenchmen, and one Swede, on the Londoners’ team combined to overrun Liverpool in a thrilling, spectacle-saving second half.

But the Merseysiders are nothing if not resilient under the inspired and inspiring management of Gerard Houllier. Gritting their teeth, riding their luck and

Score Box

LIVERPOOL 2 OWEN, 82, 88

ARSENAL 1 LJUNGBERG, 72

AN EMOTIONAL DAY ■

ABOVE LEFT: Liverpool’s international Markus Babbel reacts to teammate Michael Owen’s winning goal during the 2001 FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium.

ABOVE MIDDLE: Gerard Houllier, the Liverpool manager, happily carries the Cup back to the dressing room. ABOVE RIGHT: Stephane Henchoz lifts the Cup.

responding to the introduction of three substitutes, Liverpool simply refused to be beaten. Their attitude was epitomised by the Merseyside captain-for-the-day, Sami Hyypia, who twice cleared off the line when his defence was cut to pieces by the speed and imagination of Arsenal’s attacking moves in the second half.

The 45 minutes after the interval came as blessed relief following a disappointingly sterile and uneventful first half. Caution was the watchword as these evenly-matched teams struggled to get the measure of each other, and only twice was there a hint of a goal. The first came in the 17th minute when Ljungberg’s finely-judged through pass down the inside-right channel enabled the fleet-footed Henry to beat Liverpool’s offside trap.

Sander Westerveld’s speed off his line forced Henry wide to the right, but it was the left hand of Stephane Henchoz that stopped the French international from squeezing a shot inside the near post. The interception by the covering Swiss international as he sprawled across the goal-line was accidental, but a penalty nonetheless.

Liverpool was also confined to just one scoring chance during that tedious first 45 minutes. Needless to say, it fell to Owen, who would have scored with a fierce shot on the turn from close range but for the anticipation and blocking foot of Martin Keown. Happily, there was much more of that to come on the other side of the interval. Only three minutes after the restart, for instance, David Seaman

barely managed to parry Emile Heskey’s header from a Danny Murphy free-kick.

But it was the last Liverpool saw of the Arsenal goal for quite some time. Poor as the first half had been, Henry and Robert Pires, backed by Patrick Vieira’s control of midfield, had often threatened to take Liverpool apart; and now they did so with a flourish.

Aided by an Henry air-shot, Westerveld managed to smother the danger, as he did so often yesterday for his team. Then Hyypia came to his aid on the line when Ashley Cole closed in for a killing shot. The Dutch goalkeeper, stranded well out of goal after sprinting off his line once more, owed the strapping Finnish centreback another debt of gratitude when he headed away the cunning chip with which Ljungberg strove to embarrass and undo Liverpool.

But the Swede with the curious puce streak in his dyed hair was not to be denied. Released through the middle after 72 minutes by Pires’s piercing pass, Ljungberg swerved neatly round Westerveld and cut a shot back into the far corner past Jamie Carragher’s desperate attempt to intervene. Arsenal should have gone further ahead a couple of minutes later, when Henry wriggled deep into the Liverpool penalty area.

Again Westerveld’s challenge foiled the Frenchman.

The goalkeeper did not take the ball cleanly, by any means, but Henry miscued horribly when the chance immediately

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presented itself again. The tide had been turning slowly in Liverpool’s favour, though, since the introduction, on the hour, of Gary McAllister for Dietmar Hamann. Houllier had left the Scottish veteran on the bench in an attempt to counter Vieira’s power in midfield with that of young Steven Gerrard, but the move had not really worked.

Now, McAllister’s ability to pass the ball accurately and control the tempo of a game began to bring Liverpool some hope. It was Gerrard’s through-ball, though, that sent Owen sprinting towards the goal after 80 minutes, only to be dispossessed at the last by the watchful, pursuing Keown. Then it was McAllister’s turn, delivering a freekick of such accuracy that Marcus Babbel was able to head the ball down for Owen to volley Liverpool level eight minutes from the end.

Having brought on Ray Parlour for the disappointing Sylvain Wiltord in an attempt to increase Arsenal’s chances of holding on to their lead, manager Arsene Wenger now sent in Nwankwo Kanu for Ljungberg in a desperate bid to regain the advantage. But it was Liverpool who scored the decisive goal, with Owen running on to the long ball out of defence that Patrik Berger sent winging upfield.

Switching into overdrive, the little striker easily evaded Lee Dixon’s clumsy attempt to foul him, swerved round the covering Tony Adams and then rolled the ball past the left hand of a subsiding Seaman and just inside the far post with enviable accuracy and sangfroid.

LEADING OFF 2 TICKETS TO PARADISE â– A father and son, both Gunners fans, walk down the Cardiff City Centre streets, hoping to buy 2 tickets to see the Liverpool v. Arsenal match.

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FA CUP MEMORIES I was sitting at Selhurst Park watching an end of season game between Wimbledon and Liverpool in May 1997 when the Merseyside visitors made a late substitution.

A 17-year-old youngster by the name of Michael Owen came on to make his Liverpool debut. I had heard a lot about him from those who followed the club’s junior sides.

He had scored at all the levels of the game he played in to this point.

And he was about to do the same. Within minutes of coming on he broke through the Wimbledon defence and scored a typical “Owen” goal − a combination of pace and precision.

An FA National School graduate, Owen, the son of a former Everton player, became a Liverpool first team regular the following season and, then in the summer of 1998 at the tender age of 18, scored a goal for England against Argentina in the World Cup that sent his name spinning around the world.

It was a goal from the Gods, and Michael Owen became world-famous overnight.

Three years later, he was part of a Liverpool team en route to a Treble. With the Football League Cup already won, Liverpool were back in Cardiff to play Arsenal in the first FA Cup final to be staged outside of England.

It was a sweltering hot day − the hottest I could remember on Cup final day for many a year.

And Arsenal were red-hot, too. They set about Liverpool and should have been ahead by half-time. But they missed their chances and were denied a clear penalty.

Eventually the Gunners got ahead with Freddie Ljungberg’s goal at 72 minutes. And Thierry Henry should have put the game beyond Liverpool but missed an easy chance.

Then Michael Owen took over. At 83 minutes Liverpool were back level, when Gary McAllister flighted a free-kick into the box and Robbie Fowler laid it into the path of Owen who steered the ball home.

Arsenal were suddenly on the back foot and, five minutes later, were sensationally behind as Patrick Berger found Owen and the young superstar outstripped Tony Adams and Lee Dixon to hit the ball wide of David Seaman.

Arsenal were stunned. Liverpool and Owen were jubilant, having gone from certain losers, they had suddenly won the game.

The sign of making a massive impact in a final is when your name is forever linked with the occasion. 2001 became known as “The Michael Owen Final” − and still is.

Owen and Liverpool went on to win the UEFA Cup and, later that year, added the European Super Cup and FA Charity Shield, and the young striker also scored a hattrick for England in their famous 5-1 win over Germany in Munich. His year was rounded off by his winning of the Ballon d’Or, which is given to the European Footballer of the Year. Owen’s career would take him to Real Madrid, Newcastle United and Manchester United and his England career, wrecked through injury, saw him win 89 caps and score 40 goals.

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MILLENNIUM BIG MOMENTS â– A joyous Arsenal squad celebrates winning the Cup after their 2-0 victory against Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium, in Cardiff.

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ARSENAL STEALS THE GLORY, NOW LOOKS TO

WIN DREAM DOUBLE

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ow Chelsea knows what Arsenal must have felt like when Liverpool’s Michael Owen pinched the FA Cup from under their noses here in Cardiff last year. Having been largely outplayed by their fellow Londoners, Arsenal won this poor final with two goals so superb that they belonged to another, more entertaining match. But Arsene Wenger and his men will not worry about that when the first half of the Double is already theirs.

Now, thanks to two wonderful strikes by Ray Parlour and the remarkable Freddie Ljungberg − scorer of seven goals in his last six games − Arsenal will go marching up to Old Trafford on Wednesday believing they can clinch the Premiership title on the ground of their great rivals, Manchester United.

There were two surprises when the teams were announced. Arsenal preferred Parlour to Eduardo Cesar Daud Gasper as Patrick Vieira’s partner in central midfield and Chelsea put John Terry on the substitutes’ bench. No doubt Parlour’s battling qualities and greater experience of these kind of occasions were responsible for his selection, while the frightening pace of Arsenal’s Thierry Henry

By Colin Malam at The Millennium Stadium, The Sunday Telegraph, May 4, 2002

made the fleet-footed William Gallas more valuable in central defence than Terry.

Predictably, Chelsea also took a chance on the fitness of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who had been fighting all week to recover from a calf injury. The theory, presumably, was that although their leading scorer might break down at some point, his deadly finishing could get them a goal before it came to that. There was a place on the left of midfield, too, for Graeme Le Saux, another player who had shaken off a calf injury.

The experience had clearly not lessened the former England international’s penchant for recklessness. The match was less than two minutes old when Le Saux was rightly booked for a challenge on Lauren so high and venomous that he nearly cut the Arsenal full-back in half.

Indeed, the referee, Mike Riley, had to step in and warn Lauren to behave when he obviously threatened Le Saux with retribution.

Chelsea’s gamble on Hasselbaink began to look illadvised as early as the fifth minute, by which time the striker had the sock rolled down on his troublesome right leg and was not moving as freely as usual. Even so, he still managed to initiate the game’s first dangerous attack, floating a diagonal pass towards Eidur Gudjohnsen that David Seaman came out to intercept.

The Arsenal goalkeeper was certainly the busier of the

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two in the opening phase of the game. Twice − in the 17th and 18th minutes − Frank Lampard let fly from long range with powerful shots Seaman saved with difficulty. Chelsea’s Carlo Cudicini, by comparison, was virtually unemployed.

The marvellous Marcel Desailly saw to that by blocking a fierce shot from Sylvain Wiltord and intercepting a dangerous pull-back by Henry.

When Cudicini was finally called into action, after 22 minutes, he was nearly found wanting. The Chelsea goalkeeper got himself into no man’s land as Ashley Cole picked out Dennis Bergkamp at the far post with an accurate diagonal centre, and was spared the embarrassment his indecision deserved only because Bergkamp’s looping header dropped outside the post.

Disappointingly, the first half did not offer much in the way of entertainment. The play was scrappy, largely

Score Box

ARSENAL 2 PARLOUR, 69 LJUNGBERG, 79

CHELSEA 0

FA CUP MEMORIES The beauty of the FA Cup is the opportunity it gives for small community clubs to play in the same competition as some of the iconic names of English football.

It adds a unique element to the oldest knock-out tournament in world football − and means that clubs from football’s shallower waters can have their moment of FA Cup glory.

Another wonderful aspect is that the competition itself starts as summer is drawing its last breath − and won’t be completed until 10 months later.

The Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup begins in late August and in early May the competition reaches its annual climax.

The season of 2001-02 was no different. Arsenal and Chelsea would contest the final at the Millenium Stadium but back in August it was teams like Walton Casuals, Prescot Cables and Newcastle Blue Star who were making their local headlines.

Twelve ties, twenty four teams and an average attendance of just 142 across the matches. Small but beautiful − and it is the very essence of the FA Cup. And it is now a competition with prize money. TV fees had given the FA the opportunity to spread some of its cashfall across the game.

The winners of the FA Cup in Cardiff would have earned £2 million by the time they lifted the famous silver trophy.

Serious money but at the very top of the game not necessarily life-changing.

It was a different story further down English football’s family. Brigg Town of the Northern Counties East League had entered the competition in late August and survived until the 1st Round Proper − a remarkable achievement boosted by a prize-money cheque of £46,500.

At the business end of this season’s competition two London clubs had made it to Cardiff − Chelsea and Arsenal.

The Gunners smarting after their defeat at the hands of Liverpool the previous year had added Sol Campbell to their ranks following a controversial move from neighbours, Tottenham Hotspur.

Chelsea were back in their third final in six years this time with Claudio Ranieri leading them as team manager.

Arsenal had beaten Watford, Liverpool, Gillingham, Newcastle and Middlesbrough to reach the Cup final. The winning goal in their semi-final against Middlesbrough being an own goal scored by Sardinian, Gianluca Festa.

Chelsea meanwhile had made their way to the final via wins against Norwich City, West Ham, Preston, Tottenham and neighbours, Fulham, in the semi-final. A young John Terry scoring the game’s only goal.

The Road to Cardiff was just that − the M4 − and 70,000 fans took it to see the season’s showpiece.

The game was won by two stunning individual goals

by Arsenal’s Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljundberg − and the Gunners took home the top prize money and the top prize, the Cup itself.

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GLIMPSES OF GLORY

■ ABOVE: Arsenal’s Sol Campbell (left) and Tony Adams celebrate winning the Cup. OPPOSITE PAGE: Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry share a victory hug.

because of the fierce tackling by both sides that broke up attacking moves almost before they had started.

Commendably, the referee tried to be as tolerant as possible, but he could not ignore the foul by Vieira on Gudjohnsen that earned the Arsenal midfielder a yellow card after 27 minutes.

The best move of the first half came 10 minutes before the interval. Wiltord, to the left of goal, twisted and turned before making enough space to float a centre to the far post, where Etame-Mayer Lauren had stolen up unnoticed. The Cameroon international looked certain to score as he dived to head the ball, but he sent it over the crossbar.

Chelsea made an enforced change at the start of the second half, Terry replacing Celestine Babayaro, who had pulled up in pain only six minutes into the game with what looked like a groin strain but had then soldiered on. Terry went to centre-back while Gallas switched to left-back.

They were soon tested, too, Henry collecting a delicately chipped pass from Vieira and poking a shot at Cudicini.

But, as in the first 45 minutes, Chelsea gradually became the more dominant side. As a result, Gudjohnsen almost caught Seaman napping with a shot curled in cunningly from the left. It was going in until, at the very last moment, the England goalkeeper reached up to turn the ball over the crossbar.

Le Saux, though, should not have given Seaman an earthly on the hour.

Found in space by Jesper Gronkjaer’s centre from the right and centrally positioned just inside the penalty area, the left-footed midfielder elected to have a go with his weaker right foot and succeeded only in wafting the ball high over the crossbar.

Similarly, at the other end, Wiltord sliced his shot horribly wide when a pass from Henry offered him a clear view of goal.

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It was in the 68th minute that Hasselbaink finally gave up the struggle against his injured calf, with Gianfranco Zola coming on.

To make matters worse for Chelsea, Arsenal scored a minute later. A spectacular goal it was, too, Parlour joining a neat Arsenal move through the middle, picking the ball up midway inside the Chelsea half, taking a few steps and then thumping it so hard into the roof of the net from 25 yards that Cudicini’s straining fingertips were no match for the shot.

Arsenal sent on Edu for Bergkamp after 72 minutes, but, if that was intended as a defensive move, it had the opposite effect, the north Londoners surging further ahead.

Cudicini made a fine save to keep out Henry’s curling shot before Ljungberg scored Arsenal’s second goal in the 79th minute with a shot the Swede bent round the Chelsea goalkeeper with awesome accuracy.

ARSENAL SHOWS TRUE GRIT

TO SILENCE SAINTS’ ROAR

A

rsenal won the FA Cup, 1-0, over Southampton with the sort of gritty, focused performance that might have brought them the Premiership title as well if they had played like this more often in the closing months of the season. There was none of the flamboyance in the Millennium Stadium that had led to Southampton’s destructive 6-1 loss at Highbury 10 days earlier; nevertheless the Gunners fully deserved their hard-fought victory.

With Arsenal unable to score a second, clinching goal, Southampton, much more determined and combative than they had been at Highbury, did not concede defeat easily. In fact, only another of the wondrous reflex saves that defy David Seaman’s veteran status, and a goal-line clearance by Ashley Cole, made sure that Robert Pires’ goal retained the Cup for Arsenal.

This final certainly had novelty value. With the stadium roof closed against the rain, that dratted public address announcer the Football Association should have left at Wembley, to be demolished along with everything else, hailed it in suitably reverential tones as the first FA Cup Final to be played indoors. That was something of an overstatement considering this was only the third to be staged in Cardiff.

Arsenal, lacking two of the pillars of their side, Patrick Vieira because of injury and Sol Campbell because of suspension, were much as expected in terms of selection.

Ray Parlour took over from Vieira in central midfield and Oleg Luzhny was drafted in to replace Campbell in central

By Duncan White at The Millennium Stadium, The Sunday Telegraph, May 17, 2003

defence alongside Martin Keown, whose recovery from injury was timely given the goalscoring threat represented

by Southampton’s James Beattie.

The Saints, however, did spring a surprise. They left out Fabrice Fernandes, the Frenchman who has been such an attacking threat down the right this season, and brought in Chris Baird, a Northern Ireland Under-21 international full-back. The intention, with Paul Telfer playing in front of Baird, was clearly to stiffen the team’s resistance to the potentially devastating attacks launched down Arsenal’s left by Pires, Cole and, not least, Thierry Henry.

But it was down the inside-right channel that Henry very nearly began the game sensationally by scoring inside 30 seconds. Having run on to Freddie Ljungberg’s perfectly judged through ball, Henry shook off Claus Lundekvam’s crude attempt to drag him back but was unable to squeeze his shot past Antti Niemi as Southampton’s Finnish goalkeeper got his angles right at the near post.

Henry made another dangerous run down the same channel shortly afterwards and this time Niemi could not hold the striker’s shot. Dennis Bergkamp pounced on the loose ball to the right of goal and drilled a low centre into the goalmouth, but Baird hacked the ball clear. Arsenal was finding Henry at will, but another chance went begging when, freed by Bergkamp’s marvellous pass, he shot tamely at Niemi.

Relieved to have survived Arsenal’s opening onslaught, Southampton gradually regained their composure and began to look dangerous themselves. A couple of halfchances fell to Michael Svensson at set-pieces and Baird had Seaman scrambling anxiously across his goal to keep out a shot, deliberately curled from long range, of which

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Henry or Bergkamp would have been proud.

Beattie brought roars of delight from the yellow half of the stadium when he drilled Brett Ormerod’s pass into the bottom corner of the net after 21 minutes. A linesman’s offside flag cut the celebrations short, however. The referee, Graham Barber, also had to intervene, with yellow cards, when Keown brought down Ormerod with a heavy tackle and Beattie jumped into Luzhny.

Then, seven minutes before half-time, Arsenal took the lead, 1-0. It was not one of their most beautiful goals, in that the ball did not flow smoothly. It began well enough, with Henry slipping a short pass to Bergkamp on the edge of the area. Bergkamp hooked a pass to Ljungberg and it was a mishit shot by the Swede that ricocheted to Pires who rammed the ball into the bottom corner.

Arsenal ended the first half as rampantly as they had begun it, and only another goal-line clearance by Baird prevented Bergkamp from scoring with a low cross-shot.

Arsenal could have scored twice early in the second half, first when Niemi, diving to his left, could do no more than palm away a Bergkamp shot he should have held.

The ball ran loose to Ljungberg, unmarked to the right

Score Box

ARSENAL 1 PIRES, 38

SOUTHAMPTOM 0

MILLENNIUM BIG MOMENTS ■ David Seaman, the Arsenal captain and goalkeeper, savours his moments with the FA Cup after the Gunners’ 1-0 victory over Southampton. Seaman’s efforts all afternoon kept Southampton off the scoreboard.

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LEADING OFF FOREVER MEMORIES ■ A young Arsenal fan arrives at the Cup final dressed in full Gunners’ gear. It was Arsenal’s ninth Cup final win.

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FA CUP MEMORIES

NOT CLOSE ENOUGH ■ Arsenal’s Thierry Henry (left) watches as his shot is blocked by Antti Niemi, the Southampton goalkeeper, during the 2004 FA Cup final. Henry would play in three Cup finals for Arsenal. of goal, but he drove his angled shot high into the sidenetting. Then Henry, sent clear by Pires, saw Niemi divert his low shot inches wide with his fingertips. That was the Southampton goalkeeper’s last contribution to the game.

Having sent a free kick from inside his area a long way downfield, Niemi collapsed with a calf injury and had to be carried off on a stretcher and replaced by substitute Paul Jones after 64 minutes.

They also brought on Jo Tessem for Anders Svensson soon after, and the substitute had a great chance within seconds. Telfer’s ball in from the right was only hopeful, but it broke to Tessem on the left and only Lauren’s speed across the area to block prevented the shot testing Seaman.

With the Gunners, too, seeming to run out of ideas,

manager Arsene Wenger sent in Sylvain Wiltord to pep up the attack. Strangely, he took off Bergkamp, who had been his liveliest for weeks.

But it was Southampton who nearly got the goal both sides were looking for. Turning on Tessem’s flick-on, Ormerod struck what looked certain to be an equaliser until Seaman made a marvellous reflex save to divert the ball away. When Arsenal struck back in response, Jones excelled, too, with a good save from Henry.

Arsenal ran down the clock in the final minutes but there was still time for Southampton to almost equalise.

With Jones up for a corner, Beattie got his head firmly to the ball, only for Cole to nudge it off the line with his thigh.

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A few days after their 2002 FA Cup win, Arsenal had gone on to win the Premiership title, as they approached the 2003 final they had been pipped at the post for a “Double Double” by arch-rivals Manchester United.

It put a Cup final win into even sharper focus. Manager Arsène Wenger needed no encouragement.

“For me the whole day captures the essence of English football and what it means to people.”

Wenger’s Cup record looked good − two wins in three finals in five years − and his team were in for another one.

Their opponents were South Coasts’s Southampton, the surprise winners in 1976, and facing a big task in unseating holders, Arsenal.

At their helm was the canny Scotsman, Gordon Strachan, who had been in finals himself, both as a favourite and underdog.

“It doesn’t matter which point you start from. If you get beat it is a horrible experience.”

Southampton’s captain, Chris Marsden, was the type of footballer an FA Cup final was made for. Thirty-fouryear-old Marsden had scored a spectacular goal in their 5th round tie with Wolves.

Self-effacing, he told the local paper, “It wasn’t the cleanest hit in the world but by later that night it had turned into an overhead scissors of Ronaldo proportions!”

A semi-final win over Watford at Villa Park had given the Saints fans South Coast bragging rights − and once again underlined that the FA Cup with the serendipity of its draw and knock-out nature of its football made the competition unique and gave everybody a chance to have ‘their day in the sun’.

The Millenium Stadium was not Wembley Stadium but sited in the heart of the city of Cardiff it provided lots of eating and drinking establishments for the travelling fans − Arsenal were getting there so often the Gooners had their own local!

Arsenal had eight FA Cup final wins in the bag − their opponents Southampton just that single win under Lawrie McMenemy. The Saints had finished in their highest place in the Premier League − eighth. Now they could concentrate on winning the trophy itself.

David Seaman was captaining Arsenal at Cardiff, in the absence of the injured Patrick Viera. The England goalkeeper had made a brilliant match-winning save against Sheffield United’s Paul Peschisolido in the semi-final at Old Trafford.

Later that year Seaman would turn 40. And he would go out of Highbury as a Cup winner – again − as a 38th -minute shot from inside the Southampton penalty area by Frenchman Robert Pires sealed things for the Gunners.

I was at the game and like so many others felt that single goal would be enough − and it was.

Another big win for genuine FA Cup final aficionado, Arsène Wenger,which had been secured by his countryman, Robert Pires.

And it was a splendid bon voyage for Arsenal’s great keeper, David Seaman.

MILLENIUM BIG MOMENTS ■ United’s Ruud Van Nistelrooy (10) fires a penalty kick past Millwall’s goalkeeper Andy Marshall (middle) as teammate Paul Scholes watches during the 2004 Cup final.

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RONALDO & COMPANY EARN FERGUSON A

C

FIFTH CUP

ristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese boy of war, mesmerised Millwall with the sort of sleight-of-hand football that was never much appreciated down at the old Den, let alone the new one. But after all his legerdemain had unnerved the clawless and often clueless Lions, it was the most straightforward of headers from Ronaldo that ensured the Cup would be delivered into Manchester United’s grateful hands.

It was the sort of goal that Alan Shearer scores, not a player famed for endless stepovers and artistic footwork.

Fitting all the same, it was an artisan goal befitting an artisan final, and even though this was a record fifth triumph for United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson, it offered further evidence of why this season has been one of the most disappointing of his reign.

United, a 10-1 favourite, were unbackable for punters without pockets as deep as the Aga Khan. But, for long periods, they stumbled through a final that only turned into the walkover everyone had predicted after Ruud van Nistelrooy dispatched a second-half penalty into the top corner following David Livermore’s clumsy challenge on Ryan Giggs for a 3-0 victory.

There was, as one would expect, a chasm in class between the two teams and, most noticeably, between the two most decorated players on the Millennium Stadium pitch, United captain Roy Keane and Millwall’s playermanager, Dennis Wise. Keane, only the second man to play in six FA Cup finals, offered us a reprise of his days of majesty by dominating the midfield, while Wise, in his fifth final, did his best, or rather worst, to turn a predictable

By Roy Collins at The Millennium Stadium, The Sunday Telegraph, May 22, 2004

coronation into a bar-room brawl.

If it had not been the FA Cup final, which tends to see referees at their most merciful, his crude tackles and attempts to wind up opponents might well have ended in a sending-off. As it was, referee Jeff Winter, hoping to keep his cards in his pocket in his last match before retirement, was forced to show a yellow to Wise, who drew boos from every United fan when he was substituted in the final minute.

Ferguson brought off Ronaldo late in the game to enable him to take a deserved salute from supporters. And, with only a few minutes remaining, United’s manager showed his caring side by sending in substitute goalkeeper Roy Carroll, having agonised for days whether he or Tim Howard should get the jersey.

For the first time in their lives, Millwall might have carried the hopes of the majority of the nation, even if it would be stretching things to describe them as the choice of the romantics. But when the little guys do not perform, it makes for the type of tedious final we saw here, devoid of drama and uncertainty.

Still, the final needs underdogs to maintain that special air of wonderment from supporters who never expected to be here. And so it was that Millwall supporters, like Southampton fans last year, were in their seats hours

Score Box

MAN. UNITED 3

RONALDO, 44 VAN NISTELROOY, 65 (PEN.), 81

MILLWALL 0 427

FIELD GENERAL ■ Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, while on the sideline, attempts to get his team’s attention during the Cup final.

LEADING OFF BLUE FAITHFUL ■ A Millwall fan cheers his team on during the 123rd FA Cup final, but Manchester United’s crushing 3-0 win would eventually turn those big smiles into frowns.

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FA CUP MEMORIES

PERFECTION ■ Manchester United captain Roy Keane kisses the Cup with great respect and before kick-off to eke the most out of an experience that is unlikely to be repeated.

United fans ambled in only minutes after the Royal Corps of Engineers band had finished performing the prematch music, fans who have very much been there, done that, got the replica shirt.

United’s players began with the same nonchalant air, stroking the ball around midfield, inspired by Keane, who instantly found immaculate line and length with his passing. The confidence oozing through United was evident from their youngest members, Ronaldo providing an impudent cross with his heel that almost produced an early goal for Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher backheeling a pass into Giggs’s path.

There was a swagger, bordering on arrogance, in United’s play, Keane giving a further demonstration when, with the air of a golfer on the practice range, he delivered a casual chip from almost 30 yards that required Andy Marshall’s white glove to direct it over the bar. The white flag was not far behind.

Wise’s one significant moment in the opening half-hour was a malevolent kick at Ronaldo to punish him for a sublime pirouette, a foul that led to a mass pushing match between players of both sides, but thankfully no riot.

Despite limiting himself to a narrow area in central midfield, Wise kept pointing his team forward and they

finally plucked up the nerve to test United’s defence after 36 minutes, when Paul Ifill burst through. But, with two Millwall players taking up promising positions in the box, he thudded a shot against John O’Shea.

Five minutes from half-time, Darren Ward made a remarkable clearance from Ronaldo a yard from the line.

But Ronaldo seemed destined to leave a memorable mark on this final and so it proved in the 44th minute when he ghosted into the box to head in Gary Neville’s right-wing cross for a 1-0 lead.

Wise’s dream of becoming the first player to win the FA Cup with three different teams died at that moment.

And after he used his return to the big stage to remind us of his most unsavoury qualities, few neutrals will shed a tear. He was lucky to escape being booked for a tangle with Scholes just before half-time and, early in the second, he finally persuaded Winter to flash a yellow card after a high challenge on Giggs.

After Van Nistelrooy’s penalty kick in the 65th minute, it was merely a question of damage limitation for Millwall, who did not force a single save from either of United’s goalkeepers. Nine minutes from the end of play, Giggs skipped inside Matt Lawrence and laid on a sitter that Van Nistelrooy duly tucked in to make it 3-0.

Unfortunately, it was a routine finish to a sadly routine game.

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“No one likes us and we don’t care” − it was the familiarly ironic chorus from the supporters of the South London club, Millwall, and it was was well known around the grounds of English football.

And in May 2004 their fanatical followers found a new place to air a rendition − the home of song itself, Wales.

Yes, Millwall, who had finished 10th in the second tier of English football that season were in the FA Cup final, which for the fourth year was being held in the Millennium Stadium.

Semi-finalists three times before in their history.

Millwall had gone one better this time helped by a series of draws which allowed them to avoid any Premier League opposition. And getting to the final itself delivered another first for the Lions − a European adventure the next season.

Their Cup final opponents, Manchester United, had already qualified for Champions League football so a place in the UEFA Cup was Millwall’s regardless of the result of the big match.

Millwall’s boss was a young man with a big FA Cup pedigree. Dennis Wise, the player-manager at The Den, had enjoyed big success in the competition in his time at Wimbledon and Chelsea.

And Wise would be donning his shirt and shorts again as Millwall had been hit by a series of suspensions and injuries.

Manchester United meanwhile had finished third behind Arsenal and Chelsea in the Premier League, and indeed had to watch Arsenal go through the whole of the League season unbeaten.

United were smarting and ready to do battle with Millwall’s men.

A new star was on the rise at Old Trafford. Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro − or Cristiano Ronaldo to his new adoring fans. The 19-year-old from Funchal, Portugal had taken fans’ breath away with his predigious talent and flair. He had been signed from Portuguese giants, Sporting, and would play for United for six seasons before moving on to Real Madrid.

Ronaldo opened the scoring in the Cup final with a header catching his marker Wise flat-footed.

Two more goals followed in the second-half − both from free-scoring Ruud Van Nistelrooy, the first a penalty.

His time at Old Trafford ended in 2006, having scored nearly a hundred goals in 150 appearances. He, too, went to the Spanish giants, Real Madrid.

Millwall were outplayed but not outsung as their followers enjoyed a fabulous Cup final day out. And Wise delivered another first for FA Cup history when bringing on substitute Curtis Weston, who at the tender age of just 17 years and one hundred nineteen days, became the youngest player ever to appear in the Cup final.

When United received the trophy they had all changed their match shirts to a new set all bearing the number 36 − a tribute to former colleague Jimmy Davis who had died in a car crash the previous year.

ARSENAL’S LEHMANN SAVES DAY AS UNITED

CRUMBLES IN SHOOT-OUT

I

t was so nearly the Wayne Rooney Cup final. Rooney − the boy branded a poor role model for his swearing and yobbish behaviour, who for once was concentrating on what he does best, doing sublime things with a football. But although he tormented Arsenal to the point of psychosis and surrender, they somehow survived 120 minutes to force the final into a penalty shootout for the first time in its 133-year history.

It was a miserable way to end the Cup battle between the country’s two most attack-minded teams, producing a goalless draw in the final for the first time since 1912 and brought one of the most turbulent periods in Manchester United’s history to a miserable end, one etched in black.

The two hours of football at The Millennium Stadium ended in shame when Arsenal’s Jose Antonio Reyes was sent off in the final seconds for a second bookable offence. Although he is one of their more reliable penalty takers, they scored all five to win the shoot-out, 5-4.

Jens Lehmann decided it with a brilliant save on Paul Scholes’ kick. At least it was not marred by United fans, who were demonstrating against the sale of their club to American sport’s magnate Malcolm Glazer. The odd black balloon was the only visible sign of any protest. If we could also welcome the sight of these warring teams

By Roy Collins at The Millennium Stadium,The Sunday Telegraph, May 21, 2005

for once keeping their hands and, as far as we know, their food trays to themselves, it was a deeply unsatisfactory final that highlighted the reasons why the two clubs who have dominated English football over the past 10 years have suddenly been eclipsed by Chelsea.

United’s £70 million strike force, in which Rooney was at times breathtaking, once again failed to score in a game they dominated. And Arsenal, without Thierry Henry, was completely impotent, forcing United goalkeeper Roy Carroll into just one save − and that a free kick from substitute Robin Van Persie in the 98th minute.

For all the bad blood between these teams, there is still also an enormous respect, certainly far more than Prime Minister Tony Blair can ever hope to instill in England’s feral youths. It showed in an opening passage of play in which both teams enjoyed spells of lengthy, careful possession.

As the football started to develop a more cutting edge, so did the tackles.

United’s Darren Fletcher took out Patrick Vieira on the blind side, Reyes slid into Fletcher and Scholes made one of his wild lunges at Dennis Bergkamp. Referee Rob Styles rightly allowed those to go unpunished before correctly booking Arsenal’s Ashley Cole for cynically taking out Rooney.

It seemed to have a galvanising effect on Rooney, who produced five scintillating minutes of football around the half-hour mark which might easily have settled the game.

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First, he delivered a thunderbolt that Lehmann stopped with his right foot. United’s Rio Ferdinand was standing offside when he rolled in the rebound.

Then Rooney, suddenly moving into bull-in-a-chinashop mode, muscled through for a shot that Lehmann pushed over the bar and, most outrageously of all, met the resulting Scholes corner with a volley from 20 yards that whistled over the bar and might have done some serious danger to any Arsenal fan behind the goal.

Arsenal, in such breathtaking form in the final weeks of the Premiership season, struggled to make an impact at the other end, with their five midfield players causing an M4-style traffic jam in the centre and Dennis Bergkamp, alone up front, struggling to bring the arriving cavalry into play. Arsenal was desperately missing their star player, Henry, not just for his goals but for the manner in which he links up the play and eats up the ground, quickly turning defence into attack.

Score Box

ARSENAL 1 pens., 5-4

MAN. UNITED 0

MILLENNIUM BIG MOMENTS ■ Freddie Ljunberg holds the Cup trophy after the Gunners’ 1-0 against Manchester United Arsenal has won the Cup final three times in the past four years.

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LEADING OFF FIERCE COMPETITORS ■ Arsenal’s Ashley Cole and Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney duel in the first half.

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FA CUP MEMORIES

INSPIRING MOMENTS ■ Arsenal’s Patrick Vieira (4) scores the winning penalty shot past Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll in the shoot-out to win the Cup final.

Without that threat, United was able to continue pushing forward, with Rooney continuing to set the agenda.

Arsenal’s Phillipe Senderos managed to block a shot off his knee and Kolo Toure threw himself to the ground to steal the ball from his boot.

An agitated Arsene Wenger, who had removed his pre-match tie, prowled the touchline wondering how much longer he dared to maintain a formation that was clearly not working. Never quick to make changes, he pulled Bergkamp off with fully 25 minutes to go, sending on Freddie Ljungberg in search of width and pace. It coincided with Arsenal’s first shot, a right foot effort from Robert Pires that comfortably cleared the bar.

For a side who nearly always scores and who recently put seven goals past Everton, it was a curiously tepid, even dull, performance. Ljungberg at least got busy, immediately freshening up the attacking lines, but not before Rooney squeezed a shot past Lehmann that came back off a post. Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored United’s winner last year, also gave Etame Mayer Lauren one of his most uncomfortable afternoons of the season.

Ljungberg offered Arsenal hope, playing a one-two with Reyes and almost forcing Carroll into his first save.

But Reyes, enjoying the extra support and, showing no signs of any mental scars from the battering he took in that infamous Premiership game at Old Trafford in October, stupidly got himself booked for a challenge from behind on Mikael Silvestre. Senderos almost gave away all Arsenal’s hard work when he carelessly stroked a would-be clearance to Scholes, who lifted it straight back into Rooney’s path.

Fortunately for Senderos, a flurry of red shirts, led by Gilberto Silva, wrestled him to the ground. Lehmann, who has partially redeemed himself for some dreadful mistakes earlier in the season, brought all the uncertainty flooding back through his defence when he dropped two successive crosses in the final five minutes, allowing Roy Keane to hit a shot that Vieira blocked and Rudd Van Nistelrooy to head against the bar.

United brought on Ryan Giggs for extra-time, a player hoping, like Keane, to become the first player in more than a century to win five Cups. But even he could not break the deadlock.

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In January 2005 I joined the Football Association as their Chief Executive, a significant professional turn in the road from my stints as the Head of Sport at BBC Television and later a similar position at ITV. I had moved from broadcasting to football but one thing remained a constant − the FA Cup final.

I had seen every final since 1962, either on the television or live at the event itself, and now I was going one step further. I was the FA Executive in overall responsibility for the event itself.

From security to silverware, from protocol to programmes, my name was now across the top of the shop and so I walked out onto the Millennium Stadium as part of the VIP party to be introduced to the teams.

A pre-match tradition I’d watched many times before, it was now part of my own routine. I went down both lines of players wishing them well for the action.

Arsenal were returning for their fourth final in five years, but this time without injured Thierry Henry − and Patrick Vieira was playing in his last game for the Gunners, but that was the stuff of the forthcoming summer transfer window − not a Saturday in late May. Manchester United had begun their campaign with an undistinguished home scoreless draw against Nationwide Conference side, Exeter City. A replay win followed and they were off and running.

Roy Keane was captaining the side and playing in his seventh FA Cup final. The ultimate competitor, he was nearing the end of his career with United − and by the end of the year had left United by mutual consent.

Keane and Vieira had been involved in a lively exchange in the Highbury tunnel before their League meeting in February − and there was no love lost between the sides.

One of the other players we wished good luck to was the young United superstar, Wayne Rooney. Signed from Everton in July 2004 this was his first FA Cup final.

He had become famous very quickly − for a combination of his exquisite skill and his quick temper. But one member of the VIP party still seemed a little confused, when he noted: “He’s really fired up that MICKEY Rooney isn’t he?”

Well, there was no Hollywood star on the pitch that afternoon − and no goals either as somehow Manchester United failed to convert their dominance in the game into that vital substance − goals.

If Arsenal had been hood-winked by Liverpool in 2001, this time the Gunners did the same to United, despite having Reyes sent off on the final whistle.

The game went to penalties and only Scholes missed, which left Patrick Vieira to step up and take Arsenal’s fifth penalty. He scored and won the game for the Gunners.

It turned out to be his last competitive kick for Arsenal. In the summer he moved to Juventus in a £20 million transfer.

Arsenal and Manchester United were to continue their sporting feud for several seasons but they now had a serious new contender for the game’s top prizes − Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea. It wasn’t going to be dull, that’s for sure.

’KEEPER REINA LEAD LIVERPOOL TO A CUP FINAL

VICTORY

I

By Roy Collins at The Millenium Stadium, The Sunday Telegraph, May 13, 2006

f this really was the last FA Cup final in Cardiff, it will have proved a parting of such sweet sorrow for winners and losers alike. It was not so much a case of bringing the curtain down on The Millennium Stadium’s tenure of the Cup final as bringing the roof down during one of the most memorable and dramatic finals in history, certainly the most outstanding of the past 20 years, with Liverpool defeating West Ham, 3-1, on penalties after a 3-3 thriller through regulation time.

West Ham and Liverpool both deserved victory for restoring some of the gloss to the old trophy on its 125th day out. But there could only be one winner and, when none of the creative football was enough to produce one, fate pointed a finger of reprieve at Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina, at fault for two West Ham goals, by making him the hero of the penalty shootout.

How ironic that, after Arsenal last year became the first team to win on penalties in the Cup’s 134-year history following a turgid goalless draw against Manchester United, this brilliantly colourful affair should produce a second in succession.

No one could begrudge Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard the right to lift the Cup after his two brilliant goals and his driving influence on his team. Yet Hammers captain Nigel Reo-Coker, who looked destined to become

the youngest to lift the trophy since the great Bobby Moore lifted it for the club in 1964, would have been as fitting a winner because Moore himself would have been proud of the way this West Ham team played in what can only be described as the Upton Park way.

All their players were a credit not just to the wonderful tradition of the old West Ham football academy but to manager Alan Pardew, who has overcome so much criticism and personal abuse to cement his own place in the history with his dignity and his credentials intact.

One feared that West Ham might have allowed their professional preparations to be undermined by the occasion when, as soon as the opera singers had finished straining for the high notes of Abide With Me and Michael Ball had delivered the national anthem, they sprinted to dance in front of their supporters as if, like the Cockney Boys on their day out, they, too, had arrived in a stretch Hummer.

But, once the action began, it became clear that they had been simply plugging into the energy of their

Score Box

LIVERPOOL 3 PENS., 3-1

WEST HAM 3

434

MILLENNIUM BIG MOMENTS ■ Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard shows off the Cup after receiving it from Prince William after his team had won the 2006 final, 3-1 on penalties, at Cardiff ’s Millennium Stadium.

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supporters and that they had not come to fulfil the role of plucky underdogs. Having allowed Liverpool to dominate the early possession, they began mounting swift, dangerous counter-attacks, a feature of their game under Pardew, mostly orchestrated by the quick, intelligent feet of Yossi Benayoun. Many of the West Ham banners were dipped in homage to their past, with tributes to their late former managers, Ron Greenwood and John Lyall, who died just days before this year’s semi-final. The pair would have nodded in approval from the heavens at an opening Hammers goal that reflected everything they believed and preached about how the game should be played.

Liverpool had been surprisingly careless with possession and when Xabi Alonso knocked the ball to Benayoun just inside the Liverpool half, the mistake proved fatal. The ball was instantly transferred to Dean Ashton, whose ball over the top released Lionel Scaloni, arriving at the speed of the cavalry, to deliver a right-wing cross that Jamie Carragher turned into his own net, which gave West Ham a 1-0 lead.

Bubbles drifted gently around the stadium and, within seven minutes, Hammers supporters were ready to float away with them when Reina, the man brought in to replace the accident prone Jerzy Dudek, dropped Matthew Etherington’s snapshot and Ashton, with a predator’s instinct, clipped it in to boost West Ham’s lead to 2-0.

West Ham fans, though, are ever aware of the second verse of their famous anthem, the one that warns of fortune always hiding. So they should not have been surprised that, with fortune offering them a big sunny after 32 minutes, their team instantly squandered half their advantage by allowing Djibril Cisse to latch on to Gerrard’s ball and fired the ball past Shaka Hislop and into the top of the West Ham Goal, cutting the score to 2-1.

Liverpool, of course, came from 3-0 down against AC Milan to win last year’s Champions League final on penalties, so they were not about to panic. And when Gerrard equalised nine minutes into the second half, West Ham looked like becoming the first team since Sheffield Wednesday, in 1966, to lose an FA Cup final after leading, 2-0. But then came a shot of pure impudence by Paul Konchesky 30 yards out on the left, which dipped over the head of the despairing Reina. Just as it was announced that there would be four minutes of time added on, Gerrard struck his second equaliser from just outside the box.

Then came the cruel penalty shootout drama, with Reina saving from Benayoun, Konchesky and Anton Ferdinand. We may never see the like again, but no one would bet against a return here next year for another finale.

A HERO IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE ■

Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina stretches to make a key save against West Ham. Reina later made three penalty saves.

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FA CUP MEMORIES My first FA Cup final whilst in charge at the FA pitched together two footballing juggernauts in Arsenal and Manchester United.

The next one presented a more personal problem: How to retain my neutrality whilst watching my team, Liverpool, in the final against three-time winners West Ham. It was a question our Guest of Honour, the President of the FA, Prince William, raised himself at he joined us at the pre-match lunch.

Mind you he posed the same question to Sir Trevor Brooking, a West Ham legend, and the scorer of a Cupwinning goal and now a member of the FA senior staff. We both made all the right noises about “being neutral” and then waited to see what transpired.

The final was once again played at Cardiff. The new Wembley Stadium was falling behind every deadline set for it. I took Prince William down into the tunnel area ahead of the start of the game.

The game’s new FA President caught Steven Gerrard’s eye as the brilliant midfielder emerged from the Liverpool dressing room. And there was a little self-conscious exchange of smiles between the future heir to the throne, and the Liverpool captain, Gerrard.

Two famous young men with the world before them.

The game itself was an absolute cracker. It was the best final for twenty years and both teams played their part. West Ham got two goals ahead through a Carragher own-goal and a Dean Ashton tap-in.

Djibril Cissé got one back before half-time and Gerrard scored a captain’s goal early in the second half to square it.

Paul Konchesky, a future Red, later put West Ham ahead again with a cross-shoot, which bamboozled the Reds’ Spanish ’keeper, Pepe Reina.

The vibrant sound of I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles filled the stadium as the Hammers fans counted down to an unlikely but deserved win against the 2005 European champions.

Then in injury-time, Steven Gerrard produced a moment of absolute magic with his greatest Liverpool goal − a fierce volley from outside the box into the corner of the net. Sensational. It was a goal to win any match − any final − anywhere.

It didn’t win this one − but it saved the game for Liverpool. West Ham had deserved to win the match but couldn’t close it out. Extra-time in the sunshine of Cardiff brought no more goals and the game had to be settled from the penalty spot for the second year running.

The previous year Liverpool had also beaten AC Milan on penalties in their memorable Champions League final in Istanbul. This year it was the Pole, Jerzy Dudek, who was between the posts for West Ham, and Spanish penaltysaving expert, Reina, for Liverpool. And once again the Merseysiders successfully came through in the most nerveshredding way to settle a game − the penalty shoot-out. West Ham’s Anton Ferdinand missed the critical spot-kick.

It was the Millennium Stadium’s last staging of the FA Cup final.

And fittingly Prince William handed the famous old trophy to Steven Gerrard − himself a king for a day.

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LEADING OFF A SEA OF RED IN LIVERPOOL ■ A massive crowd in Liverpool watches, and celebrates the Merseyside club’s Cup victory parade.

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THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Didier Drogba (right) scores the Cupwinning goal at 26 minutes into extra-time to give Chelsea its fourth FA Cup. Drogba would also play a prominent role in Chelsea’s Cup final wins in 2009, 2010 and 2012.

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AFTER 116 MINUTES, DROGBA FINALLY LIGHTS

UP WEMBLEY

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o dream final, just a dream finish, at least for the followers of Chelsea, who took 116 minutes to produce the one coherent piece of football that turned out to be all that was needed to win the 126th FA Cup by a 1-0 margin in extra-time on the day the old trophy finally returned to its spiritual Wembley home.

After all the problems and spiralling costs of the new stadium, the only glitch of the day was the timing of the Red Arrows to deliver the promised fly-past just before kick-off. And though it would be cruel to say to say that the Red Devils also failed to turn up, the occasion fell way short of the all-action, hard-hat final that we had anticipated.

Chelsea’s players, their Premiership and Champions League misery temporarily forgotten, performed synchronized sliding dives on the lush grass of their supporters at the end, continuing long after the disappointed hordes of Manchester United followers had disappeared into the sunlight evening. But the modern game conducts its business at such a grinding, unmerciful pace that by the time Chelsea’s team dragged themselves to the dressing rooms, manager Jose Mourinho and his assistants were already shaping plans for next season.

The arrogant Mourinho, who made history himself by becoming the first manager to lead out a Cup final team with his hands in his pockets, must also have set a managerial record for the amount of time he hung on to the trophy afterwards, which completed a full set of English domestic honours. One would not have been surprised if he had suddenly produced his missing pooch

By Roy Collins at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 19, 2007

from the inside the trophy’s lid.

These occasions are meant to provide historical perspectives and if United fell short of a record fourth League and Cup Double, Chelsea’s Cup final win came wrapped in an extra ribbon. They were only the second team since Arsenal in 1993 to win both domestic cups.

That was also the last year the Cup final was decided by an extra-time goal.

Arsenal’s winner by Andy Linighan was the latest final goal, at 119 minutes and 16 seconds. Drogba’s arrived with four minutes remaining to play and, though there seemed no initial danger when he collected a through ball from John Obi Mikel, he swiftly knocked it right to Frank Lampard, whose cushioned volley set up a virtual tap-in.

If anyone was going to win it in normal time, it was Ryan Giggs, who was pushing at history’s door, attempting to become the first player since Blackburn’s Jimmy Forrest, in 1891, to win a fifth Winners’ medal.

He thought he had done it as the first period of extra-time came to a close when his shot from Wayne Rooney’s crossing pass was carried over the line by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech. But referee Steve Bennett ruled it neither a goal nor a foul.

Back in 1923, when Wembley staged its first FA Cup final, it needed just a single white horse to control the crowds. This grand reopening was a massive security

Score Box

CHELSEA 1 DROGBA, 116

MAN. UNITED 0

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A TEAM EFFORT ■ John Terry, Michael Essien and Wayne Bridge celebrate Chelsea’s first Cup final win since 2000.

FA CUP MEMORIES At last! After seven years the new Wembley Stadium was open again and its beautiful Arch was now its stand-out feature − and the Twin Towers were now a warm memory.

The construction of the new Wembley Stadium had taken longer – much, much longer − than expected.

Delay after delay. But all that was now behind us as Sir Norman Foster’s magnificent design and Australian builders, Multiplex, had come together to produce one of the most magnificent sporting stadiums in the world.

After a couple of trial events, the new stadium was deemed safe and ready, the 2007 FA Cup final was chosen as the event to fully mark its official opening.

It was an event that drew huge interest from an expectant media and public alike. The wait was over.

In 1923, the opening of the first Wembley Cup final resulted in a stampede from the 200,000-plus fans and a place in FA Cup final legend for “Billy,” the white horse.

Now the new Stadium with its 90,000 capacity was finally open for business.

I’d had some nervous days throughout my long career in broadcasting and sport but this was by far my most nerve-wracking. I proudly accompanied the President of the Football Association, Prince William, on to the pitch as he delivered his speech to formally open the stadium and looked around at the magnificient sight, which was full to the rafters with expectant football fans. It was a spine-tingling moment − one of the best of my career.

The pre-match celebrations ended with a marvellous sweep across the sky above the stadium by the famous Red Arrows. This brilliant team of pilots flew at 400 mph and at an altitude of 1,000 feet, leaving a patriotic trail of red, white and blue smoke.

Soon after, the pictures were sent around the world.

Wembley was open for business.

After all the pageantry the match itself struggled to live up to the occasion. That year’s competition had produced the “perfect” final: Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea against Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United. Chelsea had won the Premiership in 2005 and 2006 and Manchester United had claimed it in 2007.

Mourinho had simply exploded onto the English football as manager of Chelsea. Charismatic, opinionated, witty and super-confident, Portugeuse Mourinho, who was backed by Roman Abramovich’s billions, was making the West London club one of the most powerful in world football. And the “Special One” had great respect for the FA Cup. “We are ready to fight to lift this beautiful Cup,” he noted before the match.

Alex Ferguson also spoke warmly of the competition.

He noted, “The Cup has been special to Manchester United and me over the years.”

The match was ultimately resolved four minutes from the end of extra-time by Chelsea’s man from the Ivory Coast, Didier Drogba. His goal, the only goal of the game, was captured on the many cameras focussed on the game.

It was a red-letter day for Wembley but the ribbons on the Cup were blue.

MIXED EMOTIONS ■ Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho (left), appearing confident but without a hint of emotion, lifts the Cup for the first time. John Terry and Frank Lampard, two of the keys in Chelsea’s Cup win, enjoy this victorious moment. operation and had a flying exclusion over North London, which the Red Arrows believed included them, thus causing the confusion over participating in the stadium’s pre-game celebration.

The new Wembley was so long in the rebuilding that we were bombarded with a plethora of stats about the number of toilets and restaurants and the number of beers that could be poured (and downed) every minute.

We were hoping these facts would end up buried under an avalanche of exciting match statistics, glorious goals, imaginative build-up play and individual brilliance. It was not to be.

Part of the blame lay with a pitch reminiscent of the stodgy surfaces at the old stadium, which prompted Giggs’ surprising pre-match claim that he had never enjoyed playing there. We needed a downpour to freshen up the grass but the day stayed dry – much like the teams’ powder until long into extra-time.

Mourinho may be incapable of admitting his faults but one of hus finer qualities is a decisiveness in correcting

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his selection errors. True to that nature, he courageously replaced Joe Cole with Arjen Robben at half-time to give his side a more cutting edge.

Even then, Giggs continued to be the man most likely to provide the decisive moment, but a great clunking fist of a tackle by Michael Essien denying him when clean through.

Predictably, the pass again came from the elegant foot of Paul Scholes, the man whose career was under threat by a mysterious eye injury last season, also showed that he still has 20-20.

Strange as it may seem, the season ended in disappointment for both clubs, given their vaulting ambitions. United, who had dreamed of a repeat of their 1999 Treble, had to make do with a single shot of Premiership triumph, while Chelsea, chasing an unprecedented Quadruple deep into spring, had to settle for a Double.

But to Chelsea and their fans, it still seemed that their cups were overflowing tonight.

LEADING OFF A NOBLE RETURN ■ Prince William (right), the President of the Football Association, is handed the FA Cup by VC holder Private Johnson Baharry before the start of the 2007 Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium.

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LEADING OFF NEW BEGINNINGS ■ The Red Arrows fly over the new Wembley Stadium before the start of the 2007 FA Cup final. After a 7-year period to tear down the old Wembley and build the new stadium, this majestic facility, which seats 90,000-plus, is ready to become Britain’s Football Cathedral again.

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KANU PUNISH CARDIFF CITY

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IN CUP WIN

By Roy Collins at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 17, 2008

wankwo Kanu scored the goal that gave Portsmouth a 1-0 victory and the FA Cup and believes his strike should be rewarded with an improved contract at Fratton Park. The Nigerian striker, 31, is on a one-year rolling deal at the club but after scoring the winners in the semi-final against West Bromwich and in this victory he said: “I have got a one-year contract already and you never know what’s going to happen. What I’m saying is that after scoring a winner like this you have to say ‘thank you very much.’ ” Kanu has infuriated and entranced in equal measure throughout his career in England. At times he is a footballer who can sometimes display the balance and agility of a tightrope walker and, at others, looks as though he only has two left feet so as to double his chances of tripping over one of them.

But no one in the game would begrudge him the goal that decided the 127th FA Cup final, which could have been labelled the “Underdog final,” since neither club comes from the fashionable, big-money side of the tracks, and Cardiff still fighting off court action from creditors that threatens their existence.

It was Kanu’s third FA Cup-Winner’s medal but in the first occasion, having played a total of only 14 minutes in three appearances for Arsenal, he was an unused substitute when he last walked up the steps to the Royal Box a winner

Score Box

PORTSMOUTH 1 KANU, 37

CARDIFF CITY 0

at The Millennium Stadium in 2003.

This time he was already practising his dance moves on the sidelines, having been substituted late on, when he glanced up at the big screen and saw his name flash up as Man of the Match, his goal having earned him legend status at Pompey, winning them their first FA Cup since 1939, after which Hitler invaded Poland and the trophy stayed locked up in Portsmouth’s Guildhall for seven years.

The afternoon did not get off to a foot-perfect start, as guest of honour Sir Bobby Robson slipped on the red carpet as he was presented to the two teams and Pompey fans letting themselves down by booing the first FA Cup final rendition of Land Of My Fathers by Katherine Jenkins.

How can anyone boo the lovely Katherine?

The match was not a classic, either, though compared to the dreadful fare served up by Manchester United and Chelsea last year, the first at the new Wembley, it was a feast of football. It even looked as though Championship side Cardiff would boost neutrals’ hopes of one last upset in this season of Cup surprises by scoring an early goal, but England goalkeeper David James only able to push a Peter Whittingham shot wide when it took a huge deflection off another Cardiff player.

In Cardiff ’s last appearance in an FA Cup final, in 1927, they secured a 1-0 win over Arsenal thanks to a horrendous mistake by Welsh goalkeeper Dan Lewis, whose error haunted him to his grave. This time it was a fumble by Cardiff goalkeeper Peter Enckelman which produced the Cup final’s only goal. Enckleman is still trying to live down a mistake at Aston Villa five years ago which gave Birmingham victory and which is still a favourite on YouTube.

His error here was not quite so bad but when Enckleman failed to hold on to John Utaka’s right wing cross in the 37th minute, Kanu, with a striker’s instinct, was on hand to boot it home. Afterward, he performed a little victory jig in front of the goal.

With his team ahead, Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp could afford to sit quietly in his dugout in his pinstriped suit, topped by a flower in his buttonhole in club blue.

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SMILES OF SUCCESS ■

Portsmouth’s Nigerian striker, Nwankwo Kanu, shows his love for his country, Nigeria, after scoring the winning goal at the 2008 Cup final match against Cardiff City.

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Portsmouth’s Glen Johnson (left), Icelandic player Hermann Hreidarsson (middle) and Ghanaian player Sulley Muntari enjoy a victory lap with the Cup around the pitch at Wembley following the 1-0 win against Cardiff City.

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LEADING OFF A RETURN OF THE HEROES ■ All of Portsmouth appeared to turned out to welcome home the Pompey team and celebrate their FA Cup final success.

Portsmouth’s previous Cup final win occurred in 1939.

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FA CUP MEMORIES

PRINCE HARRY OF POMPEY ■ Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, who pushed his team to great success, lifts the Cup for the first time in his managerial career. A few months later, Rednapp would depart to take the manager’s job at Tottenham.

His opposite number, Dave Jones, was far more restless, as losing managers generally are, standing for long periods with his hands on his hips, weighing up his options.

Just after the hour, he signalled to the fourth official that he was ready to make his big play, pulling off Whittingham and sending in teenager Aaron Ramsey, who is apparently the subject of a £10 million offer from Manchester United.

It might well have proved an inspired substitution if young Ramsey had not hesitated for, a split second, when presented with a scoring opportunity later on, allowing Pompey defenders to close the gap.

As referee Mike Dean infuriated Pompey fans by adding four extra minutes of stoppage time, Cardiff sensed that they might still have time to write one more giant-

killing story into this extraordinary season. One more opportunity did fall the way of Roger Johnson but his shot was deflected to safety and within seconds, Jones was walking to congratulate Redknapp as the final whistle blew.

If no one begrudged Kanu his day in the sun, not that there was much of it in north-west London, many in the game will also be happy to see Redknapp pick up his first trophy after 25 years in football management. Redknapp had already warned the club’s Russian owner, Alexandre Gaydamak, that life could not get any better than this, which led to speculation that he would announce his retirement after this match.

But as Redknapp donned a blue and white scarf and cradled the Cup, he looked like a man who fancied his chances of another big day out.

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Nwankwo Kanu made a controversial entrance into FA Cup football in February 1999.

In a 5th Round tie at Highbury, Sheffield United’s goalkeeper, Alan Kelly, had put the ball into touch so an injured player could get treatment.

Protocol required the resulting throw-in to be returned to Sheffield United. But when Arsenal’s newest acquisition, Kanu, received the throw his natural inclination was to cross it and Overmars scored from close range.

The Sheffield United players were furious − and Arsène Wenger and Arsenal Football Club, who won the game 2-1, were so embarrassed by this perceived lack of on-field integrity that they offered to replay the game.

The offer was accepted − but Arsenal were too good for Sheffield United in the unprecedented second game.

Kanu, who claimed he wasn’t aware of the context of the throw-in, went on to play nearly 200 times for Arsenal, winning league and Cup honours to add to the Champions League Winners medal he won with Ajax and the Olympic Gold medal he earned with Nigeria in Atlanta 1996.

From Arsenal, Kanu went to West Brom and then onto Portsmouth.

There in 2008, under Harry Redknapp, Pompey reached first the semi-final of the Cup and then the final itself. Both games, the semi against West Brom and the final against Cardiff, were 1-0 wins for Portsmouth − and Kanu scored both goals.

The 2008 Cup final featured the first non-English side in the final since 1927 as Cardiff beat Barnsley to clinch their slot in the season’s big day out.

And, in recognition of two countries being represented in the match, two anthems were played before the game.

Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau), the Welsh anthem was sung by Welsh songstress Katherine Jenkins and God Save the Queen by Yorkshire-born Lesley Garrett.

Before the game, I had the privilege of leading Sir Bobby Robson onto the pitch before the game to be introduced to the teams. He was the Guest of Honour and the crowd rose as one for a man steeped in football and a Cup-winner as manager of Ipswich Town.

Sadly it was the last time he visited Wembley but he sent a letter saying how much he had enjoyed being part of the second FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium.

For David James it was a third time lucky, after losing Cup final appearances with Liverpool and Aston Villa, and the keeper had secure games in both the semi-final and final.

Sol Campbell had been a Cup-winner with Arsenal twice but enjoyed a special moment captaining Portsmouth to their famous 2008 win.

Pompey’s Cup win gave the South Coast side qualification in Europe for the first time. Afterward, Wembley became a marvellous post-match rendition of famous sea-faring songs by the fanatical Pompey fans.

Their return to Portsmouth the following day replicated wild scenes of days of yore with tens of thousands of people coming out to welcome home manager, Harry Redknapp and FA Cup-winning players.

BITTERSWEET CUP WIN FOR CHELSEA AS GUUS HIDDINK DEPARTS

By Duncan White at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 30, 2009

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E

ven in triumph, following a 2-1 victory against Everton, he was modest, dignified. Having climbed the 107 steps, Guus Hiddink seemed almost reluctant to lift the Cup trophy, but ushered on by Ray Wilkins he took the adulation of the Chelsea support, a flourish that brought to a glorious end a whirlwind affair between the Dutchman and this club. Once he got going though, amid the champagne spray, the emotions poured out and the wise man of world football celebrated with childish enthusiasm. “He’s a great manager and a great man,” said Frank Lampard, who scored the spectacular winning goal. “It’s a great sendoff for him and we’re delighted to give him a trophy.”

As ever, Lampard was exceptional. He has played with metronomic excellence in a season when Chelsea have often lacked stability and it was fitting that he scored such a fine winning goal, his 21st of another productive campaign. Didier Drogba again scored in a big game at Wembley − he scored here in the semi final against Arsenal and when Chelsea won in 2007 − but it was Lampard who was the difference, his expertly judged passes releasing the rampant pair of Ashley Cole and Florent Malouda on the Chelsea left.

“We wins big games,” was David Moyes’ pithy assessment.

There was no doubt that this was a big game for Everton. This was supposed to have been a dull, attritional game, but Everton soon saw to it that this would be an open, compelling final. Stephen Pienaar picked up the ball on the left and sent in an in-swinging cross that John Obi Mikel failed to properly clear. Marouane Fellaini got his head to the follow-up and with John Terry having let Saha pull away from him, there was a chance. With Mikel closing, Saha set himself and, whipped a volley in at the near post, with Petr Cech unable to see the ball after his vision was blocked by his defenders.

Chelsea’s response to that stunning setback was emphatic. Malouda managed to get in behind Tony Hibbert on seven minutes and the Everton full-back tripped him. Howard Webb produced the yellow card.

Whether he feared being sent off, was carrying an injury or was just plain overwhelmed by the occasion, Hibbert’s

SPOILS OF THE VICTORS ■

ABOVE: Manager Guus Hiddink hoists the Cup for all Chelsea fans to savor.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Frank Lampard and his teammates celebrate after being awarded their second Cup in three years.

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Score Box

CHELSEA 2 DROBGA, 21 LAMPARD, 72

EVERTON 1 SAHA, 1

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ The Chelsea players are congratulated by the crowd as they make the journey up 107 steps to the Royal Box to receive the FA Cup after beating Everton 2-1 to win the 2009 FA Cup final.

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game went to pieces.

Malouda and Cole surged down the Chelsea left at will and, with Hibbert being given negligible protection

by Leon Osman in front of him, chance followed chance.

Tim Howard managed to make a key intervention with Cole pushing into the box, and Malouda sent in a couple of ominous crosses.

So thoroughly did Malouda have the beating of Hibbert that he even tried the old playground favourite of pushing the ball to one side of the full-back and scooting round the other. It was humiliating for Hibbert that it nearly came off.

No surprise then that the equaliser came down the Chelsea left. Nicolas Anelka drifted in from the right, leaving the ball for Lampard who chipped it delicately to Malouda out wide. Hibbert and Osman stood rooted, giving Malouda all the time he needed to steady himself.

The France winger’s cross was met by Drogba, leaping above Joleon Lescott, and his powerful header was simply unsaveable. It was a superbly-executed piece of centreforward play: Drogba had tracked across the box, just out of Lescott’s eye-line before cutting back across.

It didn’t get any better for Hibbert. When Fellaini’s tackle looped off Malouda, he was caught on his heels, with Cole sprinting in behind him. The Chelsea full-back was wild with his attempt to finish, though. Moyes feared Fellaini would get sent off and replaced him with Lars Jacobsen at half-time.

It was from excellent work by Leighton Baines, the left back, that Everton almost re-took the lead midway through the second half. The Everton left-back had started pushing forward encouragingly and when he got the opportunity to cross he delivered an outstanding cross, all pace and bend, that Saha contrived to head over the bar. What a chance for the French striker.

There was an element of scrappiness creeping into Chelsea’s play, so Hiddink decided to send on Michael Ballack, who had heavily strapped his calf, for Michael Essien. The Ghanaian was having a poor game and had been fortunate to escape without a card for a pretty brutal foul on Fellaini in the first half. Chelsea were continuing to exploit their left wing and almost got a second goal when Malouda’s driven cross clipped Fellaini and hit Drogba, going behind.

Chelsea were pushing and probing, with Lampard at the hub of their best work. With 18 minutes to go, Nicolas Anelka fed the ball into Lampard’s feet and the England midfielder shimmied right to try and make space for a shot. Phil Neville, ever alert, swept across to try and block him but over-ran Lampard as he cut back. For a moment Lampard lost his footing but he popped straight back up and hit a fading shot with his left foot that Howard got gloves to but couldn’t keep out.

Chelsea was up. 2-1.

Lampard was imperious, a minute later giving Malouda a clear sight of goal with a disguised pass.

FA CUP MEMORIES

SPECIAL THANKS ■ Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard celebrates as Louis Saha scores their first goal during the 2009 Cup final.

Malouda shot over and should, in fact, have been flagged offside. If he benefited he was unfairly denied a wonderful goal just minutes later. Picking the ball up midway in the Everton half he teed himself up and hit a superb long-range shot that arched over Howard, hit the bar and bounced over the line before spinning back into play. The linesman, probably as surprised as Howard by Malouda’s audacity, was far from ideally positioned and the ’goal’ was not given.

Everton rallied and prepared for one last assault on the Chelsea goal. Moyes sent on James Vaughan for the tiring Saha and the substitute was soon in the thick of it, sprinting down the left and floating a cross to the far post. Cech had to stretch to is limit to push the ball away from the waiting Cahill. After their spectacular start aside, Everton could never quite get on top of Chelsea.

“We deserved to be in the final and have performed ever so well over the course of the season but Chelsea were just a hurdle too much for us today,” Moyes said. “They were the better team and used the conditions better than us. But then if Chelsea had gone into the game without Drogba, Terry and Lampard, would it have given us a big lift? A better chance? I think it would. We have gone in without Yakubu, Phil Jagielka and Mikel Arteta and they are the equivalent of those players.”

So, Moyes will take a break before returning doggedly to his Sisyphean task, trying to break the top four Premier League hegemony on budget, incrementally pushing Everton beyond even their own expectations.

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When the FA Cup final returned to the new Wembley Stadium, the semi-finals were also assigned to an annual slot at football's headquarters as well.

This was broadly a commercially driven decision based on the on-going financial health of the expensive new Stadium and its long-term attraction to investors of 10-year tickets and the short-term buzz of “your” team getting to Wembley.

Of course, the traditionalists spoke out in volumes against commerce heading off Cup history.

But others were happy to be swept along in the fun of their team getting a chance to play “underneath the arch,” to have their photo taken by the impressive Bobby Moore statue and to sample the delights of the new stadium.

And also staging the semi-finals there gave some teams an early chance to make their mark at the new Wembley.

One of those teams were Everton.

Cup-winners last in 1995 against Manchester United, the Toffees were “up” for it when they met the Red Devils in their semi-final clash.

United were channelling their forces carefully, fighting for honours on three fronts and team selection reflected that.

Everton meanwhile saw FA Cup success as a chance to put a major trophy on the sideboard − and an opportunity to come from under the shadow of their neighbours over at Anfield.

This was a semi-final, not a final, but try telling that to the hordes of Evertonians, who were up for putting one over their M62 rivals − albeit by having to use, the M6 and M1 to get to their destination.

The game was an exciting one and went to extra-time and penalties. And when Everton’s Phil Jagielka scored the winning spot-kick the explosion of noise was simply amazing. It was Blue Heaven.

A savvy DJ then fired up Z-Cars, Everton’s long-time theme tune, and all was well in their world. Semi-final or not.

The final itself was a slightly quieter affair, although Everton got off to a flier against Chelsea with a goal in 25 seconds from Louis Saha. It surpassed Roberto Di Matteo’s goal against Middlesbrough as the fastest FA Cup final goal.

Chelsea, under temporary boss Guus Hiddink, got back in the game through Didier Drogba − who once again was on target in the final and then went ahead on the goal by the dependable Frank Lampard.

Florent Malouda seemed to have scored a third for Chelsea, when his 30-yard drive hit the underside of the bar and dropped behind the goal-line before spinning out and into play. Future World Cup final referee Howard Webb didn’t give a goal but Chelsea still got safely over the finishing line.

A year later Frank Lampard, now in England colours, would famously have the same thing happen to him against Germany in a World Cup knock-out match in South Africa.

On that occasion, Lampard wouldn’t go on to be a winner − and the debate about Goal-Line Technology would reach fever-pitch.

DROGBA'S KICK GIVES CHELSEA 3RD CUP IN

FOUR YEARS

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hey could lay a swamp for a pitch at Wembley and not stop Didier Drogba from scoring. The brave last stand of this motley group of Portsmouth players could not prevent the Ivory Coast international from scoring his third FA Cup final goal − a 1-0 winner against Portsmouth − and his sixth in six competitive games at the new Wembley. His superb free-kick, struck just before the hour, was his 37th goal of the campaign, and brought Carlo Ancelotti the Double in his debut season.

John Terry was furious about the state of the pitch but it was a Cup final full of compelling incident, played out in a raucous atmosphere. Chelsea hit the woodwork five times in a game containing superb saves, heroic blocks, nasty challenges, two missed penalties, an outstanding free-kick and probably the worst miss in FA Cup final history.

It was extraordinary stuff from the beginning.

Portsmouth’s defending varied between the desperate and the inspired, with the courageous Aaron Mokoena leading by example, hurling his body in the way of shot after shot. It was a fine swansong. And it is unlikely a single Portsmouth player who appeared today will be at the South Coast club next season.

Chelsea were dangerous from the whistle. With Michael Ballack sitting deep and controlling the distribution, Nicolas Anelka and Frank Lampard were free to work between the lines.

The pair combined well after four minutes, Lampard putting Anelka through only for Mokoena to block the Frenchman’s shot. The rebound fell to Lampard whose

By Duncan White at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 15, 2010

effort faded just wide. He went even closer 10 minutes later. Again Lampard found space 25 yards out and this time hit a dipping out-swinger that hit the outside of the post. David James could only watch it.

James denied Anelka at the near post before Mokoena’s defiance stopped the potential goal. Branislav Ivanovic played a one-two with Lampard and got down towards the by-line, pulling back for Florent Malouda who helped it on to Drogba. Mokoena was knocked to the ground by his block, got up and threw himself down the barrel of the second, again taking the blow to his body. Suddenly there was a gap in the siege and Portsmouth charged forward. Aruna Dindane scooted past Ashley Cole, down the right and crossed to the far post, where Kevin-Prince Boateng volleyed back across the goalmouth. It hit Frédéric Piquionne on the shin and flew up to the left of Petr Cech’s ear, where the Chelsea goalkeeper instantly clawed it away.

The television cameras focused on a harassed Ancelotti in the technical area. Could Portsmouth defy the odds? It was followed by the obligatory cut to Roman Abramovich looking glum in the gloom of his private box.

His mood would not have been improved moments later when Malouda sent Ashley Cole free down the left.

The England full-back breezed past Mokoena and cut back for Salomon Kalou to tuck into an open goal.

Humiliatingly, Kalou managed to shin the ball on to the bar from four yards out. It was an astonishing miss, destined for YouTube immortality.

The inevitable was refusing to happen. Malouda sent in a deep free-kick from the left touchline and Terry, soaring between Ricardo Rocha and Kevin-Prince Boateng, sent the ball arcing high and against the top of the bar.

Meanwhile, a nasty little sub-plot was beginning to unfold.

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Portsmouth’s players were obviously eager to ruffle Chelsea in whatever way they could, with Michael Brown doing his characteristic best to get under Lampard’s skin as he tailed him around the pitch. With the treatment of Michael Ballack, though, they crossed the line.

The Germany captain had already been forced to hurdle a wild challenge from Jamie O’Hara, earlier in the half, when he got into a contretemps with Dindane, inadvertently slapping him as he struggled for a header.

It was hardly clean from Ballack and Boateng got into his ear.

That was no excuse for the terrible foul Boateng perpetrated on Ballack minutes letter, flying in late and hard and planting his studs in his right ankle. A hobbling Ballack had to be replaced before half-time.

Boateng, born in Berlin, is a Germany youth international who has recently declared for Ghana − who are in Germany’s group in South Africa − and his actions will not have gone down well at home, especially if a scan tomorrow shows Ballack’s ankle ligaments are damaged.

Boateng was booked but the karmic forces would reserve greater punishment for him later.

As half-time approached it was Drogba’s turn to be frustrated by the woodwork. From a 30-yard free-kick he seemed to have deceived James with the ball’s flight, but the Portsmouth captain just managed to palm it against the

Score Box

CHELSEA 1 DROGBA, 59

PORTSMOUTH 0

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Didier Drogba poses with the Cup following victory in the 2010 FA Cup. Drogba has scored in each of Chelsea’s past three Cup victories. Two of these goals were game winners.

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LEADING OFF NOT CLOSE ENOUGH ■ Portsmouth goalkeeper David James dives for the ball, which bounced on his goal line, giving Chelsea the winning goal in the 129th Cup final.

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FA CUP MEMORIES

BLUE HEAVEN

Frank Lampard (left) and teammate John Terry celebrate Chelsea’s 1-0 FA Cup final win against Portsmouth.

It was Chelsea’s third Cup final win in four years − and their sixth overall in the team’s stellar history.

crossbar. It came down via the post before spinning out.

Replays showed the ball had not quite crossed all the way over the line.

Three minutes later, Kalou’s cross drifted over Mokoena and Drogba flicked the ball under the advancing James with the outside of his boot, hitting the outside of the post. Drogba attacked the frame of the goal in frustration − was someone looking out for benighted Pompey?

Ten minutes into the second half and it opened up for Avram Grant’s side. Juliano Belletti, who was on for Ballack, was beaten by Dindane in the box and clumsily conceded a penalty. Up stepped Boateng. He sent his effort pretty much down the middle, and while Cech had dived to his right, he managed to save with his legs.

It took just four minutes for the disappointment to deepen.

Mokoena chopped down Drogba 20 yards from the goal. The Ivorian got up and sent a precision penalty strike, which dipped over the wall and in off the far post

for a 1-0 advantage.

Even the woodwork was turning on Pompey.

Chelsea, however, just could not finish the game off.

Kalou missed another good chance, pulling his shot across the face of goal, and Drogba was denied by James at the near post.

Portsmouth kept admirably at it. Nadir Belhadj replaced Hayden Mullins and with his first touch the Algerian volleyed a cross into the Chelsea box, which Terry just managed to steer away from Dindane behind him.

Dindane got on the end of another Belhadj cross moments later, with the ball rather comically hitting him on the head as he tried to volley.

With two minutes to go Lampard was felled in the box by a tiring Brown. England’s first-choice penalty taker stepped up and sent his low effort wide of James’ righthand post.

Bad news for the watching Fabio Capello? Depends which way you look at it − maybe it was James’s imposing presence that forced him to miss.

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Chelsea were back at Wembley for the 2010 FA Cup final, their seventh in seventeen years − an impressive record, and each time the team had been led by a different manager.

Glenn Hoddle, Ruud Gullit, Gianluca Vialla, Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho, Guus Hiddink and now Carlo Ancelotti. Three Italians, two Dutchman, an Englishman and a rather “special” Portuguese gentleman!

And, bizarrely, their FA Cup final opponents, Portsmouth, were being managed by an Israeli, Avram Grant, who himself was late of Stamford Bridge, having replaced Mourinho. Indeed, he had taken the club to their first UEFA Champions League final in 2008 and watched as his team were a converted penalty away from lifting the trophy.

John Terry slipped as he stepped up to take the kick, missed and rivals Manchester United went on to win the shoot-out in Moscow.

Grant was now at the helm of Portsmouth, who had already been relegated from the Premier League after taking a nine-point hit for the club having to go into administration.

They were the first Premier League club to be hit with such financial difficulties and penalties.

With their league status diminished, the club and its fanatical supporters had still made good progress in the Cup − famously winning, 4-1, at near neighbours Southampton in the 5th round and then beating well-fancied Tottenham in their Wembley semi-final. Former Pompey boss, Harry Redknapp, fumed as the then-notorious Wembley pitch played into his former club’s hands.

The final itself saw Chelsea dominate proceedings in the first half, as stalwarts Frank Lampard and captain John Terry both hit the woodwork. And Didier Drogba saw a 30-yard free-kick spectacularly turned onto the underside of the cross-bar by veteran David James, who was playing in his fourth final. The ball just bounced to the right side of the line for Portsmouth.

And to round-off a half of near things, Salomon Kalou unbelievably missed an open goal from five yards out.

You know how football works, so it was Portsmouth who got the first major chance of the second-half, but KevinPrince Boateng, who had scored in the semi-final, had his penalty saved by Petr Cech.

A few minutes later, the magnificent Drogba rifled in a free-kick low past David James.

It was the decisive moment in the game − and it was Drogba’s third goal in three finals and his second winning goal. The gifted African player, a star from the Ivory Coast, had now permanently stamped in his name on the history of the FA Cup final.

In the 89th minute, Frank Lampard was brought down in the penalty area and got up to take the penalty. Lampard uncharacteristically put the spot-kick past the post.

It was the first penalty to actually be missed in a final since Charlie Wallace had missed for Aston Villa in 1913.

The final whistle followed shortly and Chelsea had clinched the Double. Ancelotti celebrated, but would only stay at Stamford Ridge for one more season.

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LEADING OFF DOUBLE GLORY ■ Chelsea’s captain, John Terry, and teammates show off their Double hardware – the Barclays Premiership Trophy and the FA Cup – during their victory parade, in London, on May 16, 2010.

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THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Manchester City’s Ivorian footballer Yaya Toure (left) scores the winning goal against Stoke City goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen (29) in the 74th minute.

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MANCHESTER CITY ENDS

35-YEAR FA CUP DROUGHT C

By Henry Winter at Wembley, The Sunday Telegraph, May 14, 2011

ity players wore specially-printed T-shirts, proclaiming the figure “O” – a reminder that the 35 years of hurt were over. City supporters had that number ingrained in their psyche, written into their chants. No longer. They can now open the trophy-cabinet, release some ancient moths and put the Cup on display for all to see.

At the end of an average 1-0 victory, but majestic occasion, the eye was drawn briefly to the magnificent Stoke fans, who sportingly stayed on to applaud the victors, but the attention was swiftly drawn to the swaying lightblue masses. City fans did the Poznan, they sang Blue Moon and held up their cameras and phones as Carlos Tévez climbed the steps to collect the Cup.

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City fans revelled in this moment. They have waited so long, endured so much pain.

They hardly needed reminding that today was the 30th anniversary of their Cup final defeat to Ricky Villa’s Spurs.

The past two decades have been particularly riddled with anguish. City’s fans have spent so much time in the shadow of United yet they kept the faith.

Score Box

MAN. CITY 1 TOURÉ, 74

STOKE CITY 0

LEADING OFF A GREAT PARADE: The Scots Guards perform the national anthem prior to the 2011 FA Cup final.

OPPOSITE PAGE LEFT: When Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini lifted the Cup, it signaled the end of City’s 35-year trophy drought.

OPPOSITE PAGE RIGHT: Tens of thousands of Stoke City fans arrived at Wembley in expectations of victory in the Cup final.

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This season they have kept chanting “35 years and we’re still here,” signalling a devotion that has bordered on masochism at times.

As if their summer was not full of enough joys after this, City fans also have a feisty-looking fixture with United here in the Community Shield. That should start the season with a bang.

The hysteria can wait. History clung to this final like ivy at a stately home. Great names from yesteryear looked on benignly as City’s present finally matched some of the deeds of the past. Mike Summerbee, Franny Lee and Tony Book as their club became reacquainted with excellence.

City officials even urged their life president, Bernard Halford, a hugely popular figure at the club, to follow Roberto Mancini up the stairs to receive a Winner’s medal.

Lovely touch. It showed that the world’s wealthiest club has not lost touch with its roots. Halford, who has been involved with City for half a century, flew up the steps. It meant everything.

City invited many members of their footballing family to this date with destiny. Bert Trautmann received a letter from their chief executive officer, Garry Cook, but sadly did not realise it was an invitation. The widow of the late, great Joe Mercer was present.

So was the widow of Neil Young, the scorer of their

Cup final winner in 1969. When Young passed away from cancer in February, Book urged the City players to go and win the Cup as a fitting tribute to the former player.

Mancini’s chosen ones delivered on that promise. For the likes of Cook, Brian Marwood and Khaldoon al Mubarak, today’s big day out, following on from qualification for the Champions League, vindicated their vision. Huge sums have been invested but there is tangible reward.

For Mancini, the Cup was a personal triumph for his assertive tactics, his decision to start Mario Balotelli and a second-half tweak that allowed Yaya Toure the opportunity to make unmarked runs such as the one that brought his 74th-minute winner.

So this is why Coronation Street is in Manchester.

United’s record-breaking title success had heaped pressure on City. Vincent Kompany & Company emerged into the Wembley sunshine with news filtering through from Ewood.

City knew that the intense crowing from the new champions would be unbearable if they slipped up.

City had certainly started confidently enough, unleashing their threats. Mancini is often accused of cautious tactics but the front four he selected at Wembley brimmed with movement and menace.

The spearhead of Mancini’s 4-2-3-1 system, Carlos

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Tévez, buzzed around like a hornet on overtime, bringing a magnificent save from Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.

David Silva darted around promisingly but missed badly after 34 minutes, shooting down into the ground and up over the crossbar when well placed.

Balotelli was often involved, withstanding Robert Huth’s elbow but then being frustrated by Sorensen’s right hand. Toure, operating in the hole behind Tévez, shot wide but took his second-half chance brilliantly.

If City’s attackers impressed, it was still a surprise that Mario Balotelli was named Man of the Match. Nigel de Jong was comfortably the best player on view. Just as the City fans relished this, so De Jong must have felt deep satisfaction.

The Dutchman had returned from the World Cup final with a kitbag full of controversy, following that studsup challenge on Xabi Alonso. Mischievous souls in the City dressing-room pinned a photograph of the incident on the wall of the training ground at Carrington. De Jong took it well, knuckling down and enjoying a good season, culminating here, particularly with one sliding dispossession of Jermaine Pennant.

City fans adored a commitment to the cause that echoed theirs.

FA CUP MEMORIES In 1961 the Polish supporters of Lech Poznan invented a new celebration for when they scored their goals. It involved turning their backs to the pitch, joining arms and jumping up and down on the spot.

Fifty years later, the “Poznan,” as it has been christened, had been adopted by the Manchester City fans − and, boy, did they get a chance to show it off at Wembley in the closing stages of the 2010-11 FA Cup competition.

Manchester City, for so long in the shadows of their illustrious neighbours, United − and without a trophy for 35 long years, had seen a dramatic turn in fortunes when they became the target for super-rich Sheikh Mansour, a member of Abu-Dhabi’s ruling family.

Sheikh Mansour, one of the world’s richest men, bought the club in 2008 and immediately set about helping build both a squad and a structure to rocket them up the Premier League and make a big impact in Europe.

It’s still a work in progress, but the FA Cup in 2011 gave City their first moment of glory since a Wembley victory in the League Cup final against Newcastle United back in 1976.

Firstly, in the semi-final, they were pitted against their neighbours and arch-rivals, Manchester United. The City fans feared the worst, having already been beaten by the Reds in the Carling Cup semi-final the previous season.

But this time in a one-off match at Wembley, City came through winners with a goal by midfielder, YaYa Touré.

The Ivory Coast star, and brother of Kolo, had been signed from Barcelona in the summer of 2010.

Kolo had joined the City revolution a year earlier from Arsenal, but missed the closing stages of the 2010-11 season after being banned for six months for drug-related charges.

The final itself would also feature Stoke City, which was thriving under manager Tony Pulis and his chairman, Peter Coates. The Potteries club were winning matches, and friends, by its hard but fair approach to the game. And on the flanks, Stoke had real flair in Matthew Etherington and Jermaine Pennant, plus a game-changer in Rory Delap, a veteran with a sling-shot thrown-in.

Their big Wembley moment came in the semi-final against Bolton Wanderers, when they hammered the NorthWest side, 5-0. Sadly, they couldn’t carry that form into the final and were eventually beaten by a single goal, again scored with venom by YaYa Touré. For the third time in five years, the FA Cup final was settled by a solitary goal scored by a star from the Ivory Coast.

The Cup final’s broadcast reach had always been worldwide − an estimated 400 million. Now its scorers also regularly had a global stamp. The world’s original knock-out competition was still proving to be the best.

And the fans of both Manchester City and Stoke City created a marvellous atmosphere inside Wembley, making the match truly stand out as some Premier League games were unusually being held on the day when the FA Cup final traditionally had the stage to itself.

And as Manchester City captain Carlos Tévez lifted the Cup, 35 years of pain ended and The Poznan began!

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LEADING OFF VICTORY AT LAST Now boasting one of Europe’s most expensive teams, City’s FA Cup victory made Manchester a two-football team town again after United had won the Premiership crown .

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LUCKY CHELSEA WIN 4TH CUP IN SIX YEARS

THE BEST OF WEMBLEY ■ Liverpool striker Andrew Carroll (right), who had scored the Reds’ first goal, sends a header toward the Chelsea net. In a controversial ruling the referee stated that the ball had not crossed the line.

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By Duncan White at Wembley The Sunday Telegraph, May 5, 2012

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t was the moment Liverpool had dragged themselves back into a game that they had all but lost. Luis Suarez crossed from the right and Andy Carroll met it with a firm header. Carroll ran off in celebration, Kenny Dalglish leapt up and punched the air. Liverpool were level. Only they weren’t. The cheers from the red end suddenly went stereo as the blue half realised what was happening; referee Phil Dowd had not given the goal.

It had not crossed the line. Liverpool’s players were in disbelief and Dalglish seemed to indicate it had gone about three feet over. It was much closer than that.

Replays could not clarify if the whole ball had crossed the line. One thing was sure: Petr Cech had done superbly to push the ball up on to the bar and create the doubt in Dowd’s mind. It was only from the over-head camera that it looked like the ball might have gone far enough.

In the semi-finals Chelsea had been credited with a goal that did not cross the line, in the final it looked like they had been spared one that had.

Chelsea were relieved. They had dominated this game for over an hour and then nearly thrown it away as Liverpool belatedly awakened.

Ramires Santos do Nascimento had punished Liverpool’s early mistakes and then Didier Drogba had scored his eighth Wembley goal, becoming the first player to score in four different FA Cup finals.

Roberto Di Matteo made history in becoming the last player to score in the FA Cup at the old Wembley; today, Drogba tightened his grip on the new.

The game ended frantically but it had begun almost sedately. Then, with 11 minutes played, Chelsea pounced.

Jay Spearing gave away the ball in midfield and Juan Mata was on to it. The Spain midfielder rolled the ball out to Ramires on the right and Enrique de Lucus was caught between going in for the challenge and holding off. Ramires slipped past him and his acceleration left the Liverpool left-back in his wake.

A FOOTBALL PALACE ■ A blimp watches from overhead as Wembley comes to life prior to the Cup final.

Score Box

CHELSEA 2 RAMIRES 11

DROGBA 52

LIVERPOOL 1 CARROLL 64

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FA CUP MEMORIES A record number of entries in the competition, a controversial new kick-off time and an individual scoring landmark in the FA Cup final itself.

That was the FA Cup in 2012 – as always, there was plenty to get excited about. Not least an aggregate attendance across the competition of well over 2 million spectators.

Many things have changed about the world’s most famous domestic cup competition, but it can still deliver a headline and a headline maker.

The name in lights this time was Chelsea’s Didier Drogba. In scoring in their 2-1 win over Liverpool, he continued a remarkable record-breaking sequence.

He has now scored in four different FA Cup finals. His goal against Liverpool could be added to the one against Manchester United in 2007 in the first Cup final at the new Wembley – and those against Everton in 2009 and Portsmouth in 2010. Three of these four were Cup-winners.

Alongside other goals he’s scored in the national stadium, Drogba treats Wembley as his very own.

The FA Cup final was match 915 in a competition that attracted a record number of entries – 763.

The Cup final brought together two footballing giants with proud FA Cup records – seven-time winners, Liverpool, against sseven-time winners, Chelsea. North v South. The classic ingredients for a Wembley confrontation.

Under Kenny Dalglish’s previous stewardship of the club, the Reds had won both the 1986 and 1989 Finals.

Whilst Chelsea’s “interim” boss, Roberto Di Matteo had scored for the Blues in two of their previous finals.

A new kick-off time of 5.15 for the Cup final raised collective eye-brows and disappointed traditionalists, but within minutes of the game getting underway Chelsea were ahead.

The Brazilian midfielder, Ramires Santos do Nascimento, scored a goal to match the importance of the one he scored in their UEFA Champions League semi-final in Barcelona.

Chelsea dominated the first hour of the game, and watching from my seat in the stadium, I could see no way back for Liverpool. Not least, when Didier Drogba, did his party piece and scored seven minutes into the second-half.

The introduction of Andy Carroll, a Wembley matchwinner for Liverpool in the semi-final, galvanised a reaction from the Reds. He scored a cleverly-worked goal, and then nearly added a second. Petr Cech’s miraculous save kept Chelsea in front, although the “did it cross the line” arguments raged well into the night.

Over the many decades this wonderful Cup final has been played, incidents like Carroll’s header has been the stuff of mystique and legend. However, even without the much-vaunted Goal-Line Technology, regular camera coverage gave convincing weight to the argument that the ball had, indeed, NOT crossed the line.

Chelsea successfully saw the game out, their fourth FA Cup final win in six years – seven in all – now amongst the modern FA Cup giants.

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BACK ON TOP AGAIN ■ ABOVE: Chelsea captain John Terry (second from left) and midfielder Frank Lampard hoist the Cup after receiving it in the Royal Box. It was their fourth Cup victory in six years. OPPOSITE PAGE: Roberto Di Matteo, who had led the Blues to two Cup wins as a player (in 1997 and 2000), enjoys a victory toss by his players to celebrate his first Cup win as a manager.

Pepe Reina should not have been left so easily exposed but the Liverpool goalkeeper should have offered greater resistance. He seemed to anticipate Ramires shooting across him towards the far corner and, off balance, could only deflect the Brazilian’s shot in at the near post.

He pounded the turf in anger as Ramires wheeled away in celebration.

Liverpool sought a response. Glen Johnson twisted and turned on the right before putting in an excellent low cross, which Branislav Ivanovic had to dive low to head clear. The Serb sprang back to his feet and blocked Craig Bellamy’s volleyed follow up.

That attack aside, the Chelsea defence were barely troubled for much of the first half. Liverpool were being suffocated by Di Matteo’s team in midfield and, under that pressure, started misplacing passes and falling out of sync, with huge gaps opening between the lines and Suarez isolated up front. Liverpool needed Gerrard in the game but Chelsea’s players were not making it easy.

Chelsea began to dominate. Ramires and Salmon Kalou were full of confidence, running with the ball at their feet while Liverpool’s midfielders were struggling to track the movement of Mata, playing centrally.

Kalou almost put Lampard through and then had the

Liverpool defence backtracking as he went dribbling into the area. Drogba, full of confidence, was shooting on sight.

The urgency to close down Gerrard went too far as half-time approached, when John Obi Mikel went in late on the Liverpool captain, his studs catching Gerrard’s boot after he had struck the ball. Phil Dowd, after making sure Gerrard was not injured, booked Chelsea’s holding midfielder. Dan Agger followed Mikel into the book shortly after, clumsily sliding into the Chelsea player after the ball had gone.

There were some flickers of improvement from Dalglish’s side as half-time approached – Stewart Downing and Craig Bellamy put in crosses that required astute defending – but Liverpool needed to find substantial improvement in the second half. It came in the game’s final third but by then it was too late.

There was momentary optimism they could get back into it quickly – Gerrard went surging forward, past two men and into the Chelsea box, where he crashed into Ivanovic.

Was he obstructed? Or did he simply run into the Chelsea defender? Dowd took the latter view. Moments later, the game looked out of Liverpool’s reach.

Lampard spun away from Spearing and fired the ball

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into Drogba’s feet. The Chelsea striker controlled with his right, let the ball run out of his feet and then shot low with his left foot through Martin Skrtel’s legs and into the far corner. It was a superb clinical finish and Drogba celebrated with gusto.

Chelsea were full of confidence now. Kalou curled one shot over after a fine series of passes and then Lampard hit a cross field pass, Mata juggled and passed to Drogba, whose volleyed smashed into the side-netting.

Liverpool were floundering and needed a change – Dalglish sent on Andy Carroll for Spearing and switched to a more aggressive 4-4-2 and then, with one moment, the whole complexion of the game changed. Liverpool were making progress down the left but it looked like Jose Bosingwa would clear. Downing got his boot in, though, and the ball flew straight to Carroll.

The big Liverpool No. 9 completely wrong-footed Terry with a sort-of step-over, bringing the ball back on to his left foot and thumping it high into the net, the speed of the ball giving Cech no chance.

Liverpool were enlivened, Carroll was a menace and Chelsea were on the back foot. Carroll had Liverpool adamant Andy Carroll header was over the line as Chelsea claim controversial FA Cup final triumph

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LEADING OFF TOP SHOT Didier Drogba scores the game-winning goal against Liverpool at the 52nd minute. It was his third game winner in 4 ďŹ nals.

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DROGBA & CO. WIN CONTROVERSIAL

WEMBLEY CUP FINAL

By Jeremy Wilson The Sunday Telegraph Mark Robins would probably not be named amongst the top twenty players who’ve graced the Manchester United shirt since Sir Alex Ferguson took control of the club way back in 1986.

Well, on ability and number of games maybe not, after all, the competition is really tough, but on sheer impact, perhaps think again.

It all began on January 7, 1990, in the FA Cup 3rd Round, Nottingham Forest v. Manchester United. It was a Sunday afternoon and a pivotal game for Alex Ferguson. United were 15th in the league, without a win in eight games, out of the League Cup and the Scotsman to date had delivered no trophies to Old Trafford.

The game at the City Ground was tight but ended in a narrow 1-0 win for United, courtesy of a Robins second-half headed goal. Forest even had a goal disallowed in injury time.

Robins would score two more FA Cup goals that season, including the winner in a replayed semi-final against Oldham to set up the FA Cup final with Crystal Palace.

The Eagles were managed by ex-United star Steve Coppell. He was making headway as a young manager, who had gained revenge for a 9-0 League defeat at the hands of Liverpool by surprisingly beating them in an epic semi-final, 4-3.

United’s semi-final tie against Oldham, played later that afternoon, followed high-scoring and ended, 3-3.

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A month later, the lively 1990 FA Cup final kept up the highscoring averages, ending 3-3 after extra-time.

Coppell’s team had gone ahead through Gary O’Reilly on 13 minutes, before Robson’s deflected header restored first-half parity.

Mark Hughes put United ahead on the hour before Coppell introduced his scene-stealer, Ian Wright.

Wright, a late entrant to professional football, had been carrying an injury, and was brought on with just over 20 minutes of the final left. Within three minutes he’d equalised for Palace, following a brilliant mazy run.

The game went into extra-time and the ebullient Wright put Palace ahead. It was Glad All Over at Wembley as the Palace song goes. But United weren’t finished just yet, and deadly Mark Hughes scored his second, and United’s third, to square things up and take the final to a replay.

The game the following Thursday saw United back in their traditional red shirts and Crystal Palace in black and yellow stripes. Ferguson made the big news by dropping his Scottish international goalkeeper, Jim Leighton, and replacing him with much-travelled Les Sealey.

The game did not have the drama of the first match.

Sealey played well and the only goal of the game was scored by another less-celebrated United player, Lee Martin.

Martin, 22, a local lad, failed to make a long-term slot at Old Trafford – but one of his only two goals he got while there was a Cup final winner.

Sealey graciously gave his Winners’ medal to a distraught Jim Leighton, but later received his own from the Football Association.

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SPECIAL MOMENTS ■ ABOVE LEFT: Bolton’s Fabrice Muamba, who is recovering from a heart attack, which occurred during the FA Cup’s Sixth Round against Tottenham. ABOVE RIGHT: A Chelsea fan shows his support for his favourtie player, Didier Drogba. OPPOSITE PAGE: Drogba (left), Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech and Paulo Ferreira pose for a photo with the Cup. 475

CENTRE STAGE ■ ABOVE: Liverpool’s Kenny Dalglish and Chelsea’s Roberto Di Matteo brought a fiery pair of teams to Wembley to square off in the Cup final. RIGHT: The atmosphere in Wembley was rocking prior to this much-awaited meeting between football giants Chelsea and Liverpool.

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DETAILS

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DETAILS

DATE

WINNER

OPPONENT

SCORE

VENUE

March 16, 1872

Wanderers

Royal Engineers

1-0

Kennington Oval

March 23, 1873

Wanderers

Oxford University

2-0

Lillie Bridge, London

March 14, 1874

Oxford University

Royal Engineers

2-0

Kennington Oval

March 16, 1875

Royal Engineers

Old Eatonians

2-0

Kennington Oval

March 18, 1876

Wanderers

Old Eatonians

3-0

Kennington Oval

March 24, 1877

Wanderers

Oxford University

2-1

Kennington Oval

March 23, 1878

Wanderers

Royal Engineers

3-0

Kennington Oval

March 29, 1879

Old Eatonians

Clapham Rovers

1-0

Kennington Oval

April 10, 1880

Clapham Rovers

Oxford University

1-0

Kennington Oval

April 9, 1881

Old Carthusians

Old Eatonians

3-0

Kennington Oval

March 25, 1882

Old Eatonians

Blackburn Rovers

1-0

Kennington Oval

March 31, 1883

Blackburn Olympic

Old Eatonians

2-1

Kennington Oval

March 29, 1884

Blackburn Rovers

Queen’s Park (Glasgow)

2-1

Kennington Oval

April 4, 1885

Blackburn Rovers

Queen’s Park (Glasgow)

2-0

Kennington Oval

April 10, 1886

Blackburn Rovers

West Bromwich Albion

2-0

The Racecourse, Derby

April 2, 1887

Aston Villa

West Bromwich Albion

2-0

Kennington Oval

March 24, 1888

West Bromwich Albion

Preston North End

2-1

Kennington Oval

March 30, 1889

Preston North End

Wolverhampton

3-0

Kennington Oval

March 29, 1890

Blackburn Rovers

Sheffield Wednesday

6-1

Kennington Oval

March 21, 1891

Blackburn Rovers

Notts County

3-1

Kennington Oval

March 19, 1892

West Bromwich Albion

Aston Villa

3-0

Kennington Oval

March 25, 1893

Wolverhampton

Everton

1-0

Fallowfield, Manchester

March 31, 1894

Notts County

Bolton Wanderers

4-1

Goodison Park

April 20, 1895

Aston Villa

West Bromwich Albion

1-0

Crystal Palace

April 18, 1896

Sheffield Wednesday

Wolverhampton

2-1

Crystal Palace

April 10, 1897

Aston Villa

Everton

3-2

Crystal Palace

April 16, 1898

Nottingham Forest

Derby County

3-1

Crystal Palace

April 15, 1899

Sheffield United

Derby County

4-1

Crystal Palace

480

481

DETAILS

DETAILS

DATE

WINNER

OPPONENT

SCORE

VENUE

April 21, 1900

Bury

Southampton

4-0

Crystal Palace

April 27, 1901

Tottenham Hotspur

Sheffield United

3-1

Burnden Park, Bolton

April 28, 1902

Sheffield United

Southampton

2-1

Crystal Palace

April 18, 1903

Bury

Derby County

6-0

Crystal Palace

April 23, 1904

Manchester City

Bolton Wanderers

1-0

Crystal Palace

April 15, 1905

Aston Villa

Newcastle United

2-0

Crystal Palace

April 21, 1906

Everton

Newcastle United

1-0

Crystal Palace

April 20, 1907

Sheffield Wednesday

Everton

2-1

Crystal Palace

April 25, 1908

Wolverhampton

Newcastle United

3-1

Crystal Palace

April 24, 1909

Manchester United

Bristol City

1-0

Crystal Palace

April 28, 1910

Newcastle United

Barnsley

2-0

Goodison Park

April 26, 1911

Bradford City

Newcastle United

1-0

Old Trafford

April 24, 1912

Barnsley

West Bromwich Albion

1-0

Bramall Lane

April 19, 1913

Aston Villa

Sunderland

1-0

Crystal Palace

April 25, 1914

Burnley

Liverpool

1-0

Crystal Palace

April 24, 1915

Sheffield United

Chelsea

3-0

Old Trafford

1916

No FA Cup

1917

No FA Cup

1918

No FA Cup

1919

No FA Cup

April 24, 1920

Aston Villa

Huddersfield Town

1-0

Stamford Bridge

April 23, 1921

Tottenham Hotspur

Wolverhampton

1-0

Stamford Bridge

April 29, 1922

Huddersfield Town

Preston North End

1-0

Stamford Bridge

April 28, 1923

Bolton Wanderers

West Ham United

2-0

Wembley Stadium

April 26, 1924

Newcastle United

Aston Villa

2-0

Wembley Stadium

April 25, 1925

Sheffield United

Cardiff City (Wales)

1-0

Wembley Stadium

April 24, 1926

Bolton Wanderers

Manchester City

1-0

Wembley Stadium

April 23, 1927

Cardiff City (Wales)

Arsenal

1-0

Wembley Stadium

482

WINNER

OPPONENT

SCORE

VENUE

April 21, 1928

Blackburn Rovers

Huddersfield Town

3-1

Wembley Stadium

April 27, 1929

Bolton Wanderers

Portsmouth

2-0

Wembley Stadium

April 26, 1930

Arsenal

Huddersfield Town

2-0

Wembley Stadium

April 25, 1931

West Bromwich Albion

Birmingham City

2-1

Wembley Stadium

April 23, 1932

Newcastle United

Arsenal

2-1

Wembley Stadium

April 29, 1933

Everton

Manchester City

3-0

Wembley Stadium

April 28, 1934

Manchester City

Portsmouth

2-1

Wembley Stadium

April 27, 1935

Sheffield Wednesday

West Bromwich Albion

4-2

Wembley Stadium

April 25, 1936

Arsenal

Sheffield United

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 1, 1937

Sunderland

Preston North End

3-1

Wembley Stadium

April 30, 1938

Preston North End

Huddersfield Town

1-0

Wembley Stadium

April 29, 1939

Portsmouth

Wolverhampton

4-1

Wembley Stadium

1940

No FA Cup

1941

No FA Cup

1942

No FA Cup

1943

No FA Cup

1944

No FA Cup

1945

No FA Cup

April 27, 1946

Derby County

Charlton Athletic

4-1

Wembley Stadium

April 26, 1947

Charlton Athletic

Burnley

1-0

Wembley Stadium

April 24, 1948

Manchester United

Blackpool

4-2

Wembley Stadium

April 30, 1949

Wolverhampton

Leicester City

3-1

Wembley Stadium

April 29, 1950

Arsenal

Liverpool

2-0

Wembley Stadium

April 28, 1951

Newcastle United

Blackpool

2-0

Wembley Stadium

May 3, 1952

Newcastle United

Arsenal

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 2, 1953

Blackpool

Bolton Wanderers

4-3

Wembley Stadium

May 1, 1954

West Bromwich Albion

Preston North End

3-2

Wembley Stadium

May 7, 1955

Newcastle United

Manchester City

3-1

Wembley Stadium

483

DETAILS

DATE

DETAILS

DATE

WINNER

OPPONENT

SCORE

VENUE

May 5, 1956

Manchester City

Birmingham City

3-1

Wembley Stadium

May 4, 1957

Aston Villa

Manchester United

2-1

Wembley Stadium

May 3, 1958

Bolton Wanderers

Manchester United

2-0

Wembley Stadium

May 2, 1959

Nottingham Forest

Luton Town

2-1

Wembley Stadium

May 7, 1960

Wolverhampton

Blackburn Rovers

3-0

Wembley Stadium

May 6, 1961

Tottenham Hotspur

Leicester City

2-0

Wembley Stadium

May 5, 1962

Tottenham Hotspur

Burnley

3-1

Wembley Stadium

May 25, 1963

Manchester United

Leicester City

3-1

Wembley Stadium

May 2, 1964

West Ham United

Preston North End

3-2

Wembley Stadium

May 1, 1965

Liverpool

Leeds United

2-1

Wembley Stadium

May 14, 1966

Everton

ShefďŹ eld Wednesday

3-2

Wembley Stadium

May 20, 1967

Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea

2-1

Wembley Stadium

May 18, 1968

West Bromwich Albion

Everton

1-0

Wembley Stadium

April 26, 1969

Manchester City

Leicester City

1-0

Wembley Stadium

April 29, 1970

Chelsea

Leeds United

2-1

Old Trafford

May 8, 1971

Arsenal

Liverpool

2-1

Wembley Stadium

May 6, 1972

Leeds United

Arsenal

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 5, 1973

Sunderland

Leeds United

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 4, 1974

Liverpool

Newcastle United

3-0

Wembley Stadium

May 3, 1975

West Ham United

Fulham

2-0

Wembley Stadium

May 1, 1976

Southampton

Manchester United

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 21, 1977

Manchester United

Liverpool

2-1

Wembley Stadium

May 6, 1978

Ipswich Town

Arsenal

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 12, 1979

Arsenal

Manchester United

3-2

Wembley Stadium

May 10, 1980

West Ham United

Arsenal

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 14, 1981

Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester City

3-2

Wembley Stadium

May 27, 1982

Tottenham Hotspur

Queens Park Ramgers

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 26, 1983

Manchester United

Brighton and Hove Albion

4-0

Wembley Stadium

484

485

DETAILS

DETAILS

DATE

WINNER

OPPONENT

SCORE

VENUE

May 19, 1984

Everton

Watford

2-0

Wembley Stadium

May 18, 1985

Manchester United

Everton

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 10, 1986

Liverpool

Everton

3-1

Wembley Stadium

May 16, 1987

Coventry City

Tottenham Hotspur

3-2

Wembley Stadium

May 14, 1988

Wimbledon

Liverpool

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 20, 1989

Liverpool

Everton

3-2

Wembley Stadium

May 17, 1990

Manchester United

Crystal Palace

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 18, 1991

Tottenham Hotspur

Nottingham Forest

2-1

Wembley Stadium

May 9, 1992

Liverpool

Sunderland

2-0

Wembley Stadium

May 20, 1993

Arsenal

ShefďŹ eld Wednesday

2-1

Wembley Stadium

May 14, 1994

Manchester United

Chelsea

4-0

Wembley Stadium

May 20, 1995

Everton

Manchester City

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 11, 1996

Manchester United

Liverpool

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 17, 1997

Chelsea

Middlesbrough

2-0

Wembley Stadium

May 16, 1998

Arsenal

Newcastle United

2-0

Wembley Stadium

May 22, 1999

Manchester United

Newcastle United

2-0

Wembley Stadium

May 20, 2000

Chelsea

Aston Villa

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 12, 2001

Liverpool

Arsenal

2-1

Millennium Stadium

May 4, 2002

Arsenal

Chelsea

2-0

Millennium Stadium

May 17, 2003

Arsenal

Southampton

1-0

Millennium Stadium

May 22, 2004

Manchester United

Millwall

3-0

Millennium Stadium

May 21, 2005

Arsenal

Manchester United

0-0*

Millennium Stadium

May 13, 2006

Liverpool

West Ham

3-3**

Millennium Stadium

May 19, 2007

Chelsea

Manchester United

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 17, 2008

Portsmouth

Cardiff City (Wales)

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 30, 2009

Chelsea

Everton

2-1

Wembley Stadium

May 15, 2010

Chelsea

Portsmouth

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 14, 2011

Manchester City

Stoke City

1-0

Wembley Stadium

May 5, 2012

Chelsea

Liverpool

2-1

Wembley Stadium

* Denotes Arsenal wins 5-4 on penalty kick.

486

** Denotes Liverpool wins 3-1 on penalty kick.

Manchester United

11

: 1909, 1948, 1963, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004

Arsenal

10

1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005

Tottenham Hotspur

8

1901, 1921, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1981, 1982, 1991

Aston Villa

7

1887, 1895, 1897, 1905, 1913, 1920, 1957

Chelsea

7

1970, 1997, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012

Liverpool

7

1965, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1992, 2001, 2006

Blackburn Rovers

6

1884, 1885, 1886, 1890, 1891, 1928

Newcastle United

6

1910, 1924, 1932, 1951, 1952, 1955

Everton

5

1906, 1933, 1966, 1984, 1995

Manchester City

5

1904, 1934, 1956, 1969, 2011

Wanderers

5

1872, 1873, 1876, 1877, 1878

West Bromwich Albion

5

1888, 1892, 1931, 1954, 1968

Bolton Wanderers

4

1923, 1926, 1929, 1958

Sheffield United

4

1899, 1902, 1915, 1925

Wolverhampton Wanderers

4

1893, 1908, 1949, 1960

Sheffield Wednesday

3

1896, 1907, 1935

West Ham United

3

1964, 1975, 1980

Bury

2

1900, 1903

Nottingham Forest

2

1898, 1959

Old Etonians

2

1879, 1882

Portsmouth

2

1939, 2008

Preston North End

2

1889, 1938

Sunderland

2

1937, 1973

Barnsley

1

1912

Blackburn Olympic

1

1883

Blackpool

1

1953

Bradford City

1

1911

Burnley

1

1914

Charlton Athletic

1

1947

Clapham Rovers

1

1880

Cardiff City

1

1927

Coventry City

1

1987

Derby County

1

1946

Huddlesfield Town

1

1922

Ipswich Town

1

1978

Leeds United

1

1972

Notts County

1

1894

Old Carthusians

1

1881

Oxford University

1

1874

Royal Engineers

1

1875

Southampton

1

1976

Wimbledon

1

1988

487

DETAILS

FA Cup Winners

FA CUP BY THE

NUMBERS

By Christopher Lyles The Daily Telegraph

0

The official attendance for two third-round replays that were played behind closed doors. The first was between Norwich City and Bradford City at Lincoln City’s Sincil Bank ground in March 1915.

Supporters were banned so as not to disrupt production at a nearby armaments factory. The second was between Leicester City and non-League Burton Albion at Coventry City’s Highfield Road in 1985 when fans were banned because a missile had been thrown at the Burton goalkeeper in the first game.

1 1 1 1 2 3

The number of clubs who have won the FA Cup at Wembley in the current millennium. Chelsea have done so twice, beating Aston Villa in 2000 and Manchester United last year.

Occasion that the FA Cup has been won by a non-League club, in 1901, when Southern League Tottenham Hotspur beat First Division Sheffield United in a replay at Bolton.

The number of non-English clubs who have won the FA Cup. Cardiff City became the first and only club to do so when they beat Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley in 1927.

Scottish club who have played in an FA Cup final.

Queen’s Park were runners-up in 1884 and 1885.

Clubs who have won the FA Cup in three successive years. Wanderers did so in 1876, 1877 and 1878 before Blackburn Rovers repeated the feat in 1884, 1885 and 1886.

Successive years (1956,1957,1958) in which Leeds United were drawn at home to Cardiff City in the third round. Cardiff won all three matches, 2-1.

3 3 4 4

Weeks between Wanderers winning the first FA Cup final in 1872 and being presented with the trophy at their annual dinner.

Players who have scored a hat trick in the FA Cup final: Bill Townley, Blackburn Rovers (1890); Jimmy Logan, Notts County (1894) and Stan Mortensen, Blackpool (1953).

Times in seven seasons (including the current one) that Aston Villa and Manchester United have been drawn together in the third round.

FA Cup finals that have finished goalless. The last final without a goal was the 2005 contest between Arsenal and Manchester United, which Arsenal won, 5-4, on penalties. The three previous goalless draws were in 1886, 1911 and 1912.

4

Players who have represented three different clubs in an FA Cup final. They are Harold Halse (Manchester United, Aston Villa and Chelsea), Ernie Taylor (Newcastle United, Blackpool and Manchester United), John Barnes (Watford, Liverpool and Newcastle United) and Dennis Wise (Wimbledon, Chelsea and Millwall).

5 5

FA Cup final winning teams that have been managed by Sir Alex Ferguson, more than any other manager.

The number “5” is also the total occasions that Tottenham Hotspur have won the FA Cup when the year has ended in a “1” − Spurs lifted the trophy in 1901, 1921, 1961, 1981 and 1991 (with their three other winning finals coming in 1962, 1967 and 1982).

488

5 6

The number “5” is the amount of FA Cup final goals scored by Ian Rush, which is more than any other player.

Games that it took for Alvechurch to beat Oxford City in the fourth qualifying round in 1971, the scores being 2-2, 1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 0-0 and (finally) 1-0.

It was the FA Cup’s longest ever tie lasted for an aggregate of 11 hours.

6 7 8 9

The number “6” was worn by Manchester United’s Kevin Moran when he became the first player to be sent off in a Cup final, against Everton in 1985.

Years that Portsmouth were the FA Cup holders between 1939 and 1946, because of the Second World War.

Times that the FA Cup has been won by a club playing outside the top flight of English football.

The last time was in 1980 when West Ham United beat Arsenal thanks to Trevor Brooking’s rare headed goal.

Finals in which the Honourable Arthur Kinnaird, who would later become president of the FA, played, a feat that remains unsurpassed. Kinnaird won three times with Wanderers, scoring in the 1873 and 1878 finals, and twice with Old Etonians.

9 11

Goals that Ted MacDougall scored when Bournemouth beat Margate 11-0 in a first-round match in 1971. MacDougall’s feat is still an individual goalscoring record for the competition proper.

Times that the FA Cup has been successfully defended − three times each by Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers, twice by Tottenham Hotspur and once each by Newcastle United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

11 11 13 15 15

Times that Manchester United have won the FA Cup, more than any other club. United have also reached a record 18 finals.

Years between Wimbledon being elected into the Football League in 1977 and winning the FA Cup in 1988.

Successive finals between 1911 and 1927 in which the losing finalists failed to score.

Clubs who entered the first FA Cup tournament in 1871-72.

Penalties that have been awarded in FA Cup finals. The first player to miss in a final was Charlie Wallace, for Aston Villa against Sunderland at Crystal Palace in 1913. The first player to miss a Cup final penalty at Wembley was John Aldridge, for Liverpool against Wimbledon in 1988.

15

Years and 233 days, the age at which Gillingham striker Luke Freeman became the youngest player to appear in the competition proper when he featured in a first-round match at Barnet this season.

17

Years and 119 days, the age at which Millwall’s Curtis Weston became the youngest player to appear in a final, when he came on as a late substitute for Dennis Wise in the 2004 final against Manchester United.

18

Years and 19 days, the age at which Norman Whiteside became the youngest player to score in a final when he netted Manchester United’s second goal in their 4-0 replay victory over Brighton in 1983.

19

FA Cup goals scored by Preston North End’s Jimmy Ross in a single season (1887-88), a competition record. Preston’s 26-0 win against Hyde in the first round − a game in which Ross scored eight times − is also the biggest ever FA Cup victory.

20

Pounds, the cost of the original trophy, which was made by Messrs Martin, Hall & Co and was less than 18 inches high.

20 22

The number of times that Yeovil Town, as a non-League team, have beaten Football League clubs in the FA Cup.

The number worn by the Manchester City goalkeeper Len Langford in the 1933 final against Everton, the first when numbers featured. Everton wore numbers 1-11, while City were 1222. Langford was powerless to prevent Dixie Dean scoring Everton’s opening goal on their way to a comfortable 3-0 victory.

23

Years and 20 days, the age at which the late, great Bobby Moore became the youngest FA Cup-winning captain, when West Ham United beat Preston North End, 3-2, at Wembley in 1964.

25 37

The record number of times that Arsenal and Manchester United have each reached the semi-finals.

Years that have elapsed since a final did not feature at least one of Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur.

44 44 47 48

Years that have elapsed since the 1968 final between West Bromwich Albion and Everton was the first to be televised

in colour.

Years since West Bromwich Albion’s Dennis Clarke became the first substitute to be used in a final.

Different clubs who have won the FA Cup. The last first-time winners were Wimbledon, in 1988.

Goals that Henry (Harry) Cursham of Notts County scored in the FA Cup proper between 1877 and 1887, a record that still stands. Cursham, who also played two first-class cricket matches for Nottinghamshire, recorded seven FA Cup hattricks.

57

Years since an FA Cup match was first played under floodlights. The first time was when Kidderminster Harriers played Brierley Hill Alliance in a preliminary round replay in 1955.

489

59 66 98 130 140 2,000

Years since a hat-trick was last scored in a final, by Blackpool’s Stan Mortensen in the “Matthews Final.”

Days that it took to complete the third round in 1963, the year of the “Big Freeze” that led to the formation of the Pools Panel.

Years since King George V became the first reigning monarch to attend a final. He watched Burnley beat Liverpool, 1-0, at Crystal Palace in 1914.

Years since an amateur team − Old Etonians − won the FA Cup.

Years since the first final was played.

54 teams have played in the Cup final since 1872.

Spectators who attended the first Cup final − at Kennington Oval in

1872. The price of admission was one shilling per person.

Wanderers beat Royal Engineers, 1-0.

74,924

The record crowd for a third-round tie is believed to be

the 74,924 who packed into Old Trafford for last year’s 2-1 victory over Aston Villa when Manchester United substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sneaked a late winner.

Henrik Larsson marked his United debut with the first.

126,047

The official crowd figure for the first Wembley

final, between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United, in 1923. In reality, more than 200,000 were believed to have made their way into the stadium after barriers were broken down.

750,000

Pounds, the cost of the original

Wembley Stadium which was built in 1923.

750,000,000 Pounds, the cost of the new Wembley Stadium, which opened in 2007.

490