Book Review: With Clough, By Taylor (with Mike Langley)

This book was originally published in October 1980 (cover right), and at that time the Clough and Taylor partnership was still going strong, with Nottingham Forest having collected a second European Cup triumph following a 1-0 win over a Hamburg side in Madrid containing Kevin Keegan. Within two years Peter Taylor resigned from Forest and took up the management of rivals Derby County from November 1982 to April 1984 and it was during this period that he and Brian Clough fell out, never to reconcile before Taylor’s death in October 1990 of pulmonary fibrosis while on holiday in Mallorca, at the age of just 62. This republishing of With Clough, By Taylor (cover below left) is sold with royalties donated to Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis (www.actionpulmonaryfibrosis.org)

Given this is a republishing almost forty-years later, the reader has the benefit of all the events post the original release in 1980 and therefore makes it a different read. For instance, back then any reader, given what the pair had achieved up to that point, might have comfortably assumed that there were more years of success to follow, whereas in fact within two years Clough and Taylor were no longer a partnership. And in some ways, it is interesting to see this reflected in the two covers from 1980 and the 2019 publications. The 80s version has the men together deep in concentration, focused on the action in front of them, whereas the latest edition sees them sat before the start of the 1980 European Cup Final, seemingly together but portraying a distance as well. It may simply be that they are nervous ahead of such a major game, or that they are uncomfortable with the intrusive nature of the photographers. However, given that the pair never reconciled after their row surrounding the John Robertson transfer, the current image may well have been chosen to reflect the split.

Of the content of the book itself, it follows a fairly chronological line of their time together and apart, starting with the initial meeting as players at Middlesbrough, where Taylor was a goalkeeper and Clough a centre-forward. It then documents their first managerial job at Hartlepools United, the triumph, trials and tribulations at Derby County, the time at Brighton & Hove Albion together and then with Taylor solely in charge and finally their tenure at Nottingham Forest. These parts of the book all feel fairly understated and it is not until Taylor comes onto other topics, in particular, Clough’s 44 days at Leeds United, Taylor’s views on the England team and the players in the game that he admired, that as a reader we get to see an animated  side of his character and get to read about Taylor’s undoubted understanding of players and their respective talents.

That Clough and Taylor were two different characters is reflected in the number of books about Clough, given the persona he portrayed to the world and his penchant for the outspoken and controversial, as the paucity of titles about Peter Taylor, who admitted himself, was uncomfortable in front of the media. The fact is that the pair were highly successful, and their different personalities and skills ensured that, as Clough acknowledged, “I’m not equipped to manage successfully without Peter Taylor. I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back.”

The ending of the book is on reflection a sad footnote, with Taylor stating, “Both of us are aware that it (our partnership) cannot last for ever and that we must part again one day. I hope we part on a high note and on the friendliest terms, and that football will remember us as pioneers of management – the first to see that two heads are better than one.” Clough and Taylor will always be remembered as a unique and successful partnership and indeed will always be part of football history and folklore, the pity though is that their friendship never had that chance of a final reconciliation.

(Biteback Publishing, 24 Jan. 2019. Paperback 288pp)

 

Category: Reviews | LEAVE A COMMENT

Book Review: Me and My Big Mouth – When Cloughie Sounded Off in TVTimes by Graham Denton

Brian Howard Clough, born in Middlesbrough, 21 March 1935, a man who was destined to leave his own inimitable style on the game of football as player, manager and pundit.

In a ten-year playing career from 1955 to 1965 with hometown club Middlesbrough and local rivals Sunderland, he bagged 267 league and cup goals in just 296 appearances, an almost unbelievable strike rate which was good enough to see him earn England caps against Wales and Sweden in 1959.

A serious knee Injury ended his playing career but started Clough on the management ladder in October 1965 and the beginning of his incredible partnership with Peter Taylor at Fourth Division Hartlepools United. The pair built a reputation for themselves in the North East which earned them a move in 1967 to Second Division Derby County, where a six-year stint saw the Rams promoted to the top-flight and become Champions of England in 1971/72. Their tenure came to an end in October 1973 as the fractious relationship with the Derby Chairman saw Clough and Taylor depart the Baseball Ground.

Within a month the pair had accepted taking over at Third Division Brighton & Hove Albion. However, it proved to be a struggle for the duo and when Leeds United came calling in the summer of 1974, Cloughie departed for Elland Road with Taylor staying on at the South coast club. The 44 days that Clough was in charge have become written into football lore, spawning a book, The Damned Utd, a film, The Damned United and a stage play of the same name.

Cloughie didn’t return to management until the start of 1975, when reunited with Peter Taylor, they brought unparalleled success to Nottingham Forest, breaking Liverpool’s dominance in England, including two European Cup Final triumphs, before Clough retired from the game in May 1993, ironically with Forest being relegated from the top-flight.

That period at the City Ground though was all still to come when in September 1973 Brian Clough took up the opportunity to write a weekly column in the magazine TVTimes. Writer Graham Denton has taken many of these articles (which ran till the end of 1974), in his book, Me and My Big Mouth – When Cloughie Sounded Off in TVTimes. Interestingly, these are all from the most turbulent period of Clough’s managerial career, which saw his time end at Derby and the short-lived spells at Brighton and Leeds prove fruitless. It begs the question whether these articles were one too many distraction for Cloughie amongst his media work and times in the hot-seat as a manager?

The articles themselves hark back to a very different world. This is a time way before the existence of the Premier League, all-seater stadium and the saturation of live football on tv we have today. There was no internet or mobile phones, and newspapers, football magazines such as Shoot! and Goal, as well as the matchday programme from the ground was generally the only place you could read about your club. The terraces were dominated by males and the threat of hooliganism was a real threat when attending games. Off the pitch, the country was in the grip of strikes and power cuts during the three day week. Therefore, Denton’s expansion on some (not all) of Clough’s original articles, provide a useful context to the reader of what was happening in the game and the country in general.

Of course, some of the most common stories attached to Clough are covered, such as his criticism of Poland goalkeeper, Jan Tomaszewski, who made a number of saves to deny England at Wembley in a game which saw the Poles make it to the 1974 World Cup Finals in West Germany at the expense of the English. However, there is plenty of material offering Cloughie’s views on a range of topics, such as Muhammad Ali, Schoolboy Internationals, television, the job of management, players (such as Malcolm Macdonald and Mick Channon) and even a fans survey.

Despite Clough’s reputation by some as being a big-head or self-opinionated, in reading these articles, whether you agree with them or not, they are in the main reasoned rather than rants, and certainly not of the kind from some of the pundits today who appear only to trade in controversial statements for the sake of it.

This book doesn’t pretend to be an authoritative biography of Cloughie but is an excellent addition to the various titles written about a football figure whose legend will like another Nottingham hero, Robin Hood, endure for many years to come.

 

(Pitch Publishing Limited. September 2019. Paperback 320pp)

 

Category: Reviews | LEAVE A COMMENT

Book Review: Provided You Don’t Kiss Me – 20 Years with Brian Clough by Duncan Hamilton

Ghost-writing and writing about ghosts

Duncan Hamilton is haunted by the ghost of Brian Clough and it permeates much of his writing. He is fascinated not just by famous sporting characters but by relationships, especially between the living and the dead. A case in point is the book he was the ghost writer of, Johnny Bairstow’s autobiography A Clear Blue Sky. Hamilton understood so well the influence David Bairstow still exerted over his son, years after his death, because of how father-figure Clough continued to affect him in a similar way.

In his own name, Hamilton has written a number of acclaimed books but his breakthrough one was Provided You Don’t Kiss Me – 20 Years with Brian Clough. It could be said that he has done very well out of Clough. Apart from anything else, he won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award for it in 2007. And, despite its imperfections, the book deserved that award, he had great subject matter but did an excellent job of it.

His journalistic career flourished, in no small part thanks to the access Clough allowed him into his crazy, zany and utterly distinctive world. That was where Hamilton developed his skills as a ghost writer and many of the newspaper pieces we believed were written by Clough himself were in reality Hamilton’s work.

In the following years, he followed up his success with a number of fine books including another William Hill winner, in 2009, on cricketer Harold Larwood. He had promised in a section at the end of 20 Years called ‘Provided You Do Kiss Me’, “I won’t be writing about Brian again.” That promise kind of held true for two whole years. Only kind of, as it can be argued that Old Big ‘ead: The Wit and Wisdom of Brian Clough is not written by Hamilton, only compiled by him. But I wonder if some of that ‘wit and wisdom’ had been ghosted by him in any case?

There is no doubt whatsoever that Hamilton was hugely fond of Clough but there are a number of things that catch the attention on (re)visiting the book. First of all, there is the nature of the relationship between Clough and the author. Hamilton was much younger and admits that he felt in some ways like a son. Then there is the relationship between Clough and Peter Taylor which Hamilton describes as being virtually like a marriage, even so far as the way it led to a messy divorce when they fell out permanently. It’s all very macho, like the relationship between Steve Martin and John Candy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. And there is a funny yet touching moment in the book where Clough admits that he does not know how to cope with Justin Fashanu, whose homosexuality made his manager feel uncomfortable. Such was Fashanu’s fear of him and need to win his approval that Clough commented, “If I say, ‘Good morning’ to him, he bursts into tears.”

But in this very male world described by the author, two things stand out in particular; Brian Clough was married, to Barbara, from 1959 till his death 45 years later and yet she plays a much less significant and no more real role in the book than Norman Bates’s mother does in Psycho. Her total absence is very surprising and most noticeable during Clough’s descent into alcoholism. The great manager is depicted by the author as a totally isolated individual and there are strong hints that Hamilton became much closer to him after Clough’s friendship ended with Taylor than either his actual wife or children, including Nigel who played for him at Nottingham Forest.

This leads to the second point. Duncan Hamilton was clearly very fond of Clough and in many ways idolised him. Perhaps this reason, alongside his journalistic objectivity, is why he did nothing to try to help Clough out of the chronic alcoholism that destroyed him. This idol seems to have been so daunting when alive that he separated himself from other people, a bitter irony for a self-confessed champagne socialist but then, after death, his ghost began its haunting. He was abandoned by people as his face blotched with all the alcohol, his reputation suffered as his bung-rumoured corruption started to mirror that of his nemesis Don Revie and a second liver was given a severe bashing. Once safely dead, people could then begin to sorely miss Old Big ‘Ead.

Graeme Garvey

Category: Reviews | LEAVE A COMMENT

Book Review: Brian Clough – Fifty Defining Fixtures by Marcus Alton

In other books within this Amberley series the subject has either been a legendary player or a manager, but in this edition the focus is on Brian Clough who it could be argued is a rarity in having an extraordinary career in both areas of the game.

As a player Clough had an unbelievable strike rate playing for Middlesbrough and Sunderland, scoring 251 league goals from 274 games and also picked up two England caps, both in 1959. However, he had to retire following a serious knee injury sustained on Boxing Day 1962 and turned to management. Clough was in charge at Hartlepools United, Derby County, Leeds United, Brighton and Nottingham Forest, in a management career which stretched from 1965 to 1993, collecting most famously two European Cups in 1978/79 and 1979/80 with Forest.

Given this, author Marcus Alton acknowledges the mammoth task he had in bringing the book together: “It has certainly been a very tough task and this compilation contains by no means the only games that define his (Clough’s) playing and managerial career. But I hope you agree it focuses on some of the key matches…and at least, opens up debate.” And to be fair that is what is achieved by Alton. Within his selected fifty games, Alton manages to cover both Clough’s playing and management career taking in all the clubs he was at, even squeezing in games capturing his brief and unsuccessful stints at Elland Road and the Goldstone Ground.

In the style of the other books in the Amberley series, games are briefly covered using old match reports and analysis. This doesn’t provide the author with a great deal of scope to provide an in-depth exploration of Clough, but Alton still manages to convey some aspects of the antics and characteristics of ‘the best manager England never had’.

This series of books doesn’t pretend that the reader will find an in depth exploration of a player or manager, but is a starting point for wanting to find out more about the subject matter. Therefore, whilst the triumphs at Derby County and Nottingham Forest are detailed through a number of fixtures, this book isn’t one where you will find for instance a detailed analysis of the breakdown in the Taylor-Clough relationship or the health issues that he suffered during the back end of his management career at the City Ground.

If you know very little and or not read a great deal about ‘Cloughie’ this book is a useful starting point for an exploration of an incredible football figure.

 

Category: Reviews | LEAVE A COMMENT

Book Review: Forever Forest – The Official 150th Anniversary History of the Original Reds by Don Wright

When writing about the history of Nottingham Forest, it is easy to focus on the period of success experienced under the management of Brian Clough; a time when you would seemingly wait a couple of seasons for an open-top bus tour of the Market Square then two would come along in quick succession. But there is more to Nottingham Forest than this – a history of otherwise infrequent success and near misses, along with early innovation, proceeded Clough’s appointment and that fateful day of 6 January 1975 is not reached until page 164 of this book.

Before that time, the involvement of early innovators like Sam Weller Widdowson and Tinsley Lindley in both the establishment of the Club and the development of football as it is recognised today, is interesting. But there is much to cover, with Forest being the second (or third, if you ask a supporter of Stoke City) oldest League club, they have influenced many aspects of the game. Be it the introduction of shin-guards, whistles, floodlights, crossbars or Arsenal FC’s red shirts, Nottingham Forest were there.

Don Wright is the Official Historian of the Club and he has dug deeply into the archives for this enthralling history of the ‘Garibaldi’, from the early days of an itinerant existence playing at sites around the city to the recent period with its seemingly endless turnover of Managers in an attempt to recover the success of the late 70s and 80s.

The Club’s previous most successful period, where a team out of the top division between 1925 and 1957, went on to win the FA Cup and finish runner’s-up Division One to Matt Busby’s Manchester United within a decade under managers Billy Walker, Andy Beattie and Johnny Carey, is given the prominence it deserves over that which proceeded it.

Clearly the period under Clough is covered, but is within proportion for a book about the history of the Club as a whole (the double European Cup winning side is looked at in depth in Daniel Taylor’s 2015 book, I believe in Miracles). He inherited a club struggling in the second tier of English football and left a team relegated back there. Overall, within the context of the Club’s existence, the feeling left is that the period of success, whilst glorious, was out of character with its history.

As with the supporters of many teams outside the Premier League, Forest fans await their return to the top tier, and as every season passes the level of expectation and frustration grows. This book provides a sobering reminder that the ongoing seventeen-year absence is not without precedent, the current generation of Forest young fans have a lot in common with their great-grandparents.

Despite the sobering reality of the twenty-first century Nottingham Forest, there is much to enjoy here. The amount of information is impressive, exposing nuggets that were unfamiliar to the Reviewer and the narrative is, nonpartisan and well structured. The book will clearly appeal to Forest fans but non-fans should also consider it, just remember never to call them Notts Forest (even the spellchecker doesn’t like it).

 

by Andy Walton

Category: Reviews | 1 Comment on Book Review: Forever Forest – The Official 150th Anniversary History of the Original Reds by Don Wright

Book Review: Fan – A Novel by Danny Rhodes

It is twenty five years since the Hillsborough disaster and this year saw the beginning of fresh inquests after the original hearings were quashed. Of course the 96 victims who died and the hundreds injured in the tragedy, along with their friends and families have been the ones who have suffered the greatest loss and pain as a result of the events of 15 April 1989 in Sheffield. However, there is also another set of people who have had to deal with what they witnessed that day. These include all those who attended the game that day.

In his novel, Fan, Danny Rhodes writes about that group of people through central character John Finch (or Finchy to his footballing mates). The story in set in 2004, with John working as a teacher and living in the South with fiancée Kelly. However, the storyline leaps back and forth in time with the reader being taken back to eighties and various significant moments. There is for instance reference to 1984 and Finchy’s first visit to the City Ground to watch Nottingham Forest against Sturm Graz, as well as the football tragedies in 1985 at Bradford City and Heysel. The book captures the reek and authenticity of the eighties, especially when Finchy is transported back to the 1988/89 season, where as a teenager John worked as a postman in his hometown of Grantham…

…Grantham the birthplace of Margaret Thatcher who in the eighties tried to destroy the Unions and succeeded in dismantling the British Mining Industry, wrecking communities with it and laying the foundations of the greedy, money-obsessed culture we have now. A Prime Minister who tried to kill off football with membership schemes. All that social history lurks in the background of the tight, non-stop prose of Rhodes.

The Cup run towards the fateful Semi-Final is documented with brief match details, but the images and nightmares that Finchy carries from Hillsborough crop up at various parts during the story and tell the reader that this is a man suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. However, Finchy is trying to cope with so much more and with the death of Brian Clough he decides to face various demons from his past by returning to Grantham, so that he can make sense of his future.

A cracking and compulsive read which drives you relentlessly on – football, the eighties, relationships and growing up – it’s all in there…

Category: Reviews | LEAVE A COMMENT

Book Review: The Fabulous Baker Boys: The Greatest Strikers Scotland Never Had by Tom Maxwell

When England manager Roy Hodgson recently suggested that he would be monitoring the progress of Manchester United’s Belgian youngster Adnan Januzaj, the issue of international player eligibility was once more in the news.

Nowadays in this country, supporters are used to seeing players born in different countries turning out for England whether it is football, cricket, rugby league or rugby union. However, the rules governing eligibility have not always been as they are now and this issue is central to the latest book by Tom Maxwell, ‘The Fabulous Baker Boys: The Greatest Strikers Scotland Never Had’.

In 1938, George and Lizzie Baker were living in New York and on 11 April that year their first child Gerry Austin Baker was born. However, when the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the family returned to England to settle in Liverpool, where in July 1940, Joseph Henry Baker was born. Merseyside wasn’t to remain home for long, as the Germans blitzed the port area of Liverpool. Six weeks after Joe was born, Lizzie took the young boys to Wishaw near Motherwell and this was where the family settled and grew up.

Both boys were talented young players and in 1955 Gerry made his debut for Chelsea in the Southern Professional Floodlit Cup. In the same year, Joe played for Scotland Schoolboys playing against England and Wales. However, from this point the path the brothers journeyed on was not as might have been predicted.

Joe was never to pull on the blue shirt of Scotland after 1955 and instead because of the place of his birth, it was ruled he could only play international football for England. So it was that Joe went on to make 5 appearances (scoring 4 goals) for the Under 23s and gained 8 full caps (scoring 3 goals). Indeed Joe played in the opening England game in January 1966, although ultimately he was destined not to be part of the World Cup squad.

In terms of his club career, Joe was widely regarded wherever he played. He started his professional career with Hibernian and in four seasons, amassed 141 goals. This lead to a single season stint at Torino, where he was seriously injured in a car crash, in which Dennis Law was also involved. Baker returned to England and had an impressive four season stay at Arsenal where Joe scored 100 goals. However, partway through his last season at Highbury (1965/66) he moved onto Nottingham Forest and stayed at the City Ground until 1968/69. His tally of 49 goals might not have been as prolific as his returns at his other clubs, but Joe became something of a cult figure down by the Trent. With Joe approaching his 30th birthday he moved to Sunderland for the 1969/70 season as his career started to wind down. The following season he returned to Scotland and Hibernian, finally retiring from playing in 1973/74 after a two season stint at Raith Rovers. Joe’s record makes incredible reading, as from 615 club appearances he scored 372 goals – an outstanding return.

Brother Gerry never settled at Chelsea and returned to Motherwell. However, he found opportunities difficult to come by and he moved to St. Mirren scoring an impressive 66 goals in 81 games. His exploits attracted clubs in England and Gerry had a two season spell at Manchester City before returning to Scotland and Hibernian in 1961/62, just as Joe left the club. However in 1963/64, Gerry left Easter Road and once more moved ‘south of the border’ to help Ipswich Town gain promotion from Division Two, enjoying a productive spell at Portman Road, before moving to Coventry City. It was whilst at the Sky Blues that Gerry gained international honours for the USA. He played in 7 games for the land of his birth, scoring twice and was part of the side that fell short of qualifying for the 1970 World Cup Finals in Mexico. Gerry ended his professional career at Brentford in the 1969/70 season before playing for Margate (as player-manager), Nuneaton Borough, Bedworth United and Worcester City. Gerry’s club career saw him score a highly impressive 201 goals from 409 games.

Writer Tom Maxwell tells the story of their respective remarkable careers in an engaging and intimate way. The excellent research and quotes from the brothers and players of the era, means this book is a personal yet interesting insight into football during the 1950s and 60s both in Scotland and England.

But for the eligibility rules of the late 1950s, Scotland would have had a very different international forward line.

Between them, 1,024 appearances, 573 goals – ‘the Fabulous Baker Boys’ indeed.

 

Category: Reviews | LEAVE A COMMENT

FA Cup 6th Round 2010/11: Cup half empty or half full?

The weekend saw this seasons FA Cup Sixth Round fixtures come and go and has left the nation with the prospect next month of a Manchester derby and a battle between the Trotters and the Potters. The 2010/11 FA Cup campaign has taken place against a backdrop of yet more murmurings in the media about the death of the competition and outline plans of tinkering by the FA to keep the appeal of the oldest Cup tournament in the World.

For me the reasons for the change in perspective of the FA Cup lay across the football community. The FA itself is complicit in damaging the competition in a number of ways. Firstly, there was the decision to allow Manchester United to opt out of the 1999/2000 FA Cup to take part in the revamped World Club Competition. This decision was part of the political gamble by the FA at the time, as they tried to sway FIFA in awarding England the hosting of the 2006 World Cup. And we all know how that worked out. Secondly, there was the ruling to have ties settled after a single replay (excluding the Semi-Final and Final itself). Personally, a major part of the glamour and thrill of the Cup was the odd occasions when a particular tie within a round went to a number of replays. As a Fulham fan I remember vividly the 1974/75 Cup run when we played Hull City three times to get through the Third Round and Nottingham Forest an incredible four times to make it through the Fourth Round. However, those Fulham fixtures were nothing compared to the record breaking fixture in 1971/72. Alvechurch played Oxford City in the 4th Qualifying Round. It required six games before Alvechurch emerged 1-0 winners. Sadly epic battles like that are a thing of the past. Thirdly, because of the burden of rebuilding Wembley Stadium, Semi-Finals now take place at the famous ground. This in my opinion also works to devalue the competition as the act of making it to Wembley and the Final are cheapened. Reaching a Final should be special. Certainly for me in 1975 seeing Fulham in the Final (despite defeat) was and is a treasured memory.

UEFA too has played its part in destabilising the FA Cup. How you may ask have this done this? Well quite simply by the reorganising of their own competitions. Once the 1999 winners Lazio had left Villa Park after defeating Mallorca with the trophy, the European Cup Winners Cup (ECWC) disappeared from view and with it the European prize for the FA Cup winners. Now we have the winners going into the poor relation of the bloated greedy cousin that is the Champions League – the Europa League. For me, if we had a return to the European Cup, the ECWC and UEFA Cup things would be a lot better. Quite simply, the European Cup should be for clubs who have won their domestic League. The Cup Winners Cup for domestic Cup Winners and UEFA Cup either domestic League Runners-Up or in England’s case the winners of the League Cup. This way there are only three European places up for grabs in each country. It would mean that there isn’t the importance placed on the Premier League and the scramble to finish in the “top four” and that both the FA and League Cup would be must win competitions if clubs had intentions of playing in Europe.

However, it doesn’t do away the fact that teams could still place more importance on League survival than the domestic Cup competitions. This is where Sky, the Premier League and implicitly clubs must take some of the blame, since the money involved in being part of that elite group means Chairman and their Boards want Premier League survival delivered as the first priority. So far you could be reading this article thinking what an “old fart”, what a “stick-in-the-mud traditionalist”. Well just to show that I can be a little radical, what about this idea? For the teams reaching the Finals of the League and FA Cup, award the finalists 6 bonus points which are added to their respective League totals? Surely that would be an incentive for clubs to put out full strength teams in the Cup competitions?

Finally are fans excused from being to blame for the troubles with the FA Cup? Well, I believe that fans have been taken in by certain sections of the written media telling us that the competition is on its last legs. Fans also react in terms of attendance according to how seriously their clubs treat the Cup competitions. TV has brought more football into our homes, but does stop people going to the ground as does the shifting of kick off times to all hours and days of the week. Perhaps only the FA Cup Final should be shown “live” and all other Rounds only as highlights? The trouble is that the whole relationship between television, broadcasting rights, clubs and money has taken us down a path which only goes in one direction.

What’s wrong with tradition and history? To me nothing, but the reality is that my views would be seen as nostalgic, unrealistic and naïve by the “powers-that-be”. I fear for the FA Cup and truly hope that it is not watered down even further by those in charge. As fans all we can do in the future is get out and support the FA Cup. It isn’t as special as it was, because the things that made it special are slowly being taken away.

Category: Football Features | LEAVE A COMMENT

FA Cup 5th Round 2010/11: Fab Four? Nah – Famous Five

With Fulham’s impending FA Cup 5th Round game on Sunday at home to Bolton Wanderers, I was thinking back to that particular round over the years that I’ve been watching football. I found to my surprise that I’ve never actually attended a 5th Round tie. From the 1st Round to the Final, the 5th Round is the one I’m missing. When I look back the one Fulham game at this stage I wish I could have got to would be the game at Goodison Park the year we got to Wembley. Whilst a regular at Craven Cottage that season, away games were few and far between because I was always playing football for the school in the morning and that restricted severely the amount of travelling times to fixtures beyond the Midlands.

Fulham played seven games in reaching the 5th Round of the 1974/75 FA Cup. The 3rd Round went to three games against Hull City and an incredible four against Nottingham Forest in the 4th Round. Viv Busby scored two goals in the 3rd Replay against Forest at the City Ground to set-up a tie away at Everton. The team from Goodison Park were top of the First Division and this game looked on paper one that for Second Division Fulham would be a tie too far. However, within a quarter of an hour Viv Busby had put The Cottagers ahead, pouncing on a mistake between Toffees keeper Dai Davies and defender Roger Kenyon. Fulham went in at half-time with a 1-0 lead, but this was soon wiped out in the second half when on 52 minutes Kenyon headed home an equaliser for the home team. Fulham must have feared that another replay beckoned as the game approached 85 minutes on the clock. However, Viv Busby changed all that with a swivel and shot from inside the Everton box with 5 minutes to go and send The Whites into the Quarter-Finals. The match details were as follows:

FA Cup 5th round, February 15, 1975

Everton                      1-2                  Fulham

Kenyon (52)                                      Busby (15, 85)

Attendance: 45,223

Everton: Davies, Bernard, Seargeant, Clements, Kenyon, Hurst, Jones, Dobson, Lyons, Latchford (Telfer), Pearson

Fulham:  Mellor, Cutbush, Strong, Mullery, Lacy, Moore, Dowie (Lloyd), Jimmy Conway, Busby, Slough, Barrett

I’d settle for a 2-1 win this Sunday and a trip to the Final please Mr Hughes, but with a different outcome to 1975 of course! Meanwhile, Everton will be hoping that they don’t come unstuck against another West London team as they visit Stamford Bridge for their 4th Round Replay. It’s a bit of a mix and match weekend as Manchester City also have a 4th Round Replay at home to Notts County alongside the other scheduled 5th Round matches. If your team is still in the competition – enjoy! That Wembley arch is getting ever nearer.

Category: Football Features | LEAVE A COMMENT

2010/11: FA Cup 4th Round – Where were you in ’85?

The 1984/85 season brought about to Fulham one of those oddities that seem to happen in football. In the League Cup, the men from SW6 who were then in the old Second Division, got drawn against First Division Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. Despite being a tier lower than their opponents, Fulham weren’t disgraced in a 3-2 loss at the Third Round stage.

Come the New Year and the FA Cup Third Round draw, fate dictated that Fulham and Sheffield Wednesday once again locked horns, although this time the fixture was at Craven Cottage. With Sheffield Wednesday bringing a good away following, a crowd of 11,434 gathered to see if Fulham could gain revenge for the defeat earlier in the season. Just as in October The Owls were victorious 3-2. Ray Houghton scored Fulham’s goals, whilst Mel Sterland and Lee Chapman with two, ensured the South Yorkshire team progressed to the Fourth Round. Wednesday were a robust team back in the eighties and they were certainly too strong physically for Fulham on the day.

Now for most fans, once their team is knocked out of the FA Cup, their interest pretty much ends, possibly until Cup Final day. Yes Fulham were out, but that didn’t mean that was the end of my Cup adventure that year. One of the advantages of living in London at that time was that there were plenty of options in terms of watching other clubs – and I use the term watching as opposed to supporting deliberately.

1984/85 was Wimbledon’s first ever season in the old Second Division and they more than held their own to finish in a respectable 12th position. Having overcome Burnley 3-1 at Plough Lane in the FA Cup Third Round, the Dons got a very tricky tie against one of the teams of the eighties, Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest. At the City Ground the underdogs from South London earned a replay after a 0-0 draw. Back then replays were arranged for the following week, with the game at Plough Lane set for the following Wednesday night. Given that Brian Clough’s team were one of the big attractions then, the replay was made all ticket.

The lure of seeing Old Big ‘Ead (as my nan loved to call the incomparable Mr Clough), in the flesh and a possible Cup upset proved too strong a temptation to resist and so I took my place amongst a bumper crowd to see if the Dons could beat the twice European Champions. On a night of great tension and nervous moments, Wimbledon caused a Cup upset with a Paul Fishenden goal enough to see off Forest. It was an evening when you couldn’t but help get caught up in the emotion of the occasion. That is what the FA Cup can do.

26 years later and what does the Fourth Round hold for the teams. My beloved Fulham have the misfortune to once again draw Tottenham. I say misfortune as Spurs knocked us out after a replay in the Quarter Final last year and in the seven meetings in the competition Fulham have yet to win. Sheffield Wednesday have battled through wins over Southport, Northampton Town and Bristol City to a Fourth Round tie at Hillsborough against Hereford United, in which the Owls will fancy their chances of making progress to the Fifth Round. AFC Wimbledon came through in the First Round after a replay against Ebbsfleet, but fell in the Second Round against Stevenage. Forest overcame Preston at Deepdale in the Third Round and face an interesting game at Premier League West Ham. How times have changed.

Whoever your team enjoy the Fourth Round this weekend and may it provide some more Cup Magic!

Category: Football Features | LEAVE A COMMENT