Surprisingly, footballers and horses do not always mix, particularly when they
share the same patch of turf within a week of each other. The Football
Association had allowed Wembley to stage the Horse of the Year show in 1970
shortly before the FA Cup final. A tent was pitched in the centre and the
jumping horses tore the grass to shreds. When Chelsea and Leeds United
turned up for the domestic showpiece of the season, they found a ploughed
field.
John Hollins, the Chelsea midfielder, recalls the sight. “It was appalling,”
he says. “Whenever you tackled someone, you took up three or four feet of
turf. After each tackle you had to pull the grass back into place like a
carpet. It poured with rain during the match, which made the ground even
heavier. Nowadays, the referee would have called it off.”
Chelsea had seven players who had lost 2-1 to Tottenham in the final three
years before. New manager Dave Sexton had brought in David Webb and John
Dempsey to shore up the defence, and centre-forward Peter Osgood began to
flourish, scoring in every round. “It was putting round pegs in round
holes,” says Hollins. “We were a hard team to beat, especially in cup ties.
We were set up to score goals and never knew how to die. We kept going. If a
team scored against us, we rolled up our sleeves and got going again.”
The Cup final was brought forward a month to give England time to prepare for
the defence of the World Cup in Mexico. Leeds and Chelsea took time off from
their tussle for second place in the First Division to produce an eventful
final on April 11. Jack Charlton, of Leeds, opened the scoring when his
20th-minute header failed to bounce, Eddie McCreadie mistimed the clearance
and the ball rolled over the goal-line. Then the pitch and a long shot from
Peter Houseman undid Leeds goalkeeper Gary Sprake five minutes before
half-time for the equaliser.
Leeds continued to dominate, going ahead six minutes from the end when Mick
Jones scored. With two minutes remaining, Hollins broke down the left for
Chelsea and whipped in a cross, which Ian Hutchinson headed in for a late
equaliser. Extra-time and tired legs failed to settle the match, so the
final went to a replay for the first time since 1912. The pitch at Wembley
was so bad that the replay moved to Old Trafford. A television audience of
28m tuned in, a record for an FA Cup final. They were treated to a classic
on April 29.
Hollins, now manager of Weymouth, was one of the many talented but tough
players in the lineups. “We both had a reputation for ‘knowing each other’,”
he says. “That goes back to 1965-66, when they were one of the top sides and
we were up-and-coming whippersnappers.” This was no place for shrinking
violets.
Former referee David Elleray, recently assessing the match, says he would have
handed out six red cards and 20 yellows. Fortunately, Eric Jennings was in
charge that Wednesday night and he let the match flow. “People were standing
up to each other, head-to-head, as they do nowadays except they were hitting
each other. The ref would say, ‘Play on, keep going’. He played great
advantage. If he had stopped it, there would have been an incident. The
incident didn’t happen because he simply played on,” says Hollins.
McCreadie almost took off the head of Scotland teammate Billy Bremner with a
high tackle; Charlton butted Osgood; Norman Hunter and Hutchinson had a
boxing match. Jones scored for Leeds and Osgood equalised with 12 minutes to
go. So to more extra-time. In the 104th minute, Hutchinson launched one of
his trademark windmill throws from the touchline into the Leeds penalty area
and Charlton could only head it on to Webb, who bundled the ball into the
goal for Chelsea’s 2-1 lead. Leeds stormed back, but Chelsea, on their last
legs, held on to win. “We turned to look at the blue-and-white Stretford End,
which is usually red and white,” says Hollins. “That was absolutely
fantastic. It makes the goose bumps come up on the back of my neck just
thinking about it. We have lost quite a few players from that match, but
they are still well remembered.”
1 Tommy Hughes The Clydebank goalkeeper joined Chelsea in 1966. His
six-year spell at Stamford Bridge was limited to 11 league appearances
because of the presence of Peter Bonetti. Hughes also played for Aston
Villa, Brighton and Hereford, winning the Third Division in 1976. He was
caretaker manager of Hereford in 1982-83 and owns a carpet-cleaning business
in Hereford.
2 Peter Feely Signed from Isthmian League side Enfield Town a few days
before the replay, the 20-year-old England youth striker made his Chelsea
debut the next season. He played five league games before moving to
Bournemouth. Feely became a chartered surveyor and had an international real
estate consultancy in Hong Kong. Now living in Perth, Western Australia, he
is president of the local club Subiaco City.
3 Eddie McCreadie An attacking full-back who joined from East Stirling
in 1962, he scored a brilliant winning goal in the League Cup final in 1965.
McCreadie won 23 Scotland caps and became Chelsea manager, earning promotion
to the First Division. He moved to the US to manage the Memphis Rogues and
became a painter and decorator. Retired, he lives on a ranch in Tennessee.
4 Dave Sexton The son of a professional boxer played inside-forward,
mostly for West Ham. He was Chelsea coach before taking over as manager from
Tommy Docherty. He won the FA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup and took Queens Park
Rangers to runners-up in the First Division. He also managed Manchester
United and was a successful England U21 coach. Now retired.
5 Peter Houseman A left-winger who played 269 league games for Chelsea,
he played an important role in the club’s European success. He died in a car
crash in 1977 at the age of 31.
6 Alan Birchenall The talented midfielder was signed by Chelsea for
£100,000. He played for eight clubs in 16 years, then owned a village pub
and ran a women’s footwear import business. Now the prematch and half-time
announcer at Leicester City.
7 Ron Harris Known as “Chopper”, his uncompromising style in defence
hampered the best strikers of his day. He made a club record 655 league
appearances and captained the England youth team to the Little World Cup in
1962. He coached at Brentford and was manager of Aldershot. After
successfully investing in a golf club in Wiltshire and a holiday chalet
complex in Warminster, he managed the Jersey football team. Now a popular
after-dinner speaker.
8 Peter Osgood One of Chelsea’s greats, he was known as the King of
Stamford Bridge. He made his debut as a 17-year-old. Capped four times for
England, he ran a pub and was youth team coach at Portsmouth. An
after-dinner speaker and television pundit, he died of a heart attack at the
age of 59 on March 1, 2006. His ashes rest under the penalty spot at
Stamford Bridge’s Shed End.
John Hollins contributes to a show about Chelsea’s 1970 season, on ESPN
Classic, Sky Channel 442, tomorrow at 10.30pm
The Wales Grand Slam team from 1978 was featured on
March 20, 2005 and can be found via the search option
Greg Struthers, London,
Would this week not have been prefect time to divert from the endless trail of tedious football teams that you roll out for this potentially-interesting feature. The Wales Grand Slam Team of 1978 for example.
crofty, greensboro, north Carolina, USA