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How FA CUP DAY has changed over the last 30 years


sticks 1969

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The first i remember was Baggies v Everton in 1968, Jeff Astle (RIP) got the winner but the one that did it for me was the epic Leeds v Chelsea games (first one to ever go to a replay?).

 I remember cycling across Taunton one Cup Final day in the late eighties and there wasn`t a soul on the streets it was such a big thing back then.

I don`t think I could tell you who won it last year though...............................

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13 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

I remember Wednesday v Everton in 66 because of Kenneth Wolstenholme.’s commentary. Mike Trbilcock played for Everton, but Ken couldn’t bring himself to say his name. He spent the whole match calling him Trebilco

That’s how the name is pronounced in Cornwall, his county of birth.

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First final I remember was 1953 Blackpool beat Bolton 4-3 the Stanley Mathews final. Didn't see it as we didn't have a telly. We had one for the 56 final though when Man City beat Brum 3-1 with Bert Trautmann, the City keeper, playing on with a broken neck after a collision. Only other matches on the telly then were some international matches on a Wednesday afternoon 3.00.pm kick off. As many have said Cup Final day was such a great exciting day for football fans never to be missed.

 

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First real memory was Chelsea v Leeds. Kicking lumps out of each other, Osgoods diving header in a night-time replay on the Tuesday after at Old Trafford. 

Sunderland v Leeds was pure romance with Stokoe running on the pitch at the end in his raincoat and Trilby. Sunderland had to play a league match at Cardiff on the Monday after because of fixture congestion. 

But the games always had a 'special feel'. Not now. The semi finals are played at Wembley, an absolute joke. A devalued competition 

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The rise of the Premier League and Sky regularly showing live matches led to the fall in the FA cup‘s standing. Until then it was pretty much the only match shown live (yes I know they started showing the semi finals live in the late 80s) and it was on at 3pm, so even the kids could watch It. The dominance (Monopolisation?) of the Premier League also meant that more and more the trophy was won by one of the same few teams every year (Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United over and over again) for whom it either meant completing the Double, which until the 90s was a rarity, or was perceived as a poor consolation prize for not winning the Premier League. In other words, “the romance of the cup” was dying if not completely dead. Wigan beating Man City in 2013 was the last real upset. 

The 70s and 80s were probably the last real heyday of the FA Cup. Upsets galore (Coventry, Wimbledon), plucky 2nd division teams not just getting to the final as has happened more recently, but even winning it (Sunderland, Southampton, West Ham) and not just classic finals but also classic replays (Chelsea v Leeds, Spurs v Man City, featuring one Gerry Gow, perm and all!). Now we potentially have extra time and penalty shoot outs....
 

The first final that I can remember watching was 1975, West Ham v Fulham. Fulham were 2nd division but captained by Bobby Moore against his old club and it was his last playing  appearance at Wembley. 

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10 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

The rise of the Premier League and Sky regularly showing live matches led to the fall in the FA cup‘s standing. Until then it was pretty much the only match shown live (yes I know they started showing the semi finals live in the late 80s) and it was on at 3pm, so even the kids could watch It. The dominance (Monopolisation?) of the Premier League also meant that more and more the trophy was won by one of the same few teams every year (Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United over and over again) for whom it either meant completing the Double, which until the 90s was a rarity, or was perceived as a poor consolation prize for not winning the Premier League. In other words, “the romance of the cup” was dying if not completely dead. Wigan beating Man City in 2013 was the last real upset. 

The 70s and 80s were probably the last real heyday of the FA Cup. Upsets galore (Coventry, Wimbledon), plucky 2nd division teams not just getting to the final as has happened more recently, but even winning it (Sunderland, Southampton, West Ham) and not just classic finals but also classic replays (Chelsea v Leeds, Spurs v Man City, featuring one Gerry Gow, perm and all!). Now we potentially have extra time and penalty shoot outs....
 

The first final that I can remember watching was 1975, West Ham v Fulham. Fulham were 2nd division but captained by Bobby Moore against his old club and it was his last playing  appearance at Wembley. 

We bought our first colour TV just before that final. 

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29 minutes ago, harvey54 said:

First real memory was Chelsea v Leeds. Kicking lumps out of each other, Osgoods diving header in a night-time replay on the Tuesday after at Old Trafford. 

Sunderland v Leeds was pure romance with Stokoe running on the pitch at the end in his raincoat and Trilby. Sunderland had to play a league match at Cardiff on the Monday after because of fixture congestion. 

But the games always had a 'special feel'. Not now. The semi finals are played at Wembley, an absolute joke. A devalued competition 

I remember both those games and the Leeds Chelsea replay was another I watched at my nans house on her black and white tele along with my best mate Steve. She made us both cheese sandwiches and mugs of Ovaltine - bless her.

You’re right about the semi finals these days being at Wembley devaluing  the competition but they’re played there to raise income for the enormous cost of rebuilding Wembley.

 

 

 

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Can vaguely  remember Sunderland beating Leeds, at my grandparents house. Only because my Nan told me about Sunderland not expected to win. 
The year later became the first ritual getting crisp and sweets and friends round our house to watch Liverpool, Newcastle. Spending the whole day watching the build up and the day. The strangest bit was the  parents had drinks and friends round, and yet they had no interest in football what’s so ever. I guess that’s why me and my brothers watched it previously at my Nans so they could have a party. 

 

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15 hours ago, sticks 1969 said:

Just seen on tv it’s fa cup day tomorrow 

I remember when it was a big day out who ever was playing 

one of the few days when my  local pub In Bridgwater showed football on the tv ,other then england 

how times have changed....

During the 70s, the coverage seemed to last all day! Anyone remember Cup Final, 'It's a Knockout'? Whatever happened to Stuart Hall? ?

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33 minutes ago, Curr Avon said:

During the 70s, the coverage seemed to last all day! Anyone remember Cup Final, 'It's a Knockout'? Whatever happened to Stuart Hall? ?

Stuart Hall was convicted for sex offences against girls as young as 9 Over a 20 year period in 2013. I i imagine that he’s still locked up.

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14 minutes ago, Robbored said:

I only just realised that it’s the FA Cup final today.......It was mentioned on the BBC earlier. Chelsea v Arsenal at 5:30pm...............:dunno:

Says a lot about how important the FA Cup is to me these days.

Are you sure? You’re writing on a thread that started with “Just seen on tv it’s fa cup day tomorrow” written yesterday. Was that not a good enough clue for you? 

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The first FA Cup I remember was the Tottenham v Man City game. 

FA Cup final day was always a big thing and we would always have to pick a side.

For some reason I always recall it being on the same day as Hanham Fair on the common so we would watch the build up, then whip up the common and back down to the house for kick off. 

Like so many things in Football, the FA have milked the cash cow and destroyed the magic of the cup. 

I hate the semis being at Wembley, the match is no longer the climax of the season, the kick off shift was designed to help gain overseas viewers and, the worst decision of all, allowing Man Utd to skip the FA Cup one year so that they could play in the World Club Cup. 

I think my favourite final was Coventry v Spurs. 

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Back in the day...when the Cup was a much more highly-regarded competition and not some hinderance to a League Championship we would have the teams interviewed in their hotels and then have helicopter coverage of the buses as they made their symbolic way to Wembley. Never happened at any other time.

Memories of old cup stories and giant-killings seem much more exciting and sieze the imagination than they do now. Have we become too accustomed to saturation coverage, the strategies of trophy winning or the 'world view' and branding of the world's oldest knock-out game? Or are we simply waking up from the dream that the Cup used to be perceived as and now have a colder handle on reality? The true nature of the FA Cup still carries on - it's us who have moved the goalposts.

On to today: it will be a really strange occasion in a deserted Wembley. What caché the Final has is going to be remembered more for the times it took place in. It's still one of the cardinal dates in my year, even if it's three months late.

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3 hours ago, NlGHTMARE said:

I’ve been to the last five finals, it’s still got its magic when you’re there. 

But 80s/90s was better. 

Only been to one and that was unplanned.  1972 Leeds beat Arsenal 1-0. 

The day before met up in the Venture for a coach to London to support fellow Knowle Wester Malcolm Jones in the ABA finals. Great bit of luck as some lads were staying over for the Cup Final next day. As luck would have it someone couldn't make it so I grabbed the spare Cup Final ticket. We stayed in some dodgy digs in Shepherds Bush on the Friday night with my final ticket safely installed in my underpants whilst sleeping.

Not a great game with Alan Clarke scoring a great header to win the game. At least I saw the great Leeds team in action although I suppose Arsenal are my second team if there is such a thing.

 

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