After suffering relegation to Division Two at the end of the 1980/81 season, Leicester City initially struggled for consistency at the start of the next campaign. But come the start of a very wintry 1982, the team turned the corner. The combination of a memorable FA Cup run, and an upturn in league form, made for exciting times.
Showing posts with label FA Cup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FA Cup. Show all posts
Thursday, March 8, 2018
1982 FA Cup Sixth Round: Leicester v Shrewsbury
The last time Leicester City won an FA Cup Sixth round match, they had to do it the hard way, using three different keepers on an afternoon of gripping drama.
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Sunday, May 21, 2017
1980s: FA Cup final tackles
Thankfully some FA Cup final traditions remain, but it is probably just as well that tackles like the ones discussed below are no longer part of the game.
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Monday, May 8, 2017
1982/83: Brighton and Hove Albion
After gaining promotion under Alan Mullery in 1978/79, Brighton and Hove Albion had managed to keep their heads above water for the first two years of their life in Division One. After a difficult start to their first season, the club eventually finished in 16th. A great escape in 1980/81 saw the team win their last four games to stay up, although this was followed by the shock resignation of Mullery, after a row with chairman Mike Bamber regarding the transfer of Mark Lawrenson and proposed adjustments to his coaching staff.
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Monday, February 13, 2017
1985 FA Cup Fifth round: Blackburn v Manchester United
As Manchester United prepare to visit Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup fifth round, I'm taking a look back at the same fixture from the 1985 competition. Many thanks to Mick Rathbone for his time in helping me write this piece.
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Monday, January 23, 2017
1989 FA Cup Fourth Round: Norwich City v Sutton United
Sutton United will play Leeds United in the FA Cup fourth round this weekend, and they will be hoping it goes a lot better than the last time they reached this stage of the competition in 1989.
Mention Sutton United to football fans, and many will justifiably recall that day at Gander Green Lane in January 1989, when the Conference team shocked 1987 FA Cup winners Coventry. But how many remember the following act in Sutton's FA Cup story that year, the difficult second album, if you like? If Coventry had been Sutton's successful debut in the eyes of the public, then Norwich City away was their Neither Fish Nor Flesh moment.
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Mention Sutton United to football fans, and many will justifiably recall that day at Gander Green Lane in January 1989, when the Conference team shocked 1987 FA Cup winners Coventry. But how many remember the following act in Sutton's FA Cup story that year, the difficult second album, if you like? If Coventry had been Sutton's successful debut in the eyes of the public, then Norwich City away was their Neither Fish Nor Flesh moment.
Read more �
Thursday, January 5, 2017
1985 FA Cup Third round: Burton Albion v Leicester City
When Northern Premier League Burton Albion were drawn against Division One Leicester City in the 1985 FA Cup third round, on paper it appeared to be a romantic tie. The typical David v Goliath clash, the outside chance of a shock, and a day in the spotlight for the part-timers of Burton, provided all the classic ingredients required for this stage of the FA Cup. Sadly, the fixture ended up making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
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Monday, March 7, 2016
1987 FA Cup Sixth Round: Arsenal v Watford
If Arsenal manage to beat Hull City in their FA Cup fifth round replay then it will set up a quarter final clash with Watford. For some Arsenal fans, this will bring back painful memories of a Sixth round match at Highbury in 1987 that still rankles.
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Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Sending offs in the 1980s
Whilst watching Per Mertesacker being dismissed against Chelsea recently, I realised that a red card is hardly a surprise occurrence in a match during the modern era. But rewind back to the 1980s and it was a different experience.
A red card - or a finger pointing the way to the dressing room - was often a genuine wow moment, partly due to the relative rarity of the event. This week I am looking back on ten dismissals during the 1980s, involving confusion, accusations, frustration, agony, and refereeing incompetence. Perhaps things don't change after all.
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A red card - or a finger pointing the way to the dressing room - was often a genuine wow moment, partly due to the relative rarity of the event. This week I am looking back on ten dismissals during the 1980s, involving confusion, accusations, frustration, agony, and refereeing incompetence. Perhaps things don't change after all.
Read more �
Friday, January 22, 2016
1981 FA Cup Fourth Round: Everton v Liverpool
This week I am looking back at the 1981 FA Cup fourth round clash between Merseyside rivals Everton and Liverpool, as the home team get one over their neighbours, and Imre Varadi gets to experience football cuisine 1980s style.
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Tuesday, January 5, 2016
1980 FA Cup Third Round: Halifax Town v Man City
A look back this week at a genuine shock in the 1980 FA Cup third round, as big spending Manchester City suffered at the hands of lowly Halifax Town, and City boss Malcolm Allison shared the limelight with a hypnotist from his past.
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Wednesday, November 4, 2015
1982-83: FA Cup First Round shocks
A look back this week on some FA Cup shocks from the first round of the competition in 1982/83, including a couple of teams in financial dire straits having angst piled upon their misery, giant-killers adding to their growing reputations, and Bede McCaffrey writing his name into the history books of North Shields.
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Monday, October 19, 2015
1984 FA Cup: Howard Kendall
Extracted and slightly adapted from my blogs on the 1983/84 FA Cup, a look back on Everton's progress in the competition, and how winning the trophy provided the foundations for the success that followed under the sadly departed Howard Kendall.
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Monday, June 15, 2015
1980s commentary moments: Part 2
Following on from my original blog describing my favourite commentary moments of the 1980s, I've finally got around to writing volume two (it's only taken me nearly three years). Including moments of jeopardy, drama, misses, success, and outright condemnation, these pieces of commentary have lived long in my fading memory. I have still missed a few out; maybe I should start planning volume three for 2018?
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Wednesday, May 20, 2015
1983-84 FA Cup final
This piece follows on from my previous blogs on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth rounds and semi-finals of the 1983/84 FA Cup, which you can view here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
For a young football enthusiast, May 1984 was an exciting time. In the space of a few weeks, both the UEFA Cup (second leg) and European Cup finals would be shown live, with Scotland v England, and the second half of Brazil v England also broadcast to the nation. In an era of famine this was a feast of live action, but even during this special period there was one day that stood out.
On paper, the FA Cup final between Everton and Watford was hardly the sort of match that would set the pulses racing, yet such was the prestige of the competition and the sense of occasion that the game was as eagerly anticipated as ever. Although the final will not go down as an all-time classic, it provided us with enough topics of discussion before, during and after the 90 minutes. The first FA Cup final to witness shirt sponsorship on display would be the scene of triumph and despair, redemption and controversy. For one man in particular, the agony had started in earnest a few weeks before the big event.
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For a young football enthusiast, May 1984 was an exciting time. In the space of a few weeks, both the UEFA Cup (second leg) and European Cup finals would be shown live, with Scotland v England, and the second half of Brazil v England also broadcast to the nation. In an era of famine this was a feast of live action, but even during this special period there was one day that stood out.
On paper, the FA Cup final between Everton and Watford was hardly the sort of match that would set the pulses racing, yet such was the prestige of the competition and the sense of occasion that the game was as eagerly anticipated as ever. Although the final will not go down as an all-time classic, it provided us with enough topics of discussion before, during and after the 90 minutes. The first FA Cup final to witness shirt sponsorship on display would be the scene of triumph and despair, redemption and controversy. For one man in particular, the agony had started in earnest a few weeks before the big event.
Read more �
Monday, April 13, 2015
1983-84 FA Cup: Semi-finals
This piece follows on from my previous blogs on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth rounds of the 1983/84 FA Cup, which you can view here, here, here, here, here and here.
FA Cup semi-final Saturday in 1984, and as the thousands of supporters of the clubs involved made their way to the neutral venues in glorious April sunshine, there were a couple more chapters to be written in the fascinating tale of the competition.
Could the Plymouth adventure extend one match further and the Third Division club make history by reaching Wembley? Would Watford's six year journey from the Fourth Division to the Twin Towers be completed? Would Everton return to Wembley and make up for their Milk Cup final disappointment? Or would Southampton crown a marvellous season and reach their second FA Cup final in eight years? So many questions would be answered on Saturday April 14.
Read more �
FA Cup semi-final Saturday in 1984, and as the thousands of supporters of the clubs involved made their way to the neutral venues in glorious April sunshine, there were a couple more chapters to be written in the fascinating tale of the competition.
Could the Plymouth adventure extend one match further and the Third Division club make history by reaching Wembley? Would Watford's six year journey from the Fourth Division to the Twin Towers be completed? Would Everton return to Wembley and make up for their Milk Cup final disappointment? Or would Southampton crown a marvellous season and reach their second FA Cup final in eight years? So many questions would be answered on Saturday April 14.
Read more �
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
1983-84 FA Cup: Sixth round
This piece follows on from my previous blogs on the first, second, third, fourth and fifth rounds of the 1983/84 FA Cup, which you can view here, here, here, here and here.
"The FA Cup that has overflowed with surprises is almost empty of quality. Among the unlikely sixth round survivors are a third division club that was 10 minutes away from extinction two years ago, a second division club facing a winding-up petition on Monday, and the poorest supported first division club that is expected to be relegated in May". The Times' preview of the 1984 FA Cup quarter finals was hardly endorsing. But if you looked closely enough you could make a defence for the competition and the surviving clubs.
Everton were at the start of a run that would take them to a League title just over a year later; Southampton were enjoying a season to remember, many of their players hovering around in Bobby Robson's England thoughts; Watford were continuing their rise under Graham Taylor, with a prolific strike partnership and one of the most exciting talents in the domestic game; and who could fail to be warmed by the tale of John Hore's Plymouth as their FA Cup adventure showed no signs of abating? Maybe the 1984 FA Cup was not quite as mediocre as some would have us believe.
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"The FA Cup that has overflowed with surprises is almost empty of quality. Among the unlikely sixth round survivors are a third division club that was 10 minutes away from extinction two years ago, a second division club facing a winding-up petition on Monday, and the poorest supported first division club that is expected to be relegated in May". The Times' preview of the 1984 FA Cup quarter finals was hardly endorsing. But if you looked closely enough you could make a defence for the competition and the surviving clubs.
Everton were at the start of a run that would take them to a League title just over a year later; Southampton were enjoying a season to remember, many of their players hovering around in Bobby Robson's England thoughts; Watford were continuing their rise under Graham Taylor, with a prolific strike partnership and one of the most exciting talents in the domestic game; and who could fail to be warmed by the tale of John Hore's Plymouth as their FA Cup adventure showed no signs of abating? Maybe the 1984 FA Cup was not quite as mediocre as some would have us believe.
Read more �
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
1983-84 FA Cup: Fifth round
This piece follows on from my previous blogs on the first, second, third and fourth rounds of the 1983/84 FA Cup, which you can view here, here, here and here.
With most of the main leads out of the 1984 FA Cup already, it was time for the supporting cast to take centre stage as Fifth Round weekend approached. Two First Division clubs would fluff their lines, bundled out by lower league opponents during a round that was blighted by the continuing issue of hooliganism, as clubs and the police struggled to control the angry young men gathered in and around the grounds (as Andy Townsend might say).
Some may have been sneering at the apparent lack of quality left in the FA Cup (a slightly snobby attitude), but the competition somehow managed to limp on regardless.
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With most of the main leads out of the 1984 FA Cup already, it was time for the supporting cast to take centre stage as Fifth Round weekend approached. Two First Division clubs would fluff their lines, bundled out by lower league opponents during a round that was blighted by the continuing issue of hooliganism, as clubs and the police struggled to control the angry young men gathered in and around the grounds (as Andy Townsend might say).
Some may have been sneering at the apparent lack of quality left in the FA Cup (a slightly snobby attitude), but the competition somehow managed to limp on regardless.
Read more �
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
1983-84 FA Cup: Fourth round
This piece follows on from my previous blogs on the first, second and third rounds of the 1983/84 FA Cup, which you can view here, here and here.
The fourth round of the 1984 FA Cup provided talking points aplenty. From the exit of the favourites, to another lifeline for Howard Kendall, a frenetic south coast derby, and the blossoming relationship of Watford's very own Little and Large, the fourth round gave us enough entertainment to make this blog as lengthy as the Everton-Gillingham trilogy.
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The fourth round of the 1984 FA Cup provided talking points aplenty. From the exit of the favourites, to another lifeline for Howard Kendall, a frenetic south coast derby, and the blossoming relationship of Watford's very own Little and Large, the fourth round gave us enough entertainment to make this blog as lengthy as the Everton-Gillingham trilogy.
Read more �
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Wimbledon: The Crazy Gang
I always knew that the story of Wimbledon's rise to fame in the 1980s was entertaining and unusual, but the recent documentary on BT Sport was a real eye opener. Knowing who to believe is always difficult, and Dave Bassett, Terry Gibson and John Scales have been quick to dismiss some of the yarns trotted out by the likes of John Fashanu, Vinnie Jones and Wally Downes, but if you have 78 minutes to spare, then you could do a lot worse things with your time than spend it watching the programme here.
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Thursday, January 1, 2015
1983-84 FA Cup: Third round
This piece follows on from my previous blogs on the first and second rounds of the 1983/84 FA Cup, which you can view here and here.
The 1984 FA Cup third round was anything but dull. From an early and embarrassing exit for the holders, to a dramatic Herts/Beds derby, via the threat of a players strike, to numerous shocks, the combined events of third round weekend emphasised just how big a part the competition played in the domestic football calendar back in the 1980s. It can make one quite nostalgic for what seems like a bygone era.
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The 1984 FA Cup third round was anything but dull. From an early and embarrassing exit for the holders, to a dramatic Herts/Beds derby, via the threat of a players strike, to numerous shocks, the combined events of third round weekend emphasised just how big a part the competition played in the domestic football calendar back in the 1980s. It can make one quite nostalgic for what seems like a bygone era.
Read more �
