1971-72 season scrapbook

[SirBrian]

Happy memories, and it only seems yesterday, good to have a read in these trying times, thank you all for putting this page on the forum, Cheers?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Eatonram said:

Brilliant, I think there is also an account of this game in the Nick Hornby book, "fever pitch" which is even better.

Just for you Eaton, this is what Nick Hornby had to say about Charlie on the day:

‘At Derby he was astonishing on a dreadful muscle-jellifying winter pitch (Those pitches! The Baseball Ground, White Hart Lane, Wembley even……..was winter grass really an eighties innovation, like the video machine or frozen yogurt?). He scored twice, two screamers, and to the tune of Andrew Lloyd-Webbers then-recent hit, we sang ‘Charlie George! Superstar! How many goals have you scored s o far?’ (to which the Derby fans, like others all over the country had done before them, replied ‘Charlie George! Superstar! Walks like a woman and he wears a bra!’ It is hard not to laugh when people remember the sixties and seventies as the golden age of terrace wit). Despite Charlie’s double the game finished 2-2 after a late Derby equalizer, and I therefore got the draw I’d been cravenly hoping for, but not the aggro- free walk back to the station that was supposed to be mine as a consequence.

‘It was Charlie’s fault. A goal for reasons that would require a book in itself to explain, is a provocative  gesture, especially when the terraces are already bathed in a sort of half light of violence, as they were that afternoon. I understood that Charlie was a professional footballer and that if an opportunity to score came his way then our tenuous safety should not in itself be a consideration. This much was clear. But whether it was absolutely essential to celebrate by running over to the Derby fans – in whose snarling, southern-poof hating, Cockney baiting, skinheaded, steel toecapped company we were obliged to spend the remainder of the afternoon, and through whose hostile, alleywayed territory we were obliged to scuttle after the final whistle – and making an unambiguous take-that-you-provincial duckers V-sign……this was much more opaque. The way I saw it, Charlie’s sense of responsibility and duty had momentarily let him down.

‘He got booed off the pitch and fined by the FA; we got chased all the way on to our train, bottles and cans cascading around our ears. Cheers, Charlie.'

[Ram-Alf]

I've been pointed to this thread by Brailsford Ram so thanks Brailsford

There's things from way back I remember as tho yesterday, Then there's things I forget and can only remember through youtube/google.

The 2-2 draw at the BBG I was almost certainly there but memories have faded, The replay I can only remember as there was a crush in the crowd...footage below

The 2nd replay I remember well for 2 reasons, A John McGovern back pass that was intercepted and a goal was scored to knock us out 1-0, The 2nd incident was as all DCFC fans were coming out of the ground round the pitch?, All we could hear was..."Good old Arsenal we're proud to sing that name, While we sing this song we'll win the game" what a shyte song aye?

As a 15 year old at the time, I was seriously upset so bent down and picked up some sluge, I threw it about the size of a tanner it was, If it hit anyone they wouldn't have known, Only I got lifted by the police, Put in their mobile office outside and got a serious telling off?, Name and address given for future referance ?

51 years ago...Wow!

[LeedsCityRam]

FA Cup 5th Round replay – Tuesday 29th February 1972 & the return match at Highbury

Just a quick note that 1972 was a leap year so today is the closest we can get to 50 years ago since this fixture. It will also break the symmetry of all Saturday matches in 71/72 being on a Saturday 50 years later – instead they will be on a Friday for rest of the season (starting this Friday for the Wolves home game)

This game was played against the backdrop of the recent Miners’ Strike which had depleted stocks of coal to such an extent that there were regular blackouts & power shortages throughout the country. The football authorities in response placed severe limitations on floodlit midweek matches meaning that this cup tie kicked off at 2.45pm on a Tuesday afternoon. Despite that, an astonishing 63,077 turned up – Arsenal’s biggest home gate of the season by over 10k & the biggest FA Cup crowd of the season outside the Final itself at Wembley.

Unfortunately, the enormous crowd caused real issues with congestion & there were a number of crushes as Highbury struggled to cope with that many present – footage in Alf’s post above this one

 

Onto the football, like 3 days earlier the sides remained deadlocked meaning a second replay would be needed (this time on a neutral ground – chosen to be Filbert Street, Leicester);

 

 

Programme from the game;

 

The draw for the 6th round had been made before the game & paired the winners of this tie with Orient, who were 5th from bottom in Division 2. With all due respect to Orient, this was a great opportunity for Derby or Arsenal to make the semi-finals & hence the second replay to be played at Filbert Street on March 13th took on even more importance. Full 6th round draw;

 

There were also 3 fixtures in the League this afternoon & the day after, with Man City beating West Brom 2-1 at Maine Road to extend their lead over Derby to 5 points;

[Guest]

As we set out that morning to London, Chicory Tip were in the middle of a three weeks long run at No. 1 in the pop music charts with ‘Son Of My Father.’ The three days working week, brought in as part of the government’s national emergency response to make energy savings in the face of the recent national miner’s strike, was still in place. Electricity was rationed and floodlights were banned at sporting events. For that reason and calculating the possibility of extra-time being played, the game kicked off at 2.45pm. For many of us, apart from on Bank Holidays, this was the first time that we had attended a professional match on a mid-week afternoon.  While many might think that this might have deterred fans from attending, the opposite was in fact true. Just over 63k fans made up a capacity crowd at Highbury with the gates being closed ten minutes before kick-off. Over 10k more spectators attended the game than had done so for the corresponding League fixture just 17 days earlier. Seating was all-ticket but admission to the terraces was by paying at the turnstiles. A huge contingent of away fans followed the Rams to the capital. Both sides knew that they were playing for a trip to Leyton Orient in the next round so the winners would fancy their chances of reaching the semi-finals.

Storey replaced Kelly for Arsenal but the Rams remained unchanged. Although Derby looked more skilful than their opponents in the first half they were unable to break down Arsenal’s resolute defence. When the Gunners did push forward they found McFarland and Todd in magnificent form at the heart of the Rams’ rearguard. Ball and Kennedy did manage shots on goal eventually but Boulton was equal to the task.

At the other end Hinton floated over a couple of excellent crosses that beat keeper Bob Wilson but O’Hare was unable to convert the first after being badly obstructed and Gemmill’s effort from the second was blocked.

The game was held up for a while in the second half when a crush barrier collapsed on the bank of terracing in the corner of the ground between the North Bank and the Main Stand. It looked a potentially serious incident as supporters cascaded down to the foot of the terrace. But thankfully, although several people were taken away for treatment, there were no serious injuries and the game resumed.

Derby continued to dominate for long periods but they were still unable to find a way to score the elusive goal that would almost certainly settle the tie. Arsenal brought on John Radford to replace Ray Kennedy and when the game went into extra time the Rams still looked the likelier of the two teams to force a result. In the final minutes Alan Hinton broke away down the right but his cross-shot passed Wilson but also tantalisingly went the wrong side of the far post. So, the tie had to move on to a second replay at Leicester City’s Filbert Street ground in 13 days time.

Nick Hornby also attended the game at Highbury as he recounted in ‘Fever Pitch’:

‘SOCIAL HISTORY’

‘The replay finished nil-nil, a game with no merit whatsoever. But it remains the only first team game that has taken place at Highbury on a mid-week afternoon during my Arsenal time: February 1972 was the time of the power workers strike. For all us it meant sporadic electricity, candlelight, occasional cold suppers, but for third year football fans it meant visits to the Electricity Board showroom, where the cut-off rota was posted, in order to discover which of us were able to offer The Big Match on Sunday afternoons. For Arsenal, the power crisis meant no floodlights, hence the Tuesday afternoon replay.

‘I went to the game despite school, and although I might have imagined that the crowd might consist of me, a few other teenage truants, and a scattering of pensioners, in fact there were more than sixty-three thousand people there, the biggest crowd of the season. I was disgusted. No wonder the country was going to the dogs! My truancy prevented me from sharing my disquiet with my mother (an irony that escaped me at the time), but what was going on?

‘For this thirty-something, the midweek afternoon Cup-tie (West Ham played giant-killers Hereford on a Tuesday afternoon as well, and got a forty-two-thousand-plus crowd) now has that wonderful early seventies sheen, like an episode of The Fenn Street Gang or a packet of Number Six cigarettes; maybe it was just that everyone at Upton Park and Highbury, all one hundred and six thousand of us, wanted to walk down one of the millions of tin alleys of social history.’

[angieram]

Of course there was a huge crowd. What else had people to do with a three day working week and no electricity? 

I remember this time well because we had a 'wireless',  which contrarily was wired into the electricity and therefore didn't work! Me and my little transistor radio (permanently tuned into Luxembourg 208) suddenly became the focus of household entertainment. 

It was a bleak winter but the football was so entertaining we probably didn't care much. Reading the reports, those names are as familiar to me now as they were then. 

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, angieram said:

Of course there was a huge crowd. What else had people to do with a three day working week and no electricity? 

Well I for one was a student at the time and I had to get my priorities right. So I bunked off lectures for the day and went to London, spending the next few nights copying up the lecture notes from those taken by friends. Others that I knew had been able to arrange a day off work but many had not - to get around the problem they simply rang in on the sick.

Added to this, with the three day week came austerity and a wage cut. Money was tight and in the Forest at home post last week we mentioned that football attendances were down on previous seasons due to the economic climate where unemployment and job insecurity was increasing.

So the choice of forking out on another day at the football was more considered for those who attended than you may care to remember Angie. I was there and so was Nick Hornby and we both recall our surprise at just how many went to the game that afternoon.

[angieram]

6 hours ago, Brailsford Ram said:

Well I for one was a student at the time and I had to get my priorities right. So I bunked off lectures for the day and went to London, spending the next few nights copying up the lecture notes from those taken by friends. Others that I knew had been able to arrange a day off work but many had not - to get around the problem they simply rang in on the sick.

Added to this, with the three day week came austerity and a wage cut. Money was tight and in the Forest at home post last week we mentioned that football attendances were down on previous seasons due to the economic climate where unemployment and job insecurity was increasing.

So the choice of forking out on another day at the football was more considered for those who attended than you may care to remember Angie. I was there and so was Nick Hornby and we both recall our surprise at just how many went to the game that afternoon.

Well I couldn't afford to go at all. My pocket money only stretched to Ofton Town games! 

[uttoxram75]

Huge thanks to @LeedsCityRam and @Brailsford Ram for bringing these fabulous memories back to life. it sweeps me back to my childhood like I was in a time machine.

Well done fellas.

?

[Eatonram]

Does anyone else remember the floodlights being powered by massive generators parked behind the Ossie end because of the power cuts?

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Eatonram said:

Does anyone else remember the floodlights being powered by massive generators parked behind the Ossie end because of the power cuts?

Thanks for that Eaton. I had a season ticket in Normanton Upper. There were generators on Vulcan Street too, which you have now reminded me of. The fact that we had to play the replay without floodlights has stayed with all of us who went because at that time it was unique. However, when I was writing about the first game, I felt sure the floodlights were on when Charlie performed in front of the Popside but I thought I must be wrong. Now I think I was right after all because we were allowed to power the lights with our own generators, which must have been hired from somewhere.

[strawhillram]

2 hours ago, angieram said:

Well I couldn't afford to go at all. My pocket money only stretched to Ofton Town games! 

was entrance 1/- in old money and 6d for a two page programme made out of izal loo roll?

[angieram]

5 minutes ago, StrawHillRam said:

was entrance 1/- in old money and 6d for a two page programme made out of izal loo roll?

9d and 3d each way on the bus from Somercotes pre-decimalisation!

[LeedsCityRam]

Matchday 30 – Saturday 4th March 1972 & a return to League action with the visit of Wolves to the BBG

Wolves started the day just outside the top 6 on goal average & had beaten Derby 2-1 at Molineux in November. However, their away form was particularly ordinary & that pattern continued with Derby coming back from an early goal down to win 2-1, goals coming from Alan Hinton (penalty) & Roy McFarland;

 

 

Front page of The Ram decried the decision of the Football League not to allow that weekend’s League Cup Final between Stoke & Chelsea to be shown live on television;

 

Derby’s win kept them in 3rd place but still 5 points off the top. Man City beat Arsenal 2-0 at Maine Road whilst Leeds were involved in one of the most iconic games of the season, beating Southampton 7-0 with a display of humiliating keep ball at the end of the game just to rub it in;

Leeds highlights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvf8szf7u80

 

[Guest]

Derby remained unchanged yet again. By now supporters had become accustomed to seeing the same 11 players week-in, week-out but it was only possible because of their fitness and desire to play and maybe a bit of luck in avoiding injuries. The notorious BBG mud might have been difficult for visiting teams to cope with but Derby had to contend with it every other week.

Before the match Derby unveiled Ian Storey-Moore as their new signing to rapturous applause. Unfortunately it was about to become a particularly embarrassing episode when Forest refused to sanction his move and he opted to join Manchester United instead. 

The Rams began sluggishly on a wet afternoon and Wolves went ahead in the seventh minute from Jim McCalliog’s penalty after Colin Boulton had upended Derek Dougan. The first half was becoming an increasingly frenetic affair with the away side determined to hold on to their lead by any means at their disposal. Despite being on top for long periods, and Hinton rattling a shot onto the bar from a penalty, the Rams were unable to find a way through and it remained 1-0 to Bill McGarry’s side at the interval.

Five minutes after the break, the referee pointed to the spot for a second time, after Frank Munro tackled Hector from behind and Hinton made no mistake from 12-yards, sending Phil Parkes the wrong way. It was his 14th goal of the season and his seventh from the spot.

Derby were now looking the team most likely to take the lead and on 71 minutes McFarland soared above the Wolves’ defence to head past Parkes to make it 2-1. There was no way back for Wolves after that. They were missing the influence of Mike Bailey in midfield and despite a late rally they were unable to force an equaliser.

Forest had accepted a £200k bid from Manchester United for 27 years old Storey-Moore, but he could not agree personal terms. Clough moved quickly, convincing the player that Derby represented a better move than United. After meeting on the Thursday night at the Edwalton Hotel, Storey-Moore signed the papers as did Derby secretary, Stuart Webb.  However, Forest secretary, Ken Smales, refused meaning that Storey-Moore technically remained a Forest player. Smales warned Sam Longson that there would be trouble if Clough pressed on with the transfer but Clough reassured his chairman that the player was keen on the deal and not to be concerned.

Just to be sure that Storey-Moore remained keen, the night before the Wolves game, Clough took him to meet the Derby squad at the Midland Hotel and booked a room for him to stay the night. Convinced that he was his player, Clough paraded him on the pitch before the Wolves game, much to Forest’s fury because the paperwork was incomplete.

Unlike the recent efforts of his players, Frank O’Farrell did not know when he was defeated. After getting a heads-up that a deal could be back on, he travelled with Sir Matt Busby the next day to the player’s home with an enormous bunch of flowers for Mrs. Storey-Moore. Following a short conversation, the player signed for United.

The season’s transfers now totalled £4.328m compared with the previous season’s £2.404k. Philip Whitehead, the MP for Derby North, wanted the government to step in and control this ‘flesh market.’

Clough fired off a hectoring telegram to the Football League Secretary, Alan Hardaker, pointing out that Forest manager, Matt Gillies, had given him permission to discuss terms with Storey-Moore.  Sam Longson, appalled by the tone Clough had taken, sent his own telegram to Hardaker, apologising.  Despite Longson’s attempt at damage control, Derby were fined £5k and Clough was warned ‘as to the manner in which any further negotiations regarding the transfer of players are carried out.’ Longson and Clough’s formerly strong relationship was beginning to unravel. At the end of the month it would be tested further.

Storey-Moore only played 39 games for United, scoring 11 goals. He had recovered from surgery to repair a serious ankle ligament injury while at Forest. Contesting a ball with David Sadler in training, his weakened ligaments gave way. From January 1973, he only played four games before retiring in December 1973, aged just 28.

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

Despite being on top for long periods, and Hinton rattling a shot onto the bar from a penalty, the Rams were unable to find a way through and it remained 1-0 to Bill McGarry’s side at the interval.

This paragraph is a mistake and should have read 'Hinton rattling the bar with a shot from close to the penalty spot.'

[IslandExile]

2 hours ago, Brailsford Ram said:

Before the match Derby unveiled Ian Storey-Moore as their new signing to rapturous applause. Unfortunately it was about to become a particularly embarrassing episode when Forest refused to sanction his move and he opted to join Manchester United instead. 

Would've been interesting to see where he'd've been squeezed into the side.

[Reggie Greenwood]

9 minutes ago, IslandExile said:

Would've been interesting to see where he'd've been squeezed into the side.

Probably would have interchanged with Gladys and King Kev to keep them fit. We actually dodged a bullet though as he was a crock

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, IslandExile said:

Would've been interesting to see where he'd've been squeezed into the side.

LOL IslandExile. Great minds think alike. That's a question that has intrigued me for 50 years. It seems unfathomable even now that Clough could have broken up the tried and trusted combination of Hector, O'Hare and Hinton just at that particular time. But I think that had Storey-Moore signed then he wouldn't have brought him in to warm the bench. We'll never know the answer now.

Storey-Moore and Hector did eventually get the chance to play together. Neil Warnock ended his League playing career as a winger at Crewe at the end of the 1978-79 season and joined Burton Albion. He recounts the following in his autobiography:

“But I kept on playing. I went to Burton Albion the next season and played up front with Kevin Hector. What a player he was. Even then at the end of his career, he was still class.. We struck up a good partnership. Ian Storey-Moore was the player-manager and I had never seen a winger like him. He was magnificent and a lovely man. On the odd occasions he played, he couldn’t walk for days on end afterwards because he had dodgy ankles but when he did play, he was outstanding."

Edited March 4, 2022 by Brailsford Ram

[Crewton]

Re : the first Cup Tie v Arsenal at the BBG - I was stood about 2/3rds of the way down the Popside when Charlie George came running over to the fans right in front of me, flicking the Vees, after scoring Arsenal's 2nd. I must have a bit of 6th sense because my reaction was to duck down, not lurch forward with the rest of the crowd. Smart move because moments later, a shower of snot, like a scene from a Derk & Clive version of Agincourt, came raining down from the crowd behind us, splattering not only Charlie and his team mates but most of the fans around me as, inevitably, many 'arrows' fell short of their mark. Not a speck on me, but Charlie looked like the Jolly Green Giant!