This was a bit of a humdrum season, in the league at least, with Liverpool cruising to another championship triumph in Bill Shankly’s penultimate season as manager. Despite competition from Arsenal, Leeds United, Ipswich Town and Wolverhampton Wanderers, Liverpool finished on top. Many consider this as the year that the great Liverpool dynasty was founded and their local rivals were finally usurped once and for all, well until the mid ’80s at least.
Manchester United sacked hapless manager Frank O’Farrell after 18 months in charge, mainly because he had been unable to mount a title challenge. Tommy Docherty, the 44-year-old Scottish national coach and former Aston Villa manager, was appointed as his successor. Thiz waz coupled with Bobby Charlton (and brother Jack at Leeds) and Denis Law both playing their last games for the club, while George Best’s appearances were becoming increasingly rare, and drunken.
Top of the table 1972-73
Down in the Second Division, Burnley and Queens Park Rangers won promotion to the First Division. Huddersfield Town’s decline continued as they slid into the Third Division, where they were joined by Brighton & Hove Albion. The Third Division saw Bolton Wanderers and Notts County occupying the two promotion places. Rotherham United, Brentford, Swansea City and Scunthorpe United were relegated to the Fourth Division. Hereford United were promoted from the Fourth Division after only their first season as a Football League club. They had been elected to the Football League a year earlier after winning the Southern League and achieving a shock win over Newcastle United in the F.A Cup. They were joined in the promotion zone by champions Southport, Cambridge United and Aldershot, with Newport County missing promotion only on goal average. There were no clubs voted into in the league in 1973. Indeed, up until 1987, the bottom four teams were subject to a vote by other league clubs on whether they would stay or go. Clubs who went out of the league include Barrow, Bradford Park Avenue, Gateshead, Southport, Workington and the recently recovered Accrington Stanley. Automatic relegation to the Conference was not introduced until 1987, the same year the fourth promotion place began to be decided through a play-off.
A question for you: what was used for the first time in 1973 and never used again? The answer: An orange ball. An Ian Porterfield goal saw lowly Sunderland achieve a famous 1-0 win over mighty Leeds United in the F.A Cup final. Sunderland, managed by Bob Stokoe, did not have any full internationals playing for them, whereas Don Revie’s Leeds side were all internationals and reigning cup holders. Sunderland goalkeeper Jim Montgomery also received plaudits after an inspired performance featuring a legendary double-save from Peter Lorimer.
Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Arsenal 3-1 at Highbury in a third-place playoff (!), held three months after the final. As for the League Cup, Tottenham Hotspur’s Bill Nicholson guided his club to triumph, beating Norwich City 1-0 in the final, and in the process added another trophy to the club’s ever-growing list of honours.
Tottenham goalkeeper Pat Jennings added the Football Writers Association Player of the Year award to his League Cup winners medal. In addition to the league, Liverpool won the 1973 UEFA Cup Final against Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the home leg 3-0 before hanging on in the away leg to take the trophy 3-2 on aggregate. Brian Clough took his Derby County side all the way to the semi-finals of the European Cup, losing to Juventus in very dodgy circumstances (Juventus bribed the ref). Talking of very dodgy circumstances, Milan’s victory over Leedz United in the 1973 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final was blemished by the ‘eccentric’ refereeing of Christos Michas, who made numerous dubious decisions in favour of the Italian side, and who eventually sent off Norman Hunter. The crowd at the final was so incensed by the combination of Michas’ clearly one-sided refereeing that they threw missiles at the Milan players when they attempted their lap of dishonour. Instead, for the first and last time in the history of the trophy, the losing side took a lap of honor around the field, with the Leeds players receiving applause from the local sets of fans. Michas was subsequently investigated by the Greek FA, on suspicion that he’d accepted a bribe by Milan. He was banned by UEFA from refereeing on international level again. Although Leeds United attempted to gain a replay, their request was denied by ever cowardly UEFA.
