‘The 1970s’ Archives
Football was better in the past: 1973-74
Finally I’ve reached the season in which I was born, although I hardly have clear memories of it, so am relying on the history books as with the other years in this series. It opened with an odd Charity Shield, played out between Man City, who were the holders of the trophy, and Burnley, who as 2nd Division champions were invited to play the [...]
Football was better in the past: 1972-73
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 [...]
An ancient history of Scotland v Holland
How could I miss the chance to crank this one out? Anyone will tell you the greatest match in World Cup history was Scotland's defeat of the footballing gods of Holland in the 1978 tournament; anyone from Scotland, that is. The euphoria and boundless optimism surrounding the squad's qualification for the footballing extravaganza evaporated when [...]
Football was better in the past: 1971-72
1971-72 was quite a season for young Brian Clough who, at the tender age of 37, won the first major trophy of his managerial career by guiding Derby County to their first ever league championship. This was no ordinary title triumph but the mother of all four-way battles. They overcame not only the mighty Leeds United to win the four-horse race but [...]
Football was better in the past: 1970-71
Leeds United were the predominant team of the era, although Everton had finished the previous season ahead of them as League champions and Chelsea had beaten them in the Cup final. England had, of course, handed over the World Cup to Brazil despite being the best team in Mexico. Man Utd were already in rapid decline, but give George Best the ball [...]
Panini legends #12: Poshest bloke ever
.JPG "Panini legends #12: Poshest bloke ever")
Forbes Phillipson-Masters. No, really, that's his name. Despite what you make think, bleeding obvious actually from the picture, this isn't the 'all good friends and jolly good company' era of the 1930s but actually the beginning of the 1980s. How a bloke named Forbes Phillipson-Masters managed to survive the enormous amount of heckling his name [...]
