This article orignally appeared in edition 273 of The Gooner.
Those of us of a certain vintage will forever bang on about how great the FA Cup used to be, and with some justification. The competition was rightfully viewed with pride as worldwide audiences were left enthralled at the magic of the cup. Sadly, the riches of the Premier League and Champions League has left the FA Cup looking like a slightly poor relation in comparison. Well done, everyone involved.
Many of the great traditions have been lost – marathon replays, neutral club grounds used for semi-finals, the wacky 3pm kick-off time for the final – but fortunately one experiment has long since disappeared. I yearn for the days of old, but you can keep your FA Cup third-fourth play-off match.
Highbury hosted the first play-off, with 15,105 watching Manchester United defeat Watford on the day before the final. But when a paltry 5,031 saw Stoke beat Everton at Selhurst Park in 1971, even the FA understood that the location and date of the match had to be switched if their dead duck was to be revived.
Moving the fixture to the ground of one of the teams involved helped, as did playing the match just prior to the following season. Birmingham City’s win over Stoke saw the first penalty shootout in FA Cup history, and the FA will have been enthused by the fact that 25,841 people turned up at St Andrew’s.
This is when The Arsenal enter the fray. The semi-final defeat against Sunderland in 1973 would have been crushing for any Arsenal fans leaving Hillsborough on April 7. I’m guessing that precisely 0% of those making their way back from Sheffield would have been clinging on to the fact that at least they had a third-fourth play-off to look forward to against Wolves.
The intervening months were hardly soothing for Arsenal supporters. The gradual break-up of the 1971 Double team continued, as the club entered the new campaign with a squad of only 14 players. Out went Frank McLintock, meaning a regular starting spot for Jeff Blockley, and with manager Bertie Mee seemingly unable to bring players in, the squad seemed to down to the bare bones by the start of the 1973/74 campaign.
“With the difficulties that exist in getting experienced players, other clubs could find themselves following our trend and giving a chance to their young reserves,” an under pressure Mee protested. “On paper our squad may look under-strength,” new club captain Bob McNab added. “But this could be the season when young players make the breakthrough as rivals to the established stars.”
There can be no doubt that football supporters love to see a youth product come through the ranks. Mistakes are often forgiven, as young players step up to the top level. But with Arsenal just two years on from the Double, Arsenal fans may have wondered how things had come to this. The squad desperately needed reinforcements, yet only Brian Chambers arrived, signed from Sunderland for £30,000.
Injuries and suspensions hardly improved the situation as Mee prepared to take on Wolves at Highbury on Saturday August 18. With Pat Rice, Peter Storey, George Armstrong, and Charlie George all out, Mee was forced to turn to teenagers Brendon Batson, Brian Hornsby, David Price and Richie Powling, as well as new signing Chambers. The warning signs for the forthcoming season were there.
A reasonably healthy crowd of 21,308 attended the match at Highbury on Saturday August 18, for what in all intents and purposes was a glorified friendly. Sadly, a couple of young spectators didn’t even get to see the glory of the FA Cup third-fourth play-off match, with North London magistrate Peter Goldstone sentencing the teenagers for being drunk and disorderly.
The press jumped over this come Monday morning. But their lack of interest in the play-off match was understandable. Wolves would dominate the first half, goals from Jim McCalliog and Derek Dougan giving the away team a two-goal advantage at half-time.
Price may have been slightly at fault for the opener, but in general the kids did alright. Alas Blockley looked shaky all afternoon, taking a tumble before John Richards narrowly missed a golden chance, and completely missing the ball on the halfway line in the second half, as future Arsenal hero Alan Sunderland almost added a third.
Arsenal did get back into the match, with Hornsby reducing the deficit, and the young midfielder would later spurn a glorious chance to level matters. But an unfortunate slip in front of goal by Batson gifted Dougan his second of the day, giving Wolves the underwhelming honour of finishing third in the 1973 FA Cup. Both sets of players received tankards, but many of these have ended up on Sports Memorabilia auction sites.
“Wolves, for what it’s worth, take third place in last year’s FA Cup,” wrote Brian Glanville in the Sunday Times, neatly summing up the lack of passion surrounding the pointless play-off. The idea was dropped by the FA a year later, after a gate of only 4,432 was recorded for the Leicester-Burnley play-off at Filbert Street, five days after the final. Luckily, it has yet to return.
There have been some reasonably odd matches in Arsenal’s history. Yet the 1973 FA Cup play-off must be contending for top spot in this particular list, despite the fact that in recent years we have all learned that fourth place is a trophy. However, as naff as the occasion seems, the fixture did give an indication of the health of Arsenal Football Club as the new season neared.
Injuries and suspensions highlighted that the squad was far too thin to prosper in the English top flight, and with McLintock gone, the defence looked vulnerable. Replacing the Double winners was proving too big a job for Mee, and a 10th place finish in Division One, coupled with Cup defeats to lower league opponents Tranmere and Aston Villa, pointed to the fact that the decline had now well and truly set in.
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