WHAT A ridiculous situation this season’s FA Cup is. The second qualifying round brought us many ties involving step two teams from the non-league world. But in this confusing world of the pandemic, step two clubs cannot admit supporters to their grounds. Somebody needs to tell the authorities that most non-league clubs play in front […]
FOOTBALL is back in Europe, with the Bundesliga kicking off in empty stadiums and players acknowledging goals with a grin, a mannekin-like pose and not a hint of schadenfreude. Rout in the Ruhr The world’s biggest crowd-puller, Borussia Dortmund (average gate 80,000-plus), opened the restart in a near empty Signal Iduna Park. The absence of […]
TO THE outside world, Leatherhead’s FA Cup run of 1974/75 might have looked like an ‘overnight success’. Indeed, the club had never previously reached the first round proper of the competition, much less the heights of the fourth round and the “Leicester game”. In our latest Guest Slot, Kevin Parrott recalls one of the mid-1970s […]
IF Chelsea had not got off to a miserable start in 1969-70, they may well have gone much closer to winning the Football League instead of their first FA Cup. Not that the Cup was a consolation, because in 1970, it really meant something and for the Blues, it was their first ever FA Cup […]
FOOTBALL dramas rarely hit the spot and unfortunately, Netflix’s The English Game did little to satisfy fans’ craving for action while the world’s most popular sport is suspended until further notice. As lightweight afternoon drama, it made a nice change from watching funeral plan advertisements and over-50s insurance, and it looked pretty good aesthetically, but […]
MORE THAN 18 years ago, Jeff Astle, a member of England’s 1970 World Cup squad and a prolific goalscorer in the late 1960s and early 1970s for West Bromwich Albion, died. Astle’s passing was greatly mourned, because not only was he a notable and popular player, but there was a hint that Astle’s death had […]
AT THE mid-point of the 1977-78 season, FA Cup success and avoiding relegation was all Chelsea could hope for – a far cry from the early 1970s when the Blues, under Dave Sexton, won two trophies and reached three consecutive cup finals. An over-ambitious rebuilding project contributed to Sexton’s downfall and in 1974, the departure […]
THE RECENT decision by Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp to field a development squad in the FA Cup for the club’s replay with Shrewsbury Town has, quite rightly, not been well received. Klopp devalued the competition by going AWOL and tarnished his image with the game’s followers. It’s a pity as Klopp has been universally popular since […]
AS USUAL, the FA Cup third round brought with it heated debate about the way Premier League clubs abuse the competition. If we are truly honest with ourselves, the FA Cup used to be so important because of a number of reasons, but these have largely become null and void in the modern game. Firstly, […]
