Saturday 17 July 2021

PREMIER LEAGUE

Within weeks of the rule-change, the first penalty shoot-out in a professional match in England took place in the first sponsored competition played in the country, The Watney Cup (p.s.Watney was a brewery company! famed for their trade mark "Red Barrel beer").  It was a perfect competition to introduce the shoot-out with three rounds in just a week in pre-season there was no room for replays. So on Wednesday 5th August 1970 before 34,007 faithful at Boothferry Park Hull City entertained a full-strength Manchester United in the semi-final of the competition. At the end of 90 minutes it was 1-1, at the end of extra time it remained 1-1 and so penalties it was, five apiece as a start. None other than George Best took the first penalty in a shoot-out and scored. Player manager Terry Neill scored for Hull - 1-1. Brian Kidd scored for United, Ian Butler for City - 2-2. It became 3-3 when Bobby Charlton and Chris Simpkin scored for their respective clubs. Then Denis Law entered history by becoming the first player who failed to score, Hull 'keeper Ian McKechnie making a save. Hull's Ken Wagstaff missed his so still 3-3. Willie Morgan made it 4-3 for United and it became sudden death for Hull - they needed to score to be able to continue with the shoot-out while a miss would see them lose. Up stepped Hull goalkeeper Ian McKechnie and the world - and McKechnie in particular - was soon to learn how quickly a penalty-saving hero can turn into a penalty-missing villain. His attempt hit the bar and went over, Hull were out, and the name McKechnie became the first to be engraved on a long list whose enduring fame is largely reliant on a penalty miss! 


17th July 1991 was when the Premier League officially took the final step to reality, when 22 of the old Football League Division One sides moved across the "divide" lead by the top 5 clubs; Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Man U and Tottenham H. There was a "Founder Members" agreement, which allowed the clubs migrating to the Premier League being allowed to compete for the English FA Cup and ironically, the English Football League Cup. With all this change, inevitably agreements over TV Deals and lucrative Sponsorship contracts were allowed. The P.L. kicked off in 1992. The idea was that the best teams in the P.L. would be able to compete in European competitions more effectively. Any evidence of that?

On July 14th 1994, at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena USA, the first World Cup Final to be decided by a penalty shoot out took place after a 0-0 draw between Brazil and Italy. Brazil won their fourth World Cup title, after a 3-2 penalty win.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPM_JSbGvI



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