Sunday 19 April 2015

ASTON VANILLA, TAKE THE CREAM OF THE KOP

My first Cup Final, the one I remember and saw on a black and white TV at home, was on May 4th, when Aston Villa overcame Manchester United in 1957 at Wembley, in front of 100,000.
Villa, a mid-table First Division side, were not favourites. United, prior to the dreadful Munich Air Crash, were full of hope and good players and were already League Champions. Players such as Duncan Edwards, Bobby Charlton, Bill Foulkes and Ray Wood in goal, were sure to carry home the trophy.
But Peter McParland, an Irish international winger barged into Ray Wood, breaking the goalie's cheek bone and caused him to leave the pitch after only six minutes. There were no substitutes in those days and Villa played against 10 men for the rest of the game. Wembley Cup Finals had a reputation of such injuries, Jimmy Meadows in 1955, Bert Trautmann in 1956, Harry Gregg in 1958, Roy Dwight in 1959, Dave Whelan in 1960 and so on.
Did somebody say that the FA has common sense and set the laws of the game to be fair and functional? When were substitutes introduced?
Centre-half Jackie Blanchflower, whose brother Danny was later to lead Spurs to a Cup and League double in 1960-1, went in goal and made some fine saves but even though United scored late in the match, Villa were triumphant, winning 2-1. This was the seventh Cup Final win for Villa and they denied United the Double.
So now Villa have a Cup Final to play on May 30th. Their first chance of winning FA Cup silver for 58 years. Only Arsenal to beat then, Tim Shearwood.


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