MAY DAY FOR ALF

May 1st 1974 was a memorable May Day, because the FA decided to sack Alf Ramsey as manager of the national team, a job Alf had held since 1963. In 113 internationals he had won 69 and drawn 17, added to this the World Cup win in 1966. He also took England to 3rd place in the Euros in 1968. England had failed to reach the Euros Final in 1972 and the World Cup in 1974, including the disappointing draw with Poland, who had not qualified for the World Cup since 1938. Ramsey had asked the Football League to cancel the round of matches the previous weekend so he could get his team together. Alan Hardaker, the FL Chairman refused saying that "it is a football match not a war!" This was the first time England had failed to qualify for the World Cup.

With seven internationals coming up in a month, Joe Mercer was persuaded to leave Coventry City and he managed 3 wins and 3 draws and a defeat to Scotland.
In July 1974 Don Revie left Leeds United to take over the national role....you may know the rest.

Walter Winterbottom was the England manager prior to Ramsey, very much an FA "puppet" who had nothing to do with selection but was allowed to coach the national team. In 1962, England had reached the quarter-finals of the Chilean World Cup, losing to Brazil.

Ramsey had been in charge at unfashionable Ipswich Town and had taken them through as Third Division South champions in 1956-7, then the Division Two title in 1959-60 and on to the England Division One Championship in 1961-62. Ramsey then managed England from 1963 until 1974, he had a short spell, 1977-8, at Birmingham City, when he was 58 years old and in 1979-80 was Technical Director at Panathanaikos.

Ramsey had announced that he was going to take England to win the World Cup in 1966, a statement that didn't make him very popular, and he appointed the youthful Bobby Moore as captain. Two risky moves. He had success with England of course, but his departure was not elegant ,as he faced the wrath of Harold Thompson, the FA Chairman. Many of his faithful players were stunned by his sacking. Ramsey died in 1999 aged 79 following alzheimers and prostate cancer. He then had a stroke on the eve of the 1998 World Cup.

Sports' historian, Frank McLynn said that "he was a humourless bore and stifling tactician whose reputation rests on one single undeserved triumph."