FA CUP 3rd PLACE

ON April 10th 1970 Manchester United beat Watford 2-0 at Highbury with just over 15,000 watching. It was to earn 3rd Place in the FA Cup Tournament. Brian Kidd netted twice
Watford as the other losing semi-finalist, came 4th, as if anyone cared. A bright idea by the FA Cup committee?
The Final was exciting with Chelsea winning the replay at Old Trafford against Leeds Utd 2-1 after a 2-2 aet at Wembley.
Alan Whittle beats Gordon Banks at Selhurst Park on May 7th 1971 in the 3rd/4th Play Off of the FA Cup. Stoke beat Everton 3-2. Just over 5,000 bothered to watch.

Learning from their mistakes the FA made the "3rd/4th Play Off" a pre-season game (makes sense though many of the squad may have been new club signings and not linked to the previous season's "jollyties".

So August 5th 1972 was the next 3rd Place play-off and Birmingham City played Stoke City at St Andrews with nearly 26,000 in the crowd to see their new men. The teams did not live up expectations, with a tactical 0-0 draw and 4-3 on penalties.
IT WAS the first FA Cup tie ever to go to penalties.

A year later on August 18th 1973 Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Arsenal 3-1 at Highbury!! (21,000+). Seemed like a good idea BUT!

Back to a post season fixture, on May 9th 1974 and 5 days after the final, Burnley beat Leicester City in a thrilling 1-0 at Leicester's Filbert Street. 6,500 bothered.

It was a "Five Year Experiment", so fair enough..... F...A.. came of it!