October 17th, is the birthday of a significant Carthusian footballer. But enough of that, it is also the anniversary of a major international football event, which in 1973 saw the end to Alf Ramsey's managership of the national side.
England had not entered the first three World Cup competitions (first played in 1930); whether it was in those days snobbery or whatever, the FA officials couldn't see the need to enter a tournament for a game that "they had invented"? Surely, no nation was entitiled to share the same pitch as England in a tournament! The English FA eventually realised, after the Second World War, that England was not the centre of the universe, in politics, war or football, so in 1950, England joined in with the rest of the World and travelled to the USA for the World Cup tournament. It was not a happy occasion. Worth looking it up!
Putting that aside, by 1974 England had been drawn in a European group that included Wales and Poland. Surely their path to another World Cup finals was an easy one? Manager Alf had not done this before, so he was on new territory. The finals were to be held in West Germany butto get there the English had to overcome Wales first. This resulted in an unconvincing 0-1 victory away and then back at Wembley, the Welsh managed a 1-1 draw. The next match was in Chorzow, Poland and this saw a 0-2 defeat by the Poles. A win in the last match of the group, at Wembley, would ensure the path to the finals.
In the 57th minute the Pole, Lato, robbed Norman Hunter and Domarski's shot squirmed home past Shilton, whose hands were not sticky enough. Allan Clarke seemed to come to the rescue with an equaliser from the penalty spot. But the Polish goalkeeper, Tomaszewski, was unbeatable, making great saves, and Brian Clough's pre-match analysis of the Polish guardian, being a "clown" was made to be foolhardy.
At the final whistle, with the score at 1-1, England could do no more and they failed to progress.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCTIS6GM8m8 the edited video of the match. It also hints at the 1973 FA Cup Final.
The Football League had not gone with Ramsey's request to postpone League matches the Weekend before the Cup tie, so he could prepare his squad. Alan Hardaker, the League chairman, had stated that "It is a football match, not war". He then said "If we lose, the game is not going to die. It will be a terrible thing for six weeks and then everybody will forget about it." Some hope! I haven't forgotten about it...and my memory is shocking...
Ramsey was sacked, despite having taken his nation to win the 1966 World Cup Final and then led them to the 1970 finals' quarter-finals too. Sir Harold Thompson, the FA "madarin" hated Ramsey, who was not from his class....and he detested Ramsey following an incident in 1964, when Ramsey asked Thompson to "put out his cigar if he wanted to dine with the team". Thompson, a man I met on occasion and had an "air" about him, got his own back and "stubbed out Ramsey".
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