WATNEY'S RED BARREL

1970: August 5th. The penalty shoot-out arrived in English football. The Hull City v Manchester United pre-season Watney Cup semi-final ended 1-1 at the end of extra time and so for the first time it was the turn of penalties. 

George Best became the first player to score in a penalty shoot-out and Denis Law the first to miss one – but Manchester United won 4-3. The Watney Mann Invitation Cup, was a short lived sponsored tournament in the early 1970s. For those less informed, Watney was a brewery that at the time for remarkably popular! (to the right is Reg Varney, who some of you may remember?)

The Watney Cup was one of the first sponsored competitions in England. It took place for four seasons from 1970 to 1973 and was played before the regular League season started.
Two teams from each of the four Football League Divisions participated and qualification was based on the highest number of goals scored during the previous League season, providing that the teams weren’t involved in European Football or promoted. A novel feature was that there were no replays – extra time was played and then a penalty shoot-out, if needed.

The Watney CupFinal was a one-leg game, played at the home venue of one of the Finalists.

The competition was a straight knockout format, each match was a one-off, with no replays. 

From the second season of the competition, the off-side law was applied from the edge of the penalty areas only (instead of the half-way line). This measure was designed to reduce midfield congestion and promote more goals, at a time when defences were becoming much better organised. The FA went back to the old law quickly!

The first ever penalty shootout in England took place in a semi-final of the 1970 tournament between Hull City and Manchester United and was won by Manchester United. The first footballer to take a kick was George Best, and the first to miss was Denis Law, whose attempt was saved by Hull goalkeeper, Ian McKechnie. ALSO McKechnie became the first player to miss a deciding kick, when he shot wide after taking the fifth kick for Hull in the shoot-out.

Following the dissolution of the competition in 1975, the trophy itself was put up for sale and purchased by Derby Museum, who presented it back to Derby County It was put on display in the club trophy cabinet, where, in 2018, it was spotted by the chairperson of Stoke City's fan's council who helped arrange a share deal between Derby and Stoke City, who had been the last winners prior to the competition finishing. The winners' history below:

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue
1970	Derby County	4–1	Manchester United	Baseball Ground
1971	Colchester United	4–4 (4–3 p.)	West Bromwich Albion	The Hawthorns
1972	Bristol Rovers	0–0 (7–6 p.)	Sheffield United	Eastville Stadium
1973	Stoke City	2–0	Hull City	Victoria Ground

I went to university in September 1970 and thankfully Watneys' Red Barrel was a favourite in the local pubs....only joking!! Maybe it was cheap? Price around 14p for a pint..around £3.60 in these days. But we got a key ring out of it.....