THE WATNEY CUP Watney was the first sponsored competition played for by Football League clubs - Watney's being a major brewer back then with Watney's Red Barrel providing the bulk of my liquid intake at the time. The Watney Mann Invitation Cup, joined the national fixture list at the start of the 1970/71 season. The competition was made up of 8 clubs - two from each of the four divisions who in the previous season had been the top scorers in their division and who had not been either promoted or won a place in a European competition.
It initially proved to be a popular competition adding a bit of competitive spice to the normally pedestrian pre-season friendly fixture list. It also proved to be innovative by introducing to the British game the penalty shoot-out to settle drawn matches. In the second season of the competition there was an experiment with the rules with offside being restricted only to the penalty area. It proved to be a success with fewer stoppages and less defensive football.
It also opened the eyes of the football world to a new and eventually lucrative source of money from sponsorship. Competing clubs not only had a share of gate receipts and TV income but each participating side received £4,000 for entering. Another £500 went to each first round winners, £500 more for a victory in the semis and £1000 for the winners. In addition The Football League and Football Association shared £50,000 from the sponsors. So perhaps not surprisingly only one club ever declined an invitation to enter.
With proven goalscorers making up the competing clubs the first season saw each match averaging over 4 goals and 21,012 spectators a game going through the turnstiles. That second statistic was helped by Manchester United's participation and the fact that - for the only time in the four years of the competition - both finalists were from the First Division.
Manchester United competed in the second season and their 2-1 first round defeat at Halifax saw the top attendance in the competition - 19,765 (gate receipts £7,782) - but overall the average dropped to 12,196. Manchester United qualified for the third Watney Cup in 1972 but declined the invitation. Presumably following their early defeat at Halifax in 1971 they wanted a more secure pre-season fixture list and arranged friendlies in Torquay, Bournemouth, Copenhagen and Berlin when the Watney Cup was being decided. Bristol Rovers won the 1972 tournament with average attendances slipping again, to 11,648.
The giant-killing of 1971 and 1972 came to an end in 1973 when First Division Stoke won the competition and that helped increase the average crowd to 13,196 but despite that improvement the 1973 tournament proved to be the fourth and final staging of the competition.
Full results -1970/71 Competing clubs -
First Division - Derby County & Manchester UnitedSecond Division - Hull City and Sheffield United
Third Division - Fulham & Reading
Fourth Division - Aldershot and Peterborough United
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