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Fairs cup 45 years ago today

Discussion in 'Newcastle United' started by scotstoon, May 29, 2014.

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  1. scotstoon

    scotstoon Member

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    The first leg of the Fairs cup final was 45 years ago. The last major trophy we have won. First division champions is not a major trophy. Giving my age away, but i was there. We entered the cup as no hopers, only qualifying as at the time you could only have one club from one city. We finished 10th the season before.
    I was every home match from thrashing Feyernood 4 -0 to beating Ujpest 3-0. Although they got a goal disallowed in the very last minute which would have changed the second leg.The hero of that time was Wyn Davies, nobody could get near him in the air, and he won so many challenges that led to goals for others.
    Memorable nights, beating Setubal 5 -1 in a blizzard, nearly all of their players had never seen snow before, and could not play on it. Big John McNamee still had a short sleeve shirt on.
    The semi final against Rangers held up for nearly 20 minutes because their fans came on the pitch, after throwing a bottle at their own goalkeeper.
    Will we ever see these days again. Not under the present regime.
    Bobby Moncur and all the other players remain legends until we win something else.
     
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  2. jimileysbaldhead

    jimileysbaldhead Well-Known Member

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    I'm also old enough to remember those wonderful nights, happy times.
     
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  3. Sunderpitt

    Sunderpitt Well-Known Member

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    I was there too...in those days a gang of us took turns going to Sunderland and Newcastle games...worst day was when we got beaten off Wet Sham 8-0 and the announcer at Wonga Dome kept given out the score, me and a couple of others took a lot of stick. Was it a fairs cup game when rangers went ballistic, charged the leazes end and broken glass was everywhere
     
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  4. Joelinton's Right Foot

    Joelinton's Right Foot Worth Every Penny

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    That was the semi-final. We had drawn 0-0 at Ibrox, and none of the Scottish journalists expected us to have any chance before the tie, as Rangers were seen as European Giants. When we went 2-0 up in the second leg they invaded the pitch in an attempt to get the game abandoned.

    My mum and dad went to every home game and two of the away games of that cup run, with the exception of the Rangers home game. My dad wouldn't let my mum go as there had been talk of trouble ahead of the game. She was at the final though, which meant I was there too (sort of) as I was born just a couple of months later. That might be a tenuous claim to have for seeing us win something - but it's the only one I've got so I'm keeping it!!
     
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  5. Blind Corner

    Blind Corner Active Member

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    I was at every home game during that cup run and also went to the away game at Ibrox.
    Let's get it straight lads, this wasn't a "major trophy" in fact it was conceived as a competition between clubs representing cities that held trade fairs, and the games were supposed to coincide with the staging of those fairs.
    It took five years to complete the first two competitions and the London side which reached the first final included players from Fulham,Spurs,Chelsea,Charlton and Arsenal .
    As long as the city was represented that was within the rules.
    Great time was had by all, and as a thoroughbred Sunderland fan, I can honestly say that I enjoyed every minute of it.
     
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  6. Joelinton's Right Foot

    Joelinton's Right Foot Worth Every Penny

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    The competition had changed beyond recognition from the mid 50s by the time we played in it.

    It is true that only one team per city could enter European competition at the time, which meant that you could still finish below a second team from a city already represented and qualify for Europe. Entry was by qualification rather than invitation though (even if the rules seem strange to us today), and when UEFA took over the competition they kept the exact same formula. The rule about only one team from a city qualifying remained for the UEFA Cup, and was only removed when Everton made a legal challenge in 1975 that they should be allowed to qualify for Europe as well as Liverpool. Ironically, it was as a result of the same two teams that the Champions League qualification was also changed, to allow the previous year's winners to always qualify - a ruling that would have deprived us of Champions League football a couple of years ago even if we had managed to grab 4th place.

    The competition was important enough for Barcelona, Real Zaragoza, Valencia and Roma, among others, to still list it in their lists of major trophies, and for Juventus to list it as a Runners-up. That's good enough for me. It tends only to be fans of teams who never got to play in it who put it down. As for UEFA not listing it as a European win - if you want to go by what they say then according to their official website we won a major European trophy in 2006. I don't think you'll get a single Newcastle fan claiming the intertoto cup is a major trophy though. It's just another one of UEFA's ways of being self-important.
     
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  7. nevfur

    nevfur Active Member

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    Agree with all of this. True the Uefa/Fairs cup is only second level compared to the European cup but still a major trophy (and we are sticking to that opinion lol), the Intertoto obviously not recognised as such as only a third tier European trophy although to be fair we had to finish seventh in the prem just to qualify to enter for it so still a bit of an achievement which could have been given a bit more credibility than it was. Personally i preferred playing in that to playing pointless boring pre season games with nothing at stake and it was also a potential entry point to the uefa cup for that season.
    I missed the fantastic days when we won the trophy as despite supporting the team i was considered too young at the time and had to wait till the following seasons to enjoy the Fairs Cup experience first hand but can remember following and saving all the Programmes from my dad and reports and pictures from the papers at the time, watching the first leg on tv (a rare live game at the time) and listening to the second leg on the radio. Managed to get my photo taken in my Toon strip of the time with the trophy at the Whitley Bay flower show of all places and got a lot of the players autographs at a signing session of John Gibsons history of Newcastle United book in Newcastle. Great days, never thought i would reach 53 without seeing us win another major trophy.
     

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  8. Frank_Pingel_Legend

    Frank_Pingel_Legend Active Member

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    The Newcastle fans came on the pitch to confront the Rangers fans, thought better of it, then retreated. As the Chronicle put it, "they wisely turned back." Great days.
     
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  9. lady-eleanor

    lady-eleanor Well-Known Member

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    :1980_boogie_down:I was there.
     
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  10. Rum & Black for 2

    Rum & Black for 2 Champion’s League Prediction League Champion
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    Me too. Sitting on the cinder track on the Popular Side near to the Leazes End. Started in the crowd then was "persuaded" to get out of the way of the men (my being just a bairn at the time) and move onto the cinder track.

    It was a great game with a great atmosphere just a pity the winning of the trophy was away in Hungary.

    Also the picture above brings back memories of how thick the football socks were back in the day.
     
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  11. lady-eleanor

    lady-eleanor Well-Known Member

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    Gallowgate right behind goal.b
     
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