Now i no city have never won the cup and have not had a decent cup run for years but, i was reminising about before the FA cup was turned into a bit of a farce. These days clubs dont care too much about the cup. Its like all that matters is the champions league to the top teams. Although its still a great way for smaller clubs to get the glory of wembley. I have always religiously watched the finals ever since i was old enough to be interested in football. I was wondering, which FA cup Final is your fave? For me Liverpool v West ham 2006. It was not at wembley, but what a come back by Liverpool. Can still rember Harewoods miss with his injured foot at the end. definitly was an edge of the seat game for me!
I always felt sorry for Shaka Hislop in that final, the man had pulled off some terrific saves in that match, only to get beaten by Gerrard's wonder strike right at the death! I guess some things are just not meant to be!
There have been quite a few good one's over the recent decades For me in order of merit 1. Sunderland 1-0 Leeds - 1973. Massive underdogs triumph and the superb double save from the Mackem keeper. 2. Arsenal 3-2 Man Utd - 1979. Late flurry of goals that turned an average game in to a fabulous one. 3. Coventry C 3-2 Spurs - 1987. Again, underdogs take the honours and plenty of goals. I went to the Brighton v Man Utd replay in 1983 following the impressive 2-2 draw in the first game and Brighton had their chance to nick it with a few minutes to go. Was a shame the replay was so one sided with the Red Devils running away with it 4-0
For pure FA Cup underdog status, it had to be 1988 Wimbledon Vs Liverpool. I remember when Wimbledon came up to CR that season and their team was just mad for it - full of players with a bite that Joey Barton could only dream of. I remember hating Liverpool with as much gusto as the Dons, but in the final I wanted the team from London to do it. I saw this documentary posted on you tube "clash of the titans" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6enxXvglHdQ well worth a watch and sums up the era beautifully (and has those memorable songs that teams used to bung out before the final - such was the honour of being a finalist, they also wanted a No 1 single)
I was born in '76 and can remember all the finals from around '83 when United beat Brighton up to when Cantona's goal won it against Liverpool in one of the most boring games of football I've ever seen in '96, but if I'm being honest I can hardly remember a thing about any of them since. I actually had to think really hard about who won it last year, and was surprised when I looked it up that it wasn't Spurs who I thought it was! It's becasue back in the day the FA Cup final was THE big game of the season that everyone looked forward to, but nowadays with all the mountain of Premier and Champions League games on telly all the time - as well as days worth of build up in the lead up - there are 'big games' going on every week and so the glamour of the FA Cup has been diluted with the overkill of televised games so much people don't care about it anything like they used to. It's a shame - tragedy if you like - but I'm afraid that's the way the game has gone nowadays and I don't know if it will ever recapture the romance of old. Having this very conversation with a mate last night and we came to the conclusion that football is not so much a sport nowadays as a business. Thats said my favourite final out of them all has to be when Coventry beat Spurs in '87 - the number of times I went home with dirty knees after trying to perform a 'Keith Houchen diving header' down the park got me in all sorts of trouble
I am the same, seen little of the Cup finals in recent years as they simply no longer appeal unless none of the big teams are taking part (Pompey v Cardiff). I did watch last seasons effort between Citeh & Stoke - I wish I had spent that 90 minutes doing something else, it was dreadful!
I was born in 86 so the first i can remember was Everton man u which finnshed 1-0 i believe! But i can remember my dad who was born in early 60's always talking about the 'old days' and i always used to get exited final day (might have been due to the pop he'd buy me as he had a few beers lol). But your right Sid, the way football has gone is all money money money with teams. I think its a shame as you get a europian place if you win, plus the big day out at wembley. how much money do you get each round of the cup? must be worth something to teams?
It used to involve a whole day's coverage and on both BBC and ITV. I can remember Fulham West Ham, although I remember the it's a knockout game more than I can remember the match. I guess it was southampton Manure and as an 8 year old I loved the fact that the underdog won,although wasn't so happy when the uderdog won 2 years later. bloody roger osborne! Maybe if john Wile and Brian talbot hadn't clashed heads in the semi, the tractor boys would never have made it to the final.
I used to love the all day coverage as well, and I'd be glued to the beeb form about 10am when they'd be chatting to fans on the bus on the way down etc. Gutted we never made it to the final in those days, went to Hillsborough for the Sunderland semi which is still one of the very most disapointing games I've ever been to
It was but everyone around me, myself included, just felt that as Flecky was not playing that day we probably were not destined to win. At least the Mackems were terrific that day as they were at Wembley all those years ago.
the everton loss was more disaapointing for me, and again fleck not playing as his father died the night before, if i've remembered that correctly
Fleck's dad died just before the Sunderland game, the Everton game was the day of the Hillsborough tradegy. Yes, losing to Everton was not great that day but they were a good side.
Just searching to see if I had got it right the extract below suggests i got it right, but the website is probably wrong the Pink Un of Saturday March 21st 1998, Flecky recalled his some of his Canary memories. They were his first goal at Carrow Road on March 5th 1989 and was the only goal of the game against Manchester United. the injury time winner in the televised clash with Millwall on January 22nd 1989 the goals scored against Manchester United on January 21st 1990 soon after the birth of his daughter Olivia. The brace netted against Liverpool in a 3-0 victory on February 22nd 1992 the 1989 FA Cup semi-final against Everton which he missed due to his father's death the previous night being ruled unfit to play in the 1992 FA Cup semifinal against Sunderland due to his damaged ribs.
Maybe I am wrong but I really though it was the Sunderland game, then again my memory is not what it once was. Maybe time to be taken to the knackers yard
It wasn't Flecky we missed, rather a bang in form Darren Beckford who had just scored a hat-trick against Everton, but was suspended after stupidly getting sent off in a reserve game. He would have been the hero that year, probably would have scored another hat-trick in the semi and at least 3 or 4 when we got to Wembley. Alas, we shall never find out...
I was at the Sunderland semi too. Fleck's problem that day was his ribs. I remember Norwich even hired an oxygen tank for him to sit in for hours to try to speed up his recovery. My main memory that day tho was Crook banging a certain open goal into the crossbar and over. Knew then we were out.
