So, here we go; the very last in our two-year look back at the decade that was the nineteen seventies. Last time out we had a meander through the opening months of the calendar year of 1974 and took in the conclusion of the 1973-74 domestic season which saw Leeds United crowned League Champions, five points ahead of Liverpool, who at least had the considerable consolidation of FA Cup success to get them through the summer months.
The England national side headed off on a post-season jaunt of Eastern Europe and in doing so took in such salubrious hot spots as East Germany, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. Shepperded under the caretaker management of Joe Mercer, England emerged from the trip somewhat bruised, courtesy of draws against East Germany and Yugoslavia and a defeat against Bulgaria.
While Mercer and his boys were having fun on their hols, the FA was busy tying up the details of the successor to Sir Alf Ramsey, the manager they had unceremoniously sacked just eight years after delivering the actual World Cup. Although in no way universally popular, the one stand-out candidate for the position did appear to be Don Revie, manager of course of newly-crowned League Champions, Leeds United, and so it was no nobody’s great surprise when the official announcement confirming the appointment was made.
This opened up a vacancy at Elland Road of course, and despite Revie recommending Johhny Giles for the gig, the Leeds board, in the most baffling of decisions since the guy at Decca said ‘nah’ to the Beatles, decided to offer the job instead to Leeds’ most stringent critic, one Brian Clough.
‘It will never last,’ said the critics. ‘It will all end in tears’.
It did. Just 44 days later.
Also searching for a new manager was Liverpool who had been rocked by the sudden and unexpected retirement of Bill Shankly. Although past his sixtieth birthday, Shankly had shown no signs of slowing down or of the years catching up with him, and was expected to carry on at Liverpool for some time yet, so the announcement that he was stepping down met with literal dismay and disbelief on the streets of Liverpool.
After a period of consideration and contemplation, the Liverpool board decided that rather than look outside for Shankly’s successor, they would offer the job to Bob Paisley, Shankly’s right-hand man.
While all these managerial musical chairs were taking place, there was the little matter of the 1974 World Cup to be dealt with. England – famously- had failed to qualify and so it was left to Scotland, led by Willie Ormond, to fly the flag for the Home Nations.
Drawn in the same group as Zaire, Yugoslavia and Brazil, Scotland were fancied to be in with a shot of finishing in the top two places and so qualifying for the second stage. So, with ‘The Streak’ by Ray Stevens (nope, no idea) on the verge of replacing The Rubettes at number one in the charts, Scotland lined up against Zaire in Dortmund. A rather unsatisfactory ninety minutes of huffing and puffing followed with goals from Peter Lorimor and Joe Jordon giving Scotland a 2-0 victory.Â
This was followed by a credible goalless draw against the Brazilians, but when the Yugoslavs ran up a 9-0 scoreline against Zaire, it meant Scotland were almost certainly going to have to win their last game to qualify for the second round. An ultimate 1-1 draw was therefore not sufficient for progress and Scotland departed at the first stage, albeit unbeaten.
The World Cup would ultimately be won by hosts, West Germany, who defeated their old buddies, Holland, 2-1 in the final in Munich
In the news, the IRA kept up its murderous campaign, detonating bombs in London, including one in the Tower of London.
At Wimbledon, ‘love couple’ Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert won the Men’s and Women’s singles titles respectively. Connors defeated Ken Rosewall of Australia 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 in the final and Evert overcame Olga Morozova from the Soviet Union 6-0, 6-4.
When the domestic season kicked off in August, it was all change at Wembley as Leeds United were led out by Brian Clough, and Liverpool were under the control of Bill Shankly for the last time. In a fractious and pretty disgraceful match, Leeds and Liverpool kicked seven bells out of each other, with Kevin Keegan and Billy Bremner being sent off. Liverpool’s victory by penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw was academic in the scheme of things.
The next week the league season kicked off, and Bob Paisley in his first game in charge led Liverpool to a 2-1 victory at Kenilworth Road, home of Luton Town. Meanwhile, Cloughie led his new charges to the Victoria Ground, where the home side, Stoke City, delivered a 3-0 spanking to the champions.Â
As autumn set in, first The Three Degrees and then The Osmonds hit the top of the charts with, respectively, ‘When Will I See You Again?’ and ‘Love Me for a Reason’, while television saw the onset of a series of programmes and initiatives that would go onto become classics in the shape of, Porridge, Rising Damp, The Six Million Dollar Man and, erm, Ceefax.
Harold Wilson found running the country via a minority government an impossible task, so he sensibly called for a second election to take place in October. This time he was able to win a majority and the country got back to normal – at least for a while.
England kicked off their 1976 European Championship qualifying campaign with two Wembley matches in the autumn. Firstly, a 3-0 demolition of Czechoslovakia in Don Revie’s first competitive game in charge got England off to a good start, but a goalless stalemate with Portugal a month later was a slight dampener on things.Â
Fresh from World Cup heartbreak, Scotland were defeated 2-1 at home to Spain, while Northern Ireland followed a 2-1 defeat in Norway with a solid 2-0 victory away to Sweden. Wales, who would go on to qualify for the last eight in the tournament, kicked off with a 2-1 defeat in Austria but followed this up with successive home victories over Hungary (2-0) and Luxembourg (5-0).
In European club competition, despite their managerial woes, Leeds United successfully dispensed of FC Zurich and Újpesti Dózsa in the opening two rounds of the European Cup, while FA Cup winners, Liverpool, bowed out of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in the second round on the away goals rule to Ferencvaros after a 1-1 draw at Anfield.Â
In the UEFA Cup, both Stoke City and Ipswich Town exited in the first round, also on away goals, while Wolverhampton Wanderers went out at the same stage 5-4 on aggregate to Porto, leaving Derby County as England’s only representatives to make it to the heady heights of the second round where they defeated Athletico Madrid on penalties after two 2-2 draws.
In the third round, despite winning the home leg of their clash with Velež Mostar by a 3-1 scoreline, Derby crashed out when the return match was lost by a 4-1 scoreline.
Back in the league, a rare old battle was taking place at the top of the table. With champions Leeds United well off the pace, Stoke City were the unlikely league leaders as November ticked over into December 1974. The Potters sat atop the table with a modest 25 points from 20 games, but one ahead of Ipswich Town, Liverpool, Everton and Manchester City. At this stage, only three points separated the top nine sides, with West Ham, Derby County, Newcastle United and Burnley all in the mix.
More IRA bombs occured in places such as Guildford, where five people were horrifically murdered, and London. Lord Lucan’s nanny was murdered in the family home and Lucan then disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again.
On a personal note, the 1974-75 season was the first in which I was intrinsically involved, emotion-wise and by Christmas 1974 the game had become an all-consuming passion. With my colours well and truly nailed to the Liverpool mast – thanks, Dad – I quickly adopted Kevvy Keegily and those adroit curls as my hero and became obsessed as Bob Paisley and his men attempted to build upon Bill Shankly’s legacy.
The year – and our series – ended with Ipswich Town sitting on top of the table, ahead of Jack Charlton’s Middlesbrough side on goal average after 25 games. Meanwhile, Mud thought that while they would be ‘Lonely This Christmas’ they might as well make a few bob at the same time and so penned a little so-titled ditty that earned them the number one slot in the charts.
Aaaannnnddd……that’s all folks!Â
The end of our long-running (‘too long by far’ – some might say) series that has seen us wander back and forth to a period five decades ago now. Many changes have come and gone in the time since, of course, and some have been for the better, some for the worse, and some – seemingly – for the sake of change itself and nothing else.
Nevertheless, we hope you have enjoyed these trawls back in time.
