GLORY, GLORY MAN UNITED
United return to Cardiff for yet another FA Cup final this month, and given the team’s success in recent years, no doubt many Reds will be blasé about the prospect. It wasn’t always thus. Twenty years ago came United’s greatest victory in the competition. Today, some Reds still go misty-eyed at the thought…
“Ask me what the greatest day of my life was in front of the missus and I'll reply that I can't choose between the births of my two daughters (or, if I'm feeling particularly sarcastic, I might say it was the day we got married). Once she's safely out of earshot, I'll whisper the truth - FA Cup Final day, 1985. Just thinking about it brings a warmth to my chest and a smile to my face.
“It was the sort of early summer day that tends to favour the cup final - blazing sun and blue skies. One of the lads had managed to get tickets for the extremely sensible price of £6 and we had a great view in the corner about half way up. Behind us was stood a rather over-friendly American who insisted on telling us that he'd never seen a soccer match before, but had asked his concierge what was on in town that weekend as he was at a loose end on a solo business trip. I hasten to add that he was a blond surfing businessman type and not a small, ugly, ginger-bearded weirdo, in case anyone is wondering. We promised to keep him up to date on what was going on.
“Everton were the best team in the country - League Champions and European Cup Winners Cup winners, and, to be honest, they had the better of the match. We soaked up a lot of pressure and I remember only Robson's desperate boots studs came between Peter Reid and the goal that would almost certainly have won the game for Everton.
“The moment that changed the game came with a bit over ten minutes of normal time remaining. United were pushing forward when Everton caught us with a quick break. Reid knocked the ball past a desperate Kevin Moran and then went flying up in the air under Moran's challenge. No one had ever been sent off in an FA Cup final before - to be fair to Reid, even after a somewhat theatrical dive mostly under his own momentum, he tried to talk the ref out of it.
“Emlyn Hughes later squeaked in the studio "If the lad had meant to cop the lad he'd have taken the lad a lot higher than he took the lad - it looked a million percent worse than what it was". Indeed. Stapleton was switched to emergency centre half next to Paul McGrath and United prepared to defend. The rest of the game was just a solid wall of sustained booing - the unrelenting noise was incredible. Somehow a disorganised United made it to full time. Everton were probably tired after their midweek victory in Europe; but United only had ten men. We weren't confident - in fact, we weren't even confident we'd get out of our own half again.
“I remember very little of extra time other than the goal. The ball came out of a packed defence to Mark Hughes, just outside the area. He looked up and there was only Whiteside out hugging the right touchline near half way. Hughes curled a sublime pass with the outside of his boot and Whiteside set off on a lolloping gallop down the wing. We thought he'd do well to waste some time and take the pressure off - there was little in the way of support, although Strachan's little legs were pumping away as he did his best to get up to the other end down the middle.
“Then Whiteside struck his shot. It looked as if it was going to hit the corner flag. There was no way anyone was getting on the end of it. Although it started to move back towards the goal, it never looked like it had a hope of troubling Southall. It was only when the ball hit Neville’s glove bag that we realised that, rather than sailing ten yards wide, it must actually be inside the goal, impossible though it seemed. The combination of unexpected relief and joy had us leaping around hugging people we didn't know and the tears rolling down our faces. Everton once again set up camp in our half, but as the minutes ticked by their balls into the box became more desperate and United kept them out.
“The noise level during what must have been more than half an hour of booing the injustice of Moran's red card had been incredible. The goal that lifted the heavy blanket of complaint had been typical Whiteside genius. But those of us who had seen United come back from the dead against Arsenal in the 1979 final knew that the relief and unbounded joy that the goal had brought could be snatched away so easily. When the final whistle went, we knew we had witnessed a historic triumph.
“Our new American friend was choking and wiping the tears away as he said 'I have no idea happened here today, guys, but it has been the most fantastic day of my life.' Who could disagree? It would have been impossible not to be affected by the overwhelming tide of emotion washing over him. It may be because I was that much younger or it may be because these FA Cup triumphs were the only thing that marked United out during the years when the League title was a distant hope given Robson's frailty, but Whiteside's goal means so much more to me than even Ole and Teddy's late show. Even now, I can't think of the goal without closing my eyes, smiling and clenching my fist slightly.”
Jeremy, London
“The bit that sticks in my mind about the ‘85 cup final was at the end of the game. Both teams did a lap of honour. Utd came round first then the Everton players came round. Peter Reid (who I thought at the time was a real nasty piece of scouse ****) had his boots in his hand. He started applauding the Utd fans and got YSB sung back to him. He took it in good humour and underarmed his boots into the crowd. In these days of memorabilia they would probably be worth a few bob but 5 seconds elapsed before these boots came flying back out of the crowd and onto the Wembley pitch - classic.”
AG
As with most big United games, tickets were hard to come by. For some reason it seemed they were much more scarce than normal though. That certainly contributed to the numbers and desperation of those looking for an ‘alternative’ way in. Whilst the official attendance was recorded as 100,000 capacity, there is little doubt that thousands and thousands jibbed in. Most of whom would have done so by dropping the gateman a few quid. Many were nicked on the day, in a ‘scandal’ exposed later in the week by the Daily Mirror. For one ticketless Red such a course of action was the only way he’d get to see the match.
“To this day I cannot recall just how I met the guy who was to provide me with the opportunity I was hoping for, he was a Turkish lad who seemed friendly enough. He introduced me to a friend of his who just happened to have served in the RAF as well. Over a few beers the ‘plan’ was presented to me and I was introduced to someone who I will call Ron, who was a turnstile operator at Wembley. They offered me a role in recruiting willing Reds to ‘pay in’ at his turnstile the next day.
“So there I was, taking £15 per head off United fans, passing the money to Terry the Turk and proceeding to Ron’s turnstile. We just walked through. I was amazed and didn’t really want to go back out, but I was part of the ‘team’ and had a job to do. The main consideration had to be helping a few more deserving fans into the stadium. I could not have known at the time we were not the only operatives ‘working’ that day.
“I don’t remember how many times we went in and out but I guess I made at least 30 runs, probably more. The hardest part was convincing Reds it would work, not an easy task but many had no option but to give it a try. Estimates of the crowd that day ranged from 100,000 to 130,000, I truly have no idea.
“After the celebration we had all arranged to meet up and the conversation centred on a very successful conclusion to the day’s main event, many more Reds had witnessed United’s 6th FA Cup triumph and only around the 7th major trophy in 20 odd years of following our club. News eventually filtered through that there had been major police raids on certain turnstiles, maybe all of them, many arrests had been made as the operators, some obviously ‘working’ on their own had been found with lots of unexplained bank notes, thousands of pounds as I recall. Ron our guy was in the clear, he did not have a single note on him, one of the few we heard who was not arrested. He was late for the arranged meet and only had few sketchy details of the trouble that followed, he had no desire to hang around and find out more.”
Anonymous
Andy from Old Trafford recalls:
“May 18th, 1985. There we were swarming all over the Maine Road pitch, the end chanting loud and clear, ‘Everton, Everton, you are next’. We’d beaten Liverpool in the replay and were Wembley bound. I hadn’t missed a match at Old Trafford for years, had done my usual aways that I could get to and been to every cup match that season. Even so I couldn’t get my hands on a Wembley ticket, I was gutted. Two weeks before the final I get a phone call offering me 2 £6 tickets for £50, I can tell you that was a lot of money even in the 80s. To make things worse, they were being offered by some copper who had won them in a raffle at his station, I was livid. The bullet was bitten, it had to be, and one of the lads at work had got a whisper I had a spare, and sold him the spare.
“We left at 7am sharp, on a coach from The Orion pub which was a back street pub behind the cinema in Withington. The journey down was uneventful but arriving at Wembley, what a sight. Thousands upon thousands all bedecked in their colours, and it seemed like there were three times as many of us as there was scousers. After a few beers we went in, flashing our tickets for all parts of the ground, and headed up the staircase, whilst the piss flowed the other way round our feet. What a magnificent sight though when you get back out into the sunshine, I`d have to say almost two thirds of the ground was United, with little pockets of Reds in their end as well.
“For the neutral the match will be remembered for the clown who refereed the game, and his sending off of Moran. What a tosser. With that things started to turn a bit tasty on the terraces as hordes of Reds in the lower tiers started to climb the fences in front of us, with the coppers happy to baton them back down. The red mist had descended and “you’re going to get your fuckin heads kicked in” was the song of choice. Such was the turnout from United fans that day, a mate in the Everton end reported back that some scousers were extremely worried about the repercussions if United should lose.
“Come extra time, neither side were looking like scoring and we were hoping to hang on for a reply on the Thursday. United were starting to look out on their feet, none more so than big Norm, whose socks by now were round his ankles. Then that glorious moment arrived. Norm picked the ball up and headed off towards the Everton box. When he actually shot, I didn’t know if it was going in, but then there was pandemonium. Our end went absolute ballistic. I was only a short way from the top of the stand but by the time I had got myself back together, I was almost at the bottom. Total bedlam. The whistling went up straight away as we howled for the final whistle, and after what seemed like an eternity it was blown…
“We won the cup, we won the cup, ee aye addio, we won the cup” was bellowed out until Robbo took the lads up to collect the trophy. By the time the players came round the Everton end was now sparse, and you could now see how many Reds had actually been in their end. My mate had already done one over the fences at the whistle as it was getting messy in there for lone Reds.
“Twenty years have now passed since that memorable day, and I can remember like it was last weekend. Well how can you forget stuff like that, and men like big Norman Whiteside. I’d like to say a massive thank you Norm, I know there were 10 others out there (at the start of the match anyway) but if you weren’t already a legend to us, you became one that day.”
Red Issue caught up with the man himself to ask for his memories of that fantastic day:
“Sometimes I feel as if that goal in the cup final was the only thing I did in my career, because it’s the first thing everyone asks me about. I wish I had a pound for everyone who has mentioned it to me. But I suppose it is a magic moment in Cup Final history for lots of people, including me. I’d missed a really good chance a little earlier in the game and I was getting really knackered so I drifted out to the right wing to try and get a breather. Typically the ball came straight to me.
“I headed towards goal and realised I had a chance to do something I used to practice in training all the time. I used to try and come in from the right wing and get a defender in line between me and the goalkeeper so the keeper couldn’t see the ball. Big Neville Southall moved towards his near post to get a view and that’s when I curled into the far corner. It was a fantastic moment for me, especially because something I’d worked hard on in training paid off at such a big time.
“Later on in my career when I moved to Everton I used to wind big Nev up all the time about that goal. He was always first out to start training in the mornings and I used to sneak out behind him and follow him onto the pitch with a ball. I’d head straight to the spot where I beat him from in the cup final and go “Nev, Nev, move a bit nearer to your front post!” and then I’d try and hit that same curling shot round him. It used to drive him mad, but I don’t think I ever got another one past him from that spot in training.
“When you are a kid kicking a ball around in the street, all you want to do is to score a goal in a Cup Final and that is something I achieved. Dreams do come true, and I discovered that.”
Norman Whiteside