After travelling Europe, an allenglish final was a disappointment
CLIVE CORBETT takes us back to 1972, when Wolves reached the UEFA Cup final
UEFA Cup final, first leg Wednesday, May 3, 1972
Wolves 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
INTERESTINGLY, the 1971-72 season, now fifty years ago, started with the visit of Tottenham Hotspur to Molineux.
We were so disappointed that it was not a real European game John Mcalle
The Spurs keeper hustled back just in time to turn the ball over the bar
The teams fought out a 2-2 draw on 14th August – with less than 15 minutes to go the visitors clawed back a two-goal deficit to claim a point.
The return match at White Hart Lane in October resulted in a 4-1 drubbing for the Wanderers but when the final tie of the inaugural UEFA Cup rolled around in May there appeared to be everything to play for between two well-matched teams. However, history was not on the side of Bill Mcgarry’s men since Spurs had never been beaten in the final of any competition since the end of the Second World War. In that period they had won the FA Cup three times, the League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup.
The penultimate league game of the season for Wolves was played out against Sheffield United on the last Friday of April in front of a sparse crowd of 17,041. John Richards scored for the hosts but the Blades ultimately recovered to inflict a fourth straight league defeat at Molineux.
There could be little excuse for such a poor performance, but Wolves had more than one eye on their next home game – on Wednesday 3rd May in the first leg of the European final. It was the first time that English sides had met in the final of a European competition, but it was something of a disappointment that a journey that had taken Wolves from Portugal to Holland, to East Germany and Hungary via Italy, would now end in a European final against an English club. The editor of the programme for the second leg wrote: “When the UEFA competition opened last September, it embraced 64 clubs, some from countries as far away as Russia, Bulgaria and Cyprus. Yet the final is being contested by two English clubs whose grounds are only 132 miles apart!”
John Mcalle sums up the feelings of a number of the Wolves players: “We were so disappointed that it was not a real European game.”
That’s a reaction that John Richards agrees with: “It just lost all of its attraction. We’d gone all over the place, East Germany, Italy and Hungary, and had played some of the best football the team had ever played against really top sides. Then suddenly it ends up being like another domestic cup clash.”
Dave Wagstaffe shared this view: “It was a big anti-climax. We had the best defensive record in Europe that season and it was no mean feat to go to all those places.” Frank Munro agreed: “After travelling all over Europe having two English teams in the final was a real disappointment”.
Ken Hibbitt feels that the team got little credit for their achievement: “I think the supporters knew but nationally I don’t think much was mentioned about us going all through the UEFA Cup, knocking all these teams out like Karl Zeiss Jena, Juventus and Ferencvaros without getting beaten, until we met an English team in the final. Why don’t they ever mention it? They’d go wild about it now. I find that sad.”
Talking at the time to the Sun’s Hugh Jamieson, Derek Dougan felt differently: “It’s ironic that after battling our way through five countries with an impressive record of eight wins and two draws, the first final of the UEFA Cup should be settled in our own back yard.
“But the organisers can relax. It’s in good hands. I’m glad Spurs knocked out AC Milan in the semi-finals. I don’t like soccer Italian-style and a final between Wolves and Spurs will do justice to the competition.”
He and the Welsh international had been together at Blackburn Rovers and England commented: “The Doog has long been a changed man. He has matured into a player with tremendous heading ability, understanding about team-work, and a knack of laying off superb balls for colleagues.”
With only two days to go to the first match, Wolves had a number of injury concerns. Already denied the services of Mike Bailey, Derek Parkin and Alan Sunderland, it was reported that stand-in skipper Jim Mccalliog was a further doubt. The Scotland international had developed eye trouble and a visit to a specialist would determine whether or not he would be involved. The Express and Star published a special eight-page souvenir, “Wolves win their Spurs”, to mark the club’s appearance in the final. The specialist declared Jimmy Mac fit to play and although he was added to the squad Parkin did not feature in the starting eleven.
In the match programme Bill Mcgarry was upbeat, giving an interview in which he highlighted the superb team spirit and the way that some of the younger players had come through so well. He expected to see: “two good attacking games, we cannot play any other way”. Looking back Richards agrees: “Mcgarry realised what we could and couldn’t do, and the only way we could play was to attack.”
Officiated by Tofik Bakhramov, the Russian linesman from the 1966 World Cup final, the game was watched by a crowd of 38,632. The first half was goalless but full of incident, including when Martin Chivers hit the top of the post with a free kick on five minutes.
However, the most exciting moment came on 21 minutes when Pat Jennings cleared to just over the halfway line. Picking the ball up in the centre circle, Danny Hegan spotted his big compatriot off his line and in the style of Pele in the 1970 World Cup finals Hegan lofted the ball towards the South Bank goal. The Express & Star’s Phil Morgan picked up the story:
“Wolves broke out of defence and Jennings went way beyond the right-hand corner of his penalty area for a fly-kick clearance. The ball went just over halfway and was played back into the centre circle where Hegan, seeing Jennings still ‘away’, aimed a long shot for goal.
But the Spurs keeper hustled back just in time to turn the ball over the bar. It was a moment to savour, and one which really brought the house down because it so nearly became one of the story book goals of all time.”
Jennings’s opposite number Parkes recalls: “Pat was lucky, Danny’s shot went to the side he was running back to. If it had gone to the middle of the goal or the other side he wouldn’t have got it. But it went to the post he was running to and he just managed to tip it over.”
It is by such fine margins matches are turned and reputations are changed.
Wolves piled on the pressure after the break – cheered on by the North Bank they forced a succession of chances and near misses. Jennings deflected wide a close-range effort from John Richards but it was Spurs who went ahead on 57 minutes.
Martin Chivers beat Frank Munro to the ball to head a Mike England free kick past a Wolves keeper caught in no man’s land. After a further quarter of an hour of pressure, though, Wolves levelled things up. Hegan took a quick free kick while Alan Mullery was still arguing with the referee and Jim Mccalliog planted it skilfully under Jennings.
The stage was set for a tremendous struggle and with 15 minutes to go John Pratt, who had replaced Ralph Coates, nearly turned a cross from the right into his own goal. Jennings did well to keep the ball out of the net and in another menacing raid Dougan screwed the ball just wide of the far post.
With two minutes left Wolves’ hearts were broken by Chivers as he crashed home an unstoppable 25-yarder to notch his 43rd of the season and give his team a vital advantage for the second leg.
Waggy remembers the unfair manner in which the big keeper was saddled with the blame for the winner: “Poor old Phil got some stick about that Chivers goal.”
Lofty himself says: “They still do (give me stick)! If you get beat from that far out it is always your fault. When you play in goal you’re the one to blame.”
In the final analysis it was not an error from Parkes that made the difference on the night, it was the performances of Jennings and Chivers. Daley adds: “We didn’t perform on the night. If you play on the day you have a chance”.
Phil Morgan reported: “Wolves are not out of the UEFA Cup yet, but, my goodness, they have set themselves a terrific task at Tottenham in a fortnight’s time. There is no question about it. They should have won the first leg of the final at Molineux last night – and they probably would have done if they had a striker of the calibre of big Martin Chivers.”
Part Two follows next week