FA CUP FINAL UNITED FANS STILL WON’T FORGIVE ME!
60 years on, Villa’s Peter McParland on being the hero (and villain) in a classic Cup final
SIxTy years have passed but Peter McParland suspects he is still to be forgiven by followers of Manchester United. ‘I daren’t set up a Twitter account!’ he laughs. ‘In 2007, Chelsea played United in the FA Cup final and they were marking “50 years of Cup finals”. A player from each year walked out at Wembley. I was first out and a United fan lent over the hoardings and called me a dirty b******!’ He grins: ‘I gave him a little wave back.’ McParland’s crime can be traced back to the 1957 FA Cup final when he was Aston Villa’s two-goal hero in the team that beat Sir Matt Busby’s United 2-1. In Manchester, however, he was cast as the villain.
Six minutes into the game, McParland headed a cross into the arms of goalkeeper Ray Wood. His momentum carried him forward and there was a horrendous collision. Wood suffered a fractured cheekbone and concussion. In the days before substitutions, Wood went out on the wing and midfielder Jackie Blanchflower went in goal.
McParland’s every touch was booed for the rest of the first half and most neutrals felt his challenge worthy of condemnation.
He recalls it differently, saying: ‘Woody kept running and went straight at me. He did that to people. I remember seeing him hit little Gento, the Real Madrid legend. I popped my shoulder in thinking I needed to protect myself. When I hit the deck, I got into a sitting position and 100,000 people were spinning. I’m laughing to myself, thinking, “I’m finished here, they’re going round in circles”.
‘nowadays you’d have gone off but who wants to be subbed after six minutes in the Cup final? My mother and father were there. I wanted to play. Woody had a ball on the wing — he gave trouble to our left back! I’m thinking, “Get him back in goal”. All goalkeepers fancy themselves in the six-a-sides — they’re all dribblers.
‘People say a proper goalie might have saved my goals but my header and volley . . . if you had Banksy, Jennings, Shilton — the three of them wouldn’t have saved them. The header was top corner and the volley was a belter, it flew in.’ McPARlAnD comes alive when he talks football. Born in newry in northern Ireland, he now lives in Bournemouth. Marvellous for a man of 83, he is out on the golf course three times a week.
He smiles ruefully. ‘I flick on Sky Sports news and along the bottom, that yellow ticker tape of gloom comes on and another one’s died — all these fellas I played against.’
The 1957 result remains a great FA Cup final shock. United had just won the league title and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup before losing to Real Madrid. Villa had finished 10th in the 22-team First Division. ‘In our last team meeting, Bill Moore, our fitness coach, even choreographed how we’d lift the trophy — who should lift the captain on to their shoulders for the big picture.’
Memories of the aftermath flood back. ‘We played the Charity Shield game at United. I started receiving nasty letters. One read, “When you get to Manchester, you’ll be shot”. We hired security guards in case some fella went bananas!’ Any ill-feeling, however, would be put to one side nine months later. For many Busby Babes, the 1957 FA Cup final was their last.
In February 1958 came the Munich air crash. Six Cup final starters died: Roger Byrne, Duncan Edwards, Eddie Colman, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Billy Whelan. On February 26, McParland was a pallbearer, carrying Edwards’s coffin into St Francis’ Church in Dudley.
‘I remember hearing the news,’ McParland says. ‘I’d been at the
Birmingham Argus doing my column. As I left, a paper boy shouted, “Peter, Manchester United have crashed!” It just wasn’t fair. Football didn’t feel the same afterwards. Everything was down.
‘Duncan was a fabulous boy. Two weeks after that final, we were on holiday in Jersey at the same time.
‘He came into our hotel room, jumping and heading the lights. He said, “I’m dying for a game of football”. When I think of Duncan, it’s him in that bedroom — his marvellous enthusiasm. During the final, Duncan was having a go at me. He gave me a proper whack from behind. John Motson recently said to me. “I watched that game back. you weren’t half putting tackles in! Everybody got straight back up!” ’ McPARlAnD is a Villa icon. His 10 years at the club yielded 121 goals in 341 games before he went on to a colourful managerial career.
‘I went to libya, Colonel Gaddafi’s country,’ he says. ‘He wasn’t liked but the players said they had a good life — as long as they didn’t say or think anything. It ended one Christmas. The secretary rang me and said, “Gaddafi’s only gone and banned football!” ’
Then came a job as Hong Kong boss but ‘the players wanted bribing to play for the national team!’
McParland next headed to Cyprus where ‘the referees were fixed’. FOOTBAll has altered hugely since 1957. ‘We earned £71 for winning. The band were on more than us, £100 a man. I remember Jimmy Hill’s campaign to lift the wage.
‘We had a meeting and Sir Tom Finney’s deputy was called Campbell. He said he was happy earning £12 a week. “My dad’s down the mine for £10 a week. I’m playing football, having an easy life”.
‘So Tommy Banks, an England international, got up and looked over at Stanley Matthews. Tommy said, “Brother Campbell, your dad goes down the mines but I have 60,000 people laughing at me on a Saturday because Brother Matthews is tearing me apart! your dad doesn’t have to do that!”
McParland even remembers the Queen’s handshake when she presented the Cup, saying: ‘She shook hands gently. We had parties every day that week. They really were the best of times.’