McIlroy: No freeze from United today
SAMMY McILROY guarantees that Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United will not suffer the same Wembley freeze in today’s EFL Cup Final that Tommy Docherty’s inexperienced team did against Southampton 41 years ago.
The Northern Irishman was one of a bunch of swashbuckling youngsters expected to sweep aside their Second Division opponents, going into the 1976 FA Cup Final as red-hot 1-5 favourites.
But on a sweltering May Day McIlroy, along with team-mates such as Steve Coppell, Gordon Hill, Lou Macari and Martin Buchan, were outfoxed by a wily Saints team.
Even now, the game ranks as McIlroy’s most-painful playing memory.
“I’d played at Wembley with Northern Ireland but this was my first club final at the stadium,” he says.
“I can’t recall, in my whole career, a game passing me by so quickly.
“One minute we were walking out of the tunnel and the next we were trudging back down it having lost the game.
“We were a very exciting side. But we were also young and inexperienced.
“Southampton simply handled the pressure of the day better than us.
“They had lots of experienced players – Peter Rodrigues, Mick Channon, Peter Osgood, Jim Steele and Jim McCalliog.
“This current United side will be hot favourites against Saints, just as we were, but the difference is that this time they are also the team with the players who have the know-how of the big occasion and, because of that, I expect them to win.
“In ’76, people were expecting us just to turn up and lift the cup. Maybe we were a bit complacent ourselves.
“But Wembley finals are very nervy occasions, especially for younger players. It was also very hot, which didn’t help, but we had no excuses.
“We were overawed and just didn’t play on the day.
“I remember hitting the bar with a header when I should have scored. Then, not long , Southampton going up the other end and Bobby Stokes getting the winner.
“I’ve never been so disappointed in a dressing room afterwards.
“It was a shocking feeling. We’d let ourselves and the fans down.
“Wembley is a terrible place to lose, the worst ground in the world. For my part I felt maybe the occasion was too big for me.
“We finished third in the league that season so ended up with nothing.
“But when we got back to Manchester, The Doc made a speech promising we’d go back the following year and win the FA Cup.
“The lads were doubly determined to do just that and it helped we were underdogs against Liverpool, who’d won the League and were about to play in their first European Cup Final.
“We won 2-1.”