We celebrated the win until silly o’clock
‘THE Crazy Gang have beaten the Culture Club.’ Commentator John Motson’s immortal line captured the spirit of the most memorable FA Cup final shock of modern times.
That 1988 final at Wembley in which Wimbledon, a non-League club just 11 years before, beat mighty Liverpool 1-0 to deny them the Double has gone down in history.
Twenty-seven years on and with League Two AFC Wimbledon, founded after the original Wimbledon moved to Milton Keynes, about to stage a ‘rematch’ with Liverpool in the third round tomorrow, JOE BERNSTEIN gets the full story of that incredible day in the words of those who were involved:
CUP FINAL EVE
Dennis Wise (Wimbledon): ‘Vinnie Jones and myself got up early in the morning to get PrincessPrince Di some flowers becausebecaus we knew she’d be presentingpresen the trophy. We also wen went for a haircut but June Whitfield [actress and Wimbledon fan] saw us anda went mad, said we should still be in bed.’
Andy Thorn
(Wimbledon): ‘We got back from training, had a quickq change and into dinnerdi at the Cannizaro HouseH Hotel in Wimbledon.W Bobby Gould feltfe it was a bit quiet at dinnerdin so he gave us some moneymo and we nipped roundrou to a pub for a few beers.’bee AlanA Cork (Wimbledon) ‘We had a good drink. We werewer in the bar until they chuckedchuc us out at 11.45pm and didn’t get much sleep.’ CUP FINAL MORNING, MAY 14, 1988
Thorn Thorn: ‘It was nervy on the coach driving in. We were watchingh TV showing the Liverpool players being interviewed on their coach. Then Alan Hansen started talking about how it would be a nice day out for us and it would be “Spot the Wimbledon fan”. It started livening up then! He gave us an extra little bit of fire.’ Terry Gibson (Wimbledon): ‘People thought we’d change our behaviour in front of millions of people on TV but that was never going to happen.’
John Fashanu (Wimbledon): ‘I was very reluctant to shake hands, even with Digger [Johnny Barnes] one of my friends. I was snarling at him.’
‘All John Barnes (Liverpool): that talk of intimidation is rubbish. There are pictures of us laughing and joking in the tunnel. We had players who had won European Cups, do you think they’d be intimidated?’
Bobby Gould (Wimbledon manager):
‘I travelled to Wembley in a blue and grey check cup final suit. But I am superstitious so I changed into my lucky Marks & Spencer jacket, tie, trousers, underpants and socks before I led the team out the tunnel.’
THE GAME
9 minutes: Vinnie Jones leaves Steve McMahon in a heap by the halfway line.
Vinnie Jones (Wimbledon):
That tackle was planned weeks before. As he’d turn, I knew he would open himself wide up. I was waiting and the first time he did it, bang. It was a real “we don’t give a s***” moment. I smashed him.’
John Aldridge (Liverpool): ‘In the modern game, it would have been the quickest red ever. He absolutely went through Stevie.’
35mins: Peter Beardsley escapes a shirt-tug by Thorn to score, but the goal is ruled out because referee Brian Hill has blown for the foul.
Thorn: Peter spun in behind me and I slipped so I put my arm out and grabbed the back of his shirt. The ref blew right away, which was lucky for me because he was away to score. If he’d delayed blowing by a split-second, we would have been behind.’
37mins: Lawrie Sanchez heads in Wise’s free-kick. 1-0 to the underdogs.
Sanchez: ‘It was a glancing header. I’d had a special haircut for the day and it worked. It was probably the worst goal celebration ever though because Dennis Wise jumped on me and blocked the camera from showing my face.’
Fashanu: ‘Sanch was my arch enemy at the club and I had to hug the b******!’
61mins: Clive Goodyear is penalised for a challenge on John Aldridge but Wimbledon captain Dave Beasant becomes the first goalkeeper in FA Cup final history to save a penalty, from Aldridge.
Aldridge: ‘I couldn’t believe the ref had given it but I knew it was a great chance for us to equalise. I’d scored 10 out of 10 penalties that season so I was confident.’
Beasant: ‘I knew if John didn’t do his shuffle, he tended to put the ball to the keeper’s left, so I stood up and dived that way.’
Thorn: ‘I fancied Lurch [Beasant’s nickname] to save it. He’d practised diving to his left in training, though we p***ed him off by shooting to his right to muck him about!’
Aldridge: ‘It’s s***e to miss a penalty in a cup final. Absolute s***e. I just wanted the ground to swallow me up. I just wished I’d put it a different height, either higher or lower.’
90mins: The final whistle. Little Wimbledon have won the FA Cup.
Thorn: ‘I jumped on Bessie’s back at the final whistle, punching the air. I’d been at Wimbledon since I was nine, the only one in the team who had come right through the youth system. I’d even been a ball boy at Plough Lane.’
Fashanu: ‘Bobby Gould has to take a lot of the credit. Dave Bassett had done well to get us in the First Division but I don’t think we would have won the FA Cup under him.’
THE CELEBRATIONS
Thorn: ‘We had the longest lap of honour ever seen, nobody wanted to come off the pitch. Bobby was telling us to calm down but Vinnie was throwing the cup in the air.
‘We went back to Wimbledon for the night. [Owner] Sam Hammam put up a marquee at Plough Lane and it was the best party I’d ever been to. All the players down to the apprentices had their own table for 10 and I celebrated with friends and family until silly o’clock. I posed for a picture with my nan Margaret with the FA Cup. Not bad for a kid from a council estate in south London. Happy times. ‘The only disappointment was that we weren’t allowed to play in Europe because we’d have done all right [English clubs had been banned following the Heysel disaster]. The team split up, but if we’d been in Europe, we would have all stayed.
Fashanu: ‘I’ve been speaking to Vinnie, Wisey and all the boys this week. We think Ards [Ardley] can mastermind a cup double on Monday. It’s in the blood.’