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1985:
Manchester United 1-0 Everton after extra time
1986: Liverpool 3-1 Everton
1987: Coventry City 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur after extra time
1988: Wimbledon 1-0 Liverpool
1989: Liverpool 3-2 Everton after extra time
1990: Manchester United 3-3 Crystal Palace (United win replay 1-0)
1991: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Nottingham Forest after extra time
1992: Liverpool 2-0 Sunderland
1993: Arsenal 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday (Arsenal win replay 2-1)
1994: Manchester United 4-0 Chelsea
1995: Everton 1-0 Manchester United
1996: Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool
1997: Chelsea 2-0 Middlesbrough
1998: Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle United
1999: Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United
2000: Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa
2001: Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal
2002: Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea
2003: Arsenal 1-0 Southampton
Introduction:
For many people, The FA Cup Final is the highlight of the season.
Traditionally, it is the end of season for English club football.
It is often the match remembered most by the majority of ‘neutral’
fans.
We all have our own memories of each season and each cup final.
This article isn’t meant as an accurate factual representation,
although I apologise for any inaccuracies that I have missed, but
as a thought-provoking trip through my FA Cup final memoirs. Contributions
from Stuart Pike are included in Italics. I hope it helps bring
back a few of your memories too.
Part One (1985-1989):
In 1985, Everton finally ended Liverpool’s long domination
of the league, which had seen them dominate the preceding three
seasons. They would have won the double too, were it not for Manchester
United’s 1-0 win in the final, their second cup success in
three years. “I remember vaguely hearing Kevin Moran was the
first player to be sent off in a cup final, and seeing him trudging
off the pitch looking sorry for himself…”
Astonishingly, 1986 was the year of the first ever FA Cup final
between the two Merseyside giants to be played at Wembley. An Ian
Rush brace and a Craig Johnson goal sent Liverpool to a 3-1 victory,
although only after having been 1-0 down at half-time with goalkeeper
Bruce Grobelaar to thank for keeping them in the game. “…I
think Lineker put them ahead. It was the first Cup final where I
remember the build up on the coaches beforehand”. For all Liverpool’s
success, it was the first time they had won the prestigious “Double”,
and they joined an elite group of teams including Arsenal and Tottenham
Hotspur.
Everton cantered to the title in 1987. Liverpool were to end the
season empty-handed for only the second time since 1974-75, as they
lost in the third round of the FA Cup to Luton 3-0 in the second
replay, played just 48 hours after the first replay had gone to
extra-time. “Coventry 3 – Spurs 2: remember it well. I
was at a bring-and-buy sale in Little Common. Because my mum is
a Spurs fan we taped it! In pre-mobile phone and teletext days,
we watched the match ‘as live’ in the evening. Dave Bennett
and Cyrille Regis were brilliant, but the best memory is Spurs’
opening goal after a few minutes: “Clive Allen! An early strike…”…The
biggest shock until…”
1988 is surely the most famous FA Cup final upset of all time? Liverpool
had got back to their winning ways, easily wrapping up the league
title with just two defeats from 38 games. Up until the semi-final
against Nottingham Forest (a routine 2-1 win) they hadn’t conceded
an FA Cup goal all year (a total of 5 clean sheets). Surely completing
the double was merely a formality, with just little Wimbledon as
opposition? The rest, as they say, is history, as Wimbledon fought
with courage and spirit in achieving a remarkable 1-0 victory. “Watched
the match alone on my sofa. Two moments encapsulate the match –
John Aldridge (first penalty miss/save in a Cup Final) and Lawrie
Sanchez from THAT corner”.
The first cup final I personally remember is 1989. Liverpool were
desperate to win the final after the terrible tragedy that was ‘The
Hillsborough Disaster’, which had occurred before the semi-final
versus Nottingham Forest. Ninety-six Liverpool fans were crushed
to death in the stands after crowds of ticket-less fans in the street
had been allowed to pour into the stadium. For a club like Liverpool,
who had always prided itself on its ‘family’ club reputation,
it was a blow that shook all those connected to the club to the
core . At such a young age, it was difficult to comprehend the enormity
of what had happened, and it wasn’t until later, reading articles
into the court cases that followed, that it really hit home. The
semi-final was replayed, and Liverpool won 3-1.
I had started following Liverpool earlier that season after coercion
from my then best friend, and just a week earlier they had seemed
destined to do the double in my first season as a ‘Red’.
Frankly, that would have spoiled me after just one season’s
new-found allegiance. Yet a Cup Final victory on the Sunday would
set Liverpool up for a double winning attempt on the Wednesday night
versus Arsenal. This would make them the first team to win two “Doubles”.
(Arsenal famously went on to win the match, and the title, in the
last minute of that game)
A John Aldridge goal and another Ian Rush brace - the second goal
being in extra time – cancelled out Stuart McCall’s double,
and I finally had something to celebrate. “Stuart McCall was
brilliant but ended up on the losing side…the rest is a blur”.
As I recall, my celebrations involved sitting in my bedroom, fists
clenched, not really sure how a football fan was supposed to rejoice
in his team’s success. The now-familiar adrenaline rush was
new to me, and was probably burnt off my recreating the goals in
the back garden with my brother.
Part Two (1990-1995)
1990 was (after Hillsborough and the 2-0 defeat to Arsenal the previous
season) my third experience of heartbreak. Liverpool were again
seemingly on course for The Double, until losing 4-3 in the semi-final
to unfancied Crystal Palace. All four goals were the result of shoddy
defending from set pieces, a complaint soon to become familiar to
‘Pool fans in these post Alan Hansen days. In the final Palace
faced Manchester United, then a sleeping giant in English football,
The first leg finished 3-3, with the aptly-named Palace strike-duo
of Wright and Bright terrorising United’s defence. Sadly for
many English football fans, United won the replay with a winner
from Lee Martin. I remember the replay only because I watched it
standing in the doorway of the common room of a Dover youth hostel,
whilst away on an end of year school history trip. “I think
I saw the highlights of the second match. The first was pulsating,
with Palace unlucky not to win. Lee Martin – where is he now?!”.
Liverpool struggled in 1991. Runners-up to Arsenal in the league,
they had a torrid time in the cup. Needing replays to overcome Blackburn
and Brighton, they then drew a famous replay with Everton 4-4, before
losing the second replay 1-0. I think it was after the 4-4 draw
that Kenny Dalglish resigned as Liverpool manager.
The
1991 FA cup final was less famous for Tottenham continuing their
impressive record of winning the Cup whenever the year ended in
‘1’ as it was for Gazza injuring himself after a reckless
lunge on Des Lyttle. Many claimed it would have been a red card
had the referee not sympathised with the pain-stricken England player.
His absence was all the sadder as it was his superb free-kick past
the out-stretched David Seaman that clinched the semi-final victory
over North London rivals Arsenal. In the end, tragically, an own
goal from Des Walker, so often Forest’s saviour and rock in
central defence, sealed the final in Spurs’ favour during extra
time. “The Gazza tackle of course. Des Walker own goal. Gary
Mabbutt the winning captain – what a stalwart he was”.
In 1992, Liverpool were nowhere in the title race for the first
time in over 13 years. I had to console myself with the FA cup once
again, as Liverpool won 2-0 with goals from multi-million pound
striker Dean Saunders and former Gunner Michael Thomas, the man
who scored THAT last minute winner at Anfield in the dying seconds
of the 1988/89 season. (The losers that day were Sunderland who
became the first team since the war to reach two FA cup finals whilst
still in the second division). I also managed to gain some satisfaction
from the league, as Manchester United gave away the title to Leeds
United on the last day of the season. “Did not watch the game
live, but remember the irony of Mickey Thomas scoring one of the
goals. I think Sunderland knocked Chelsea out that year in the 5th
or 6th round. That was a depressing time, because in those days
that was a good Cup run for Chelsea!”
Arsenal completed a famous double in 1993, when they defeated Sheffield
Wednesday in the Coca-Cola Cup final AND the FA Cup final, both
by two goals to one. The FA Cup was the harder battle, with the
final being drawn 1-1 thanks to a David Hirst goal. Chris Waddle,
back from his post-Spurs Gaelic adventures with Olympique Marseilles,
scored the consolation in the replay. Steve Morrow, who had been
rapidly forming a solid central defensive partnership with Tony
Adams, missed the rest of the season after breaking his arm having
fallen from Adam’s shoulders as he was being hoisted in celebration
of their Coca Cup success. His replacement, Andy Linighan, went
on to score the winner in the last minute of the FA Cup final replay.
“Again, heartbreak. The underdogs deserved to win….Paul
Merson did that infamous ‘I’m drinking beer’ celebration”.
Manchester United under-lined their increasing dominance of English
football in 1994 by thrashing an ever-improving Chelsea outfit 4-0
in the 1994 final. All three strikers got a share of the spoils,
as Eric Cantona (2), Mark Hughes and Brian McClair took it in turns
to rub Chelsea’s noses in it. This was United’s first
double, and marked the beginning of a period of success not seen
since the Liverpool team of the early 1980s. “I cried. We were
robbed. Peacock hit the bar in a first half that we dominated. We
were going for a hat-trick of wins over Man U that season. The second
penalty was dodgy, but we were over-run…Sparky’s goal
was so quick after one of the pens that the cameras missed the ball
going into the net!” So unlucky were Chelsea, that even the
scoreboard thought they deserved a goal, flashing up Tony Cascarino’s
name after McClair’s fourth.
The biggest surprise of the 1995 Cup Final was perhaps that United
didn’t retain the trophy. A Paul Rideout goal ensured that
Everton won their first cup final since 1984 after a run of three
successive cup final defeats. United had been hit where it hurt
them most the previous year, when Arsenal won a European trophy
(at the time Alex Ferguson’s ultimate target).
This year another year of European failure was compounded by Blackburn’s
emergence, seemingly as a force to be reckoned with. The spending
power of Jack Walker was 1995’s equivalent to today’s
Roman Abramovic (although Blackburn’s success lasted very little
time indeed). The Cup final was United’s third disappointment
of the 1995 season, although it was merely a tiny blip in their
ten-year stretch as England’s premier club.
“A thoroughly deserved if unattractive victory. The goal was
surreal, it seemed to take an age coming down off the bar before
Rideout headed in. United were awful”.
The
first thing that comes to mind about the last four cup finals is
how unmemorable they are. I definitely watched them, presumably
either in the safe sanctuary of my bedroom, or at my grandparents,
whose large garden and well trimmed lawn provided ample opportunities
for sport of varying kinds from football and cricket to badminton
or ‘clock’ golf. But the matches themselves, and indeed
the match DAYS, were distinctly forgettable…
Part Three (1996-2000):
…Once I went to college and met Pike, however, FA Cup finals
became a once-a-year opportunity to get together and celebrate the
end of another season of footballing highs and lows. 11.30am became
unofficial “start drinking” time, to coincide with the
start of BBC’s cup final coverage. By the time the game started,
things were already worse for wear!
1996 was the first year that the cup final went like this, with
Liverpool v. Manchester United being the perfect match for the first
exhibition of such ‘Men Behaving Badly’ behaviour. The
company was galling; as well as Pike and myself, there were two
Manchester United ‘supporters’ who were possibly watching
their first game of the season and couldn’t name their own
first eleven. A tense (some might call it boring) game was decided
with around 10 minutes to go. Liverpool again defended a set piece
badly and Cantona, lurking on the edge of the penalty area, snaked
in a shot that seemed to swerve through the Liverpool defence, around
the defenders, and into the goal. 1-0 to Manchester United, and
heartache once again.
Many people would only too gladly call me a glory hunter for supporting
Liverpool despite living in the South – I can ensure them,
I hadn’t seen much glory thus far! “Pizza, Cantona, scarves
on sofa [In the style of ‘Fantasy football league’, the
BBC2 programme], a blur of Carling, and lots of pool to compensate…the
‘White Suits’ final”.
Chelsea’s Roberto Di Matteo was the star of the 1997 cup final
against Middlesborough, after his thunderous shot from well outside
the penalty area cannoned in off of the crossbar after just 45 seconds.
Boro never really recovered from such an early setback, and eventually
succumbed 2-0, little-known Eddie Newton got the second. “Chelsea
v Chesterfield would have been a great final [Lowly Chesterfield
were finally knocked out in the semi-final that year] but we got
Boro. Billed as Zola v. Juninho, Chelsea were in front on 45 seconds
and never looked back. I had been thinking ‘what would I do
if Chelsea actually scored in a cup final?’ (never known it
to happen before) and before I got comfy in my seat, “Thwack”,
off the bar and in. We had scored. I was numb. My celebration was
crap. I should have run around the garden or something!”
In 1998, Arsenal secured their first double since 1971 by beating
Newcastle 2-0. The nomadic Nicolas Anelka, then a young French prodigy,
scored one of the goals for The Gunners. This was their first double
of recent years, and their second ever. It seemed a rare interruption
of Manchester United’s endless march to success.” I was
in the Hobgoblin pub in Oxford with loads of Gooners…Anelka
was class, and they had someone called Christopher Wreh, [who may
have been] George Weah’s cousin?? Newcastle had no belief,
except their fans”.
The tale of two Uniteds in 1999. Newcastle were again the runners
up. This time it was Manchester United’s turn to win not the
just the double – their second of the 1990s – but the
treble, after their dramatic last minute comeback in the Champions
League final versus Bayern Munich, scoring 2 goals in the final
5 minutes to win 2-1. Manchester’s version of the ‘SAS’
(Sheringham and Shearer) were the scorers in Manchester’s 2-0
victory over Newcastle. Manchester’s United’s dominance
must’ve been getting boring – I barely remember the game.
“No memory at all of this one. It all merges into the previous
year!”
2000
was the third final that took place in my time at Exeter University,
but by far the most memorable. By this stage Mark and I had become
good friends, and it was with him I watched this distinctly forgettable
of finals on the day we both undertook to beat our drinking records.
Starting at 11.30 on the dot, we’d consumed 5 pints before
the referee’s whistle blew, and another 5 during the match.
Sometime
after full-time Mark passed out in his bedroom with the door locked.
Around 3 hours later he awoke and we went to the student union to
slowly drink our way to new records. Mark finished on 14 and I on
16 _. The half-pint was memorable, as it was my last drink of the
night, but was split by an annoying girl we didn’t like but
whom kept hanging around. We headed home around midnight with pizza.
The
morning after, around about 11, I wandered into Mark’s room
with no recollection of the result. Luckily, seeing as Mark had
no idea either, we had recorded the match, and so sat ourselves
down with breakfast and numerous cups of tea to (re) watch it. Even
then I was obviously too hungover to pay attention – for two
years afterwards I though Dennis Wise had scored the winner in a
1-0 victory; it was actually Roberto Di Matteo, proving his worth
to ‘Les Bleus’ once again. “I was sober in Oxford
drinking coke with my parents...Had exams soon after… The game
was awful and afterwards I think I permitted myself a wry smile
and that was about it. Then about a 1hr conversation with [a drunken]
you on the mobile walking down the High Street”
Part Four: (2001-2003)
I was at Plymouth University in May 2001, studying for my Masters,
about a week away from exams and with endless coursework deadlines
to meet. Additionally, I was due to start a five hour shift as a
barman in a nightclub at about 9pm that evening. Given that most
of my workmates were Liverpool supporters and in the same pub as
me, there was NO way we were going to be working sober that day!
After the match, I got a phone call from a uni friend of mine, who
at that point in time was camping out on a beach in Australia. It
was 3am, and they’d just finished watching the match. He’d
phoned to congratulate me, as if I’d scored the winner in the
cup final myself. I was so deliriously happy I felt like I had!
This was Liverpool’s first real success in 10 years, and ‘Pool
fans all over the world were savouring it like an alcoholic would
savour his first beer after a relapse.
For the record, Freddie Ljungberg scored as Arsenal took the lead
in the first final to be played at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
Liverpool, with 20-goal-apiece Robbie Fowler and Emile Heskey up
front, we playing terribly and sliding to defeat. Michael Owen was
thrown on as substitute, and single-handedly turned the game around.
It’s a sign of the depths Liverpool have fallen that they could
never come close to having two strikers worthy of dislodging Owen
from the current Liverpool team, but up to that point, it was debatable
whether – on form – Owen should have started. “Liverpool
were lucky. Arsenal paid the price for their profligacy. Michael
Owen’s winner was real ‘Roy of the Rovers’ stuff.
This final was unusual, because the team that scored first lost.
I was at home with no real allegiance to either side (maybe slightly
Liverpool)”.
Arsenal were given a second chance in 2002, this time facing Chelsea.
They had overcome Liverpool on-route to the final, with a narrow
1-0 victory thanks to the excellent Dennis Bergkamp. Liverpool had
gone into the match with high spirits having beaten Manchester United
1-0 at Old Trafford in midweek, and were disappointed to lose so
feebly, having drawn 1-1 at Highbury in the league just a fortnight
earlier. Although not a dirty match, it was a heated one, and Arsenal
had two men sent off. Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher was also
sent off, for stupidly returning a coin thrown at his head back
into the crowd.
Ranieri
took a risk in the final by playing a half-fit Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink
up front, despite having the in-form youngster Carlton Cole on the
bench. The risk backfired, as a subdued Hasselbaink limped off.
It sets the tone for Chelsea’s day, and they slip to a 2-0
defeat. For the second year in a row, Ljungberg scores. The Chelsea
commentator on Skysports ‘fanzone’ casually remarks ‘It’s
only Ray Parlour’ as the floppy-haired Gunner picks up the
ball in midfield. Seconds later it’s in the back of the net,
and Chelsea fans worldwide are left to pick up the pieces. This
year was the first year that Pike, Mark and I had watched the cup
final all together, and we managed to enjoy the day despite the
downer of the match result: “Remember playing footy with you
guys outside in the build up and during half-time. Then we had a
great party in the evening”.
And finally, 2003. The Gunners made it three cup finals in a row,
and were facing the unfancied Southampton, whose hopes were drastically
reduced when their main threat, James Beattie, had to withdraw from
the game due to injury. Liverpool had long since forgotten about
the FA Cup. A three month period starting in November, where Liverpool
couldn’t buy a win, let alone earn one through skill, flair
or graft, culminated in a humiliating 2-0 home defeat to Crystal
Palace in the fourth round replay. It was the lowest point of a
season full of lows, as Julian Gray and a Stephan Henchoz own goal
sent Liverpool to their first domestic-cup defeat of the season.
English football has tended to be very lucky with the weather on
Cup final day, as typically it is a fine, warm, sunny day. This
year, however, it poured with rain, and the Millennium Stadium’s
retractable roof was implemented for the first ever time. It was
the weekend before my accountancy exams, and so I was sat at home,
sober, with little interest in the result. Robert Pires scored the
winner as Arsenal moved to their ninth FA Cup victory, one less
than leaders Manchester United. “Famous for me because I volunteered
not to watch the game. Was queuing at Loftus Road for tickets to
the Gavin Peacock testimonial when the goal went in. No-one in the
queue or selling tickets was supporting Arsenal. Nice goal. Predictable
result. Saints’ hearts broken.
The quarter final draw let Chelsea down. They could have drawn some
real duffers, instead they got Arsenal. Terry gave them the lead…then
Henry swivelled to give Arsenal the lead. Lampard equalised late
on. Second match we dominated then Vieira dusted off his long legs,
went on a surge and cut our midfield like a knife through butter.
We got back into the game at 2-1 against ten men, then conceded
an immediate sucker punch. All over”.
‘All over’. A good way to end because, for all the minutes
per game we spend as emotional wrecks (peaking with elation, or
collapsing with despair), when it comes to the record books, it’s
all over once the final whistle blows. All that is noted is the
score, plus some minor trivial details. Everything else we remember
- where we were, what we were doing, how we felt – is totally
individual. Nobody has the same memories. We don’t know what
will happen in the 2004 FA Cup final, but somehow, in some way,
it will add to our catalogue of FA cup memories. I hope these articles
have helped add to yours.
1985:
Manchester United 1-0 Everton after extra time
1986: Liverpool 3-1 Everton
1987: Coventry City 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur after extra time
1988: Wimbledon 1-0 Liverpool
1989: Liverpool 3-2 Everton after extra time
1990: Manchester United 3-3 Crystal Palace (United win replay 1-0)
1991: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Nottingham Forest after extra time
1992: Liverpool 2-0 Sunderland
1993: Arsenal 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday (Arsenal win replay 2-1)
1994: Manchester United 4-0 Chelsea
1995: Everton 1-0 Manchester United
1996: Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool
1997: Chelsea 2-0 Middlesbrough
1998: Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle United
1999: Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United
2000: Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa
2001: Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal
2002: Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea
2003: Arsenal 1-0 Southampton
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