Remember..March 1981.PAUL POWER!

[Salford in the City]

That’s what I always remember…the ball taking ages in the air and similar with Gows goal….the ball just seemed to hang in the air.

We had played Everton on the Boxing Day a couple of months earlier and before the match my dad had a heart attack just outside Goodson (it was a bit of a blur but think it was on Gwladys St) and died in hospital about an hour later and so was in two minds about going to this one for obvious reasons.

Remember it being an unbelievable atmosphere but there had been a feeling right from the start of the cup run that we would be going to Wembley….should have been going twice had Alf Grey being the only person in the ground seeing something wrong with the Kevin Reeves goal.

Such a shame that Tommy Hutchinson was in the wrong place at the wrong time in the final.

So sorry about your dad mate.

 

[Spurs quarter 69]

Not on the match as was watching Ireland lose to England in the rugby international at Lansdowne Rd. Already deeply pissed off with the rugby I asked a Nigel with a radio for City's score as I came away from the match. 2 1 Everton he told me, shit I thought can this day get any worse. Walked back to the Clanrean House pub to meet my rag brother in law. I expected him to be gloating over City's defeat, only for him to say we had a got a last minute equaliser. Instantly my humour changed forgot the rugby and revelled in Citg still being in the cup. The replay was my last night home ,got so shit faced I forgot to get the score. On the way to the boat asked my brother in law the score. 3 1 he said, win or lose I demanded. You'll have to wait to get a paper the rag twat said, finding out the result chased away my hang over and got me dreaming of Wembley. 24 then nearly 70 now, still seems like yesterday.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

Remember it well and coming the ground was mad kicking off everywhere

Did you manage to get to the replay at Maine rd,52000 packed into the old ground
A higher attendance than the Legendary 5-1 win over utd,43kiirc

 

[dennishasdoneit]

Are you getting confused with the semi final at Villa Park mate?

Yes! maybe...both matches were 3pm sat,I had a paper round at the time ,and Paul Power scored a crucial late goal sending Blues Barmy all over the Globe... so yes
I may be getting confused.
Forgive me ; )

 

[Blue Boy 63]

Couldn`t get a ticket for the Goodison Park game but manage to get to the replay . Always remember the flyer for the Cool Cats coach for the 1`st away game afterwards read No Door knockers ! The game in the League that year was lively too . A few hundred of us left at half time !

 

[SatOnTheWall]

Oh, and here's a thing. Did everyone refer to Paul Power as Zico, or was that just me and my mates?

Down at the bottom of the Kippax towards the North Stand end, he was often referred to by some as “Spider” or “Gladys”.

I thought this all very strange because I liked him. He was one of our better players and he never ever hid, unlike some.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

That’s what I always remember…the ball taking ages in the air and similar with Gows goal….the ball just seemed to hang in the air.

We had played Everton on the Boxing Day a couple of months earlier and before the match my dad had a heart attack just outside Goodson (it was a bit of a blur but think it was on Gwladys St) and died in hospital about an hour later and so was in two minds about going to this one for obvious reasons.

Remember it being an unbelievable atmosphere but there had been a feeling right from the start of the cup run that we would be going to Wembley….should have been going twice had Alf Grey being the only person in the ground seeing something wrong with the Kevin Reeves goal.

Such a shame that Tommy Hutchinson was in the wrong place at the wrong time in the final.

It's funny with Tommy hutch...he was in the right place ,at the right time when he stopped Kevin Beattie s towering header from a corner crossing the line when it was still nil nil 1st half
But then ...in the Final,which we probably wouldn't have made but for the aforementioned clearance off the line,he was in the wrong place at the wrong time....
Gutted.

 

[Platt Lane 59]

Already evident from watching this early on that Tommy Hutch ( norm left wing)is playing a deep centre mid role for Bond ,a Pep like tactical switch maybe to confuse Ipswich,at the time,one of the most powerful teams in Europe,whilst we were dusting ourselves down from being in the bottom 3 of the old 1st division under Big Mal...and exceeding all expectations under John Bond..wed already ,of course made the semi finals of the league cup v Liverpool...

For younger Blues watching this...it's important to have some context...

Young Dave Bennett was up against One of the best centre backs in the country at the time,Terry Butcher...Bennett is clearly nervous early on as noticed by the commentator....but Bennett sticks to his task very well for a young Mancunian lad ,and is responsible for teasing and drawing the foul from Butcher,which leads to the free kick....deep into injury time of extra time...which of course Power put away suberbly...

Just going back to Bennett,yes he started off nervous ,but his career has gone( in just a few short months ) from him dancing down the wing in the mud at Halifax Town in the fa cup debacle....to being part of John Bonds squad rising from the bottom of the top league and reaching TWO cup semi finals in the same season.!
I'm so glad Bennett received a fa cup final winners medal in later years,albeit with a different shade of Blue.

Just for some more context,Ipswich Town in 81 had Paul5-1 Cooper in goal,Scottish right back George burley,England left back Mick Mills Terry Butcher,the Powerful Kevin Beattie at centre back ,big Paul Mariner.EricGates and Alan Brazil all at the time top quality players.not to mention the suberbly quality of the Dutch international midfield maestros

And of course John Wark Scottish international centre mid,who iirc scored 34 goals in one season from midfield!!

This was a big big win for City,with a hotspotch team against one of the best teams in the country

Any old time City fan who doesn't remember this era fondly prob needs to give his head a wobble ; )

A very interesting post.
In my opinion, Ipswich Town were one of the best teams I've seen.
Bobby Robson crafted an exciting, entertaining team without any real superstars.
They were a proper team from a small town in East Anglia, so didn't have a shed load of money behind them.
Aston Villa were lucky to win the League, also City were perhaps fortunate to beat them in the FA Cup semi final ?
I was at the semi final, thinking City would now go on to win the trophy.
Thankfully, for Ipswich they won a European trophy (EUFA Cup ?), so didn't finish the season empty-handed...

 

[Blueknows]

Sounds scary.
I've done the Stanley Park walk/ run a few times over the years....but not in the early 80s!!
As I got older watching City away...Big Paul Bevan and Micky Owen introduced me to an old Irish boozer,just down from Stanley Park,and away days in Liverpool were definitely more relaxed and friendly as the years went by.
I actually started to look forward to drinking in Liverpool and would meet up with pals at 10amMa Eggertons at the train station before bouncing into Dixie Deans up the road.
Happy Days!

Police escort disappeared before and after the game , was almost like it was planned , once we got to stanley park they disappeared , kicked off everywhere

 

[69FACUPfinal]

I didn't miss a game that season, so was at every cup match. The Everton replay was a wild night. We got back to Blackpool and went to the Adam and Eve Nightclub, it was as dead as a dodo but the perfect place to get happily drunk in.

The Ipswich semi final was the last game I went to with my brother before he emigrated. We were stood next to each other when PP scored, I didn't see him again until we got back to the car.

I'm pretty sure that Paul Power's sister ran The Metropole Hotel in Blackpool, the only hotel on the sea side of the promenade. It was a terrible place, but it did have a decent bar and a full-size snooker table.

Great memories.

BTW if you thought the Metropole was bad in '81....

 

[dennishasdoneit]

Police escort disappeared before and after the game , was almost like it was planned , once we got to stanley park they disappeared , kicked off everywhere

Def sounds as tho it was planned....to be sort of fair to the police,Liverpool had some of the worst riots in the country back in 81..altho Totexth didn't kick off properly until July of that year
Also i suspect many of the force policing the quarter final were Everton fans....maybe with little sympathy for mancs....
Edit:I meant to say re the riots,maybe the police resources were stretched/knackered

 

[Alfie Budd]

A very interesting post.
In my opinion, Ipswich Town were one of the best teams I've seen.
Bobby Robson crafted an exciting, entertaining team without any real superstars.
They were a proper team from a small town in East Anglia, so didn't have a shed load of money behind them.
Aston Villa were lucky to win the League, also City were perhaps fortunate to beat them in the FA Cup semi final ?
I was at the semi final, thinking City would now go on to win the trophy.
Thankfully, for Ipswich they won a European trophy (EUFA Cup ?), so didn't finish the season empty-handed...

Correct. Ipswich won that season’s UEFA Cup. They were a great team for around five or six seasons and should have won more than that plus one FA Cup a few years earlier.
Portman Road was a real graveyard for City back then. We rarely if ever got anything there in the Bobby Robson era.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

A very interesting post.
In my opinion, Ipswich Town were one of the best teams I've seen.
Bobby Robson crafted an exciting, entertaining team without any real superstars.
They were a proper team from a small town in East Anglia, so didn't have a shed load of money behind them.
Aston Villa were lucky to win the League, also City were perhaps fortunate to beat them in the FA Cup semi final ?
I was at the semi final, thinking City would now go on to win the trophy.
Thankfully, for Ipswich they won a European trophy (EUFA Cup ?), so didn't finish the season empty-handed...

Thanks for the compliment!

I agree Ipswich were one of the most attractive teams in the country playing neat intricate passing football which only got better when they spent their money from the cup runs wisely on the Dutch imports Arnie Muhren and Frans Thissen...Muhren the deep lying central midfield playmaker,with a superb passing range,and Thissen who was a fantastic dribbler,a wizard with the ball at his feet,showing adroit close control .the like of which was not see regularly in this country..at that time.

Robson turned the old Ipswich Town of northern ireland centre back Allan Hunter,the injury prone Kevin Beattie,and the flying winger Clive Woods into a more modern creative side,and who can remember the fantastic destruction of man utd at Portman road ,6-3 in front of the Motd camera s?

Ipswich were knackered towards the end of the season chasing honours in 4 separate competitions,and ending up with just the Uefa cup iirc.

Always one of my fav ' other's teams of that era.

 

[Blue Feather]

Thanks for the compliment!

I agree Ipswich were one of the most attractive teams in the country playing neat intricate passing football which only got better when they spent their money from the cup runs wisely on the Dutch imports Arnie Muhren and Frans Thissen...Muhren the deep lying central midfield playmaker,with a superb passing range,and Thissen who was a fantastic dribbler,a wizard with the ball at his feet,showing adroit close control .the like of which was not see regularly in this country..at that time.

Robson turned the old Ipswich Town of northern ireland centre back Allan Hunter,the injury prone Kevin Beattie,and the flying winger Clive Woods into a more modern creative side,and who can remember the fantastic destruction of man utd at Portman road ,6-3 in front of the Motd camera s?

Ipswich were knackered towards the end of the season chasing honours in 4 separate competitions,and ending up with just the Uefa cup iirc.

Always one of my fav ' other's teams of that era.

I think it was 6-0 ;-0 (wilkins debut I think !)

 

[Mifred]

The anniversary slipped by unnoticed...
What a game,what an Atmosphere,and Caton Bennett and Power stood up to Everton on their own ground,Gerry Gow helped out too,not forgetting Kevin Reeves adroit header assist
I wasn't there.....but still remember listening to Radio 2 second half commentary back home in Carlton notts....one of the best days of my life.....had to do my paper round straight after final whistle....
Buzzing.on a Chopper bike,big beaming smile on my face...delivering football post to Carlton and St Anne's.....

Happy Days.; )

loved that day- tried to get on the pitch at full time to no avail- won the replay think Bobby Mac starred in that from memory

 

[johnnytapia]

My favourite cup run bar none. Can recall every goal, every scorer, from every round.
And just how small the Norwich keeper was.
And that the game didn’t restart after Bobby Mac’s goal.
Can’t remember a fucking carrot from last season’s run.

 

[johnnytapia]

Just think if VAR. was around- none of that going mental. Everyone wondering if a toenail had played Power offside

 

[bladdered]

Just think if VAR. was around- none of that going mental. Everyone wondering if a toenail had played Power offside

I'm sure it's been done to death but, God forbid, the Aguerrooo moment went to VAR and we failed...it's just not worth thinking about.

 

[Alfie Budd]

loved that day- tried to get on the pitch at full time to no avail- won the replay think Bobby Mac starred in that from memory

Correct. Bobby Mac scored two goals in quick succession after the game was deadlocked at 0-0 for about an hour.
Fun fact - the attendance at that Everton replay (52,532) was never subsequently surpassed at Maine Road.

*Everyone at the Charlton game in 1985 knows that the ‘official’ attendance of 47,285 was the ultimate example of dodgy numbers served up during the Swales era. There was around 55,000 in Maine Road that day.

 

[Enzo's Mascara]

Great days