ON THIS DAY

The Arsenal v Liverpool FA Cup semi-final was finally decided – in the fourth match! In those pre-penalty-shootout days a 12th minute Brian Talbot goal gave Arsenal a 1-0 victory at Coventry’s Highfield Road ground in the 3rd replay – the only time an FA Cup semi-final was played at that ground.

With the World Cup Finals in West Germany just a few weeks away - and England not part of it - the FA sacked Alf Ramsey as England manager. Appointed in 1963 he had managed England in 113 internationals of which they had won 69 and drawn 17 with his most notable achievement of course being the World Cup win in 1966. But failure to qualify for the finals of the Euros in 1972 and the World Cup in 1974 resulted in his downfall. With England due to play seven internationals in a little more than a month Coventry City manager Joe Mercer took temporary charge of the national team (3 wins, 3 draws and a defeat against Scotland) before Don Revie left Leeds United to become England boss in July 1974.

This was the date when one of the more unusual ground attendance records was set - 14,000 at Cambridge United's Abbey Stadium in a friendly against Chelsea. The match was arranged as part of Ian Hutchinson's transfer between the clubs and marked the opening of the Abbey Stadium floodlights - but end of season fixture congestion caused a few problems. On Wednesday 29th April Chelsea were due to play Leeds in the FA Cup final replay, on the Thursday United were in Southern League action, Friday was the day of the friendly between the clubs and on Saturday United were in Southern League action again - and United had to win both their Southern League matches to guarantee retaining their Southern League title. Chelsea beat Leeds in the Cup Final on Wednesday and Cambridge United beat Worcester City 3-0 on Thursday. On Friday the record 14,000 crowd saw a near full-strength Chelsea side take a 1-0 half time lead but in the second half Cambridge United rested their players and the Chelsea reserve side provided the opposition to the Chelsea first team. Cambridge United/Chelsea reserves won the match 4-3. On Saturday, before a 5,298 Abbey Stadium crowd Cambridge United beat Margate 2-0 to pip Yeovil Town by a point to win the Southern League Premier Division title. On Saturday 30th May Cambridge United were elected to the Football League - now that's got to be a perfect month in the life of any club!