ON THIS DAY

Wolves were clear champions but the battle for the second automatic promotion spot from the Championship in 2017/18 went to the last match of the season. Fulham had to pick up more points than Cardiff on the last day, May 6th - Cardiff drew 0-0 at home to Reading while Fulham - defending a 23-match unbeaten League run dating back to December 2017....lost at Birmingham! Cardiff's promotion saw their manager Neil Warnock set an impressive new record - it was the eighth time he had managed a club to promotion, a record covering 7 different clubs. He started off by managing Scarborough to promotion from the Conference to the Football League in 1986/87 followed by promotions with Notts County (twice), Huddersfield, Plymouth, Sheffield United and QPR before his latest success at Cardiff. And for the record Cardiff set a major new Football League first during the season. In consecutive matches in February and March they beat Bristol City, Barnsley, Birmingham, Brentford and Burton to become the first side ever to beat five clubs starting with the letter 'B' in consecutive League matches. Hey - every record is important!

Arsenal were red-hot favourites to beat FA Cup final debutants Ipswich Town in the 1978 final at Wembley. The Suffolk side had been beaten 6-1 by Aston Villa in the League a week previously but the underdogs hit the posts three times in the final before Roger Osborne scored the only goal of the match for Ipswich in the 77th minute. That was his last action in the match - he immediately fainted and had to be substituted!

Tottenham beat Leicester 2-0 in the FA Cup Final to become the first club since Aston Villa in 1896/97 to win a League and FA Cup double. Among their ranks that day were Bill Brown, Danny Blanchflower, Dave Mackay, Cliff Jones and John White who helped Spurs become the dominant force of the time. And Jimmy Greaves had yet to arrive at White Hart Lane! The final was Leicester's 10th FA Cup tie of the season and it was part of a disappointing run that saw them lose in all the four FA Cup finals they played in in the 25 years since football had resumed after the Second World War.