Today I'm going back the furthest that I can. 44 years ago today I went to my very first professional football match between Leeds United and reigning European Champions Liverpool at Elland Road. It was a great game to begin with!
Going to the match was a bit of an adventure into unknown territory for two fourteen year olds: myself and David Bowes. We caught the bus from Wetherby Bus Station into Leeds and then walked the couple of miles from the Bus Station there out to the ground. We arrived at the ground in plenty of time I think before the gates were even open. If I remember correctly, admission cost just 50 pence and, once inside, we raced to pick a prime spot on the raised terrace (at Spurs it would have been called The Shelf) in front of the seating area on the Lowfields Road side of the ground where the East Stand (or Jack Charlton Stand) is located today. I think that we probably had 90 minutes or so to wait for kick off but this was all new to me and kind of magical because of that. Watching so many names that were well known to me coming out to warm up held a fascination. Liverpool had won the European Cup in Rome the previous season in a game that was the swansong for Kevin Keegan before he departed for Hamburg. His replacement? Kenny Dalglish! Dalglish was the new kid on the block but was already putting in performances that suggested that his British transfer fee record breaking £440,000 price tag was a snip. Dalglish would go on to play for Liverpool until 1990 and ended up making 515 appearances for the club scoring 172 goals. Truly a bargain I reckon.
The only footage that I could find of this game makes me feel ancient! It's so grainy and blurred that it's not very different from the Pathe Newsreel footage of the 1930's! Take a look at it on my blog if you want to marvel at the picture quality. I think shadow puppets are probably clearer! The footage shows Leeds taking a first half lead thanks to a goal from Gwyn Thomas which was swiftly equalised for Liverpool by Jimmy Case. The winner came in the second half and was once again scored by Case.
Liverpool finished the season as runners up to the surprise Champions and new boys in the First Division Nottingham Forest managed by the legendary Brian Clough. Leeds United, managed by Clough's successor at Elland Road, Jimmy Armfield could only finish ninth. One wonders what Leeds might have achieved had the Board at Leeds backed Clough rather than the players in 1974. Champions of Europe? Possibly. Oh and if you're wondering about my beloved Spurs that season, they were on loan to the Second Division for a season finishing in their lowest league position since 1950.
CRB Match No. 1
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