Today I'm going back 39 years to 1982 and York City's Tuesday night Replay against Hartlepool United played at Bootham Crescent in front of a crowd of 4,206.
Hartlepool United were originally founded as Hartlepools United in 1908 because there was more than one Hartlepool: West Hartlepool and Hartlepool itself. In 1968 the "s" was dropped when the two Hartlepools were merged to form the new Borough of Hartlepool. If ever a team is entitled to use the suffix "United" then this is surely the one! The other notable and rather enjoyable thing about Hartlepool is their nickname: not the "Pools" version but rather "the Monkey Hangers". That particular nickname was derived from local legend that has it that, during the Napoleonic Wars, a French ship was wrecked just off the Hartlepool coast with all lives lost except for the ship's monkey who was washed up on the shore dressed in a French uniform allegedly for the amusement of the demised crew. The locals who had seen neither a Frenchman nor a monkey before put the monkey on trial accused of being a French spy and, when the money failed to speak up in it's own defence, it was hanged! The term Monkey Hanger was ever after used to deride the residents of the area and, as these things often are, was eventually reclaimed by those same locals as a kind of badge of honour. In 1999 the new Hartlepool United furry mascot was named "H'Angus" (ponder that one for a moment won't you?) and in 2002, the wearer of that mascot costume ran for office as H'Angus and became the first directly elected Mayor of Hartlepool! Honestly! Sadly he was forbidden from wearing the monkey costume on official mayoral business.
There are at least a couple of notable names in the Hartlepool line-up depicted on the programme cover for the featured match. Andy Linighan made 131 appearances (scoring 6 goals) for Hartlepool before moving on to a higher level, playing for Leeds United, Arsenal and Crystal Palace amongst others before eventually retiring in 2001 with a career record of 518 appearances (and 24 goals). Linighan's finest hour came surely during the 1993 FA Cup Final when he headed the winner for Arsenal in the final minute of extra time but he also won a First Division championship medal, a League Cup winners medal and a European Cup Winners Cup winners (!) medal all whilst with the Gunners. Another name in the Pools line-up was Phil Brown who would go on to manage Hull City, Preston North End, Southend United (twice) and Swindon Town. Brown's heyday was surely in managing Hull City into the Premier League in 2008 and he described their Play-Off Final victory as being "the best day of my life, without a shadow of a doubt". The perma-tanned Brown's career has followed a downwards trajectory since then but he is a regular BBC radio pundit and can be relied upon to provide an affable manner and a fund of great football stories from his long career in the game.
York dealt comfortably with Hartlepool in the featured FA Cup 2nd Round match winning by 4-0 and earning a 3rd Round tie at Crystal Palace the following month (the programme from that game can also be found on my blog). FA Cup winners that season were Manchester United who beat Brighton & Hove Albion in the Final after a Replay.
City had a relatively good season in 1982/3 finishing seventh in the Fourth Division whereas Hartlepool had to apply for re-election after finishing 22nd in the 24 team league. This was the season immediately before the one in which Denis Smith's side would go on to win the Fourth Division championship with a record number of points and all the signs were there in 1982 that things were coming together for City at last.
CRB Match No. 211
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