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Recalling Wembley ways
MY first Arsenal versus Chelsea cup tie was the 1-1 draw at Highbury in 1947 and losing the replay that was held at Spurs.
I remember a crowd of 60,000 and there was no segregation!
We were to meet Chelsea again in the semifinals in 1950 and 1952, when there was no such thing as a top-four dominance.
The FA Cup meant something. A match at Wembley was an occasion all players dreamed about. Now the venue is so mundane that even Luton get to play there.
It is no more the hallowed turf with the Twin Towers you looked out for as you were arriving at Wembley Park station.
In fact, I hear that the FA are so desperate for money they are going to play the “Tiddly Winks” final there.
This Saturday’s semi-final will have scores of police and security.
Wembley just isn’t the same any more.
In my day an Arsenal vs Chelsea cup game was a day to be savoured and not to be feared.
They were the good old days!
GEOFFREY GILBERT, NW8
Les Gonneurs are surely gonners
PHEW! Time eh, doesn’t it change things.
Two months ago, I was talking about a rebuilding season. Moan Utd were invincible having won another cup, squeezing through on penalties, Rafa was a tactical genius and Les Gonneurs, aka Mr Richard Osley, were starting to be polite about the Wafer Cup.
Now it all seems like nonsense. It’s the unpredictability of football I truly love. Who’d have thought Chelsea and Los Scouseros would play two of the most entertaining games this season?
And I recently met a couple of Moan Utd season ticket holders who actually come from the place (OK, they don’t still live there). I even agreed with Osley’s rant about it being unacceptable for grown men to wear replica shirts after the age of 17.
Unless you’re going to Wembley Bridge, then all rules of good taste are out.
Replica shirts, flags, scarves and inflatable celery sticks. I shall be smuggling them all in on Saturday when we return to our second home to face Arsenal.
Once again, we’ll have to help the confused boo boys from Hertfordshire. “Where are the Towers?” they will mumble.
But that aside Les Gonneurs should feel right at home. Wembley Bridge is another shiny new stadium where they’ve never won anything.
Ahh, football at the business end of the season, don’t you just love it? Do the Spuds even have a game this weekend?
BRUCE MACRAE, NW3 |
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