Arsenal vs Manchester United memories as FA Cup glory still appeals
In other FA Cup news good luck to former Arsenal man Andy Woodman boss of Bromley FC who travel to Newcastle this afternoon
Hello,
Happy Sunday, ahead of Arsenal vs Manchester United.
Can I just say, here and now that I absolutely love the FA Cup.
Always have done, always will do.
Alan/Alan Sunderland after scoring the Gunners last-gasp winner in the never to be forgotten 3-2 victory over Manchester United in the 1979 FA Cup final
It’s about time Arsenal had a decent run in the world’s oldest domestic knock-out competition once again, after the Gunners last triumph, during the pandemic back in 2020.
With 14 wins overall in the tournament Arsenal lead all comers in lifting the cup with he big ears more than anyone else. Something to be proud of.
The Arsenal: FA Cup winners 2020
I’ve only missed a few Arsenal vs Manchester United clashes home and away over the last 40 years and more.
And some of my favourite memories relate to FA Cup wins over the Red Devils.
I still recall the majestic 2-1 victory over United at a packed Highbury in February 1988, where Brian McClair missed a last-minute penalty in front of the North Bank, as the whole end jumped for joy in unison.
I can honestly say it was one of the best atmospheres I ever experienced at Highbury. What a day.
I was there at Highbury in February 1988 when Brian McClair missed a last minute FA Cup fifth round penalty in front a joyous North Bank.
I can also still recall beating United on penalties at Cardiff to win the 2005 cup final in one of the few matches Arsene Wenger ever showed pragmatism - fielding five in midfield to counter United’s threat in a bid to win the trophy.
I still recall me and my pals laughing our heads off during our celebrations in Cardiff that night upon, when encountering some bitter United fans, who told us we should be “embarrassed” by our performance - leaving a whole mob of us to start chanting at them in the pub: “We won the cup/we won the cup/eeeee/aye/addiio/ we won the cup.”
The look on the disheartened United fans faces after our ditty said it all. There was literally nothing they could respond with. Winning is everything sometimes. It certainly was that memorable day in south Wales 20 years ago.
Patrick Vieira wins the 2005 FA Cup with his last-ever kick for The Arsenal
And despite a busy schedule, why shouldn’t we aim to win it again.
Too many teams see this fine competition as an unnecessary distraction, which is why the likes of Sheffield United only got 6,000 for their third round home match vs Cardiff on Friday - because if you as a club can’t be bothered to take this cup seriously, then why should long-suffering fans.
Let's hope by 445pm today (and for those of a certain vintage isn’t it strange to have a 3pm kickoff) Arsenal will have made it through to the fourth round - leaving us dreaming of Wembley and the glory of the cup.
That’s what it’s all about isn’t it. Isn’t it?
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My view from the Stamford Bridge press box covering the Blues FA Cup third round clash with Morecambe on Saturday
I covered Chelsea vs Morecambe at Stamford Bridge for my newspaper yesterday, and the highlight was the 3,000 travelling fans loyally supporting their team for the entire 90 minutes on their big day out, despite the score.
You can read my official match report below, suffice to say that Shrimpers boss, Derek Adams succinctly summed up the disparity between the teams by saying afterwards: “Our budget is one million. Chelsea’s is one billion…”
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Good luck to former Arsenal man Andy Woodman now boss of Bromley FC who travel to Newcastle this afternoon in the FA Cup third round
Good luck to Bromley FC ahead of their clash with Newcastle at St James’ Park this afternoon.
I paid a visit down to Hayes Lane at the start of the season to cover Bromley’s first home game as a league club - as well as to keep up 92/92 league grounds as part of my 92 Club membership.
I also interviewed Bromley boss and all round top man Andy Woodman after the game for a newspaper feature, as well as a piece for the Gooner Fanzine, with the former Arsenal man lavishly singing the praises of the club, which was great to hear.
I actually bumped into Andy and a mutual friend while flogging the Gooner outside Arsenal tube in freezing temperatures last Tuesday, before attending the Gunners League Cup clash with Newcastle.
It was great to see him, and have a great big bear hug from the big man - and I for one will be cheering on Bromley’s efforts while flogging the Gooner before our game with United this afternoon.
Here’s to a decent run by Arsenal in this seasons’ FA Cup, starting with this afternoon.
See you at Arsenal tube - Getcha Gooner
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From the archive
Bromley Boys mark new beginnings
By Layth Yousif at Hayes Lane, August 16, 2024.
YOU could tell it was going to be a special occasion when the merest hint of a rainbow emerged to welcome the nation’s newest league team, following a brief sprinkling of rain in deepest south London on Tuesday evening.
Hayes Lane, Bromley was the scene.
Where Andy Woodman’s Ravens hosted AFC Wimbledon in the first round of the League Cup. It also happened to be their maiden home game as a league side in this welcoming club’s 132-year history.
While the handsome grey horses in a nearby field may have been impervious to such a momentous moment, Bromley’s homely club shop was doing a roaring trade before kick-off, and not just in souvenir printed match programmes, either. Even if it’s a sign of the times that despite such an important fixture, the club produced a double header edition, to save on printing costs.
For in a quirk of fate that football always seems to generate, the only true Dons in English football return on Saturday, for their League Two fixture in Bromley’s first home league match at this level.
On Tuesday, they were queuing to the back of the club shop for all manner of items — from Bromley branded bottle openers to slate coasters, to notebooks, pens and, of course, white replica shirts. And why not? Everyone wanted a piece of Bromley on Tuesday.
Even the nearby railway station, Bromley South, had hung a sign that proudly announced the area was the home of the new league club.
It was no wonder there was ermine in front of the Hayes Lane press box with the arrival of the local mayor, resplendent in red, gold jewellery glinting in the early evening sun, amid a restorative cooling breeze, following the day’s fierce heat that topped 30°C in this part of the world.
And while the car park may need resurfacing at some stage in their shiny new future, not to mention the dilapidated corrugated iron on which a sign directed travelling fans to the away end, you could tell this is a community club with a big heart and even bigger dreams.
Yet for the teak-tough Woodman, never a coach to rest on his laurels, last season’s promotion triumph belongs in the records books, when he said: “We need to move on from that as a club — we need to win football matches, continue to win football matches, that’s my message to the players.”
As befits a new league club, money has been spent wisely upgrading the ground that housed a capacity 3,677 on Tuesday evening, with Saturday’s first home league game confirmed as a sellout.
Terraces and stands have been upgraded, while fans have been provided with additional food outlets lending a pleasant environment to consume their beers and burgers, while still keeping the essence of this unprepossessing club.
And despite the women in the club shop unsure whether to keep open or lock a connecting door from the shop to the stand, the mood was leavened — even in the ever-growing queue — when a kind gentleman offered to buy the ladies a bottle of wine to thank them for their efforts.
Bromley, who had such a stellar season under the highly rated Woodman when gaining promotion to the EFL from the National League last term, enjoyed a pleasing debut last weekend when emerging from North Yorkshire on Saturday with all three points, after beating Harrogate Town to post a win in their first-ever league match.
Despite the visitors dominating Tuesday’s early stages as the home side acclimatised to such heady heights when competing in a trophy that the mighty Liverpool lifted last term, boss Woodman, the highly rated former Arsenal goalkeeping coach, who left the north London giants to progress his career as a manager, saw his side go ahead in the 19th minute when his No 19, Levi Amantchi wrote his name into the record books.
The lively attacker emphatically slotting home Kosovan left-back Besart Topalloj’s fine cross to make the net bulge as the home support erupted in jubilation to make it 1-0.
Of course it wasn’t to be against the side with a far bigger budget.
Fairytales are harder to come by than that — Wimbledon know that more than most — as former Charlton stalwart and Spurs youngster Johnnie Jackson’s side levelled shortly afterwards. Dons’ No 10 Josh Kelly drilling a low shot from the edge of the area that flew past Ravens’ keeper Sam Long to make the score 1-1 five minutes later.
As an absorbing match progressed, Wimbledon grabbed a winner in the second half when Joe Piggot fired home from close range to put the Dons ahead just after the hour mark, to ensure the visitors would earn the right to host Premier League side Ipswich Town at the new Plough Lane before the month is out.
However, a bullish Woodman, always engaging company, said after the match: “We were good for it in a lot of areas, but we lacked a little bit of belief in the final third and that was the difference.
“We don’t have the riches of Wimbledon and the other clubs, we have the smallest budget in the league.
“We don’t have the money to go and buy all the top players, we have to produce our own which is what we have done before,” saying: “We have another game Saturday.”
They certainly do, when these two south London clubs face each other again in League Two action, in a clash which will be ebullient newcomers’ Bromley’s first-ever home game in the EFL.
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FA Cup third round report
Chelsea 5–0 Morecambe: FA Cup third round report by Layth Yousif at Stamford Bridge, Saturday, January 11
A Christopher Nkunku goal, and a brace apiece from Tosin Adarabioyo and Joao Felix ensured a powerful Chelsea side swept past batting Morecambe.
As the sun shone under deep blue skies on a bitterly cold west London afternoon, Enzo Maresca’s side emphatically triumphed in this FA Cup third round mismatch.
While this weekend is traditionally an evocative one for those of a romantic footballing bent, given the history and heritage of such a landmark round in the world’s oldest domestic knock-out tournament, the reality, sadly, was far more prosaic.
And while, before kick-off, outside on the Fulham Road, stallholders were doing a roaring trade in those infernal half and half scarves as souvenirs, and the Chelsea fanzine extolled the memories of cup glories past between its blue and white pages, the vast financial imbalance, and growing, between the haves and have nots in English football ensured brave Morecambe would never be more than cannon fodder, once Maresca’s Blues' battalion stirred.
Speaking after the match, Maresca reflected: “It was a good afternoon in terms of we won, which is important, and the performance in these types of games is about showing how serious and professional you are and once again the players showed that.’”
In a lively start Disasi headed over when well-placed from Reece James’ cross, with the captain back in the side for the first time since November 10.
The Shrimpers swept upfield moments later with Ben Tollitt testing Chelsea keeper Filip Jorgensen, as the vociferous travelling fans who made the long trip down from Flyde coast sang gleefully to their London counterparts: “You’re only here for the Morecambe.”
In an open start, Felix fired over the bar, while shortly afterwards Adarabioyo struck the woodwork from Pedro Neto’s corner.
The highlight of Morecambe’s afternoon came in the form of drama in the 16th minute, when the Shrimpers 28-year-old journeyman keeper Harry Burgoyne saved Christopher Nkunku’s spot kick. Referee Andrew Kitchen awarding a penalty when Shrimpers Yann Songo’o handled Joao Felix’s cross. Cue celebrations from the 3,000 away fans massed behind the goal in a crowd of 38,998.
There was more to come from those loyal fans from Morecambe Bay when, in a pre-arranged display of defiance, the support protested against owner Jason Whittingham, loudly encouraging him to sell their club, currently mired in the League Town relegation places second from bottom of the Football League – 87 places below their hosts, and a world away from Chelsea.
On the half hour the peripatetic Bourgoyne saved well from Felix’s goalbound effort as Morecambe continued to compete on level terms.
That was until Adarabiyo’s shot flew into the net via a deflection off Shrimpers No28 Callum Jones, as the home side eventually broke the deadlock against their battling visitors, five minutes before the interval.
The Chelsea No4 nearly doubled the lead with a far truer effort moments later that he drilled narrowly wide.
As half time approached with Chelsea ahead, the impressive away support turned its attention to politics, chorusing: “Fuck the Tories.”
As if to underline the disparity between the teams, Blues boss Maresca brought on Jadon Sancho, Mala Gusto and Marc Cucurella, in place of pair James, and Romeo Lavia, as well as Neto.
The Blues dominance eventually told, when Nkunku doubled the lead five minutes after the interval, when slotting home after following up Renato Veiga’s shot that Shrimpers keeper Burgoyne could only parry.
As temperatures dropped once the bright midwinter’s sunshine dissipated, Felix nearly curled the ball into the far corner, but the ball flew narrowly wide.
Cucurella, curly mop of brown hair flapping in the cold afternoon air, drove the wrong side of the Morecambe goal on the hour mark, prior to Disasi’s close range header arrowing wide, as did his long-range shot a few minutes later, as Chelsea hunted a third.
It eventually came when Disasi lifted the ball into the far corner from outside the box to make it 3-0 with 20 minutes remaining, for his second of the game.
As the vast discrepancy between budgets began to tell, Felix grabbed two goals in the space of 120 seconds as Chelsea ran through the gears when extending the lead from 3-0 to 5-0 between minutes 75 and 77 respectively.
And despite battling Morecambe misfiring when well-placed twice in the dying minutes, including Harry Macadam’s effort that was cleared off the line by Disasi, the Shrimpers were finally put to the sword in a scoreline, which given their relentlessly battling efforts against a club that had spent more than £1bn on its squad was harsh, but alas, not unduly so.
Fittingly, Morecambe boss Adams explained the gap afterwards by simply saying: “Our wage bill is one million – Chelsea have spent a billion.”