Tomlinson petitions 10 Downing Street

From the current issue of the Big Issue in the North magazine. 

Actor Ricky Tomlinson will be joined by his former building worker colleagues on 16 December to present a petition to 10 Downing Street calling for the release of government documents relating to the 1972 builders strike.

Charged under the 1875 Conspiracy Act, Tomlinson was one of six men jailed for his role in the organising of flying pickets in Liverpool and North Wales during a national strike organised by the building workers union UCATT over pay and the casualised labour system known as the “lump”.

Household name

One of the Telford New Town sites that was picketed was called Brookside, the same name as the famous Channel 4 soap opera in which Tomlinson became a household name by playing Bobby Grant, a factory shop steward.

In the builders strike 300,000 workers downed tools nationally and were successful in raising wages, cutting back on subcontracting and lowering the rate of deaths and injuries on sites.

The dispute was one of a number in which workers successfully challenged the prices and incomes policy of the Tory government of Edward Heath.

Tomlinson was sentenced to serve two years for “conspiracy to intimidate” at his trial in Shrewsbury in 1973. Another of the six, Des Warren, received three years. Twenty-four building workers in total were found guilty of the charges brought against them. Much of the evidence of alleged violence and intimidation had been collected in a dossier supplied to the police by the National Federation of Building Trades Employers.

The Financial Times called the dossier “flawed, since it suggests the existence of a sinister plot without being able to substantiate the allegations”.

Established in 2006 the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign is seeking to overturn the men’s convictions. It believes the charges were politically motivated and that there was government interference in the prosecutions.

‘Security reasons’

It believes the release of all government papers relating to the trials will prove the interference but in 2011 the Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke exempted the release of some records under the Freedom of Information Act until 2021, for “security reasons”.

An e-petition on the government’s website this year, calling for the release of the papers, failed to gather enough signatures to force ministers to act but the campaign will now present a paper version to 10 Downing St.

‘Credibility’

Eileen Turnbull, the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign researcher and treasurer, said: “Not releasing the documents damages government credibility and upholds our contention that the government back then had an involvement in the trials of the Shrewsbury pickets.

“We have had great support and 18 national trade unions, 200 local union branches and 60 trades councils affiliated to us are collecting signatures. Many individuals have also helped.

“We are confident of a large number of signatures being handed in to Downing Street on 16 December.”

Tomlinson and one of the other men charged, John McKinsie Jones, will be accompanied by union leaders Len McCluskey and Steve Murphy, and Labour MP Tom Watson.

West Ham 8 Sunderland 0 but Hurley gets revenge a few weeks later

The following is an edited version from the authorised biography of CHARLIE HURLEY: “The Greatest Centre Half the World has Ever Seen”. Written by Mark Metcalf the book was published by Sportsbooks in 2008. It is on sale in the Sunderland club shop and in Waterstones in the city centre. 

It is to be hoped that next Saturday Sunderland can, at least, avoid the hammering they received at Upton Park in October 1968 when West Ham United rammed home eight without reply. It is a result that along with similar defeats at Hillsborough in 1911/12 and Vicarage Road in 1982 remains Sunderland’s record defeat. 

‘An ageing Charlie Hurley was up against Geoff Hurst; West Ham had made a good start to the season but had failed to win in their last six league games. They had also failed to beat Sunderland at home since 1926. Hurley had played three times before at the club he’d turned down before signing for Millwall in 1953, each time facing Hurst and the England World Cup hero had failed to score on each occasion. Today would be very different. Hurst scored six, and West Ham eight. 

Alan Brown, who it has to be said wasn’t generally known for his humour, [although compared to managers today when everything is so serious he was a bundle of laughs] at least raised a smile in the after match press conference when he said, “It was an even game. We conceded four in each half.”

The match report in the following Monday’s Echo was headed “World Class West Ham in Brilliant Form” and as Argus stated ‘”was only told with casual references to Sunderland as amidst opposition of such quality they were never in the hunt” although “Hurley and Harvey earned a lot of sympathy for having to take such a hiding in a no-chance defence. Montgomery had 8 goals rammed past him which gave him no chance”. 

According to Charlie Hurley “Hursty was bleeding dynamite, he used to time his runs to the near post brilliantly, they had a very good side. 8-0 flattered us.” 

Geoff Hurst himself feels that “arguably that was my best league game ever for West Ham United. If I am not mistaken no one has scored six goals in a top-flight match since and that was over 40 years ago.” 

Sunderland played the return with West Ham just before Christmas 1968 and ‘revenge was in the air when goals from Calvin Palmer and Gordon Harris in the first twelve minutes at least wiped the smile off Ron Greenwood’s men’s faces in a 2-1 victory for the home side. 

The Sunday Express’s Tony Hardisty in an article headed “Super Hurley foils Hurst” reported that “West Ham were attractive as ever, but could never create really clear cut chances against a defence in which Charlie Hurley was superb”. 

The key moment in the game came in the second half as West Ham pressed for an equaliser. Argus’s report in the Monday Echo that week captures some of the qualities that made Hurley such a favourite for Sunderland fans from that generation. 

“Geoff Hurst broke rapidly to outpace Colin Todd to hit a fierce shot from just inside the penalty area but Charlie Hurley who had made a beeline down the middle dived in to take the full weight of it in his face and turn the ball away for a corner.

After receiving treatment Hurley took all the danger out of the situation by clearing the corner with a powerful header”. It was wonderful stuff that this author as a young man can still remember from the enormous cheer that went round the massive Roker Park ground for the next few minutes leaving Argus to report that “against the magnificent Hurst, Hurley turned in another great display in a run of form which equals the best in his eleven  years with the club’. 

Hurley recalls: “The ball was hit so hard by Geoff and it hit me full in the face. It was rock hard and hurt like hell. It knocked me flying, my face was sore all that night”.

Sir Geoff Hurst has nothing but praise for Hurley saying, “I played a few times against Hurley, he was a terrific footballing centre-half. He was very, very good in the air, but he was also very good on the ball and not that many centre halves in that era were. I loved playing at Roker Park and I scored a few goals against Sunderland, which is always nice. The place had a fantastic atmosphere; Sunderland and Newcastle have very passionate fans. I loved playing in big games and before big crowds; it brought the best out of me. Sunderland is a fantastic club, they’ve got great support and they always treated the opposition team well. It’s the same today. “

1968/69 proved to Charlie Hurley’s last season at Sunderland but as the chants amongst Sunderland fans at away matches this season have shown he is still not forgotten! Is there any other player from such a long time ago that still has his name chanted regularly?  

Niall Quinn's International career

The following edited extract is from THE MIGHTY QUINN – the story of Niall Quinn

Mark Metcalf

Kindle price £1.64

www.amazon.co.uk/The-Mighty-Quinn-Story-Niall-ebook/dp/B00FA46YVU

It is just over twenty years ago that Northern Ireland failed to deny the Republic of Ireland a place in the 1994 World Cup finals when a late equalising goal by Reading’s Jimmy Quinn silenced an abusive Windsor Park crowd.

The 1-1 draw opened up an opportunity for Niall Quinn, then of Manchester City, to make his second appearance at the World Cup finals but in the event a cruciate ligament injury ruled him out of the tournament in the USA. A disappointed Quinny returned to the Ireland side in a 4-0 win against Liechtenstein in October 1994 and he scored twice.

Niall Quinn was a key player in the period in which Ireland was at their very best and no-one in the World relished playing them. He made his debut in the Iceland Triangular Tournament held in May 1986 in which Ireland marked their emergence as a force to be reckoned with by winning. A year later, Niall Quinn made a substitute appearance in a famous 1-0 victory at home to Brazil and in 1988 he was sent from the bench by Jack Charlton to hold the ball up in the latter part of the wildly celebrated 1-0 victory over England at the European Championship finals in West Germany.

Two years later, Ireland were set to exit the World Cup finals in Italy when Quinn slid in to net against the Dutch and by drawing 1-1 in Palermo Charlton’s side moved on to play, and beat, Rumania in the final sixteen of the tournament. The scenes which accompanied David O’Leary scoring the winning penalty, in the shoot out that followed the 0-0 draw, will live long in the memories of the thousands of Irish fans who were there and the millions watching back home. In the quarter finals a heroic battle with the hosts ended with Ireland unluckily exiting 1-0.

Quinn buried a brilliant header at Wembley in a 1-1 draw with England on 27 March 1991 and would have qualified for a place in the European Championships if Ray Houghton’s late shot, that beat David Seaman, had not missed by inches. Almost exactly two years later, Niall Quinn again scored with a great header as Ireland beat Northern Ireland 3-0 at Lansdowne Road.

Quinn suffered a second cruciate ligament injury in 1996 and he was forced to listen to rumours that his football career was over before he returned a year later to the Irish squad that missed out on a place at the France 1998 World Cup when Mick McCarthy’s side lost to Belgium in the play-offs featuring sides that had finished second in their group.

There was further disappointment two years later when Ireland exited the European Championships by losing to Turkey in the play-offs. Niall Quinn, who was starting to establish a new partnership with Robbie Keane, who had replaced Tony Cascarino in the starting X1, scored in the last group match away to Macedonia. Ireland was only seconds away for qualifying for the finals when the home side equalised and denied the away side top spot at Yugoslavia’s expense. 

Having represented his country with distinction for over 13 years then many felt Niall Quinn, by now playing for Sunderland, would struggle to play again at a major tournament. Ireland proved most pundits wrong by pushing Portugal all the way in their World Cup qualifying group and by doing so knocked out Holland. A 2-1 aggregate success in the play-offs against Iran helped ensure Quinn was back at the finals for the second time. Prior to the tournament, the striker kept an earlier promise to himself to donate proceedings from his testimonial match, featuring Ireland and Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, to charity. Quinn was entitled to a testimonial match after playing more than 75 times for his country.

Playing in Japan, Niall Quinn came off the bench to set up Robbie Keane for the equaliser against eventual finalists Germany. He then had his shirt almost torn off his back against Spain and from the resulting penalty Robbie Keane sent the last sixteen tie into extra time. With no further goals, Ireland subsequently exited the tournament on penalties. It was to be Niall Quinn’s last game for his country and he left having scored 21 times for Ireland.

THE MIGHTY QUINN covers all Niall Quinn’s football career including his international and club appearances. It is 25,000 words long and includes approximately 50 photographs and illustrations. 

SPLIT PERSONALITY - Penrhyn Slate Quarry

SPLIT PERSONALITY

From Big Issue in the North magazine, December 3-8th 2013. 

From a great hole in a Welsh mountain, slate has been quarried for two thousand years and is prized because it splits cleanly. Only a handful of quarries remain today but, as Mark Metcalf finds, those in the trade are determined to maintain a proud, ancient tradition.

Ever since Roman times there has been slate quarrying in north west Wales but the techniques used to extract it then are different from the ones used today.

Then the slate was used for a weathertight roof on a fort built just outside Caernarfon. By the 19th century the industry dominated the region. Working conditions though remain difficult and there is a constant geological battle to ensure there is a safe working environment in which to remove a metamorphic rock valued for its splitting characteristic. The word slate is derived from the French verb esclater, meaning “to split”, and the rock’s final splitting is still completed manually by workers.

Penrhyn Slate Quarry outside the small village of Bethesda in North Wales was first developed commercially in the 1770s. It went on to become the world’s largest slate quarry at the end of the 19th century century. Larger quarries now exist in Spain, China and the US, but Penrhyn remains Britain’s biggest.

The company Welsh Slate, which also includes smaller quarries locally, manufactures on site each week around 125,000 roofing slates, as well as decorative aggregates for paths and gardens. This provides jobs for around 100 people during processing and 20-plus in the actual quarry itself.

The quarry is a great hole in the mountain and its black sides contrast greatly with the grandeur of the surrounding mountains. The main working pit is 1.6km long and 150 metres deep.
There are 15 metre benches or terraces on open galleries on each mountainside.

The slate itself starts 60 metres below ground. Removing the overburden – or waste – is an ongoing process and in the last year contractors have stripped two million tonnes in order to widen the quarry and free up more slate. The colour of the slate is dependent on the chemical composition of the mudstone, which was deposited at Penrhyn around 500 million years ago. Most slates from Penrhyn are heather blue in appearance.

Extracting the slate involves taking advantage of the natural weaknesses in the rock through planes and joints to take out large blocks. According to Dafydd Williams, the quarry manager at Penrhyn for seven years, the perfect size block is 10 metres by 10 metres.

Since Irish businessman Kevin Lagan purchased the quarry six years ago there has been significant investment. This has included a new machine in which wire impregnated with diamonds is used in cheese wire fashion after probes have been employed to link the vertical and horizontal cuts.

Although explosives are then employed to bring down the loosened rock the process has lessened the danger of falls as the quantity of shot used is considerably less than before. Nevertheless in the last few years there have been two major rock falls in the quarry, including one of six million tonnes. Fortunately, both falls were at night and no one was injured.

Williams says: “The skill is to understand the geology of the quarry. It could be very dangerous as the cleavage of the slate is vertical but you’ve got sub-joints that are parallel.

“If you don’t understand those joints, and recognise that by moving one block, it will impact on those near to it then you could have problems.”

Williams’ target is 3,000 tonnes of productive slate a week from the quarry. Huge loaders and massive Volvo trucks are used to carry giant blocks of stone to the processing plant. En route the drivers pass two zip wires specially constructed in a disused area of the quarry. Zip World opened earlier this year and visitors pay £50 to reach speeds of up to 100mph. The company rents the space from Welsh Slate and the entry fee also includes a brief quarry tour.

Once the slate blocks reach the processing plant a hydraulic splitter is employed to split the slate to a size that can be sawn. When production manager Andy Smith started work at Penrhyn 30 years ago this breaking down of the stone was done manually with a sledgehammer and chisel. It was back-breaking work.

Fork-lift trucks transport the smaller blocks to the sawmill, where four saws reduce further the size of the stone to various sizes, of which the most popular among customers is 20 by 10 inches. This is known as the Countess, with different sizes of slate all named after female aristocratic titles.

The remaining stone is deposited with the splitters, whose job it is to determine the thickness of the finished slate. This depends on the quality of the slate as well as the skill and experience of the worker.

Wayne Eccles started work on a training scheme in the early 1990s and was given 32 weeks training in splitting. He says: “The skill is in the eye as you always split slate in half. Some people use their thumb to decide on what thickness the slate will be.”

The splitters are the only employees whose contracts include bonus payments – which can vary from £50 to £150 a week – and they make more if they can create roofing slates that are thin rather than thick. As we are talking millimetres in difference then that is no easy task.

Eccles followed his father into the quarry industry and so did Neil Roberts, whose link to quarrying goes back six generations to 1823. He is aware of the strike that ran for three years starting in 1900 and like the majority of workers is a member of the trade union Unite.

Industrial relations at the quarry today are, says Roberts, “pretty good as we need to keep the quarry open as without it there would be few local jobs and Bethesda would struggle to survive”. A large local employer has recently closed and across Wales the jobless rate is 8.2 per cent, higher than England.

The completed slates are checked and packed before being supplied to restoration, repair or new-build projects in the public, commercial and residential building sectors. Architects and building contractors often specify they want slate as it has a reputation for style and longevity. Welsh Slate offers 100-year guarantees.

The Fountain in Exchange Square in Manchester was constructed with slate boulders from Bethesda. The Welsh Assembly building in Cardiff used slate walling, paving and flooring from the Penrhyn quarry. All of which gives a special pride to the workers. “It is nice to see something that I have done that is going to last a long time,” says quarry operative Carwyn Jones.

Charlie Hurley's international debut in 1957 against England

Debuting for Ireland against England

The following is an edited version from the authorised biography of CHARLIE HURLEY: “The Greatest Centre Half the World has Ever Seen”. Written by Mark Metcalf the book was published by Sportsbooks in 2008. It is on sale in the Sunderland club shop and in Waterstones in the city centre. This article appeared in the Sunderland Sports Echo dated 1 December 2013.

Charlie stands fifth from the left prior to his impressive debut 

Hurley never faced Greaves at international level. The Irishman, playing at the time for Millwall, made his international debut for Ireland against England in May 1957. Eleven days earlier when the sides had met at Wembley the home side had romped home 5-1 and Manchester United’s Tommy Taylor, against whom Hurley would be in direct opposition at Dalymount Park, had scored three times.

‘By far the largest crowd ever to assemble at Dalymount Park saw the Republic of Ireland start in thrilling fashion when, following a flowing move involving Arthur Fitzsimmons, Liam Whelan and Joe Haverty, Alf Ringstead of Sheffield United was able to knock the ball into the empty net from a few yards out.

England, whose only change from the first game was David Pegg, later to die in the Munich air tragedy, for Stanley Matthews, were stung and Godwin was forced to make brave diving saves at the feet of Atyeo and Taylor.

An anxious Charlie watches on as Ireland keeper Tommy Godwin
grabs the ball 

Ireland hung on to their lead. Those present knew that if they could hold on then a victory in the next game in Denmark would mean that England and Ireland would be forced to play a third time. The winner would take their place at Sweden in the following summer’s World Cup tournament.

PNE’s brilliant winger Tom Finney had other ideas - perhaps he didn’t fancy another game against Ireland.

 “I remember it well. In the ninety-first minute Tom Finney’s gone down the right, beat Pat Saward, beat Noel Cantwell, crossed the ball. John Atyeo was behind me. I’m watching Tommy, the header went bum, bum, bum, just trickled into the net. After the match the referee revealed that he had added 1¾ minutes for stoppages,” says Hurley.

Hardly a sound could be heard in the ground, save, of course, the England players who realised that they had qualified for the World Cup.

The referee’s actions were very unusual for the time, most games ending within seconds of the 90 minutes. The Daily Mirror headline summed it up with its “Referee’s watch gives England a passport to World Cup Finals – SAVED IN EXTRA TIME SENSATION as the luck of the Irish was right out”.

After the match Hurley’s performance was lavishly praised, with the Daily Mirror’s report stating “….it was the Irish who produced a new great world-class footballer in centrehalf Charlie Hurley. Half the clubs in the First Division will soon be knocking on Millwall's door offering £25,000 for him.’

Hurley recalls, “People say that Eire only had a good team under Jackie Charlton. I am not so sure; we had a very good team. For the match at Dalymount Park it was packed; they were sitting on the track round the pitch.  I did OK, it was very early days for me - my very first cap. But it wasn’t good enough for the press. How did they find this big young Irishman with a Cockney voice the star of the show? It set me up for 40 caps, if it had been now I’d have had eighty  as I played for over 12 years.

The match was an insight for me into the best. Tommy Taylor played for Manchester United. Tom Finney? I’d say Tom Finney was one of the greatest players ever; he was just slightly before my day. I thought after the match, ‘Well it’s not beyond you, son’. As my father said, ‘Always aim for the stars and if you drop down to the moon then you’re not doing too badly’; a great philosophy for a guy that liked his pint.

“The game proved something for myself. I always thought I could be good enough but there was nothing like being tested to the full by England! My father went over by boat.  He would have rowed over if he’d had to He told me that for two weeks he never had to do any work at Fords. All his mates did his work; all they wanted to do was to hear about what Charlie had done against England, and from my dad’s angle it was fantastic. I let him have the cap. He took it in, and he really did believe that at the end of that fortnight that he’d played and not me!”

Charlie leads Sunderland out prior to the fifth round FA Cup match in 1964
at home to League Champions Everton in which he scored in a
3-1 win.

Charlie Hurley versus Jimmy Greaves? Who won……...

Charlie Hurley versus Jimmy Greaves? Who won………

The following is an edited version from the authorised biography of CHARLIE HURLEY: “The Greatest Centre Half the World has Ever Seen”. Written by Mark Metcalf the book was published by Sportsbooks in 2008. It is on sale in the Sunderland club shop and in Waterstones in the city centre. This article appeared in the Sunderland Sports Echo dated 1 December 2013.

Charlie Hurley was in his final season when Sunderland played away to Tottenham Hotspur in November 1968. He was up against the greatest ever English goalscorer, Jimmy Greaves, who is the only player to have finished as top scorer in the League on six occasions, twice with Chelsea and four times with Spurs.

Greaves “scored four as Sunderland were well beaten by five goals to one. An injury to Martin Harvey on 73 minutes when the score was only 2-1 was the key to such a heavy defeat.  This took Greaves record to ten goals in nine games in matches against Sunderland since 1964. However a little look behind the figures shows that until that November 1968 day Greaves didn’t do that well when Hurley played for Sunderland.

Hurley had previously faced Greaves just three times before then and he’d scored just the once.  In the other five games when Hurley was missing through injury Greaves had scored five times. In 1968 Hurley was coming to end of his top flight career and Greaves exploited his increasing lack of pace including scoring a goal that for many years was endlessly shown on TV replays, running through from the half-way line to take the ball round Montgomery and finish in fine style. Hurley had the satisfaction of playing Greaves just once more, at Roker Park in February 1969 and he again failed to score – it was some record to prevent a genius like Greaves from scoring in 3 out of the 5 games you’d faced him at centre-half.

Hurley has no doubt that “the best sniffer ever was Jimmy Greaves, better than Denis Law. I did well against Greaves, mind. He played at Roker Park one time and we won 3-2 and he scored two that were both disallowed for offside, and I said to him afterwards ‘Tough luck there Jim’ and he said ‘Charlie boy if I’d been at home I’d have got them both’. What a good player, great touch and a decent bloke as well.  Law, he must have scored half his goals from within 6 yards, he poked his goals in, no runs and dribbles, and he was brave mind around the box.”  

Did Shack cost Sunderland a seventh title in 1954-55?

The following edited extract is taken from Stan Anderson’s autobiography CAPTAIN OF THE NORTH. This was co-written by me and published by SPORTSBOOKS in 2010. The book is on sale in the Sunderland club shop and Waterstones in Sunderland city centre. This article appeared in the Sunderland Sports Echo of 1 December 2013. 

Chelsea travel to the Stadium of Light in midweek. Despite the Pensioners recent successes in the Premier League they have yet to match Sunderland’s record of six top-flight titles. According to Stan Anderson that really should have been seven but Sunderland’s players were so obsessed with making it to the 1955 FA Cup final that they relaxed in the League and allowed Chelsea to capture the First Division trophy for the first time.

Stan Anderson 

Anderson largely blames one of his favourite all time-players, Len Shackleton, for what happened. The former Sunderland, Newcastle and Middlesbrough captain points out in Shackleton’s defence that his attitude was in response to the low wages players were then paid and which led to some of them rarely giving 100% in order to ensure they prolonged their careers for as long as possible.

Having beaten Burnley and PNE in rounds three and four of the FA Cup, Sunderland were drawn to play away to Swansea Town in round five. Sunderland were just off top spot in the League.

Anderson: ‘Len made it clear that he supported the view that the double wasn’t possible; that you couldn’t win the League and the Cup in the same season. It was true that no club had managed it in the twentieth century but perhaps because I was only twenty in 1955, I felt it could be done. Spurs showed I was right when they won both in 1961. But Len was adamant, and because he was right on so many other issues (such as low pay and a system that tied players to clubs) the players listened to him and I am convinced had an affect on them……...

’I’d have been happy to won either competition, of course, but Len would say, ‘Let’s get to Wembley and win the FA Cup, it will be fantastic.’ He didn’t say ‘Let’s lose the league,’ but the implication was pretty clear and we did lose it by putting in some terrible performances between the fifth-round draw and our semi-final knockout……we didn’t even make it to Wembley’.

‘The week before we faced Swansea we faced Charlton Athletic at home. We had beaten them easily away, 3-1, in September although they were now in third, one place below us. But we were unbeaten in fourteen home games. We attacked most of the match, but in truth rarely threatened Charlton’s famous ‘keeper Sam Bartram: the match finished 2-1 to Charlton and I missed a penalty at 1-0.

These days reporters would say the performance lacked enthusiasm’.

After beating Swansea, Sunderland played Newcastle away and beat a side that was out of contention in the title race. In the following game, Sunderland lost 3-0 at Bolton.

Stan Anderson – “I still have a newspaper cutting for that match, which reads ‘Sunderland, moving at only half speed…..never had a chance of replacing Wolves at the top of the table…Shackleton must shoulder a lot of the blame. He was slow, played far too much behind his colleagues and rarely went into a tackle’.

Sunderland beat Wolves in the sixth round of the FA Cup. Two days later they faced a struggling Sheffield United side at Bramall Lane. Victory would have taken the visitors to the top of the league with Wolves. They lost 1-0

The Journal reported: ‘Perhaps it was the reaction following the previous cup tie but the weakened Sunderland side rarely showed any urgency’.

At home to another struggling side, Arsenal, Sunderland lost 1-0. Stan Anderson: “We weren’t good enough and it was one of the most disappointing results I experienced”.

The following weekend saw Sunderland knocked out of the FA Cup when, in a game that should never have been played on a pitch little better than a mud bath, Manchester City won 1-0 at Villa Park to set up a Wembley date with Newcastle United.

Stan Anderson: “It was a very quiet dressing room afterwards and I have often wondered if the rest of the players were thinking the same as I was, namely that you should never rely on a single match to make or break a full season.

The following weekend my misery was made almost complete when we lost a tight match at Stamford Bridge……in the last quarter of an hour we penned Chelsea into their own box but the ball just wouldn’t drop kindly and we lost 2-1.

Chelsea proved to be the most resilient side that season and won the title by finishing with 52 points from their 42 matches, four more than three other sides, Wolverhampton, Portsmouth and ourselves in fourth. It still rates as the club’s second highest finish after third in 1949-50 since the last league success in 1936 but it is of little consolation. Fourth might mean something these days with qualification for the Champions League as a reward but it counted for little in 1955. Certainly no-one was celebrating, least of all me although at the time I was consoled by the thought that we might be in a position to challenge again over the next few seasons.

Even now I still can’t however feel that it was a chance we threw away. This is despite the fact that Chelsea did have more than their fair share of decent players including Roy Bentley who was a very strong inside forward who I played against many times and who had two good feet and was very good in the air.

To make matters worse, and how could it be, Newcastle won the FA Cup for the third time in five seasons, beating our semi-final conquerors Manchester City at Wembley 3-1.