1973-74 WALSALL away League Cup 2

Tuesday 2nd October 1973, Fellows Park, Walsall, LEAGUE CUP 2nd ROUND

Walsall 0 CITY 0   Att: 12,900

City started what would turn out to be a long and tortuous League Cup trail at tiny ramshackle Fellows Park, in front of a heaving crowd of nearly 13,000. Walsall’s board had spent the weeks leading up to the game desperately trying to get work finished on ground improvements that would allow up to 24,000 in to see the match, but only some of these upgrades were complete by kick-off and the crowd, although enthusiastic, was a few thousand down on expectations.

Johnny Hart’s men lined up as follows: Healey; Book, Donachie, Doyle, Booth; Oakes, Summerbee, Bell; Marsh, Lee, Towers – Sub Colin Barrett

Stan Bennett of Walsall in a tussle for possession with Mike Summerbee

HEALEY TIME

The first name on the team sheet was the most significant one:

Joe Corrigan’s poor form had finally brought an end to manager Hart’s patience and he was dropped to the reserves with Ron Healey taking over and immediately racking up a clean-sheet, something Corrigan had had some difficulties attaining.

The goalkeeping theme was becoming a proper, full-blown crisis at Maine Road, with speculation linking City to the highly-regarded Brian King of Millwall and Leeds United’s Gary Sprake, who, although a Welsh international, was capable, like Corrigan, of going from the sublime to the ridiculous in the same 90 minutes.

David Miller, in the Daily Express, ran the rule over Corrigan, Sprake and King in his column (above right), blaming their predicament on “the squad system”.

Meanwhile in the Mirror, Nigel Clarke insisted that City were ready to pounce on King, quoting outgoing chairman Eric Alexander as saying: “If King becomes available, we would be very interested.” Manager Johnny Hart added worryingly, “Obviously, we must do something…”. The City hierarchy’s patience with Corrigan had come to a very public end.

Bernie Wright beats Tommy Booth in the air watched by Alan Buckley and Nick Atthey…. All match pictures from Dave Evans at Walsall Web-Fans Forum

This is how Cyril Chapman in The Guardian reported on the match: (thanks to Kieran Cullen for this)

(Above) Rodney Marsh tests the home defence

The game itself, played out in front of a home crowd that had already seen its heroes dispatch Arsenal from cup football in the recent past, remained goal-less and would need not only a replay at Maine Road but a third match before the tie was finally resolved in City’s favour.

Goal Magazine picked up on the home side’s star performer, Bernie Wright, in a feature just after the game. Dave Evans, lifelong Walsall supporter and now moderator on Walsall Web Fans remembers Wright thus:

“Bernie was a legend at that time. he had just returned from a spell at Everton where he had thumped the trainer!”

Meanwhile, Big Joe has a little more time with the family: >

Ron Healey was the immediate beneficiary of Corrigan’s public castigation. Following his apprenticeship with City, he had signed professional forms as far back as October 1969 and made his debut at the age of 17. Despite being handed an opportunity by Johnny Hart to stake his claim, this would also turn out badly for him, with only three more games added to his City career total of 30. He would move on to Cardiff City, where he would play more than 200 times for the Bluebirds and have a hand in discovering a 12 year old goalkeeping prodigy called Andy Dibble.

The Programme for the game shows how the different sections of Fellows Park “came together” to produce a cosy and yet intimidating setting for professional football. It was a particularly spartan ground, which City would visit again for league encounters before the century was out.

A view across to the tiny, shallow away end at fellows Park

Alan Buckley fires in a cross ahead of Willie Donachie ^

Programme notes from the game. Walsall’s manager, Ronnie Allen, had managed Bilbao against City and would later manage West Brom against City too.

Dave Evans was a 15 year old Walsall fan, who went to all three cup games. Here is his account of the Fellows Park clash:

“I was only a teenager at the time of these epic tussles with Manchester City but remember the excitement of myself and Saddlers fans at the prospect of facing the stars from Manchester especially those in advanced positions like Rodney Marsh, Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell and Francis Lee at our home, dear old Fellows Park. In the summer of 1973, Walsall FC had decided to extend the main seated stand in Wallows Lane and when the League Cup second round draw was made club officials were determined to speed up this building work which included the addition of 350 extra seats to help cash in on the gate money. In addition to this, the club also decided to include the relatively quick task of adding extra terracing between the Hillary Street End and the players tunnel to allow fans who liked to stand on the bank to watch in more comfort. Both these tasks were duly completed in time before the game. After consultations with the police a crowd limit of 24,000 was imposed. It was also decided to open all turnstyles at the very early time of 5.45pm to allow the hoards from Manchester to gain admission early.

At the time Walsall were 17th in the old Third Division under new manager Ronnie Allen who had taken over in the July. Two of his best signings were striker Alan Buckley (who went on to record 205 goals for The Saddlers and had a successful spell as player/manager, later manager) and goalkeeper Mick Kearns, the Eire goalkeeper. Saddlers also had a bearded striker by the name of Bobby Shinton plucked from local non-league club Lye Town. He went on to have a decent career in the game and was eventually signed by Manchester City. Our visitors City were 9th in Division One so everyone, including many Walsall supporters, expected our illustrious hosts to win the game. Walsall’s results were generally not going their way in the league but Saddlers had a pretty good reputation for causing cup upsets…….

Colin Bell and Tony Book attempt to offer cover as Ron Healey comes under attack

…….As for the actual game, the attendance was a lot less than what club officials expected but the near 13,000 was far better than the previous home game against Blackburn, which failed to reach the 5,000 mark. I recall Walsall getting off to a bright start with one club man Stan Bennett going close and winger Brian Taylor getting even closer to making the scoresheet. There was always going to be a threat from one of City’s big guns and sure enough Rodney Marsh hit the bar that hard at the Laundry End it almost snapped. City came more and more into the game but Saddlers were not too intimidated and big striker Bernie Wright, in his second spell at Fellows Park, was having some right old tussles with Mike Doyle and Tony Booth as he forged away hoping to create carvings for hotshot Alan Buckley who had already become a firm favourite with the Walsall supporters. Rodney Marsh could have won the game before the end with a bit of a cheeky chip over Kearns when maybe a direct shot would have been better. Still nobody could deny plucky Walsall a second bite of the cherry in a replay at Maine Road.”