FA Cup Final

Sixer’s Manchester City Soapbox: Sunderland succeeding where Leeds couldn’t

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Jake: Sixer strolls down memory lane
Jake: Sixer strolls down memory lane

John Mac writes: Man City breezed past second division Leeds on Sunday, extending to 41 years the length of time that has elapsed since United last won the FA Cup (they have won the league twice since then but that all seems a long time ago, too).

Forty years ago this fixture could have been the final had City not come up against a different second division side in the fifth round, one that was much, much better than the Leeds of today.

Following the weekend Sixer’s Sevens summing up that Man City-SAFC game, and better 40 years late than never, here is Pete Sixsmith‘s account of his trip to Maine Road, when the first of three teams from the top division succumbed to the Stokoe magic. The general plan is pursue our 1973 cup run in similar fashion until May 5. It beats getting upset again about our lamentably early exit this season …

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Chelsea 1 Portsmouth 0: paying the penalty

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chelski1Sorry, Lads. I really wanted to record a stunning victory, reminiscent of 1973, for the underdogs. There was, in the event, to be no FA Cup Final fairytale. Chelsea 1 (won) Portsmouth 0 (didn’t, despite having a great but squandered chance to go ahead with a first-half penalty).

So the score was the same as Sunderland v Leeds 37 years ago, but in the wrong order, Drogba’s goal winning it for Chelsea.

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Chelsea advice to Portsmouth: be plucky losers

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sid

Salut! Sunderland had no doubt Chelsea deserved the Premier title more than Manchester United, and said so in the posting found here. For tomorrow’s FA Cup Final, poor Portsmouth get our sympathy vote, and we’d love to see them win. Having invited Peter Allen to share his Pompey dreams and nightmares yesterday, we were duty bound to hear from a Chelsea fan, too. Step forward David Millward*, an occasional visitor to these shores, who passionately wants the richer shade of blue to prevail. But he does have kind words for Pompey and Avram Grant – and bemoans the Stamford Bridge moaners …

Once upon a time a Chelsea v Pompey clash was less to do with football than making a fashion statement.

Some time after the skinhead years, the two clubs rivalled each other in the designer wear which their crews wore. If it wasn’t Tacchini, it was Lacoste. If it wasn’t Lacoste, it was Slazenger.

READ ON: but also see our Pompey fan’s wistful thoughts on tomorrow by clicking here

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Portsmouth v Chelsea: making merry as the ship goes down …

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Peter Pics 037

Colin Randall writes: just before Sunderland went to Portsmouth for what should have been a routine romp into the FA Cup fifth round, a Paris-based, Pompey-daft friend Peter Allen – no stranger to Salut! Sunderland – said he had a hunch it might be another Wembley year for his crisis-hit club. Of course, Pete, of course, we thought, keeping an eye open for airborne pigs. Time to eat humble pork pie, and present the first of our fan previews of the final …

Portsmouth fans have a lot in common with the fabled band of the RMS Titanic at the moment.

The icy waters of bankruptcy are lapping in, most of the lifeboats have long since disappeared, and we’re left manning the trumpets and drums for what is potentially our last hurrah.


READ On – and come back tomorrow for a Chelsea fan’s turn

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Sunderland/Leeds remembered: it’s those magic numbers 7 and 3 again

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Leeds United fans hate us mentioning it, just as Newcastle United supporters mock us for referring to Dec 5 1908. But since Leeds still have a good chance of following the Toon example in gaining promotion from a lower division, we’re sure they won’t mind another gentle reminder of the day every football fan (apart from them) smiled …

Sunderland fans, especially those who go back a bit, never tire of remembering, on May 5 of each year, a certain event that occurred at Wembley stadium on that date in 1973.

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The greatest FA cup final shock of all time?

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Stokoe and Sunderland

Just out: Lance Hardy’s carefully researched story of the 1973 cup final when Sunderland threw off underdog status to defeat Don Revie’s mighty Leeds and win the FA Cup. It needs a great leap of faith to think you’ve much chance of getting the book from Amazon before Christmas. But you can get it, by clicking this link, at the knockdown price of just over £11 (instead of £18.99 and it’s even cheaper if you opt for second hand). Colin Randall wallows in nostalgia …


Where were you when Sunderland beat Leeds 1-0 in the FA Cup Final of May 5 1973?

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