1951 FA Cup Final
The Formbook
As the players trooped into the Leeds Road dressing room a delighted Seymour announced that they could all relax because their Cup Final place was secure. Good news for the players, but not necessarily the best motivation for a group of players who were 4th in the table and had eleven games to play in the six weeks before the Final.
As a result, United - who had won three of it's last four League matches and were unbeaten since mid January - would win only one (drawing five and losing five) of those intervening games. The players took their eye off the ball and the team play was disrupted as players were rested for "minor niggles".
In contrast Blackpool - who had been a couple of points behind United at the semi-final stage ended up four points and three places to the better by the time The Final arrived.
Consequently The Tangerines were regarded as the favourites and also had the sympathy vote because the nation's most popular player, Matthews, was at 36 still looking for that elusive cup medal.
The teams met in the League in mid March and despite poor playing conditions and the absence of a number of "stars" the teams played out an entertaining 2-2 draw. Hopes were high for an entertaining final.
Tickets and Touts
United were allocated 12,500 tickets for the final. Not surprisingly tickets were like gold dust. Even before the Quarter Finals there were rumours flying around that touts were selling Cup Final tickets on Tyneside. The FA treated the reports with scepticism, but advised people not to buy them as they must be forgeries.
A couple of raffles were stopped by police (as a contravention of the ticket allocation rules) when it was found that the tickets on offer had been donated by a Labour MP who had been promised them by Lord Westwood
Once officials and season ticket holders had their share the remaining 5000 tickets went into "the hat" with 115,000 fans making applications. The luckiest fan was 42 year old Jack Patterson, an Ashington colliery deputy, who was drawn out last. The draw was made by secretary Ted Hall and his less tan glamorous assistant Mr H Barker. They had no less than 23 mailbags to choose from and the exercise took them from 10.00am until late in the afternoon.
Another lucky recipient was Fusilier John Hulme (from Shiremoor) who won a service man's raffle organised by the Newcastle Journal and Chronicle. He returned from the Korean War to sit alongside Alderman McKeag as his special guest for the day.
On Cup final morning it was reported that spivs were making profits of between 1,500 and 2,800 percent. One 10s 6d ticket went for £12 and several 3s tickets went for £4 4s each.
Earlier in the week a Newcastle factory worker raffled his ticket at 1s-a-time and got £13 for it. When he decided to change his mind the unlucky winner stated (reportedly) "All right, I'm not fussy" and gave it him back.
The 12,000 Ground ticket holders embarked on seventeen overnight trains departing from Central Station, the earliest leaving at 9.25 pm. Trains left at twenty minute intervals and despite the huge numbers of fans travelling the event was organised well and remarkably orderly
Fifty three lucky passengers avoided the crush by flying in a Dakota and three Dragon-Rapide aircraft from Newcastle Municipal Airport at Woolsington.
Before the match the rival supporters paraded around London singing, chanting and rattling their rattles. Some United supporters carried mechanical magpies.
Inside the ground the rival supporters sang their anthems: "Blaydon Races" and "Lassie from Lancashire"
The Preparations
Before United left for their training camp they went to Haymarket Cinema to watch footage of the 1949 Final where Blackpool were beaten by Man united and of Blackpool's games on the way to Wembley. Captain Harvey proclaimed it a "useful insight".
Stan Seymour was a great believer in his special "training camps" and the United party spent Cup Final week in Buxton. It was a great and crucial decision. The team spirit that was already a major feature of the side was further strengthened as the United players mixed training with pleasure. The player's also enjoyed the extra £2 a day spending money they received when away from home.
The team travelled down on a super motor-coach which was fitted with a microphone (which comedian Fairbrother used to entertain the captive audience), loud speakers, radio card tables, bucket seats and a cocktail bar (not open).
But it wouldn't be Newcastle if there hadn't been trouble along the way and it arrived in triplicate as described by Charlie Crowe.
The players were only on £12 for The Final and their humour was not helped by Len Shackleton's suggestions that they refuse to play. The players even discussed it but agreed that nothing could be done. Charlie Crowe later found out that the band members of the Coldstream Guards got a bigger payday.
Joe Harvey's indomitable wife Ida wasn't taking no for an answer however when she discovered that the players' wives had been furnished with stand - rather than seat -tickets. Husband Joe was ordered to get it sorted which he did.
And finally during Cup Final week Cowell and Taylor nearly got themselves sent home after breaking curfew. Seymour caught them red-handed arriving back and said they would be dropped but thankfully changed his mind after sleeping on it.
During the week the famous "lucky penny" arrived by registered post. It had belonged to the late secretary Mr FG Watt who usually always carried it in his belt; but Neil Harris had it in his pocket when his goal helped United win the cup in 1924. The Victorian coinage had been sent to Watt by a zealous supporter who believed that it had brought him great fortune.
On the Thursday evening the players relaxed with a singalong and it was reported that Joe Harvey and Stan Seymour almost brought the house down (literally) with their singing competition.
On the eve of the match United moved onto at Weybridge which is where the Scotland team stayed when they beat England at Wembley earlier that season. When Seymour was asked what the mood was in the camp he said "serene"; their was a quiet confidence and spirit about the side that was going to prove hard to beat.
The Teams
Newcastle
The United team was - as Seymour had promised unchanged: Fairbrother, Cowell, Corbett, Harvey, Brennan, Crowe, Walker, Taylor, Milburn, Robledo G, Mitchell
Everybody recognised the strength of the United attack but doubts had been cast over the defence - Cup Final Team pen pictures
Blackpool
Blackpool were unfortunate to have lost the services of Scottish international Alan Brown; this was a major blow to The Seasiders.
Goalkeeper was Scottish international George Farm who was noted for his unconventional method of catching the ball (top and bottom and not left and right).
Rugged England international Shimwell and Horden born Garrett were the full backs. The half-back line was Johnstone (captain and Footballer of the Year), (the veteran) Hayward and former miner Kelly.
Up front they had Matthews (the incomparable) , Mudie (hard working an eye for goals), Mortenson (top scorer from South Shields), Slater (an amatuer international with only a few appearances behind him) and Perry.
Six of the team had appeared in the 1948 Cup Final: Matthews, Mortenson, Johnstone, Shimwell, Hayward and Kelly and the former three had just played for England against Scotland.
The Match
First Half
As the players came out Charlie Crowe turned to Jack Mudie and wished him the best of luck; there was no reply and the look on his face convinced Charlie that the Blackpool players were far more tense than the relatively relaxed Newcastle team. Indeed Charlie was not nervous in the slightest.
Joe Harvey won the toss. As the game kicked off it was a perfect spring afternoon; there was a slight breeze which was behind The Magpies. It started brightly and Blackpool had a couple of efforts on goal before United broke at lightning pace and Milburn shot past Farm [9 minutes] only to be penalised for handball. "Oh, oh what a referee" sang the United fans to Bill Ling (the whistler in the black).
After that the game degenerated with Blackpool pushing their full backs up to form a line with Hayward so they could move up quickly and catch United offside. Nine times in all Blackpool sprung the offside trap as the United fans became increasingly frustrated. With play compressed possession was often surrendered and the ball ended up out of play with monotonous regularity
Blackpool had a couple of near misses at the other end; Mudie wasting one opportunity and Cowell heading a Mortenson effort off the line [20]; a defining moment which was captured for posterity by the camera lens.
Defences were certainly on top. Only Milburn and occasionally Taylor were in the game for united whilst Matthews - at his mesmerising best - and Johnstone were the only players causing United's rearguard any problems. Their best chance fell to Slater who wasted the opportunity.
On the half hour Milburn beat the Blackpool trap and only a headlong dive by the Blackpool custodian stopped him scoring; it was a warning that The Tangerines did not heed.
Second Half
At half-time the players discussed the tactics for the second period with Seymour and Smith and they decided that their best chance of defeating the Blackpool offside trap was to make early and long passes. It was a good call.
With barely five minutes gone a Blackpool attack broke down as a Matthews cross ran behind the on rushing Mortenson. Robledo intercepted and immediately played it long to Milburn who was just inside the opposition half. The Blackpool players looked to the linesman but his flag was down.
Jackie takes up the story himself in his autobiography "Golden Goals". "I found a wide open space between me and goalkeeper George Farm, who looked so far away I assumed he might well be on his own front garden in Blackpool".
Then followed the longest run I've ever experienced with a football at my feet. It seemed to take hours for me to reach the eighteen yards, and all the time I felt as if the world was on my heels. I was wearing my heavy boots , with a thick sole, so that I could really put some punch into my shots, but as I approached Farm, who was now bobbing up and down like a jack-in-the-box for a second I forgot all about the crowd, the defenders on my heels, and the King watching in the Royal Box. Two questions had to be answered quickly Should I have a crack at goal and hope for the best? Or should I try to place the ball past goalkeeper Farm.?
I did not have to make my own decision. On the eighteen yards line I noticed farm had left a little more space on his right hand. It wasn't much - but it was enough for a forward to decide which was the bigger target. So taking a big chance, for George Farm's an agile fellow with tremendous reaction, I made up my mind to glide the ball past him. As the ball left my foot for one dreadful moment I feared I hadn't hot it hard enough - but the roar of the crowd told me I was wrong.
Local Reporter Sidney Sterck joined the "three-bob-enders" at Wembley and described how "Geordie's Roar Tore The Clouds To Shreds". There was an "atom bomb like roar" as fans "leapt madly in the air with a frantic waving of arms".
Now the fans added a new line to their referee's song..... "and his little wooden whistle wouldn't whistle".
Four minutes later and Milburn doubled the lead with one of the best goals ever seen at Wembley. This time Milburn had no time to dwell on the possibilities. Walker beat a couple of defenders down the right and passed inside to Taylor. Milburn screamed to him to back-heel it to him, but there was a moments hesitation before he duly obliged . Milburn was further over the ball than he wished to be and got underneath the ball when he struck it. The result was a ferocious, rising, left-footed shot into the top right-hand corner. Many players and critics described it as the best goal ever seen at Wembley.
Our intrepid reporter continued "the Geordies seemed to want to jump right into heaven. The spectacle was a study of mass delirium, a black and white sketch of mass hysteria in its most nerve shattering form"
Blackpool gamely fought back with Matthews taking on more and more himself in a desperate attempt to get The Seasiders back into the match. But with Brennan brilliant blotting out Mortenson, Harvey coping easily with Slater and Corbett and Crowe working tirelessly to counter the mercurial Matthews they made little headway.
Indeed Milburn could easily have scored a third when he broke through again but delayed his shot to long allowing Farm to smother it.
Post Match Reaction
Joe Harvey
"We were resolved to a man that Blackpool would not beat us. As captain of the side I knew what this spirit really meant and that Blackpool would have to be a super-team to deprive us of the honour of winning the Cup".
John Lee (Newcastle Chairman)
"I found that her majesty really enjoyed the football with quite a knowledge of the game. At two or three stages she passed comments concerning offsides and other decisions" (one wonders what she said!).
The Winning Formula
There are a number of reasons why Newcastle deservedly won on the day:
Newcastle's team spirit was second to none.
Newcastle played more effectively as a team and put in a more workmanlike performance.
Newcastle players won their individual battles with their direct counterparts.
Milburn's speed and finishing power.
Blackpools over reliance on offside tactics.
The injury to Alan Brown and the lack of a suitable replacement.
Newcastle's ability to score goals in quick succession.
Joe Harvey's Guide Posts to Wembley
In an article later that year Joe Harvey outlined some of the (timeless) factors he belived were most important in United's successful cup run.
"The will to win through, which must be shown by every member of the team, both on and off the field. On the field there is a motto which must be taken to heart.... "no mercy!"
"Hit them once. And instead of running round the field shaking hands and doing fancy dances of rejoicing, roll the sleeves a little higher and set about the business of hitting them again.
We had a centre-forward in jackie Milburn who is a prime goal-getter, and it was part of our tactics to see that he got the chances to shoot those goals.
Playing to the whistle. Concerning at least three of our very important goals there was what the critics called a shadow of doubt .... it isn't the time to hesitate. Play on. So long as the whistle hasn't sounded keep on and bang the ball into the net"
The Celebrations
Police Watch
Prior to the final the police enjoyed a screening of the 1932 FA Cup Final celebrations . The chief contable stated that the crowd chaos "astounded" some of the younger offices.
At The Savoy
On the Saturday night the team enjoyed a reception at The Savoy. Many fans waited outside until the early hours hoping to get a glimpse of their heroes.
Returning Home
Fans started returning home early on Sunday and were greeted with snow showers and a biting wind.
The team arrived back on the Thursday and an estimated 200,000 turned out (double what the police had estimated for). A reserve fixture took place at SJP to try and relieve the congestion within the city centre and as a result drew a crowd of over 60,000.
Handbags at Seventeen Pounds
A celebration dance was held at the Oxford Galleries for the players and their wives and there were rumours amongst the players that the wives would be presented with handbags full of cash. Illegal payments were rife at the time, but at Newcastle there had usually been very little on offer.
In the end they were to be disappointed as the handbags were full of old newspapers.
Sources
Contemporary newspaper reports
A Crowe Amongst the Magpies - Charlie Crowe - TUPS Books [1998]
Golden Goals - Jackie Milburn - Stanley Paul [1957]
Football Monthly 02/1956 - [photo]