Which 15 cun*s voted for Arsenal?!
Aston Villa hero Peter McParland still feeling blows of 1957 FA Cup finalThe 81-year-old was seen as both hero and villain when he collided with Manchester United’s Ray Wood before scoring twice in a 2-1 win, but is now set on a return to Wembley in the hope that Villa can repeat the victory of 58 years ago Peter McParland, left, scores his second goal for Villa past United’s stand-in goalkeeper Jackie Blanchflower in the 1957 final. Photograph: Colorsport/Rex ShutterstockIan MalinSaturday 23 May 2015 15.25 BSTNext Saturday morning Peter McParland will say goodbye to his wife Carol, leave home in Bournemouth and later in the day take his seat at Wembley Stadium. The man born 81 years ago in the granite town of Newry, County Down, will not be recognised by Arsenal supporters at the FA Cup final and only Aston Villa followers of a certain age can still recall the Northern Irishman’s exploits at the ground on a sunny day in May 1957.McParland can claim to be the greatest winger in Aston Villa’s history. He may now also be the grand old club’s greatest fan, and he is a living reminder of the days when the FA Cup, which many now consider an annoying distraction from the money-driven Premier League, was at the heart of people’s lives and the final the most important date on football’s calendar. The 1957 final between Aston Villa and Manchester United’s “Busby Babes” certainly shaped McParland’s life.That day, the seventh and last time Villa won the Cup, is remembered as one of the most controversial finals. It is not often that a player scores two goals, as McParland did 58 years ago in Villa’s 2-1 win against the newly crowned champions, and for the next few months be opening poison-pen letters. But that was McParland’s fate after his collision with Ray Wood after six minutes left United’s goalkeeper with a fractured cheekbone and suffering from concussion. In those days before substitutes, United were forced to move Jackie Blanchflower from centre-half into goal and Wood was a passenger on the wing for the rest of the match. McParland scored two scorching goals after the break and Tommy Taylor’s late header was not enough for United, who saw their dreams of the Double end in cruel fashion.It was then that Roger Byrne, United’s captain, uttered 10 unbearably sad words that made the day so poignant. “Never mind. We’ll be back to do it next year.” Nine months later, though, the hopes of the club destined to become the greatest England had ever seen were destroyed in the slush on the runaway of Munich’s old airport. Tommy Taylor was one of those who died. Ray Wood suffered terrible head injuries but survived.The catastrophe of Munich should have put McParland’s shoulder charge on Wood into some kind of perspective. McParland’s charge was not illegal in those days when goalkeepers were given less protection by referees but McParland is still vilified in some quarters. Even the sober-minded social historian David Kynaston passes judgment in his enthralling recent volume Modernity Britain. Kynaston writes: “On 4 May the unfairest, most unreconstructed of Cup finals saw United lose their goalkeeper Ray Wood to a cynical assault by Aston Villa’s Peter McParland (‘one of those things that can happen in football’, the TV commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme reassured the nation), play most of the match with effectively 10 men and eventually go down 2-1 with a brace for McParland.”Not surprisingly McParland sees things in a more reflective light. “Down the years when people have bought up the incident and reminded me I was the player who crashed into the United goalkeeper and then scored two goals, I say that: ‘No. I’m the player who won an FA Cup winner’s medal.’ Of course it was unfortunate what happened to Ray but after the game in the dressing room and among all the celebrations we spoke together and Ray had no hard feelings.“I came in for criticism partly because a photograph after the collision seems to show me smiling. But I was actually grimacing in pain. Wembley was going round and round and I thought my game was finished. I saw Ray a lot in the years that followed and we played together for a time in Toronto. Yes, what happened at Munich put the incident into perspective. Later in the year Northern Ireland were back at Wembley where we beat England 3-2. That was astonishing but despite everything the Cup final was my greatest memory. It was your bread and butter and there was a special feeling to win with your friends who you were side by side with week in, week out. Like this year, Villa went into the game as underdogs, perhaps 3-1 outsiders. United were hot favourites but we were confident. In the sixth round we were drawn at Burnley, the hardest team in the country. I remember the BBC showing the draw live on telly. I was eating my tea and I nearly choked on my sausage. After we’d beaten them in a replay we had no fears of anyone.“I’ll be going to Wembley this Saturday. I went to the semi-final there against Liverpool and I’ve supported Villa since I was about 10. Of that 1957 team only Nigel Sims [the goalkeeper] and Jackie Sewell are still alive, so I could be on my own. Stan Crowther was the last of the side to die a year ago. But I still go to Villa games regularly and theirs is the first result I look for, and I’m always biting my nails on Saturday afternoons. After I saw them last September I was convinced they would go down but Tim Sherwood seems to have added a spark that hadn’t been there for what had been a couple of miserable seasons and if we play like we did against Liverpool we have a chance. They’ll certainly have to play better than they did against Southampton, though. I went to St Mary’s and they were comically bad.“Villa were the only team I ever wanted to play for. My father, John, left Northern Ireland during the war to work in a factory in Birmingham and he got me interested in them. At 15 I had a trial with Dundalk, just across the border, and at 16 I got into the first team as a 30-bob-a-week amateur.“I began working as an apprentice coppersmith at the rail works in Dundalk and when I was 17 I went to Birmingham with a Newry boys’ club to play a Birmingham side, Shamrock Rovers. In 1952 we visited Villa Park and the Villa manager, George Martin, asked our manager if we had any promising players. I suddenly found myself playing against the Villa first-teamers. Villa signed me. Dundalk wanted £5,000 and Villa paid them £3,800 and I began on £12 a week with a £10 signing-on fee.”In a strange coincidence, Harry Gregg, who replaced Wood in the United goal in the autumn of 1957 for a then record fee for a goalkeeper of £23,500, remains a close friend of McParland’s, the two having regular phone conversations. Gregg and McParland are two of five players who are still alive from the Northern Ireland side that played in the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden and Gregg, too, survived the Munich disaster. And on Saturday the only surviving member of United’s team from the 1957 final is sure to be watching the game on a screen somewhere. Bobby Charlton was only 19 then and, like McParland, will be remembering all those absent friends.
Just saw the first BBC advert for the final...it's really happening isn't it?
I'll take it off your hands for £100. That way you'll be quids in if it isn't for real.
Christ I hope we're all in a good mood this time next week. Please God!
People saying "well it will be a good day out" are getting short shrift. I tell them I'm not a Baggies fan!I want to win this fooking thing and not have "a nice day out" - don't fuck about Villa - WIN!
I've been waiting for an FA Cup win all my life. Please make it happen, just please!
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Topic: FA Cup Final - Pre-Match Thread (Read 252047 times)
