Memories of 1970 - Archive

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1970 Fairs Cup triumph AISA will be publishing fans memories throughout this season.

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Dick T

"A group of us from school - we were 17 - had gone to the away game. One of us had not flown before, so he received a lot of winding - up. "Geoff, where's your parachute? We were given one each on the way in" and so on.

I was one of the few who ran around the pitch waving my scarf before the kick off. The locals were not amused. By and large the locals were very tolerant of our (non-violent) boozy misbehaviour, both inside and outside the stadium. . I'm still not quite sure why Ted had to have that home-team banner, though.

Thank God for Kennedy's goal. As McLintock is supposed to have said in the dressing room - they would be beaten at Highbury.

The atmosphere at Highbury was great. As the goals went in, it just became better and better. At the end we all swarmed on to the pitch. I lost contact with all my friends, but who cared? We'd won!!!

I guess my best memory was standing on the pitch in front of the players' entrance, below the Directors' box, just screaming my head off with joy.

Great!"

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Chris F

"I was an 18 year old looking for something or somebody to come along to inspire me and help me shape my life. I had been a regular Gooner for 8 years and was fed a complete diet of dross, although the 1967 and 1969 League Cup Finals meant trips to Wembley. I had no idea what to expect first time around and to go away defeated didn't mean total disappointment.

Two years later it was different because expectations were higher, because we had a slightly better team and the opposition was only Swindon. We ended up under performing again on a pitch that had not recovered from Horse of the Year and it all ended in tears.

The start of the 1969-70 season gave us the added advantage of The European Fairs Cup. I have vague memories of the games against Glentoran, Sporting Portugal, Rouen and Dinamo Bacau and during the earlier rounds I never really harboured any thoughts that we could actually win the thing. Of course, we had all heard of Ajax and to do them 3-0 in the first leg semi-final at Highbury was enough to put us in the final against Anderlecht.

I have perfect recollection of the Ajax game, not what occurred on the pitch, but the atmosphere at Highbury was incredible with the Dutch supporters playing a big part.

I seem to remember trying to get radio bulletins of the first leg in the final and when we were 3-0 down, I recalled the semi-final thinking that there would be no way back. The Ray Kennedy "consolation" goal, however, proved to be a major springboard in the second leg and this may have been the cause of such a huge positive buzz around the ground before the start.

Funnily enough, the only time I ever experienced something like this again was on the run-up to our home leg Champions League semi-final last season (best forgotten....)

I took my place in the centre of The North Bank which was totally packed out and a cauldron of noise, reverberating off the old tin roof. Our 11 players totally looked up to the task which took place on a bog of a pitch.

Memories of previous year at Wembley returned but quickly forgotten about half way through the first half when Eddie Kelly struck at the Clock End.

The half time conversation centred around the fact that we only needed one more goal (shades of Anfield nearly 20 years later). When I started to get more and more worried that this goal would never come, Bob McNab pinged over an amazing cross from the left on to the head of my super hero John Radford who never looked like missing. Cue total pandemonium. Oh why have we forgotten how to score goals like this in recent years? Whilst still in the act of celebrating, Jon Sammels took advantage of some woeful defending and found himself in the box with a clear shooting opportunity. "Hot shot Sammels" duly did the rest with one of his trademark belts.

Sheer bliss at the sound of the final whistle and like thousands of others I found my way on to the pitch for the only time of my life. After running around like a mad thing for a few minutes I found myself close to Frank McLintock who had been raised aloft by supporters with Frank happily waving the Fairs Cup trophy in the air. Bob Wilson wasn't far behind and I gave him a congratulatory pat on the back.

Then it was back to the pub for a few pints of draught Double Diamond before the major disappointment of the day, watching the ITV highlights at home, which totally failed to capture the moment and what it meant to the red and white half of North London.

We had actually won something in my lifetime. Brilliant!!!! Little did I know what was in store for the following season........."

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Alan T

"What a night, a fantastic atmosphere on a cool April night. At the end of an exhilarating game I turned to see my dad had climbed on to the pitch at the clock end. The police made no effort to stop any of the fans getting on, they were dancing along with everyone else. Then I spotted fans picking at the sacred turf and putting in their pockets..we had the pitch growing out of our window box for months!..On the way to the bus stop my father stopped a dutch fan and asked if he would swop his brand new Anderlecht scarf for my holey,colour run, moth eaten gooner scarf. He agreed willingly shook hands and congratulated us. I must admit feeling a tad sorry for him as he had a long way to go home, but this feeling soon went after my dad bought us fish and chips from Blackstock Rd. A truly memorable night for a 14 year old."

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Colin E

"My overiding memory was it was the first time I had been abroad without my parents and when we reached Amsterdam we found our way to the RED LIGHT DISTRICT and being so young we were gobsmacked at what we saw and I can tell you there were many Arsenal Supporters spending many guilders and having smiles on their faces especially as we only lost 1-0 which saw us through to the final as Ajax were a very good side including J Cruyff.

I still have the programme and all the itinerary that 4S sports gave us. I couldn`t afford to go to Belgium but I was satisfied that I saw us win our first trophy for 17 years at Highbury and I can still remember dancing around Highbury Corner into the early hours of the morning. Long may it continue."

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Chris B

"I remember being there in the west lower and standing with 5 of my friends , we had stood there before during the tournament , if I remember correctly when we beat Dynamo Bacau 7-1.

The final was incredible because we had such a deficit to overcome but a young Ray Kennedy had scored in the away leg and it gave us a glimmer of hope (My youngest son's first game was Ray Kennedy's testimonial against Liverpool at Highbury). I remember so vividly at the end of the final seeing Bob Wilson in his seriously green jersey being held aloft with arm snaking in to the sky holding the trophy on a pitch covered with fans.

It was probably the first time I saw a picture in a paper of a major event that I had seen live and it gave me a taste for more , more and more!

Thankfully since then until now I have seen us win cups and championships live , and I still enjoy the memories of who I was with on each particular occasion and never ever took it for granted . It has been an absolute joy supporting our football club all over England and Europe , seeing Smithy score in Copenhagen , Ray Parlour captain us to Victory in the San Ciro and Thierry scoring the only goal in Madrid with my sons along my side …..what a journey , what a club!!"

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Ian L

"I was 12 years old when I begged my reluctant father to take me to this game.
My father always thought me mad, but when asked what I wanted for Christmas or Birthday the answer was always the same, I want to go to Arsenal. We had moved from Drayton Park to Kent and I guess all I ever wanted to do was go home to my area and to my club. Dad always said I would grow out of this obsession.

My dad took a business client and chatted to him throughout the proceedings but I was also sat next to an old man around 70 years old and we shared this moment which I remember as if it were yesterday, if only it was yesterday. This man had watched Arsenal all his life and remembered the year they came to North London,he told me tales of Bastin, James, Compton, Mercer, Tapsgood and Baker to name but a few, and of times good and bad,and I was spellbound.

The tension in the stadium was almost unbearable but brief relieve was found when Kelly scored in the first half at the clock end goal. 51,612 were in the ground, why I remember this when I can't remember yesterday, I remember the small amount of Anderlecht fans in the clock end and surprisingly enough in the middle of the North Bank with their purple and white scarves.

Then the cross came over from the left Jon Radford rose like a salmon and it seem to be in slow motion as he headed down into the net and Highbury erupted. Not long after Sammels hit the third and Anderlecht were beaten. The old man next to me grabbed hold of me crying shouting "17 years,17 years I've waited for this ,and it was worth every second ! ! !"

At this moment I knew that this feeling inside would never ever leave me and though wives and dear friends have come and gone I have never wavered in my simple belief,and Dad sorry but you were so wrong.

I am not an Arsenal supporter nor am I an Arsenal fan. I am Arsenal!

In memoriam of Eugene Conway 10th Feb 1958 - 13th September 2009 - A Great Gooner born on the same day as me,known and loved by many. RIP Mate!"

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Marsh

"I remember organising a trip to the match for myself and several guys from 5 Inf Bde HQ & Signal Squadron. I was always an Arsenal fan, the others just wanted to see a match. After the events of that night, I reckon most of the others now look for Arsenals results every week and they will never forget that night! It was something else! It was difficult getting up for parade the next morning after the long drive back to Tidworth - that's for sure!!!"

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Chris H

"Yes, I was at Highbury for the second leg. This was the first Arsenal trophy success I was to witness.

My Dad had 'treated' me to the delights of following the Gooners with my first trip to Highbury for my 13th birthday. We sat in splendid isolation in the lower tier of the East Stand, the weather was atrocious, the pitch was a sea of mud and by half-time the opposition were 3-0 up! Arsenal were awful, yet by the end, in true Fever Pitch style, I was to be hooked on them for the next 44 years! It was early December 1965, I could'nt remember the opponents and it was virtually impossible to distinguish the players from either side such was the coating of mud - except for one rather delicate looking Gooner who by some miracle managed to remain dressing room clean, maybe it was because he managed to avoid the mudwrestling melee which engulfed the rest of the players, except on the 3 occasions when Aston Villa (I had to look it up) broke out of the mire to smash the ball passed Fingers Furnell.

By half-time the majority of the home support had left the scene of the crime, my Dad looked hopefully at me silently pleading that I had had enough of this s... . Not a bit of it, I was mesmerised - the torrential rain lashing through the floodlights, the Somme like pools glistening in the mud and the fascination of watching 21 players (excluding the clean one) thrashing about in this muck.

Anyway, during half-time the rain stopped and the players came back on with clean tops on so that spectators could tell the teams apart.....for a little while until the first ruck in the muck left again only the 'clean one'.

As the half progressed on two occassions a big guy, Alan Skirton, broke away from the ruck and managed to force the ball through the muck and passed the Villka keeper and over the goal line. The few hardy souls who remained to see these monumental efforts were raised to a state of frenzied apathy, until with seconds remaining, the clean delicate one - my first Arsenal hero - seemed to glide across the surface with the ball above sea level, avoided a few mudwrestlers in Villa brown and very delicately flicked the ball into the goal for a 3-3 finish. My clean hero, George Eastham was subsequently shipped off to retirement in the Potteries alongside the great Stanley Matthews and I did not see him again in an Arsenal shirt clean or otherwise!

The seeds of my Gooner obsession had been sown and, although for the next few years, this was largely maintained through reading papers and the occasional glimpse on the fledgling Match of the Day, my uncle, a Highbury matchday steward managed to get tickets for both the 1968 and 1969 League Cup finals......more muck and misery, particularly the Swindon game. How could we be that bad....the shame and humiliation back at school was hard to swallow!

Next season was the start of my real time support, me and a couple of like-minded mates began regular trips to Highbury, for midweek games bunking school to get the train from Stevenage to Finsbury Park with a couple of quid for fare, 10s6d for the school boy enclosure and even enough for a couple of Double Diamonds in the Plimsoll....how naughty!

League form was largely hit and lots of miss...no change there then, the League Cup...no chance of enduring another final humiliation, F.A. Cup....oh dear are we s... ! Hang on whats this Inter City Fairies Cup? I think we volunteered for extra Latin lessons rather than bunk off for a game against Glentoran! Sporting Lisbon, interesting. Rouen, they play football in France? Dinamo Who? loadsa goals..Charlie is my dirty-scruffy he would bunk off school to watch the Arse hero now.

So to the Semi home leg, Ajax, we certainly cleaned them out, get it. No sweat. Charlie boy double, get in there. The Final, over two legs, how odd. First leg, it's as if it never happened, read about it and how it would have been all over if Ray Kennedy had not got a late goal..what is this away goal thing? And so to Highbury 28th April 1970, normal preparations, me and Steve bunk off school real early, after morning registration. Think we had chicken in basket in the Arsenal Tavern...pub lunch indeed, luxury.

Got in the ground very early seemed like hours. Have progressed from Schoolboy enclosure to middle North Bank...we are now real 'hard core' Gooners ho, ho. As it got nearer to kick off so the crush and the noisy anticipation increased, real Fever Pitch stuff. I remembered thinking back to my first game, the pitch looked about the same as if it would soon degenerate back to Somme battlefield qualities, but the crowd and the atmosphere, no Highbury Library that's for sure. Frankly, I don't recall much of the game, periodic extra frenzy of jumping up and down, hugging and shouting when each of the goals were scored, then it was over and we were carried on to the pitch with half of the North Bank hoards and me thinking. How on earth did they play football on this muck heap and how did George Eastham keep his shirt clean??

Come on you Gunners!!!"

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Steve E

"I was 14 and my brother 17 and we remember the Anderlecht game with great fondness. My brother had been to the away leg when we lost 3-1 but we both fancied our chances. The atmosphere throughout the game was electric. My most vivid memory was John Radford's header, even now watching it I still cannot remember anyone leaping so high for a header. We had some great players in that team, they always played with a lot of heart, tough tacklers. My favourite's at the time was the "reliable and steady" Peter Simpson along with "run all night" George Armstrong two of the most underestimated players ever to have worn the Arsenal shirt.

Highbury was always packed to the rafters on those nights, I don't think my feet touched the ground in the old family enclosure, I lost both of my shoes in crush at the end and had to make the happy trip back to Edgware shoeless. Needless to say my Mum and Dad were not too impressed!!"

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More memories of the Anderlecht match and/or any match or incident from the 1969-70 campaign are welcome.

Please email your contributions to arsenalhistory@aisa.org. There is no limit on the length of your contribution but we reserve the right to edit.