Matches – 15 April 1972 –Leeds United 3 Birmingham City 0 FA Cup semi final – Hillsborough – 55,000 Scorers: Jones 2, Lorimer Leeds United: Harvey, Reaney, Madeley, Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, Lorimer, Clarke, Jones, Giles, E Gray Birmingham City: Cooper, Carroll, Pendrey, Page, Hynd, Harland, Campbell, Francis, R Latchford (Taylor), Hatton, Smith For a club with such an appalling reputation as big game bottlers, the record of Don Revie‟s Leeds United in semi finals was not at all bad. After a controversial defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup in 1967 at Villa Park, United won five of the next seven ties they played at the last four stage. There were defeats in the FA Cup in 1968 to Everton and the European Cup in 1970 against Celtic, but they won through three times in the Fairs Cup, once in the FA Cup and once in the League Cup. When they were drawn against Second Division Birmingham City at Hillsborough in the FA Cup in April 1972 there promised to be an extension of that record with Leeds overwhelming favourites to reach the final. They had enjoyed emphatic victories against Bristol Rovers, Liverpool, Cardiff and Tottenham en route, with a goals record of ten for and only two against. The team‟s form through the early months of the year had been unbelievably good with heavy wins against Manchester United, Southampton, Nottingham Forest and champions Arsenal and some breathtaking football on display at Elland Road. Don Revie freely admitted that, given the choice, he would have opted to play Birmingham, rather than either Arsenal or Stoke City who contested the other tie at Villa Park. He added: “We have been at this Freddie Goodwin in his days as a centre-half at Elland Road stage now five times in the past eight seasons and we feel we are equipped for the big occasion and its tensions. It must be an advantage to us. Nevertheless, we have a high regard for Birmingham and, of course, we know Freddie Goodwin very well here.” Goodwin had been a centre-half at Elland Road at the start of 1960s, after beginning his playing career at Manchester United. After the Munich air disaster in 1958 decimated the Busby Babes he www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 15 April 1972, Leeds United 3 Birmingham City 0 1 was given an opportunity; he appeared in the Cup final defeat to Bolton later that year but was never a regular at Old Trafford. He moved to Leeds in a £10,000 deal in March 1960, where he became a team mate of Revie‟s. Goodwin‟s final game for Leeds was a Cup-tie in 1964 when he suffered a triple fracture of his leg while playing against Cardiff at the end of a four-year stint with the Elland Roaders. He thus knew all the United players well, except for Mick Jones and Allan Clarke, who joined the club after his departure. As ageing players, Revie and Goodwin had regularly engaged in discussions about future careers in club management. When Birmingham sought to court Revie as their manager in the summer of 1970, he rejected their overtures and recommended Goodwin for the job instead. “He had a hard time at first with the supporters but I wrote an article pointing out what a good manager he would become and he has proved the point to the Birmingham crowd,” said Revie. Goodwin was given his first shot at management in December 1964, when he quit Elland Road to become player-boss at Scunthorpe United. He enjoyed some success with the Iron before taking over at New York Generals in October 1967 and then Brighton a year later. After being appointed at St Andrews in 1970, he had led a revival, introducing the sparkling talents of 16-year-old Trevor Francis to the first team in 1970. Francis was still two months short of his 17th birthday when he scored all the goals in a 4-0 defeat of Bolton and he ended the 1970/71 season with 15 goals from 22 games. The teenager was part of a celebrated Birmingham front three with burly centre- forward Bob Latchford and the experienced Bob Hatton, who had been signed from Carlisle the previous October. Their goals were taking the Blues to an end of season runners up spot in the Second Division. There were other connections between Leeds Birmingham‟s teenage sensation Trevor Francis and their last four opponents: Goodwin‟s assistant was Willie Bell, a member of the United side that lost the 1965 FA Cup final, while former winger Mike O‟Grady was in a loan spell at St Andrews. The two clubs had never before been paired in the FA Cup, but Leeds had unhappy memories of their previous meeting in the League, on the Monday before the Cup final in 1965. Victory in that game would have left United well placed to win the championship, but the Midlanders, relegated that season, took a 3-0 lead and the game ended in a draw, allowing Manchester United to scoop the title on goal average. “I remember that night well,” said Don Revie when asked, “but I can recall the last Cup match I played against Birmingham – it was for Manchester City in the 1956 Cup final and we won that one 3-1.” Birmingham were unhappy about the choice of Sheffield Wednesday‟s Hillsborough as venue and lodged an official protest with the Football Association. The Blues complained that the stadium was www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 15 April 1972, Leeds United 3 Birmingham City 0 2 only 33 miles from Leeds but 77 from Birmingham. Freddie Goodwin: “We are objecting because it is much further for our supporters to travel and it gives Leeds supporters a much better chance of getting to Sheffield for extra tickets. It will be a Yorkshire ground and there will be a lot of Yorkshire supporters there. It does not seem a neutral ground to me. After all, Leeds used it as a „home‟ ground at the beginning of the season when they had to play away from Elland Road. We had Everton‟s Goodison Park in mind but there is also Maine Road and Old Trafford at Manchester. We are telephoning the FA and a letter of protest will follow.” The FA confirmed, “A copy of their letter will be circulated to each member of the Challenge Cup committee. It will be up to them to decide whether the venue should be changed.” A new ruling had been introduced that the clubs involved in the semi finals would each receive 40% of the ticket allocation with the remaining 20% going to the staging ground. In previous years clubs had been allocated only 33%. The semi finals were now seen as big money spinners and with more and more supporters wanting seats, Hillsborough had a lot going for it as a venue. It was understandable that City were sensitive. They had managed to reach the semi finals without playing away from St Andrews, winning home clashes with Port Vale, Ipswich Town, Portsmouth and Huddersfield Town. The FA Cup committee turned down Birmingham‟s request for a move, issuing a statement that the matter had been given “long and careful consideration” when the draw was made. “It is not FA policy to reverse a decision which has been made after such careful consideration,” the statement went on. After being informed of the decision, Birmingham‟s secretary, Mr Allan Instone, commented: “We have made our point and it has been considered. Now we must accept the decision and get on with the game.” In addition to that dispute there were also some issues with the colours of the two team strips. United‟s all white clashed with Birmingham‟s kit, which included a blue shirt emblazoned with a broad Both teams had to change from their normal strip – here Jack Charlton in unfamiliar yellow gets up above white stripe down the Birmingham's Latchford (in red and white) and Cooper as Hynd and Pendrey look on middle and white shorts. In the end, Leeds opted to play in all yellow (beginning a tradition that has continued largely, www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 15 April 1972, Leeds United 3 Birmingham City 0 3 though not wholly, unchanged to the present day), while Birmingham wore shirts with red substituted for the blue. United had some selection difficulties: the previous weekend England left-back Terry Cooper had suffered a hairline fracture of his left tibia during the defeat of Stoke, while potential replacement Nigel Davey suffered a double fracture of his right leg during a Central League game against West Bromwich Albion that same afternoon. Don Revie solved that particular problem by moving Paul Madeley across to left-back, allowing Paul Reaney to return on the right. Gary Sprake sustained a knee injury on 5 April against Huddersfield and had missed the win at Stoke; his long term deputy, David Harvey, had come in for his fifth start of the season in the Potteries and kept his place with Sprake failing a late fitness test. Birmingham also had a young reserve in goal with Goodwin continuing to prefer 18-year-old Paul Cooper to the experienced Dave Latchford, brother of centre-forward Bob. Freddie Goodwin did his best to unsettle Leeds with some cheeky attempts at upstaging them prior to kick off, as reported by Eric Todd in the Guardian: “Only once on Saturday at Hillsborough did Birmingham City take the mickey out of Leeds United and because it happened before the game it didn‟t really matter..