TO UPDATE Division One 1978 1979 Leeds Manchester City

13 January 1979
Elland Road,
Leeds
Attendance 36,30

  This has been the season in which the First Division has been split into three distinct groups — the elite, the also-rans and the strugglers. Without naming them, the clubs in the middle bracket know who they are. The strugglers are Birmingham, Chelsea, Q.P.R.. Wolves, Middlesbrough and Botton, all liable to go down to the Second Division, at some stage of the season. This definitive split has come about because the Magnificent Six have been able to draw away from the pack and form virtually an exclusive club, Liverpool, Everton, West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest unquestionably offer all that is best in British football. Liverpool, of course, have been almost permanent members of that group for the past 20 years; Everton have been trying to match them without quite succeeding; Albion have come of age this season; Arsenal's progress has been gathering pace over the past two years; and Forest wrote their own names in with brilliant style by almost sweeping the board on their return to the top. That leaves Leeds and their progress this season has been impressive. the extraordinary fact is Leeds could have been excused for losing their feet on a banana skin after the sort of upheavals they've suffered. The season began without a manager at Elland Road after the departure of Jimmy Armfield and only one of the first four matches was won. Then Jock Stein arrived and all appeared sweet and light — until that is Scotland found themselves looking for Ally MacLeod's successor and naturally enticed the Big Man.

At that stage Leeds could have felt the whole world was against them and been lulled into a careless sort of attitude. Interestingly the reverse happened. Things continued to tick over until the arrival of Jimmy Adamson, and since the quiet man left Sunderland for Elland Road there has been barely a dull moment. The only disappointment came with the League Cup Semi-Final defeat by Southampton, but in terms of the First Division there has been no more convincing side as the record for Adamson's first . 17 games proved: Won 10 Drawn 6 Lost 1 Goals (for) 33 (against) 15. One man in particular who appreciates what's going on at Elland Road is Scottish international goalkeeper David Harvey, one of the few survivors of the Don Revie era. "Only Eddie Gray, Peter Lorimer, Paul Madeley and myself of the current squad were here at the turn of the Seventies, and of the rest most have been bought within the last three seasons. "I can honestly say this is now the best team we have had since the super team of the Sixties .. . the days of Bremner and Giles, Hunter and Cooper, Clarke and Jones," he says. Harvey's own position has become clearer in recent weeks. With the sale of another Scottish international 'keeper David Stewart to West Brom he has now re-established himself as the number one at Leeds.

"David and I have been alternating over the past couple of seasons getting about 20 odd games apiece in the First Division. Sometimes one has been injured letting the other one in, occasionally we've both been dropped. "People talk of competition being good for you in terms of keeping you on your toes, but it doesn't always work that way. Providing a goalkeeper is playing well he should have peace of mind so far as his place is concerned, but when there's someone as good as Dave standing in the wings it can bring a touch of nervousness to your play. "i honestly believe I'm keeping goal as well as ever at the moment, and my one burning ambition is to get back into the Scotland side. My application hasn't always been what it might have been, but I'm enjoying my football now as much as at any time in my career. "Once you've kept goal in international football it's hard to accept someone else is in the position you think you should be occupying. Scotland have had a succession of goalkeepers since I last played, and I'm just hoping now that Jock Stein comes and has a look at me again. "He knows my capabilities having been at Elland Road even for such a short period, and I'm praying he doesn't forget me." Harvey, who has played over 300 times for Leeds, recalls with utter despair the League Cup Semi-Final defeat by Southampton. "We really fancied our chances in that one — and perhaps that was our undoing. We'd beaten Southampton 4-0 in the League only a few weeks before and we turned them over to such an extent that subconsciously we probably thought it was going to be easy.

"After going two up just after half-time in the first-leg we should have sewn it up but we didn't and we were punished with two bad goals and then defeat in the return. 'That's the third Semi-Final in a row we've lost. "I suppose you could say that's the difference between the current side and the one which brought us all those honours. "I'm sure this side will have learned a lesson. Lads like Paul Hart and Brian Flynn are learning all the time. Paul, In particular, had an awful start when he pmed us from Blackpool. "Brian also took time to settle in, but I've never seen anyone work so hard, and he's very skilful. He and Tony Currie must be one of the best midfietd combinations in the game. 'This season we've gone to Liverpool and Everton and led them both until the closing stages of the game before conceding a point, we've also won at West Brom in the League, drawn there twice in the F.A. Cup and League Cup, drawn at Arsenal and won at difficult grounds like Tottenham, Ipswich and Chelsea 'Team spirit is super and I reckon we've now got a squad that can only get better. "The way things are going right now we're a must for Europe next season and that means an awful lot to Eddie, Paul and myself who enjoyed some great moments in Europe and have hankered for another crack ever since the ban that was imposed after the European Cup final fiasco in Paris. 'The team we have now can win trophies I'm quite sure, and I'm looking forward to another successful period at Leeds," he says.

English Leagues the 70s: Sheffield Wednesday Arsenal FA Cup 1978 1979

06 January 1979
Hillsborough Stadium,
Sheffield

 The scene was now set for the highlight of the 20-year gap between the Championships of 1971 and 1989 - the hat-trick of Cup finals of 1978,1979 and 1980. The Gunners contrived to win the one they were expected to lose and to lose the two they were expected to win, but that is a typical example of what appearing at Wembley can do. The 1978 game was to be a 0-1 defeat by Ipswich, the 1979 game was to be the 'five-minute final' concluding in the 3-2 victory over Manchester United, and the 1980 final was to be the 0-1 defeat by Second Division West Ham. Arsenal became the first club to reach three successive Wembley FA Cup finals and only the third ever to achieve a hat-trick of finals. The 1978 FA Cup rounds were to see an impressive progression-five successive wins (Sheffield United, Wolves, Walsall, Wrexham and Orient) with 17 goals scored, seven from Macdonald who scored in every game except the final. That being said, it was not the toughest test a finalist has faced, and the Wembley confrontation was to be an unhappy experience. Brady was not fit and had to be substituted, Macdonald was to end with a third losers' medal and was never to have another chance - three days later he went into hospital for the first of many knee operations that ended his career at the age of 29. Roger Osborne scored the only goal for Ipswich to win the contest.

English Leagues the 70s: Manchester United West Bromwich Albion Division One 1978 1979

30 December 1978
Old Trafford,
Manchester
Attendance 45,091


  For Ron Atkinson, his team’s 5-3 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford 30 years ago this December is memorable for one of the most pointless half-time team talks he ever delivered. ‘I went in and told them that they didn’t deserve to be losing 3-2 and that there was no reason in the world why we should not grab an equaliser,’ recalled Atkinson. ‘They all just sat there and looked at me like I was mad. ‘Then Tony Brown said: “Boss, it’s 3-3. I have just equalised.” ‘Bomber had just run through and put the ball in at the Stretford End but I had heard a whistle blow. 'I thought it had been too late. I thought it was half-time already. ‘And there he is staring at me as if I had just lost my marbles. ‘So I just told them: “Fair enough. Then go and get me a winner then”.’

Wherever you choose to watch your football today of this famous game first. As United and West Bromwich prepare to meet at Old Trafford again, it is guaranteed to send you to your team’s match in better spirits. There is an undeniable feel-good factor about it, even if it is hard to pinpoint exactly why. It may be commentator/presenter (you had to do both jobs back then) Gerald Sinstadt’s ridiculous moustache. Or the excited yelp with which he greets the final goal, crashed in to the roof of the net by Cyrille Regis. Maybe it’s the way that Laurie Cunningham ignores the racist booing from the terraces to set up Albion’s first goal , or the hilariously crude manner in which Stewart Houston shamelessly tries to hack him down en route to scoring in the second half. It could even be the way that United manager Dave Sexton nominates Steve Coppell as man of the match. Coppell doesn’t even appear to be playing on the highlights reel. But, more than likely, it will be the uninhibited, expressive nature of the football that grabs you. Of the eight goals, at least five are as good as anything the Barclays Premier League has offered so far this season. Atkinson’s Albion had a young Bryan Robson in the centre of midfield and were graced by three black players, Cunningham, Regis and Brendon Batson. It was unique at the time for an English team to be so racially mixed.

 The trio were then nicknamed —quite unbelievably — ‘The Three Degrees’. 'We arrived at Old Trafford playing great football,’ said Atkinson, who went on to manage United. ‘I look at the way Arsenal play now and think that’s the way that we used to knock it about. 'So I wasn’t really surprised to see us playing like that on the day at Old Trafford. ‘We had a very powerful team and could be quite direct when we needed to be. 'Robbo was beginning to come into his own and Derek Statham was one of the best left-backs I have seen. ‘But players like Laurie and big Cyrille were superb. 'Laurie was so light and so delicate. He could have run on snow without leaving footprints. 'We were capable of some smashing stuff and it was certainly one of the most enjoyable spells of my time in the game. 'My only regret was that we should really have gone on to win the league that year and we didn’t.’ Hindered by an end-of-season fixture pile-up, Albion finished third in the old First Division — United ended ninth — and they reached the last eight of the UEFA Cup. Atkinson moved to United as Sexton’s successor two years later, taking the likes of Robson with him. ‘I didn’t rate Robbo at first,’ is now Atkinson’s frank admission. ‘All I could see was the permed hair that made him look like Kevin Keegan. ‘At the time I thought that was all they had in common. 'But I was wrong. I had to play him as centre half in an FA Cup replay early in 1978 — ironically against United — and he obliterated Joe Jordan. ‘He was 19 and was magnificent. A brain-rocking revelation. He never looked back after that.’