Heartbreak 1971-style

This article on WalesOnline caught my eye this morning.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballnation/cardiff-city/cardiff-city-fc/2013/04/08/watford-unable-to-spoil-cardiff-city-s-promotion-party-like-they-did-in-1971-91466-33132411/

1970/71 was the season we all thought was going to be the one. City played well home and away throughout and despite selling the big f*iry Toshack, in November, the goals kept flowing courtesy of Brian Clark and Alan Warboys.

I was at the Watford game mentioned in the article and I have the programme in front of me at the moment. Looking at the notes in the programme from the next home game (Orient), it looks like City battered Watford for 90 minutes, hit the bar twice and were thwarted by a string of saves by one of the best keepers outside the top division, Mike Walker.

Unfortunately Watford scored on a breakaway after an hour and held on……..

Very much like the City of today, the team bounced back the following Saturday with a 1 – 0 win at Norwich.
The real killer game was the following Tuesday, when City lost 1 – 5 at Sheffield Utd, who leapfrogged us and secured promotion.

It should have been us!

A bit like those of us who were around when Kennedy was assassinated, City fans of a particular age can usually tell you where they were when the result came in from Bramall Lane. I was on a school field trip in Porthcawl and the utter disbelief and disappointment of all of us is something that will always stay with me.

Oh dear, how I remember this. As you say, for those of a certain age....

My sister's then boyfriend went up with a coachload from LLanrumney. Some of them were err "well known committed followers" so I wasn't allowed to go as I was only 12. No internet or quick media in those days. He rang us from a phone box in a pub before coming home and I will never forget the feeling from the optimism of the phone ringing to the news he shared. What a great team and one that was allowed to fall away rather than acting as a base to go forward

I'm sure it wasn't as devastating but the modern day equivalent for me was remembering hearing about the Stoke result. I was utterly freezing and in a broken down car just off the A23 and my Dad was texting me updates from the game. I thought we'd done it, until he sent a series of pretty depressing texts. It was my first really BIG disappointment of City supporting.

Arkay v2.0 wrote:I'm sure it wasn't as devastating but the modern day equivalent for me was remembering hearing about the Stoke result. I was utterly freezing and in a broken down car just off the A23 and my Dad was texting me updates from the game. I thought we'd done it, until he sent a series of pretty depressing texts. It was my first really BIG disappointment of City supporting.

Same here, I remember walking down Sloper Road after the game, didnt say a word and barely said a word in the car all the way home either. That experience set the precedent for the failure that we would witness post QPR '03.

The Stoke play-off defeat was the worst for me also. I was 12 at the time and had to witness both goals right in front of me. When that freekick went in I was heartbroken.

Having said that I still haven't watched the Carling Cup Final, or any highlights.

R-DONO wrote:The Stoke play-off defeat was the worst for me also. I was 12 at the time and had to witness both goals right in front of me. When that freekick went in I was heartbroken.

Having said that I still haven't watched the Carling Cup Final, or any highlights.

I could watch Turner's and Mason's goal until the cows come home. I wasn't that upset after that loss, more proud than anything and a little bit annoyed at all the Liverpool fans with Cardiff accents

On the other hand, I've never watched a replay of the Blackpool play off final

I was 17 when City almost made it in 1971 and I had barely missed a home game in the five seasons up until then.

That was in the days of only two up and two down, no play-offs and only two points for a win over a 42 game season. It was so much more difficult to get out of the division then than now, so after the Sheffield Utd loss, we knew that was our chance gone.

As a matter of interest, the 53 points City managed in 70/71 would have equated to 80 today in the three point for a win, 46 game schedule.

The following season was a struggle, as expected, with City finishing 19th in the 22 club division.........and really nothing much positive happened from then until the last few seasons..........

Arkay v2.0 wrote:
On the other hand, I've never watched a replay of the Blackpool play off final

The Christmas after the Blackpool play off final, we had a secret santa gift-giving in our office, and my boss gave me a DVD of the Blackpool game.......he thought it was a good joke (he was a Scottish Man Utd supporter), but it went straight in the bin.

Was Scoular the manager then?

The Tonker wrote:

Arkay v2.0 wrote:
On the other hand, I've never watched a replay of the Blackpool play off final

The Christmas after the Blackpool play off final, we had a secret santa gift-giving in our office, and my boss gave me a DVD of the Blackpool game.......he thought it was a good joke (he was a Scottish Man Utd supporter), but it went straight in the bin.

You should've made him eat it with haggis and cranberry sauce

It's not that I'm not proud of our performance. It just hurts to watch as I really thought it was our time finally.

I watched the Blackpool game again once, just to see if it was as useless and depressing as I thought it was at the time. I can confirm it was.

Arkay v2.0 wrote:Was Scoular the manager then?

Yes, he was sacked a couple of years later as we continued to struggle. Great manager for us, though.

The Tonker wrote:

Arkay v2.0 wrote:Was Scoular the manager then?

Yes, he was sacked a couple of years later as we continued to struggle. Great manager for us, though.

Aye. How many British managers have taken a team to a Euro semi final? He was a heck of a man. Had a good cupboard of medals too from his playing career.

I remember the disappointment and depression of those Watford and Sheffield United games but my worst memory for many many years was Bob Wilson letting a tame shot through his hands in the last minute of the ECWC semi final.
Blackpool runs it close and, like a few others on here, I still wouldn't be able to watch a replay of that game (never been able to watch the Liverpool game either).