League Cup semi final 1973-74 | PASOTI
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League Cup semi final 1973-74

May 15, 2018
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Good evening, Argyle supporters.
Am looking for assistance. Am writing an article on the above matches from 73-74 as part of a broader series tracking Manchester City's 73-74 season match by match. Would like to hear from anyone who went to the games, either at Home Park or Maine Road. I have the programme from the 2nd leg plus the final Wolves/City which has some images from both legs. Beyond that very little. Does anyone have images, cuttings, anecdotes from either of these games. A long time ago admittedly, but I'm sure some of you will remember it well enough. First leg was at Home park and kicked off early afternoon (2pm) die to power shortages during the three day week. Must have been tricky to get to the game but more than 30,000 turned out to see the 1-1 draw. Anyone got anything? Post it in replies please. Full accreditation will of course be made to anyone who supplies any usable material/details. Many thanks and all the best to Argyle.
 

Alan Turing

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Schools allowed us kids the time off so we could see the match; this would have helped swell the Wednesday afternoon attendance figure.

I remember the pitch being a bit of a bog that day, but I don’t recall much else.
 
I travelled down from London Uni by train for the 1st leg.

Drove up to Manchester for the 2nd leg.

All I remember is when I parked near Maine Road around late afternoon, some scruffy school kid "offering to look after my car until after the match" !

For a pound, I think ?

Not sure if I became one of his customers.

Keep the Faith :scarf:
 
Feb 23, 2009
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I won tickets to the home game by winning a competition on Westward TV. They asked a question what do certain players have in common,?The answer was they had all played for Argyle, Torquay and Exeter.
 
Aug 2, 2011
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[b[/b]
TinTin":c1kli1h7 said:
I travelled down from London Uni by train for the 1st leg.

Drove up to Manchester for the 2nd leg.

All I remember is when I parked near Maine Road around late afternoon, some scruffy school kid "offering to look after my car until after the match" !

For a pound, I think ?

Not sure if I became one of his customers.

Keep the Faith :scarf:

Had a similar experience near the Villa ground when we played Watford in the FA Cup semi final.
I became a customer and on returning to the bombsite car park my car was in good nick. One or two others had flat tyres or big key marks down the side - presumably not customers!!
 

IJN

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I took a half day for the game despite being told I couldn’ because ‘everybody wanted to go’. Despite me seeing every game in the run, home and away.

I was suspended for five days for attending and when I asked them to give me seven days so I could do Maine Road I was sacked!
 
IJN":3q3vrvxy said:
I took a half day for the game despite being told I couldn’ because ‘everybody wanted to go’. Despite me seeing every game in the run, home and away.

I was suspended for five days for attending and when I asked them to give me seven days so I could do Maine Road I was sacked!

Blimey !

A bit drastic ?

Did you see both games in the end ?
 
May 15, 2018
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Alan Turing":3b2p8iu8 said:
Schools allowed us kids the time off so we could see the match; this would have helped swell the Wednesday afternoon attendance figure.

I remember the pitch being a bit of a bog that day, but I don’t recall much else.

Many of the City players were quoted as saying it was one of the worst pitches they had played on, which is quite something as Maine Road was almost completely bereft of grass in the early 70s. Mike Summerbee claimed he had played on wetter pitches (Maine Road presumably) but had never played in such thick, cloying mud.
 
Aug 5, 2015
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I believe it was during the Three Day Week and had to be played in the afternoon to avoid power cuts. I can’t remember there being much excitement in the first leg. The only ticket I could get was in the grandstand. City won at Maine Road thanks to a dodgey Francis Lee penalty
 
May 15, 2018
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IJN":yoog1wzo said:
I took a half day for the game despite being told I couldn’ because ‘everybody wanted to go’. Despite me seeing every game in the run, home and away.

I was suspended for five days for attending and when I asked them to give me seven days so I could do Maine Road I was sacked!

Great story. What kind of employer does that, even in those days?! What job were you in at the time? There was a three day week in place and energy cuts meant everything was running half mast anyway. Unless you were a fireman or a newsreader, they could probably have let you off!
 

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I was a 17 year old at college in London and set off from Hammersmith at 5am to hitch hike down the A303. By the time the game kicked off I had only made it as far as Ilminster so turned around getting back to London about 9pm. For the second leg in Manchester I sorted a lift there with a meat wagon from Smithfield market but had to thumb it back. Earlier in that cup run I was fortunate enough to witness the greatest performance I have seen from an Argyle team when we outplayed QPR on their own patch 3-0, a side at full strength packed with internationals who narrowly missed out to Liverpool for the league title and hadn’t lost at home for a long time.
 

IJN

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DTKS":2jhc0tpf said:
IJN":2jhc0tpf said:
I took a half day for the game despite being told I couldn’ because ‘everybody wanted to go’. Despite me seeing every game in the run, home and away.

I was suspended for five days for attending and when I asked them to give me seven days so I could do Maine Road I was sacked!

Great story. What kind of employer does that, even in those days?! What job were you in at the time? There was a three day week in place and energy cuts meant everything was running half mast anyway. Unless you were a fireman or a newsreader, they could probably have let you off!

Plymouth and South Devon Coop. To be fair I got another job the day after.

Yes Tin Tin, I did the away game as well. Put in some miles that season I can tell you. Burnley away was the best game for so many reasons. Neil Hague late late winner in the fog. We had no idea he scored from the away end, just the moans of the Burnley fans.
 

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I took an early pass out from work saying I had an emergency dental appointment, HP was packed out a fantastic atmosphere it was buzzing, the following day my boss said " I see you went to the same dentist as me" he was stood behind me in the Devenport end,that was the last I heard of it.

That was one of I was there days.
 
May 15, 2018
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jerryatricjanner":27nr6wr1 said:
I was a 17 year old at college in London and set off from Hammersmith at 5am to hitch hike down the A303. By the time the game kicked off I had only made it as far as Ilminster so turned around getting back to London about 9pm. For the second leg in Manchester I sorted a lift there with a meat wagon from Smithfield market but had to thumb it back. Earlier in that cup run I was fortunate enough to witness the greatest performance I have seen from an Argyle team when we outplayed QPR on their own patch 3-0, a side at full strength packed with internationals who narrowly missed out to Liverpool for the league title and hadn’t lost at home for a long time.

Brilliant. What a day out! For the trip North in the meat wagon, how did that go? How long did it take? Were you sat in amongst a heap of pigs trotters? How long did it take to get back and what are your recollections of the game, getting to the ground (murky, dimly-lit alleys everywhere, Moss Side at night!!!), the stadium and the match?