1973–74 FA Cup

The 1973–74 FA Cup was the 93rd edition of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Liverpool won the competition for only the second time, beating Newcastle United 3–0 in the final at Wembley, London.

Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round. This date was always a Saturday, but some matches would be rescheduled for other days. This might occur if the tie clashed with a game at a neighbouring stadium, or if the weather was inclement. In the 1973–74 season, matches were allowed to be played on Sundays for the first time.

If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week. If scores in the replayed match were also level after 90 minutes, a 30-minute period of extra time was played. If the result after extra time was a draw, further replays would be held until a winner was determined.

Most participating clubs that were not members of the Football League competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 28 places available in the first round.

The winners from the fourth qualifying round were South Shields, Willington, Blyth Spartans, Altrincham, Runcorn, Formby, Merthyr Tydfil, Frickley Colliery, Telford United, Banbury United, Grantham, Alfreton Town, King's Lynn, Boston United, Alvechurch, Chelmsford City, Hillingdon Borough, Dagenham, Hayes, Boreham Wood, Leytonstone, Hendon, Guildford City, Wimbledon, Hitchin Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Bideford and Weymouth.

Formby and Boreham Wood were appearing in the competition proper for the first time. Of the others, Merthyr Tydfil had not featured at this stage since 1965–66, Bideford had not done so since 1964-65, Hitchin Town had not done so since 1960-61 and Willington had not done so since 1950-51.

Alvechurch participated in seven rounds of this season's tournament, defeating Halesowen Town, Bromsgrove Rovers, Stourbridge, Stafford Rangers, Exeter City and King's Lynn before going out in the third round to Bradford City at Valley Parade. However the club entered period of decline in subsequent seasons - this would be their last appearance in the FA Cup competition proper until 2022-23.

At this stage the 48 clubs from the Football League Third and Fourth Divisions joined the non-league clubs who came through the qualifying rounds. To complete the round, four more non-league clubs were given byes to this stage. Scarborough and Wigan Athletic were the finalists from the previous season's FA Trophy while Walton & Hersham and Slough Town were the finalists from the previous season's FA Amateur Cup.

Matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 24 November 1973. Ten matches were drawn and went to replays.

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 15 December 1973. Five matches were drawn, with replays taking place later the same week.

The 44 First and Second Division clubs entered the competition at this stage. The matches were scheduled for the weekend of 5–6 January 1974. Thirteen matches were drawn and went to replays, while Oldham Athletic and Cambridge United required a second replay which was played at the City Ground in Nottingham.

Holders Sunderland were eliminated by Carlisle United. Alvechurch, Grantham, Boston United and Hendon were the last non-league clubs left in the competition.

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 26 January 1974. Four matches were, however, played the day after. Eight matches were drawn, of which one, the tie between Portsmouth and Leyton Orient, required a second replay.

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 16 February 1974 with one taking place the day after. Two matches were drawn and went to replays.

The four quarter-final ties were played on 9 March 1974.

The first Newcastle United–Nottingham Forest game at St James' Park was won 4–3 by Newcastle. However, early in the second half Nottingham Forest went 3–1 up from a penalty awarded by the referee, Gordon Kew, who also sent off Newcastle's defender Pat Howard for protesting the decision. The Newcastle United fans in the Leazes End of the ground (now the Sir John Hall stand) invaded the pitch. Two Nottingham Forest players were injured in the debacle, but the referee waited until all players were recovered and received the permission of both managers to continue the tie. Newcastle managed to come back and win with a late goal by their captain, Bobby Moncur, in spite of the two-goal and one-player deficit.^[1] Up to 23 people were taken to hospital as a result of the pitch invasion, of whom two had fractured skulls; another 103 people were treated at the ground and 39 arrests were made.^[2]

Following the riot, a written protest was sent from Nottingham Forest to the FA on 11 March. In response, the secretary of the FA, Ted Croker, announced that a special four-man subcommittee of the Challenge Cup Committee who oversee the FA Cup competition were to investigate the incident, stating, "Newcastle could be disqualified. We do not have the power to order a replay as the game was completed."^[2] On 14 March the subcommittee ruled that, in spite of Mr. Croker's comments, the match was to be replayed, at the neutral venue of Goodison Park on Monday 18 March. If that match was drawn then extra time would be played and, if needed, another match at a neutral venue would be played the following Thursday. This decision was unprecedented at the time and the reaction was mixed, with Newcastle's defender Frank Clark suggesting that their comeback should have allowed them to go through outright. The Nottingham Forest captain Bob Chapman stated, "we would have won it fair and square but for the trouble."^[3]

The first replay was a nervous 0–0 draw after extra time, although Newcastle hit the woodwork three times.^[4] Newcastle finally won the tie through a single Malcolm Macdonald goal in the second replay, also at Goodison Park.^[5]

The semi-final matches were played on Saturday, 30 March 1974 with the Liverpool–Leicester City game being replayed four days later. Liverpool and Newcastle United won their respective matches to go on to the final at Wembley.

30 March 1974

15:00

Newcastle United	2–0	Burnley
Macdonald 65, 75'	Report

Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield

Referee: Gordon Hill, Leicester

3 April 1974

19:30

Leicester City	1–3	Liverpool
Glover 49'	Report	Hall 46' Keegan 61' Toshack 86'

Villa Park, Birmingham

Referee: Ken Burns, Stourbridge

Between 1970 and 1974, a third place playoff between the two losing semi-finalists was held.^[6]

9 May 1974

Leicester City	0–1	Burnley
		Hankin

Filbert Street, Leicester

Attendance: 4,432

The final took place on Saturday, 4 May 1974 at Wembley and ended in a victory for Liverpool over Newcastle United by three goals to nil. Two goals were scored by Kevin Keegan and one by Steve Heighway. The attendance was 100,000.

4 May 1974
15:00 BST

Liverpool	3–0	Newcastle United
Keegan 57, 88' Heighway 74'	Report

Wembley, London

Attendance: 100,000

Referee: Gordon Kew

Liverpool

Newcastle

The right to show FA Cup games were, as with Football League matches, shared between the BBC and ITV networks. All games were shown in a highlights format, except the final, which was shown live both on BBC1 & ITV. The BBC football highlights programme Match Of The Day would show up to three games. The various ITV regional network stations would cover one game each, and show highlights from other games covered elsewhere on the ITV network. No games from rounds 1 or 2 were shown.

Burnley banned TV coverage of their 5th round tie with Aston Villa, which was due to be one of the ITV televised ties shown by Granada. Burnley also banned coverage of their quarter-final tie with Wrexham, which was due to be shown on the BBC's Match Of The Day. A league game was shown instead, between Derby County and West Ham United, as well as the Queens Park Rangers v Leicester quarter-final. Burnley's chairman Bob Lord also tried to stop the semi-final being covered by ITV, but he failed as the game was played at Hillsborough, a neutral venue.

BBC featured Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leeds United, West Ham United v Hereford United, Manchester United v Plymouth Argyle, Hendon v Newcastle United (midweek replay played at Watford), and Hereford United v West Ham United (midweek replay).

ITV's regions showed Chelsea v Queens Park Rangers (LWT), Everton v Blackburn Rovers (Granada), Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur (ATV), Sheffield Wednesday v Coventry City (Yorkshire), Newcastle United v Hendon (Tyne-Tees), and Peterborough United v Southend United (Anglia).

BBC: Queens Park Rangers v Birmingham City, Fulham v Leicester City, and Manchester United v Ipswich Town.

ITV: Arsenal v Aston Villa (LWT & ATV), Peterborough United v Leeds United (Anglia & Yorkshire), Liverpool v Carlisle United (Granada), Newcastle United v Scunthorpe United (Tyne-Tees), and Aston Villa v Arsenal (midweek replay shown in all regions).

BBC: Bristol City v Leeds United, West Bromwich Albion v Newcastle United, Liverpool v Ipswich Town.

ITV: Luton Town v Leicester City (LWT & Anglia), Southampton v Wrexham (Southern & HTV), Coventry City v Queens Park Rangers (ATV), and Leeds United v Bristol City (midweek replay shown in all regions).

BBC: Queens Park Rangers v Leicester City.

ITV: Bristol City v Liverpool (LWT), Newcastle United v Nottingham Forest (Tyne-Tees & ATV), Newcastle United v Nottingham Forest (midweek rematch & replay shown in all regions).

BBC: Leicester City v Liverpool (and midweek replay).

ITV: Burnley v Newcastle United (all regions).

Liverpool v Newcastle United: shown live on BBC and on all ITV regions.

General

• The FA Cup Archive at TheFA.com
• English FA Cup 1973/74 at Soccerbase
• F.A. Cup results 1973/74 at Footballsite

Specific