April 1971

As appeared in Rothman's Football Yearbook 1971-72 (2nd year)

The Queene Anne Press, London 1971

Note : The news from thirty years ago has an archive below

April 1971

1 Arthur Mann, Manchester C. full-back who was left behind when his team flew to Copenhagen, because of his fear of flying, agreed to go to a hypnotist to see if he could find a cure. . . Associate members of the Football League clubs in Third and Fourth Divisions, voted out Management Committee proposition to bring in twelve new clubs and reform the divisions into regional sections. . .

2 Ken Gray's two goals gave England victory over Scotland in amateur international at Falkirk . . . Arsenal lost Wembley toss-up for Cup Final Colours and decided to play in yellow shirts and blue shorts. . . Liverpool, naturally, stuck to their usual all-red strip. . . Ray Tinkler, of Boston, named as referee for An1ateur Cup Final

3 Mike England officially out for rest of the season, said Tot ten ham H. . . . two goals by Kennedy gave Arsenal win over Chelsea before season's biggest Highbury crowd, 62,987. . . Hugh Curran got three for Wolverhampton W., Rodney Marsh three for Q.P.R. . . . Allan Clarke went one better for Leeds U., getting all four against Burnley . . .

5 Norman Burtenshaw, of Great Yarmouth, named as referee for the F.A. Cup Final

6 Peter Storey, Arsenal's last-minute penalty scorer, named in England squad for the Nations Cup tie with Greece. . .

12 After the smoke and dust had subsided over the Easter games, it could be clearly seen that Luton T .'s chances of gaining promotion for second successive season, had evaporated. . . two up at Bristol they lost 2-3 to City, then 4-0 at Millwall . . . finally promotion favourites Leicester C. finished them off with 3-1 win at Luton . . . Aston Villa's inability to turn home draws into wins also put them out of the promotion running. . .

14 Goal by Derek Smethurst sent Chelsea a goal ahead for the second leg of the European Cup Winners Cup with Manchester C. . . . Billy Bremner got the goal by which Leeds U. beat Liverpool in Fairs Cup, . . . in European Cup Red Star Belgrade beat Panathinaikos 4-1 in first leg, which paved the way for the sensational recovery of the Greek team in the second leg. . . Rodney Marsh cleared of the booking he was given for apparently showing dissent when kicking the ball away at the end of the Rangers game with Oxford U. . . . Announcing that they had lost 173, 116 pounds on the year's working, Luton T. appealed to their supporters for 240,000 pounds

17 It's 'CHARLIE GEORGE' for Arsenal again. . . after being booked against Newcastle U., he got the only goal of the match at Highbury . . . which meant Arsenal going on top of the table on goal average over Leeds U ., who lost at home to W .B.A. . . . Denis Law scored great hat-trick for Manchester U. at Selhurst Park when they came from behind to beat C. Palace 5-3. . . George Best got the other two. . . W.B.A. had not won an away game for 16 months. . . Leeds U. protested hotly and fans invaded the field when Albion scored their first goal. . . Football Association later ordered the ground to be closed for the first four home games of season 1971-72, and fined Leeds U. 750 pounds . . . Italian First and Second Division players called for one-day strike because of lack of progress made with Italian League in fight for pensions. . . Dave Mackay signed for Swindon T., his move to take effect at end of the season. . .

20 Colchester U. by drawing away 1-1 with Grimsby ended their hopes of promotion from the Fourth Division. . . England's Youth team drew 1-1 with Spain at Luton . . . Lucky punter Albert Crocker scooped the world record pools win by accepting cheque for 401,792 pounds . . . . . . England beat Greece in European Nations Cup at Wembley, most of the better football coming late in the second half. . . Northern Ireland took five goals off Cyprus to complete their personal double, Wales lost to Czechoslovakia, and Scotland took another beating, this time from Portugal. . . As Switzerland beat Malta 5-0 ,England still lying second in their group. . .

24 By winning 1-0 at Doncaster, Fulham made certain of promotion from the Third Division. . . and Leicester C.'s single goal win over Charlton Ath. gave them a ticket to the First Division. . .

26 In clash of the giants at Elland Road, Arsenal lost to Leeds U. in a squabble over the only goal scored by Jackie Charlton . . . Arsenal coach Don Howe was quoted as saying 'I am in no doubt that the goal was off-side. . .' later in the week when the Arsenal players saw the slow motion re-run, many agreed that the referee had been right to allow the goal. . .

27 Leicester C. finally clinched the Second Division championship with an Alistair Brown goal against Bristol C. . . . Blackburn R. one of the founder members of the Football League, go down to the Third Division for the first time in their history . . . equally historic Bolton W. will accompany them. . .

28 Chelsea, with another 1-0 win over Manchester C. entered the Final of the Cup Winners Cup. . . and Leeds U. held Liverpool out to a goal less draw to bid for the Fairs Cup, and a final against Juventus . . . Panathinaikos pulled back three goals to qualify for the European Cup Final, in which they played Ajax of Amsterdam. . .