jackfieldwolf
Has a lot to say
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2007
- Messages
- 1,069
- Reaction score
- 115
I posted this a while back but I thought it might be worth another view in light of this thread
Recently I was working in Hampshire and whilst clearing an attic space I discovered a Daily Mirror newspaper dated Monday 18th September 1972. The sport pages are dominated by three stories.
The inside page under the banner headline 'Wolves tear United apart' reports on Wolves 2-0 Saturday victory over Man Utd. For the record Dougan and Richards scored the goals.
However, the back page makes the most intriguing reading. The main headline reads; Leeds: 'Find these Men'. The article describes how 'Leeds are to probe allegations of attempts to fix last seasons final match against Wolves that cost them the Championship'. It goes onto say that they would be investigating The Sunday People allegation that they had statements from Dave Wagstaffe and Frank Munro claiming they were offered bribes to "throw" the game. Two Leeds players 'famous internationals' were said to know that some Wolves men received £1000.00 bribe offers. The article then quotes the Leeds chairman Manny Cousins saying 'That it would be up to our manager Don Revie to find out who the two players are.
The other headline is entitled "I warned my players they would be out for life - McGarry" The story describes how rumours of an attempted fix were rife in Wolverhampton on the day of the match. Frank Munro, Phil Parkes, Mike Bailey and Dave Wagstaffe denied that they had been approached to throw the game.
For those supporters not familiar with the game behind the story. Leeds United beat Arsenal in the F.A. cup final on the Saturday before the following Monday title decider at Wolves. The title finale for 1972 was a four-horse race . Liverpool who could have taken the title with a good win, drew at Arsenal. Man City, Liverpool, and Leeds were locked on 57 points, whilst Derby sat precariously on top of the league on 58 points awaiting the Wolves v Leeds result. In fact Cloughie took his Derby team on holiday to sweat it out on Majorca. Meanwhile the media, and most neutral football fans believed that Leeds would achieve the double with the minimum requirement of a draw at Molineux. Besides, surely Wolves would be saving themselves for their crucial 2nd leg EUFA Cup final at Whit Hart Lane nine days later?
My memories of the match are three fold. Firstly the official attendance of 53,000 was clearly inaccurate as thousands of fans had forced their way into the South bank just after kick off. Having been present at a number of 50,000 plus games in the late sixties this game was clearly different. For a start I had never seen so many people watching the game from the floodlights, they sought vantage points right up to the highest level, no mean feat as Wolves Floodlights were considered to the highest in England. Secondly, the wing of the South bank on the Molineux street side was a swaying seething mass of bedlam. This part of Molinieux as most older fans will recall could look quite sparse even with a 38, 000 plus crowd in Molineux. Indeed I believe that scores of supporters were injured in that part of the ground when a number of crash barriers buckled under the strain.
Finally the match itself, played in a cauldron of deafening noise, quickly went Wolves way with Munro and Dougan putting Wolves 2-0 up, then if I remember correctly Dougan had what appeared to be a good second goal ruled out. Then the nail biting finale. Bremner pulled one back and it was backs to the South bank as Wolves survived a Leeds onslaught. With the benefit of hindsight, in that the referee was aware of the 'bribe controversy' I wonder what it would have taken for Leeds to 'win' a penalty. I can clearly remember Wolves full back Bernard Shaw swiping away the ball with his hand in the Wolves six-yard box in front of a stunned North Bank. There was footage of another 'hand ball' [can't remember the Wolves player] that came under severe media scrutiny in the weeks that followed. I am in no way suggesting that any of the Wolves players were 'got at' but there were plenty of allegations in the world of football over the following months.
Finally, I vaguely remember a TV. Expose on World in Action or Panorama that heavily implicated Don Revie in the approaches allegedly made to Wolves players before the game.
This particular game is undoubtably one of the greatest memories of a life supporting Wolves.
Recently I was working in Hampshire and whilst clearing an attic space I discovered a Daily Mirror newspaper dated Monday 18th September 1972. The sport pages are dominated by three stories.
The inside page under the banner headline 'Wolves tear United apart' reports on Wolves 2-0 Saturday victory over Man Utd. For the record Dougan and Richards scored the goals.
However, the back page makes the most intriguing reading. The main headline reads; Leeds: 'Find these Men'. The article describes how 'Leeds are to probe allegations of attempts to fix last seasons final match against Wolves that cost them the Championship'. It goes onto say that they would be investigating The Sunday People allegation that they had statements from Dave Wagstaffe and Frank Munro claiming they were offered bribes to "throw" the game. Two Leeds players 'famous internationals' were said to know that some Wolves men received £1000.00 bribe offers. The article then quotes the Leeds chairman Manny Cousins saying 'That it would be up to our manager Don Revie to find out who the two players are.
The other headline is entitled "I warned my players they would be out for life - McGarry" The story describes how rumours of an attempted fix were rife in Wolverhampton on the day of the match. Frank Munro, Phil Parkes, Mike Bailey and Dave Wagstaffe denied that they had been approached to throw the game.
For those supporters not familiar with the game behind the story. Leeds United beat Arsenal in the F.A. cup final on the Saturday before the following Monday title decider at Wolves. The title finale for 1972 was a four-horse race . Liverpool who could have taken the title with a good win, drew at Arsenal. Man City, Liverpool, and Leeds were locked on 57 points, whilst Derby sat precariously on top of the league on 58 points awaiting the Wolves v Leeds result. In fact Cloughie took his Derby team on holiday to sweat it out on Majorca. Meanwhile the media, and most neutral football fans believed that Leeds would achieve the double with the minimum requirement of a draw at Molineux. Besides, surely Wolves would be saving themselves for their crucial 2nd leg EUFA Cup final at Whit Hart Lane nine days later?
My memories of the match are three fold. Firstly the official attendance of 53,000 was clearly inaccurate as thousands of fans had forced their way into the South bank just after kick off. Having been present at a number of 50,000 plus games in the late sixties this game was clearly different. For a start I had never seen so many people watching the game from the floodlights, they sought vantage points right up to the highest level, no mean feat as Wolves Floodlights were considered to the highest in England. Secondly, the wing of the South bank on the Molineux street side was a swaying seething mass of bedlam. This part of Molinieux as most older fans will recall could look quite sparse even with a 38, 000 plus crowd in Molineux. Indeed I believe that scores of supporters were injured in that part of the ground when a number of crash barriers buckled under the strain.
Finally the match itself, played in a cauldron of deafening noise, quickly went Wolves way with Munro and Dougan putting Wolves 2-0 up, then if I remember correctly Dougan had what appeared to be a good second goal ruled out. Then the nail biting finale. Bremner pulled one back and it was backs to the South bank as Wolves survived a Leeds onslaught. With the benefit of hindsight, in that the referee was aware of the 'bribe controversy' I wonder what it would have taken for Leeds to 'win' a penalty. I can clearly remember Wolves full back Bernard Shaw swiping away the ball with his hand in the Wolves six-yard box in front of a stunned North Bank. There was footage of another 'hand ball' [can't remember the Wolves player] that came under severe media scrutiny in the weeks that followed. I am in no way suggesting that any of the Wolves players were 'got at' but there were plenty of allegations in the world of football over the following months.
Finally, I vaguely remember a TV. Expose on World in Action or Panorama that heavily implicated Don Revie in the approaches allegedly made to Wolves players before the game.
This particular game is undoubtably one of the greatest memories of a life supporting Wolves.
Last edited by a moderator:
