BWK - Wycombe Wanderers history
Following a proper saddo discussion with a fellow Chairboy yesterday, I'd like to see what others believe...
Wycombe Wanderers reached the third round (proper) of the F.A. Cup for the first time in the clubs history during the 1974/75 season,
They held first division Middlesbrough (Jack Charlton, Graeme Souness et al) to a goal-less draw on Saturday 4th January 1975 at Loakes Park.
What position in the first division table were Middlesbrough in on that date?
BWK - Wycombe Wanderers history
- What position in the first division table were Middlesbrough in on that date?73 votes
- Top (1st)72.60%
- 2nd21.92%
- 3rd2.74%
- Other2.74%
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Comments
I have no idea. Does that mean I do not qualify as a Wycombe Wanderers saddo?
With the late great Jack Charlton as their manager.
The day we played them they were second on goal difference.
Ipswich 30PTS 34GF 19GA 15GD
Middlesbrough 30PTS 37GF 28GA 9GD
However they had already beaten Ipswich 3-0 that season in the league. Interestingly they played Ipswich away after our games and lost 2-0.
I was there of course. Where else. Wasn’t able to get to the replay unfortunately. Brian Lee said afterwards he was glad the game hadn’t gone to extra time as we would have been murdered. The Middlesbrough players carried goalkeeper John Maskell off at the final whistle, fireman style.
I was at the Middlesbrough match sitting on the shelf on the front of the stand and a section nearby was full of visiting supporters. After the game had been going a while I will always remember one of their supporters shouting out loudly "give us a kick". At that point, it was that one-sided and it was a game we richly deserved to win. Their goalkeeper was Jim Platt who had a good game.
I know Dennis Rader is known as BTK among crime buffs but BWK? Bluey Wycombe Kill???
From memory Middlesbrough were top when the draw was made in early December.
I'd have been listening on a portable wireless radio, Monday lunchtime, when the draw was made.
I suppose Adams Park just about falls into the Midsomer Murders universe so the idea of Bluey the Swan being a serial killer could make a typical episode.
More plausible than that one episode I had to watch with my mother that was absolute bollocks from start to finish.
BWK = Basic Wycombe Knowledge
My third ever game after the Cheltenham 1st round and Bournmouth 2nd.
My late mother had quite a big part, for an extra, in Midsomer Murders. She was bumped into by John Nettles leaving a café
If she was in Force on the Case I'd marry her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga9coDIuARc
I was in the cow shed.
Same here.
Turn up screen brightness as full as possible 👇
https://youtu.be/Ln8NMo4z2XY?feature=shared
Seems the Ex-Players Association are holding a special reunion do on 2nd January 2025. Watch out for further news.
As we've hit 50+ votes I can reveal the answer. @wwfcblue is spot on. Middlesbrough were second in the first division, behind Ipswich Town on goal difference.
It has been reported in several places since that Middlesbrough were top, enough for me to have believed it. They were never top of the table. Moral of the story is
find some less saddo matesalways check your sources.@Twizz Middlesbrough were half-way down the table at the time of the second round draw. @username123 thank you for the link. Tremendous stuff, even with the lights off.
I'm calling that joint top. Certainly not prepared to admit I've been wrong all these years
I was vaguely aware they had (in my head) slipped to second by the time the match came around. Surprised to learn that apparently they never reached top spot.
Whether top or second , our success since has perhaps narrowed in perception the yawning gap that existed between the teams at the time.
What was the gap in divisions? What would the equivalent be today?
This would have been pre Conference so hard to know where we really were in the non-league hierarchy. I would say perhaps a mid table Conference side against a team at the top of the Premier League but not one normally at that level. so equivalent perhaps of a Tamworth drawing and nearly beating say Aston Villa.
But I get the impression that the non leagues are stronger and more professional now than they were then so perhaps feeling more like say Dorking or Chesham??
Yeah, I feel like the gap between the Football League divisions has grown but the gap between top flight and the top of non-League has shrunk?
It wasn't exactly common, but until the 80s it wasn't unheard of for lower-league sides to win either of the two major domestic cups. Swindon were Div 3 when they beat Arsenal in the League Cup final in I think 69? West Ham possibly the last team from outside the top flight to win the FAC?
I knew for sure they weren't top when we played them, didn't know they were actually Joint top with Ipswich, but I've believed for years that my explanation was the correct reason many thought they were.
You live and learn. I watched from the lower cowshed up towards the hospital end on the day. If only the Alan Phillips header had gone in.
On Thursday February 5th 1953, having recently finished my National Service I was able to go to Highbury to see one of the Wanderers' main Isthmian league rivals Walthamstow Avenue play Manchester United in a 4th round FA Cup replay having achieved a draw at Old Trafford. Walthamstow had England Cricketer Trevor Bailey in their side It was an entertaining game but they lost 5-2
This is the ultimate in hair-splitting…. Boro were as ‘joint top’ then, as we were with ColU that time.
Might want to look into whether it was goal “difference” or goal “average”…? It changed in the football league around that time. Not that it would have changed the situation. Joint top is good enough for me any time I tell the tale.
I was in main stand A block, and everybody in front of me stood up when the cross came over from Reardon so I never saw at the time how close Phillips’ header actually was. The Big Match the following day therefore only brought fresh agony.
So proud to be a Wycombe fan that day.
If memory serves correctly, I think that in 1974/75 the structure was the 4 division league, followed by Southern League & Northern Premier League, followed by several more localised leagues, one of which was the Isthmian League in which Wycombe were placed.
I was there for both matches, cowshed, and Ayresome Park. Towards the end of the replay a Middlesbrough supporter asked me where we got our goalkeeper. I said I have no idea, I'd never seen him play than way. John Maskell was an extremely good keeper for that level, but that night he was spectacular. Brian Moore was right, had the replay gone to extra time it would been a slaughter. The lads had given everything and some!
I don’t think we really considered the Southern or Northern Premier Leagues any better than the Isthmian. At the time it was more of a question of amateur and professional traditions. Also, the Isthmian was very regionalised around London and the South East. Later, particularly when the Alliance Premier was formed, the Isthmian clearly fell behind.
There was no automatic promotion/relegation in those days, but Wimbledon's route to the football league was by leaving the Isthmian league to join the Southern League which had held semi-pro status for sometime whereas Isthmian League had been a top level amateur league (in reality amateur status had for some time been called shamateur). Isthmian League at that time was very much Greater London based, and Wycombe were one of the more distant members.
There's splitting hairs and PPG, which do you prefer?
Haha, the aforementioned saddo came back to me on goal average / goal difference. It was the former. This is a level of pedantry I aspire to.
I suspect they would also argue that there’s no such thing as “joint-top.”
I hadn’t even been conceived when all of this happened.