Thanks Ed. Some great memories there. I missed the game at Stockport but attended all the others. The 3-0 win at Old Trafford was the best performance of the season. Walking back to Warwick Road Station was a test of character and not one I would care to repeat.

We got absolutely soaked in the open end at Burndon after cursing McKenzie for the missed penalty. It was a great cup run. We just didn’t have quite enough to win the final. It was a pity Rioch and Pejic were cup tied. I reckon with those two in the team we might well have won it.

I went to all those games, Ed. If I remember rightly at Edgeley Park we were behind the goal on a open cinder hill, not even terracing! I had a ticket in the stands for Burnden Park. I think Ronnie Goodlass crossed for Bob to score.

At Hillsborough we were in the corner of the Leppings Lane by a floodlights pylon, I think. I've still got all the programmes from that cup run. We were a decent cup team back then, but only decent.
When it came to big games, injuries to key players and shit refs like Clive Thomas meant we came close but no cigar! Plus Dave Lawson was not a great goalie.

My first trip to Wembley and I’m sure I went to the Stockport game as well.

Everton don’t deserve their incredible fans? That’s exactly why I can’t understand anyone who says it doesn’t matter if The Silent Friedkins, come to a game or not.

Once Everton has touched you, flying spitfires would probably become very boring Dan, and if you could help us win a trophy, (we are fucking desperate Dan🙈) the explosion of noise, would be a lot louder than your fucking aeroplanes mate.

Anyone remember the floodlight failure at burnden park in the 2nd leg of the semi just as mckenzie was about to take the spot kick?..very suspicious

A nice trip down memory lane Ed even if at the time the result wasn’t the one we were all hoping for.

Your article inspired me to go on YouTube and watch the highlights of the 3rd game something I have never been able to do before as emotionally I was drained and really had no wish to see how things unravelled.

Why wasn’t Duncan Mckenzie at least in the 12…how could that be possible when a player with limited ability as Pearson was in the team…certainly in my mind Gordon Lee is yet another Manager that we have had to endure who chose caution as his main friend over ambition.

Like you Anthony this final was my first visit to Wembley to watch Everton and in my mind it was a disappointing game. I was unable to go to Hillsborough but my eldest brother Jim (RIP) managed to get me a ticket -with the Everton supporters!-for Old Trafford.

Watching the game at Old Trafford again now has reminded of… how did we let their equaliser in, a speculative effort from Nicholl and that the best player on the pitch -reluctantly I have to admit- was Brian Little.

Your mention of Andy King Ed also brings back memories but this time good ones…it was my first visit to a derby game and the new stand had just been built – I need to explain living in London my trips up to Goodison were not as plentiful as I would have liked. Anyway I was in the upper tier and I remember these kopites arriving looking down to the pitch and saying ‘fucking hell, where’s the fucking parachute!’. But of course what I remember most of all was Andy’s fantastic shot from all of 25 yards and the brilliant view I had of it as it sailed in. So my first derby game was a winning one.

I’m with you Anthony I find it incredible that as an owner you don’t think it’s important to make at least occasional visits to our ground and to experience first hand the desire and emotion of the supporters of your/our Club.

Is it just me or is that picture a complete bollocks

Not just you Sean,100% agree!

I Remember that 0-3 win against United.. we absolutely mauled them.

looking back, in those days all we had was photos like this, that you would study for ages and guess, who eventually had made contact with the ball!.. what was the eventual trajectory of the ball?
Was it goalmouth action, or a midfield Tussle.

in any event, all the players involved, always looked more involved in the photo, than they actually were in the game.

Also, some of these incidents were used for the «  Spot the Ball » competition.

Now, Let’s say that this actual photo was used in one of those competitions and the ball was Blanked out, who among us, would put the pinpoint centre of Their X, right on it?…appearances can be deceiving !

There’s a Villa player there without a hand is that McKenzie or Bryan Hamilton? AI has a lot to answer for

I remember all of them games,probably a load of them with you and your kid, I knew you as Eddie in them days.(Fluorescent light tube on the tube ) Great memories of a unique time in our history, good team but not quite there.Devoted support who just needed the beast to be stirred as the cup run proved.Little did we know how fleeting the memories would be of this time and a mid 80 s run would be. Best of the rest not even a chance now ?

Sean, Andy. A mea culpa from me on the image. I had it generated and then posted it in haste without properly analysing it. I put the bloke's hand back in and then realised all the other problems with the image and took it down.

If you're still seeing the colorised AI version, hard refresh this page (Ctrl+F5 on PC, Cmnd+R on Mac) and you should see a version of the original.

Believe me, resorting to AI is not my choice but has become a necessary evil.

Seriously Lyndon, you know I’m from the old world, but why is it so necessary to use AI?

My guess is that you will say that it’s less time consuming, but I can honestly see so much history getting eradicated over time by AI, especially because everything just seems to be all about moving forward at a rapid rate, so it’ll be interesting reading your reply!

Mixed memories there Guys, remember getting a good 'kicking' after the Utd game, still the scariest atmosphere at a ground I've
witnessed. As for the Wembley game, didn't it get delayed because one of the brass band lost something?
Also remember us having two 'number 2's' in the 3rd game?

Antony, it's all to do with image licensing. There is no mechanism whereby a one-club website like this can be granted a license to display PL images in the first place and, even then, they are prohibitively expensive. AI generation is an uncomfortable alternative to just having a vanilla text site.

In this specific instance (which, granted, isn't a PL image) me hand-colouring the original image would have taken hours which would have made no sense. I thought at first glance that the AI engine had done a decent job of it but clearly hadn't spotted the glaring issues when I posted the article.

This reply will self-destruct in 24 hours 😉

Thanks Lyndon. I’m so niave, I didn’t realise you would have to pay to print a picture mate, but I suppose the “one true religion” is most definitely money.

Me being stupid at first I didn't realise this 'photo' was AI until I looked again and it looks like the Everton player shooting is Frank Stapleton! Then I spotted the other mistakes...when I refreshed the photo it's obviously an oil painting of Mick Lyons heading in the equaliser at Old Trafford

And, Edward, the scariest ground for me was Maine Road — the Kippax with chicken wire separating us from them, and the side roads back entries, jiggers made it ambush territory!

Why not just use an old black and white image to illustrate the article? Embracing AI unnecessarily. Great article though.

I can still remember the roar from the United crowd at Old Trafford, the day Frank Stapleton, scored that last minute winner in the FA Cup quarter final, aided by last minute sub, Lou Macari, who kept the ball alive. (I still remember a few wise old heads cursing the introduction of Macari)

I think a few United fans got a bit of payback that day Edward, and although it was horrible to lose in the last minute of a game we deserved to win, it was worth it in the end because we got to both cup finals the following year.

There isn’t that much trouble at the football nowadays but I’d be surprised if there isn’t a bit of trouble, before, during or after the next cup tie at Bramley-Moore-Dock, with 7000 Geordies, coming to our ground.

Fifty years have passed since we lost that game to Villa, so wouldn’t it be lovely to finally win the Mickey Mouse cup🤞

Yes a bandsman lost a spur in the Wembley turf, it absolutely lashed down at Goodison when we beat Bolton 1-0 in the semi, and yes Tony, Stapleton's winner in that quarter final was heartbreaking, nobody had given us a hope in hell, but we went toe to toe for 92 minutes, but it was a an acorn performance, within a year we had turned the corner and where on the march.

Just a few memories:

On a very menacing night, the team produced a magnificent performance at Old Trafford. We were in the old Main Stand, very close to some of the home fans, separated by wire mesh that went up to the roof. One particular Utd supporter spent the whole of the second half clinging to the mesh, 25 feet up, spitting at us.

The home semi-final, conceding that very late free kick equaliser by Neil Whatmore.

Celebrating going through to Wembley by stopping for fish and chips in Westhoughton. As we were eating them in my old Post Office van, there was a knock on the window, a man’s face appeared and he asked if he could have a lift to the M6, so he could get to Knutsford Services where he would be able to sleep under a table.

I said he could get in the back of the van, much to the dismay of my brother-in-law, who was already reclining there. The guy was rather strange, this was at the time The Yorkshire Ripper was at large, and when he told us “I used to be ok, until my dad murdered my mum”, we ditched him on the East Lancs.

The first replay was probably the best atmosphere from two sets of fans I can remember.

The second replay may have been the night “Everton, that” was coined.

Si (20), because even those old black-and-white photos have been bought up by the biggest image licensing companies. And believe me, I haven't "embraced" AI; it's very much a "hold your nose" situation.

I remember the first leg of the semi against Bolton at Goodison very well. I was 12 years old, in the Upper Bullens with my Dad and my brother. The atmosphere was just electric, so much tension and expectation in the air. Everton could win a bloody cup after 7 miserable years, what a thought! I think a certain Mr P.Reid, of Bolton Wanderers, was man of the match.

Peter 23, you do realise you could have saved 5 women if you’d have driven straight to Copy Lane?

Sorry for the gallows humour, ….Everton that.

Jeff#23, perhaps selfishly, I was rather more concerned at the prospect of our passenger adding 3 males to his tally and becoming the owner of a van

Don't know if any of you are interested but I've just been given the programme from our 1975 FA Cup replay against Altrincham which was played at Old Trafford!

It's only 4 pages thick, but must be of some interest to collectors, you'd think?

I don’t really collect anything like this Lee, but Altrincham, always brings back great personal memories for myself mate, because when the teams played out a one-all draw, in the first game, that was the first time I ever set foot inside Goodison Pk.

Goodison Pk, what a stadium. What noise, what passion, especially in those days, when the club always took the FA Cup, very, very seriously. We really did have a huge amount of history in this competition, before Bill Kenwright, purchased the club.

Great memories, Anthony, Goodison was my favourite place on earth for many, many years.

Great walk down memory lane, thanks for that. I was at Wembley and the two replays, but I especially remember that night at Bolton singing “Que sera sera whatever will be will be, we’re going to Wembley” as we left the ground. Was that really nearly fifty years ago?