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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Spirit of 1987 : The Littlewoods Cup Victory

Blood hell - is it really 20 years since The Arse beat Liverpool in the Littlewoods Cup thanks to a pair of goals from Champagne Charlie Nicolas?

The League Cup was a big thing back in the 80's of course. English Clubs had been kicked out of Europe and so only had the three domestic competitions to play for and both knockout competitions were full on.

ARSENAL BEAT MIGHTY LIVERPOOL
And I remember that the win over Liverpool in the final was a big thing - maybe not a massive event - but it was Arsenal's first trophy since the FA Cup in 1979 - it was done on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Wembley on national TV (still a novelty back then) and it was enough to convince Gooners that George Graham was on the right path.

Remember that Liverpool were the domiant side of the 70's and 80's and seemed to have an iron grip on this competition - winning it four seasons running - and they'd never lost when Ian Rush had scored for them ... until Perry Groves and Charlie Nicholas conjured up the winner.

Two years later Arsenal delivered the League Championship to the Highbury faithful in the most dramatic of circumstances at Anfield (see the post below) - and later on the players said that the confidence and belief stemmed at least in part from that particular day at Wembley.

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But of course that all may not have happened if Arsenal had not got past Spurs in the semi-finals.

YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT QUIET CHAS !!
Tottenham won the first leg at Highbury 2-1, and were leading 1-0 in the second leg at halftime for a 3-1 aggregate lead ... it all seemed over for Arsenal until a cheeky Tottenham stadium announcer decided to fill in the silence during halftime telling supporters where they could queue for final tickets after the game.

Big mistake. The players heard it. That insult helped launch an Arsenal comeback, with the Gunners winning 2-1 to force a 3rd replay three days later - which Arsenal also won at White Hart Lane with two goals in the last 7 minutes.

There were scenes of wild celebration after that semi-final win .... yes that's right - for a league Cup semi-final - it was seen as a major win.

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So think about it, the 1987 Littlewoods Cup win, then the 1989 Anfield Miracle, followed by the 1991 Championship and the 1993 Cup double. It all might never have happened.

Dennis Bergkamp might never have been enticed over, Arsene Wenger might never have joined and we may never have seen Theirry Henry playing in the red and white shirt ...

If only that Spurs announcer had kept his trap shut ...

Hmmmmmmm - It makes you think ...
:-))))

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