Yeah, not 86, my mistake. I try not to think about it if I can help it, it's still the most gutted I've ever been after a game.
Watford 1984 ( was only a nipper in 75, too young to appreciate it really)
Everton would have probably still won the cup but that year but as a fan i would love to have to gotten to a Semi
Final at, Highbury, VP, Hillsborough, Goodison or wherever
Those semi's (on Terraces) with grounds split half and half looked great occasions
Also, getting to a Final when the Fa Cup was 'proper', the biggest day of the year, would have been special
Birmingham vs West Brom March 2011
It should have been such a wonderful day! Instead after the heroics of the cup we ended up being dragged back into a relegation battle we couldn’t win.
I still think if we’d won that match we would have survived and been able to build on that cup success. As it was Stephen Carr seemed to be the only player who could be arsed that day and we rolled over
number8Watford FA Cup quarter final.
This.
They went on to play Plymouth in the semi
TheBlueNationnumber8Watford FA Cup quarter final.
This.
They went on to play Plymouth in the semi
Getting dicked 7-0 by Liverpool on terrestrial TV was pretty bad to be fair. Didn't enjoy that.
BluestainesIf you want to go old school, then losing the FA Cup semi to Albion in 1886. Had we won that, I doubt we could have been excluded from the original Football League. And that was an absolute game-changer. Teams in that first season had a massive advantage. It's why you've heard of Burnley (who before 1888 had never won an FA Cup tie) but not Blackburn Olympic (actual FA Cup winners in 1882 who were excluded by Blackburn Rovers' veto).But I suspect a bigger game for us to have won in terms of the ultimate affect on our future may have been the '56 FA Cup Final. Doubt there's anybody on here that can recall that one though.
Also the defeat to Vile in February 1905. Had we won that game we would have gone 2nd in the League with a few games to go. Problem was Freddie Wilcox pulled up injured in the first minute and had to go off. No subs so we played the game with 10 men. Wilcox had scored 5 in the previous 2 matches and didn't play again all season. Won 2 of the last 9 and ended seventh, just 3 points off fourth. We had won 6 of the last 9 in which he played. Four games we lost were to teams well below us in the table; had we won all of those, we would have been a point off the title...
85BlueSpurs 2011, would have needed a minor miracle with the wolves game mind, but Europe the following year with Prem money and pulling power would have been something
That's the one for me Tom
DESSomeone earlier on this thread used a great word,
Losing to Fulham in 75 changed the whole trajectory of the club, facing down rather than facing up!
Kro
Only those of a certain vintage will appreciate how big the fa cup was back then! Bigger than winning the title or the European cup to fans!
Sad sad night @ Maine Rd.
Nothing will beat this imho
I think we took around 35000 to Hillsborough and sure it was a record for a club to take that kind of following.
If my memory serves me right, we was getting massive crowds down at St Andrews and I had hoped we would kick on to be a big club in England.
But this is Blues as we all know 🙈 I was on the dole at the time and really couldn't afford to go to Maine road, but my mate turned round and said we can't miss this, for what's it worth I think we deserved to lose at Hillsborough.
This is the most depressing thread ever started in SHA
Obviously Fulham 1975.
It's hard to explain to anyone who wasn't around at the time just how utterly devastating that fluke result was. Blues looked nailed-on to at least get to the FA Cup Final and had a very good chance of winning the Cup, although to be fair West Ham had a good team.
Winning the cup that year would have changed everything, but it all went tits-up from that day onwards.
I have a couple of mates who were season ticket holders, regular away supporters, who were so shattered by the events at Maine Road that day that they have never been down the Blues again, right up to today. That's how significant the defeat was. It changed lives.
Christ knows, Blues fans are a resilient bunch and don't expect a lot, we're fully hardened to disappointment, but that result and the nature of the defeat was just too much for many people to take.
I know this all sounds terribly melodramatic, but if you weren't there it's impossible to explain how crushing, soul-destroying and pivotal it was in the history of this club.
Yes, the Fulham game was just such a massive shock. I was at school at the time and when they made the semi final draw on the Monday lunchtime we couldn’t believe our luck. As someone else notes, we should have been too good for Fulham at Hillsborough without needing a replay.
What makes it worse looking back was that it was the third time we’d reached the semi final in such a short space of time -68, 72 and 75. Never been to a semi since. The cup was a massive tournament in those days and I think we’d have beaten West Ham and then been in Europe the following season.
Yep I was gutted too , we'd just gone around 10 games unbeaten (although most of them were draws). BTW I thought Barnes goal was a fluke I thought at time he mishit it ( looks like he stubs his toe) , seeing replays after , he does stub his toe and the way he hits it means it takes a massive dip over Coton. Really thought it was going to be our year, then we got relegated last game having not been in bottom 3 all season. As a 15 year old experiencing relegation full on for the first time it was all too much for me, the thought of playing the likes of Carlisle & Grimsby depressed me, the next day I went to a Sikh wedding in Smethwick and was introduced to Bacardi and a variety of spicy food for first time which I couldn't handle. I also recall having a box of cheese & onion crisps (48 bags) on my lap and trying to eat the lot , subsequently I was violently sick when I got home.
Yes we've all been accused of being 'drama queens' 'titty babies' 'lightweights' whenever Maine Road in April '75 rears its ugly head, but as you say it left a very large scar not only on the club, but a large number of Blues fans.
One minute we were making plans to go down to Highbury for a second replay on the following Monday, the next, John Mitchell decides things were going in a different direction. FWIW, I thought we got away with it at Hillsborough as Alan Mullery & in particular Bobby Moore were quite outstanding for Fulham.
If you look at the following seasons fixtures we won 2 out of the first 10 games (including a 2-1 defeat at B6) in front of just under 54,000, & the start of a decline from which we really have not gotten over.