1971-72 FA Cup · The Final
1972 FA Cup Final: Leeds United 1-0 Arsenal
The Centenary Final
The centenary final is remembered as the day Leeds United finally won the FA Cup, but the fixture list that forced them back out at Molineux forty-eight hours later is the reason it is also the day they lost the Double, and the reason both clubs played the final with a reserve goalkeeper.
Leeds United beat Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley on 6 May 1972 to win the FA Cup for the first time, Allan Clarke's diving header settling a bad-tempered centenary final that Leeds dominated and that cost them the league title two days later.
Saturday 6 May 1972 · Wembley Stadium
What you will not find elsewhere
The centenary final is also the fixture that cost Leeds the Double
The tidy version of 1972 is that Leeds won the cup and narrowly missed the league. The fixture list is the missing half of it. Because the Football League would not move either game, Leeds played Chelsea on the Monday before the final and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on the Monday after it, travelling to the Midlands straight from Wembley and skipping their own banquet. League secretary Alan Hardaker refused every request to defer, and The Guardian called it monstrous and unfair at the time. Leeds needed only a draw at Molineux; they lost 2-1 and Derby County, already finished for the season, were champions by one point. The arithmetic makes the loss sharper still: Leeds' goal average of 2.355 was the best in the division and comfortably better than Derby's 2.091, so the point they lost 48 hours after lifting the cup is the entire difference between a Double and a single trophy.[7][2][1]
Neither club played its first-choice goalkeeper
Match reports of the centenary final rarely mention it, but neither Bob Wilson nor Gary Sprake was on the pitch. The FA's own account of the semi-finals records that Wilson was injured at Villa Park against Stoke City with no goalkeeper on the bench, so Arsenal put the striker John Radford in goal and held out for a draw; Wilson was not fit for Wembley and Geoff Barnett deputised. On the Leeds side Sprake, the regular for most of a decade, had lost his place through injury weeks earlier and Don Revie chose to keep David Harvey, who had never played at Wembley. Revie described telling one of his goalkeepers he would not play as the hardest job he had before the final.[8][6][4]
Jones did not climb the steps for his medal. Somebody else already had it
The summary everyone repeats is that Jones dislocated his elbow in the last minute and had to be helped up the steps by Norman Hunter to receive his winners' medal. Jones' own account adds the detail that changes it: at the foot of the stairs the substitute Mick Bates came over to tell him he had already collected the medal on his behalf. Jones climbed anyway, in enough pain that he nearly collapsed at the top, because what he wanted was not the medal but to meet the Queen, who told him she had nothing left to give him and shook his hand instead.[6][1]
Leeds were the one club at the centenary that could not join the parade
The FA marked a hundred years of the competition by parading the clubs that had won it, each represented by one player for every win: Aston Villa first with seven, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United with six, and Arsenal, the holders, with four. Leeds United had reached two finals and won neither, so the finalists walked out behind a line of 37 former winners that could not include them. Ninety minutes later they were on it, and they have not been added to since.[6][1]
The unfairness was named in print before the final, not after it
Hindsight did not invent this grievance. Before Leeds travelled to Wolverhampton needing a point for the Double, Eric Todd wrote in The Guardian that the scheduling was indefensible: It is as monstrous as it is unfair that Leeds or any other club placed similarly should have to play a game a few days before the FA Challenge Cup final.
The complaint on the record is contemporary, not retrospective, which is why this page treats the fixture pile-up as a fact of the centenary season rather than a later excuse.[7]
The Football League was asked to move the fixture and declined
Alan Hardaker, secretary of the Football League, would not shift the Wolverhampton game, and met the criticism head on: I have not seen one suggestion of a better solution to the problem.
Read alongside Todd, it establishes that the calendar which cost Leeds the Double was a decision somebody defended at the time, not an accident of the draw.[7]
Jones climbed the steps on a dislocated elbow because of who was at the top
Mick Jones hurt his elbow late on and was in open pain, yet he would not be taken away before the presentation. His own account gives the reason: I realised we'd won the Cup, and I wanted to receive my medal from the Queen.
The detail that his medal was already in somebody else's hand is covered separately on this page.[6]
The footage
This film is genuine and officially published, but the rightsholder has switched off embedding, so it cannot play inside the page. Watch it on British Movietone.
The match report
The 1972 FA Cup final was played at Wembley on Saturday 6 May 1972 between Leeds United and Arsenal, the holders. Leeds won by a single goal, headed in by Allan Clarke early in the second half, and lifted the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history. It was billed as the centenary final, a hundred years after Wanderers beat Royal Engineers at the Oval, although two world wars mean it was only the 91st final to be played and the 44th at Wembley.[1][3][5][6]
The FA dressed the occasion accordingly. Before the teams appeared, the clubs that had won the trophy paraded behind their flags, each sending one player for every time it had been won: Aston Villa at the head of the line with seven, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United with six apiece, Arsenal with four. Leeds, who had lost the finals of 1965 and 1970 and won nothing in this competition, were the one club in the match with nobody to send. Their players came out throwing commemorative footballs into the crowd, into a stadium that had already sung Abide With Me in front of the Queen and the royal family.[6][9][11][1]
Both clubs went into the centenary final with their reserve goalkeeper. The FA's own account of the semi-finals records that when Bob Wilson was injured at Villa Park against Stoke City there was no replacement on the bench, so Arsenal handed the gloves and green shirt to the striker John Radford; Wilson did not recover in time for Wembley and Geoff Barnett played instead. Don Revie, meanwhile, kept faith with David Harvey, who had come into the Leeds side when Gary Sprake was injured, and said afterwards that telling one of his goalkeepers he would not be playing had been the hardest thing he had to do before the final.[8][6][4]
The football was fierce rather than fine. Bob McNab was booked for a foul on Peter Lorimer 48 seconds after the kick-off, in full view of the Royal Box, and three more names followed: Norman Hunter, Billy Bremner and Charlie George, the last two for what they said rather than what they did. Arsenal packed midfield and got little change out of it. Leeds had the better of the first half and needed Paul Reaney, standing on his goalkeeper's post, to block Alan Ball's curling shot off the line, then went to the interval having seen Clarke head against the face of the bar in the closing seconds of the half.[6][1][5][3]
The goal came in the 53rd minute and was worth the occasion. Jack Charlton took the ball off George, Paul Madeley carried it forward to Lorimer, and Lorimer sent Mick Jones away down the right channel. Jones stood McNab up, went outside him and drove a hard, shoulder-high centre beyond the penalty spot; Clarke, who had set off expecting to volley, saw the ball dip, threw himself forward instead and headed it past Barnett's left hand into the corner of the net.[1][3][6]
Arsenal had one real answer, George striking the Leeds crossbar after 69 minutes, and Bertie Mee used his single substitute to send Ray Kennedy on for Radford, but Leeds saw the game out with the possession football that was their trademark that spring. In the last seconds Jones went past Frank McLintock, was met by Barnett's dive at his feet and came down on his left arm, dislocating the elbow. Bremner took the cup from the Queen while Jones was still being treated. Mick Bates had already collected the medal for him, but Jones insisted on climbing the steps anyway, held up by Norman Hunter, because what he wanted was to meet the Queen.[6][1][3]
Leeds had no time to enjoy it. They travelled straight from Wembley to a hotel in Wolverhampton, skipping their own banquet, because the Football League had left their last league game at Molineux on the Monday, two days after the final, and had already made them play Chelsea five days before it. Avoid defeat at Wolves and the title was theirs; they lost 2-1 in front of 53,379, Bremner scoring, and Derby County were champions by a single point. Leeds finished second with the best goal average in the division, which would have settled the matter had they taken the draw they needed.[7][2]
The cup has not been back to Elland Road since. This remains Leeds United's only FA Cup, and Clarke's header is still the last goal any Leeds player has scored in a competitive final; the club lost the following year's final to Sunderland and has not won a senior final of any kind since. The record the players made for the occasion carried a B-side that outlived all of it, the song now sung as Marching On Together.[1][5]
How the match unfolded
- 15:00Kick-off at Wembley, after a centenary parade in which clubs that had won the cup sent one player for each win. Leeds, who had never won it, had nobody in the line.[4][6]
- 1'Bob McNab brings down Peter Lorimer and is booked, 48 seconds after the kick-off. Three more players are booked before the end.[6][1][5]
- 17'Frank McLintock strikes low from distance and the ball changes direction off the turf; David Harvey dives to smother it.[6]
- 31'Alan Ball curls a shot with the outside of his foot towards the bottom corner and Paul Reaney, stationed on the post, blocks it off the goal line. Leeds' best escape of the afternoon.[6]
- 35'Norman Hunter is booked for bringing down Ball in the Arsenal half.[6]
- 45'Allan Clarke stoops to head Peter Lorimer's mis-hit cross against the face of the Arsenal crossbar in the last minute of the half.[6]
- 46'Charlie George becomes the fourth player booked, within a minute of the restart, for a remark to the referee rather than the challenge that preceded it.[6]
- 53'Mick Jones beats Bob McNab on the right and centres shoulder-high; Clarke dives forward to head the only goal of the game past Geoff Barnett.[1][3][6][5]
- 69'George crashes a shot against the Leeds crossbar from Ball's deflected effort, Arsenal's clearest moment of the second half.[6][3]
- 73'Bertie Mee sends on Ray Kennedy for John Radford, Arsenal's one permitted substitution.[1][4][6]
- 90'With seconds left Jones rounds McLintock, is met by Barnett's dive at his feet and falls on his left arm, dislocating the elbow.[6][1]
- full-timeLeeds win the FA Cup for the first time. Billy Bremner takes the trophy from the Queen; Jones, still being treated on the pitch, is helped up the steps by Norman Hunter.[6][1][9]
Match facts
Where they played
Both sides as they lined up. Choose any player to read what they did in this final.
Select a shirt for that player's note.
Route to the final
Leeds United
- Third round: Bristol Rovers (h) won 4-1
- Fourth round: Liverpool (a) drew 0-0, replay (h) won 2-0
- Fifth round: Cardiff City (a) won 2-0
- Sixth round: Tottenham Hotspur (h) won 2-1
- Semi-final: Birmingham City (Hillsborough) won 3-0
Arsenal
- Third round: Swindon Town (a) won 2-0
- Fourth round: Reading (a) won 2-1
- Fifth round: Derby County (a) drew 2-2, replay (h) drew 0-0, second replay (Filbert Street) won 1-0
- Sixth round: Leyton Orient (a) won 1-0
- Semi-final: Stoke City (Villa Park) drew 1-1, replay (Goodison Park) won 2-1
Line-ups
Leeds United · 4-2-4
- David Harvey Goalkeeper; kept the jersey ahead of Gary Sprake and was playing at Wembley for the first time
- Paul Reaney Right back; blocked Alan Ball's shot off the goal line before half-time
- Jack Charlton Centre back
- Norman Hunter Centre back; helped the injured Mick Jones up the Wembley steps at the end
- Paul Madeley Left back; began the move that led to the goal
- Billy Bremner Captain, midfield; lifted the cup
- Johnny Giles Midfield
- Peter Lorimer Right side of the attack; hit the foot of a post late on
- Allan Clarke Forward; headed the winning goal and was voted man of the match
- Mick Jones Forward; crossed for the goal and dislocated his elbow in the closing seconds
- Eddie Gray Left side of the attack
Arsenal · 4-4-2
- Geoff Barnett Goalkeeper; deputy to the injured Bob Wilson
- Pat Rice Right back
- Frank McLintock Captain, centre back; shot cleared by Harvey in the first half
- Peter Simpson Centre back
- Bob McNab Left back; booked inside the first minute
- Peter Storey Midfield; marked Johnny Giles
- Alan Ball Midfield; his goalbound shot was cleared off the line by Reaney
- George Graham Midfield
- George Armstrong Midfield
- John Radford Forward; replaced by Ray Kennedy after 73 minutes
- Charlie George Forward; struck the Leeds crossbar and was booked
Trivia and detail
- Arsenal and Leeds were the first two clubs to have met in both English domestic cup finals, having contested the 1968 Football League Cup final, which Leeds won by the same 1-0 scoreline.[1]
- Arsenal needed eight matches to reach Wembley and Leeds six: the Gunners' fifth-round tie with Derby County alone took three games, ending at Filbert Street.[1]
- Terry Cooper, who had been Leeds' first-choice left back, spent the afternoon in the BBC commentary box rather than on the pitch, and greeted Reaney's goal-line clearance with the line 'That is what you get paid for.'[6]
- The referee, David Smith of Stonehouse, worked for the Midland Electricity Board, a detail David Lacey of The Guardian could not resist connecting to his habit of climbing poles.[6]
- Only one substitute per side was named. Arsenal used theirs, Leeds did not: Mick Bates sat out the whole match and then carried Mick Jones' winners' medal down from the Royal Box.[1][6]
- British Movietone put its colour newsreel of the final into cinemas three days later, with an issue date of 9 May 1972, and the synopsis noted this was Leeds United's first FA Cup win.[9][10]
- A supporter who was there remembered the pre-match community singing more vividly than the football, including Tommy Steele leading it dressed in white for Leeds.[11]
How well do you know the 1972 final?
Five questions. Every answer is sourced from the material on this page.
-
Who scored the only goal of the 1972 FA Cup final?
-
Why was the 1972 final called the centenary final when it was only the 91st final?
Answer
Two world wars interrupted the competition. The competition began in 1871-72, but no finals were played during either world war, so the hundredth anniversary fell on the 91st final.[1]
-
Which goalkeeper played for Arsenal, and why was he not the first choice?
-
What happened to Mick Jones in the closing seconds?
-
What did Leeds lose two days after winning the cup?
What is not settled
Honesty matters more than tidiness. These details are contested or unrecorded, and we have not guessed at them:
- The minute of the goal is recorded as the 53rd by Wikipedia, the FA Cup Finals match account and the 11v11 record. The fullest minute-by-minute reconstruction times it 'halfway through the 54th minute', which is the same moment described differently rather than a contradiction. We record 53.
- The formations are contested. We draw the positions as the standard match article assigns them, which makes Leeds 4-2-4 and Arsenal 4-4-2. The 11v11 record labels the Leeds side with three defenders and four midfielders, and the Yorkshire Post's match report describes Arsenal as over-populating midfield and relying on three front runners, which would make them 4-3-3. Nobody disputes the eleven names on either side.
- How early Bob McNab was booked is given two ways: 48 seconds by the minute-by-minute account, which calls it the earliest booking recorded at Wembley, and 'as early as the second minute' by the standard match article. The claim that it set a Wembley record rests on the one source.
- The attendance of 100,000 is the round capacity figure repeated by every source we have found. No separate turnstile count has been published, so it should be read as the stated capacity rather than a counted crowd.
- The exact minute of Billy Bremner's booking is not given by any source we have; it is placed only as shortly before half-time.
- No video has been verified for this page yet. Two official newsreel uploads are listed in the proposals file and await verification.
How we know
Every claim on this page is tied to a numbered source below. These are the contemporary records behind it, each one fetched and matched word for word before publication rather than taken on trust:
- The FA on Arsenal's 1972 semi-final at Villa Park, 11 April 2014 · The Football Association
- Newsreel catalogue entry and synopsis for the colour film of the centenary final · British Movietone (official archive channel, AP)
- Syndicated newsfilm catalogue entry dated 6 May 1972 · AP Archive (Associated Press)
Where a primary record and a modern account disagree, we show both rather than choosing the tidier number.
Sources
- 1972 FA Cup final · Wikipedia
- 1971-72 Football League · Wikipedia
- 1972 FA Cup Final: Leeds United vs Arsenal · FA Cup Finals
- Arsenal v Leeds United, 06 May 1972 · 11v11 (AFS Enterprises)
- The FA Cup Finalists 1970-1979 · Historical Football Kits
- 6 May 1972 - Leeds United 1 Arsenal 0 · The Definitive History of Leeds United
- 8 May 1972 - Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Leeds United 1 · The Definitive History of Leeds United
- Semi-Final Magic Moments: John Radford takes the gloves · The Football Association
- FA CUP FINAL AT WEMBLEY - IN COLOUR (British Movietone, issue dated 9 May 1972) · British Movietone (official archive channel, AP)
- SYND 6-5-72 LEEDS BEAT ARSENAL IN FA CUP · AP Archive (Associated Press)
- 'Tingles down my spine' - What it was like to witness Leeds United 1972 FA Cup glory · Yorkshire Evening Post