The 1974/75 season in England was unusual as it saw Manchester Utd in the Second Division while Carlisle Utd had made it to the First Division.
The First Division at the time featured Burnley , Middlesborough, Stoke City and Birmingham City. Derby County would become Champions with Chelsea among those relegated.
Manchester Utd would win the Second Division gaining promotion with Aston Villa and Norwich City.
FA Cup holders were Liverpool, and Leeds Utd the 1974 League Champions.
The FA Cup of 1974/75 saw many cup upsets in a era when TV coverage was only in highlights form with BBC showing three games in the main and ITV regions covering one featured match.
Two years on from Second Division Sunderland’s FA Cup triumph, it would be another Second Division side Fulham led England legends Bobby Moore and Alan Mullery who would be the story of the 1975 FA Cup.
Derby County would go on to win the league in 1975.
The early rounds saw non League Stafford Rangers knock out league sides Stockport County and Halifax Town , while fellow non league teams – Wycombe , Wimbledon, Altrincham and Leatherhead made it to the Third Round.
Third Round
The 3rd round was played on Saturday 4th January 1975.
Stafford Rangers became the first non league team to knock out three league clubs in the one season since Peterborough in 1960 , when they beat 2-0 Rotherham 2-0 in a replay after drawing 0-0 at home.
The biggest shock of the round was at Burnley when the then top flight title contenders featuring experienced Peter Noble and Ray Hankin alongside Welsh internationals Bryan Flynn and Leighton James were beaten 1-0 at home by Southern League Wimbledon. Mickey Mahon scored the only goal of the game early in the second half , but it was goalkeeper Dickie Guy who was the hero with a string of superb saves.
Cup holders Liverpool’s 2-0 home win over fellow First Division club Stole City was featured by BBC along with West Ham’s 2-1 win at Southampton.
Orient’s 2-2 draw with Derby was also shown on BBC with Derby’s 2-1 replay win shown across the ITV Regions
Leatherhead’s shock 1-0 win at Brighton was shown in Southern Region.
ITV in London showed non league Wycombe’s 0-0 draw with Middlesborough which the non league side lost 1-0 in the replay.
Manchester City’s 2-0 home defeat by Newcastle , Wolves 2-1 home defeat by Ipswich , Southend’s 2-2 draw with QPR, Leeds 4-1 home win over Cardiff were all featured in ITV various regions.
Nottingham Forest draw 1-1 at home to Tottenham before winning the replay 1-0 at White Hart Lane.
Everton drew 1-1 at home to Altrincham before winning 2-0 in the replay.
Fulham drew 1-1 at home to Hull before the replay ended 2-2 , it took a second replay at Leicester before Fulham won 1-0.
Manchester Utd who were in the Second Division drew 0-0 at home to Walsall and lost the replay 3-2 in hard days for the Old Trafford club.
Arsenal drew 1-1 with York City but won the replay in York 3-1.
Fourth Round
The 4th Round was played on Saturday 25th January.
Yorkshire TV , covered the game at Elland Road between League Champions Leeds Utd and Southern League minnows Wimbledon.
Wimbledon goalkeeper Dickie Guy was once again the star of the show as he saved a Peter Lorimer penalty at Elland Road as Wimbledon drew 0-0 with Leeds Utd. Leeds won the replay 1-0 at Plough Lane with an own goal from Dave Bassett who would go on to manage Wimbledon to success with promotion up the leagues before they would win the FA Cup in 1988.
BBC main game was between Leatherhead and Leicester City where the non league team had switched the game to Filbert Street and were soon in dreamland as they took a 2-0 lead before losing 3-2.
Plymouth’s 3-1 home defeat by Everton and Middlesborough’s 3-1 home win over 1973 cup winners Sunderland were also shown by BBC.
ITV Anglia and Granada showed Ipswich 1-0 home win over cup holders Liverpool , while London region saw West Ham’s 1-1 with Swindon. West Ham won the replay at Swindon 2-1.
ITV in Midlands showed Coventry’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal and the replay At Highbury was shown on BBC as Arsenal won 3-0.
Walsall continued their FA cup heroics beating Newcastle 1-0 at home, while Birmingham City won 1-0 at Chelsea.
In an incredible series of matches Fulham began with a 0-0 home drew with Nottingham Forest before another draw this time 1-1 in the City Ground replay. The teams returned to Craven Cottage and again drew 1-1 before a third replay was played at the City Ground with Fulham winning 2-1.
Fifth Round
The 5th Round was played on Saturday 15th February 1975.
BBC featured Mansfield’s 1-0 home loss to Carlisle and Peterborough’s 1-1 draw with Middlesborough. Middlesborough won the replay 2-0.
BBC also showed Arsenal’s 0-0 draw with Leicester City.
Leicester drew 1-1 in the replay at Filbert Street with Arsenal and then played again at the same venue 5 days later after Leicester won the toss for the second replay venue. Arsenal ran out 1-0 winners, in a match shown across the country on ITV.
ITV regions covered West Ham beating QPR 2-1, in London, while Granada showed Everton’s 2-1 home defeat by second division Fulham.
Ipswich 3-2 win over Aston Villa, Leeds Utd’s 1-0 win at Derby and Birmingham’s 2-1 win over local rivals Walsall were also covered in ITV regions.
Sixth Round
The 6th round was played on Saturday 8th March with BBC and ITV covering two games each.
BBC featured Arsenal’s 2-0 home defeat to West Ham where young Alan Taylor scored both goals, three months after joining from Rochdale for £40,000.
BBC’s other game saw Bob Hatton score the only goal as Birmingham beat Middlesborough 1-0 at St Andrews.
ITV covered Fulham’s trip to Carlisle where Les Barrett scored the only goal of the game to give the London side a 1-0 away win.
The tie of the round was between Leeds and Ipswich and ended 0-0 at Portman Road.
The replay at Elland Road ended 1-1 after a last minute goal by Leeds Duncan McKenzie.
A second replay at Filbert Street again ended 0-0 before a third replay at the same venue two days later gave Ipswich a 3-2 win.
Semi Finals
On Grand National Day 5th April 1975, both semi finals ended in draws
BBC covered the semi final at Villa Park where Ipswich Town and West Ham drew 0-0 before in the replay at Stamford Bridge.
Alan Taylor again netted a double either side of a Billy Jennings own goal to give the Hammers a 2-1 win.
ITV featured the semi final from Hillsborough where Fulham striker John Mitchell opened the scoring for Fulham before Birmingham central defender Joe Gallagher equalised to take the game to a replay at Maine Road.
Fulham would make the Wembley final a Cockney affair when a goal in the final minute of extra time by John Mitchell sent them to Wembley and Bobby Moore a reunion with his former club.
FA CUP FINAL 1975
FULHAM v WEST HAM
Billy Bonds captained West Ham on 3rd May 1975 against West Ham where their captain Alan Mullery played alongside Bobby Moore in his final game at Wembley.
The hero of the day was once again young West Ham striker Alan Taylor who scored twice in the second half to give West Ham the FA cup with a 2-0 win.
