1987 League Cup final: Arsenal v Liverpool

"He's the Bonnie Prince this afternoon". The words of the excellent Barry Davies at the conclusion of the 1987 League Cup final were typically well chosen. For on that glorious sunny Sunday April 5 at Wembley, Charlie Nicholas delivered on the biggest stage. Arsenal's eight year wait for a trophy was over.

In truth, Nicholas' time at Arsenal had not lived up to the excitement and hype that surrounded his move from Celtic in 1983. Occasionally there were glimpses of his magic - happily for Arsenal fans he often saved his best for Tottenham - but generally his performances were as inconsistent as the team during the Terry Neill and Don Howe reigns.

During George Graham's first season in charge, there were constant murmurings that Nicholas' days at the club were numbered. A player that hardly fitted into the Graham mould of energy and hard work, Nicholas would indeed depart for Aberdeen in January 1988. Yet before Nicholas left he would provide Arsenal fans with an ideal parting gift.

1982/83: Burnley humble Tottenham

Burnley probably need to win at Tottenham on Sunday to have a chance of staying in the Premier League. But history is not on their side. Admittedly the two clubs have spent a number of years in different divisions, yet the Clarets have lost eleven matches and drawn once in their twelve visits to White Hart Lane since 1993.

You have to go back a further ten years for Burnley's last victory at Tottenham. An extraordinary Milk Cup quarter final win that defied belief, tore up the form book, and smashed up the template on how to prepare for a football match at the top level. On and off the pitch, chaos ruled on Wednesday January 19, 1983.

Ray Stewart: Penalty king

Admittedly it doesn't take much, but my mind immediately rewound to the 1980s as I watched Rangers' James Tavernier fire home two penalties against St Johnstone recently. Tavernier's expertise from the spot was clear for all to see, his goals sealing a 3-0 win for Rangers that took the club to the top of the Scottish Premiership. The second penalty that day was Tavernier's 64th success from the spot. Not bad for a right back. 

But a right back who enjoys taking penalties is nothing new. For in the 1980s there was a man who was prolific from 12 yards out, a player renowned for this ability from the spot. A Scottish full back that will forever be remembered for his penalty prowess. Step forward Raymond Strean McDonald Stewart.

1986/87 League Cup: Liverpool v Fulham

Fulham travel to Anfield for the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday with the enticing prospect of reaching a first Wembley cup final since 1975. Making sure that they are still in the tie for the return leg at Craven Cottage will be crucial. Even a repeat of the recent league meeting at Anfield would be a decent result.

A defeat by two goals or more would surely leave the west London club with too much to do in the second leg. But it is hard to imagine Marco Silva's current team suffering a thrashing that completely destroys their hopes of keeping the dream alive.

This certainly was not the case when the two clubs met at Anfield in the first leg of the 1986/87 Littlewoods Cup second round. Currently Fulham are a stable club looking to establish themselves as a Premier League outfit. Back in 1986, the club managed by Ray Lewington was spinning out of control.

1986/87: Clive Allen

As Erling Haaland threatens to break every goal scoring record that exists, a few questions hang in the air. Can he score over 40 league goals in the season? How many hat-tricks will he score? Will he surpass Dixie Dean's mark of 60 league goals scored in the 1927/28 season? Is he a robot? 

Surely even Haaland cannot break Dean's record? But it would not be a complete surprise if the Norwegian manages to exceed the exploits of a notable season in the career of Clive Allen. The 1986/87 campaign would see the Tottenham forward score 49 goals in all competitions, as the club under the new management of David Pleat chased a domestic treble.

1984: Pat Nevin and that penalty

We all had our footballing heroes during our childhood. Maybe Jorginho was a big Pat Nevin fan, and he would spend hours reading about the diminutive Scottish winger and his time at Stamford Bridge. Certainly the tribute act performed by the Brazilian against West Ham last weekend would suggest this.

Jorginho's weak effort saved by Lukasz Fabianski immediately got many of us older football lovers rewinding our memory banks back to Nevin's tame attempt at the same ground on November 21, 1984. Fortunately for both Jorginho and Nevin, their awful misses did not matter ultimately. But it doesn't stop smart-arse bloggers like me writing a few words on the subject.

Marathon seasons: Liverpool 1983/84

Looking back at Liverpool's memorable 1983/84 campaign that saw the club win the League, European Cup and Milk Cup.

Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, currently chasing a quadruple, may match or even surpass the efforts of their 1983/84 counterparts. But it's doubtful that they will have quite as much fun along the way. It was a season of 67 matches, cup replays, shocks and thrashings, broken bones, beer, brawls and spaghetti legs, Scully and Chris Rea. 

Unusually for Liverpool at the time, it was also a season with a few doubts along the way, starting with the retirement of Bob Paisley at the end of the previous campaign. Joe Fagan, a member of the famous Liverpool Boot Room had been at the club since 1958, was hesitant as to whether he should step up to replace Paisley.

1980/81 League Cup: Watford v Southampton

Watford face Southampton this weekend in the Premier League. The meeting will have to be something special to match the drama of the 1980/81 League Cup second round between the two clubs.

We often hear how a two-goal advantage is a dangerous lead in football. Atalanta and Spartak Moscow may agree with this particular theory, their recent reversals against English opposition in Europe adding credence to this. So what leads are safe?

As an Arsenal fan I have sadly seen that a four-goal lead can be no guarantee of victory. The 4-4 draw against Newcastle in 2011 was an embarrassing episode, something that should be brushed under the carpet, never to be mentioned again. 

Arsenal's capitulation was a remarkable achievement. Admittedly they had been reduced to ten men, yet with 22 minutes remaining, their four-goal lead was still intact. History has shown us that this example is the exception rather than the norm, but in September 1980 there was another club putting their supporters through this painful experience.

League Cup: Liverpool win four in a row

Liverpool and the League Cup had endured a troubled relationship as the 1980/81 competition kicked off. After entering the inaugural staging in 1960/61, the club decided to sit out the next six editions, and despite the growth of the Merseyside giant, success in the League Cup proved difficult to come by.

A controversial defeat against Nottingham Forest in the 1978 final replay was the closest the club had come to winning the competition, with Brian Clough's team once again dashing hopes in the 1979/80 semi-final. But you wait ages for one League Cup to come along....

1987: Arsenal win four times at White Hart Lane

This is an edited version of my original article that appeared in issue 283 of The Gooner.

Arsenal played their first match at the new White Hart Lane during Project Restart, losing 2-1 to a late Toby Alderweireld header, continuing a poor run of league form at the home of their rivals. Without a league win in N17 since 2014 – Tomas Rosicky’s screamer separating the teams – at least Arsenal fans have the consolation of winning three trophies in that period.

You can’t beat the feeling of winning at the home of your rivals. Therefore, you can understand just how high Arsenal fans must have felt in 1987. In the space of ten months during this memorable year, Arsenal left White Hart Lane with four 2-1 wins, each demonstrating the newfound spirit sweeping through the club.

1988/89 League Cup: Liverpool v Arsenal

When the draw was made for the third round of the 1988/89 Littlewoods Cup, it was not difficult to spot the standout tie. Champions Liverpool, winners of the League Cup four times in the 1980s, were paired with a resurgent Arsenal, in a repeat of the 1987 final that George Graham's team had famously won. 

1984: Chelsea's Robert Isaac is stabbed

Sheffield United's Oli McBurnie recently made headlines when he was caught making obscene gestures during Swansea's visit to South Wales rivals Cardiff City. The former Swansea player was reminded of his responsibilities by both the FA and club manager Chris Wilder, and although his attendance did raise a few eyebrows, it was quite refreshing to see a football player with an obvious connection to one of the clubs he represented in the past.

Heavy security surrounding the South Wales derby meant that McBurnie and his fellow Swansea supporters would have been shipped in and out of the Welsh capital, reducing the chances of trouble between the rival sets of fans. The experience for McBurnie would have been a whole lot different in the distant past.

1985/86: Norwich bounce back

As spring turned to summer in 1985, Norwich City fans must have felt emotionally drained. The footballing Gods may have provided the ecstasy of a Milk Cup win with one hand; they were about to take away plenty with the other.

1987-89 Scottish League Cup finals: Rangers v Aberdeen

Admittedly it isn’t a sporting trilogy as celebrated as the Ali-Frazier duels, but for pure sporting theatre, the Scottish League Cup finals contested between Rangers and Aberdeen at the end of the 1980s deserve a great deal of respect.

Anything that you may want from a cup final was crammed into the three clashes between 1987-89. Late goals, agonising misses, extra-time, penalty despair, goalkeeping heroics. Perhaps the only thing missing was a red card or two, which was a little surprising given the growing animosity between the clubs.

1988 League Cup final: Arsenal v Luton

Not many gave Luton a chance of winning the 1988 Littlewoods Cup final against Arsenal. But in one of the greatest League Cup finals ever, the underdogs would prevail.

The warning signs were there for Arsenal prior to the 1988 Littlewoods Cup final. Predicted by many to easily dispose of Luton Town in the Wembley showpiece, George Graham’s team were expected to maintain their grip on the trophy that they had won the year before against Liverpool. But history had proved that Arsenal had often not coped well with the tag of favourites.

1988/89: Bristol City's Littlewoods Cup run

Bristol City will have their work cut out to beat Manchester City in the Carabao Cup semi-finals. But in 1989 they came within a whisker of making it to Wembley.

After 180 minutes of their gripping Littlewoods Cup semi-finals, it looked as if extra time would be needed to separate Bristol City and Nottingham Forest. But there would be one final chance for Joe Jordan's Division Three team. As the black and white cue mark flickered on the screens of ITV viewers, a corner dropped on the left foot of City's Alan Walsh, a little over twelve yards out from goal. Opportunity knocked.

1989: When Cloughie attacked

It really should have been Lee Chapman making the headlines after Nottingham Forest's 5-2 win over Queens Park Rangers in the Littlewoods Cup quarter final. Scoring a hat-trick by half-time, and later adding a fourth goal, Chapman had helped Nottingham Forest progress to the last four. Yet it was manager Brian Clough who would dominate the front and back pages, not only the day after, but for days to come.

1980s: League Cup Fourth Round shocks

Three years ago I wrote about some League Cup Third Round memories from the 1980s.  So it is probably about time that I moved on to the Fourth Round of the competition. 

This time I am taking a look at some shocks from this stage of the League Cup, including a double dose of despair for Arsenal, the rise of Watford and Oxford, and a rare defeat for Everton in an otherwise fantastic season.

1980s League Cup finals

This week I am taking a look back on the League Cup finals of the 1980s. A decade which saw the final shown live for the first time, the competition sponsored by two different companies, Liverpool end their league Cup drought (and some), as heroes and villains aplenty were made during a time when the competition thrived.

1980s: League Cup Third round memories

The League Cup Third round produced some dramatic moments in the 1980s, during a prosperous period for the competition. No squad rotation or penalty shoot-outs back then, even allowing for teams having European commitments before the Heysel-related ban (admittedly there were less European matches in comparison to the bloated affairs we witness today, but the smaller squads counteracted this).

This week, I am taking a look back at ten Third round ties from the League Cup in the 1980s, including some ding dong derbies, a shock, a replay marathon, the end of an era and the start of a new one at Old Trafford, Alex Ferguson angst, and some record breaking exploits. The following will probably not be made into a Channel 4 'Top Ten Moments of the League Cup Third round in the 1980s' style programme (Channel 5 maybe?), yet hopefully they will highlight just how important the competition was in the distant past, especially as the majority of matches below involve the old-school big five.