December 1971

Note : The news from thirty years ago has an archive below

As appeared in Rothman's Football Yearbook 1972-73 (3rd year) :

The Queene Anne Press, London 1972

December

1 England win their last European Championship tie, 2-0, in Greece, with goals from Hurst and Chivers. In Amsterdam, Scotland Jose 2-1 in a friendly to Holland. . . In Berlin, Inter Milan qualify 4-2 on aggregate for the third round of the European Cup with a 0-0 draw against Moenchengladbach.

2 Dennis Smith, Stoke C.'s centre-half, suspended for three weeks and fined 75 pounds for three cautions in 12 months at an F.A. Disciplinary Committee in London . . .W.B.A. sign goalkeeper Graham Smith from Colchester U. for 10,000 pounds.

4 Manchester U. moVe five points clear at the top of the First Division, with a 3-2 home win oVer Nottingham F. Derby Co., with a 3-1 home win over Manchester C., move into joint second place with City and Leeds U., who have a comfortable 3-0 home win over W.B.A. C. Palace produce the shock result, beating Sheffield U. 5-1 at Selhurst Park to pull themselves at last off the bottom of the table. In the Second Division Eamonn Dunphy salvages a point for Millwall, scoring a late goal to give them a 1-1 draw against Burnley at the Den. Hungary qualify for the last eight of the European Championship. Ujpest Dozsa are the autumn leaders there, too, four points clear of the field.

8 Les Barrett and Jimmy Conway both ask for transfers from Fulham . . .

In the U.E.F.A. Cup Tottenham H. beat Rapid Bucharest 3-0 at White Hart Lane. Goalkeeper Necula Raducanu clowns his way through a tragi-comedy of a match violence mixed with farce in an uneasy fashion. In other ties, Zeljeznicar, beat St. Johnstone 5-1 (5-2 agg.), Dundee beat A.C. Milan 2-0, but lose 3-2 on aggregate, and Wolverhampton W. beat Carl Zeiss Jena 3-0 (4-0 agg). Derek Dougan, with two goals, broke Wolverhampton W.'s individual scoring record in European competitions, his eight goals so far in the U.E.F.A. Cup taking him past Peter Broadbent's total of seven.

West Ham U. win 2-1 at Stoke in the first leg of the League Cup semifinal, and in the Texaco Cup semi-finals, Airdrieonians, with a 4-3 win (7-3 agg.) over Ballymena, qualify to meet Derby Co., who beat Newcastle U. 3-2 after extra time, and 4-2 on aggregate.

Manchester U.'s lead at the top of the First Division is cut to four points by their neighbours City. United draw 1-1 with Stoke, but City beat Ipswich T. 4-0 at Maine Road. Liverpool, with a hat-trick from Jack Whitham, beat Derby Co. 3-2 at Anfield, and Leeds U. draw 0-0 with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. C. Palace, who won 1-0 at Huddersfield, and Nottingham F., who beat Everton 1-0, pulled ahead of W .B.A. , who were beaten 3-0 at home by Newcastle U. and are now three points adrift.

Norwich C. Division Two leaders, drop a home point to bottom club Watford, who equalised 30 seconds from the end through their new 7,000 pounds signing from Crewe Alex. Pat Morrissey. Millwalllose 4-0 at Preston, and Q.P.R. close the gap at the top with a 4-1 win at Carlisle, Rodney Marsh scoring twice. . .

In the second round of the F.A. Cup, non-league clubs to win are Boston U. who beat Hartlepool 2-1, and Blyth Spartans, who beat Stockport 1-0. Hereford U. held Northampton T. to a 0-0 draw. Barnet (v. Torquay U.) and South Shields (v. Notts. Co.) both took early leads in their matches, but lost 4-1 and 3-1 respectively. Bournemouth's Ted MacDougall scored in their 2-0 home win over Southend U. his 31st goal of the season. . .

The Belgium Cup is stolen by enraged fans, who are disappointed over Beerschot's poor league performances. Schalke '04 beat Bayern Munich 1-0, and finish on top of the Bundesliga at the time of the winter break.

12 Italian internationals Sandro Mazzola and Gianni Rivera are given decorations for services to football, they are now Commanders of the Italian Republic.

13 The draw for the third round of the F.A. Cup includes several interesting fixtures. Non-league teams rewarded with home games are Boston U. against Portsmouth, and Blyth Spartans against Reading. Holders Arsenal (at Swindon) and Chelsea (at Blackpool) are the only two London clubs that have to travel. The betting makes Leeds U. favourites (6-1), with Manchester C. (9-1), Derby Co., Manchester U., Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham H. (all at 10-1) . . . Charlie George, before an F.A. Disciplinary Committee, receives a three-week suspended sentence and is fined 100 pounds for three cautions. . . Rotherham U. win 3-2 after extra time at York, in their F.A. Cup replay. . . Belgium applies to stage the finals of the European Championships.

14 Tottenham H. win their U.E.F.A. Cup tie against Rapid Bucharest 2-0 in a vicious game in Rumania, with goals by Jimmy Pearce and Martin Chivers. Pearce, a second half substitute for Alan Gilzean, is on]y on the field for ten minutes, scoring a goal, having another disallowed, and then being sent off for retaliation, along with Rapid full -back Pop. After the match, Tottenham H. manager Bill Nicholson says 'If this is European football, we are better out of it. 1 haven't seen a dirtier game in 30 years'. In Athens, Panathiniakos and Nacional draw 1-1 in the first leg of the world Club Championship. Greek player Tomaras suffers a broken-leg, and the Uruguayan Morales is sent off.

15 Stoke C. save their League Cup semi-final with West Ham U. in dramatic style at Upton Park. With only three minutes of extra time remaining, Banks is penalised for bringing down Harry Redknapp, but the England 'keeper brilliantly saves Geoff Hurst's penalty to make a third match necessary after a 1-0 win.

17 Peter Bonetti is carried off with an ankle injury in Chelsea's 1-1 draw at Coventry. David Webb playing in goal for an hour. . . Italian international captain Facchetti is quoted as saying that the European Cup will die in three years unless the U.E.F.A. clamp down on violence.

18 Both Manchester clubs drop points, United at Ipswich (0-0) and City surprisingly at home to Leicester C. (1-1). Leeds U. draw 1-1 at C. Palace in a hard-fought game, and Derby Co. close the gap with a 2-0 home win over Everton. W.B.A., adrift at the bottom of the table, lose 2-0 to Arsenal, Don Howe's old club, at Highbury. In the Second Division, the leaders Norwich C. crash 3-0 at Carlisle to a Stan Bowles hat-trick, and Millwall stage a dramatic come-back to draw 3-3 at Sunderland, after being 3- I down with five minutes left. Q.P .R. close the gap with a 3-0 home win over Swindon T.

19 Sir Stanley Rous declares that he is in favour of the two-referee system.

20 Southern League side Hereford U. earn a Third round F.A. Cup tie at Newcastle by beating Northampton T. 2-1 after extra time of their second replay held at the Hawthorns - Hereford U.'s second F.A. Cup success against Northampton T. in successive seasons.

21 The impending transfer of A]an Ball for 200,000 pounds plus is 'leaked'. Ball rumoured to be joining Arsenal from Everton . . . 'Unknown' Atletico Mineiro are the first National champions of Brazil.

22 After further talks with manager Bertie Mee, Alan Ball signs for Arsenal for 220,000 pounds . . . In the first leg of the League Cup semi-final, Chelsea beat Tottenham H. 3-2 at Stamford Bridge. Peter Osgood opens the scoring, but in the second half Tottenham H. hit two in 3 minutes through Terry Naylor and Martin Chivers. Chelsea stage a great come-back, scoring twice in the last 15 minutes through Chris Garland (his first goal for the club) and John Hollins (a penalty after 'hands' by Naylor).

27 Manchester lJ. drop a home point in a 2-2 draw with Coventry C. Young and an own-goal by Dunne shot Coventry C. into a 2-0 lead, but goals from Law and James in the closing stages give United a point. Five Coventry C. players not ten yards from a free kick are booked. Alan Ball makes a quiet debut for Arsenal in a 1-1 draw at Nottingham F. At the top of the table Manchester C. close the gap to 3 points with a 3-1 win at Stoke. At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea, without a goalkeeper, are forced to play David Webb in goal against Ipswich T., but still manage to win 2-0. Regular 'keeper Peter Bonetti and deputy John Phillips are out with injury and despite a motorway dash 'A' team goalkeeper Steve Sherwood arrives too late. Paul Reaney decides that he is unhappy with the substitute's role at Leeds, and is granted a transfer request. . . Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, the Penarol goalkeeper, moves from his native Uruguay, and signs for Brazil's Atletico Mineiro. The transfer fee for this international star is only 35,000 pounds.

28 Nacional (Uruguay) win the World Club Championship, beating Panathinaikos 2-1, 3-2 on aggregate. Luis Artime, the Argentinian scores both Nacional goals.

29 Hans Bangerter, secretary of the U.E.F.A., warns that violence, on and off the field, will be mercilessly punished by the Disciplinary Committee of the European Union . . . Nottingham F. put six of their players on the transfer list, including Welsh international Ronnie Rees. Tommy Docherty includes four Anglo-Scots in his Under 23 squad for the match against West Germany's Olympic team.

30 A preliminary meeting is held between the League and the F.A. to sort out the fixture tangle and arrange next season's programme. Denis Follows says 'It is unthinkable that the British Championship be terminated'. Sir Alf Ramsey stresses the importance of keeping Under-23 internationals. . .

Paul Reaney announces that he wishes to stay at Leeds, and Alan Mullery decides to see a specialist about his nagging groin injury. . . Ron Yeats leaves Liverpool, and joins Tranmere R., where he will act as player-cum-assistant manager to Dave Russell. . . A new 'prohibition' law is introduced by the Manchester Transport Police. Fans boarding the trains to London, where Manchester U. are due to play West Ham U., will be frisked. . . Mike Kenning signs for Watford from Charlton Ath. for 10,000 pounds.

George Best admits 'I'm off form, and I'm sick about the way I'm playing' . . .
Brian Clough, Derby Co. Manager, unleashes an attack on his players: 'We are not big enough and strong enough to dish it out when it needs to be dished out'.

31

Other transfers:
Joe Ashworth (Rochda]e) to Chester; Kim Book (Northampton T.) to Doncaster R.; Tommy Gemme11 (Celtic) to Nottingham F.; Ray Harford (Mansfield T.) to Port Vale; Stan Har]and (Swindon T.) to Birmingham C.; Phil Hubbard (Lincoln C.) to Norwich C. ; Kenneth Johnson (Sheffield W .) to Newcastle U. ; Mike Jones (Orient) to Charlton Ath. ; Fred Kemp (Blackpool) to Halifax T. ; John Kurila (Colchester U.) to Lincoln C.; Keith Lindsey (Southend U.) to Port Vale; Arthur Marsh (Bolton W.) to Rochdale; Tommy Mitchinson (Torquay U.) to Bournemouth; John Oldfield (Wolverhampton W.) to Bradford C. ; Hugh Riley (Rochdale) to Crewe Alex.; Ray Train (Walsall) to Carlisle U.