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to see us play Carlisle but we lost 3-0 and she was decidedly critical of the team’s efforts. My attendance was very patchy thereafter that year but Anth and I were there on New Year’s Day in 1972 to see us beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-0. A fortnight later Wednesday were back again in the F.A Cup but we went one better and we won 3-0. I’m pretty sure it was then that almost at the end of the game I turned to look at the smallish group of Wednesday fans in the Roker End but they’d all disappeared. It struck me as very sad somehow and that image of loss has always stayed with me. Our form and particularly my attendance picked up for the rest of the season and one strange fixture was a cup replay against Cardiff on Monday 14th February early in the afternoon, which we only drew 1-1 and then lost the second replay at a neutral ground only two days later. They didn’t waste time in those days.
Apart from occasional highlights such as derby victories or wins against one of the top teams, we’d been on a downer ever since we won promotion in 1964 and after we were relegated in 1970 we seemed condemned to mediocrity. However, who could have guessed that as we got a new manager, Bob Stokoe, just before Christmas 1972 that international renown was just around the corner? I didn’t like Stokoe’s name for some reason and he’d also been in the Bury side that day when Cloughie had broken his leg so I wasn’t too enchanted when he took over. However, I’d very soon change my mind about Bob.
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