Page 79 - 368603 LP250721 AWY AWY AWY Book (238pp A5)

It was Saturday 30th November 1974 and Keith and I together with our mate Pete, who incidentally was a part-time Newcastle fan, had travelled up by coach from London to Manchester that morning to see the top of the table clash. That’s top of what was then Division Two as Man United were spending a rare season in that lower league after being relegated the previous season when Dennis Law famously back-heeled a late winner for Man City against his former team in the last game of the season. We’d all been up late the night before and as we boarded the coach at Victoria we were looking rough and afraid as we occupied the back seat. Keith must have been feeling rougher than me as before we’d left London he’d puked up a bit after slurping on a carton of milk. The couple in front gingerly moved further down the bus, the female partner with a trace of milky vomit in her hair. This was how Keith kicked off the day but he got worse, a lot worse.
Anyway, back to the football. At that point in the season Man United were top and we were second. They were managed by Tommy Docherty and Bob Stokoe was still in charge for us. It was only a year and a half since our epic win over Leeds but a lot had changed in that time, with the aforementioned departures of Dennis Tueart and Micky Horswill to Man City and Tony Towers coming the other way. Richie Pitt had been replaced by Bobby Moncur, who had arrived from Newcastle at the heart of our defence.
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