Page 85 - 368603 LP250721 AWY AWY AWY Book (238pp A5)

still living in London then and got a day-return ticket from Euston and was back in time for a Valentine’s meal in the evening. There was a good crowd of just over forty-one thousand and we came away with an inspiring 0-0 draw, which took them back to our place three days later. In the replay it was 1-1 after 90 minutes with Finney again scoring for us and then Holden got the winner in extra-time. So far it was following the pattern of 1973 but then we drew Third Division Crystal Palace at home in the 6th Round on Saturday 6th March. On paper it looked like a very good opportunity for us to proceed to the semi-finals.
Palace were hitting the headlines at that time with playboy manager Malcolm Allison and his trademark fedora, sheepskin coat and cigar. Early one Friday evening in January 1976 I happened to be passing the Sportsman’s Club at the bottom of Tottenham Court Road in London when I saw Malcolm just about manage to stagger out of a taxi and into the front door. On T.V.’s ‘Football Focus’ the next day they showed a newspaper headline that read BIG MAL FOUND SLUMPED WITH MYSTERY ILLNESS. Well...it wasn’t a mystery to me at any rate. He certainly knew how to enjoy himself and I was told many years later that he was also a great after-dinner speaker. The showbiz hypnotist Romark had made some very public pronouncements about Mal around this time and I remember reading a piece about an encounter between them as Mal arrived back at Euston Station after losing a game. Romark started going into his
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