The semi-final draw pitted Don Revie against one of his former Leeds United teammates in Birmingham City manager Freddie Goodwin. In the early 1960s they had been two of the more experienced players in Leeds’ Second Division squad and often discussed their hopes of becoming managers. When Birmingham approached Revie in 1970, he turned down the job, recommending Goodwin instead. “He had a hard time at first with the supporters but I wrote an article pointing out what a good manager he would become and he has proved the point to the Birmingham crowd,’ said Revie.

But Goodwin was not going to indulge in pleasantries. As soon as the draw was made, he was complaining about Hillsborough as the choice of venue, arguing its closer proximity to Leeds than Birmingham gave United an unfair advantage, lodging an official complaint the FA ignored. He also warned of a potential kit clash with Birmingham’s blue and white strip. Revie wasn’t interested in an argument. He offered to play in either white, yellow, or red. When the game kicked off, Leeds were ‘garbed in unfamiliar daffodil yellow’.

The Saturday prior to the semi-final. Goodwin was being interviewed by the Mirror’s Ken Jones after a crucial victory over Millwall in their battle for promotion. Goodwin’s playing career was ruined by a broken leg he suffered while playing for Leeds at Cardiff, but he had little sympathy for Terry Cooper, whose season was ended by a similar injury in the final minutes of a win at Stoke. ‘The news that Leeds full-back Terry Cooper had broken a leg at Stoke barely interrupted the flow as Birmingham manager Freddie Goodwin poured himself another glass of champagne,’ wrote Jones.

When Revie visited Cooper at his home, he was told by the world’s best left-back: “At least we got two points. All I want now is for the lads to finish the job by winning the Championship.” Revie then drove to St James’ Hospital to see Leeds’ reserve right-back Nigel Davey, who suffered a double fracture to his right leg in a Central League match against West Brom on the same day Cooper was injured at Stoke. “Don’t worry, boss, I’ll be okay as long as the lads keep up the good work,” he told Revie.

“I don’t know what we have done to deserve this,” said Revie. “Two broken legs in one day.”

When Goodwin wasn’t moaning about the choice of stadium, he was talking up the fearlessness of his squad. “We have a wonderful opportunity,” he said. “Most of my players are young. I have told them that this semi-final will be the first of many. They haven’t got to worry about losing. They will be there again. So where is the pressure?” The Mirror were producing a daily cut out and keep series of illustrations throughout the week leading up to the game detailing how Birmingham could beat Leeds. The main hope was Trevor Francis, who was turning 18 a few days after the semi-final. Goodwin insisted Francis was already a better goalscorer than Leeds forwards Allan Clarke, Mick Jones, and Peter Lorimer. A few months earlier, Francis was pictured meeting Pele, who was touring England with Santos. Pele was holding Francis’ long hair, inspecting it with fascination.

Goodwin was playing things cool, but there was a warning from Newcastle manager Joe Harvey, who was preparing his team to face Leeds four days after the semi-final. Despite the promising performances of his own young players, Harvey was hoping his experienced duo Frank Clark and Tommy Gibb would be available to face Revie’s team. “Leeds are not the sort of team to play kids against,” he said.

Goodwin’s nonchalance was not shared by his players. Birmingham’s left-back, Garry Pendrey, admired Leeds so much he posed for a photo in the Daily Mirror holding his black cat, who was named after United’s defender, Hunter. “I even threatened to paint number 6 on his back,” he said. “But the wife objected.”

Freddie Goodwin had one final attempt at psyching Leeds out just before kick-off. Birmingham watched Leeds go through their new pre-match routine, then attempted to copy it. Norman Hunter thought it was funny, but the rest of the squad weren’t impressed. “It was a shambles,” said Allan Clarke.

With Terry Cooper ruled out for the rest of the season, Paul Madeley moved to left-back, with Paul Reaney on the right of the defence. They were playing not in front of usual goalkeeper Gary Sprake, but David Harvey. Sprake’s absence was explained as the result of a failed late fitness test. The truth was Revie had made a permanent change. Sprake’s performances in the cup run summed up his ability to make saves few other goalkeepers could, but also the uncertainty that caused him to make routine errors. He made just one more league appearance for Leeds, before being sold in a world-record £100,000 transfer for a goalkeeper, ironically to Leeds’ semi-final opponents Birmingham.

Birmingham also had a surprise selection in goal. Eighteen-year-old Paul Cooper was picked, with regular number one Mike Kelly still recovering from a knee injury. Goodwin chose between Cooper and the more experienced and physically sturdier David Latchford, who was fit again after a broken finger. Goodwin kept faith with the teenage Cooper, who had been thrust into the first team six months after joining Birmingham as an apprentice.

Seeing such a youthful figure in goal, Jack Charlton was like a Great Dane that had just heard the word ‘bone’. With United on the attack in the opening minutes, Charlton took up his trademark position standing next to the goalkeeper at a set-piece and trod on his foot. He repeated the trick later, and Cooper spent the rest of the match hobbling around his penalty area.

In Leeds’ goal, Harvey also had to overcome injury. Collecting a cross just five minutes into the match, he was kicked in the arm and had no feeling in his left hand for the rest of the game. That didn’t stop him making two early saves to stop Birmingham going ahead, with Clarke blazing over for Leeds.

After fourteen minutes, Reaney exchanged passes with Billy Bremner on the run down the right. Reaney passed inside to his winger, Lorimer, who crossed to the back post, where Clarke had created space for himself. Clarke carefully took one step back, planting a header across goal, where the ball was met by the head of his strike partner Mick Jones and sent into the net.

Birmingham almost equalised shortly after as Francis tried a twenty-yard left-footer that was stopped by Harvey, making ‘the day’s finest save’. Harvey saved from Francis again when his powerful free-kick went through Leeds’ wall. Even if Francis was better than Leeds’ forwards, as Goodwin argued, he still was no match for the ‘magnificent’ Norman Hunter.

The underdogs would have felt like they were in no danger when Bremner made a mockery of his slight frame, leaping into the air to win a header in the centre circle, still in his own half. Jones laid the ball back to Eddie Gray, who hit the sweetest of first time passes over the Birmingham defence and into the path of Lorimer, who didn’t have to break stride while holding off Garry Pendrey. The finish into the far corner in front of the Leeds end was inevitable. The goal displayed the yin and yang of Leeds’ two wingers: the grace of Gray’s left foot and the ruthlessness of Lorimer’s right.

Leading 2-0 at half-time erased any chance of nerves or tension among the Leeds players. A third arrived midway through the second when Bremner went in for a tackle and toe poked the ball to Giles. Bremner was still picking his opposite number off the floor as Giles was running to the right side of the penalty area, chipping the ball across the six-yard box where it was bundled in by Jones for his second of the match.

At 3-0 up, the Leeds fans began chanting ‘easy, easy’, and Birmingham’s ‘weight-lifting giant Hynd seemed prepared to punch it out with the entire Leeds team’ after taking out Harvey at a free-kick. Referee Norman Burtenshaw bravely dragged Hynd away ‘in a neck lock’ and showed him a yellow card before Madeley, Hunter, and Big Jack could get to him.

All week Randall Northam of the Birmingham Post had been listening to Freddie Goodwin’s confidence, and had started believing the Blues would upset Leeds. On the morning of the game he warned that ‘logic plays no part in soccer’, dismissing Leeds’ reputation as the new Real Madrid as a mirage based on routine home wins against Manchester United and Southampton in the league rather than the tension of an FA Cup semi-final.

Come the following morning, Northam used his match report to admit the BBC’s highlights made Birmingham look more competitive than they were in reality. ‘The supporters who could not get tickets for Hillsborough should not be fooled by BBC’s Match of the Day. It flattered Birmingham… Birmingham were comprehensively beaten: television, with its narrow view, made it look closer and Leeds’ goals arrived on Saturday night like shocks. In the afternoon they were inevitable because Leeds were superb.’

The BBC’s coverage also made the news pages of national papers. Viewers didn’t need to be expert lip readers to understand what Birmingham captain Stan Harland was filmed shouting at Billy Bremner: “Don’t be so fucking daft.” His language was condemned as “deplorable” by James Hudson, national field officer of the British Deaf Association. Harland later told the Daily Mirror: “Perhaps whatever happened should have been edited out, but I realise the BBC do not have much time for editing after a match. All I can say is that I do not use bad language normally when I’m speaking to people.” The same page of the paper featured an advert for free hearing aids.

Don Revie praised Birmingham as “a good side who could hold their own in the First Division.” On his choice of David Harvey over Gary Sprake, he said: “I have been saying for two years that we have the two best goalkeepers in the country on our books but no one would believe me.”

Goodwin finally swallowed his hubris. “They are the best in the country,” he said. Copying Leeds’ pre-match routine, Goodwin admitted, was “the only time in the afternoon Birmingham controlled the middle of the field.”

In the next day’s Sunday People, Mike Langley was reporting on more ‘valuable gimmicks’ that were covered in the fingerprints of The Beaver. A £25,000 plant had been built to produce the John Giles No.10 target ball, with 10,000 already delivered to shops in Yorkshire. Paul Trevillion originally wanted the ball to be endorsed by Allan Clarke due to the accuracy of his finishing, but Don Revie insisted Giles was the man for the product due to his masterly technique.

After each game, the players were presenting fans with their pre-autographed sock tags. They had become so popular that 200,000 had also been sold, and a Leeds brochure displaying all the merchandise on offer was published immediately after the semi-final. An advertising endorsement had also been secured for the players, and the name of Leeds was being used in a scheme to promote continental holidays.

There was also an endorsement for what Langley described as ‘the Elland Road plutocrats’, who could ‘look forward to a free drive down to the bank’. They had been lent a fleet of fourteen new cars for the trip to Wembley.

Leeds were dominating the sporting arena, and now it was time to break into the music industry. Trevillion had convinced Revie a cup final song needed recording in advance of the semi-final. Now victory was secured, ‘a train was heading north with 20,000 copies of two songs by the players’ choir’. On the A-side was a song simply titled ‘Leeds United’. The B-side was a track called ‘Leeds, Leeds, Leeds’ — also known as ‘Marching On Together’. ⬢

(Photograph by PA Images, via Alamy)