Kicking-off a new series commemorating the 50th anniversary of West Ham United’s fantastic FA Cup final triumph, goalkeeper MERVYN DAY recalls the Hammers' victorious 1975 campaign, which saw the Irons overcome Southampton, Swindon Town, Queens Park Rangers, Arsenal, Ipswich Town and Fulham to lift the famous trophy at Wembley Stadium half a century ago...
Saturday 3 May 1975 proved, quite literally, to be a Day dream for West Ham United’s teenaged goalkeeper.
“Wembley was the Mecca of football and it was the absolute pinnacle to play there in an FA Cup final,” remembers Mervyn Day nearly half-a-century on from the Hammers' wonderful win over Fulham beneath the famous old Twin Towers. “Back then, the competition wasn’t just an after-thought and television coverage started at 9am, when everyone sat down for their entire day’s viewing.”
The Chelmsford-born stopper had certainly been on an upward trajectory since manager Ron Greenwood handed an excited 18-year-old his unexpected debut against Ipswich Town (3-3) just three days into the previous campaign.
Mervyn would go on to play 37 matches during 1973/74 – a season that saw mighty Manchester United sensationally relegated from the top-flight and the Hammers survive the dreaded drop by just one point themselves, while also suffering an embarrassing FA Cup exit at the hands of third-tier Hereford United.
Come 1974/75, East End optimism was in short-supply with West Ham recording one, solitary win from their opening eight matches – a wretched run that proved the catalyst for Greenwood to move ‘upstairs’ as understudy John Lyall was appointed Team Manager.
“It’d been a tough start and we’d had a terrible time at the beginning of my second season,” recalls Day. “But John made two good signings in Billy Jennings (from Watford) and Keith Robson (from Newcastle United). Alongside Bobby Gould, they started putting goals away and we scored 20 times in four games across eleven days beating Tranmere Rovers (6-0), Leicester City (6-2), Birmingham City (3-0) and Burnley (5-3).
“Getting tighter at the back, too, we got some good results – even beating league champions Leeds United (2-1) – and going into Christmas had only lost once in 17 matches. Then the FA Cup came along...
“Our mindset was: ‘Let’s see where we can get to in this competition.’ It certainly wasn’t: ‘Let’s get to the final.’
“We had difficult ties at Southampton (2-1) and against Swindon Town, who we beat in a replay at their place (2-1) having drawn at Upton Park (1-1) and, it was only after we won our tough fifth-round derby with Queens Park Rangers (2-1), that we started wondering whether we might be on for a day out at Wembley?
“I’d just been enjoying the ride but was now in touching distance of a semi-final. We were under no illusions how difficult our quarter-final at Arsenal was going to be, though, because they’d already beaten us 3-0 in the league at Highbury.
“It was early-March, the rain had been falling all week and the greasy, muddy pitch was absolutely terrible.”
While goal-grabbing new-boys Jennings and Robson had been making all the headlines, now it was the turn of another Lyall capture to put his name up there in lights, too.
Alan Taylor – a £40,000 signing from Rochdale – had only made one start since his November 1974 arrival but upon being handed the No9 shirt at Highbury, the surprise selection took just a quarter-hour to find the net.
With half-time approaching, though, Mervyn found himself knee-deep in a quagmire of controversy, when he collided with escaping Gunners [and future Hammers] striker, John Radford.
But referee Ken Burns waved away the vociferous red and white appeals for a penalty.
“Sprawled in the mud, I was at the ref’s mercy but taking the conditions into account, luckily he saw things in my favour,” smiles Day, still breathing a huge sigh of relief to this day. “I got letters from angry Arsenal fans, which the lads told me to use as toilet paper! ‘Raddy’ never mentioned that incident once he’d joined West Ham but, then again, he was a very quiet, private man.”
Ironically, there was to be another Highbury high, when the spindly-legged Taylor flew upfield just after the interval to secure a tremendous 2-0 victory with his second goal of the afternoon.
“I’d meet ‘Sparrow’ from the Norwich train at Hatfield Peverel every morning and drive him into training and he couldn’t believe what he’d done that weekend,” confides Day. “We’d ridden our luck at Arsenal and now faced Ipswich. We shared an absolutely dreadful goalless draw at Villa Park but the Stamford Bridge replay was totally different and we did well to match Bobby Robson’s top, top team.
“Once again, ‘Sparrow’ scored twice in our 2-1 win, while referee Clive Thomas disallowed a couple of Ipswich goals for offside. Thank God there were no Video Assistant Referees back then because it might’ve been a totally different story.”
Having snatched the gloves from long-established Scottish ‘keeper Bobby Ferguson, heading to Wembley, Day had played 81 successive matches.
“Goalkeeping coach Ernie Gregory brought ‘Fergie’, Peter Grotier and myself together to work hard and support each other. There was never any animosity and, indeed, Fergie spent time teaching me how to volley a football.
“West Ham United versus Fulham was everyone’s dream final. We were favourites but were under pressure, too. Although they were in the second-tier, Fulham had the experience of Bobby Moore and Alan Mullery and it wasn’t a foregone conclusion.
“Mooro had been our captain when I made that first start against Ipswich in August 1973. I’d made my debut playing behind a legend of the game and, although he’d now been gone for 12 months or so, everyone still felt his presence.
“Five years earlier, he’d returned from the 1970 FIFA World Cup being lauded as the best defender on the planet. Neutrals wanted Fulham to win – they were underdogs and had that Mooro and Mullery factor, too. Every newspaper revelled in the romance of Bobby facing his former club and lifting another trophy at Wembley but we dealt with the pre-match hype and weren’t intimidated.
“Everyone’s nervous going into any final, so it’s about how you handle it,” insists Day recalling his journey to the iconic old stadium in that merry month of May. “I’d had a meteoric rise and nothing, to date, had gone wrong. I was in the middle of pageant watching thousands of fans walking along Wembley Way with their flags and banners and, when we later emerged from the tunnel, there were 100,000 supporters packed inside the stadium.
“Billy Bonds told us: ‘Drink it in lads because you might never get to play in another one of these.’ I looked at Bonzo thinking: ‘What’s he talking about? I’m 19, I’ll be back here many times.’ How little did I know!”
Aged 19 years and 311 days, the youngest-ever FA Cup final ‘keeper kept a clean sheet, while Cottagers ‘keeper Peter Mellor uncharacteristically made two blunders that allowed Taylor to snaffle another deadly-double and etch his name into Hammers folklore.
“A decent man, Peter’s superb saves in their semi-final against Birmingham had got Fulham to Wembley but as I found out to my cost during my own career, mistakes are part of goalkeeping life,” grimaces Merv. “Twice, he got punished by Sparrow whereas on another day, one of his defenders might’ve got there first and cleared the danger.
“I didn’t feel sorry for him at the time but as a fellow ‘keeper it hit me later and it was a shame how Peter’s own day turned out. Coincidentally, Sparrow and myself once bumped into him on holiday and he was philosophical about his afternoon at Wembley. It comes with the job.”
“Two-nil up, I couldn’t wait for that final whistle and, although I can’t recall going up to the Royal Box, I remember giving Ernie Gregory my winner’s medal to look after before I went on our lap of honour.
“I’d lost my Dad, Albert, six months before making my debut and Ron Greenwood really supported our family. The Club was always very good to me and they were generous with their ticket allocation, which meant my family and friends could be there. It was an emotional day and I burst into tears.
“We had a celebration dinner in the West End and a few players doubled-up by going across to Fulham’s reception, too. Typical of ‘Mooro’ he’d invited them over despite his own disappointment.
“The following morning we got an amazing reception parading the trophy through an absolutely rammed East End. We’d left our cars at the Boleyn Ground and driving out onto Green Street, Kevin Lock ran over a supporter’s foot. It’s strange how you remember things like that!”
As well as collecting that winners medal, Mervyn – a 53-game, ever present throughout 1974/75 – was also voted the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Young Player of the Year. To this day, he remains the only shot-stopper to have won the prestigious award.
“I look down at the names on that trophy and I’m very proud to be the only ‘keeper there,” smiles Day, who made 234 outings during his half-dozen years down West Ham way before donning the gloves for Leyton Orient, Aston Villa and Leeds. “Managers don’t put young ‘keepers into the firing line nowadays so, hopefully, my record will survive the test of time.
“I’m also proud to have played for both West Ham and Villa and it’s great to have those well-established Premier League clubs on my CV,” concludes the 69-year-old scout, who was running the rule over a couple of targets for Scottish giants Rangers at our Betway Cup clash against Celta Vigo in August. “Despite getting to as many games as possible, it’s so difficult to unearth a diamond – there just aren’t any secrets anymore.
“This is my 54th season in football and, sometimes, that FA Cup final seems like only yesterday. It was one of my most significant games and, yes, all-in-all 1975 was certainly a very good year.”
