Tony Waddington by John Leonard

Author:John Leonard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2018-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

10

The Man in a White Coat

FATE conspired to re-unite Stoke City and Arsenal in the FA Cup, generating an encounter full of yet more controversy and outright rancour. Even the temperament of Stoke’s outwardly mild-mannered manager was about to be sorely tested thanks, in Waddington’s view, to the seeming incompetence of match officials.

A League Cup triumph at Wembley in March 1972 turned out to be the pinnacle of his managerial career. Little did he realise, as his players were about to meet their north London bogey team, that the seeds of decline were about to set in; failure to progress in Europe, a mounting bill in wages and transfer fees and especially to Waddington’s horror the shock loss of his World Cup-winning goalkeeper. Stoke lined up against Arsenal after yet again knocking Manchester United out of a cup competition. At Old Trafford a goal from Jimmy Greenhoff put them within minutes of knocking the Mancunians out at the first time of asking. That was until inevitably George Best intervened, flicking the ball past Banks and into the net for the equaliser.

Walking off the pitch, there was a feeling of frustration among Waddington’s players. For the first time, against United and on their home turf, Waddington and his men sensed they were the better team. They were confident of winning the replay with their old nemesis Arsenal waiting to play them.

For the replay, their defensive warrior Denis Smith was yet again an injury doubt and remained so until Waddington indulged in some impromptu and unorthodox physiotherapy. Smith had been driven to the ground and an anxious Waddington went out to meet him. ‘He [Smith] seemed to be stuck for a moment but then suddenly got out of the car and I thought he moved remarkably well,’ recalled the manager. ‘Denis said, “It’s no use.” I replied, “You got out of the car well enough. Get back in and come out again.” He remarked later something seemed to click as he got out of the car. We had him doing warm-up exercises in the dressing room, something he could not have managed a few hours earlier, and he would give it a go.’

There were no complaints this time around from Waddington over the size of the crowd as more than 49,000 optimistic fans packed into the Victoria Ground, sensing more cup glory.

Once again Best proved more than a handful and his attacking genius was only matched by the brilliance of Banks in goal. Best got the better of him to score the opener only for Smith to go marauding upfield to score the equaliser, taking the game into extra time amid a febrile atmosphere.

Terry Conroy popped up to score the winner, his last significant contribution of an eventful season. TC, as he was known among the players, suffered throughout his career with knee injuries. After another appointment with the physio, he was ruled out of the semi-final against Arsenal, a significant blow to Waddington’s plans. Nevertheless, he had the personnel to win, players confident of reversing the frustrating and painful result of 12 months earlier.

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