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My new favourite Wednesday video - vs. Manchester United, 1961


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Found two clips yesterday from Wednesday's game with Manchester United in the FA Cup in 1961 - they were both muddled up with clips in the wrong place entirely - there's also no sound.

 

I spent all last last night stitching them together and putting in action replays that had been inserted at the other end of the film!

Some absolutely cracking footage.

 

Straight away you notice that the old North Stand has been demolished in preparation for the building of the new one - the one we see today. The crowd for this FA Cup 4th round tie was 58,000 - imagine what it could have been with another side to the ground!

 

Ten seconds in you see the crowds outside the South Stand - I can only ever remember it with the Grandstand on top so to see it like that is a real eye-opener! Then the camera pans round and faces Penistone Road, with the bank of earth that makes up the Kop on the left - it's still there today.

Then fans queuing to get through the turnstiles.

 

The teams come out on to the pitch - first Wednesday, then the visitors (including Bobby Charlton). Note the TV gantry above the tunnel.

 

Tony Kay does the captains duties pre-match and reacts to a stray football!

Man U get the game under way on a quagmire of a pitch. John Fantham, wearing 10, puts in the first challenge of the game after 5 seconds.

 

The old West Stand is there, as is the old North-West corner, which stretched along the North side of the ground - half of it was knocked down soon after to make way for the new stand.

 

1.35 in we see Ron Springett hurtling out of his 6 yard box to claim a ball before launching an attack on the right with a long throw

 

2.25 - Bobby Charlton fires wide with Springett untroubled

 

3.10 - the crowd gets rattling

 

3.35 - Derek Wilkinson intercepts a stray pass, maraudes forward and strikes from 25 yards - the keeper should save it but it goes in - 1-0 Wednesday!

 

8.05 - Springett launches himself at the feet of an attacker but misses - luckily the chance is squandered

 

9.55 - Don Megson makes a crucial last ditch tackle - Springett is again seen hurling himself at the attacker!

 

11.25 - Megson concedes a penalty with a clumsy foul - it's converted for 1-1.

 

In the second half you can see the floodlights in action as the camera struggles to pick up play with light fading.

 

 

So it went to a replay, where Wednesday won 7-2 at Old Trafford!

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brilliant stuff , will have to look up the line-ups to see who is who (having not seen any of them before). remember the south and kop like that though!!  

the built up wall on the kop (nr the corner flag) i dont recall at all .....when did that go ..anyone

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Absolutely fantastic!  What a find, and 19 minutes of it too.   Is there any grass on the pitch ?   The ball often just gently rolls to a halt.  With heavy pitches like that and the leather ball and no substitutes the players must have been exhausted. To see the gap for the cantilever is really interesting historically, probably the only moving images of it at that stage.

Rattles, hats, old knitted bar scarves (I have one still), marvellous, it's made my night.

Thanks for posting.

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Really interesting stuff that. The team in the early 60s were obviously something to be reckoned with.

 

I have seen pictures of the ground like that but when I started going in the early/mid 70s the West & North Stand were long established.

 

The pitch, can you imagine the present team trying to play on that.

 

As for any video of the 7-2, I would imagine the manure fans will have seen to that being destroyed long ago!

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