1973–74 FA Cup

The 1973–74 FA Cup was the 93rd season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Liverpool won the competition for only the second time, beating Newcastle United 3–0 in the final at Wembley, London.

1973–74 FA Cup

Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Defending champions	Sunderland
Final positions
Champions	Liverpool (2nd title)
Runners-up	Newcastle United
Third place	Burnley
Fourth place	Leicester City
← 1972–73 1974–75 →

Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday. Some matches, however, might be rescheduled for other days if there were clashes with games for other competitions or the weather was inclement. In this season matches were allowed to be played on Sundays for the first time. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week. If the replayed match was drawn further replays would be held until a winner was determined. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played in a replay, a 30-minute period of extra time would be played.

Calendar

Round	Date
Preliminary round	Saturday 1 September 1973
First round qualifying	Saturday 15 September 1973
Second round qualifying	Saturday 6 October 1973
Third round qualifying	Saturday 20 October 1973
Fourth round qualifying	Saturday 3 November 1973
First round proper	Saturday 24 November 1973
Second round proper	Saturday 15 December 1973
Third round proper	Saturday 5 January 1974
Fourth round proper	Saturday 26 January 1974
Fifth round proper	Saturday 16 February 1974
Sixth round proper	Saturday 9 March 1974
Semi-finals	Saturday 30 March 1974
Final	Saturday 4 May 1974

Qualifying rounds

Most participating clubs that were not members of the Football League competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 28 places available in the first round.

The winners from the fourth qualifying round were South Shields, Willington, Blyth Spartans, Altrincham, Runcorn, Formby, Merthyr Tydfil, Frickley Colliery, Telford United, Banbury United, Grantham, Alfreton Town, King's Lynn, Boston United, Alvechurch, Chelmsford City, Hillingdon Borough, Dagenham, Hayes, Boreham Wood, Leytonstone, Hendon, Guildford City, Wimbledon, Hitchin Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Bideford and Weymouth.

Formby and Boreham Wood were appearing in the competition proper for the first time. Of the others, Merthyr Tydfil had not featured at this stage since 1965–66, Bideford had not done so since 1964-65, Hitchin Town had not done so since 1960-61 and Willington had not done so since 1950-51.

Alvechurch participated in seven rounds of this season's tournament, defeating Halesowen Town, Bromsgrove Rovers, Stourbridge, Stafford Rangers, Exeter City and King's Lynn before going out in the third round to Bradford City at Valley Parade. However the club entered period of decline in subsequent seasons - this would be their last appearance in the FA Cup competition proper until 2022-23.

For all qualifying round results, see 1973–74 FA Cup qualifying rounds.

First round proper

At this stage the 48 clubs from the Football League Third and Fourth Divisions joined the non-league clubs who came through the qualifying rounds. To complete the round, four more non-league clubs were given byes to this stage. Scarborough and Wigan Athletic were the finalists from the previous season's FA Trophy while Walton & Hersham and Slough Town were the finalists from the previous season's FA Amateur Cup.

Matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 24 November 1973. Ten matches were drawn and went to replays.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Chester	1–0	Telford United	24 November 1973
2	Chesterfield	0–0	Barnsley	24 November 1973
Replay	Barnsley	2–1	Chesterfield	28 November 1973
3	AFC Bournemouth	1–0	Charlton Athletic	24 November 1973
4	Banbury United	0–0	Northampton Town	24 November 1973
Replay	Northampton Town	3–2	Banbury United	29 November 1973
5	Rochdale	2–0	South Shields	24 November 1973
6	Watford	1–0	Chelmsford City	24 November 1973
7	Weymouth	0–1	Merthyr Tydfil	24 November 1973
8	Reading	3–0	Slough Town	24 November 1973
9	Walsall	1–0	Swansea City	24 November 1973
10	Crewe Alexandra	0–0	Scarborough	24 November 1973
Replay	Scarborough	2–1	Crewe Alexandra	28 November 1973
11	Doncaster Rovers	1–0	Lincoln City	24 November 1973
12	Wrexham	1–1	Shrewsbury Town	24 November 1973
Replay	Shrewsbury Town	0–1	Wrexham	27 November 1973
13	Tranmere Rovers	2–1	Bury	24 November 1973
14	Stockport County	0–1	Port Vale	24 November 1973
15	Wycombe Wanderers	3–1	Newport County	24 November 1973
16	King's Lynn	1–0	Wimbledon	24 November 1973
17	Plymouth Argyle	2–1	Brentford	24 November 1973
18	Bradford City	2–0	Workington	24 November 1973
19	Hitchin Town	1–1	Guildford City	24 November 1973
Replay	Guildford City	1–4	Hitchin Town	28 November 1973
20	Altrincham	2–0	Hartlepool	24 November 1973
21	Southend United	3–0	Boreham Wood	24 November 1973
22	Exeter City	0–1	Alvechurch	24 November 1973
23	Scunthorpe United	1–0	Darlington	24 November 1973
24	Huddersfield Town	2–0	Wigan Athletic	24 November 1973
25	Alfreton Town	0–0	Blyth Spartans	24 November 1973
Replay	Blyth Spartans	2–1	Alfreton Town	28 November 1973
26	Willington	0–0	Blackburn Rovers	24 November 1973
Replay	Blackburn Rovers	6–1	Willington	3 December 1973
27	Halifax Town	6–1	Frickley Colliery	24 November 1973
28	Runcorn	0–1	Grimsby Town	24 November 1973
29	York City	0–0	Mansfield Town	24 November 1973
Replay	Mansfield Town	5–3	York City	10 December 1973
30	Hereford United	3–1	Torquay United	24 November 1973
31	Rotherham United	2–1	Southport	24 November 1973
32	Bideford	0–2	Bristol Rovers	24 November 1973
33	Boston United	0–0	Hayes	24 November 1973
Replay	Hayes	1–2	Boston United	28 November 1973
34	Formby	0–2	Oldham Athletic	24 November 1973
35	Colchester United	2–3	Peterborough United	24 November 1973
36	Walton & Hersham	0–0	Brighton & Hove Albion	24 November 1973
Replay	Brighton & Hove Albion	0–4	Walton & Hersham	28 November 1973
37	Hendon	3–0	Leytonstone	24 November 1973
38	Dagenham	0–4	Aldershot	24 November 1973
39	Cambridge United	3–2	Gillingham	24 November 1973
40	Hillingdon Borough	0–4	Grantham	24 November 1973

Second round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 15 December 1973. Five matches were drawn, with replays taking place later the same week.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Chester	3–2	Huddersfield Town	15 December 1973
2	Alvechurch	6–1	King's Lynn	15 December 1973
3	Grantham	1–1	Rochdale	15 December 1973
Replay	Rochdale	3–5	Grantham	18 December 1973
4	Watford	0–1	AFC Bournemouth	15 December 1973
5	Blackburn Rovers	0–0	Altrincham	15 December 1973
Replay	Altrincham	0–2	Blackburn Rovers	19 December 1973
6	Grimsby Town	1–1	Blyth Spartans	15 December 1973
Replay	Blyth Spartans	0–2	Grimsby Town	19 December 1973
7	Doncaster Rovers	3–0	Tranmere Rovers	15 December 1973
8	Wrexham	3–0	Rotherham United	15 December 1973
9	Wycombe Wanderers	1–3	Peterborough United	15 December 1973
10	Barnsley	1–1	Bradford City	15 December 1973
Replay	Bradford City	2–1	Barnsley	19 December 1973
11	Northampton Town	1–2	Bristol Rovers	15 December 1973
12	Plymouth Argyle	1–0	Walsall	15 December 1973
13	Southend United	2–0	Reading	15 December 1973
14	Mansfield Town	1–1	Scunthorpe United	15 December 1973
Replay	Scunthorpe United	1–0	Mansfield Town	18 December 1973
15	Port Vale	2–1	Scarborough	15 December 1973
16	Halifax Town	0–1	Oldham Athletic	15 December 1973
17	Hereford United	3–0	Walton & Hersham	15 December 1973
18	Aldershot	1–2	Cambridge United	15 December 1973
19	Boston United	1–0	Hitchin Town	15 December 1973
20	Merthyr Tydfil	0–3	Hendon	15 December 1973

Third round proper

The 44 First and Second Division clubs entered the competition at this stage. The matches were scheduled for the weekend of 5–6 January 1974. Thirteen matches were drawn and went to replays, while Oldham Athletic and Cambridge United required a second replay which was played at the City Ground in Nottingham.

Holders Sunderland were eliminated by Carlisle United. Alvechurch, Grantham, Boston United and Hendon were the last non-league clubs left in the competition.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Bristol City	1–1	Hull City	5 January 1974
Replay	Hull City	0–1	Bristol City	8 January 1974
2	Grantham	0–2	Middlesbrough	5 January 1974
3	Liverpool	2–2	Doncaster Rovers	5 January 1974
Replay	Doncaster Rovers	0–2	Liverpool	8 January 1974
4	Southampton	2–1	Blackpool	5 January 1974
5	Leicester City	1–0	Tottenham Hotspur	5 January 1974
6	Nottingham Forest	4–3	Bristol Rovers	6 January 1974
7	Aston Villa	3–1	Chester	5 January 1974
8	Sheffield Wednesday	0–0	Coventry City	5 January 1974
Replay	Coventry City	3–1	Sheffield Wednesday	8 January 1974
9	Bolton Wanderers	3–2	Stoke City	6 January 1974
10	Grimsby Town	0–2	Burnley	5 January 1974
11	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–1	Leeds United	5 January 1974
Replay	Leeds United	1–0	Wolverhampton Wanderers	9 January 1974
12	West Bromwich Albion	4–0	Notts County	5 January 1974
13	Derby County	0–0	Boston United	5 January 1974
Replay	Boston United	1–6	Derby County	9 January 1974
14	Everton	3–0	Blackburn Rovers	5 January 1974
15	Ipswich Town	3–2	Sheffield United	5 January 1974
16	Newcastle United	1–1	Hendon	5 January 1974
Replay	Hendon	0–4	Newcastle United	9 January 1974
17	Fulham	1–0	Preston North End	5 January 1974
18	Portsmouth	3–3	Swindon Town	5 January 1974
Replay	Swindon Town	0–1	Portsmouth	9 January 1974
19	West Ham United	1–1	Hereford United	5 January 1974
Replay	Hereford United	2–1	West Ham United	9 January 1974
20	Manchester United	1–0	Plymouth Argyle	5 January 1974
21	Norwich City	0–1	Arsenal	5 January 1974
22	Bradford City	4–2	Alvechurch	6 January 1974
23	Millwall	1–1	Scunthorpe United	5 January 1974
Replay	Scunthorpe United	1–0	Millwall	8 January 1974
24	Carlisle United	0–0	Sunderland	5 January 1974
Replay	Sunderland	0–1	Carlisle United	9 January 1974
25	Crystal Palace	0–2	Wrexham	5 January 1974
26	Chelsea	0–0	Queens Park Rangers	5 January 1974
Replay	Queens Park Rangers	1–0	Chelsea	15 January 1974
27	Port Vale	1–1	Luton Town	5 January 1974
Replay	Luton Town	4–2	Port Vale	9 January 1974
28	Peterborough United	3–1	Southend United	5 January 1974
29	Birmingham City	5–2	Cardiff City	5 January 1974
30	Cambridge United	2–2	Oldham Athletic	6 January 1974
Replay	Oldham Athletic	3–3	Cambridge United	8 January 1974
Replay	Cambridge United	1–2	Oldham Athletic	14 January 1974
31	Oxford United	2–5	Manchester City	5 January 1974
32	Orient	2–1	AFC Bournemouth	5 January 1974

Fourth round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 26 January 1974. Four matches were, however, played the day after. Eight matches were drawn, of which one, the tie between Portsmouth and Leyton Orient, required a second replay.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Liverpool	0–0	Carlisle United	26 January 1974
Replay	Carlisle United	0–2	Liverpool	29 January 1974
2	Southampton	3–3	Bolton Wanderers	26 January 1974
Replay	Bolton Wanderers	0–2	Southampton	30 January 1974
3	Nottingham Forest	4–1	Manchester City	27 January 1974
4	Luton Town	3–0	Bradford City	26 January 1974
5	Everton	0–0	West Bromwich Albion	27 January 1974
Replay	West Bromwich Albion	1–0	Everton	30 January 1974
6	Wrexham	1–0	Middlesbrough	26 January 1974
7	Newcastle United	1–1	Scunthorpe United	26 January 1974
Replay	Scunthorpe United	0–3	Newcastle United	30 January 1974
8	Queens Park Rangers	2–0	Birmingham City	26 January 1974
9	Fulham	1–1	Leicester City	26 January 1974
Replay	Leicester City	2–1	Fulham	30 January 1974
10	Coventry City	0–0	Derby County	27 January 1974
Replay	Derby County	0–1	Coventry City	30 January 1974
11	Portsmouth	0–0	Orient	27 January 1974
Replay	Orient	1–1	Portsmouth	29 January 1974
Replay	Portsmouth	2–0	Orient	5 February 1974
12	Manchester United	0–1	Ipswich Town	26 January 1974
13	Oldham Athletic	1–4	Burnley	26 January 1974
14	Arsenal	1–1	Aston Villa	26 January 1974
Replay	Aston Villa	2–0	Arsenal	30 January 1974
15	Hereford United	0–1	Bristol City	26 January 1974
16	Peterborough United	1–4	Leeds United	26 January 1974

Fifth round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 16 February 1974 with one taking place the day after. Two matches were drawn and went to replays.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Bristol City	1–1	Leeds United	16 February 1974
Replay	Leeds United	0–1	Bristol City	19 February 1974
2	Burnley	1–0	Aston Villa	16 February 1974
3	Liverpool	2–0	Ipswich Town	16 February 1974
4	Southampton	0–1	Wrexham	16 February 1974
5	Nottingham Forest	1–0	Portsmouth	17 February 1974
6	West Bromwich Albion	0–3	Newcastle United	16 February 1974
7	Luton Town	0–4	Leicester City	16 February 1974
8	Coventry City	0–0	Queens Park Rangers	16 February 1974
Replay	Queens Park Rangers	3–2	Coventry City	19 February 1974

Sixth round proper

The four quarter-final ties were played on 9 March 1974.

Newcastle United pitch invasion

The first Newcastle United–Nottingham Forest game at St James' Park was won 4–3 by Newcastle. However, early in the second half Nottingham Forest went 3–1 up from a penalty awarded by the referee, Gordon Kew, who also sent off Newcastle's defender Pat Howard for protesting the decision. The Newcastle United fans in the Leazes End of the ground (now the Sir John Hall stand) invaded the pitch. Two Nottingham Forest players were injured in the debacle, but the referee waited until all players were recovered and received the permission of both managers to continue the tie. Newcastle managed to come back and win with a late goal by their captain, Bobby Moncur, in spite of the two-goal and one-player deficit.^[1] Up to 23 people were taken to hospital as a result of the pitch invasion, of whom two had fractured skulls; another 103 people were treated at the ground and 39 arrests were made.^[2]

Following the riot, a written protest was sent from Nottingham Forest to the FA on 11 March. In response, the secretary of the FA, Ted Croker, announced that a special four-man subcommittee of the Challenge Cup Committee who oversee the FA Cup competition were to investigate the incident, stating, "Newcastle could be disqualified. We do not have the power to order a replay as the game was completed."^[2] On 14 March the subcommittee ruled that, in spite of Mr. Croker's comments, the match was to be replayed, at the neutral venue of Goodison Park on Monday 18 March. If that match was drawn then extra time would be played and, if needed, another match at a neutral venue would be played the following Thursday. This decision was unprecedented at the time and the reaction was mixed, with Newcastle's defender Frank Clark suggesting that their comeback should have allowed them to go through outright. The Nottingham Forest captain Bob Chapman stated, "we would have won it fair and square but for the trouble."^[3]

The first replay was a nervous 0–0 draw after extra time, although Newcastle hit the woodwork three times.^[4] Newcastle finally won the tie through a single Malcolm Macdonald goal in the second replay, also at Goodison Park.^[5]

Results

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Bristol City	0–1	Liverpool	9 March 1974
2	Burnley	1–0	Wrexham	9 March 1974
3	Newcastle United	4–3 (Match void)	Nottingham Forest	9 March 1974
Replay	Newcastle United	0–0	Nottingham Forest	18 March 1974
Replay	Newcastle United	1–0	Nottingham Forest	21 March 1974
4	Queens Park Rangers	0–2	Leicester City	9 March 1974

Semi-finals

The semi-final matches were played on Saturday, 30 March 1974 with the Liverpool–Leicester City game being replayed four days later. Liverpool and Newcastle United won their respective matches to go on to the final at Wembley.

30 March 1974

15:00

Liverpool	0–0	Leicester City
	Report[dead link]

Old Trafford, Manchester

Referee: Ken Burns, Stourbridge

30 March 1974

15:00

Newcastle United	2–0	Burnley
Macdonald 65, 75'	Report[dead link]

Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield

Referee: Gordon Hill, Leicester

Replay

3 April 1974

19:30

Leicester City	1–3	Liverpool
Glover 49'	Report[dead link]	Hall 46' Keegan 61' Toshack 86'

Villa Park, Birmingham

Referee: Ken Burns, Stourbridge

Third place playoff

Between 1970 and 1974, a third place playoff between the two losing semi-finalists was held.^[6]

9 May 1974

Leicester City	0–1	Burnley
		Hankin

Filbert Street, Leicester

Attendance: 4,432

Final

Main article: 1974 FA Cup final

The final took place on Saturday, 4 May 1974 at Wembley and ended in a victory for Liverpool over Newcastle United by three goals to nil. Two goals were scored by Kevin Keegan and one by Steve Heighway. The attendance was 100,000.

4 May 1974
15:00 BST

Liverpool	3–0	Newcastle United
Keegan 57, 88' Heighway 74'	Report

Wembley, London

Attendance: 100,000

Referee: Gordon Kew

Liverpool

Newcastle

TV Coverage

The right to show FA Cup games were, as with Football League matches, shared between the BBC and ITV network. All games were shown in a highlights format, except the Final, which was shown live both on BBC1 & ITV. The BBC football highlights programme Match Of The Day would show up to three games and the various ITV regional network stations would cover up to one game and show highlights from other games covered elsewhere on the ITV network. No games from Rounds 1 or 2 were shown. Burnley banned TV Coverage of the R5 tie v Aston Villa which was due to be one of the ITV televised ties and shown by Granada and the quarter-final tie v Wrexham which was due to be shown on the BBC's Match Of The Day, they showed a League game instead between Derby County v West Ham United as well as the Queens Park Rangers v Leicester Quarter-final. Burnley and Chairman Bob Lord also tried to stop the semi-final being covered by ITV but couldn't as the game was played at neutral Sheffield Wednesday. Third round BBC Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leeds United, West Ham United v Hereford United, Manchester United v Plymouth Argyle, Hendon v Newcastle United (Midweek-replay played in the Afternoon at Watford), Hereford United v West Ham United (Midweek replay played in the afternoon) ITV Chelsea v Queens Park Rangers (LWT), Everton v Blackburn Rovers (Granada), Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur ATV), Sheffield Wednesday v Coventry City (Yorkshire), Newcastle United v Hendon (Tyne-Tees), Peterborough United v Southend United (Anglia) Fourth round BBC Queens Park Rangers v Birmingham City, Fulham v Leicester City, Manchester United v Ipswich Town ITV Arsenal v Aston Villa (LWT & ATV), Peterborough United v Leeds United (Anglia & Yorkshire),Liverpool v Carlisle United (Granada), Newcastle United v Scunthorpe United (Tyne-Tees), Aston Villa v Arsenal (Midweek-replay shown in all regions) Fifth round BBC Bristol City v Leeds United, West Bromwich Albion v Newcastle United, Liverpool v Ipswich Town ITV Luton Town v Leicester City (LWT & Anglia), Southampton v Wrexham (Southern & HTV), Coventry City v Queens Park Rangers (ATV), Leeds United v Bristol City ((Midweek-replay played in the afternoon shown in all regions) Sixth round BBC Queens Park Rangers v Leicester City ITV Bristol City v Liverpool (LWT Coverage outside region (HTV) on two non London teams), Newcastle United v Nottingham Forest (Tyne-Tees & ATV) Newcastle United v Nottingham Forest (Midweek rematch & replay shown in all regions) Semi-finals BBC Leicester City v Liverpool, Leicester City v Liverpool (Midweek replay), ITV Burnley v Newcastle United (All ITV Regions) Final Liverpool v Newcastle United Shown Live on BBC & ITV.