October 17 - England Pole-Axed

SEVEN years earlier, Sir Alf and his England side had been the toast of the nation, having reached football nirvana in the 1966 World Cup final. But today in 1973 was a different story, as England fell short in their attempts to qualify for the 1974 World Cup, as Poland held them to a 1-1 draw at Wembley.

England had managed to get themselves backed into a corner, where only a win against the Eastern Europeans would be enough to book their place in the 1974 finals. In what was the biggest game that Wembley had seen since the ‘66 final, a lacklustre campaign had caught up with the national side. Sir Alf had struggled with tactics throughout qualifying, often sending out a team of brawlers that lead one first division manager at the time to ask “how can you play football when you’ve got players on the field who would kick their own grandmother?”

Knowing that a draw would see them through the Poles set about frustrating England. Showing grit and tenacity, they managed to hold back wave after wave of English pressure before taking a shock 55th minute lead thanks to a goal from centre-forward Jan Domarksi. Leeds striker Allan Clarke leveled the scores eight minutes later from the penalty spot, but sloppy finishing meant that the second goal never came, and the English players could go about booking next year’s summer holidays.

The real hero of the night was Polish goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski who made a string of world-class saves in what was one of the greatest performances ever seen between the sticks at Wembley. Commenting on his unorthodox style, the always reserved Brian Clough had labeled him a clown, but we all know who laughed last that night.

The failure to qualify for the World Cup in 1974 marked the beginning of the end for Alf Ramsey. Many in the press and the public were calling for Brian Clough, fresh from his 44-day spell at Leeds, but the FA let him linger in the job until the following April before they had decided enough was enough and pensioned him off in favour of Joe Mercer. England wouldn’t return to the World Cup finals until 1982, whereas Poland embarked on the most successful era in their history, reaching the semi finals in both 1974 and ‘78.

See Tomaszewski breaking the hearts of 100,000 Englishmen at Wembley below and come back tomorrow for your daily dose of football history.

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