Wembley 1974 - Liverpool again …

Martin Scott remembers the last time we played the Reds at Wembley. Ticket allocation was different in those days!

Saturday May 4th 1974

This photograph shows two excited young lads heading to Wembley to see Newcastle in the FA Cup final, the one on the left is me.

Being totally honest, apart from the game it was a bittersweet moment for me.

My constant companion during the cup run was my dad who took me to every round that season, brilliant memories of Jinky on fire as we gave West Brom a thumping in front of hordes of Geordies at the Hawthorns, the infamous comeback against Forest and the superb Terry Hibbitt pass setting Supermac off to score the second in the semi final sending three quarters of Hillsborough into wild celebration.

Wembley beckoned.

I couldn’t wait to complete the FA cup journey with my Dad, then the club in their infinite wisdom came up with a controversial way of allocating Cup Final tickets, one that would have had today’s fanbase in absolute meltdown on social media.

They announced that anyone who paid at the turnstiles at the next home game against Everton would get a voucher as you entered the ground, and if you filled in your contact details and posted it into the club, these would then go into a lucky draw for final tickets.

As expected, the attendance was large with a lot of first timers at St James’ chancing their luck.

About ten days later an envelope dropped through our door and I was dancing around the room when I saw I had a ticket, but the dancing quickly stopped when I realised that my dad had been unsuccessful.

To this day, I still haven’t worked out how they could allocate a ticket to a 13 year old boy expected to get to London without parental guidance?

Worse still, over the next week we heard of at least four people in Wallsend alone, that had gone to the Everton match as their first ever match and now had Wembley tickets.

Annoyingly those four tickets were sold on to the highest bidders and way above what my Dad could afford.

Luckily my mate Billy got tickets through the Referees Association as his Dad refereed local non-league games and I was really grateful when my Dad said I could travel with them.

The build up to the game was brilliant with Brendan Foster winning a 3,000 metre race around the Wembley pitch wearing a black and white striped vest and we all roared him home around the final lap, after that we had pre-match entertainment provided by of all people, Bruce Forsyth, and then the game got underway………

Unfortunately it wasn’t as Bruce would say “good game, good game” and the least said about the match the better as Liverpool battered a Newcastle side that simply didn’t turn up. Ironically a future hero named Keegan contributed to our downfall.

We got home late that night, and I will never forget my Dad saying as I walked into the house “never mind son, you’re only 13 and have plenty of time left in your lifetime to see our club win a trophy”.

I’m still waiting.

Roll forward fifty one years, I’m a Granddad now and over those years I’ve been to major cup games at Wembley a total of seven times, haven’t seen a single victory, and only been able to go absolutely wild celebrating two goals scored by Alan Gowling and Rob Lee.

People reading this may be thinking at this point it’s me that’s the curse, but please be assured, there are hundreds if not thousands of fans like me, who have been to them all and felt the pain as well.

May 74 FA Cup Final: Liverpool 3 Newcastle 0

Feb 76 League Cup Final: Man City 2 Newcastle 1

Aug 96 Charity Shield: Man U 4 Newcastle 0

May 98 FA Cup Final: Arsenal 2 Newcastle 0

May 99 FA Cup Final: Man U 2 Newcastle 0

Apr 00 FA Cup Semi Final: Chelsea 2 Newcastle 1

Feb 23 Carabao Cup Final: Man U 2 Newcastle 0

Goals for 2 Goals against 17

Sunday March 16th 2025… And here we are back in a Final, and it’s full circle with the opposition again being our old foes from Anfield. In any other walk of life, people might have just given up by now, but for me and thousands who have experienced the highs and many lows, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

I will be stepping into the stadium with exactly the same excitement and anticipation of seeing us lift the cup, as I did fifty one years ago, once Newcastle United is in your blood it never leaves you.

The only difference between 1974 and 2025 is that I’m rapidly running out of years to finally see my club win a major trophy. I will be there full of hope like everyone else and in Eddie and the lads we trust.

If we don’t do it this time I will obviously again trudge home greatly disappointed like thousands of others, but the future of the club has genuinely never looked better and success isn’t far away, we’ve have had a few stars in finals previously, but I look at the first team today and barring injuries we are a match for anybody. I firmly believe if Eddie is given the backing, the real good times are not that far away.

We have all waited far too long for a cup win at Wembley, and the party will go on for a week if it finally happens next month. What would make it even more special for me is if there is some 13 year old kid starting out on their Wembley journey this March, and in 51 years time they are writing an article about being at all the great cup final wins in their lifetime that started with the golden era of Newcastle United way back in 2025.

Maybe, just maybe this is our time.

Howay the Lads!

Martin Scott