Above Ipswich Town were only two clubs. Liverpool finished 2nd, hardly a surprise – if anything, they were steady maintaining place among the best. However, Derby County finished as champions. The Rams were not overwhelming – they did not have the best attack (Burnley scored more goals); they did not have the best defense (five teams allowed less goals than the champions); they were not the team with most wins and they were not the team with least losses. If anything, Derby County were steady and, point by point, ended first, only 2 points ahead of Liverpool and Ipswich Town. True to their nickname, the Rams stubbornly fought their way to a second title without greatness.
Top, left to right: D. Anderson – assistant manager, K. Hector, J. McGovern, J. O’Hare, R. Webstar, C. Boulton, G. Mosley, P. Daniel, S. Powell, C. Todd, J. Gordon – trainer.
Bottom: A. Hinton, J. Bourne, D. Nish, A. Gemill, D. Mackay – manager, R. McFarland, R. Davies, B. Rioch, R. Thomas, H. Newton.
At the top, left: Francis Lee.
Well, hoe this squad differ from the champions of 1972? Not at all… it was the same, Brian Clough’s creation, except Clough was no longer around, but in 2nd Division with Nottingham Forest. Mackay exploited Clough built – a sturdy squad of reliable and spirited players. Mostly second stringers, though… Francis Lee, McFarland, and Todd were big stars. David Nish, a new addition, too. The rest depended largely on work ethic – surely Rioch and Gemill were regulars in the national team of Scotland, but hardly superstars. And in any case it was not a team to be called ‘great’: Lee was getting old and no longer called in the English national team. Nish, Todd, and McFarland, good as they were, never really established themselves in the national team – perhaps unjustly, but still not seen as truly great players. Derby County was never seen as a ‘dynastic’ team – it was experienced, stubborn, steady, but hardly great. Except for Brian Clough… it was his selection and, interestingly enough, it was to remain his: the trainer Gordon already moved to Nottingham and was to be followed by some players as well. By the end of the 1970s O’Hare, Gemill, and McGovern won the European Champions Cup with Clough and Nottingham Forest. Without Cloughie, his strange creation did not last long… and the great days of Derby County practically ended in 1975. Given the squad, the Rams achieved more than expected – their only titles ever! Hats off! Personally, I still have a soft spot for them.

Unnoticed end and unnoticed beginning – Ipswich Town finished 3rd! Once again, no big deal – the Blues had strong season. Good for them, yet, nothing particularly surprising in a league, where everybody could win and everybody can finish in the relegation zone.
Ipswich Town are one of the oldest English clubs, founded in 1878, but hardly successful one. They were champions only once – in 1962, and, generally, had very little to show in terms of trophies. By 1975 it was hardly big deal – there was not a single club able to win 10 titles so far and even a single champioship ranked strongly. However, Ipswich Town were not among the ‘heavy’ clubs; they were rather mid-table boys, more likely to fear relegation than to be among the top 5. Champions in 1962 – and dead last in 1964! Returning to 1st Division in 1968 and keeping their place since, but no more… gradually finishing at higher places until ending third with most wins in the League – 23; losing 2nd place only on goal difference, and finishing just 2 points behind the champions.
Bronze Tractor Boys: Sitting, left to right: Collard, Miller, Lambert, Johnson, Hamilton, Woods, Gates.
Middle: Lee, Osborne, Peddlety, Harper, Viljoen, Burley, Robson – manager.
Third row: Hammond, Talbot, Mills, Cooper, Sivell, Hunter, Beattie, Whymark.
At a glance, hardly a famous team – and it was not, but there were the seeds of something better sawn already. Mick Mills was included in the Englsih national team and was to stay in it for years. Others were to become reputable, solid players, if not exactly great stars: Talbot, Miller, Osborne, Beattie. Burley and Wark (not on the picture) gradually established themselves in the national team of Scotland. It was a promising squad, still in the making, but with good backbone, arounf which new talent was only to be added carefully. For which the manager was responsible – one Bobby Robson. He was not Sir Robson in 1975 – he was just noticed, and that only in England. It was only a beginning – the real fruits came a few years later and Robson gained enormous reputation. It was this year, however, marking the start of steady success. Nothing stays static in football: if 1975 was the end of Leeds, it was also the beginning of the next great team – Ipswich Town.

Chelsea’s struggle was already noticed, but another fading was not yet. Leeds United finished 9th.
Back Row: Gordon McQueen, Joe Jordan, Norman Hunter, Paul Madeley, David Stewart,
David Harvey, Allan Clarke, Eddie Gray, Paul Reaney, Terry Yorath.
Front Row: Peter Lorimer, Mick Bates, Billy Bremner, Frank Gray, Trevor Cherry, Duncan McKenzie.
The squad did not suggest mid-table performance – looked like a temporary slip, to be corrected in the next season. It was impossible to imagine anything else and there were excuses – Leeds had strong European season, efforts and attention aimed at the European Champions Cup. Besides English football was notoriously competitive and there was nothing strange top side to end relatively low. There was little to worrie about: Don Revie left in 1974 to take the English national team, but his replacement was worthy – Jimmy Armfield. At the time no attention was paid to the problem of replacing Revie – Brian Clough and Maurice Lindley were tried briefly before settling on Armfield. Something did not quite work… but it was not easy to replace a legend, so it was seen as a normal process of reajustment. Just give it a little time – with Armfield the season was shaky, but Leeds reached the European final, so it was not bad overall and surely the next year would be stronger. There was no next year – it was the beginning of a steady downfall. This was the season marking the end of great dreams and a great team.

Speaking of losers. Since Second Division was the place to be in 1975, Carlisle United and Luton Town rushed to join the excitement. No big surprise in their relegation, though – both clubs were more at home down in Second then up in First Division.
Luton Town finished 20th, just a point bellow lucky escapee Tottenham Hotspur.
Carlisle United dead last.
Both clubs were promoted in 1973-74 and lasted only a year among the best. Except for pretty kits nothing else can be said about them. Their fans may disagree with ‘nothingness’, but the final table of the season pretty much ends arguments.

Just between Luton and Carlisle was sandwiched Chelsea – 21st, second from last, and down.
On one hand, nothing strange – in highly competitive England everything was possible. On the other hand, it should have been alarming: Manchester United was relegated in 1974, and now – Chelsea. A momentary slip? May be… Manchester United recovered in a year. May be Chelsea were just jinxed by their unusual away kit:
Red and green – may be that’s the reason. Or may be not… Chelsea was not Manchester United. First of all, they were never really big club. Chelsea became trendy club in the 1960s, largely by location. Yet, the link between rock’n’roll, alternative culture, hippies, and football was tangental and tentative at best – apart from Pink Floyd, Rod Stewart, and Elton John, there were hardly other close relations. The new Chelsea fans supported the club more as fashionable expression: the club was in the hub of the ‘flower’ culture and was just right – not very big and representing alternative to the traditional London rivalries between West London (Arsenal, Totteham) and East London (West Ham United, representing working class somewhat). Chelsea seemed suitable for counter-culture rejecting tradition: not exactly class-representative, modest club, hardly successful, yet fun, and located right where the new culture flourished. Laid back club, entertaining, not aggressively ambitious and yet capable of winning as a underdog. However, supporters flocking because it was fashionable to do so, are not supporters who really care. Chelsea was generally middle of the road team and as the 70s marched forward, problems piled up as well.
In purely sporting terms, the team declined sharply – starting the decade with decent squad, including Peter Bonetti and Peter Osgood, the team somehow messed up… new players were, as a rule, disappointments. Big promises and expectations, but never fulfilled. Ian Hutchinson perhaps is the best example: the player, who was to start playing great the next match. Ever the next match… and never ‘this’ match… sure, he was constantly injured, but excuses eventually run out. Instead of getting better, the team was gradually getting weaker and by 1974 it was clearly lesser team than the one in 1970. In five years Chelsea went from beating Real Madrid and winning the Cup Winners Cup to finishing in the relegation zone and disappearing in the Second Division.
The other reason was financial and represented wider problem. By 1975 English clubs were accumulating dangerous debts and there was rising concern about the future. Most criticism was directed to players’ salaries and transfer fees getting out of hand. It was right criticism, but hardly suggesting way out, for at the time the major part of clubs revenue still came out of the gates receipts. Cheap tickets and declining crowds versus higher and higher salaries and transfer fees – deadly mix. Chelsea was a prime example, for it was managed exceptionally badly – so badly, that dark years to follow 1975, ending eventually with bankruptcy in the 1980s. Those were the years, summarized best by Mickey Droy:
Droy clearing the ball and looking great on picture.
Who the hell was Mickey Droy? Well, the guy, who played during the dark years… young Chelsea fans think him a hero nowadays, and to a point he was – at least he was loyal to the club. In real time, however, Droy was mediocre player and his loyalty was largely due to the simple facts of Chelsea not able to buy better players and Droy not good enough to attract better clubs. He is voted 13th in the list of the 50 worst ever footballers playing in England… Lack of money, lack of vision, lack of talent – Chelsea was going down not temporary, but for a long, long time. Hippies went down by 1975 and Chelsea went down – it may be put this way too.

There were times when Fulham was bigger club than West Ham United – long gone. There were times when West Ham United was bigger club… wait! Were there such times? In London the Hammers were never more tham modest, eclipsing Fulham at best, and higher than QPR, and probably competing with Chelsea, but more or less constantly bellow Arsenal and Tottenham. Strong team in the 1960s, yet, never strong enough to win a title. What title… West Ham never finished even at third place during their best days. In fact, ‘best days’ amounted to mid-table. That was with Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst! Eventually the 1960s team aged… Martin Peters moved years ago; Hurst was just a memory; and Bobby Moore had to make room for rebuilding. The Hammers finished 13th in the 1974-75 season, with 13 wins and 13 ties. Ominous numbers… but 13 may be lucky number too. It was new brew produced by ‘the Academy’ – and if modest at the League, the team revived the old days of playing better at cup tournaments. And won the FA Cup!
Revival of tradition – for Hammers’ tradition was uneven squad: few great players and the rest – run of the mill. This squad was no different: practically only Clyde Best, quickly fading by now, remained from the 1960s stars. But there were new ones: particularly Trevor Brooking, who already established himself in the national team and was seen as the brightest English midfileder. Add Billy Bonds, ever reliable and fearsome. Add up and coming talent – Frank Lampard, Pat Holland, Keith Coleman, Bobby Gould, Mervyn Day. Just wait a year or two… waiting became permanent and this year was more or less the best performance of this team. Perhaps Frank Lampard is the best example, to sum the difference between promise and actual realization: his son became really big star, not him!
And a curiosuity: the young striker Yilmaz Orhan was a member of the squad. Born 1955 in Nicosia, Cyprus, which makes him a foreign player at time when England was not interested in imports. Well, almost an import, or barely so – most likely Orhan was a refugee: he was ethnic Turk from a city, which became Greek after the violent division of the island. Most likely Orhan grew up in London and was a naturalized British citizen. Yet, probably a victim of the traditional British bias against foreign footballers: Orhan played only 8 matches for the Hammers and in 1977 moved to NASL (Team Hawaii).
No matter – West Ham United lifted the FA Cup and hugged their former captain Bobby Moore, now a loser.

And the triumphal Second Division run continued: Fulham reached the FA Cup final! Three Second Division clubs played at the cups finals! Fulham, once upon a time one of the strongest clubs in London, was long forgotten by now – relegated from First Division in 1968, they had no chance of returning, becoming mid-table Second Division staple, after visiting Third Division as well. They were 9th in the 1974-75 season, but there was ambition – in 1974 Fulham got Allan Mullery and Bobby Moore. Both aging, it was true, but still: Bobby Moore! He was still considered a national team player, not to mention his aura and reputation. Fulham was not able to compete for promotion, but with the old stars they reached the FA Cup final.
Ironically, Fulham met West Ham United at Wembley – and lost 0-2. Bobby Moore lost to his former teammates. If he stayed, he was to collect a Cup… if he stayed with the Hammers, he was to captain winners, not losers. His former teammates sympathetically hugged him after the match, but the Cup was theirs, not his. Anyway, it was big success for Fulham to play at the final.
And it was not to stop at that, at least it was not intended to stop at that: in the summer of 1975 Fulham signed Rodney Marsh and George Best. Clearly, the aim was First Division – the team was getting heavy.
Alas… heavy in entirely different sense: in the pub. George Best and Bobby Moore went right there, good drinking buddies as they were. Drinking or not, Moore was professional to boot; erratic and moody Best and Marsh were the opposite… the big names did not propel Fulham to greatness. Best did not last at all. Marsh lasted a little longer. Even Moore did not last… all moved to greener pastures in the USA; Fulham stayed in Second Division. A momentary spark in 1974-75 and nothing else.

To a point, 1974-75 season was the Second Division season – perhaps the most successful ever season for those not at the top. Manchester United won the first place and returned to First Division after one year of exile. It was just return: the squad, pretty much the same as the one relegated in 1973-74, was too good to play lower league football. Tommy Docherty finally managed the team right after the original disaster, but still it was difficult to judge this squad on its own merit. How good it really was? Certainly not as good as the glorious team of 1968 – of which only Alex Stepney still played. Giants like Bobby Charlton, Nobby Stiles, George Best, Denis Law casted too big a shadow – no matter what Steve Coppell, Sammy McIlroy, etc, did, they were unable to measure up to the recent past. And it was the young brooms, who went down to Second Division for the first time since 1938! The shame of it!
Yet, it was not a bad team – by talent and depth, it was a squad strong enough to be among among top ten English clubs. Going down was a momentary slip, but who can forgive a food team playing mediocre football? At least they managed to come back quickly.
It was clearly non-English team: 7 Scots – Arthur Albiston, Martin Buchan, Alex Forsyth, Jim Holton, Stewart Houston, Lou Macari, Willie Morgan; 3 Irish – Gerry Daly, Mick Martin, Paddy Roche; 3 Northern Irish – Jimmy Nicholl, David McCreery, Sammy McIlroy; 1 Welsh – Ron Davies; and only 2 English players – Alex Stepney and Steve Coppell. Managed by Docherty, one more Scot – Manchester United, traditionally having strong Celtic flavour, looked like going entirely Celt and Scot. Most of the players were also regulars in their respective national teams – hardly ever a Second Division team had so many players from so many national teams. And after winning promotion, United fortified itself for the new challenge by getting two additional strong players: Brian Greenhoff and Gordon Hill – both English and no strangers to the national squad. Looked like the boys were alright.
Bellow Manchester United, yet still winning promotions to First Division were Aston Villa and Norwich City. But they did better than Manchester United, reaching the League Cup final! Norwich were hardly great, so this season were more or less one of their best ever seasons – finishing 3rd in Second Division and going to the League Cup final.
Hardly a famous squad, except for local fans, and good enough to put a fight, but at the end Norwich lost the final 0-1.
The League Cup went to Aston Villa.
Ian Ross and Chico Hamilton with the League Cup. Happy boys.
For the old club from Birmingham the season was great – going to First Division and collecting a cup as well… end of suffering. And how they suffered! Aston Villa went down in 1967 and not only stayed down, but plummeted to Third Division! Finally, almost ten years later, one of the original founders of the Premier League returned to their historic place.
Top, left to right: Frank Pimblett (?), Sammy Morgan, Chris Nicholl, John Findley, Keith Leonard, Jim Cumbes, Leighton Phillips, Frank Carrodus, Bonny MacDonald (?), Roy McLaughlin (?) – coach.
Bottom: Charlie Aitken, John Gidman, Ian ‘Chico’ Hamilton, Ron Saunders – manager, Ian Ross, John Robson, Brian Little, Ray Graydon.
Not as great as Manchester United – more likely a strong Second Division squad. Eventually some players acquired fame – Chris Nicholl, for instance – but mostly local heroes: Aitken, Ross, Hamilton, Carrodus. Brian Little today is better known as a coach, rather than as a player. Carrodus recently complained that contemporary players care only for themselves, not for the club. He may be right – he stayed with Villa many years. Also he may be not right – he was never a big star tempted with fat transfers. Yet, pretty much unknown in 1975, these Villa players became the backbone of the team which eventually moved up – much higher than First Division. It was due to the manager Ron Saunders: he built eventually a great team, starting with this relatively modest squad. No wonder Saunders is a Villa legend – and rightly so! So far – promotion and League Cup! Imagine the future! From the lean 1970-71 season only Aitken and Hamilton remained – certainly the team was getting stronger and stronger, wiping up the bitter memories of Third Division.