Latest update June 2009 (see foot of page for details)
Click on your region for lists of the games they covered

    

    

    

Other Bits & Bobs

Thanks to John Bourn, Julian Clark, Alan Buchanan, Daniel Mann, Paul Johnson, Robert Pedley, Rodney George, Michael Whalley, Mark Bunn, Robin Carmody, Duncan Cavanagh, Brian Mullowney, Stuart Croucher, Peter Gillatt, Mark Eden, Geoff Downs, David Elson, Steve Westby, Graham Keyte and Daniel Gray.
 
 

***Three new DVD's available soon***

Aston Villa
September 23, 1972 – Nott’m Forest 1-1 Aston Villa, October 27, 1973 - Nott’m Forest 1-2 Aston Villa, November 23, 1974 - Aston Villa 2-0 Portsmouth, February 22, 1975 – Aston Villa 2-0 Man Utd, September 27, 1975 – Aston Villa 2-1 Birmingham (Comment on bad challenge from Kenny Burns of Birmingham), December 11, 1976 – Leeds 1-3 Aston Villa, October 21, 1978 – Birmingham 0-1 Aston Villa, March 22, 1980 – Aston Villa 1-1 Ipswich, November 1, 1980 – Aston Villa 2-0 Leicester (Brief look at table and stadium interview with Aston Villa manager Ron Saunders), April 4, 1981 – Leicester 2-4 Aston Villa (Brief look at table with review of other games from Jim Rosenthal and look at remaining fixtures), April 18, 1981 – Aston Villa 2-0 Nott’m Forest (Brief look at table with review of other games from Jim Rosenthal and look at remaining fixtures), September 5, 1981 – Tottenham 1-3 Aston Villa (Post match analysis with Brian Moore), April 2, 1983 - Ipswich 1-2 Aston Villa (Taken from The Saturday Match presented by Fred Dinenage).

Everton
August 9, 1969 - Arsenal 0-1 Everton (Studio interview by Jimmy Hill with Bob Wilson talking about Gordon Wests decision to retire from International football), March 13, 1971 - Everton 2-0 Stoke (Look at Andy Rankin’s goalkeeping performance), October 30, 1971 – Everton 1-0 Newcastle, October 21, 1972 - Sheffield Utd 0-1 Everton, September 15, 1973 – Everton 1-0 QPR, September 13, 1975 – Everton 3-0 Newcastle, October 4, 1975 - West Ham 0-1 Everton (Frank Lampard studio interview and stadium interview with Roger Kenyon), September 11, 1976 – Everton 3-0 Stoke, September 10, 1977 – Leicester 1-5 Everton, October 8, 1977 – QPR 1-5 Everton (Analysis of Latchford’s 4 goals in the game, comparison with Stoke game from 1976), November 26, 1977 – Everton 6-0 Coventry, September 23, 1978 – Everton 2-0 Wolves (Brian Moore on Colin Todd signing for Everton, look at table), January 24, 1981 – Everton 2-1 Liverpool, October 17, 1981 – Everton 2-1 Ipswich (Stadium interview with Ipswich’s Mick Mills about defensive frailties), September 4, 1982 – Everton 3-1 Tottenham (Stadium interview with Tottenham manager Keith Burkenshaw)

Queens Park Rangers
October 4, 1969 – QPR 4-0 Middlesbrough (Studio interview by Jimmy Hill with Rodney Marsh), October 17, 1970 – QPR 5-2 Birmingham (Studio interview by Jimmy Hill with Rodney Marsh about his incredible hat-trick), September 30, 1972 – QPR 3-0 Cardiff (Post match analysis from Jimmy Hill), October 20, 1973 – Wolves 2-4 QPR, December 22, 1973 – QPR 3-2 Newcastle (Christmas special presented by Alan Ball with studio interview by John Hollins with Terry Mancini), September 13, 1975 – QPR 1-0 Man Utd (Studio with David Webb and stadium interview with Stanley Bowles and Alex Stepney), October 23, 1976 – QPR 2-0 Sunderland (Studio interview with Gerry Francis), December 17, 1978 – QPR 2-1 Man City (Stadium interview with Steve Burtenshaw), October 18, 1980 – Derby 3-3 QPR (Terry Venables first match in charge), September 19, 1981 – QPR 1-0 Crystal Palace (Pre match stadium interview with Terry Venables about new artificial pitch, post match stadium interview with Palace manager Dario Gradi), January 15, 1983 – QPR 2-0 Newcastle (Kevin Keegan post match comment about the QPR pitch and brief look at the table).

Click on the links below for large cover scans

Arsenal - Match of the 70’s
Released May 2009
31 October 1970 Arsenal 2-0 Derby (Plus studio interview with George Armstrong), 28 November 1970 Arsenal 2-0 Liverpool (Studio interview with Frank McLintock), 03 April 1971 Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea (Post match analysis from Jimmy Hill & Brian Moore starts the search for an Arsenal chant for Wembley), 9 December 1972 Tottenham 1-2 Arsenal (Post match analysis from Jimmy Hill), 28 April 1973 West Ham 1-2 Arsenal (Post match analysis from Jimmy Hill), 25 August 1973 Arsenal 3-0 Man Utd (Analysis from Malcolm Allison concentrates on Radford), 1 February 1975 Arsenal 2-0 Liverpool (No post match material), 26 April 1975 Arsenal 1-0 Tottenham (Short post match analysis), 20 March 1976 Arsenal 6-1 West Ham (Stadium interview with hat-trick hero Brian Kidd and brief look at controversial incident), 18 December 1976 Arsenal 3-1 Man Utd (Elton John presents with analysis from Mick Channon & Kevin Keegan), 3 September 1977 Arsenal 3-0 Nott'm Forest (Short post match analysis).

Chelsea – The Big Match
Released May 2009
27 September 1969 Chelsea 3-0 Arsenal (Studio interview with Birchenall & post match analysis from Jimmy Hill), 19 December 1970 Chelsea 2-1 West Ham (Post match analysis from Jimmy Hill), 29 January 1972 Chelsea 4-0 Everton (Post match analysis from Jimmy Hill), 30 September 1972 Coventry 1-3 Chelsea (No post match), 03 November 1973 Man Utd 2-2 Chelsea (Very brief analysis from Brian Clough & Malcolm Allison), 26 October 1974 Chelsea 3-3 Stoke (Studio interview with Ian Hutchinson and analysis from Brian Clough), 23 August 1975 Chelsea 3-1 Carlisle (Studio interview with 18 year old Ray Wilkins), 11 December 1976 Chelsea 3-3 Wolves (Studio interview with Steve Finniestion), 21 January 1978 Chelsea 5-3 Ipswich (Short post match analysis), 20 January 1979 Man City 2-3 Chelsea (Short look at league table), 17 November 1979 Chelsea 3-1 Charlton (Post match interview with both managers, Geoff Hurst & Mike Bailey),  07 February 1981 Chelsea 3-0 Cambridge (No post match analysis), 26 December 1981 QPR 0-2 Chelsea (Stadium interview with Chelsea manager John Neal),  23 October 1982 Chelsea 3-1 Charlton (Short post match analysis).

Liverpool - Match of the '70s
Released April 2009
October 31, 1970 – Liverpool 2-0 Wolves, August 28, 1971 – Liverpool 3-2 Leicester, December 11, 1971 – Liverpool 3-2 Derby, September 9, 1972 – Liverpool 4-2 Wolves,  October 26, 1974 – Liverpool 1-0 Leeds, December 11, 1976 – Liverpool 3-1 QPR, February 5, 1977 – Liverpool 4-1 Birmingham, April 1, 1978 – Aston Villa 0-3 Liverpool, September 2, 1978 – Liverpool 7-0 Spurs (KICK OFF MATCH FOOTAGE Opinion from fans at beginning and end. Studio interview with Emlyn Hughes), October 7, 1978 – Norwich 1-4 Liverpool, October 14, 1978 – Liverpool 5-0 Derby, December 15, 1979 – Liverpool 3-0 Crystal Palace (Stadium interview with Palace manager Terry Venables).

Manchester United - The Big Match
Released April 2009
January 10, 1970 – Man Utd 2-1 Arsenal, April 17, 1971 – Crystal Palace 3-5 Man Utd (interview with hat-trick hero Dennis Law, post match reaction from Jimmy Hill and some comedy from Brian Moore!), April 1, 1972 – Coventry 2-3 Man Utd,  September 23, 1972 – Man Utd 3-0 Derby,  November 3, 1973 – Man Utd 2-2 Chelsea (Very brief analysis from Brian Clough & Malcolm Allison), December 7, 1974 – Sheff Wed 4-4 Man Utd,  January 31, 1976 – Man Utd 3-1 Birmingham (post match interview with Man Utd manager Tommy Docherty), March 5, 1977 – Man Utd 3-1 Man City, January 14, 1978 – Ipswich 1-2 Man Utd (Dickie Davies presents),  December 9, 1978 – Derby 1-3 Man Utd, April 5, 1980 – Man Utd 2-1 Liverpool (Quick look at newspaper cuttings about the game), October 4, 1980 – Nott’m Forest 1-2 Man Utd,  October 3, 1981 – Man Utd 5-0 Wolves (Bryan Robson unveiled as new signing at the beginning of the highlights, quick look at league table at the end), December 11, 1982 – Man Utd 4-0 Notts County.

Newcastle United – The Big Match
Released May 2009
8 November 1969 Newcastle 3-0 Sunderland, 21 August 1971 Newcastle 3-2 Liverpool (Malcolm MacDonald scores 3 on his home debut), 9 September 1972 Newcastle 2-1 Arsenal, 31 August 1974 Newcastle 2-0 West Ham (Introduction from Kenneth Wolstenholme), 16 November 1974 Newcastle 5-0 Chelsea, 18 October 1975 Newcastle 5-2 Norwich, 07 February 1976 Newcastle 4-3 Derby. 16 April 1977 Newcastle 3-0 West Ham, 3 March 1979 Newcastle 5-3 Charlton, 15 December 1979 Newcastle 4-2 QPR, 1 November 1980 Newcastle 2-1 Watford, 09 April 1983 Newcastle 3-2 Blackburn.

Tottenham Hotspur - The Big Match
Released May 2009
September 6, 1969 – West Ham 0-1 Spurs (Studio interview with West Ham manager Ron Greenwood and stadium interview with Spurs manager Bill Nicholson),  January 30, 1971 – Spurs 2-1 Everton (Studio interview with Everton’s Alan Ball), October 23, 1971 – Spurs 6-1 Nott’m Forest (Jimmy Hill’s post match analysis focusing on Martin Peters), October 7, 1972 – Spurs 4-3 Stoke (Stadium interview with Spurs John Pratt & post match analysis from Jimmy Hill focusing on Alan Gilzean), October 13, 1973 – Spurs 2-0 Arsenal (Post match analysis from Malcolm Allison and Brian Clough focusing on Martin Peters. Also stadium interview with Spurs’ Martin Peters), December 7, 1974 – Spurs 3-0 Newcastle (Studio interview with scorer of 2 of the goals, Cyril Knowles),  November 1, 1975 – Spurs 2-1 Wolves (Studio interview with man of the match, Pat Jennings), January 1, 1977 – Spurs 2-1 West Ham (Stadium interview with match winner John Duncan), September 10, 1977 – Spurs 1-0 Fulham (Brian Moore provides some post match analysis), September 16, 1978 – Leeds 1-2 Spurs (Short statement from Spurs manager Keith Burkinshaw), October 27, 1979 – Spurs 1-0 Nott’m Forest (Studio interview with man of the match Glenn Hoddle), December 13, 1980 – Spurs 2-1 Man City (Includes footage of new stand being built at White Hart Lane at the start. Quick show of the league table at the end), October 3, 1981 – Spurs 3-0 Nott’m Forest (Short post match reaction from Brian Moore), April 30, 1983 – Spurs 2-0 Liverpool (Stadium interview with Liverpool’s Phil Thompson)

West Ham United – The Big Match
Released May 2009
This DVD includes footage from one of the few surviving "Big Match" programmes from the 1968-69 season..
02 November 1968 West Ham 4-3 QPR (Post match analysis from Bobby Moore & Jimmy Hill), 20 December 1969 Tottenham 0-2 West Ham (Post Match analysis with Jimmy Hill), 22 August 1970 West Ham 2-2 Chelsea (Studio interview with Weller (Chelsea) and post match analysis from Jimmy Hill), 01 January 1972 West Ham 3-0 Man Utd (Jimmy Hill is ill with flu and so there is only a short post match analysis from Brian Moore), 14 October 1972 West Ham 3-1 Sheff Utd (Stadium Interview with Bobby Moore), 12 January 1974 West Ham 2-1 Man Utd (Malcolm Allison post match analysis), 16 November 1974 West Ham 5-2 Wolves (Studio interview with Trevor Brooking), 29 November 1975 West Ham 1-0 Arsenal (Short post match analysis), 02 April 1977 West Ham 2-2 Everton (Short post match analysis), 15 April 1978 West Ham 3-0 Derby (Short post match analysis), 24 March 1979 West Ham 5-0 Newcastle (Stadium interviews with Brooking & Bill McGarry), 09 February 1980 West Ham 2-1 QPR (Stadium interviews with Paul & Clive Allen + interview with John Lyall), 25 October 1980 West Ham 2-1 Bolton (Short post match analysis), 31 October 1981 West Ham 3-1 Middlesbrough (Feature on child who recovered from a comma visiting the West Ham dressing room), 30 October 1982 West Ham 3-1 Man Utd (Stadium interviews with Steve Coppell & John Lyall and feature on West Ham Kit Man retiring).

Extras on the discs include: Intro's throughout the years, Jimmy Hill on refereeing, Jim Rosenthals news desk, Fun spots, Viewers letters, News articles and Christmas special compilation.

See the Man Utd page on play.com for a trailer.

See also ITV football highlights 1955-1968

Email
upthemaggies@hotmail.com

Recent site updates

29th June 2009:- Details of the forthcoming Aston Villa, Everton and QPR Big Match DVD releases are listed above, Leeds and Man City discs are now currently in production, there are also tentative plans for a Big Match Extras only disc which would include golden goals competitions etc. but this may depend on feedback (Thanks Graham!!!). We have a terrific article from the 20/Nov/1976 Sheffield United matchday programme which heralds the arrival of Martin Tyler as commentator at Yorkshire TV, see here (Thanks to Mark Bunn for the scan!!!). Looks like 22/Oct/1980 West Ham 4 Poli Timisoara 0 must have been an off-tube voiced by Tyler as BBC were scheduled to show football that night and not ITV (Thanks to Mark Eden!!!). The Home Internationals page is now up to 1974, Kevin Keegan was kicked by a spectator as he left the field after the game v Wales - this was just a few weeks before he was beaten up at Belgrade airport - and Stan Bowles did another one of his disappearing acts after being subbed v Northern Ireland, but the biggest story of the tournament was Jimmy Johnstone who had to be rescued by the coast guard at 6am after celebrations following Scotland's win v Wales went a little too far (Thanks to Robin and Dan for commentator/panel details!!!). I've also added a few more games from 85-87 (in green for now) that were covered by ITV crews for broadcast to foreign countries, clips of the games were apparently included on a video given away with 'Striker' biscuits (Thanks Duncan!!!). Still working on the World Cup '74 page - there are stories of terrorist threats, mass pre-organised leftwing protests in the crowd, a kidnap plot, one player banned for taking drugs, another accused of rape - and that was all in the opening three days of the tournament! But don't bother yourself with all that rubbish, head straight for this link for a fabulous jaw-dropping 1974 World Cup upload ;-D

20th June 2009:- Some missing commentators added; Coleman's voice in on BBC footage of Apr/1970 N.Ireland v Scotland, Bob Wilson was co-commentator for Nov/1970 England v East Germany (saying that he was jealous of Shilton and - ignoring his own parentage - stating that he would like to play in goal for England! There is also some 'untransmitted footage' on colour VT), Coleman voiced Nov/1971 England v Switzerland, Motson called May/1972 Scotland v N.Ireland, Barry Davies did Sep/1978 Denmark v England and Nov/1979 England v Bulgaria and Motson did Feb/1980 England v Rep of Ireland (Thanks to Robert Pedley for those!!! Robert also recalls that England's 1977 matches v Brazil and Uruguay were not shown because the respective federations were asking for too much money and that the Nov/1976 game in Italy was not shown live because of concerns about people's attendance at work!). Details of the 1974 World Cup qualifiers (and friendlies) are now almost complete (Thanks to Robin, Dan & Mark Eden for their info!!!), note that Spain were the only other country in the running to stage the 74 finals but dropped out before the venue was officially announced, note also that Chile staged a bizarre play-off 2nd leg 'match' against a non-existent Soviet Union team - they actually went through the motions of kicking-off and rolling the ball into the net for the "winning goal"! You can watch a recently uploaded video of the goals from 26/Sep/1973 England 7 Austria 0 with Hugh Johns commentating here. The Home Internationals page is now up to 1973. Looks as though 06/Dec/1978 Arsenal 1 Red Star 1 was covered by ITV, see the terrific Red Star goal here (Thanks to Mark Eden for spotting this one!!!)

10th June 2009:- There were no updates last week because I've been busy putting together a page on the 1974 World Cup, you can see how it's progressing here (Thanks as ever to Robin and Dan for filling in missing commentators/studio personal!!!). Latest news on the "Big Match" DVD's is that Aston Villa, Everton and QPR are now at the editing stage and these will be the next three to be issued, more details when we get them - I've just received all seven of the currently available titles, nicely timed to fill the void left by ITV4's "Revisited" (and the lack of a major summer tournament). I've had conflicting info regards early 70's Tyne Tees commentators over the past year, but clearly Jeff Thomas was the Australian voice so we now have an unidentified Irish commentator on at least some games during the 73/74 season, there's also a surviving Southern clip of Jimmy Greaves scoring for Spurs at Southampton in 1968/69 with commentary and we think this could be John Camkin (Thanks Alan!!!). Click here for a pic of Brian Moore from 21/Apr/1973 being presented with a trophy at the Den before commentating on Millwall v QPR, it was published in the following week's Millwall matchday programme (Thanks to Julian Clark!!!). Some youtube links; Norwich City - The Boys of '72 includes Anglia action from the old Carrow Road gantry behind the goal! (Thanks to Mark Eden for spotting this one!!!), Jimmy Greaves and Gary Newbon in 1983 having a heated exchange on Central News, the 1973 Tyne Tees documentary Meanwhile Back In Sunderland, two programmes from the excellent BBC Scotland produced series That Was The Team That Was - Leeds United 1973/74 and Scotland 1974 and finally some rare colour film of Chelsea's 1971 European Cup Winners Cup final v Real Madrid (the 1-1 draw), you also get to hear Alan Weeks' off-tube goal calls dubbed on top here (Thanks to Rod for that one!!!)

27th May 2009:- Brian Moore presented the 14/Jan/1973 edition of The Big Match even though he didn't commentate on the match at Brighton because of flu, Jimmy Hill (who did the emergency commentary) explained that he had to do all his homework on the players on the Friday night, the programme also included highlights of Anglia's Chelmsford v Ipswich clash which was one of those 1st half in colour/2nd half in black & white games due to poor floodlighting (Thanks Geoff!!!). The 1972 Home Internationals are now up and I've also added details of the 1972 "Mini World Cup" in Brazil to the foot of the Euro 72 page (Though despite British involvement, there was seemingly no TV coverage on BBC or ITV). I must give a plug to 'Backpass' magazine which is mostly concerned with football in the 60's, '70's and '80's, you can get it from WHSmith's or via the Backpass website. Keeping an eye on Men & Motors - if they stick with a one "Big Match Revisited" a week policy (Wednesday's at 9pm, repeats on Thursdays at 1:10am, 12noon, 3pm and 6pm) and show all programmes in the 1978/79 series (not just selected editions), then we should expect to see the following matches screened on these dates......

20/May/2009 Manchester United v West Bromwich Albion +LWT's match
27/May/2009 Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal +Midlands
03/Jun/2009 Arsenal v Nottingham Forest +Yorkshire
10/Jun/2009 Granada - Man City v Chelsea +LWT
17/Jun/2009 Ipswich v Orient +Y/M
24/Jun/2009 Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City +T/G
01/Jul/2009 Granada - Everton v Bristol City +M
08/Jul/2009 Leicester City v Newcastle +Scottish
15/Jul/2009 Brentford v Watford +Y/M
22/Jul/2009 Chelsea v Liverpool +Y/T
29/Jul/2009 Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United +M
05/Aug/2009 League Cup Final
12/Aug/2009 West Ham United v Newcastle United 0 +H/T
19/Aug/2009 Man Utd v Liverpool +Scottish
26/Aug/2009 Orient v Brighton +M/G
02/Sep/2009 Tottenham Hotpsur v Queens Park Rangers +Y/M
09/Sep/2009 Granada - Bolton v Ipswich +M
16/Sep/2009 Crystal Palace v Notts County +Southern/T
23/Sep/2009 Granada - Wrexham v Sunderland +T
30/Sep/2009 FA Cup Final

20th May 2009:- ITV's Men & Motors channel began repeating the 1978/79 editions of Big Match Revisited tonight (Wednesday 9pm) starting with the 30/Dec/1978 Man Utd v WBA clash, there are several more re-runs throughout Thursday. ITV4 are to show "Up For Grabs" - an hour of highlights of the 26/May/1989 Liverpool v Arsenal title decider - on Tuesday 26th May at 6pm. Site updates - The regional Match of the Day game for the North on 11/Oct/1969 was Middlesbrough 4 Bolton 0 with commentary by Barry Davies, the opening goal was scored on 44 seconds by John Hickton, the footage is on the Middlesbrough BBC Match of the Day VHS Video released in 1991 (Thanks to Kelvin Walker!!!). I've now pretty much finished knocking the Euro 72 page into shape, curious to think that England would have hosted the finals had they beaten West Germany and Italy beaten Belgium in the QF's, England were undoubtedly outplayed in the 1st leg QF defeat but the decisive moment was a penalty decision and Bobby Moore's initial challenge was definitely outside the box (Thanks to Robin for the TVTimes details!!!). Brian Moore commentated on two successive Granada matches in March 1978, the second of these being the FA Cup QF between Wrexham & Arsenal which *was* a Granada ob and not HTV as previously stated (Thanks Dan!!!). Highlights of 04/Mar/1986 Villa 2 Oxford 2 [League Cup SF 1L] was an exclusive match on Central TV, Rothman's and some websites have incorrectly dated that match as being played on 12/Feb/1986 (Thanks again Robin!!!). More Big Match DVD's are due out next week - Arsenal. Chelsea, Newcastle, West Ham and, if it's not out already, Tottenham Hotspur. Expect to see Everton, Leeds, QPR, Villa and Wolves in the near future, the latter pair will apparently include some bits and pieces from Star Soccer programmes.

14th May 2009:-  The final edition of "Big Match Revisited" in the current series on ITV4 showed highlights of the FA Cup final between Arsenal and Manchester United, the footage was sourced from the live Saturday broadcast and re-packaged for the 2009 audience as The Big Match (There's no weekend repeat, but you can watch the show online here). Site updates - The Home Internationals page now includes details of the 1971 tournament (Thanks to Robin for the BBC commentators!!!) and I've added a scattering of minor 1969-75 FA Cup final coverage details to the 'Cup Finals' page, note that Brian Moore almost had to miss the 1975 final (presumably Hugh Johns would have replaced him) and that the first BBC "Cup Final It's A Knock Out" was in 1971.

7th May 2009:- "Revisited" looked back at the final Saturday of the 1978/79 league season today with a Granada Kick Off Match which focussed on Wrexham v Sunderland and Newcastle United v Brighton (Wolstenholme's last commentary for ITV). Site updates - Jeff Thomas was commentating for Tyne Tees earlier than we thought, he voiced the Sunderland v Watford game for Shoot on 22/Aug/1970, some footage of the game was included on that weekend's edition of The Big Match and it's in colour, so it looks as though The Times newspaper TV listings are wrong and Tyne Tees were broadcasting in colour from July 1970, not September (Thanks Geoff!!!). According to Jeff Dawson's book "Back Home", ITV and BBC tossed a coin for the 1970 World Cup SF's, ITV won and we now have it confirmed that it was they who broadcast live coverage of Brazil v Uruguay, Dawson also states that the Granada strike ended after the Semi-finals and so North West viewers would have had the option of watching the final on ITV (Thanks Phil!!!). The 12/Jan/1969 edition of LWT's "Sports Arena" featured the chief of the Football League Alan Hardaker and the Minister of Sport Denis Howell talking about football violence - which would make for interesting viewing - but unfortunately the programme does not appear to have been archived.

30th April 2009: - It was back to LWT highlights for the latest "Revisited" which featured Crystal Palace v Notts County, Brighton & HA v Blackburn Rovers (with smoke bombs thrown onto the pitch during the game and David Bobin commentating) and Sunderland v Cardiff City. Site updates - You may have already noticed that details of the next batch of "Big Match" DVD's have been added above, the first few volumes should now be in the shops and more club DVD's will follow the next batch in May, there are also 11 "Big Match" season reviews planned. The Euro 1972 page is up with the 70/71 season qualifiers, I'll now be adding to the Home Internationals page in parallel to the progress on the 70's Euro's & 1974 World Cup pages. 07/Dec/1983 Spurs 2 Bayern Munich 0 is confirmed by youtube to have been shown on ITV with Peter Brackley commentating (Thanks Robin!!!).

23rd April 2009: - A much welcome return to the Granada region for today's installment of "Revisited", The Kick Off Match featured Bolton v Ipswich and West Brom v Wolves. Site updates - Missing commentators have been added to the 83-88 Big Match page whilst 22/Dec/1984 Man Utd v Ipswich was apparently just a report (Thanks to Gerald Purves!!!). A few minor updates to the Mexico 70 page confirming BBC coverage of some qualifiers, also the Mexico friendly was *not* England's first game in front of colour cameras - West Germany away in 1968 was shown in colour on BBC2 (Thanks Robert!!!). "Remember Leeds United" was a Calendar Sport Special reunion programme shown in the Yorkshire region only on 19th May 1977. The Home Internationals page now includes details of the 1970 tournament in which George Best was sent off for spitting and throwing mud at the referee. Bolton Wanderers were the winners of the 1980 ATV talent show series Up For The Cup, there's a snap of Mark Aynsley performing for them on the show here and another small pic of the winning team posing with the trophy here. I've yet to mention Thames TV's Star Games which was a late 1970's celebrity version of It's A Knock Out, it's relevant because there was a five-a-side football round each week with Gerald Sinstadt commentating, I can still remember Sinstadt describing a slow motion replay of Bill Oddie scoring for 'The Comedians'. Finally, BBC2 are showing "Best: His Mother's Son" this Sunday (26th April) at 9-10:30pm, it's described as a "Factual drama about how the glamour-studded career of Britain's most famous footballer destroyed the life not only of George Best himself, but also of the close-knit family that he had left behind in Belfast."

16th April 2009:- Today's "Revisited" showed Spurs v QPR, Leeds v Aston Villa and Derby v Forest plus the 12 best goals of the season. Site updates - According to an article in the Times, Tyne Tees were apparently prevented from showing 25/Oct/1980 Sunderland v Ipswich because "Sunderland made their own independent decision by banning Tyne-Tees cameras from Roker Park. It was not because they feared they might be exposed by Ipswich, but because of an agreement limiting coverage to two successive home games." Clips from 27/Sep/1975 Southampton v Portsmouth has turned up on youtube with Tyler commentating (which confirms this was the Southern game for that date, one source stated another match), there's also a clip of 02/Oct/1976 Southampton v Fulham, again called by Martin Tyler which would make this his last commentary for Southern before joining Yorkshire (Thanks Robin!!!). You can view the opening titles to the 1978 series Focus On Soccer here (Thanks Geoff!!!) and there's now a Home Internationals page up with details of the 1969 tournament.

9th April 2009:-  The latest "Big Match Revisited" from 1979 stuck with LWT coverage and showed Orient v Brighton, Leicester v Stoke and Liverpool v Arsenal. Site updates - We have a fabulous article on Granada Kick Off Match from a 12/Feb/1977 Everton programme here (Thanks to Julian Clark!!!). 30/Aug/1978 Blackpool 2 Ipswich Town 0 was the League Cup 2nd Round tie covered by Granada (Thanks Duncan!!!). Granada had no Kick Off Match from 21/Oct-03/Dec due to a union's dispute and, as we suspected, The Big Match was shown instead (Thanks to David Fisher!!!!). Highlights of the 1974 Cup-winners cup final are confirmed as being shown on BBC1.

2nd April 2009:- It was FA Cup Semi-final day on the latest edition of "Revisited" with Liverpool v Manchester United plus the Scottish League Cup final, Aberdeen v Rangers (Note that ITV4's weekend repeat is on Saturday, not Sunday). Big Match DVD's latest - Apparently there has been a late change to the artwork design which has delayed the release of the first volume to 27th April. Site updates - Tyne Tees covered Newcastle 5 Manchester United 1 on 04/Apr/1970 (Thanks to Graham Lamb!!!), I've added more references to various football shows on the 'Bits & Bobs' page in the last few weeks including LWT's Up For The Cup which looked back at FA Cup finals involving London clubs (Thanks Geoff!!!), I should mention that there was also another ITV series called Up For The Cup broadcast in the Autumn of 1980 which was hosted by David Hamilton with football personalities judging variety acts supplied by various teams supporters clubs, it only ran for one season. Also added further 2nd/3rd match 'keys' to the LWT page, it would appear that The Big Match did show two games on a number of occasions during its' first season of 1968/69 (MOTD was then still restricted to showing one game unless it was the FA Cup).

26th March 2009:- This week's "Revisited" featured LWT presentation of West Ham v Newcastle United, Cardiff City v Stoke City (Bob Symonds commentating) and Middlesbrough v Birmingham City. Site updates - Midweek highlights of 29/Jan/1969 Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 0 [FA Cup R4 Replay] was networked with Barry Davies commentating, we also think midweek highlights of 20/Nov/1968 Arsenal 1 Spurs 0 [League Cup SF 1L] was shown in a slot billed as "International Football" in the Times. (Thanks Dan!!!). More games and updates have been added to the 83-88 Big Match page, theese are highlighted in green for now (Thanks to Mark Eden, Robin & Brian!!!).

19th March 2009:- The 1979 League Cup final between Nottingham Forest and Southampton was repeated on ITV4 today, but the programme was missing the original opening and closing titles (inexplicably replaced by the music/titles for "The Big Match"), there were also a number of unnecessary captions added. The forthcoming "Big Match" DVD's will apparently make use of surviving tapes of other region's programmes and there should be a fair amount of title sequences and presentation as well as the action (Thank Dan!!!). Site updates - "World In Action - The Man Who Bought United" was a controversial documenatary on Manchester United majority shareholder Louis Edwards shown on 28/Jan/1980 (Thanks Duncan!!!). Footage of 19/Apr/1972 Wolves v Ferencvaros [UEFA Cup SF 2L] exists with Hugh Johns commentating, so this must have been shown on a networked midweek programme along with the FA Cup SF replay, there's also evidence of Hugh Johns at 11/Nov/1972 Wolves v Arsenal, so Macklin must have been there only for the benefit of Yorkshire viewers - maybe because YTV's ob was required for racing at Catterick that weekend (Thanks to Paul Foster!!!). Added various bits and pieces to the 83-88 Big Match page plus season 1987/88 (Thanks to Duncan, Robin, Julian, Michael, Brian and the two Mark's!!!).

12th March 2009:- It was FA Cup QF weekend on "Revisited" this week with some really good action from Tottenham v Man Utd and Wolves v Shrewsbury (plus a newsreel of the 1967 League Cup final). DVD ALERT! - Ilc Media are to release a series of "Big Match" DVD's with each three hour volume focussing on one specific club, the Manchester United disc is set for release on 30th March with further volumes set to follow on 25th May, these being Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham, Newcastle and probably Liverpool. Site updates - Added 1985/86 and 1986/87 season's to the 83-88 Big Match page plus mid-week games to earlier season's (Thanks to Mark Bunn, Robin and Duncan and to Mark Eden for filling in the missing 86/87 scorers!!!!). Other bits & bobs - The series of mid 80's repeats of classic MOTD matches went out as "Action Replay" on BBC1 in August 1984 (so it was the 20th anniversary of MOTD, not the 21st), I also forgot to include the 1982 children's series "Murphy's Mob" on the list of football related ITV programmes, this was based around a fictitious football club (Dunmore United) and much of it was originally filmed around Watford's ground before production of later series moved to the Midlands, they then used Derby's old Baseball Ground.

5th March 2009:-  Today we had our first look at Liverpool in the 78/79 series of "Revisited" which featured the reds playing at Chelsea (with Ron Harris typically demonstrating the finer arts of the game in an incident involving David Johnson), the other games were Leeds v Norwich and Newcastle v Charlton (possibly Roger Tames' first ever commentary). Site updates - Brian Moore had flu over Christmas 1969 and so John Camkin commentated on QPR v Birmingham (27/Dec/1969), Jimmy Hill presented the programme with guest Terry Venables (Thanks to Rik Anstee!!!). I've begun work on a page which will tie-up The Big Match by covering the network years, ITV's weekend matches for season's 1983/84 and 1984/85 can be viewed here (Thanks to David Elson for kick-starting this page with his list of live games and to Mark Bunn for filling in missing highlights!!!). Midweek Sports Special showed 28/Jan/1981 Enfield 0 Barnsley 3 [FA Cup R4 Replay] and the missing commentator for ITV's coverage of the 1983 UEFA Cup Final 2nd leg was Martin Tyler (Thanks Robin!!!).

26th February 2009:- Another LWT 1978/79 "Revisited" this week which showed Watford v Brentford, Sheffield United v Millwall and WBA v Leeds plus the goals from an international friendly between Italy and Holland. Note that the next Thursday screening goes out at the later time of 12noon whilst the Sunday repeat moves forward to 10:25am from this weekend (1st March). Site updates - A bunch of West Brom games have been added, two of these being regional 69/70 MOTD's (highlighted in green) plus 24/Sep/1980 Everton 1 WBA 2 [League Cup] and TVS 18/Dec/1982 Southampton 4 WBA 1 (Thanks to Julian Rowe for those!!!, Julian also mentioned that BBC2 would show a Reuters newsreel of a match at around 7pm on their Saturday evening News bulletins and these would often be repeated on "Football Focus" the following week). It looks as though the missing Granada match for 09/Nov/1974 was Man City 1 Stoke 0, a Marsh goal v Stoke was included in a montage on the Best & Marsh show and the kits and ad hoardings suggest this was Nov/74 and not from the same televised fixture in Jan/1973 in which Marsh also scored (Thanks Duncan!!!). Martin Tyler was commentating on the 1981 FA Cup Semi-final for LWT as well as for YTV and others, Moore usually did the Semi's but as this was a Saturday night show and the game was in Yorkshire, Moore's studio duties must have taken precedence (Thanks Robin!!!). I've also added a handful of screen grabs/pics/TVTimes clippings to various pages, including images of Newbon & Johns to ATV, a grab of Moore in the black & white era and the titles to Granada's "Football" from 1972 - If you click on the image of that you'll a hear a very brief (and I mean brief!) snatch of the theme tune. Special programmes, such as "Lorimer's Leeds", "Paisley - A champion's farewell" etc. are now being moved onto the Odds and Ends page where I have the space to add a synopsis and broadcast times.

19th February 2009:- Today's The Big Match Revisited showed Leicester City v Newcastle United (one of only 5 English games played that weekend), Morton v Partick Thistle (with Arthur Montford commentating), a newsreel of the 1953 FA Cup Final and a terrific bonus item - highlights of the Euro 1976 final. ITV4 have now added a Sunday repeat broadcast at 10:25am (with an 11:25am Sunday screening on ITV4+1). Site updates - I'm now indicating which matches were shown as the 2nd and 3rd game on surviving editions of The Big Match and Granada's programmes, this info will help us anticipate which games are going to be included (or have been included) on "Revisited", these will be noted by a simple key system at the end of each entry, for example "+Y/G" (meaning 'Also showed Yorkshire and Granada matches'), it's pretty straightforward except that I couldn't really use 'A' without confusing ATV with Anglia, so M=Midlands and E=East, there's also 'X' for Scottish (S=Southern), I've still to add this info to the early 1980's season's. Other stuff - Added an insightful Radio Times article anticipating the 1969/70 MOTD regional format (Thanks Robin!!!),  it looks as though Walley Barnes may have been another regional BBC commentator for that season (Also note that the Beeb had one giant region covering the West, South and South West back then, known as "South & West"). Added three new screen grabs of Gerald Siinstadt to the Granada page, we can also now confirm that Granada highlights remained in black & white after the channel's switch to colour in November 1969 until January 1970 (Thanks Geoff!!!). Before 1977, Tyne Tees would only produce a Shoot programme if they had their own game, otherwise they'd show a programme from another region, so if they were showing Sunderland at Oldham, North East viewers would see Kick Off Match. From 1977 Shoot became studio based and they would then have their own presentation every week (Thanks John!!!). Various football related programme details have been added to the Bits & Bobs page and the Mexico World Cup 1970 section is now finished. Finally, check out this youtube channel for loads of old football video's including many from the 1968-83 period.

12th February 2009:- A Granada Kick Off Match from 11/Feb/1979 featuring Everton v Bristol City was this week's "Revisited" (Elton Welsby presented and commentated, so presumably Sinstadt was ill), the 2nd match was Birmingham City v Leeds United. Westward updates - The 1975 Plymouth v Everton FA Cup tie was actually on the BBC, whilst two other Plymouth games are mentioned in an Argyle history book as being on TV (presumably highlights on Westward), these being 06/Sep/1975 Plymouth 1 Sunderland 0 and 29/Apr/1978 Plymouth 3 Port Vale 2  (Thanks Mark Bunn!!!), 19/Apr/1980 Plymouth v Sheffield Utd is a definite addition as this was on The Big Match, and we have four other matches listed as Westward games in the Swindon pink; 21/Feb/1970 Torquay v Luton,  21/Nov/1970 Torquay v Aston Villa [FA Cup], 20/Mar/1971 Torquay v Aston Villa and 10/Apr/1971 Plymouth v Torquay (Thanks Julian!!!), also some trivia on Westward commentator Chris Fear, he had once worked in the White House press office for JF Kennedy, his final years were spent commentating on Macclesfield Town matches before his death in 2002. (Thanks Michael!!!). Southern covered 03/Mar/1979 Southampton 2 Arsenal 0 (Thanks Gerald!!!), Anglia covered Peterborough 0 Hull City 4 in the Watney Cup on 01/Aug/1970 (Thanks Robin!!!). The capacity at Wembley stadium was reduced to 90,000 for mid-week night games circa early 1980's, so that explains the smaller attendance at the 1982 Cup Final replay (Thanks Zakes!!!). Further gubbins have been added to the bits & bobs page including details of the Jack Charlton coaching series, a paragraph on the World Of Sport results service, a large bunch of additions to the MOTD regional games for 1969/70 (in green for now) (Thanks Julian!!!), plus a small section on HTV's Focus On Soccer. 03/Nov/1982 Aston Villa v Dynamo Bucharest is now confirmed as being shown on Midweek Sports Special (Thanks Robin!!!). Finally, check out the foot of the Tyne Tees page for a couple of screen grabs of the Shoot studio and a link to a trailer recently uploaded to TV Ark. (Thanks again Robin!!!).

5th February 2009:- This week's "Revisited" was another LWT production with Tottenham Hotpsur v Manchester City as the main game (nicely illustrating just how good a player Peter Barnes was), plus brief clips of Middlesbrough v Forest (with poor quality audio - Ken Wolstenholme sounded like he was commentating from South America rather than Ayresome Park, there was also a spectator on the pitch who was followed by the cameras, they wouldn't do that today!) and Man Utd v Arsenal (Elton Welsby commentating on this one, sounding a little like Barry Davies), they also included a newsreel of England v N.Ireland from 1957. Site updates - A few missing commentators on the European Finals page have been filled in; Wolstenholme did all European Cup finals up to 1971 [at least from 1958], Coleman did Newcastle's 1969 Fairs Cup Final 1st leg and Alan Parry commentated on Villa's Super Cup 2nd leg in 1982, so highlights of Villa 3 Barcelona 0 must have been on BBC1's "Sportsnight" (Thanks Dan!!!). Also Tommy Smith was involved in ITV's coverage of the 1978 EC final and TVTimes were wrong about Keegan, it was indeed St. John who co-commentated. (Thanks Jamie!!!). HTV updates - For season's 1977/78 through to 1979-80, if HTV had their own game it would go out as "Soccer Hour" and after the main game they would then join The Big Match for the remainder of the slot (Thanks Julian!!!), "Focus On Soccer" was an HTV series of seven half hour programmes on football skills showing top stars in training & match action, it aired in the HTV region from Friday 8th September 1978 to 29th October 1978 (Show 1 looked at the history and development of the game with Mick Channon, 2. Goalkeeping with Ray Clemence, 3. Defending with Colin Todd, 4. Midfield with Trevor Brooking, 5. Gordon Hill on speed, crossing and dribbling, 6. 'The Striker' with Kevin Keegan and 7. Teamwork with Matt Busby & the current Man Utd squad). Added a little piece on ITV's Saturday lunchtime football preview sequence "On The Ball" to the top of the Bits & Bobs page and, as you may have already noticed, we now have a Westward page. Sad to hear that Paul Birch (ex Villa and Wolves) lost his battle against cancer this week aged just 46.

29th January 2009:- It was FA Cup 4th Round weekend 30 years ago with another set of fixtures decimated by the weather - The latest instalment of ITV4's "Big Match Revisited" was an LWT presentation featuring Anglia's match - Ipswich Town v Orient (with Brian Moore commentating for London viewers), we also got to see brief action from Newcastle v Wolves (via Yorkshire's feed, so Martin Tyler was commentating) and a fair amount of footage from Forest v York (with Hugh Johns). Curiously, Ipswich changed into their away kit even though they were at home and Orient were in all red, I would guess this was because the snow on the pitch caused the players in dark shirts to appear as silhouettes on screen, so the white shirts were required to distinguish the two teams. Site Updates - The European Finals page is now finished and I've added TV details of the Super Cup/World Club Champions/Anglo-Italian finals to the foot of that page (Thanks to Mark Eden & Robin for their help). There's also one domestic Midweek game to add, 27/Jan/1981 Ipswich 3 Shrewsbury 0 [FA Cup R4 Replay] was on Midweek Sports Special and we now have all the scorers for those regional MOTD games on the bits & bobs page (Thanks Alan!!!). Oh, and it looks like 03/Nov/1971 Wolves 4 Den Haag 0 (with three own goals all scored at the same end!) was on ITV, this may bring into doubt TV coverage of Arsenal v Grasshoppers - it depends on whether ITV showed one or two games that night.

22nd January 2009:- A Granada Kick Off Match was today's latest instalment of "Revisited" featuring extended highlights of Manchester City v Chelsea (on another snowy surface with an orange ball) plus Fulham v Sunderland. Sinstadt (nice cardigan sir) revealed that Granada cameras had originally been assigned to Bolton v Arsenal (which was postponed), we also saw Jimmy Armfield in the studio nominating the man of the match, so he was presumably a regular Granada summariser during this period. In contrast to last season's run of "Revisited" repeats, it looks as though ITV4 are going to include all the post match interviews this season but are now editing out the football news round-ups in order to fit in the extra ad-break. If you miss it, you can now watch the latest "Big Match Revisited" online at http://www.itv.com/Sport/Football/BigMatchRevisited/default.html (Thanks Rod!!!). Site updates - We have three potentially 'missing from the archives' games spotted in the Yorkshire Evening Post, these being a SOUTHERN match on 05/Sep/1981 between Southampton and Everton, and two for TYNE TEES, 12/Sep/1981 Newcastle v Cambridge & 26/Sep/1981 Newcastle v Orient (Thanks Brian!!!). More regional MOTD games from 1969/70 listed in the Swindon Pink have been added to the Bits & Bobs page (Thanks Julian!!!) there are also further BBC 69/70 commentator details (Thanks to Mark Bunn & Alan!!!) as well as more info on the 1996 series "The Big Match Replayed" (Thanks Stuart!!!)

15th January 2009:- Another edition of LWT's Big Match was served up on ITV4 today, the main match being Arsenal v Nottingham Forest (Brian Talbot making his debut for the Gunners). With the weather of January 1979 still causing major disruption, there was only one other match shown - Martin Tyler commentating on Leeds v Man City together with Fred Dineage interviewing City boss Malcolm Allison, the rest of the air time was filled with a newsreel of the 1933 FA Cup Final, a few goalkeeping clangers from abroad and an interview with the  'Big Match Personality of the Month' Barry Hughes who was managing in Holland (Why no goals from Cambridge v Cardiff?). Site updates - Details of the 1978 World Cup draw have been added to the Argentina 78 page, it looks like it was shown live in Scotland, but English viewers had to wait for a report on ITN News (Very few of us had Teletext in those days and it wasn't live on the radio either), more regional MOTD games for 1969/70 have been added to the Bits & Bobs page (Thanks Alan!!!), 23/Mar/1970 Leeds v Man Utd [FA Cup SF R], 23/Nov/1971 Arsenal v Grasshoppers, 19/Dec/1973 Wolves v Liverpool [League Cup R5], 21/Mar/1974 Newcastle v Forest [FA Cup QF R], 24/Feb/1975 Leicester v Arsenal [FA Cup R5 2R], 28/Jan/1976 Newcastle v Coventry [FA Cup R4 R], 18/Oct/1978 AEK Athens v Forest, 10/Mar/1981 FA Cup QF R games at Ipswich and Wolves, 16/Feb/1982 Orient v C.Palace [FA Cup R5 R] and 29/Sep/1982 Ipswich v Roma were all shown on midweek ITV programmes (Thanks Mark Eden!!!). Now removed from our lists are 12/Nov/1974 Hartlepool v Villa (which was probably newsreel as no highlights were scheduled), 18/Dec/1974 Man Utd v Middlesbrough (BBC had "Sportsnight" but nothing scheduled on ITV) and 27/Mar/1975 Ipswich v Leeds [FA Cup QF 3R] as Clive Woods was goal of the month on BBC (Thanks again to Mark Eden!!!).

8th January 2009:- This week's edition of "Revisited" was an LWT Big Match, it featured Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal with Martin Tyler commentating on Pat Jennings being pelted with snowballs which held up the start of the 2nd half, Owls manager Jack Charlton went over to the home fans to appeal for them to stop but further ice missiles then came raining down in his direction! The 2nd match was the only other game ITV cameras caught that weekend - Stoke v Oldham - albeit abandoned half way through with not a blade of grass in sight. With no 3rd match available, LWT decided to show an Australian TV clip of Elton John performing a song with the Watford squad on backing vocals. Site Updates - A list of omissions/errors in John Motson's book "Match of the Day - The Complete Record" has been added to the 'Bits & Bobs' page (Thanks to Mark Bunn!!!), I've also had another list of missing ITV games sent in which includes live coverage of Roma v Blackpool in the Anglo-Italian Cup on "World of Sport" on 24/Jun/1973, I'm still in the process of adding the others (Thanks to Mark Eden!!!). A sad farewell to Ian Greaves, manager of Bolton in the 1970's,  it was announced last Saturday that the former 'Busby babe' has passed away at the age of 76  - only a day or two after that strange clip of him sat alone after Bolton's promotion to the top flight had been repeated on last week's "Revisted" (Had it not been for an injury, Greaves would have probably been on the ill-fated flight from Munich with Manchester United in 1958).

1st January 2009:- Happy New Year! Lots of blanks filled on the HTV page (Thanks Julian!!!). Missing scorers for recent additions and a few '60s games also filled in (Thanks to Alan & Mark Eden!!!). The return of "The Big Match Revisited" this afternoon treated viewers to a Granada "Kick Off Match" from 30/Dec/1978 complete with the demented Francis Monkman theme tune and Gerald Sinstadt presenting in a studio looking as though he'd failed to adjust the seat in one of those photo booths, Man Utd v WBA took up most of the programme (including Elton Welsby interviews with the managers and both goalkeepers), there were also brief clips from Arsenal v Birmingham City - The original 1978 broadcast did not include a 3rd match because there was a round up of North West highlights from the past year including Bob Hatton netting four times for Blackpool (v Blackburn on 04/Feb/1978), a bit of Wrexham with Bob Symonds commentating (I think this was v Rotherham 22/Apr/1978 covered by HTV) and the bizarre sight of Bolton manager Ian Greaves alone in the dressing room looking totally drained of all emotion whilst everybody else was on the pitch celebrating his team's promotion (v Fulham 29/Apr/1978) - A repeat screening of this show is on ITV4 on Saturday at 12:05pm (There's also ITV4+1 if you have satellite). Next week's 'Revisited' features Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal but, despite the Yorkshire venue, expect this to be an LWT "Big Match" as most games were postponed on that 3rd Round weekend of 06/Jan/1979 (This one is scheduled for the earlier Thursday start time of 11:25am and, as well as a Thursday afternoon repeat at 4pm, it's shown again on Friday *not Saturday* at 9:35am).