1969 Football League Cup Final
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The 1969 Football League Cup Final took place on 15 March 1969 at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
. It was the ninth final and the third to be played at Wembley. It was contested between
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
and
Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...
. The Football League Cup winners were given a place in the Fairs Cup, but only if they were in Division One. In Division Three at the time, Swindon did not qualify.


Pre-match

First Division Arsenal had lost the previous season to
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...
in the 1968 League Cup Final, and were aiming to do better in their second successive appearance. Swindon Town on the other hand were considered the underdogs, being two divisions below Arsenal in the Third Division, and were appearing in their first League Cup Final and indeed their first match at Wembley. However, with eight Arsenal players suffering from
flu Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...
(which had led to their match the previous weekend being postponed) and the pitch deteriorating badly due to heavy rain circumstances did not favour Arsenal's short-ball game. As both sides' colours clashed, League Cup rules stated that both would have to play in their alternative kits. Arsenal wore their yellow and dark blue strip, and Swindon Town opted to wear an all-white kit instead of their usual alternative of all-blue.


Match

Arsenal began the game by putting Swindon's
defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...
under heavy pressure early on, resulting in a series of early corners as Arsenal attempted to finish the game quickly. Swindon's attacking play was kept to a minimum by Arsenal's more experienced and better conditioned defence and the game developed into a one-way affair. However, the first goal came from Swindon in the 35th minute, against the run of play, scored by
Roger Smart Roger Smart (born 25 March 1943 in Swindon) is an English retired football inside forward. He made his way from schoolboy teams to work up through the youth ranks at Swindon Town before making his début in the reserves in April 1960. He s ...
. A mix-up between defender
Ian Ure John Francombe "Ian" Ure (born 7 December 1939) is a former Scottish football player and manager. Ure started his career with Dundee, before moving to England to play for Arsenal and Manchester United. After eight years in England, Ure returne ...
and
goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
Bob Wilson over a backpass led to confusion in the Arsenal defence, and allowed Smart to capitalise and score. Swindon maintained their 1–0 lead until
half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...
. The second half was again one-sided, with Swindon's tactics being those of all-out defence to protect their lead. Swindon goalkeeper
Peter Downsborough Peter Downsborough (13 September 1943 – 26 September 2019) was a League Cup and Anglo Italian Cup winning English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career A centre forward as a schoolboy, he transferred into the role of goal ...
prevented numerous Arsenal players from scoring, including saving efforts that looked unstoppable from Jon Sammels and
Bob McNab Robert McNab (born 20 July 1943) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. McNab featured for clubs Huddersfield Town, Arsenal, Wolverhampton Wanderers, San Antonio Thunder, Barnet, Vancouver Whitecaps and Tacoma Stars in his pl ...
. Until the 86th minute, it seemed that a great football upset was sure to occur; however Swindon goalkeeper Downsborough tried to claim a ball and fumbled, allowing
Bobby Gould Robert Hewitt Gould (born 12 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. Early life Gould was born in Wyken, Coventry, Warwickshire on 12 June 1946. He is the son of Henry Gould and Helen McKellar Gould (née Morton). He spent h ...
to equalise with a header and take the game into
extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
. Swindon dominated extra time, with the heavy pitch and illnesses tiring the opposition. A header from Smart rebounded off the post after beating the Arsenal goalkeeper. From the resulting corner, Don Rogers became a Swindon hero just before the first period of extra time was over; Arsenal failed to clear the corner and in the resulting goalmouth melée Rogers coolly controlled the loose ball and fired it from close range into the net. Arsenal responded by changing to all-out attack during the second period. However, Ure lost the ball in the Swindon half to Smart, and Arsenal were caught on the counter-attack by a long ball from Smart to Rogers, who receiving the ball midway between the halfway line and Arsenal's penalty area, ran unopposed all the way, rounded Wilson and sealed victory for Swindon in the 109th minute.


Post-match

Arsenal initially claimed that the heavy pitch and illnesses were a major contributing factor to the shock loss. :"I'm not attempting to make any excuses because I thought Swindon were terrific on the day, but six of us had flu and it didn't help that the pitch was cut up so badly. I certainly don't think the game would have gone ahead today. I performed very strongly for the 90 minutes but then when it got to extra-time my legs just went completely."
Frank McLintock Francis McLintock MBE (born 28 December 1939) is a former Scotland international footballer, football manager and businessman. He also worked as a sports agent and football pundit in his later life. He began his career in Scottish Junior footba ...
However, in recent years some players have identified the game as the impetus for Arsenal's later successes in the
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...
of 1970, their first European competition cup, and their first League and FA Cup
double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...
in 1971. :"It's never going to remain the happiest day of my life but I will go to the grave telling people that what we achieved in the years following that League Cup defeat we owe to Swindon. There were certain players who dropped by the wayside, but those who were part of the abuse we got from the London press – who thought there was no way we could lose to a Third Division side – used it as a spur." Bob Wilson National newspapers reported the story the following day under headlines such as "The shame of Arsenal", for example: :"Arsenal, slaves of their own system, methodical but utterly predictable, were finally unhinged by the individual brilliance and flair of the Swindon stars – the small town Cinderellas whom cynics expected to lose to the North London favourites by a bucketful of goals." :"And there could have been a fourth to add to their goal total. A drive from Trollope was sailing into the Arsenal net when it struck the referee, and all Swindon got was a corner." Swindon Town returned to
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
to a heroes' welcome. On Sunday 16 March 1969, a crowd of 8,000 gathered in Regent's Circus, as the players emerged onto the balcony of the
Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
. The Mayor, Alf Bown, raised a glass to the club and called for "promotion" – which Swindon achieved after failing to lose any of their nine remaining matches. A draw at
Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
saw the Town move up into the Second Division. Although League Cup winners, Swindon were ineligible for a place in the
Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup (no ...
(later the
UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
) of 1969–70. At the time the competition was only open to teams from Division One. The
Anglo-Italian Italians in the United Kingdom, also known as British Italians or colloquially Britalians, are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom of Italian heritage. The phrase may refer to someone born in the United Kingdom of Italian descent, some ...
and Anglo Italian League Cups were created in lieu of a proper European competition for the club to compete in. Swindon went on to win the Anglo-Italian League Cup in 1969 and the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1970.


Match facts


Road to Wembley

''Home teams listed first. Information taken from and''


Notes


External links


Club Heroes 1969
– News articles from the
Swindon Advertiser The ''Swindon Advertiser'' is a daily tabloid newspaper, published in Swindon. The newspaper was founded in 1854, and had an audited average daily circulation at the end of 2017 of 8,828. It claims to have been the UK's first provincial 'penny ...
of the victory
Full Results from the 1969 Football League Cup competition
at soccerbase.com

at The English Football Archive

audio interview on swindonweb.com
1969 League Cup Winners
– Video highlights and national newspaper extracts from swindon-town-fc.co.uk
Pathe Newsreel highlights
from British Pathe {{1968–69 in English football League Cup Final EFL Cup Finals League Cup Final 1969 League Cup Final 1969 League Cup Final Football League Cup Final Football League Cup Final