The 1991 Football League Cup Final was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

match played on 21 April 1991 between

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. It was the first of two years that the competition was sponsored by

Rumbelows Rumbelows was an electrical and electronics retailer in the United Kingdom that once rivalled Currys, Dixons and Comet. History The company was established by Fred Dawes as a chain of television and radio rental shops in the 1950s, and named aft ...

. Despite the previous season's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

winners, Manchester United, being favourites to lift the trophy,

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side Sheffield Wednesday won the match 1–0, the winning goal scored by John Sheridan, giving the Owls their first

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

title in a season when they also won promotion back to the top flight. The match is regarded as one of the most memorable League Cup finals of all time. As of 2022, it is the last time a team from outside the top flight has won any major trophy. The trophy was presented to Wednesday skipper

Nigel Pearson Nigel Graham Pearson (born 21 August 1963) is an English football manager and former professional player, currently the manager of Championship club Bristol City. During his playing career, he was a defender and played for Shrewsbury Town, Shef ...

by Rumbelows employee of the year Tracy Bateman. Pearson was also named man of the match.

Route to final

The

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

is a cup competition open to clubs in

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. It is played on a knockout basis with the first, second and semi-final rounds being contested over a

two-legged tie In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum o ...

, rounds three to five are settled on the day with replays and possibly

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 ...

required to determine the winner. As clubs in the top two divisions of The Football League, both teams entered the competition in the second round.

Manchester United

Manchester United's second-round tie saw them drawn against

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

; they won the first leg at

The Shay The Shay is a sports stadium in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium is owned by Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council and leased by the Shay Stadium Trust, a not-for-profit company set up to preserve the ground as a sports stadiu ...

3–1, with goals from

Clayton Blackmore Clayton Graham Blackmore (born 23 September 1964) is a Welsh former international footballer. He was a combative player known for his attacking free kicks and a utility player who excelled in defence, but could play equally well in midfield. Bl ...

Brian McClair Brian John McClair (born 8 December 1963) is a Scottish football coach and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a forward from 1980 to 1998, notable for his near 11-year spell at Manchester United where he won 14 trophies includi ...

and

Neil Webb Neil John Webb (born 30 July 1963) is an English football manager, former footballer and television pundit. He primarily played as a midfielder but also played as a defender between 1980 and 1997, notably in the top flight for Manchester Unit ...

, before

Viv Anderson Vivian Alexander Anderson, MBE (born 29 July 1956) is an English former professional footballer and coach. He won five senior trophies including the 1977–78 Football League title, and both the 1978–79 European Cup and the 1979–80 European ...

and

Steve Bruce Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre-back. He most recently managed West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Br ...

gave them a 2–1 win at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

and a 5–2 aggregate victory. Anderson, who was by now rarely used in the United first team, went on to be sold to Sheffield Wednesday three months later, his appearance for United in the early stages of the competition making him ineligible for Wednesday's matches and denying him the chance to add to the two League Cup medals he had won with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and a later medal in the competition won with

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 ...

. They were then drawn against rivals and reigning First Division champions

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in the third round, where

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, and a ...

and

Lee Sharpe Lee Stuart Sharpe (born 27 May 1971) is an English professional golfer, former professional footballer, sports television pundit and reality television personality. As a player was predominantly a left winger from 1988 to 2004, he notably play ...

joined Bruce on the score sheet in a 3–1 home win. In the fourth round, a 19-year-old Sharpe scored a hat-trick in addition to goals from Blackmore, Hughes and Danny Wallace to give United a 6–2 away win over

, who would go on to win the First Division title that season, just over a month after the two teams had been involved in a mass brawl during a 1–0 Arsenal win at Old Trafford that saw both teams deducted points. In the fifth round, United were held to a 1–1 draw away to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, Hughes scoring their only goal; Hughes was again the only United player on the score sheet in the replay a week later, scoring a hat-trick in a 3–2 win that put them into the semi-finals. Southampton striker

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer CBE DL (born 13 August 1970) is an English football pundit and retired football player and manager who played as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in Premie ...

, who within months was reported to be transfer target for Manchester United, scoring all of Southampton's goals during the two cup clashes with United. Goals from McClair and Sharpe gave United a 2–1 win in the first leg of the semi-final at home 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 ...

, and Sharpe scored again in the second leg – his sixth League Cup goal of the season – as United won 1–0, and 3–1 on aggregate, to put them into their second League Cup final.

Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday, whose last major honour had been the FA Cup in 1935, were fresh from relegation to the Second Division when they were drawn against Third Division

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

in the second round, winning 2–1 in each of the two legs to put them into the third round. There they met fellow

side

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 ...

, who held them to a goalless draw at Hillsborough, before succumbing to a 1–0 defeat at the County Ground in the replay a week later. Wednesday required another replay in the fourth round, after they played out another draw at home to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

, but beat them 2–1 at the

Baseball Ground The Baseball Ground (sometimes referred to as the BBG) was a stadium in Derby, England. It was first used for baseball as the home of Derby Baseball Club from 1890 until 1898 and then for football as the home of Derby County from 1895 until 19 ...

two weeks later. The quarter-final saw Wednesday drawn away to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

, where a 1–0 victory for Wednesday ended any hopes that Coventry's new player-manager

Terry Butcher Terry Ian Butcher (born 28 December 1958) is an English football manager and former player. He works as an academy coach for Ipswich Town. During his playing career as a defender, Butcher captained the England national team, winning 77 caps ...

might have had of beginning his managerial career with silverware. Their semi-final opponents were

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. The first leg of the semi-final was played at

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

, where goals from

Peter Shirtliff Peter Andrew Shirtliff (born 6 April 1961) is an English football coach and former player. As a player, he made more than 500 appearances in the Football League playing as a central defender for Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton Athletic, Wolverham ...

and David Hirst gave them a 2–0 win, before

, Danny Wilson and Paul Williams gave them a 3–1 win in the second leg at Hillsborough to put them into the final, 5–1 on aggregate. It was Wednesday's first Wembley cup final in 25 years.

Match details

Yorkshire Television controversy

The broadcast of this League Cup final caused controversy in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, where instead of showing the post-match celebrations (as

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...

did),

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

decided to cut the broadcast short to show a programme titled ''War of the Monster Trucks''. People from Sheffield often cite this event as a demonstration of the station's bias towards

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

and above all

. The incident inspired the name of the Sheffield Wednesday

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

'' War of the Monster Trucks''.

References

External links

Line-ups
{{Sheffield Wednesday F.C. matches

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

League Cup Final 1991 League Cup Final 1991 1990–91 Football League Football League Cup Final Football League Cup Final