Stokoe, Sunderland and 73: The Story Of the Greatest FA Cup Final Shock of All Time

by Lance Hardy

50th anniversary edition of the story of the team that caused the last, great FA Cup upset...'Times have changed but this book is an engrossing reminder for all fans' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY'An essential piece of British football history for fans of any club. Brilliantly researched and written with an undisguised passion' Guy Mowbray, BBC's Match of the DayToday, it seems inconceivable that a team from the lower reaches of the Championship could beat the likes of Chelsea or Manchester United in the FA Cup Final. Yet, on 5 May 1973 that is exactly what happened. Six months earlier, Bob Stokoe took on an ailing Sunderland team, struggling at the bottom of the second division. But the long road to Wembley sees them beating Arsenal and Manchester City to reach the final, where they face Don Revie's mighty Leeds United in a game few expect them to win. Yet what lies ninety minutes ahead is the greatest FA Cup Final shock of all time. Sunderland's victory was, arguably, the last fairytale of recent footballing times. In STOKOE, SUNDERLAND AND '73, Lance Hardy talked with all the Sunderland players who turned out at Wembley that day and to the family of Bob Stokoe, to produce the definitive account of an unforgettable game.

381 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 21, 2010

Reviews

[s patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read. Takes you back to a time when football wasn't spoilt by all the money and when the F.A. Cup was in its prime and the greatest competition in the world.
It's also the story of an incredible team overcoming all the odds not just to get to the final but to beat the best club in Europe at the time.
Nobody gave them a chance but they did it and this book tells the story superbly.

[Guy Boersma · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is even richer for all this context, lots of which I didn't know.