THE SEASON IN QUESTION


1981-82 - On the face of it, the 1981-82 season was one of the least inspiring of Shrewsbury Town’s ten campaigns in


Division Two, then the second tier of English Football. They finished in 18th place, their joint lowest spot until they were eventually relegated in 1989, and in the latter part of the season they seemed up against it in their bid to beat the drop that time around. But there were three cup games in 1981-82 – against West Bromwich Albion, Ipswich Town and Leicester City – that will live forever in the memory of anyone fortunate enough to have witnessed them.


The big kick-off came in bright sunshine at Barnsley on August 29 – in those days there were none of the ridiculously early starts to the season we have now. We set off for Oakwell full of hope, and came back having seen an abysmal Town display end in a 4-0 defeat. That game pretty much set the tone: it was a long hard struggle, and only once – in a 4-1 over Derby County at Gay Meadow in September – did Town score more than twice. With three games left we looked doomed, but two home wins in the space of five days, 1-0 against Crystal Palace and 2-0 over Grimsby Town, gave us fresh hope. Town needed a draw at Leicester City on the last day of the season to ensure their survival – and they kept they home side at bay as they held out at 0-0. Cardiff City, Wrexham and Orient went down instead in a season which saw three points awarded for a win for the first time in English football. It turned out to be an excellent innovation, because under the old system of two for a win, Wrexham would have stayed up and Bolton Wanderers would have been relegated instead! The first of those three epic cup games was at home to West Brom in the League Cup in October 1981. A huge crowd of 9,291 saw Albion hand out a football lesson in the first half, and they went in 3-0 up at half-time. But it was a different story after the break – Ian Atkins pulled one back from the spot, Steve Biggins added a second for Town, and Ross Maclaren’s free-kick earned a replay. In January, the TV cameras made a rare visit to the Meadow


to see the FA Cup fifth round clash with Ipswich Town – then high-fliers in the top division. And Shrewsbury won 2-1, thanks to two well-rehearsed set pieces. The first saw Jake King flick the ball over the defensive wall for Steve Cross to volley home, and then King himself finished off the faithful “near post corner” routine This win earned Town a place in the quarter-finals for the second time – and a trip to Leicester for what was quite possible the most amazing game in the club’s history. Larry May headed the home side ahead, but then came the flashpoint which became the real talking point of the game. Chic Bates clashed with Leicester’s experienced keeper Mark Wallington, and was promptly booked. I’ve watched the incident on video scores of times, and there is no doubt Chic was entirely blameless – in fact, it could even have been a penalty for a foul by the keeper. Wallington came out of it worst, however, and was practically motionless as goals by Bates and Jack Keay put Town 2- 1 up. We were leading in the quarter-final of the FA Cup – the


16


Gary Lineker - scored against Town in an amazing game.


excitement was practically unbearable. By now, Leicester had realised Wallington was a liability, and he limped off – to be replaced in goal by striker Alan Young. Just before half-time, with Town defending desperately, Colin Griffin passed back to Bob Wardle – who wasn’t there! The ball ended up in the net, and half- time came with the score at 2-2. After the break, Young was injured when he ran into Bernard McNally, and winger Steve Lynex took over between the posts. Town then ran out of steam, and two goals by Jim Melrose (later to play for Shrewsbury) and one by England legend Gary Lineker saw Leicester home 5-2. At least our next visit to Leicester would have a much happier ending! From a personal point of view, no review of the 1981-82 season would be complete without reference to two of my fellow long-suffering fans from the Oswestry area: Phil Lindop and Tony X (to spare him the embarrassment, I shan’t use his full name). In the League Cup replay at West Brom, the police went completely over the top at the Town end, and were throwing people out of the ground for practically no reason at all. They went a step further with Tony, and he appeared before the local magistrates next morning. The prosecuting police officer read out the charge: “X was one of a group of people chanting ‘You’re the **** of Staffordshire’”.


The magistrate looked down over his glasses at Tony, and


pronounced: “West Bromwich is not in Staffordshire – fined £50”. To this day we don’t know whether Tony had been found guilty of insulting behaviour or bad geography! As for Phil, he could never stand watching the Town play


badly, and he regularly left the ground early when he felt his heroes were under-performing. That season, he set a record he has not yet surpassed – he demanded to be let out of the Meadow when the Canaries went 2-0 up. And there were only six minutes gone…


Mike Robinson is Editor of Kidz in Sport publications. wrexham & shropshire | direct trains to london | www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk


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