League Cup Final 1976: City v Newcastle
Manchester City do not have long to wait to forget the woes of Monday night. Facing off against Arsenal in the League Cup Final, it is a chance for Pep to get some silverware in the cabinet. Not as old, or prestigious as the FA Cup, the League Cup has been good to City.
Four times winners, another victory on Sunday would see City as the joint second most succesful side in the competition’s history. Victory would make City five time winners, and join Manchester United and Aston Villa in terms of competition success.
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Yesterday I looked at our first League Cup win in 1970. Today I will look at the 1976 defeat of Newcastle, 2-1. Coming two years after the disappointment of defeat by Wolves we’d also seen the departure of Francis Lee, Neil Young and Mike Summerbee.
Meanwhile, Colin Bell was still on the books, but was never the same after the injury sustained against United. He took no part in this particular Cup Final, and only pulled on the City shirt a handful of times after this fixture.
A side managed by the ex skipper, Tony Book, it was a side with a blend of experience and youth. It wasn’t an easy road to the final either for the blues. Having to take Norwich City to two replays before finally getting through the Second round.
From there it was all sides starting with an ‘M’ or an ‘N’ with Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Mansfield all being dispatched at the first time of asking before eliminating Middlesbrough over two legs.
There were only two of the Manchester City starting lineup who hadn’t played at Wembley before. It was one of those, 19-year-old Peter Barnes, who would open the scoring for the Blues. An equalizer happened ten minutes from the half was devastating for the blues.
However, the half time break proved beneficial for the Blues. ‘Skip’, Tony Book had his boys come out all guns firing. One of the most iconic goals in the history of the competition came a minute after the restart with the Dennis Tueart overhead kick.