Brian Kilcline 30 years on.

Red Kev

The 1987 FA Cup Final was one of the greats, complete underdogs Coventry up against one of the most talented Spurs teams ever with players like Clemence, Hughton, Mabbutt, Hoddle, Allen, Waddle and Ardiles. It came in a run of several highly memorable FA Cup Finals in the 1980's. The year before Liverpool did the double, the year after Wimbledon caused probably the biggest upset in decades, then Liverpool won a few weeks after Hillsborough, the follwoing year was the 3:3 drawn Man Utd-Palace final, which may have saved Ferguson's career.



Brian Kilcline lifted the trophy, he was also one of my favourite players when I was growing up, though he freely admits he should have been sent off in that match. The match had everything you wanted at an FA Cup Final..Underdogs v Glamour, fabulous weather, a team that rarely gets to Wembley, appaling goalkeeping, dodgy fouls, class goals and a team coming back from behind, twice to win the cup.

Highlights are here, but it's well worth watching the full match on youtube as well:

[YOUTUBEPaks-qbF-x8][/YOUTUBE]

So what's Kilcline up to? Well he was always a bit 'alternative', he lives with his wife and a 27ft dragon in Yorkshire. There's a good interview with him here, he's the kind of lad who would spend his premier League wages on something more interesting than a Bentley, a nice haircut and some fake tan.

His wedding gives a taste of the man:

There are so many stories told over the course of a hugely enjoyable couple of hours with Kilcline, including the one about his wedding, which took place at a registry office in December 1994, only 24 hours after the Swindon players went on their Christmas night out.

Lynn found her husband-to-be collapsed outside Swindon train station and Kilcline is convinced that the scene he created back at the marina later on, as he staggered around on the bank by the boat, swearing like a trooper while trying to remove a pair of cowboy boots, “is the only reason she married me because I made her laugh”.

The wedding pictures were taken in a graveyard, the witnesses pulled out of a pub across the road and no one at Swindon was any the wiser when Kilcline rocked up for training the next day.

“We didn’t tell anybody,” he says.

Fr Tod Umptious

That was a memorable Cup final, what a fascinating game.

People say the cup has lost its magic, to a 15 year old at the time that was pure magic.

I don't care for the cup much anymore, that's cos I'm not 15 anymore.
I hope this generations 15 year olds are getting as much out of a big game as I got from that one

kfallon

The money has killed the game to an extent. Back then the FA & League Cup finals were something you looked forward to, a big TV highlight.

These days clubs are more interested in finishing 4th or avoiding relegation from Premier League to maintain revenues that these competitions are seen as nothing but a nuisance.

I loved FA Cup Final day, coverage from midday til 5.30pm. Now I don't care for it much and it saddens me.

That was a great cup final. The late 80s are definitely my favourite period of watching football maybe cos I was only young but mention the name "Elton Welsby" or "Saint & Greavesie" and it immediately conjurs up great memories for me.

Red Kev

When the FA started to put the FA Cup Final on at 5.15pm to suit Sky they helped nail the coffin shut. Coverage would technically start during the Multi Coloured Swap Shop at 9.00am.

Even the oul fella used to tell my mother to go easy on us that day with various jobs we were supposed to do each Saturday.

Great memories, first FA Cup Final I remember was 1977, first one that really stuck out was the madness of 1979.

Zaph

The thing that made the FA Cup Final so special in those days was that live matches on TV were a rarity. So it was the one day of the year you were guaranteed to be able to see a live match, which the BBC and ITV milked for everything it was worth and it was great. The first one I remember was 1975, West Ham against Fulham, Bobby Moore's last game at Wembley.

Zaph

Zaph wrote: »

The thing that made the FA Cup Final so special in those days was that live matches on TV were a rarity. So it was the one day of the year you were guaranteed to be able to see a live match, which the BBC and ITV milked for everything it was worth and it was great. The first one I remember was 1975, West Ham against Fulham, Bobby Moore's last game at Wembley.

BBC used to start the build up early in the morning too, was great.

Beasty

It used to be pretty much the only live football covered outside the major international tournaments and home international championships together with European finals if a British team was involved

Obviously additional TV coverage pre-dated Sky and BSB (and indeed Super Channel, which I think was the first Satellite channel in the UK with live sports coverage)

Then BSkyB took over and live TV coverage became mainstream. It's definitely devalued the Cup Final which is now only one of dozens of "major" matches shown live as a matter of routine nowadays

I manage to go back to the 1970 Leeds versus Chelsea final plus replay