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| John McGrann |
As a Liverpool FC fan in the 70s and 80s I was lucky to see many great games and glory days and nights. There were disappointments of course but we won many trophies and there were many stories of Wembley visits, Rome and other foreign excursions. Following my home town team with plenty of ‘Scousers’ on the pitch was an honour – I was a lucky guy!
But THE most memorable day in my life remains 24th April 1971. I was 11 years old and we lived in Skelmersdale, a new town 15 miles from my birth place of Bootle. They had an amateur team which had reached the F.A. Amateur Cup Final in 1967 losing out in a replay to Enfield at Maine Road, Manchester.
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| Match Programme |
This time ‘Skem’ had reached the final to play Dagenham at Wembley. The town full of people from Liverpool was on the road to London. Liverpool and Everton fans united in a belief that Skem could win a trophy dominated by southern teams for a long time. Skem played in blue – the colour of Everton F.C. I could just about drape the scarf around my neck as a ‘Red’. Dagenham were big favourites…
My Dad took me and he was a veteran of travelling to big games with Liverpool FC. The whole town was on the move and also a substantial number from Liverpool itself. We boarded the coaches early morning with our bags of sandwiches and flasks of tea and coffee. The songs and banter soon got underway …the atmosphere was building. Despite the travel sickness I was in heaven...
I am pretty sure Dagenham took the lead in front of a 60,000+ crowd. There must have been 40,000 supporting Skem there. We still believed. The noise was terrific and Skem dominated the rest of the game running out 4:1 winners with a great hat-trick from Ted Dicken and one from Andy Windsor. We watched the team lift the trophy and parade around Wembley – it was fantastic. Unforgettable…
We rushed off to the coach and left London at 6pm. The next target was to get home by 10pm to watch ‘Match of the Day’. Four hours on a coach is a long journey for a kid but I was exhausted and slept. We made it home to watch some Division One action and then there was a mention of Skem’s historic win! Fantastic!
We welcomed the team back to Skem and they were treated to a Town Hall reception. I think 10 of the team were from Liverpool. They produced some good players over the years including Steve Heighway of Liverpool, Mickey Burns of Blackpool and Newcastle and Alan Mansley of Chelsea.
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| Jim & Steve Heighway 1974 |
Many great days followed that day whilst an Everton schoolboy and youth player and a mad Liverpool FC fan but this day at Wembley will never be forgotten.
A few years later Steve Heighway presented brother Jim a trophy as captain of boys team Fir Tree United.
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