Derby fans need no reminding about their beloved club’s financial problems, and this weekend’s fixture list threw up a match that probably haunts their memories in more than one way.
In 1984, Plymouth and Derby were pitted against each other in the FA Cup Quarter Finals and, after a draw at Home Park, they met again at Derby’s Baseball Groun on March 14th.
For Derby, in desperate financial trouble with the Inland Revenue issuing a winding-up order, the tie represented a chance to gain some much-needed cash, with a semi-final at Villa Park against First Division Watford being the prize for the winners.
Peter Taylor, flying solo without Brian Clough, was the Derby manager and faced an injury crisis that almost led to Dave Watson, 37-year-old veteran (and one of the heroes of Sunderland’s 73 Cup win), being picked to play up front – the position he had started his career in for Notts County, Rotherham and Sunderland until Bob Stokoe switched him full-time to the heart of the defence.
On the day, Taylor went with Kevin Wilson and Bobby Davison. It wouldn’t be their night, but Davison and Wilson would go on to have very good careers, with Wilson later firing in goals for Chelsea, while accumulating 42 caps for Northern Ireland, and Davison scoring over 90 goals for the Rams in two separate spells – one of which included promotion back to Division One .
The prospect of First Division football being played at the Baseball Ground seemed highly unlikely after the replay though.
Plymouth, with notable fan and investigative journalist Paul Foot attending despite having his wallet with three tickets stolen in the days before, were to prove too good for their hosts.
Managed by the 27 year-old John Hore, who had an appearance opposite Pele on his CV and had started the season at non-league Bideford, the Pilgrims felt they had deserved to win the first match. Gordon Staniforth in particular was wondering how a shot of his had hit both posts and stayed out. He told the press before the replay that maybe he would mishit one and get a goal from it.
It wasn’t a mishit as such that brought Plymouth their winner, but scorer Andy Rogers declared his goal direct from a corner in the first half to be ‘an absolute fluke’. Team mate Lindsay Smith would emulate Staniforth by hitting the woodwork twice – with separate attempts in his case – and Derby, despite fielding players with impressive medal tallies like Kenny Burns, Archie Gemmill and John Robertson, could find no answer.
Plymouth marched on to an April 14th showdown with Watford, with Paul Foot warning Graham Taylor’s side that the date was the anniversary of the Titanic sinking and even though it ‘had a lot of class and flair’ it didn’t get through.
As it was, John Barnes produced a moment of class and flair to set up a winner for George Reilly and Plymouth’s fairy tale came to an end. They finished the season 19th in Division Three, where they would be joined for the following season by Derby who compounded the misery of missing out on a semi-final by getting relegated from Division Two.
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