Ten tales of City and the Cup

May 16 2008 by Darren Devine, Western Mail

1 The phrase “back to square one” crept into popular usage following the 1927 cup final. Radio commentators relied on a grid published in the Radio Times to help listeners follow their unfolding account of the contest. Square one was the area nearest to the goals.

Football commentator John Murray wrote in the January 2007 issue of the Radio Times that by the time the grid system was dropped in the 1930s the phrase was already in popular usage.

But others suggest the origins of the phrase lie in the board game snakes and ladders or hopscotch.

2He may have claimed the goal that went down in history as the only one to ever bring an FA Cup back to Wales, but Hughie Ferguson’s later life was marred by tragedy.

Ferguson was a City hero long before he wrote history at Wembley, scoring five en route to the final.

But following his Cup final heroics Ferguson was sold in 1929 to Dundee and constant back problems undermined his displays. As a result the striker become despondent.

After being dropped by Dundee he committed suicide on January 9, 1930.

Just three years after his moment of glory at Wembley he gassed himself after a training session, aged just 32, leaving a wife and two children.

3Now synonymous with FA Cup finals, the hymn Abide With Me made its debut under the twin towers in 1927.

Viewed as England’s national hymn it was written by Henry Francis Lyte in 1847 in very tragic circumstances.

Lyte was dying of tuberculosis when he wrote the hymn and lived only three weeks after he finished it.

4Before the final, City adopted a black cat, Trixie, which striker Ferguson believed was a good omen.

He had found her roaming around on the Royal Birkdale golf course as the players prepared for their fifth-round tie at Bolton Wanderers.

The striker visited homeowners nearby and after locating the cat’s owner the pair struck up a deal.

Cardiff City would be allowed to keep Trixie provided the homeowner was given two tickets should they progress to the final.

5Arsenal goalkeeper Dan Lewis’s gaffe that led to Ferguson’s goal has resulted in a long-established tradition at the club of washing their stopper’s shirt before every game.

Ferguson’s 74th-minute winner slipped under Welshman Lewis’s body, leaving conspiracy theorists to suggest the goalkeeper was helping the country of his birth at his club’s expense.

6City goalkeeper Tom Farquharson was a non-violent member of the IRA.

He was a close friend of Sean Lemass – the man who would become Irish Prime Minister between 1959 and 1966.

Farquharson was jailed for taking down wanted posters from St Stephen’s Green, in Dublin.

But a high-ranking Army official and family friend was able to negotiate his release on condition that the goalkeeper left the country.

7Defender Jimmy Nelson, who also featured in the 1925 Cup final when City lost to Sheffield United, became the club’s first player to be sent-off.

Nelson made his dubious claim to fame in the first game of 1925-26 season at Manchester City.

8 City’s Northern Irish pair Tom Watson and Tom Sloan completed a remarkable hat-trick of cup winners’ medals after returning home to play for Linfield.

Already possessing English FA and Welsh Cup winners’ medals the pair added an Irish cup medal to their collection at Linfield.

Sloan was a vital part of the 1927 cup-winning team alongside fellow defender and inspirational captain Fred Keenor.

Despite being plagued by injuries Watson also made a big contribution and happily for him Cardiff’s 1927 cup run coincided with a relatively injury-free period in his career.

9City captain Fred Keenor, arguably the club’s all-time greatest player, almost missed out on the 1927 victory.

The player had asked for a transfer in the February before the Cup final after being dropped from the team.

But Keenor had balked at the suggestion of a move to Division Three South side Bristol Rovers – the only team to make an offer for the defender.

10Englishman Billy Hardy was one of the greatest left-sided players of his day, but fell foul of an unwritten rule that meant he would never represent his country.

Despite his talent the English FA were unwilling to offer places in their national side to players representing teams outside of England.

But the talented football player went on to amass a monumental appearances record for Cardiff City, turning out for the last of his 585 first-team games, aged 41, in a 1-0 win over Gillingham in 1932.