The Fanzine Files #8 England v Finland 1976

Jyrki Nieminen 49

Attendance: 92,500

Ray Clemence, Kevin Beattie, Phil Thompson, Colin Todd, Brian Greenhoff, Trevor Brooking (Mick Mills 73), Ray Wilkins, Mick Channon, Kevin Keegan (C), Joe Royle, Dennis Tueart (Gordon Hill 73)

Goran Enckelman, Ari Mäkynen, Esko Ranta, Jouko Suomalainen (Seppo Pyykko 67), Miikka Toivola, Matti Paatelainen (C), Teppo Heikkinen, Aki Heiskanen, Pertti Jantunen (Esa Heiskanen 61), Jyrki Nieminen, Erkki Vihtila

"The trouble with footballers in this country is..." explained my Granddad, as we marched for what seemed like miles, to where he'd parked his car for a quick getaway and easy access to the North Circular road and the A1 home, "Is that we've got a surplus of England class players, turning out for loads of different clubs, but just because they're England class doesn't necessarily make them international class... and how many of our players would you say are genuinely any better than that who you could call world class?"

It was a rhetorical question, that didn't need answering... but therein, he'd delivered a conundrum that'll probably stand the test of time for as long as I'm around.

I was too naive, young and inexperienced in matters of the world to even begin to comprehend what he meant, while he was talking to me in riddles... but that bit of 'wisdom' stuck and I'm almost certain that I'll be repeating his words to my own grandchildren in years to come, to make myself sound smarter than I actually am in their impressionable company... if I'm ever cruel enough to start taking them along to international games with me. From personal experience, I can say that it's all very character building... but that would depend on what sort of characters you want to help to influence as they begin their journey through life.

Back in June, England had beaten Finland 1-4 in Helsinki and it was probably safe to say that most of the expectant bumper crowd who'd turned out for this game were anticipating more of the same.

For safety reasons, the crowd limit at Wembley is 7,500 less for night night games, than it would be for a bog standard 3PM Saturday afternoon kick-off, but they probably could have filled it well beyond the 100,000 figure if they had moved the game to the weekend, because for this particular game was watched by a sell-out crowd. They came, they saw, they expressed their displeasure and went home very, very disappointed.

England won again... of course, but it was as unconvincing a victory as was unconvincingly possible.

The World Cup qualifying group England were in consisted of four teams: themselves, Finland, Luxembourg and the Italians (who hadn't started their group games yet), with only one team going through to the finals. England had a record thus far of having played two and won two... and their next game would be away against the Italy, a team who'd they had beaten 3-2 in a friendly tournament in the USA the year before, after being 0-2 behind at half-time. Jimmy Rimmer and Joe Corrigan had both played a half apiece in goal in that game.

England were still unbeaten whenever I'd been to Wembley and my proud record now stood at: W 3, D 1, L 0, F 13, A 3. They hadn't played very well against Finland at Wembley, nor the Republic of Ireland in their previous game for that matter, but unbeaten runs inspire optimism and I was still supremely confident that Don Revie was charting a course to the 1978 World Cup, even if I'd come to realise that I wasn't particularly fond of him.

It was accepted that both Luxembourg and the Finns were only there to make the numbers up and that the group winner would be either Engalnd or Enzo Bearzot's Azzurri, The importance of racking up a whole load of goals against the so called 'also rans', was explained to me in great detail... but you can't tell a smart-arsed thirteen year old anything that he doesn't already know and I was sticking to my guns, that England could afford to draw their final group game at Wembley as long as they got the job done in Rome next month. I was aghast at the idea that the two favourites for the group would finish level on points and it would all be decided on goal differential, or whatever using this odd science to decide who won the group is called. 'You may say I'm a dreamer'... imagine that! 

Once again, Revie chopped and changed his team and England started the game with five different players in his starting line-up, to the eleven who'd started against Johnny Giles' Ireland side, in a game that was billed as a preparation for this 'home banker' against Finland, a side who themselves had beaten Luxembourg 7-1 the previous game, which I probably dismissed as being a fluke or a bit of a freak result at the time.

Employing a front four of Mike Channon, Kevin Keegan, Joe Royle and Dennis Tueart, demonstrated the England manager's attacking intentions, but having spotted my brand spanking new England shirt (I'd saved up and got it from 'Sports Supply' on Carolgate in Retford), somebody joked: "Go and warm up by the touchline, you might get a game!" I think it was an ironic quip about all of the different players that Revie employed, rather than a testament to my footballing abilities. 

But, that said, once again tonight, Revie was having to try out yet another experimental right back, with Kevin Beattie playing out of position that problematic berth, so it was probably only a matter of time before some new-blood was drafted in to fill the number 2 jersey.

It all started so well as England opened the scoring in the fourth minute, when Trevor Brooking's corner was glanced towards Joe Royle by Phil Thompson, and though a Finnish defender pushed Big Joe's header away with his hand, Dennis Tueart was on hand to tap the ball into the net from close range. Let the goal avalanche commence! You guys! I said 'Let the goal aval... oh, forget it!' They wouldn't have heard me anyway, as the home crowd turned on the England team as they left the field at half-time to a cacophony of booing and the communal singing of: 'Abide with... err, what a load of rubbish!'

Maybe it was all part of a master-plan and the hosts were saving themselves for the second half, when there superior fitness and consummate professionalism would win the day. or so I pondered. But, then again... three minutes after the interval, the Wembley scoreboard read: England 1 Finland 1, after Ray Clemence allowed a feeble shot by Jurki Neiminen trickle past him, after Aki Heiskanen had been given the freedom of Wembley to charge forward unchallenged, deep into England territory.

Oh well, still forty-two minutes to salvage something out of the game and get the crowd, who were increasingly more abusive and full of hatred towards the home side and the manager in particular, back on side.

Channon streamed forward as far as the dead ball line and cut the ball back to Royle, who craned his neck to restore England's lead.

 'Hey you guys! This time it's for real, let the goal avalanche begin'. Hmmph! Wrong again!

Goran Enckelman pulled off a fine save to deny Keegan, but as the game fizzled out like a non-exploding firework and a large number of people decided that they had seen enough and began to haemorrhage out of the stadium, effectively giving up on Revie's team, England could count themselves lucky that Clemence atoned for his earlier mistake, when he denied Esa Heiskanen, what would've been an equalising goal. Beattie had a goal disallowed for offside late on, but the game had already run it's course long before then.