The day Old Trafford went Lawless
It’s a little-known fact that one of Manchester United's most celebrated defeats, inflicted by their own former striker, was attended by an international superstar.
On the sad death of Denis Law, it feels appropriate to dust down a story I’ve told in the pub occasionally over the years. From the age of about eight, my dad started taking me to see Manchester United, two or three times a season from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, as their heyday with George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law receded.
While I might have just clipped the end of the Busby era, I mainly experienced the dismal managerial days of Tommy Docherty and Frank O’Farrell. Of the dozen or so matches I attended I saw United win about twice, while sitting through frequent goalless draws or losses. Thus it was, at the end of the 73/74 season, with Law having departed for Manchester City the year before, United were battling against relegation.
One weekend, my dad, who was very active with the local Territorial Army and Old Comrades, had taken the family along to an event at the Bury Drill Hall. I remember him telling me, amidst the regimental silver, that he had been offered a pair of tickets in the Director’s Box at Old Trafford to watch the United/City match that afternoon. He couldn’t go, but would I like to go with his colleague, a certain Major Etches?
I accepted, of course, aware that this was a pivotal local derby and we needed a win to stay in the then First Division. I duly took my seat alongside the gruff Major in the VIP area, a block of slightly larger seats separated from the main stands by a maroon, leatherette barrier. There were two empty seats to my left.
The atmosphere was frenetic. Fans swayed and tumbled out onto the pitch before the match, chased by hapless bobbies, who eventually herded them back, only for them to spill out again. Kick-off was delayed by many minutes.
Suddenly the Tannoy crackled with an incongruous announcement along the lines, ‘We’re delighted to welcome to Old Trafford the American singer Andy Williams’. (For those under a certain age, he had huge hits in 1960s and 70s including ‘Solitaire’ and ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’). Seconds before kick-off two figures made their way unhurriedly through the assembled directors to the seats next to me: Andy Williams and a colleague I assumed was his manager. The manager, in the seat next to mine, was the shorter of the two, with a shock of dark curly hair, while Andy Williams cut a tall, elegant figure in a long camel wool coat and looked exactly as he did on TV. Why that should be surprising, I don’t know.
One can only speculate why he decided to attend perhaps the most fiercely fought fixture in English football, but his presence was a matter of supreme indifference to the fans and unfortunately he did not witness a fine display of British sportsmanship.
It was a scrappy match, marred by pitch invasions and rowdiness throughout the first half, with constant appeals for calm from the Tannoy. The Major expressed his dissatisfaction, while Mr Williams and his colleague remained impassive throughout, bar the odd whispered word with each other. We all stood up at half time and for a millisecond as I filed out behind the superstar, I considered reaching past his manager and touching his coat. Thankfully, I came to my senses, told myself that would be profoundly uncool and restrained myself.
Needless to say, that was the last we saw of the singer and his manager as they did not return for the second half. By then, as I recall, the fans’ behaviour had slightly improved allowing United to totter towards what looked likely to be another 0-0 draw. In the cruellest of twists, it was a reluctant Denis Law, United’s own star striker the previous season, who back-heeled the winning goal into the net for City – a goal which sealed our fate and triggered a final, match-ending pitch invasion. While it may have been an extraordinary goal for Law and an ignominious moment for United, I doubt Andy Williams lost any sleep knowing he’d missed it.
© Mike Gartside
