Gordon Davies feels Fulham can lay to rest one of football’s biggest miscarriages of justice by beating Derby County at Craven Cottage tomorrow afternoon.
Fulham’s record goalscorer is delighted to see the Whites back in the top flight after 33 years in the wilderness but the way Malcolm Macdonald’s side were denied promotion at the Baseball Ground in 1983 still rankles with him. The Cottagers needed only a point on the final day of the season and were a goal down with four minutes to go when the match was halted by a pitch invasion.
Robert Wilson was assaulted by a Derby fan as he sought to play the ball by the touchline, Davies himself was confronted by three home supporters and there were ugly scenes as the referee decided to take the players off the field of play. On police advice, the referee elected not to play the final three minutes and, unbelievably, the result stood following a Football Association hearing. Davies told the Evening Standard:
“It was an outrage. The referee accepted there were three minutes to go but they were never played. Under any other circumstance the match would have been replayed, perhaps behind closed doors. But the FA bottled it and turned down the club’s appeal.
They thought because Fulham were a small club and wouldn’t make too much fuss they could walk over us and Leicester were promoted instead. They thought because Fulham were a small club and wouldn’t make too much fuss they could walk over us and Leicester were promoted instead.
Fans were gathered all around the edges of the pitch and it was a really intimidating atmosphere. Robert Wilson actually got kicked in the thigh by a fan as he sprinted up the wing and nobody did anything about it. When I hit a shot wide I rushed to get the ball and these three skinheads surrounded me. I’ll take out the expletives, but they basically told me if I scored a goal they would break my legs. When we got in the changing room everyone was badly shaken. We didn’t want to go back out there but we never thought the game wouldn’t be replayed. As far as I’m concerned it’s the longest running game in history, because the final whistle still hasn’t gone 18 years later.”
Davies, who now a pest control company is delighted the good times have returned to the Cottage, believes the sky is the limit for Fulham under Jean Tigana.
“Things are so exciting there these days. Louis Saha looks like he could break my goalscoring record one day and the fans have plenty of new heroes to cheer. It’s absolutely wonderful to see them in the Premiership at last. I can’t help thinking they should have been there all along, mind you. I’ll always think that. But three points against Derby will certainly make things a lot better.”