Great Tracksuits of Our Time: No.15

Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers (1974):

In the world of international fashion, bright citrus-coloured pants have rarely, if ever, been considered as acceptable. The same can be said of sky blue two-piece outfits with red trimmings.

Luckily the world of football doesn't concern itself with international fashion, and this undoubtedly allowed the 1974 League Cup Final to be one of the most colourful occasions ever seen at Wembley. And that was before the match got started.

As the two teams walked out onto the pitch for the big match, 97,000 fans could have been excused for whipping out their sunglasses and shielding their eyes from the glare.

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Tried and failed: The Case of the Missing Ribbons

Sometimes, if you look hard enough throughout its long and illustrious history, you can find evidence of a failed attempt to make football better.

Here's an example from the 1976 League Cup Final where we see Man City captain Mike Doyle proudly lifting the trophy. But where are the coloured ribbons of the winning team?

The answer? There weren't any, because in 1976 some bright spark thought it would be a great idea to do away with tradition and replace the ribbons with a rosette instead.

This neatly explains the reason why we still see ribbons attached to the FA Cup and League Cup today: because tradition is good and new-fangled forward thinking rarely, if ever, works. Here endeth the lesson.

Seen any other backfiring attempts to make football even better than it already is?  If so, drop us a line - we're at admin [at] thefootballattic [dot] com.

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