Barnsley, in the 3rd division, upset 2nd division Blackpool in the 3rd Round, then Southend United away in the 4th, went to Anfield and beat Liverpool in the 5th, and defeated mighty Chelsea at home in the Quarterfinal, before falling to Cardiff in the Semifinal.
Cardiff, in the 2nd division, beat top-flight Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 5th Round, and top-flight Middlesbrough in the Quarterfinal, before beating Barnsley, to become the 1st Welsh club, the 1st club from outside England, to reach the Final since Cardiff themselves in 1927.
And Hampshire-based Portsmouth stunned Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Quarterfinal, and beat West Bromswich Albion in the Semifinal, to set up the unlikeliest Final in perhaps the history of the tournament. Portsmouth won, 1-0, on Nwankwo Kanu's goal in the 37th minute.
Honorable Mention. March 31, 1894, Final: Notts County over Bolton Wanderers, 4-1. County, from Nottingham, were the 1st club from outside Division One to win the Cup, beating the Manchester-area Wanderers. Of all the English clubs that have won at least 1 major trophy, County have the longest drought: That Cup win, 124 years ago, remains their last.
Honorable Mention. April 20, 1901, Final: Tottenham Hotspur over Sheffield United. "Spurs," then in the Southern League, won the Final in a replay, and were the 1st team from outside the Football League to win the Cup, as their fans never cease to remind everyone else. The Southern League was, then, roughly equivalent to the 3rd division.
Honorable Mention. April 25, 1908, Final: Wolverhampton Wanderers over Newcastle United, 3-1. "Wolves," from the West Midlands, were in the middle of the 2nd division, while Newcastle finished 4th in the 1st, had won the League the year before, and were in their 3rd Final in 4 years -- losing them all.
Honorable Mention. April 24, 1912, Final: Barnsley over West Bromwich Albion, 1-0. Truly the latest goal in FA Cup Final history: In the 118th minute of a replay, Harry Tufnell scores to lead the 2nd division Yorkshire side over the top-flight West Midlands club. (West Brom and Wolves, arch-rivals, both play in "the Black Country," and their games are known as "the Black Country Derby.") Barnsley have never won another major trophy, 106 years later.
Honorable Mention. April 23, 1927, Final: Cardiff City over Arsenal, 1-0. This wasn't a huge upset: Both clubs were in the 1st division, and each had finished 2nd recently: Arsenal the season before, Cardiff 3 years before. Just 2 years before, Cardiff became the 1st Welsh club to reach the Final -- with a couple of Scottish exceptions in the 1880s, they'd otherwise been all English teams.
In the 74th minute, Hughie Ferguson shot for the Bluebirds, and Arsenal keeper Dan Lewis corralled it, but it squeezed under his elbow and into the net. Cardiff remain the only club from outside England ever to win the FA Cup -- and, unless you count the subsequent Charity Shield (now known as the Community Shield), have never won another major trophy.
Honorable Mention. April 25, 1931, Final: West Bromwich Albion over Birmingham City, 2-1. After being the top-flight team that was shocked in the 1912 Final, this time, the "Baggies" were the 2nd-division shockers.
Honorable Mention. January 29, 1949, 4th Round: Yeovil Town over Sunderland, 2-1. Yeovil may be the biggest club in Somerset in the West Country, but they were then in the 4th division. Sunderland, of the North-East, had been a power since the late 1920s. But, having already beaten Bury in the 3rd Round, Yeovil had no fear, and beat the "Mackems." In the 5th Round, Cup holders Manchester United put a crushing 8-0 end to their dream.
Honorable Mention. February 15, 1964, 5th Round: Oxford United over Blackburn Rovers, 3-1. Oxford were struggling to avoid relegation from the 4th division, and thus out of the League entirely. Yet they beat Folkestone in the 1st Round, Kettering Town in the 2nd, Chesterfield in the 3rd, then beat Brentford away in a replay in the 4th. Lancashire club Blackburn finished 7th in the 1st division, but Oxford beat them, too.
Another Lancashire club, 2nd division Preston North End, eliminated them in the Quarterfinals, going on their own unlikely run, beat Welsh club Swansea Town (now Swansea City) in the Semifinal, before losing to West Ham United in the Final.
Honorable Mention. May 1, 1976, Final: Southampton over Manchester United, 1-0. The Hampshire "Saints," then in the 2nd division, won their 1st major trophy when Bobby Stokes scored in the 83rd minute to beat the Cup holders. In 40 years, they have never won another.
Honorable Mention. January 8, 1980, 3rd Round Replay: Harlow Town over Leicester City, 1-0. Harlow were in Essex, and in the 6th division, but beat Southend United in the 2nd Round, before going to Filbert Street and playing Leicester to a draw, and then winning the replay at home. The dream ended the next round, away to Elton John-owned Hertfordshire club Watford.
Honorable Mention. May 10, 1980, Final: West Ham United over Arsenal, 1-0. This all-London match was supposed to be a mismatch: The Hammers were in the 2nd division, while Arsenal were in their 3rd straight FA Cup Final (having lost to Ipswich Town in 1978 and dramatically beaten Manchester United in 1979), and were about to play the European Cup Winners' Cup Final in 4 days. But Trevor Brooking scored for West Ham, and they took the Cup.
They remain the last team from outside the top flight to win it. Arsenal would lose their European final on penalties to Spanish club Valencia. But they have won several major trophies since. West Ham have won none, unless you count the 1999 Intertoto Cup.
Honorable Mention. January 7, 1984, 3rd Round: AFC Bournemouth over Manchester United, 2-0. If Man U were the club that they would become in the 1990s, this would have been a much bigger upset. As it was, United were the Cup holders. But Bournemouth, the biggest club in Dorset but only a 3rd division side, knocked them out.
It was the 1st big win for Bournemouth's manager, whose career would be filled with amazing highs and disgraceful lows: Harry Redknapp.
Honorable Mention. January 7, 1989, 3rd Round: Sutton United over Coventry City, 2-1. Sutton is in Southwest London, Coventry in the West Midlands. This remains the last time a non-league side (5th division or lower) knocked out a top-flight team. This would be in the Top 10 if Coventry had been a more successful club.
But the game was still scoreless in the 2nd half, when West Ham's insane Italian striker, Paolo Di Canio, took a pass, and charged toward the goal. Fabien Barthez, keeper for the France team that was the current holders of both the World Cup and the European Championship, stuck his hand up, to signal to the linesmen that Di Canio was offside. So did several other United players. But the linesmen's flags stayed up, and Di Canio just plainly booted it past Barthez.
West Ham hung on for the 1-0 win, and the game became known as "Taxi for Barthez!" (While "Taxi for... " is a common phrase for a player who's been made to look like a fool, with that hand in the air, he really did look like he was hailing a cab.)
Honorable Mention. January 29, 2017, 4th Round: Sutton United over Leeds United, 1-0. The U's strike again. They beat League teams Cheltenham Town, AFC Wimbledon and Leeds United, earning them a match, at home at 5,013-seat Gander Green Lane, against Arsenal, and only lost 2-0.
Now for the Top 10:
10. February 13, 1971, 5th Round: Colchester United over Leeds United, 3-2. Leeds rose out of the 2nd division under manager Don Revie, and were runners-up in both the League and the FA Cup Final in 1965, won the League Cup in 1968, won the League in 1969, and lost the Cup Final in 1970. In 1971, they were dueling with Arsenal for the League title.
Colchester, out of Essex? They were in the 4th division. No way were they going to take down Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles and Norman "Bites Yer Legs" Hunter. Yet they did.
Everton beat them in the next round. Leeds blew the League title to Arsenal, who won the Cup to "do The Double." Leeds beat Arsenal in the next season's Final, but blew the League again. The next year, 1973... Well, I'll get to that.
9. January 4, 1975, 3rd Round: Wimbledon over Burnley, 1-0. The Southwest London club were in the 5th division, yet they won away to the 1st division side from Lancashire. It was the 1st time in 55 years that a non-league side beat a top-flight team away. Then, in the 4th Round, they went to Elland Road, and played Leeds to a draw, before falling at home in the replay. They were elected to the League 2 years later.
8. January 4, 2003, 3rd Round: Shrewsbury Town over Everton, 2-1. Everton have spent more seasons in the 1st division than any other club. Shrewsbury were then in the 4th division, 80 places below the "Toffees." Yet they pulled off the victory -- managed by Kevin Ratcliffe, a former Everton captain. But they were mauled by Chelsea in the 4th Round, and were relegated out of the League, following their greatest achievement with their greatest shame, just 4 months later.
7. February 5, 1972, 3rd Round Replay: Hereford United over Newcastle United, 2-1. This shouldn't have even gotten to a replay. North-East club Newcastle, led by striker Malcolm Macdonald, a.k.a. Supermac, were top-flight perennials. Hereford, in the West Country hard by the border with Wales, were in the 5th division. Yet they worked a draw against the "Geordies," setting up a replay at their ground, Edgar Street, which could hold only 14,313, about 1/3rd of what Newcastle's St. James Park could then hold.
"The Toon" took a 1-0 lead, but a couple of familiar names -- well, surnames -- did the business for the Bulls. Ronnie Radford scored the equaliser, and Ricky George the winner. It was noted that they had the same names as Arsenal's strikers, John Radford (who had assisted the Cup-winning goal the season before) and Charlie George (who had scored it).
Hereford then took West Ham to a replay in the 4th Round, before bowing out against Bobby Moore and the "Irons." But, due to its constant replaying in the opening sequence of BBC's Match of the Day, Ricky George's goal remains iconic.
Sadly, due to financial irregularities, Hereford United, in League One (the 3rd division) as recently as 2009, were kicked out of the Conference (5th Division) in 2014, and then went out of business. A new Hereford F.C. was formed, and had to start over, in the 9th division. They are now in the 7th.
Newcastle reached the Final again in 1974, but lost to Liverpool. They lost the Final in back-to-back seasons, 1998 and '99, and haven't won the Cup since 1955.
6. January 14, 1933, 3rd Round: Walsall over Arsenal, 2-0. Arsenal were top of the League, had finished runners-up in both League and Cup the season before, won the League the season before that, and won the Cup the season before that. Walsall, in the West Midlands, were in the 3rd division.
But when Herbert Chapman, the manager who revolutionized English football, took his team to Walsall's Fellows Park, he rested some of his key players, to keep them fresh for the League season. He paid for that in the short term, as Walsall pulled off the biggest upset in FA Cup history to that point. But it worked in the long run, as Arsenal won the next 3 League titles.
Half a century later, in the fall of 1983, Walsall shocked Arsenal again, this time in the League Cup.
5. January 4, 1992, 3rd Round: Wrexham over Arsenal, 2-1. To fans of The Arsenal, a.k.a. the Gunners -- the fans are called Gooners -- this trip to the Racecourse Ground in North Wales is known as The Wrexham Disaster. Always Capital T, Capital W, Capital D.
They blew a 1-0 lead, and the winning goal was scored late for 4th division Wrexham by 37-year-old Welsh thug (and soon-to-be convicted felon) Micky Thomas -- not to be confused with the Michael "Mickey" Thomas who scored the goal that won Arsenal the League in 1989. Gooners who want Wenger out forget that he's never lost in the 3rd Round -- in fact, this was the last time it's happened, and it happened under their golden boy, George Graham.
That might be the most distressing loss in Arsenal's history, even more so than the Walsall defeat. But it wasn't as embarrassing as what happened to their North London neighbors in 2010:
4. April 10, 2010, Semifinal: Portsmouth over Tottenham Hotspur, 2-0. "Pompey" had won the Cup in 2008, managed by, yes, Harry Redknapp. But, as he had done to Portsmouth before, as he had done to their arch-rivals Southampton, and as he had done to West Ham, he left for what seemed like a better job, leaving a financial wreck behind.
Only in Pompey's case, "wreck" was every bit as literal as it was figurative: He had bought the club its 1st major trophy since the 1950 League title, the only top-flight trophy he has ever won in 30 seasons as a manager, at the cost of a financial meltdown that saw them put into administration, docked points, and relegated in 2010, '11 and '12, all the way from the Premier League to League Two. Twice in that period, they came within mere hours of going out of business, before the cash necessary to keep them afloat was found.
Yet in the 2010 FA Cup, they beat Coventry City away in a 3rd Round Replay, beat Sunderland in the 4th Round, then beat their most hated rivals, Southampton, away in the 5th Round, and stunned Birmingham City in the Quarterfinal.
In the Semifinal, their 1st trip to Wembley (old or new) since the 1939 FA Cup Final (which they won), who did they face? Tottenham, who were about to finish 4th in the League, and clinch their 1st berth in the European Cup/Champions League in 49 years. The manager who took perennially underachieving "Spurs" to this point? None other than Redknapp himself. And Wembley is only across town from Tottenham, while it's over 100 miles from Portsmouth.
But Pompey held Spurs to a scoreless draw, and scored 2 extra time goals, starting Redknapp's infamous twitching, and showing Spurs to be a choking team as usual: They haven't won a major trophy since the 1991 FA Cup, and haven't even been to an FA Cup Final since then, 0-3 in Semifinals in those 27 years. Against all odds, Pompey were in their 2nd FA Cup Final in 3 seasons. But they lost to Chelsea, and their freefall was underway.
Redknapp left Spurs in a mess in 2012, but not like he did to Pompey, who finally got promoted from League Two to League One last season. Now, they have stable ownership, and won't be relegated out of the League entirely. Redknapp has since gotten 2 more clubs relegated, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City.
3. May 14, 1988, Final: Wimbledon over Liverpool, 1-0. In just 13 years, the "Wombles" had gone from non-league shockers to a 1st division side, and produced the most shocking FA Cup Final yet seen.
Lawrie Sanchez stunned newly-crowned League Champions Liverpool in the 37th. But on the hour, Liverpool were awarded what replays showed was a bogus penalty, and from Southampton on the South Coast on up to Carlisle near Hadrian's Wall, English footy fans were saying, "Liverpool get all the breaks, bloody typical!"
Except Dave Beasant stopped John Aldridge's spot-kick, making him the 1st goalkeeper ever to deny a penalty kick in an FA Cup Final. When it was over, Beasant had also become the 1st goalie who was also the Captain of an FA Cup-winning side, and BBC broadcaster John Motson, noting Wimbledon's aggressive attitude, exemplified by eventual tough-guy actor Vinny Jones, "The Crazy Gang have defeated the Culture Club!" Motty made up the name, but Wimbledon were the Crazy Gang for years to come.
2. May 11, 2013, Final: Wigan Athletic over Manchester City, 1-0. Wigan, from outside Manchester, had reached the Premier League in 2004, and had just barely avoided relegation a few times. This time, they didn't. And Man City were the defending Premier League Champions, and had won the Cup 2 years earlier. So they were heavily favored. But Ben Watson, who came on in the 81st minute, scored in stoppage time to produce a Final upset even bigger than Wimbledon 25 years earlier.
The following season, the same clubs met in the Quarterfinal, and Wigan beat Man City again, and nearly beat Arsenal in the Semifinal, taking a 1-0 lead on a penalty before allowing an equaliser and losing on penalties.
1. May 5, 1973, Final: Sunderland over Leeds United, 1-0 (pictured above). Ian Porterfield scored the goal in the 31st, and the Mackems became the 1st club from the 2nd division to win the Cup since West Brom in 1931. Cup holders Leeds were "nearly men" again. They would win the League in 1974, but lose the European Cup Final in 1975. Sunderland haven't won a major trophy in the 45 years since.
I like to compare the FA Cup to "March Madness," the NCAA basketball tournament. Well, 10 years before North Carolina State won the National Championship and coach Jim Valvano ran around the court "looking for somebody to hug," Mackem manager Bob Stokoe did much the same thing.
