London Weekend Football Highlights 1968-83
On 11th August 1968, two weeks after the channel launched on air*, London Weekend Television screened the first ever edition of the weekly Sunday afternoon highlights show The Big Match, the fixture list conveniently threw up a North London derby at White Hart Lane to be featured as the opening game, Arsenal beat Spurs 2-1. The Big Match would continue to feature London clubs playing at home for the next fifteen season's.**

*Commercial television viewers in the London area had previously been served by ATV at weekends, they had produced an infrequent football highlights show since 1965 called Star Soccer, the original commentator was Peter Lorenzo before Hugh Johns took over in 1966. From July 1968 ATV broadcast to the Midlands 7 days a week, Star Soccer then continued as a Midlands equivalent of The Big Match.
***The Big Match was often screened by other smaller regions who struggled to justify covering matches of their own.

The LWT region's league teams 1968-1983
Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, West Ham United, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers, Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic, Millwall, Orient, Watford, Brentford and Wimbledon. Fringe clubs included Luton Town (shared with Anglia), Gillingham and Brighton & Hove Albion (shared with Southern/TVS) and Oxford United (primarily ATV/Central).

LWT commentator and studio personal
Brian Moore commentated and presented The Big Match throughout its' entire run. Born on 28th February 1932 and raised in Kent (he supported Gillingham), Moore joined BBC Radio in 1961 and commentated on the 1966 World Cup final before moving into Television with LWT two years later. Aside from Sunday highlights, he presented ITV's Saturday lunchtime preview sequence On The Ball as well as commentating on Internationals, Cup finals and Thames Television's mid-week highlights. For ITV's World Cup coverage Moore anchored from a London studio leaving the other regional commentators to cover the actual games, but this arrangement changed in 1990 and he was behind the mic at England's semi-final v West Germany in Italy. By this time he had undergone heart surgery, but continued to commentate for ITV until his retirement in 1998, his last match was the World Cup final in France won by the hosts. Brian Moore died on 1st September 2001 at the age of 69.
It was Jimmy Hill who had been responsible for bringing Moore to LWT, the ex-Fulham player was the channel's original 'Head of sport' and he appeared alongside Moore in the studio as a ground breaking analyst on The Big Match from August 1968 until May 1973. Hill then left for the BBC, becoming the face of Match of the Day for the next two decades.
Jim Rosenthal (an Oxford United fan) joined ITV in August 1980 and began reading The Big Match football news round-up from the start of the 1980/81 season,  he went on to present many major sporting events and remained with ITV until 2008.

The Big Match theme tunes
The original theme was a piece called "Young Scene" composed by Keith Mansfield and performed by The Graham Walker Sound, the next tune was introduced in the early 1970's but appears to have been short lived and is largely forgotten, then came the fondly remembered "Bum-titty, bum-titty, bum bum bum" version circa 1974*. The 3rd and final theme was Jeff Wayne's "Jubilation", used from the start of the 1980/81 season**.

*The 3rd Big Match theme is available for download from Chris Moyles site here. Does anybody know who composed/performed this?
**At least one other region [Granada] also used Jeff Wayne's tune for their own highlights programme, both Waynes's 1980 recording and the original 1968 Big Match theme can be downloaded from this page.

The Wednesday Special / The Midweek Match / Midweek Sports Special
LWT held the weekend franchise for ITV London whilst the Monday-Friday Capital service was provided by Thames Television (1968-1992) who were therefore able to cover mid-week London matches. Mid-week football highlights were mostly networked, originally as The Wednesday Special (until 1976) then The Midweek Match (until 1978) before Midweek Sports Special was introduced for the 1978/79 season. Brian Moore was very much involved in both a presenting and commentary capacity, Jim Rosenthal was also a regular face in the studio in the 1980's. Midweek Sports Special wasn't just football, although this and boxing tended to dominate the programme.

What matches were shown
The following lists detail all the fixtures recorded by LWT for highlights on The Big Match, the re-edits of other region's matches are not included here (see the other region's pages for those). Given dates are for when the match was played (not the broadcast). Blanks* denote that we don't know what game was shown (if one was shown at all), winter postponements may have forced LWT to occasionally schedule an alternate non-football programme. Known mid-week & pre-season London matches (not necessarily aired under The Big Match title) are included in grey, networked ITV coverage of other matches of interest are in italics.

*Do please e-mail [email protected] if you are able to fill in any blanks/missing scorers.

Season 1968/69
All editions of "The Big Match" during this season were broadcast in 405-line black & white on VHF only.
10/Aug    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Greaves) Arsenal 2 (Beal(og), Radford)
17/Aug    Chelsea 3 (Tambling, Baldwin 2) West Bromwich Albion 1 (Brown)
24/Aug    Queens Park Rangers 1 (Bridges) Manchester City 1 (Doyle) *Brian Moore claimed in his book that this was his first LWT match
31/Aug    Chelsea 2 (Birchenall, Osgood) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Greaves, Jones)
07/Sep    Oxford United 1 (Evanson) Fulham 0
14/Sep    West Ham United 2 (Peters, Hurst) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Gilzean, Greaves)
21/Sep    Chelsea 1 (Tambling) West Ham United 1 (Peters)
28/Sep    Arsenal 0 Sunderland 0
05/Oct    Watford 1 (Low) Luton Town 0
10/Oct    Arsenal 2 (Court, Radford) Coventry City 1 (Hunt)
19/Oct    Chelsea 3 (Baldwin 3) Leciester City 0.
26/Oct    Queens Park Rangers 2 (Leach, Wilks) Manchester United 3 (Best 2, Law)
02/Nov    West Ham United 4 (Moore, Peters, Hurst, Redknapp) Queens Park Rangers 3 (Leach 2, Bridges)
09/Nov    Millwall 2 (Posse 2) Middlesbrough 0
16/Nov    West Ham United 4 (Dear 2, Woolett, Peters) Leicester City 0
23/Nov    Arsenal 0 Chelsea 1 (Houseman)
30/Nov    Intended match Tottenham Hotspur v Queens Park Rangers was postponed, probably showed another region's match
04/Dec    Tottenham Hotspur 1 Arsenal 1 [League Cup SF 2nd Leg] *Arsenal win 2-1 on agg
07/Dec    Arsenal 3 (Radford, Court, Graham) Everton 1 (Ball)
14/Dec    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (England) Manchester City (Lee)
21/Dec    Luton Town 2 (Lewis, Allen) Plymouth Argyle 0
28/Dec    Abandoned match - Crystal Palace 1 (Woodruff) Blackpool 1 (Suddick) *Abandoned after 43 mins
04/Jan     Charlton Athletic 0 Crystal Palace 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
11/Jan     Queens Park Rangers 1 (Clarke) West Ham United 1 (Dear)
18/Jan     Charlton Athletic 2 (Treacey, Tees) Derby County 0
25/Jan     Arsenal 2 (Sammels, Robertson) Charlton Athletic 0 [FA Cup 4th Round] *ATV covered Spurs home tie v Wolves
01/Feb    Arsenal 1 (Gould) Nottingham Forest 1 (Barnwell)
08/Feb    Watford 5 Rotherham United 1 *One of only 4 fixtures played today due to bad weather, cameras turned up at the last minute
15/Feb    Queens Park Rangers 1 (Clarke) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Greaves)
22/Feb    West Ham United 1 (Sissons) Liverpool (Hunt) *ATV covered Charlton home game v Aston Villa
01/Mar    Probably showed Granada coverage of Manchester City 1 (Lee) Tottenham Hotspur 0 [FA Cup QF]
08/Mar    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Morgan) Everton 1 (Royle)
15/Mar    Networked coverage of the League Cup Final - Arsenal 1 (Gould) Swindon Town 3 (Smart, Rogers 2)
22/Mar    Networked coverage of Manchester City 1 (Booth) Everton 0 [FA Cup Semi Final]
29/Mar    West Ham United 0 Manchester United 0
05/Apr    Crystal Palace 3 (C. Jackson, Kember, Sewell (pen)) Portsmouth 1 (Jennings)
12/Apr    Arsenal 1 (Graham) Leeds United 2 (Jones, Giles)
19/Apr    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Greaves) West Ham United 0
26/Apr    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Manchester City 1 (Young) Leicester City 0

Arsenal were London's highest finishing club of 1968/69 in 4th (it was the Gunners best position of the decade but they hadn't won a trophy since 1953, a 2nd successive League Cup final was lost in 1969 - this time to 3rd division Swindon!) Chelsea and Spurs were close behind in 5th & 6th, Ron Greenwood's West Ham finished 8th but Queens Park Rangers, in their first ever season in the top flight, ended the campaign at the bottom of the league. As runners-up in the 2nd tier, Bert Head's Crystal Palace would be one of the teams replacing Rangers. Of the capital's other 2nd tier teams; Charlton finished 3rd (but only the top two were promoted in those days), Millwall were 10th and Fulham rock bottom (they would now play in the 3rd tier for the first time since 1932). Ken Furphy's Watford were champions of the old Third Division, Luton just missed out on promotion whilst Orient were a lowly 18th. Brentford were the worst placed LWT club finishing 11th in the Fourth Division. Topping the goalscoring charts at the highest level were Jimmy Greaves (Spurs) with 27 and Geoff Hurst (West Ham) 25, Luton's Brian Lewis was joint top scorer in the 3rd tier with 22.

Season 1969/70
All "Big Match" programmes up to 8th November 1969 were broadcast in 405 line black & white on VHF only.
09/Aug     Arsenal 0 Everton 1 (Hurst)
16/Aug     Millwall 1 (Weller) Charlton Athletic 1 (Crawford)
23/Aug     Crystal Palace 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Pearce, Chivers)
30/Aug     Chelsea 1 (Osgood) Crystal Palace 1 (Hoy)
06/Sep     West Ham United 0 Tottenham 1 (Pearce)
13/Sep     Tottenham Hotspur 0 Manchester City 3 (Bowyer, Bell, Oakes)
20/Sep     Arsenal 2 (Graham, Sammels) Manchester United 2 (Best, Sadler)
27/Sep     Chelsea 3 (Birchenall 2, Baldwin) Arsenal 0
04/Oct     Queens Park Rangers 4 (Clarke, Clement, Bridges 2) Middlesbrough 0
11/Oct     Tottenham Hotspur 0 Wolves 1 (Curran)
18/Oct     Chelsea 2 (Osgood, Cooke) West Bromwich Albion 0 *Recorded in colour for test purposes
25/Oct     Luton Town 1 (Tees) Torquay United 1 (Ryan(og)) *Anglia cameras were at Hull
01/Nov    Crystal Palace 1 (Bartram) Arsenal 5 (Armstrong, Radford 3, Graham) *Recorded in colour for test purposes
08/Nov    Arsenal 4 (George, Sammels 2, Armstrong) Derby County 0
From 15th November 1969 LWT began broadcasting on 625 line PAL colour on UHF, "The Big Match" was now videotaped and broadcast in colour from this point onwards.
15/Nov    Chelsea 1 (Osgood) Everton 1 (Husband)
22/Nov    West Ham United 3 (Hurst 2, Peters) Derby County 0
29/Nov    Intended match Tottenham Hotspur v Everton was postponed, showed Granada and Southern matches
06/Dec    West Ham United 0 Manchester City 4 (Lee, Bowyer 2, Doyle)
13/Dec    Fulham 3 (Richardson 2, Earle) Bristol Rovers 1 (Jarman)
20/Dec    Tottenham Hotspur 0 West Ham United 2 (Peters, Hurst)
27/Dec    Queens Park Rangers (Bridges 2) Birmingham City 1 (Page)
03/Jan     Chelsea 3 (Osgood 2, Hutchinson) Birmingham City 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
10/Jan     Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Greaves, Morgan) Derby County 1 (Carlin)
17/Jan     Arsenal 0 Chelsea 3 (Hollins, Hutchinson, Baldwin)
24/Jan     Tottenham Hotspur 0 Crystal Palace 0 [FA Cup 4th Round]
31/Jan     Watford 2 (Eddy, Endean) Leicester City 1 (Glover)
07/Feb    Crystal Palace 1 (Hoy) Chelsea 4 (Osgood, Houseman, Dempsey, Hutchinson) [FA Cup 5th Round]
14/Feb    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Cooper(og)) Leeds United 1 (Lorimer)
21/Feb    Queens Park Rangers 2 (Venables(pen), Bridges) Chelsea 4 (Osgood 3, Webb) [FA Cup QF]
28/Feb    Millwall 1 (Kitchener) Huddersfield Town 0
07/Mar    Networked ATV coverage of the League Cup Final - Man City 2 (Doyle Pardoe) W.B.A. 1 (Astle)
14/Mar    Networked coverage of Chelsea 5 (Webb, Houseman 2, Osgood, Hutchinson) Watford 1 (Garbett) [FA Cup SF]
21/Mar    Chelsea 2 (Hutchinson 2) Manchester United 1 (Morgan)
28/Mar    Crystal Palace 1 (McCormick) Ipswich Town 1 (Woods)
04/Apr    Chelsea 1 (Baldwin) Tottenham Hotspur 0
10/Apr    Networked coverage of Watford 0 Man United 2 (Kidd 2) [FA Cup 3rd Place Play Off] *at Highbury, probably shown as part of cup final build up
11/Apr    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Chelsea 2 (Houseman, Hutchinson) Leeds United 2 (Charlton, Jones) AET
28/Apr    Arsenal 3 (Kelly, Radford, Sammels) Anderlecht 0  [Fairs Cup Final 2nd Leg]
29/Apr    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final Replay - Chelsea 2 (Osgood, Webb) Leeds United 1 (Jones) [Old Trafford] AET
02/May   Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Gilzean) Arsenal 0 *This was a late outstanding fixture played after all other teams had finished their season.

1969/70 was undoubtedly Chelsea's year, managed by Dave Sexton they were the capital's highest league finishers (3rd) as well as winning the FA Cup (knocking out Watford in the Semi-finals) whilst Peter Osgood was London's leading top-flight marksman with 23 goals. Spurs and Arsenal had disappointing league campaigns which saw them finish 11th & 12th but Arsenal finally won a trophy when the Fairs Cup was lifted at Highbury after the Gunners turned around a 3-1 1st leg defeat to Anderlecht, winning the home leg 3-0. West Ham ended the season in 17th and Crystal Palace just clung on to their top flight status in 20th (22 clubs in the top flight at the time). Alan Dicks' Orient were crowned champions of the 3rd tier whilst fringe LWT club Luton Town (managed by Alec Stock) were also promoted as runners-up with Malcom Macdonald netting 25 goals. Other local strikers making an impression on the goal scoring charts included Barry Bridges of QPR and Steve Earle of Fulham who both found the back of the net 22 times.
 

Season 1970/71
01/Aug    Reading 2 (Habbin, Cumming) Manchester United 3 (Edwards, Charlton 2) [Watney Cup QF]
15/Aug    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Gilzean 2) West Ham United 2 (Greaves, Bennett)
22/Aug    West Ham United 2 (Howe, Hurst) Chelsea 2 (Weller 2)
29/Aug    Chelsea 2 (Hollins, Mulligan) Arsenal 1 (Kelly)
05/Sep    West Ham United 1 (Moore) Everton 2 (Royle, Husband)
12/Sep    Orient 1 (Parmenter) Sunderland 0
19/Sep    Crystal Palace 0 Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Chivers 2, Mullery)
26/Sep    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Chivers, Gilzean) Manchester City 0
03/Oct    Fulham 1 (Earle) Plymouth Argyle 1 (Allen)
10/Oct    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Peters) Liverpool 0
17/Oct    Queens Park Rangers 5 (Marsh 3, Venables, McCulloch) Birmingham City 2 (Latchford 2)
24/Oct    Crystal Palace 1 (Taylor) West Ham United 1 (Howe)
31/Oct    Arsenal  2 (Kelly, Radford) Derby County 0 *Recorded & broadcast in black & white due to a technicians 'colour strike'.
07/Nov   Crystal Palace  1 (Sewell) Leeds United 1 (Lorimer)
14/Nov   West Ham United 3 (Best 2, Moore) Wolverhampton W. 3 (McCalliog 2, Gould) *Recorded & broadcast in b&w due to a technicians 'colour strike'.
21/Nov    Luton Town 2 (Ryan, Givens) Portsmouth 1 (McCann) *black & white due to a technicians 'colour strike', Anglia were at Hull v QPR
28/Nov   Arsenal 2 (Graham, Radford) Liverpool 0 *black & white.
05/Dec    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Peters, Gilzean) Manchester United 2 (Law, Best) *black & white.
12/Dec    Watford 0 Luton Town 1 (Keen) *black & white.
19/Dec    Chelsea 2 (Osgood 2) West Ham United 1 (Lampard) *black & white.
26/Dec    Arsenal 0 Southampton 0 *black & white.
02/Jan     Crystal Palace 2 (McCormick, Birchenall) Chelsea 2 (Osgood, Baldwin) [FA Cup 3rd Round] *black & white. Brian Moore talks about Ibrox disaster
09/Jan     Chelsea 1 (Hudson) Manchester United 2 (Morgan(pen), Gowling) *black & white.
16/Jan     West Ham United 2 (Eustace, Brooking) Leeds United 3 (Giles, Hunter, Belfitt) *black & white.
23/Jan     Chelsea 0 Manchester City 3 (Bell 2, Bowyer) [FA Cup 4th Round] *black & white.
30/Jan     Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Chivers, Gilzean) Everton 1 (Royle) *black & white.
06/Feb    Arsenal 1 (Radford) Manchester City 0 *black & white.
13/Feb    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Chivers, Gilzean) Nottingham Forest 1 (Moore(pen)) [FA Cup 5th Round] *black & white???
20/Feb   Queens Park Rangers 1 (Marsh) Hull City 1 (Wagstaff) *Technicians strike ended, now back in colour
27/Feb   Networked coverage of the League Cup Final - Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Chivers 2) Aston Villa 0
06/Mar   Showed Granada coverage of Liverpool 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0 [FA Cup QF]
13/Mar   Crystal Palace 0 Arsenal 2 (Graham, Sammels)
20/Mar   West Ham United 2 (Greaves 2) Ipswich Town 2 (Bell, Robertson)
27/Mar   Networked coverage of Arsenal 2 (Storey 2(1pen)) Stoke City 2 (Smith, Ritchie) [FA Cup SF] *BBC covered the replay
                   also Dagenham 1 (Bass) Skelmersdale 4 (Dickin 3, Windsor) [Amateur Cup Final]
03/Apr   Arsenal 2 (Kennedy 2) Chelsea 0
10/Apr   Gillingham 1 Fulham 3
17/Apr   Crystal Palace 3 (Birchenall, Tambling, Queen) Manchester United 5 (Best 2, Law 3)
24/Apr   Chelsea 2 (Smethurst, Feely) Coventry City 1 (Hunt)
01/May  Arsenal 1 (Kelly) Stoke City 0
08/May   Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Arsenal 2 (Kelly, George) Liverpool 1 (Heighway) AET

Bertie Mee's Arsenal won the double! (League champions and FA Cup winners), captain Frank McLintock was named 'Footballer of the year'. The double was achieved thanks to Charlie George's strike in extra-time in the Cup final v Liverpool, the Gunners had won the league five days earlier by claiming a 1-0 victory at Spurs in a re-arranged fixture, but it wasn't a bad season for Bill Nicholson's Spurs either who won the League Cup and finished 3rd. Chelsea too lifted silverware in the form of the European Cup-Winners Cup, beating Real Madrid 2-1 in the final replay with goals from John Dempsey and Peter Osgood, the Blues finished 6th in the league whilst Palace were 18th. Orient and Watford did just enough to stay up in the 2nd tier, Luton had no such problems with Malcom Macdonald's 24 goals helping them to finish 6th and Rodney Marsh grabbed 21 for QPR in 11th. Spurs' Martin Chivers was runner-up on the top flight goal scoring charts with 21, Arsenal's top scorer was Ray Kennedy with 19. Fulham were promoted from the 3rd tier but Gillingham were relegated.

Season 1971/72
14/Aug    West Ham United 0 West Bromwich Albion 1 (T.Brown)
21/Aug    Brentford 1 (Turner) Aldershot 1 (Grummett)
28/Aug    Queens Park Rangers 1 (Marsh) Millwall 1 (Dunphy)
04/Sep    Chelsea 3 (Osgood 2, Hollins) Coventry City 3 (Rafferty, O'Rourke, Mortimer)
11/Sep    Arsenal 2 (Graham, Storey) Leeds United 0
18/Sep    Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Peters, Chivers, Mullery) Crystal Palace 0
25/Sep    Charlton Athletic 2 (Went(pen), Treacey) Burnley 0
02/Oct    Chelsea 3 (Baldwin, Houseman, Hollins) Wolverhampton W. 1 (McCalliog)
09/Oct    West Ham United 1 (Hurst) Leicester City 1 (Cross)
16/Oct    Chelsea 1 (Osgood) Arsenal 2 (Kennedy, Graham)
23/Oct    Tottenham Hotspur 6 (Peters 2(1pen), Chivers, Mullery, Pearce 2) Nottingham Forest 1 (Richardson)
30/Oct    Crystal Palace 0 West Ham United 3 (Coker, Bonds, Best)
06/Nov    Tottenham Hotpsur 3 (Pratt 2, Chivers) Everton 0
13/Nov    Arsenal 1 (Nelson) Manchester City 2 (Mellor, Bell)
17/Nov    West Ham United 5 (Robson 3, Best 2) Sheffield United 0 [League Cup QF]
20/Nov    Millwall 3 (Bolland(pen), Possee, Bridges) Birmingham City 0 *Note:- BFI entry is incorrect
27/Nov    Chelsea 1 (Cooke) Tottenham Hotspur 0
04/Dec    West Ham United 0 Arsenal 0
11/Dec    Arsenal 2 (Radford 2) Coventry City 0
15/Dec    West Ham United 0 Stoke City 1 (Ritchie) [League Cup SF 2nd Leg] AET *2-2 on agg, replay required
18/Dec    Crystal Palace 1 (Craven) Leeds United 1 (Lorimer)
01/Jan     West Ham United 3 (Robson, Best, Hurst(pen)) Manchester United 0
05/Jan     Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Chivers, Peters(pen)) Chelsea 2 (Garland, Hudson) [League Cup SF 2nd Leg] *Tape no longer exists? Chelsea win 5-4 on agg
08/Jan     Millwall 0 Queens Park Rangers 0
15/Jan     West Ham United 2 (Robson, Best) Luton Town 1 (Hurst(pen)) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
22/Jan     West Ham United 3 (Lampard, Robson, Brooking) Derby County 3 (Hinton, Durban, Hector)
26/Jan     Stoke 3 (Bernard, Dobing, Conroy) West Ham 2 (Bonds, Brooking) [League Cup SF 2nd replay] *Granada coverage, Gerald Sinstadt commentated
29/Jan     Chelsea 4 (Osgood 2, Hollins(pen), Dempsey) Everton 0
05/Feb    Reading 1 (Wagstaffe) Arsenal 2 (Morgan(og), Rice) [FA Cup 4th Round]
12/Feb    Arsenal 2 (George 2 (1pen)) Derby County 0
19/Feb    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Chivers 2) Stoke City 0
26/Feb    Showed Granada coverage of Everton 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Gilzean, Peters) [FA Cup 5th Round]
04/Mar    Networked coverage of the League Cup Final - Chelsea 1 (Osgood) Stoke City 2 (Conroy, Eastham)
08/Mar    Ajax 2 (Muhren 2(1pen)) Arsenal 1 (Kennedy) [European Cup QF 1st Leg]
11/Mar    Tottenham Hotspur 0 Derby County 1 (Hinton)
18/Mar    Orient 0 Arsenal 1 (Ball) [FA Cup QF]
25/Mar    Brentford 2 (Docherty, O'Mara) Grimsby Town 0
01/Apr    West Ham United 2 (Brooking, Coker) Tottenham Hotspur 0
08/Apr    Chelsea 2 (Hollins, Osgood) Crystal Palace 1 (Blyth)
15/Apr    Networked coverage of Arsenal 1 (Armstrong) Stoke City 1 (Simpson(og)) [FA Cup Semi-Final] *also Stafford Rangers 3 Barnet 0 [FA Trophy final]
19/Apr    Arsenal 2 (George(pen), Radford) Stoke City 1 (Greenhoff(pen)) [FA Cup SF Replay] *played at Goodison
22/Apr    Brighton & Hove Albion 1 (Murray(pen)) Bolton Wanderers 1 (G.Jones(pen)) *also Hendon 2 Enfield 0 [FA Amateur Cup Final at Wembley]
29/Apr    Millwall 2 (Possy, Bridges) Preston North End 0
06/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Leeds 1 (Clarke) Arsenal 0
17/May    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Mullery) Wolves 1 (Wagstaffe) [UEFA Cup Final 2nd Leg] *Spurs win 3-2 on aggregate, BBC had 1st leg

Arsenal's European Cup campaign ended with a Quarter-final defeat to the eventual winners Ajax, whilst on the domestic front the Gunners reached the final of the FA Cup for the 2nd successive year but lost to Leeds. In the league, Arsenal were the highest placed London team in 5th ahead of Spurs in 6th, yet Spurs fans were the more content after winning the UEFA Cup (its' first season under this new name having previously been known as the Fairs Cup). Martin Chivers scored 25 league goals for Spurs, Peter Osgood netted 19 for Chelsea who finished 7th having lost in the League Cup final, West Ham were 14th, Palace narrowly avoided the drop finishing 3rd bottom. In the 2nd tier, Millwall came agonizingly close to promotion by finishing just 2 points behind the champions in 3rd, QPR were only another point worse off in 4th, but the table did not make pretty reading for the region at the bottom as all three clubs at the foot of the table were London clubs - Charlton and Watford were relegated whilst Fulham just survived (one point ahead of Charlton). In the lower divisions, fringe LWT club Brighton were promoted from the 3rd tier whilst Brentford moved up from the 4th with John O'Mara netting 25 league goals.

Season 1972/73
12/Aug    Chelsea 4 (Osgood, Locke, Garland 2) Leeds United 0
19/Aug
26/Aug    Chelsea 2 (Osgood, Houseman) Manchester City 1 (Mellor)
02/Sep    West Ham United 2 (Robson 2) Manchester United 2 (Best, Moore)
09/Sep    Tottenham Hotspurs 2 (Peters(pen), England) Crystal Palace 1 (Knowles(og))
16/Sep    Arsenal 0 Liverpool 0 *Jimmy Hill takes over as linesman
23/Sep    Brentford 1 (Docherty) Bournemouth 1 (Macdougall)
30/Sep    Queens Park Rangers 3 (Givens 2(1pen), Bowles) Cardiff City 0
07/Oct    Tottenham Hotspur 4 (Pratt 2, Gilzean, Peters) Stoke City 3 (Ritchie 2, Bloor)
14/Oct    West Ham United 3 (Brooking, Robson 2) Sheffield United 1 (Taylor(og))
21/Oct    Crystal Palace 2 (Craven 2) Arsenal 3 (George(pen), Radford, Rice)
28/Oct    Arsenal 0 Manchester City 0
04/Nov    West Ham United 2 (Robson, Brooking) Wolverhampton W. 2 (Kindon 2)
11/Nov    Millwall 3 (S.Brown, Wood 2) Brighton & Hove Albion 0
18/Nov    Crystal Palace 2 (Craven 2) Leeds United 2 (Jones, Giles)
25/Nov    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Chivers) Liverpool 2 (Heighway, Keegan)
02/Dec    West Ham United 1 (Brooking) Newcastle United 1 (Craig)
09/Dec    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Peters) Arsenal 2 (Storey, Radford)
16/Dec    Crystal Palace 5 (Mulligan 2, Rogers 2, Whittle) Manchester United 0
23/Dec    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Chivers, Perryman) Sheffield United 0
30/Dec    Chelsea 1 (Osgood) Derby County 1 (O' Hare)
06/Jan     West Ham United 0 Liverpool 1 (Keegan)
13/Jan     Brighton & Hove Albion 0 Chelsea 2 (Osgood 2) [FA Cup 3rd Round] *Jimmy Hill commentated as Brian Moore fell ill
20/Jan     Chelsea 0 Arsenal 1 (Kennedy)
27/Jan     Crystal Palace 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0
03/Feb    Chelsea 2 (Osgood 2) Ipswich Town 0 [FA Cup 4th Round]
10/Feb    Watford 1 (Morrissey(pen)) Blackburn Rovers 3 (Endean, Field, Napier)
17/Feb    Crystal Palace 3 (Possee, Whittle, Rogers) Stoke City 2 (Greenhoff, Smith)
24/Feb    Showed Yorkshire coverage of Sheffield Wed. 1 (Coyle) Chelsea 2 (Garner, Osgood) [FA Cup 5th Round] *No London home cup ties
03/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Spurs 1 (Coates) Norwich City 0
07/Mar    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Evans) Vitoria Setubal 0 [UEFA Cup QF 1st Leg]
10/Mar    Fulham 1 (Mitchell) Carlisle United 0
17/Mar    Showed two FA Cup QF's not involving LWT teams
24/Mar    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Chivers) Manchester United 1 (Graham)
31/Mar    Crystal Palace 2 (Phillip, Cannon) Chelsea 0
07/Apr    Networked coverage of Arsenal 1 (George) Sunderland 2 (Halom, Hughes) [FA Cup SF]
14/Apr    Arsenal 1 (Storey) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Chivers) *also Walton & Hersham 1 (Connell) Slough Town 0 [FA Amateur Cup Final at Wembley]
21/Apr    Millwall 0 Queens Park Rangers 1 (Givens)
28/Apr    West Ham United 1 (Rice(og)) Arsenal 2 (Kennedy, Radford)
05/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Sunderland 1 (Porterfield) Leeds United 0

Arsenal were league runners-up and narrowly missed out on a third successive FA Cup final by losing to 2nd tier Sunderland in the Semi-finals. West Ham had a good season, finishing 6th with Bryan Robson's 28 goals putting him on top of the goalscoring charts, but it was 8th placed Spurs who lifted silverware by winning the League Cup after a goal by Ralph Coates was enough to beat Norwich, goalkeeper Pat Jennings was named 'Footballer of the year'. Chelsea finished 12th and Crystal Palace were finally relegated in their fourth season amongst the elite. Gordon Jago's QPR would be one of the clubs replacing Palace as 2nd tier runners-up (with Don Givens finishing top scorer at this level with 23, Stan Bowles chipped in with 17), but Brighton made an immediate return to the Third Division after finishing bottom, Brentford too followed their promotion season with a relegation back down to the 4th. Charlton's Arthur Horsfield was joint top scorer in the 3rd tier with 25.

Season 1973/74
17/Aug    Arsenal 1 (Hornsby) Wolverhampton W. 3 (McCalliog, Dougan 2) [FA Cup 3rd place play off] *played at Highbury
25/Aug    Arsenal 3 (Kennedy, Radford, Ball) Manchester United 0
01/Sep    Chelsea 1 (Hollins(pen)) Sheffield United 2 (Currie, Woodward)
08/Sep
15/Sep    Oxford United 0 Sunderland 1 (Tueart)
22/Sep    West Ham United 1 (Robson) Leicester City 1 (Worthington)
29/Sep    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Coates) Derby County 0
06/Oct    Queens Park Rangers 1 (Bowles) Chelsea 1 (Mancini(og))
13/Oct    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Gilzean, Chivers) Arsenal 0
20/Oct     Orient 2 (Queen, Fairbrother) Luton Town 0
27/Oct
03/Nov    Fulham 2 (John Conway, Busby) Bristol City 1 (Tainton)
10/Nov    Queens Park Rangers 3 (Bowles, Francis, Venables) Coventry City 0
17/Nov
24/Nov    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Chivers(pen)) Wolverhampton W. 3 (Powell, Palmer, Hibbitt)
01/Dec     Brighton & Hove Albion 2 (O'Sullivan, R.Howell) Bristol Rovers 8 (Bannister 3, Fearnley, Warboys 4)
08/Dec     West Ham United 2 (Brooking, Doyle(og)) Manchester City 1 (Lee)
12/Dec     Tottenham Hotspur 5 (McGrath, Chivers 2, Peters 2) Dynamo Tbilisi 1 (Ebralidze) [UEFA Cup 3rd Round 2nd Leg]
15/Dec     Chelsea 1 (Osgood) Leeds United 2 (Jordan, Jones)
22/Dec     Queens Park Rangers 3 (Clement, Givens, Bowles) Newcastle United 2 (McDermott, Moncur)
29/Dec     Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Pratt, Chivers) West Ham United 0
05/Jan      Chelsea 0 Queens Park Rangers 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
12/Jan      West Ham United 2 (Bonds, Holland) Manchester United 1 (McIlroy)
19/Jan      Orient 2 (Queen, Fairbrother) Sunderland 1 (Belfitt)
26/Jan      Arsenal 1 (Kennedy) Aston Villa 1 (Morgan) [FA Cup 4th Round]
02/Feb     West Ham United 0 Birmingham City 0
09/Feb     LWT match postponed?
16/Feb     Luton Town 0 Leicester City 4 (Earle 2, Worthington, Weller) [FA Cup 5th Round]
23/Feb     Gillingham 2 (Yeo, Wilks) Exeter City 1 (Bowker)
02/Mar     Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Wolves 2 (Hibbitt, Richards) Manchester City 1 (Bell)
09/Mar     Showed two FA Cup Quarter-finals, neither involving LWT clubs
16/Mar     West Ham United 2 (Bonds 2(1pen)) Coventry City 3 (Cross, Alderson, Carr)
23/Mar     Crystal Palace 3 (Possee 2, Rogers(pen)) Bristol City 1 (Whitehead)
30/Mar     Networked coverage of Newcastle United 2 (Macdonald 2) Burnley 0 [FA Cup SF]
06/Apr     Arsenal 0 West Ham United 0
13/Apr     Millwall 3 (Clark, Wood 2) Crystal Palace 2 (P Taylor, Rogers(pen))
20/Apr     Luton Town 3 (Faulkner, Anderson, Hindson) Millwall 0
                     *also Bishop's Stortford 4 (Lawrence,Murphy,Leakey,Smith (pen)) Ilford 1 (Drabwell) [FA Amateur Cup Final at Wembley]
27/Apr     Showed matches from other regions
04/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Liverpool 3 (Keegan 2, Heighway) Newcastle United 0
29/May    Feyenoord 2 (Rijsbergen, Ressel) Spurs 0 [UEFA Cup Final 2nd Leg] *tx'd as "The Wednesday Special", Gerald Sinstadt commentated

8th placed QPR were this season's highest finishing team in the region with Stan Bowles their top scorer on 19 (they also reached the FA Cup Quarter-finals). 11th placed Tottenham's season ended in disaster when crowd trouble in their UEFA Cup final 2nd leg away to Feyenoord led to Spurs becoming the first British club to receive a European ban (Spurs lost the final 4-2 on aggregate, losing the away leg 2-0). Relegation/promotion places increased from two to three between the 1st&2nd and 2nd&3rd tiers, Chelsea and West Ham narrowly avoided the freshly widened trapdoor by finishing just a point above the drop with Chelsea twice changing their manager; Dave Sexton was sacked in October and replaced by assistant Ron Suart, he in turn was replaced by Eddie McCreadie in March. West Ham manager Ron Greenwood would now move 'upstairs' to become General Manager. In the 2nd tier, Harry Haslam's Luton Town were promoted as runners-up whilst Orient (in 4th) finished just one point behind the extra promotion place, Millwall's Alf Wood was runner-up on the goalscoring charts at this level with 21, but Malcom Allison's Crystal Palace finished 3rd bottom and were relegated. Watford's Billy Jennings topped the 3rd tier charts with 26 whilst Brian Yeo of Gillingham was the goalscoring king in the 4th on 31.

Season 1974/75
03/Aug    West Ham United 1 (Bonds) Orient 0 [Anglo-Scottish Cup]
10/Aug    Orient 2 (Walley, Queen) Luton Town 2 (Husband, Butlin) [Anglo-Scottish Cup]
17/Aug    Orient 0 Manchester United 2 (Morgan, Houston)
24/Aug    Queens Park Rangers 0 Stoke City 1 (Hurst)
31/Aug    Gillingham 0 Charlton Athletic 1 (Peacock)
07/Sep    Fulham 0 York City 2 (Jones 2)
14/Sep    Chelsea 0 Arsenal 0
21/Sep    Arsenal 2 (Kidd 2) Luton Town 2 (Alston, Shanks)
28/Sep    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Neighbour) Middlesbrough 2 (Armstrong, Mills)
05/Oct    Fulham 1 (Busby) Manchester United 2 (Pearson 2)
12/Oct    Arsenal 2 (Kidd, Radford, Bowles 2) Queens Park Rangers 2 (Bowles 2(1pen))
19/Oct    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Perryman, Chivers) Arsenal 0
26/Oct    Chelsea 3 (Droy, Garland, Hutchinson) Stoke City 3 (Greenhoff, Haselgrave, Robertson)
02/Nov    West Ham United 3 (Robson, Boam, Paddon) Middlesbrough 0
09/Nov    Chelsea 0 Leicester City 0
16/Nov    West Ham United 5 (Bonds (pen), Brooking, Lampard, Jennings, Gould) Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 (Richards, Kindon)
23/Nov    Tottenham Hotspur 0 Birmingham City 0
30/Nov    Crystal Palace 2 (Cannon, Chatterton) Charlton Athletic 1 (Powell)
07/Dec    Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Bell(og), Chivers, Knowles) Newcastle United 0
14/Dec    West Ham United 0 Manchester City 0
21/Dec    Chelsea 1 (Hutchinson) West Ham United 1 (Gould) *Terry Mancini presented this edition
28/Dec    Millwall 0 Portsmouth 0
04/Jan     Wycombe Wanderers 0 Middlesbrough 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
11/Jan     Queens Park Rangers 0 Burnley 1 (Hankin)
18/Jan     West Ham United 2 ((Jennings, Bonds(pen)) Queens Park Rangers 2 (Masson, Bowles(pen))
25/Jan     West Ham United (Jennings) 1 Swindon Town 1 (Eastoe) [FA Cup 4th Round]
01/Feb    Arsenal 2 (Ball 2(1pen)) Liverpool 0
08/Feb    Luton Town 1 (R.Futcher) Newcastle United 0
15/Feb    West Ham United 2 (Holland, Robson) Queens Park Rangers 1 (Clement) [FA Cup 5th Round]
22/Feb    Tottenham Hotspur 0 Leicester City 3 (Stringfellow, Worthington, Sammels)
01/Mar   Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Aston Villa 1 (Graydon) Norwich City 0
08/Mar    Carlisle United 0 Fulham 1 (Barrett) [FA Cup QF] *May have been Granada coverage as they showed this too.
15/Mar    Charlton Athletic 2 (Curtis, Flanagan) Southend United 1 (Hales(og))
22/Mar    Orient 1 (Heppolette) Aston Villa 0
29/Mar    Arsenal 1 (Kelly) Stoke City 1 (Salmons)
05/Apr    Networked coverage of Fulham 1 (Mitchell) Birmingham City 1 (Gallagher) [FA Cup SF] *at Hillsborough
09/Apr    Possibly Fulham 1 (Mitchell) Birmingham City 0 [FA Cup SF Replay] AET *at Maine Road, existing tape has off-tube Moore commentary
12/Apr    Millwall 1 (Kitchener) Norwich City 1 (Butler)
19/Apr    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Perryman, Conn) Chelsea 0
26/Apr    Arsenal 1 (Kidd) Tottenham Hotspur 0
03/May   Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - West Ham United 2 (A.Taylor 2) Fulham 0

1975 saw the first all London FA Cup final since 1967 as 2nd tier Fulham (managed by Alec Stock) met West Ham (in their first season under John Lyall), Fulham's Alan Mullery was named 'Footballer of the year' and the Cottagers were now captained by ex-Hammers & England hero Bobby Moore, but it was West Ham who came out on top in the Cup final with a 2-0 win, both goals were scored by Alan Taylor (Hammers keeper Mervyn Day was named the PFA young player of the year). In the league, it was a very poor season for the region's top flight clubs - QPR scraped into the top half in 11th (Gordon Jago resigned as manager in October, Dave Sexton replaced him), West Ham finished 13th and Arsenal 16th (the Gunners lowest finish in 50 years, although Brian Kidd was runner-up on the top flight scorers chart with 19). Spurs boss Bill Nicholson was another London based manager to resign early in the season, former Arsenal player Terry Neill then took charge and Spurs went on to avoid the drop by 1 point, largely thanks to a Big Match televised home win against Chelsea on 19/Apr/75 which helped send the Blues down (and a match that inevitably ended with a pitch battle between rival fans following a noticeably sharp increase in hooliganism in general over the past few years). Fringe LWT club Luton Town were also relegated in their one season return to this level. There was little local joy in the 2nd tier either, Fulham and Orient finished mid-table whilst Millwall were relegated. Watford's season was another relegation story in the old Third Division but there was some good news from this league thanks to Andy Nelson's Charlton Athletic who won promotion.

Season 1975/76
09/Aug    Fulham 1 (Mullery(pen)) Chelsea 0 [Anglo-Scottish Cup]
16/Aug    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Perryman) Middlesbrough 0
23/Aug    Chelsea 3 (Maybank 2, Bason) Carlisle United 1 (Barry)
30/Aug    Queens Park Rangers 1 (Givens) West Ham United 1 (Jennings)
06/Sep     Arsenal 1 (Stapleton) Leicester City 1 (Sammels)
13/Sep     Queens Park Rangers 1 (Webb) Manchester United 0
20/Sep     West Ham United 2 (T.Taylor, Best) Sheffield United 0
27/Sep     Fulham 2 (Howe, Conway) Chelsea 0
04/Oct     West Ham United 0 Everton 1 (Jones)
11/Oct     Crystal Palace 3 (Evans, Kemp, Swindlehurst) Grimsby Town 0
18/Oct     Luton Town 1 (Chambers) Fulham 0
25/Oct     West Ham United 2 (Taylor, Gould) Manchester United 1 (Macari) *A crowd crushing problem at this one, 18 mins stoppage
01/Nov    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Neighbour, Young) Wolverhampton W. 1 (Daley)
05/Nov    West Ham United 3 (Paddon, Robson, Taylor) Ararat Erevan 1 (N.Petrosian) [Cup-Winners Cup 2nd Round 2nd Leg] *Hammers win 4-2 on agg
08/Nov    Queens Park Rangers 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0
15/Nov    Charlton Athletic 1 (Hales) Sunderland 2 (Holden 2)
22/Nov    Arsenal 3 (Ball, Greenhoff(og), Armstrong) Manchester United 1 (Pearson)
29/Nov    West Ham United 1 (A.Taylor) Arsenal 0
06/Dec     Chelsea 0 Bolton Wanderers 1 (Greaves)
13/Dec     Queens Park Rangers 1 (Nutt) Derby County 1 (Rioch)
20/Dec     West Ham United 3 (Jennings 3) Stoke City 1 (Bloor)
27/Dec     Arsenal 2 (Ball, Kidd) Queens Park Rangers 0
03/Jan      Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Duncan) Stoke City 1 (Mahoney) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
10/Jan      Arsenal 0 Aston Villa 0
17/Jan      Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Duncan) Manchester United 1 (Hill)
24/Jan      Charlton Athletic 1 (Curtis(pen)) Portsmouth 1 (Piper) [FA Cup 4th Round]
31/Jan      Chelsea 1 (Britton) West Bromwich Albion 2 (Martin, T.Brown)
07/Feb     Crystal Palace 3 (Taylor(pen), Chatterton 2) Swindon Town 3 (Stroud, Syrett 2)
14/Feb     Showed FA Cup 5th Round ties (main match was ATV coverage of Leicester 1 (Lee) Man Utd 2 (Macari, Daly))
21/Feb     West Ham United 1 (Brooking) Derby County 2 (George, Rioch)
28/Feb     Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Manchester City 2 (Barnes, Tueart) Newcastle United 1 (Gowling)
06/Mar     Showed Tyne Tees coverage of Sunderland 0 Crystal Palace 1 (Whittle) [FA Cup QF] *Brian moore commentated for LWT
13/Mar     Chelsea 1 (Finneston) Southampton 1 (Channon)
20/Mar     Arsenal 6 (Ball 2(1 pen), Armstrong, Kidd 3) West Ham United 1 (Jennings)
27/Mar     Queens Park Rangers 1 (Webb) Manchester City 0
03/Apr     Crystal Palace 0 Southampton 2 (Gilchrist, Peach(pen)) [FA Cup SF]
10/Apr     Queens Park Rangers 4 (Francis 2(1pen), Givens, Bowles) Middlesbrough 2 (Boersma, Brine)
14/Apr     West Ham 3 (Brooking 2, Robson) Eintracht Frankfurt 1 (Beveringen) [Cup-Winners Cup SF 2nd Leg] *Hammers win 4-3 on agg
17/Apr     Millwall 2 (Walker, McGrath) Peterborough United 0
24/Apr     Queens Park Rangers 2 (Thomas, Bowles) Leeds United 0
01/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Southampton 1 (Stokes) Manchester United 0

It was some season for Dave Sexton's QPR who came within a whisker of winning the league championship, but in the end they had to settle for 2nd spot just 1 point behind Liverpool (who won their outstanding re-arranged fixture at Wolves despite being 1-0 down until the 76th minute). West Ham also came close to glory by reaching the final of the Cup-Winners Cup where they met Belgian opponents at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, goals from Pat Holland and 'Pop' Robson were not enough as Anderlecht won 4-2. The Hammers finished 18th in the league with Arsenal only one place higher (manager Bertie Mee announced his retirement in March), Spurs had a much better season in 9th (John Duncan was runner-up on the top flight scorers chart with 20). In the 2nd tier, 9th placed Charlton's Derek Hales was top scorer with 28 goals whilst Chelsea, Fulham and Orient all finished mid-table, fringe LWT club Oxford were relegated. In the 3rd tier; Gordon Jago's Millwall were promoted, Palace finished 5th and reached the FA Cup Semi-finals (losing to the eventual winners Southampton).

Season 1976/77
21/Aug    Arsenal 0 Bristol City 1 (Cheesley)
28/Aug    West Ham United 0 Leicester City 0
04/Sep    Millwall 3 (Salvage, Evans, Brisley) Chelsea 0
11/Sep    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Jones) Leeds United 0
18/Sep    Chelsea 2 (Hay, Stanley) Bolton Wanderers 1 (Taylor)
25/Sep    Fulham 4 (Slough, Evanson, Marsh 2) Hereford United 1 (Howe(og))
02/Oct    Brighton & Hove Albion 1 (Fell) Crystal Palace 1 (Cannon)
09/Oct    Charlton Athletic 3 (Hales 3) Hull City 1 (Galvin)
16/Oct    West Ham United 0 Ipswich Town 2 (Woods 2)
23/Oct    Queens Park Rangers 2 (McClintock, Bowles) Sunderland 0
30/Oct    Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Pratt, McAllister, Osgood) Everton 3 (King, McNaught, Latchford)
03/Nov   QPR 5 (Givens 3(1pen), Bowles, Clement) Slovan Bratislava 2 (Ondrus, Capkovic) [UEFA Cup 2nd Round 2nd Leg] *Qpr win 8-5 on agg
06/Nov    Arsenal 4 (Stapleton, Nelson, MacDonald(pen), Ross) Birmingham City 0
13/Nov    Millwall 4 (Kitchen, Lee, Walker, Speasman) Luton Town 2 (West, Buckley(pen))
20/Nov    Fulham 1 (Slough) Notts County 5 (Vinter 2, Carter, Busby, Howe(og))
27/Nov    Tottenham Hotpur 2 (Osgood 2) Stoke City 0
04/Dec    Fulham 5 (Mitchell 2, Maybank 2, Best) Oldham Athletic 0 *Intended match QPR v Man Utd was postponed
11/Dec    Chelsea 3 (Wilkins, Britton, Finneston) Wolverhampton W. 3 (Richards 2, Gould)
18/Dec    Arsenal 3 (MacDonald 2, Brady) Manchester United 1 (McIlroy)
01/Jan     Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Osgood(pen), Duncan) West Ham United 1 (Brooking)
08/Jan     Wimbledon 0 Middlesbrough 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
12/Jan     Chelsea 0 Southampton 3 (Macdougall, Channon, Peach(pen)) [FA Cup 3rd Round replay] *Tape lost?
15/Jan     Crystal Palace 2 (Chatterton, Silkman) Grimsby Town 1 (Wigg) *Intended match QPR v West Ham was postponed
22/Jan     Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Taylor) Ipswich Town 0
29/Jan     Arsenal 3 (Stapleton 2, MacDonald) Coventry City 1 (Hutchison) [FA Cup 4th Round]
05/Feb    Fulham 1 (Mitchell) Charlton Athletic 1 (Flanagan)
12/Feb    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Jones) Manchester United 3 (Macari, McIlroy, Hill)
19/Feb    Arsenal 2 (Brady, Stapleton) West Ham United 3 (Taylor 2, Jennings)
22/Feb    Queens Park Rangers 0 Aston Villa 3 (Little 3) [League Cup SF Replay] *played at Highbury
26/Feb    Showed Southampton 2 (Peach(pen), Holmes) Man Utd 2 (Macari, Hill) [FA Cup 5th Round] *Brian Moore commentated
05/Mar    Chelsea 2 (Swain, Wicks) Blackpool 2 (Ronson, Spence)
12/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Aston Villa 0 Everton 0
19/Mar    Showed two FA Cup QF's at Liverpool and Wolves
26/Mar    Fulham 3 (Mitchell, Maybank 2) Sheffield United 2 (Woodward, Edwards)
02/Apr    West Ham United 2 (Robson 2(1pen)) Everton 2 (Goodlass, Pearson)
09/Apr    Chelsea 2 (Finnieston, Sparrow) Luton Town 0
16/Apr    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Jones) Sunderland 1 (Holden)
23/Apr     Networked coverage of Man Utd 2 (Greenhoff, Coppell) Leeds United 1 (Clarke(pen)) [FA Cup SF]
30/Apr     Chelsea 4 (Langley, Lewington, Wilkins, Finnieston) Sheffield United 0
07/May    West Ham United 2 (Pike, Jennings) Derby County 2 (James, McGiven(og))
14/May    Chelsea 4 (Finnieston 3(1pen), Britton) Hull City 0
21/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Manchester United 2 (Pearson, J.Greenhoff) Liverpool 1 (Case)

It was a much improved season for Arsenal who finished 8th with new signing Malcom Macdonald the joint top-flight scorer on 25. The Gunners were now managed by Terry Neill who had been sacked by Spurs in the summer, Spurs replaced Neill with Keith Burkinshaw but 76/77 proved to be a disastrous campaign as they finished rock bottom (and goalkeeper Pat Jennings then moved to Arsenal). QPR reached the Quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup (losing on pens to AEK Athens) and finished 14th, West Ham were 17th. In the 2nd tier; Eddie McCreadie's Chelsea won promotion as runners-up with Steve Finnieston scoring 24 goals, Mike Flanagan netted 23 for Charlton in 7th whilst at the other end Orient stayed up on Goal difference. Fulham made more appearances on The Big Match this season than would normally be expected of a 2nd tier club thanks to the signings of George Best and Rodney Marsh. In the 3rd tier; both Crystal Palace and Brighton were promoted (Peter Ward scored 32 for the Seagulls whilst Palace were now managed by Terry Venables). Wimbledon were elected into the league at the expense of Workington.

Season 1977/78
20/Aug    Millwall 0 Crystal Palace 3 (Evans, Hilaire, Chatterton)
27/Aug    Chelsea 1 (Langley) Coventry City 2 (Powell, Wallace)
03/Sep    Arsenal 3 (Stapleton 2, Brady(pen)) Nottingham Forest 0
10/Sep    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Jones) Fulham 0
17/Sep    Queens Park Rangers 1 (Francis) Manchester City 1 (Royle)
24/Sep    West Ham United 1 (Dobson(og)) Everton 1 (McKenzie)
01/Oct    Orient 1 (Mayo) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Taylor)
08/Oct    Queens Park Rangers 1 (Eastoe) Everton 5 (Latchford 4, McKenzie)
15/Oct    Crystal Palace 1 (Perrin) Southampton 2 (Boyer, Holmes)
22/Oct    Watford 2 (Mercer, Downes) Newport County 0
29/Oct    Arsenal 1 (Rice) Birmingham City 1 (Bertschin)
05/Nov   Chelsea 1 (Aylott) Nottingham Forest 0
12/Nov   West Ham United 3 (Robson(pen), Devonshire 2) West Bromwich Albion 3 (Wile 2, Cunningham)
19/Nov   Tottenham Hotspur 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 0
26/Nov   Queens Park Rangers 2 (Needham, Givens) Manchester United 2 (Pearson, Hill)
03/Dec    Charlton Athletic 3 (Berry, Henderson(og), Flanagan) Sunderland 2 (Greenwood, Entwhistle)
10/Dec    Arsenal 1 (Young) Leeds United 1 (McQueen)
17/Dec    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Hoddle 2) Crystal Palace 2 (Swindlehurst 2) *Guests in studio are Peter Cook, John Cleese & Elton John
24/Dec    No fixtures played
31/Dec    West Ham United 3 (McDowell, Hales, Cross) Leicester City 2 (Kember, Sims)
07/Jan     Chelsea 4 (Walker 2, Dennison, Langley) Liverpool 2 (Johnson, Dalglish) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
14/Jan     Luton Town 0 Oldham Athletic 1 (Taylor) *Gerald Sinstadt commentated, Dickie Davies presented (Moore was in Argentina for WC draw)
21/Jan     Chelsea 5 (Swain 2, Finnieston,Wilkins, Langley) Ipswich Town 3 (Osborne, Wark, Mariner)
28/Jan     West Ham United 1 (Bonds) Queens Park Rangers 1 (Howe) [FA Cup 4th Round]
04/Feb    Fulham 1 (Greenaway) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Taylor)
11/Feb    Chelsea 2 (Walker, R.Wilkins) Manchester United 2 (McIlroy, Hill(pen))
18/Feb    Orient 0 Chelsea 0 [FA Cup 5th Round]
25/Feb    West Ham United 2 (Taylor, Cross) Arsenal 2 (Macdonald 2) *Martin Tyler commentated, Moore was ill
04/Mar    Showed Granada coverage of Oldham Athletic 1 (Taylor) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (McNab) *Brian Moore commentated for LWT
                    *Note:- LWT cameras were at Chelsea v Liverpool which was beamed live to Sweden, the goals from this were shown on the following week's edition
11/Mar    Showed HTV coverage of Wrexham 2 (McNeal, Whittle) Arsenal 3 (Stapleton, Sunderland, Young) [FA Cup QF]
                    *Brian Moore commentated, at least for LWT viewers
18/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Nottingham Forest 0 Liverpool 0 AET
25/Mar    Queens Park Rangers 3 (James, McGee 2) Ipswich Town 3 (Wark, Burley, Mariner)
01/Apr    Gillingham 0 Wrexham 0
08/Apr    Networked coverage of Arsenal 3 (Macdonald 2, Rix) Orient 0 [FA Cup Semi Final] *Played at Stamford Bridge
15/Apr    West Ham United 3 (Robson 2, Cross) Derby County 0
22/Apr    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Taylor, Duncan) Sunderland 3 (Rowell, Lee 2)
29/Apr    West Ham United 0 Liverpool 2 (McDermott, Fairclough)
06/May   Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Ipswich Town 1 (Osborne) Arsenal 0

Arsenal continued to improve by finishing 5th and reaching the FA Cup final, Chelsea's return to the top flight saw them finish 16th after manager Eddie McCreadie had resigned during pre-season after falling out with the Chairman, his replacement was Ken Shellito. QPR finished 19th, West Ham were relegated in 20th. Keith Burkinshaw's Spurs snatched the final promotion spot in the 2nd tier by virtue of a better goal difference than Brighton. Palace finished 9th and Fulham were 10th whilst Orient, Millwall and Charlton were among seven clubs who all finished one point above the trapdoor, Orient also reached the FA Cup SF's (losing to Arsenal) and Peter Kitchen scored 21 league goals. In the 4th tier; Graham Taylor's Watford were promoted as champions with Bill Dodgin Jr.'s Brentford joining them in 4th (54 of their 86 league goals were scored by Steve Phillips (32) and Andy McCulloch (22)).

Season 1978/79
19/Aug    Arsenal 2 (Brady 2) Leeds United 2 (Currie, Cherry)
26/Aug    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Duncan, Armstrong) Chelsea 2 (Swain 2)
02/Sep    West Ham United 0 Fulham 1 (Margerrison)
09/Sep    Watford 0 Swansea City 2 (Waddell, Moore)
16/Sep    Chelsea 1 (Stanley) Manchester City 4 (Channon, R.Futcher 3)
23/Sep    Arsenal 1 (Price) Manchester United 1 (Coppell)
30/Sep    Chelsea 1 (Wicks) West Bromwich Albion 3 (Regis, Wile, T.Brown)
07/Oct    Crystal Palace 3 (Hilare 2, Swindlehurst) Brighton & Hove Albion 1 (Horton)
14/Oct     Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Ainscow(og)) Birmingham City 0
21/Oct    Queens Park Rangers 1 (Gillard) Everton 1 (Latchford)
28/Oct     Crystal Palace 0 Fulham 1 (Greenaway)
04/Nov   West Ham United 3 (Lampard, Devonshire, Cross) Preston North End 1 (Thompson)
07/Nov   Queens Park Rangers 0 Leeds United 2 (Hawley, Hankin) [League Cup 4th Round]
11/Nov    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Pratt) Nottingham Forest 3 (Anderson, Robertson, Birtles)
18/Nov    Arsenal 2 (Brady 2(1pen)) Everton 2 (Ross, Dobson)
25/Nov    Charlton Athletic 0 Fulham 0
02/Dec    Arsenal 1 (Price) Liverpool 0
09/Dec    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Pratt) Ipswich Town 0
16/Dec    Queens Park Rangers 2 (Hamilton 2) Manchester City 1 (Channon)
23/Dec
30/Dec    Arsenal 3 (Stapleton, Rice, Sunderland) Birmingham City 1 (Francis(pen))
06/Jan     Showed Yorkshire coverage of Sheffield Wednesday 1 (Johnson) Arsenal 1 (Sunderland) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
13/Jan     Arsenal 2 (Price, Stapleton) Nottingham Forest 1 (Robertson)
20/Jan     Fulham 2 (Davies, Guthrie) Sunderland 2 (Bolton, Rowell)
27/Jan     Showed other region's FA Cup 4th Round ties including Anglia's Ipswich 0 Orient 0
31/Jan     Fulham 1 (Margerrison) Manchester United 1 (J.Greenhoff) [FA Cup 4th Round] *Presumably LWT's intended main game for 27/Jan before it was postponed
03/Feb    Tottenham Hotspur 0 Manchester City 3 (Kidd(pen), Barnes, Channon)
10/Feb    Crystal Palace 1 (Walsh) Stoke City 1 (Irvine)
17/Feb    Bad Weather, showed ATV's match *only 5 fixtures from all divisions played
24/Feb    Brentford 3 (Smith, Phillips 2(1pen)) Watford 3 (Pritchett(pen), Blissett, Jenkins)
03/Mar    Chelsea 0 Liverpool 0
10/Mar    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Ardiles) Manchester United 1 (Thomas) [FA Cup QF] *No MOTD on BBC1 this weekend due to industrial action
17/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Nottingham Forest 3 (Birtles 2, Woodcock) Southampton 2 (Peach, Holmes)
24/Mar    West Ham United 5 (Devonshire, Robson, Lampard, McDowell 2) Newcastle United 0
31/Mar    Networked coverage of Manchester United 2 Liverpool 2 [FA Cup Semi Final]
07/Apr    Orient 3 (Mayo, Coates, Moores) Brighton & Hove Albion 3 (Sayer, Chivers, Clarke)
14/Apr    Tottenham Hotpsur 1 (Perryman) Queens Park Rangers 1 (Clement)
21/Apr    Charlton Athletic 0 West Ham United 0
28/Apr    Crystal Palace 2 (Swindlehurst, Murphy) Notts County 0
05/May   Orient 0 Crystal Palace 1 (Swindlehurst)
12/May   Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Arsenal 3 (Talbot, Stapleton, Sunderland) Man Utd 2 (McQueen, McIlroy)

Arsenal won the FA Cup with a 3-2 win over Man Utd in the so called "Five minute final", Utd drew level from 2-0 down in the last 5 minutes, but only for the Gunners to score again at the death. In the league Arsenal finished a respectable 7th (Frank Stapleton netted 17, Liam Brady was the PFA's 'Player of the year') whilst a UEFA Cup run came to a halt in the 3rd round (losing to Red Star Belgrade). Tottenham marked their return to the top flight by signing two players from Argentina (host winners of the 1978 World Cup), Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa helped Spurs to a comfortable 11th, but there was bad news elsewhere for the region as QPR & Chelsea were both relegated (Chelsea finished bottom with only 5 wins all season and conceded 92 goals), fortunately two local clubs would be among the three replacing them after a thrilling promotion climax; Crystal Palace were champions of the 2nd tier whilst Brighton were runners-up, West Ham's first season down at this level since 1958 saw them finish 5th with 'Pop' Robson the 2nd tier top scorer with 24, but at the other end Millwall were relegated. In the 3rd tier Watford achieved a 2nd successive promotion with Ross Jenkins the top scorer in all divisions with 29 (Luther Blissett bagged a further 21), whilst in the 4th tier Dario Gradi's Wimbledon won promotion in only their 2nd season as members of the Football league with Alan Cork scoring 22 of the Wombles league goals.

Season 1979/80
All ITV regions (except Channel TV) were taken off the air in early August 1979 due to a strike which lasted for almost three months! (So we only had BBC1 and BBC2 from 6th August-24th October).
27/Oct     Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Hoddle) Nottingham Forest 0
03/Nov    Crystal Palace 2 (Walsh, Swindlehurst) Manchester City 0
10/Nov    Luton Town 1 (Saxby) Queens Park Rangers 1 (Allen)
17/Nov    Chelsea 3 (Fillery, Britton(2pens)) Charlton Athletic 1 (Tydman)
24/Nov    Arsenal 0 Liverpool 0
01/Dec    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Hoddle) Manchester United 2 (Macari, Coppell)
04/Dec    West Ham United 0 Nottingham Forest 0 [League Cup 5th Round]
08/Dec    Crystal Palace 1 (Walsh) Nottingham Forest 0
15/Dec    Chelsea 3 (Bumstead, Langley, Johnson) Swansea City 0
22/Dec    Showed ATV & Granada matches *All but 4 fixtures this weekend were played on Friday night, there were no London home games on the Saturday
29/Dec    Crystal Palace 1 (Francis(pen)) Middlesbrough 2 (Hedley, Hodgson)
05/Jan     Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Ardiles) Manchester United 1 (McIlroy(pen)) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
12/Jan     West Ham United 1 (Bonds) Watford 1 (Rostron)
19/Jan     Brentford 2 (Phillips, Holmes) Sheffield Wednesday 2 (Hornsby, Mellor)
26/Jan     Arsenal 2 (Nelson, Talbot) Brighton & Hove Albion 0 [FA Cup 4th Round]
30/Jan     Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Armstrong 2) Swindon Town 1 (McHale) [FA Cup 4th Round Replay]
02/Feb    Tottenham Hotspur 0 Southampton 0
09/Feb    West Ham United 2 (Pearson, Hazell(og)) Queens Park Rangers 1 (Goddard)
16/Feb    Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Armstrong, Hoddle 2(1pen)) Birmingham City 1 (Bertschin) [FA Cup 5th Round]
23/Feb    Crystal Palace 1 (Walsh) Everton 1 (Eastoe)
01/Mar    Chelsea 1 (Walker) Cardiff City 0
08/Mar    West Ham United 1 (Stewart(pen)) Aston Villa 0 [FA Cup QF]
15/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Wolves 1 (Gray) Nottingham Forest 0
22/Mar    Chelsea 1 (Britton) Orient 0
29/Mar    Crystal Palace 0 Manchester United 2 (Jordan, Thomas)
05/Apr     Queens Park Rangers 1 (Burke) Birmingham City 1 (Dillon)
12/Apr     Arsenal 0 Liverpool 0 [FA Cup SF] *at Hillsborough, 1st replay was on BBC1 (not ITV as previously thought)
19/Apr     Chelsea 1 (Chivers) Notts County 0
23/Apr     Juventus 0 Arsenal 1 (Vaessen) [Cup-Winners Cup SF 2nd Leg] *Arsenal won 2-1 on agg, Martin Tyler commentated
26/Apr     Crystal Palace 0 Liverpool 0
28/Apr     Networked coverage of Arsenal 1 (Sunderland) Liverpool 1 (Dalglish) [FA Cup SF 2nd Replay] AET *at Villa Park
01/May     Networked coverage of Arsenal 1 (Talbot) Liverpool 0 [FA Cup SF 3rd Replay] *at Highfield Road
03/May    Chelsea 3 (Fillery, Walker 2) Oldham Athletic 0
10/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - West Ham United 1 (Brooking) Arsenal 0

Terry Neill's Arsenal were desperately unlucky to end the season empty handed, they reached the final of the FA Cup for the third season running after an epic four-match Semi-final v Liverpool, during which they overcame Juventus in the Semi-finals of the Cup-winners cup. John Lyall's West Ham were the Gunners opponents in the FA Cup final but Trevor Brooking's goal was enough to ensure the Hammers became the third 2nd tier club in eight season's to lift the coveted trophy (17 year old Hammers midfielder Paul Allen was the youngest player ever to appear in a Wembley FA Cup final and may well have added a fairytale goal of his own had it not been for an appalling 'professional' foul by Willie Young). Four days later Arsenal travelled to Brussels where they met Valencia in the Cup-winners cup final at Heysel Stadium (live on BBC1) - With the score locked at 0-0 AET, the final was settled on penalties, Graham Rix missed and Arsenal lost 5-4, but their final league position of 4th was their best since 1973. Crystal Palace set out to live up to their "Team of the '80's" tag by finishing 13th ahead of Tottenham in 14th, Glenn Hoddle was the PFA's 'Young player of the year' and the Spurs midfielder scored 19 league goals. In the 2nd tier, four local clubs made up the chasing pack behind the promoted sides, Chelsea missed out on goal difference with QPR, Luton and West Ham in 5th, 6th and 7th, QPR's Clive Allen was top scorer in all divisions with 28. At the other end, both Fulham and Charlton were relegated. Wimbledon were also relegated in their first season in the old Third Division.

Season 1980/81
"The Big Match" was moved to a Saturday night slot for this season.
09/Aug    Networked coverage of West Ham United 0 Liverpool 1 (McDermott) [Charity Shield] *at Wembley
16/Aug    Southampton 2 (Channon 2) Manchester City 0 *LWT covered this none London match (Kevin Keegan's league debut for Saints)
23/Aug    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Crooks, Hoddle) Brighton and Hove Albion 2 (Smith 2)
30/Aug    Chelsea 1 (Chivers) Queens Park Rangers 1 (Langley)
06/Sep    Tottenham Hotspur 0 Manchester United 0
13/Sep    Crystal Palace 1 (Lovell) Ipswich Town 2 (Wark, Gates)
20/Sep    West Ham United 3 (Cross, Barnes, Brooking) Watford 2 (Fossett, Jackett)
27/Sep    Arsenal 1 (Rix) Nottingham Forest 0
01/Oct    West Ham 5 (Pike Cross 3 Goddard) Castilla 1 (Bernal) [Cup-Winners Cup 1st R 2nd L] *played behind closed doors, Tyler comm., Hammers win 6-4 on agg
04/Oct    Crystal Palace 0 West Bromwich Albion 1 (Regis)
11/Oct    Charlton Athletic 2 (Hales, Robinson) Sheffield United 0
18/Oct    Arsenal 2 (Gatting, Young) Sunderland 2 (Rowell, Cummins)
22/Oct    West Ham 4 (Bonds, Goddard, Stewart(pen), Cross) Poli Timisoara 0 [Cup-Winners Cup 2nd R 1st L] *Martin Tyler comm, Hammers lost 2nd leg 1-0
25/Oct    West Ham United 2 (Neighbour, Walsh(og)) Bolton Wanderers 1 (Kidd)
01/Nov   Crystal Palace 1 (Nicholson) Manchester United 0
08/Nov   Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Hoddle(pen), Crooks) Wolverhampton W. 2 (Atkinson, Richards)
15/Nov    Luton Town 3 (Stein 2, Moss) West Ham United 2 (Brooking 2)
22/Nov   Arsenal 2 (McDermott, Stapleton) Everton 1 (Wright(pen))
29/Nov   Crystal Palace 2 (Walsh, Sealy) Manchester City 3 (Reeves, Gow 2)
02/Dec    West Ham United 1 (Cross) Tottenham Hotspur 0 [League Cup 5th Round]
06/Dec    Chelsea 0 Swansea City 0
13/Dec    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Archibald, Hoddle) Manchester City 1 (Boyer)
20/Dec    Arsenal 2 (Rix, Vaessen) Manchester United 1 (Macari)
27/Dec    West Ham United 2 (Holland, Allen) Orient 1 (Chiedozie)
03/Jan     Queens Park Rangers 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
10/Jan     Charlton Athletic 3 (Tydeman, Hales, Walker) Hull City 2 (Robertson, Edwards)
17/Jan     Showed other region's games
24/Jan     Showed other region's FA Cup 4th Round ties including Yorkshire coverage of Barnsley 1 (Aylott) Enfield 1 (Burton)
31/Jan     West Ham United 5 (Goddard, Pike, Lampard, Devonshire 2) Preston North End 0
07/Feb    Chelsea 3 (Droy, Mayes 2) Cambridge United 0
10/Feb    West Ham United 2 (Goddard, Neighbour) Coventry City 0 [League Cup SF 2nd Leg] *West Ham win 4-3 on agg
14/Feb    Showed other region's games including Anglia coverage of Ipswich v Charlton
21/Feb    Fulham 3 (Davies, Doyle(og), Lock(pen)) Portsmouth 0
28/Feb    Watford 1 (Poskett) West Ham United 2 (Cross 2)
07/Mar    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Miller, Roberts) Exeter City 0 [FA Cup QF]
14/Mar    Showed other region's games including Ipswich v Spurs
18/Mar    Dynamo Tbilisi 0 West Ham United 1 (Pearson) [Cup-Winners Cup QF 2nd Leg] *Martin Tyler commentated, Tbilisi win 4-2 on agg
21/Mar    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Crooks, Archibald) Aston Villa 0
28/Mar    Arsenal 1 (Sunderland) Liverpool 0
01/Apr    Networked LIVE coverage of the League Cup Final Replay - West Ham 1 (Goddard) Liverpool 2 (Dalglish, Hansen) [Villa Park]
04/Apr    Charlton Athletic 1 (Madden) Huddersfield Town 2 (Brown, Kindon)
11/Apr    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Archibald, Hoddle) Wolves 2 (Hibbitt, Carr(pen)) [FA Cup SF] *at Hillsborough
18/Apr    Crystal Palace 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 3 (Gregory 2, Smith)
25/Apr    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Hoddle) Liverpool 1 (Gayle)
02/May    Showed other region's games including ATV coverage of WBA 4 Spurs 2
09/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Spurs 1 (Hutchison(og)) Man City 1 (Hutchison) AET
14/May    Networked LIVE coverage of FA Cup Final Replay - Spurs 3 (Villa 2, Crooks) Man City 2 (MacKenzie, Reeves(pen) [Wembley]

1980/81 was some season for 2nd Division West Ham, their FA Cup triumph the previous May granted them a place in Europe and they went on to reach the Quarter-finals of the Cup-winners cup (losing out to Dynamo Tbilisi), there were also two trips to Wembley - both against Liverpool - the Charity Shield match was lost in August but the League Cup final in March was drawn 1-1 (highlights were on BBC1's Match of the Day which was now on Sunday afternoons), Liverpool emerged victorious in the Villa Park replay yet the season was to end in promotion glory for West Ham who were runaway champions of the 2nd tier (David Cross was the 2nd tier's top scorer on 22, Paul Goddard added a further 17). 1981 was to go down in history as Spurs year though, as they won the FA Cup in arguably the greatest Cup final of all time by overcoming Manchester City 3-2 in the first ever Wembley staged replay, the match included a particularly memorable solo effort from Ricky Villa (one of his two replay goals with Garth Crooks netting the other), Steve Archibald meanwhile was the top flight's joint leading scorer on 20 as Spurs finished 10th. Arsenal had a good season too by again improving on their league standing by finishing 3rd, but Crystal Palace were relegated as the bottom club (manager Terry Venables had left for QPR in October, the return of Malcom Allison lasted 2 months before Dario Gradi took over). In the 3rd tier Charlton won promotion under Mike Bailey (who then left to take charge at Brighton) and Dave Bassett's Wimbledon were promoted again in yo-yo fashion from the 4th.

Season 1981/82
"The Big Match" was back on Sunday afternoon's for this season.
29/Aug    West Ham United 1 (Stewart(pen) Brighton & Hove Albion 1 (McNab(pen))
05/Sep    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Villa) Aston Villa 3 (Donovan 2, Mortimer)
12/Sep    Crystal Palace 2 (Walsh 2) Charlton Athletic 0
19/Sep    Queens Park Rangers 1 (Stainrod) Crystal Palace 0
26/Sep    Arsenal 0 Manchester United 0
03/Oct    Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Hazard, Falco 2) Nottingham Forest 0
10/Oct    Showed other region's matches *including HTV coverage of Swansea City 2 Arsenal 0
17/Oct    Brighton & Hove Albion 3 (Foster, Case, Ritchie) Liverpool 3 (Dalglish, R.Kennedy, McDermott)
24/Oct    Watford 3 (Bolton, Barnes, Blissett) Norwich City 0
31/Oct    West Ham United 3 (Neighbour, Goddard, Stewart(pen)) Middlesbrough 2 (Woof, Thomson(pen))
07/Nov   Tottenham Hotpsur 1 (Crooks) West Bromich Albion 2 (Hughton(og), Jol)
14/Nov   Fulham 1 (Brown) Walsall 1 (Penn)
21/Nov   Chelsea 1 (Lee) Grimsby Town 1 (Ford)
28/Nov   Arsenal 1 (McDermott) Everton 0
05/Dec    Southampton 3 (Moran, Keegan, Armstrong) Manchester United 2 (Stapleton, Robson)  *this was LWT coverage
12/Dec    Showed ATV coverage of Leicester 1 (Lineker) Watford 1 (Jenkins) *Brian Moore was at Liverpool's World Club Championship match
19/Dec    Showed Granada's match *Intended match was postponed, few fixtures played this weekend
26/Dec    Queens Park Rangers 0 Chelsea 2 (Walker, Mayes)
02/Jan     Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Crooks) Arsenal 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round] *Granada covered Watford 1 (Lohman) Man United 0
09/Jan     *Intended match probably postponed, showed other region's matches including Granada's Oldham 1 (Palmer) Watford 1 (Jenkins)
16/Jan     *Intended match probably postponed, showed TVS coverage of Brighton 1 West Ham United 0
23/Jan     Luton Town 0 Ipswich Town 3 (Brazil, Gates 2) [FA Cup 4th round] *Moore comm. for LWT, Harrison for Anglia
30/Jan     West Ham United 3 (Goddard, Cross 2) West Bromwich Albion 1 (King)
06/Feb    Watford 1 (Blissett(pen)) Chelsea 0
13/Feb    Chelsea 2 (Rhoades-Brown, Lee) Liverpool 0 [FA Cup 5th Round]
20/Feb    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Hoddle 2(1pen)) Manchester City 0
27/Feb    Arsenal 0 Swansea City 2 (Kennedy, R.James(pen))
03/Mar    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Miller, Hazard) Eintracht Frankfurt 0 [Cup-Winners Cup QF 1st Leg]
06/Mar    Queens Park Rangers 1 (Allen) Crystal Palace 0 [FA Cup QF]
13/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Liverpool 3 (Whelan 2, Rush) Spurs 1 (Archibald) AET
20/Mar    Crystal Palace 3 (Smillie 2, Mabbutt) Luton Town 3 (Antic, Stein, Moss(pen))
27/Mar    Fulham 4 (Brown 2, Davies, O�Donnell) Carlisle United 1 (Robson)
03/Apr    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Crooks, Wilson(og)) Leicester City 0 [FA Cup Semi-Final] *at Villa Park
10/Apr    West Ham United 1 (Goddard) Swansea City 1 (R.James)
17/Apr    Luton Town 3 (Stein 3(2pens)) Newcastle United 2 (Mills, Trewick(pen))
24/Apr    Southampton 2 (Channon, Keegan (pen)) Liverpool 3 (Rush, Whelan 2) *this was LWT coverage
01/May   Charlton Athletic 1 (Mehmet) Watford 1 (Jenkins)
08/May   West Ham United 1 (Cross) Manchester United 1 (Moran)
15/May   Fulham 3 (Davies 2, Coney) Preston North End 0
22/May   Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Spurs 1 (Hoddle) QPR (Fenwick) 1 AET
27/May   Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final Replay - Spurs 1 (Hoddle(pen)) QPR 0 [Wembley]

Tottenham Hotspur established themselves as London's top club by finishing 4th (one place ahead of Arsenal) and winning the FA Cup for the 2nd successive year, again in a Wembley replay, it was Spurs 4th trip to Wembley this season following the Charity Shield draw with Villa and a League Cup final defeat to Liverpool, Spurs also reached the SF's of the Cup-winners cup (losing out to Barcelona 2-1 on agg) and captain Steve Perryman was named 'Footballer of the year'. Arsenal's European adventures came to an end in the 2nd round of the UEFA Cup on away goals to Winterslag. West Ham's return to the top flight saw them finish a creditable 9th and joining them next season would be David Pleat's Luton (who were 2nd tier champions) and Graham Taylor's Watford (who were runners-up). The beaten 1982 FA Cup finalists were Terry Venables' 2nd tier QPR who only finished 2 points short of promotion, games at Loftus Road were now being played on a controversial plastic pitch (the first of its' kind to be used by a league club). Orient's twelve season stint at 2nd tier level finally came to an end as they finished 22nd, Fulham were promoted in the opposite direction from the 3rd tier (with 24 goals from Gordon Davies ) whilst Wimbledon's yo-yo period continued with relegation back down to the Fourth Division.

Season 1982/83
"The Big Match" was on Saturday night's again for this season.
21/Aug    Networked coverage of Tottenham Hotspur 0 Liverpool 1 (Rush) [Charity Shield] *at Wembley
28/Aug    Watford 2 (Armstrong, Rice) Everton 0
04/Sep    Showed Granada coverage of Everton 3 (Sheedy, Wright, McMahon) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Archibald)
11/Sep    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Mabbutt) Manchester City 2 (Baker 2)
18/Sep    Queens Park Rangers 0 Sheffield Wednesday 2 (McCulloch, Bannister)
25/Sep    Fulham 3 (Davies 2, Coney) Leeds United 2 (Thomas, Graham)
02/Oct    Luton Town 1 (Hill) Manchester United 1 (Grimes) *Anglia also showed this but with Gerry Harrison commentating
09/Oct    West Ham United 3 (Martin, Pike, Clark) Liverpool 1 (Souness)
16/Oct    Arsenal 2 (Sunderland, Woodcock) West Bromwich Albion 0
23/Oct    Chelsea 3 (Bumstead, Pates, Robson) Charlton Athletic 1 (Hales)
30/Oct    West Ham United 3 (Goddard, Stewart(pen), Pike) Manchester United 1 (Moran)
06/Nov    Luton Town 2 (Moss, Walsh) Arsenal 2 (Rix, Talbot) *Anglia were at Norwich
13/Nov    Crystal Palace 1 (Mabbutt) Leeds United 1 (Connor)
20/Nov    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Archibald 2) West Ham United 1 (Van Der Elst)
27/Nov    Arsenal 2 (Robson, Talbot) Watford 4 (Barnes 3, Jackett)
04/Dec    Charlton Athletic 2 (McAllister, Simonsen) Newcastle United 0
11/Dec    Luton Town 3 (Walsh, Stein 2) Manchester City 1 (Cross) *Anglia were at Ipswich
18/Dec    Watford 2 (Jenkins, Taylor) Ipswich Town 1 (Mariner)
01/Jan     West Ham United 3 (Cottee, Stewart(pen), Pike) Tottenham Hotspur 0
08/Jan     Charlton Athletic 2 (Robinson, Hales) Ipswich Town 3 (Thijssen, Wark 2(1pen)) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
15/Jan     Queens Park Rangers 2 (Gregory 2) Newcastle United 0
22/Jan     Showed other region's matches
29/Jan     Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Crooks, Gibson) West Bromich Albion 1 (Whitehead) [FA Cup 4th Round]
05/Feb    Showed Granada coverage of Man City 2 (Tueart(pen), Cross) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Gibson, Brooke(pen))
12/Feb    Showed Anglia's match
15/Feb    Arsenal 2 (Woodcock, Nicholas) Manchester Utd 4 (Whiteside, Stapleton, Coppell 2) [League Cup SF 1L] *2nd leg covered by Granada, Utd won 2-1
19/Feb    Showed Central coverage of Aston Villa 4 (Shaw, Morley, Gibson, Cowans) Watford 1 (Blissett(pen)) [FA Cup 5th Round]
26/Feb    Watford 2 (Blisset, Rostron) Aston Villa 1 (Walters)
05/Mar    Arsenal 0 Nottingham Forest 0
12/Mar    Showed Granada and TVS coverage of FA Cup QF's
19/Mar    West Ham United 1 (Bould(og)) Stoke City 1 (Thomas)
26/Mar    Fulham 4 (Wilson 2, Davies, Lewington) Grimsby Town 0
02/Apr     West Ham United 2 (Van Der Elst, Swindlehurst) Watford 1 (Callaghan)
09/Apr     Luton Town 2 (Aylott, Moss) Aston Villa 1 (Shaw)
16/Apr     Brighton & Hove Albion 2 (Case, Robinson) Sheffield Wednesday 1 (Mirocevic) [FA Cup SF] *at Highbury
23/Apr     Fulham 0 Leicester City 1 (Wilson)
30/Apr     Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Archibald 2) Liverpool 0
07/May    Fulham 2 (Wilson 2) Carlisle United 0
14/May    Derby County 1 (Davison) Fulham 0 *Brian Moore commentating on a match outside the region, Central were at Leicester
21/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Brighton 2 (Smith, Stevens) Man Utd 2 (Stapleton, Wilkins) AET
26/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final Replay - Brighton 0 Man Utd 4 (Robson 2, Whiteside, Muhren(pen)) [Wembley]

It was an incredible debut season for Graham Taylor's Watford in the top flight, they were runners-up with Luther Blissett top scorer in all league's with 27. Tottenham finished 4th and were knocked out of the Cup-winners cup at the 2nd round stage by Bayern Munich, Arsenal suffered a 1st Round exit in the UEFA Cup and finished a disappointing 10th in what turned out to be Terry Neill's last full season in charge, but the Gunners did reach the Semi-finals of the FA Cup (only to lose 2-1 to Man United). West Ham finished 8th whilst Luton's return to the top flight saw them avoid relegation on the final day of the season thanks to a victory at Man City. Terry Venables' Queens Park Rangers made their plastic pitch advantage tell by running away with the 2nd tier championship whilst Fulham looked to be on course to join them in a successive promotion (The Big Match featured the Cottagers on no less than 4 occasions in the final 8 weeks), but Malcom Macdonald's team ended the campaign in 4th (1 point behind Leicester). There would be yet another change of division for Dave Bassett's Wimbledon who won the 4th Division with 98 points (John Leslie scoring 22).

Season's 1983/84 - 1987/88
With live broadcasts of league matches now on the horizon, ITV took the decision to axe their regional weekend football programmes. The Big Match limped on as an infrequent networked Sunday afternoon highlights package, but it was no longer focussed on London teams and there were only a handful of shows broadcast during the 1983/84 season due to a dispute with technicians over the costs of editing. The first live ITV league match was screened on Sunday 2nd October 1983 as The Big Match Live, five years later that title was dropped in favour of The Match for the start of ITV's exclusive league rights contract which ran from season 1988/89 - 1991/92, by which time highlights were considered old hat and pretty much confined to mid-week.

Email
[email protected]

ITV regional football highlights 1968-83 home page
It�s up for grabs now! The history of football on ITV

London football 1968-83 links

Topspurs - Includes stats for all 1968-83 season's
West Ham Stats - Includes Hammers line-ups and scorers for all 1968-83 fixtures

Brian Moore links
The Independant tribute , Guardian tribute , BBCi obituary , BFI Screenonline

YouTube Big Match Clips
Title sequences.... (Thanks to Rod for uploading these!)
The Big Match 1969/70
The Big Match 1972/73
The Big Match 1975/76
The Big Match 1978/79
The Big Match 1980/81
Studio clips/Midweek/Specials
01/Apr/1973 - Jimmy Hill interviews Malcom Allison
22/Dec/1974 - Terry Mancini presenting The Big Match
22/Dec/1974 - Big Match "Funny Spot" "Dancing Footballers" and a referee too!
03/Nov/1976 - Trailer for a QPR UEFA Cup tie
16/Mar/1977 - The Midweek Match
15/Oct/1977 - LWT trailer for The Big Match plus ads
09/Aug/1980 - Charity Shield
10/Feb/1981 - Midweek Sports Special
Goals & Highlights....
09/Dec/1972 - Spurs 1 Arsenal 2  Not great quality unfortunately, but includes near misses as well as the goals.
25/Oct/1975 - The crowd crushing incident at West Ham v Man Utd - described by Brian Moore
                                             Also the goals from this match; here and here.
25/Sep/1976 - Fulham 4 Hereford 1 George Best & Rodney Marsh line up for Fulham *sourced from a Sky Sports repeat
24/Oct/1981 - Watford 3 Norwich City 0

LWT stuff
TV Ark - LWT section
 

Page last updated June 2008