Part 4 (1/2)

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55

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5 West Ham

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14

10

68

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Because of the one-off nature of the gaht, the hout the country Clubs had a lot to gain by us losing, and I knew I had to doup to the e gaht before was to be targeted bybefore the internet you didn't really hear about y result, or a performance that was too bad to be true, but that's football isn't it? To prove that soame would have been i from any player I had played with and I would have punched anyone's lights out if I suspected that they illing to chuck a ga to me, and it would have been too much to take to work like a slave all week only for someone to affect the result

At the sauys out there, and that there were certain people you didn't get on the wrong side of I s worked, and that cri sche was one lucrative way of generating cash, and even though football betting wasn't as big a deal as it is now, it was seen as another way to extract so to try to nobble the result of a game, then the best person after the referee to try to influence would be the goalkeeper I just never thought anybody would be daft enough to try it on with a television in the house, whenI picked it up, and on the other end of the line was soe?' he asked 'Yes,' I said, none the wiser 'If Crystal Palace lose toht outside your house just now Tell ht lose, and in 10on your doorstep Come outside and pick up the parcel It's yours'

I really didn't knohat to think My first reaction was that itto have a wind-up at h jokes on other people

But I wasn't going to hang around to find out I blurted out tords, the second of which was 'OFF' I hung up the phone on hi back and try again, but he'd got the e

I put it to the back of my mind and never mentioned it to anyone To this day, I don't know if I was the only one in the teaet a call like that Or whether people involved in other gaeted in that way I honestly don't knohether it was so purposes, or whether it was someone determined to make sure that Sunderland went up to the First Division It would have been pointless forto the FA For one, I'm no snitch And anyway, how the hell would I have proved it anyway? It was only a voice on the other end of the phone It didn't affect ame; I just put it down to a crank call and went on with preparing for a massive match where I had to aame, completely focused, and on Friday, 11 May, 1979, ent out there determined not just to win the point that would deliver us into the First Division, but to beat Burnley and go up as the champions we believed ere I had friends and fa crowd of 51,482 There were thousands more locked out, I don't knohere they all came froht

It was a horribly uncooalkeeper, because we had all the possession and pressure, and I just had to stand there and keep my concentration and hope that we could break Burnley down I was kicking every ball and I leapt for joy e got the goal that would put one hand on the Second Division trophy with just 14 ht, and Ian Walsh got on the end of it to head us one-up It was party ti on the cake with a second We'd done it, we'd co the championshi+p in the last 14 ht was: Burridge, Hinshelwood, Sansom, Kember, Cannon, Gilbert, Nicholas, Murphy, Swindlehurst, Walsh, Hilaire