We passed Celtic off the park that day," Cropley remembers. "My God, the skill we had in that Hibs team. We won 2-1 with Celtic getting a late consolation goal through Kenny Dalglish. We were miles better, there was no way we were going to lose."

I was being pursued by Chelsea and Arsenal. Dave Sexton, then the Chelsea coach, came to [former Hibs chairman] Tom Hart's house and asked me to sign. But I told him I couldn't, as I knew of Arsenal's interest. They'd been after me for months. Eddie Turnbull didn't want me to sign for Arsenal. Gordon Clark, the Arsenal scout, who had watched me for months, could not get Eddie to budge. Brian, brought up in Newtown but now living in Northampton, has partner Jo Elijah to thank for finding Cropley Gordon Lee’s first League game in charge of Everton had been a 2-0 defeat away to Aston Villa on the 5th February 1977, which meant that they had won both the League encounters. On the day of the final Aston Villa were in fourth place in the table but with games in hand on the clubs above. Everton were in fifteenth position. Although Aston Villa were clearly the bookmaker’s favourites, being quoted at 11/10 by most, Everton under Lee had started to improve, winning five games on the bounce and progressing to the last eight of the F.A. Cup. His half-century came in 64 balls and was his sixth of the season. No-one in the country has passed fifty more than Critchley in the Championship - although he has only converted to three figures once.

Traded items with a signature of Alex Cropley

Westley decided to rest his bowlers rather than go immediately again, and in seven evening overs lost Browne leg-before to Overton. Somerset began the day on 268-4, knowing that the second new ball was just an over away. However, any hopes Nottinghamshire had of using it to re-establish their first-day advantage soon disappeared. He would die for the shirt – what a man to have in your trench. In today’s money he’d be worth millions.” Bartlett and Rew, who set out on 17, batted confidently through the opening hour, taking few risks and eliminating the errors that had cost Somerset dear in their first innings. He was so humble. I asked him, ‘did you actually realise how good you were?’. He replied, ‘not really, all I wanted to do was play football’.”

Alex Cropley: I was a spent force by the time I arrived". Portsmouth Today.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 April 2015 . Retrieved 20 May 2017. Abell's fifty came in 124 balls but Tom Kohler-Cadmore was lbw to Harmer to the last ball of the day having put on 55 with his captain. Cropley was diagnosed as suffering from dementia in December 2020. [16] He also has an older son, Ross, who played for Aston Villa The extra pace of Somerset's opening bowlers was making the pitch look very different and when Josh Davey replaced Overton, his first over saw James edge a drive to Tom Lammonby at third slip.Everton and Aston Villa have the longest running rivalry in football. Both clubs were founder members of the original Football league in 1888 and have played more top flight matches against each other than any other team, a total which currently stands at 202. They are also the two teams that hold the record for the most seasons spent in the top division of English football, Everton with 114 and Aston Villa with 105 out of a possible 118. It is, therefore, no surprise, given the long standing rivalry between the two sides that they took part in the longest Cup Final ever played. The 1977 League Cup Final involved three matches at three different venues over a period of five weeks from the 12th of March until the 13th of April watched by an aggregate attendance of over 205,000. How they find a way to play again depends at least as much on their mind as their body. Britt Tajet- Foxell was for many years the principal physiotherapist to the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden. She came to realise that recovery from serious injury among dancers was not principally about physical conditioning, it was often nearly all mental. Tajet- Foxell added cognitive psychology to her armoury and is now a consultant to an elite group of athletes through the British Olympic Association, as well as to several international footballers. One of my indelible sporting memories is not a sight but a sound. I'm watching Aston Villa play West Bromwich Albion one grey day in 1977. The derby is always intense, but today there seems a kind of malevolence to the match, and to the crowd; you would n ot want to be out there. In the Villa midfield is a slight fi gure called Alex Cropley, a Scot who is in the form of his life. The previous season he had inspired Villa to a 5-1 win over Liverpool, the champions , and this afternoon he is making the Albion side - the team of John Wile and Len Cantello, one of the most uncompromising ever to take to a football field - look like park players. Sam Cook needed just two deliveries to extract a thin edge behind to see off Abell for 83 before a wobble-seamed delivery nipped off the seam and into Kasey Aldridge's off stump next ball. That came as Goldsworthy marked his first County Championship appearance of the season with 122, his second first-class century.

Everton –Lawson, Robinson, Darracott, Lyons, Mc Naught, King, Hamilton, Dobson, Latchford, Pearson, Goodlass Kent were then presented with the sight of James Rew, the highest scorer in the Championship top flight this season, walking to the crease. Tom Westley had earned opening bowlers Sam Cook and Jamie Porter 20 minutes to bowl at Somerset before the lunch break by declaring on 462-9.Other highlights include beating Hearts 7-0 at Tynecastle, overcoming a 2-1 deficit to beat Sporting Lisbon and beating Celtic 5-3 in the Drybrough Cup final. Left-handed Rew drove at the off-spinner with the edge brilliantly taken at first slip by a full-stretched Sir Alastair Cook. Jawad, Hyder (17 December 2006). "Villa's 45-minute blitz of the champions". Birmingham Post. Trinity Mirror Midlands . Retrieved 8 February 2013. Jeffrey, Jim (2005). The Men Who Made Hibernian F.C. since 1946. Tempus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7524-3091-2.