The Sunderland fan who landed a 1973 FA Cup Final ticket next to the Royal box, and patted the players on the head as they went past

He was right next to the Wembley steps and patted the players on their heads when they came past with their medals.

The 89-year-old shared his 1973 memories and remembered ‘I shouted myself hoarse that day’.

Ron was a gate man at Roker Park for 13 years and got final tickets for himself and his friend Cliff Jones.

‘I got the tickets. My friend drove us to Wembley’

"I was usually on the boys turnstile. I said to Cliff ‘if I get the tickets you can drive us to Wembley.”

When they got inside the stadium, their seats were right next to the stairs where the FA Cup would be presented to the winners.

‘I patted the players on the head’

“I was right up next to the railing. I patted Bobby Kerr and the others on the head.”

It was a day to remember and the evening was just as enjoyable.

Ron and Cliff stayed in London, visited a few pubs and got on famously with the Leeds fans who were ‘superb in defeat’.

‘I was so hoarse from all that shouting’

Liquid refreshment was needed to ‘lubricate the tonsils’ after all that shouting, he said.

Ron is a retired magistrate, a retired BT engineer and a member of Sunderland Antiquarian Society.

He is a font of knowledge and has compiled a remarkable collection of more than 11,500 archive photographs showing pubs mainly from the Sunderland area.

We love Ron’s 1973 memories as well as these stories which have already been shared with the Echo by SAFC fans.

The boy who was 15 on Cup final day

Whitburn teenager Stuart Collinson got some very special presents on his 15th birthday.

It was the same day as the FA Cup Final and he got a designer SAFC birthday card as well as watching his beloved Sunderland as they overcame Leeds in the FA Cup Final.

SAFC fan Jim Mustard watched the 1973 English Cup final on Dutch TV – in Germany.

He was stationed in Geilenkirchen in West Germany with the Army, when the Black Cats clashed with Leeds United at Wembley.

The emotional walk up Wembley Way

Jim Wales vividly remember the atmosphere building on the Tube and the spine-tingling walk up Wembley Way.

"The sheer joy at the final whistle is still fresh,’ he told the Echo.

Michael Green was at every home match – and some of the away ones - in the Cup run and kept fantastic mementoes of it all.

He still has his Cup Final ticket, menus, his Sunderland shirt and scarf, and photos including one of the 3ft-high Black Cat that his dad made when he worked at Austin and Pickersgill.

We want more

Thanks to everyone who has shared 1973 stories so far and we want more.

Were you one of the fans who played in the 100-a-side football match between fans in the Wembley car park?

Did you compete in the Sunderland v Leeds It’s A Knockout competition which was shown on television?

Did you have a baby on cup final day, or maybe you missed the whole thing because you had to work.

We want all your tales. Get in touch by emailing [email protected]