This Sunderland AFC fan may have the biggest collection of 1973 mementos - unless you know different

George Ford amassed 40 pages of newspaper reports, personal memories and photos in a scrapbook which he has treasured for 50 years.

His cup final ticket also takes pride of place in the album.

Today, we are asking: ‘does George have the biggest haul of 1973 mementos or do you know different?’

George, who was 23 when Sunderland defied the odds to win the cup, got in touch with the Echo to tell us of the scrapbook which he compiled during the cup run. He had just finished college and started a teaching job at the time.

In his spare time, he collected pictures of Bob Stokoe and the team as well as his own personal photos including one he will always hold dear to his heart.

The fan with the upside down scarf

It shows him in the crowd at Wembley deliberately holding his Sunderland scarf upside down in case the cameras spotted him!

Sure enough, the press picked him out and he appeared in the media as the ‘supporter with the upside down scarf’.

Today, George, 73, can be revealed as the supporter behind the scarf – and possibly the fan with the most detailed collection of 1973 memorabilia.

George, who now lives near Scotch Corner, is still a regular at Black Cats matches.

Reflecting on that day at Wembley, he told the Echo: “It felt like the whole of Sunderland was there and as if we all knew each other. All smiling and cheering.

“I’d been told about ‘37 so many times and now it was ‘73 - magical times.

“I remember that I held my scarf upside down as I cheered just in case it was on TV or in the press. It was!”

He was right behind Monty’s goal

"And better still, when I made an educational visit to the Stadium of Light many years later – surprise surprise an enlargement was, and probably still is, on the staircase with the ‘fan with the upside down scarf’ very clear among the crowd in the end of the greatest save and the greatest goal.”

George told us how the scrapbook started.

"Bob Stokoe’s arrival at Sunderland led me to start what became a 40-page scrap book that went right through to the cup victory.”

But George already had 17 years of Black Cats highs and lows by then.

“I was a seven year old who went to my first game at Roker in December 1956. My father wasn’t a fan but saw a lot of action because as a policeman he frequently walked round the pitch as they did in those days.”

Get in touch

We would love to hear from more fans with memories of those amazing days from January to May 1973.

Were you at Wembley? Were you one of the fans at the semi-final against Arsenal?

Or were you one of the fans who never missed a single match in the cup run and watched as the excitement mounted?

Did you miss the big day through illness or injury and had to watch it all from a hospital bed or at home?

Get in touch and share your own 1973 memories by emailing [email protected]