The 1985 League Cup Final: The Match that Changed My Life
It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast
The Overlap
4.9 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 14 March 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome back to It Was What It Was.
Rob and Jonathan are joined by David Corner - the man whose life was changed forever by the 1985 League Cup Final between Sunderland and Norwich.
That match is remembered for a costly mistake that led to Sunderland’s defeat - a moment that saw David singled out, subjected to intense criticism and even physical abuse from his own fans.
David shares his story with Jonathan and Rob, reflecting on how that experience shaped his life, the challenges he faced in the aftermath, and how he found the strength to move forward.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to It Was What It was in its League Cup final week |
| 0:10.3 | And you will have hopefully heard our special edition on League Cup final earlier in the week |
| 0:14.9 | But now we're going to delve into one of the |
| 0:17.7 | Actually one of the more astonishing stories of League Cup final, 40 years on, |
| 0:21.9 | for a very special League Cup final, Jonathan, finally we've got an episode entirely dedicated to Sunderland. |
| 0:28.4 | Yeah, great. I noticed that when we do a, you know, a KPR episode, it's KPR beating Manchester |
| 0:34.3 | United 4-1 away. When we do a Sunday episode, it's just getting beaten by Norwich in the League Cup final. So I'm not quite sure he's making these editorial decisions. I'm also, I'm sort of thinking of the marketing of this. We're not talking about Norwich very much in this episode at all. We're talking about who's going to listen to a Southern defeat? But this is, I think, an extraordinary story. and actually, really in many ways, a terrible story about what a player went through, having |
| 0:58.9 | been blamed for the defeat in the final. |
| 1:02.1 | Yeah, I totally agree. |
| 1:03.8 | So most people may not know this story outside of Sunderland or of Norwich, but really, |
| 1:08.8 | it's not actually a story about that specific final in the sense. |
| 1:12.7 | That is a backdrop to it. |
| 1:14.2 | And I think it's probably best to introduce our guests today. |
| 1:17.7 | Our guest today is the former Sunderland player who played in that final, aged 18 years old, |
| 1:23.7 | playing for his hometown. |
| 1:25.2 | He'd risen up through the ranks in Sunderland. It's David Corner. It may not be a name, well known to you, outside of the Northeast. But David, you are really, really well known in Sondland, but for many of the wrong reasons. And I think your story is one of the most moving and one of the most important ones that we've come across. And certainly that we've covered in the podcast. Thanks to invite me. Hello, Rob. Howell, Jonathan. Nice to be here. Thanks very much, David. Let's get out of the way, shall we? The thing that unfortunately you're most famous for probably the mistake. |
| 2:02.9 | So let's just set the scene a bit. |
| 2:05.7 | You're 18, you're playing in your fifth game for Sunland. |
| 2:07.7 | It's the Milk Cup final at Wembley. |
| 2:09.7 | It's Sunland v. Norwich. |
| 2:11.4 | It's nil of the half time. |
| 2:14.6 | And then tell us what happens in the first minute of the second half. |
... |
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