Five Cup finals which were unexpected at the time they were played.

With the FA Cup final to be a Manchester derby, we can all be left to ponder what could have been if the Blades and the Seagulls beat their Mancunian counterparts. Brighton vs Sheffield United may not be the most exciting final from a neutral’s perspective but history shows that these games can be quite surprising. It would not have been the first time that a “random” cup final happened, here are five “completely random” cup finals that did happen…

1923 Bolton Wanderers 2-0 West Ham United

The first-ever cup final at Wembley Stadium, with record amounts of fans attending to see West Ham face off against Bolton, the game is nicknamed the White Horse final, as a white horse called Billy helped police control the crowd inside the stadium.

The first few decades of the FA Cup were a bit of a free-for-all with any team capable of getting to the final, and Bolton and West Ham kept the tradition alive.

Bolton is one of the founder members of the football league, but they had yet to find any success. A couple of cup finals aside Bolton had not really done much, Lancashire’s forgotten team some might say.

The Hammers were a second-division team looking for a place in the top tier amongst their London rivals Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham. They had just gone professional in 1919-20 joining the football league for the first time.

Bolton had a tough run that included a strong Huddersfield team who took them to a replay. They won 1-0 in three of their ties including the semi-finals at Old Trafford against Sheffield United. David Jack was Bolton’s hero in the cup run and proved to be so again opening the score in the first two minutes of the final.

West Ham was taken to replays by Brighton and Southampton before thrashing top-division Derby County 5-2 in the semi-final at Stamford Bridge.

The final is more famous for the crowd as large amounts of Londoners turned up for the spectacle, with an estimated 126,000 inside the ground from ticket sales alone.

The final score was 2-0 to Bolton winning their first of three FA cups that decade whilst West Ham, who got promoted that year, wouldn’t return until Bobby Moore and co lifted their first FA cup in 1964.

1931 West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Birmingham City

A Birmingham derby is always a fun affair, and on this occasion, the Baggies and the Blues were the finalists. West Brom had played a trilogy against their rivals Aston Villa, Birmingham’s bitter rivals, in the 1880s and 90’s with two cup final victories for Villa. On the other hand, this was Birmingham City’s first-ever final.

The Baggies had started the post-World War One era with the league title in 1920, the first and to date only one in their history but had since been relegated to the second division.

West Brom beat a litany of second-tier clubs to get to the final including arch-rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur before beating Everton 1-0 at Old Trafford in the semi-finals.

Birmingham City was a mid-table, top-division team, spending its early history yo-yo-ing between the top two divisions.

The Blues went on a fine run that included wins against Liverpool and Chelsea before beating Sunderland 2-0 at Elland Road in their semi-final showdown.

The game itself was quite enthralling with West Brom going 1-0 up thanks to their star player William Richardson in the first half. Birmingham equalised with their superstar striker Jack Bradford only for Richardson to put the Baggies back ahead a minute later. The game finished 2-1 and West Brom won their third-ever FA Cup.

Birmingham would only ever go to one more cup final in the mid-1950s. West Brom would be the last second-division team to win the cup until Sunderland beat Leeds in 1973 and to this day are the only team to have been promoted the same season they won the FA Cup.

1946 Derby County 4-1 Charlton Athletic

The first season back after World War Two was always going to be peculiar. The horrors of the war were still fresh in the minds, but the FA Cup came back sooner than any other competition in the UK to raise the morale of the population.

Blackpool were seemingly favourites having managed to keep the best part of their pre-war squad. However, Derby and Charlton claimed their places in the final.

Both teams were good in the 1930s, Derby finishing mostly in the top 7 throughout with two runners-up positions whilst Charlton had finished the 30s strongly with two top-three finishes. However, squads had changed and aged in six years.

The Rams and the Addicks got through the only season where the FA Cup was a two-legged affair in each round until the semi-finals. With no other professional football around, Derby reached their first final in almost 50 years and Charlton reached their first final ever.

The game was tense until the last few minutes when Bert Turner, Charlton’s unfortunate right-half, scored the opener for Derby in the 85^th minute before leveling for Charlton in the 86^th minute. The match went to extra time and Derby unleashed hell on Charlton scoring three goals.

The encounter ended 4-1 for the Rams who would never return to the cup final again. Charlton on the other hand would return a year later and win their only FA cup.

The final, as well as the competition itself, was a refreshing reminder of peace being restored and joyful Saturday afternoons spent at football grounds.

1959 Nottingham Forest 2-1 Luton Town

The 1950s was a decade of evolution in football. The UEFA European Champions Cup tournament was set up. England and the Home Nations entered the FIFA World Cup to prove that they were still the world leaders of football. And Hungary emerged as a major player on the international stage humiliating the Three Lions and changing football forever with a new style of exhilarating play.

Wolverhampton Wanderers were one of the best teams in England having won the league three times that decade and so did Matt Busby’s Manchester United with his famous Busby Babes proving to be a power before the Munich Air Disaster sadly put a temporary stop on their domination in 1958.

Both Nottingham Forest and Luton Town were competent mid-table teams at this point. Forest would finish 13th that season but a rare appearance in the cup final was a welcome distraction for their fans. They managed to beat the 1957 winners Aston Villa in the semi-finals.

The Hatters had to dispose of third-division Norwich City in a replay before reaching the final and they finished 17^th in the league avoiding relegation.

The game was littered with tough tackles and a high number of injuries according to reports. Forest went 2-0 up in the first 15 minutes. Luton pulled one back in the second half but the Reds held on for their second-ever FA Cup.

The Hatters have yet to return to the cup final and Forest didn’t return until 1991. Luton would be relegated the next season with Forest just about surviving and Wolves won the FA Cup, so normality returned.

2008 Portsmouth 1-0 Cardiff City

In the most dominant era of English football where four clubs took the Premier League by the scruff of its neck, it came as a major surprise to see Portsmouth play Cardiff City of the Championship in the FA Cup final.

That none of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, or Manchester United made it to the final, a first since 1991, Tottenham vs Nottingham Forest, was a major shock. Considering that there had not been a winner outside those four since 1995, Everton, then this was a big deal for a competition that was losing its magic by the year.

Even more surprising was that neither had to encounter a member of the so-called “big four” in the semi-finals; A feat that had not happened since 1987 and would not be repeated until 2019.

Portsmouth finished that season 8^th in the Premier League whilst Cardiff City was firmly mid-table in their division.

Portsmouth had knocked out the Red Devils in the quarter-finals before taking on West Bromwich Albion and Cardiff played Barnsley who had knocked out Liverpool and Chelsea in the previous two rounds.

The game itself did not live up to the hype and whilst the atmosphere was electric the game was flat. Pompey won 1-0 through star striker, the Nigerian, Nwankwo Kanu. David James had proven his value as a keeper once again with another clean sheet, he was named amongst the PFA players of the year.

It would prove to be the highest moment in the modern era of the club, soon after Portsmouth fell from grace and within 10 years were playing in League Two, not without a return to the cup final in 2010 losing to Chelsea.