Forest v Liverpool FA Cup tie offers reminder of another time in Clough era

Every year the question is asked: what is the point of the FA Cup, why should we care? This is not the Premier League, with its slick production values, glamorous stars at every turn and sense of dramatic urgency. There’s no great sense that it matters: you lose, you’re out and it has no bearing on the race for fourth. You win the thing and your manager still gets sacked a few days or weeks or months later – between 2012 and 2018, Arsène Wenger was the only FA Cup-winning manager still to be in his job a year later.

Yet it remains a tremendously democratic institution and, amid everything else – the landmark final, the money it diverts down the pyramid, the chance it offers smaller clubs for a day to mark indelibly in their history (the time we won at Burnley, the afternoon we drew with West Ham, the night we played at Everton …), it offers a reminder of games that used to be. And for fans of a certain age, disillusioned by the transformation of clubs into commercial vehicles or tools of soft power, nostalgia may be the most important thing we have left: it’s the only thing to look forward to – the past.

It was 44 years ago on Tuesday that Nottingham Forest claimed their first major trophy of the Brian Clough era, winning a League Cup final replay against Liverpool, the team they face in an FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday night.

Getting to a replay had been a matter of some fortune. Forest were without three cup-tied players, including Peter Shilton, which meant a start in goal for Chris Woods who, at 18 years and 124 days, remains the youngest goalkeeper to play in a Wembley final. With Colin Barrett injured and John McGovern struggling through with a tight groin, Liverpool dominated but were thwarted by the brilliance