Like the day that preceded it, what happened on the morning after the final will probably remain forever etched in the memory of those who were there. Cramped into the small market ground in order to welcome the team home appeared to be the entire population of the town. It sounds like a terrible cliché but people were hanging from lampposts and sitting on the roofs of nearby buildings just to catch a glimpse of what was happening on the makeshift stage.
While it’s feasible that Mossley could still make another Wembley final one day, it’s highly unlikely that the return home would be as memorable or as well attended as it was back in 1980. There are a multitude of reasons why but as social commentary is not my speciality I’m going to refrain from listing my thoughts as to why this would be the case. Suffice to say it would involve word ‘community’ prominently.
The clippings below detail the events of that warm Sunday morning back in May thirty years ago and also include a few other photographs from the Wembley trip that didn’t make part four. Who knows, there may be a face or two you recognise?
Hopefully the next thirty years update in a few months time will do the same. That's right, we're not finished with 1980 just yet.