They were the glory days then... until the shite that we have now

I agree. It is ridiculous. You miss the point . The Laws of the Game back then did not invoke any sort of judgement call on the part of the ref. with regard to offside. That's one reason why it was eventually modified to include phrases like "Involved in active play", "seeking to gain an advantage", which all involve a somewhat subjective judgement on the part of the referee. Incidentally, back in the 1970s and 80s players were also sometimes "persuaded" to step off the field momentarily if they were near the end line but in an offside position so as not to be called offside. Now of course that brings up the whole question of "leaving the field of play without the permission of the referee" but that's a different matter.

David Shreeves I am well aware of the "player hiding behind the keeper|" scenario of which you speak. Has nothing to do with offside. Anyway, I don't believe you know "nothing about the game" as you seem to think I've implied.

Diddums

Liverpool actually won their Third European Cup shortly after this game against WHU. 1984 in Rome was their fourth European Cup. Great team Liverpool were in those days, but West Ham were packed with quality also.

Sammy Lee was blocking the line of sight . It was offside .

Interfering with play wos part of the rules that time, i remember bbc talking about it after match and off course he wos interfering

What about the Leeds incident against WBA in 1971.

Liverpool were by far the better team at Wembley but Hammers dominated periods of the replay.

Yes it was ... he ducked ... if he'd stood up the ball would have hit him square on ... therefore he interfered with play by getting out of the way ... disallowed for offside would have been 100% correct decision.

sagahammer That about sums up Clive Thomas in a nutshell ; the Liverpool Everton FA Cup semi in '77 was another example as was the Brazil v Sweden game in '78 you mention. Having him as ref automatically ruined the game

Offside was offside in 1981. Interfeering with play did not come into it at all. Clive Thomas was the reason as the linesman had clearly done his job properly as per the rules of the day.

a rare poor clearance by Alvin Martin though..

I got head butted outside Wembley by a scally no provocation nothing I was only 13 walking towards the turnstile with my dad, lucky my dad didn’t catch him in the crowd he would have ripped him apart

@@thedudekatman Sorry to hear that, mate, what a cowardly thing to do. A lot of things happened like that back in the day.

@@keddw thanks John yeah stupid really! though i'm a devoted hammer i always liked watching Liverpool play in the 70's & 80's as they were a good attacking side shame some of their supporters were a bit aggressive

He was probably the worst referee I've ever seen, in my opinion his level was under 10s football, if he'd been English he would never have been a FIFA Referee he was just a token, and useless at that, he thought he was bigger than the game.

This rule didn't apply in 1981. If you were offside, you were offside, end of story. Clive Thomas had a knack for exploiting the fact that "referees decision is final" rule which was far less questioned in those days allowing for all sorts of unscrupulous decisions to be gotten away with. In an era with some very dodgy decisions and people like Clive Thomas and Don Revie active.... you can be sure there was a lot of unreported corruption and bribery.

@@numsig it 100% applied dat time, i remember bbc panel quoting it, i remember because i didnt really understand wot it meant

Always had it in for us fucken twat👍😭

What a save from The great Ray Clemence RIP

There was a story about one of the Liverpool players (can't remember who) asking Thomas "What the hell did you disallow it for?" as they walked off at the end of that semi-final.

+David Gibbs Wasn't a sending off offence in those days. I'm not even sure he got booked.

Clive Thomas had a history of giving them important decisions.

He had been clattered going for the header - he fell down because of it. He didn't interfere with play after that. Because of that I'd say the Ref was right to give the goal.

Does it really matter - FFS !

Sir Trevor was also booked when he played his last game for the Hammers at Upton Park.

thomas always contraversal sign of a crapy ref

@@anthonyjean-jacques8510 haha yes I was standing in the North Bank, and remember some wag yelling out "You can't do that ref, he played for England!"

Because he is neither playing the ball, nor attempting to play the ball, nor blocking the goalkeeper’s view, nor preventing an opponent from playing the ball.

Lee CLEARLY ducked ... that is interfering with play ... if he'd continued to get up it would've smacked him in the face ... 100% OFFSIDE!!!

@@Paul_Lucas It simply doesn't matter if he is interefeering or not. This is 1981... the rule is offside is offside. He could have been by the corner flag and he'd still be offside.

Back in those days referees didn't tend to give cards for that sort of thing so daft though it sounds nowadays that wasn't a crooked decision.

Wavy Curlzz Bitter. “Cost West Ham two cup wins” indeed! McDermott’s offence wasn’t a sending off according to the Laws of the Game. It is also not clear that the ball wasn’t going to hit the bar anyway. Sammy Lee was not interfering with play - this was indeed part of the Laws of the Game at the time, contrary to what you say. He was on the floor, having fallen there accidentally and not seeking an advantage. It’s also disputable he was even in an offside position at all. Would be interested to know how Liverpool “cheated” in 2006!

1. Lee WAS 100% interfering with play ... he CLEARLY ducked ... if he continued to get up the ball would have smacked him in the head .. .so disallowed for offside should have been the correct decision. Clive Thomas's incompetence/negligence cheated us out of winning the League Cup. 2. In Cardiff West Ham put the ball out for Liverpool's injured player ... but instead of doing the usual sporting thing and kicking back to the GK, they kicked right into the corner and pressed creating the chance for Gerrard's once in 1000 attempts goal. Not specifically cheating but unbelievably unsporting! ... that's why we feel cheated out of what would have been a deserved win in 2006. The better team lost that final.

yeah in 2006 hammand just threw the ball at west ham player instead of giving it back cheater.

@G K He isn't implying that it is "luck"... he is implying that in fifty odd years of football, the old adage "these things even themselves out" still hasn't applied to Liverpool yet. Getting favourable dodgy decisions all through the 70s, all through the 80s, 90s, 00s and even today with a "new" system.... Liverpool still gets the decisions almost every time. Clive Thomas was the 70s/80s version of VAR for Liverpool. He still hasn't made up a reason for the 77 FA Cup Semi final goal being disallowed!

@@numsig 'luck'. In 1979, Liverpool win the league, scored the most goals, and were never off the top. And they were never awarded a single penalty throughout that time. We don't need favouritism from referees.