Remember When... An Unknown Named Alan Taylor Upstaged Bobby Moore

In a perfect world. of course, this would have been The Bobby Moore Final.

If the football romantics had their way, Moore's Fulham team would have beaten West Ham United in the FA Cup final of 1975.

Nobody could have imagined a more appropriate climax to the remarkable career of the man who had captained England to their World Cup triumph nine years earlier.

And there would have been added poignancy if a Fulham victory had come against the Hammers, the club where Moore spent the bulk of his playing career.

The script appeared pre-ordained, but this was an occasion when the golden boy of English football was overshadowed by a 21-year-old who was playing in the old Fourth Division for Rochdale only a few months earlier.

His name? Alan Taylor. And, in a week when the two teams meet in the Premier League, FanHouse takes you back to May 3, 1975, to recall a remarkable afternoon at Wembley.

So much of the build-up had been about Moore and Fulham, a second tier club managed by 58-year-old Alec Stock, yetTaylor had also started to attract attention by scoring four times in West Ham's two previous ties.

Manager John Lyall's £40,000 purchase of the slim Rochdale forward was looking a shrewd move by that stage of the season, but only as shrewd as his successful attempt to persuade the Lancashire club not to play him in a first-round FA Cup tie against non-league club Marine.

Lyall did not want Taylor to be cup-tied, so the player developed a very timely and convenient ankle injury shortly before the tie, which Rochdale still won after a replay.

Taylor's progress after arriving at Upton Park was even swifter than Lyall had anticipated and, after being a surprise choice for their even more surprising quarter-final success at Arsenal, he retained his place until the final.

The stage was set for Taylor, once rejected by Preston North End and playing for teams such as Morecambe and Lancaster before he was spotted by Rochdale, but he was a bit-part player for the first hour of the final.

Fulham threatened to adhere to the fairytale script as they stylishly matched West Ham and almost scored through John Mitchell before Taylor finished them off with more than a little help from Fulham keeper Peter Mellor.

With 61 minutes gone, Mellor - underrated during his days at Burnley, but a nervous figure throughout this game - could only push out a shot from Billy Jennings and Taylor pounced.

Four minutes, Mellor again failed to cling on to Graham Paddon's effort and Taylor was once more waiting to capitalise on the mistake.

There was no way back for Stock's team, 500/1 outsiders before the start of their cup run. This was a Taylor-made triumph for Lyall's side, although he played down his contribution.

"I just seemed to be in the right place at the right time," he said."Now we're going into Europe - and I 've only been abroad twice before when I went to Spain on holiday."

In fact, Taylor made several trips abroad in the following season when West reached the Cup Winners' Cup final, which they lost 4-2 to Anderlecht, with Taylor going on as a substitute.

He scored 13 goals in that season, but injuries soon took their toll and he left Upton Park after 98 appearances and 25 goals.

Taylor's career never reached the heights again as he played for Norwich, Vancouver, Cambridge, Hull, Burnley and Bury with varying degrees of success before retiring and working as a milkman and newsagent in Norwich.

But he has the memory of of a May day 34 years ago and a name that is certain to crop up when West Ham fans chat before this weekend's clash with Fulham. Here's how they lined up at Wembley, with the Hammers fielding the last all-English team to win an FA Cup final.

West Ham: Day, McDowell, Lampard, T Taylor, Lock, Bonds, Paddon, Brooking A Taylor, Jennings, Holland.

Fulham: Mellor, Cutbush, Fraser, Lacy, Moore, Mullery, Conway, Slough, Mitchell, Busby, Barrett.