introduced

“I couldn’t believe it, my beloved Hull City were up against Georgie Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law. That’s like having Messi, Ronaldo and Mbappe in the same team,” Kelly recalled on the BBC’s Sporting Witness programme.

Former Hull City player Frankie Banks said: “It was a massive game, playing against Manchester United, who two years earlier had won the European Cup.

“The atmosphere was electrifying.

“The Man United players were our heroes. On paper we didn’t stand a chance. We wanted to win, we wanted to prove to everybody that although they were the best side probably in the world we could go out and give them a game.”

And that is exactly what they did, taking the lead on 11 minutes through Chris Chilton before Law pulled one back for United in the 78th minute to send the game into extra time. As the clocked ticked down on the additional half-hour, players realised they were about to be part of something historic.

“[Hull player-manager] Terry Neill obviously asked for volunteers and some of the lads were reluctant to step up and take the penalties and some were brave enough to step up and say ‘I’ll take one, I’ll take one and I’ll take one’,” said Banks, who was not on the team sheet that day but was at the game.

“Nobody wants to be the one that misses.”

And, in particular, no-one wants to be the first player ever to miss in a shootout.

However, Best was happy to go down as the first player to score, sending his right-footed shot low into the left corner.

For Hull City, Neill became the first player-manager to score in a shootout, helping keep the score level at 3-3.

“It was still anybody’s game and the noise was deafening,” said Banks.

But then, in a moment that countless big-name players to come would experience through the decades, Law saw his low shot saved by a diving Ian McKechnie.

“For ever and ever, Law will go down as the first man to miss in a penalty shootout and McKechnie will go down as the first goalkeeper to save a penalty in a penalty shootout,” said Banks.

Ken Wagstaff then missed for Hull and so when Willie Morgan scored for United, Hull knew they had to convert their final kick.

And that was when McKechnie became the first keeper to take a penalty in a shootout.

“Please, not him,” Kelly remembers thinking. “I couldn’t believe it, my mum couldn’t believe it, even Alex Stepney the Man United keeper couldn’t believe it and actually asked him what he was doing up there. I had my head in my hands!”

McKechnie stepped up and blasted a powerful strike… against the upper side of the crossbar. And with that, he became the first keeper to miss a penalty in a shootout.

“I still maintain that Ian McKechnie was the right choice – he had a sweet left foot – and he had the guts to do it. I’d have put money on him to score,” said Banks.

“Missing that penalty stayed with Ian for the rest of his life.”

Prem clubs have agreed to introduce a ‘salary floor’ – a minimum amount each team must spend on players’ wages – from next season in an attempt to keep the top flight as closely fought as possible.

Each club will be obliged to spend £5.4m a season on talent.

The salary cap – a £6.4m limit on squad spending, albeit with ‘credits’ on offer for home-grown talent and other factors which stretch the restriction to £7.8m – will remain the same.

Failure to spend up to the salary floor will be punished by a fine equivalent to the difference between a club’s squad spend and the lower limit, incentivising clubs to invest in their squads.

Several clubs are likely to need to pay more to meet the new lower figure.

Last season, Bristol boss Pat Lam estimated that eventual champions and the Bears’ semi-final conquerors Bath spent “close to £3m more than we have on our squad”., external

While bottom side Newcastle have brought in a raft of new players since energy drink giant Red Bull took over in August, they are still thought to be well short of a £5.4m wage bill.

While such prescriptions over squad spending are rare in UK sport, they are more common overseas.

The NRL, Australia’s elite rugby league competition, requires its clubs to spend at least 95% of its salary cap figure. In American Football’s NFL, it is set at 90%.

Prem Rugby hopes that, with relegation to be formally scrapped next season, greater payroll parity will improve the competitive balance of the top flight.

A divide has opened up in the table this season with four teams – Newcastle Red Bulls, Harlequins, Gloucester and Sale – cut adrift of the play-off race with seven rounds of the season to go.

Sixth-placed Saracens, who are eight points off the top four, could have their hopes of extending their campaign all but ended this weekend if they lose to leaders Northampton.

Introducing a salary floor is reflective of renewed confidence in the league’s future, with billionaire industrialist James Dyson having become co-owner of Bath this month and further investment in Prem clubs believed to be in the pipeline.

The league intends to add two teams to its current 10 in the 2029-30 season if a wrangle with the second-tier Champ can be smoothed out.

While it has been agreed that any new entrants to the Prem must complete a campaign in the Champ first, it is yet to be agreed how high a team would have to finish to demonstrate their on-field credentials, with Prem Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor believing a top-six finish and qualification for the Champ play-offs “would be the natural thing”.

Massie-Taylor is keen to build on this weekend’s ‘big game’ concept, with Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium earmarked as a possible host for neutral-venue Prem semi-finals from 2029.

Saracens are staging Saturday’s match against Saints at the 63,000-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while Gloucester are hosting Leicester at Villa Park and Bristol will take their match against Harlequins to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on the same day.

Harlequins put on two of their regular-season fixtures at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium, which also hosts June’s Prem final.

A review will also be allowed at the end of a point if a player feels his opponent may be guilty of hindrance.

Daniil Medvedev used the review system against Jack Draper in Indian Wells last week, after the British player briefly stretched his arms out wide during a rally to signal his belief that a Medvedev forehand was long.

Umpire Aurelie Tourte watched a replay on her tablet and ruled Draper was guilty of hindrance – of making either an action or a noise to disturb an opponent – and awarded the Russian the point.

Draper admitted it was a difficult situation for the umpire, but thought Medvedev had “played the rules quite well” and did not believe his gesture had been enough to distract him.

The US Open has been using video reviews since 2023, and the Australian Open since 2025.

It is becoming more common on the women’s WTA Tour and by next season the men’s ATP Tour will have video reviews in place at all of its events.

Another change at Wimbledon this year will be the addition of visual indicators on scoreboards to complement the audio calls produced by ELC.

Spectators have sometimes been unsure whether a ball was in or out – and at the Australian Open this year, the net posts flashed red to give the crowd a visual cue whenever a ball was out.

With exactly 100 days to go until the start of The Championships, the AELTC has also announced that capacity at the qualifying competition in Roehampton will increase from 3,500 to 4,000 each day.