Televised football in the regions, part 5: The Midlands - from ATV, in colour

If, at the point that Associated Television (ATV) began their contract to broadcast seven days a week to the Midlands in 1968, one had asked a sample of football experts which parts of the country would come to dominate football in England over the duration of this contract, it’s entirely possible that the vast, sprawling band across the middle of the country wouldn’t have figured in that many people’s calculations.

Such is the size of the Midlands that of course it had representation in the First Division, but this was largely concentrated in the bottom of the half of the division, with some traditionally large clubs, such as Wolverhampton Wanderers and Stoke City, apparently in decline and England’s second biggest city, Birmingham, not represented at all. But by the time this contract ended on New Year’s Eve 1981, Midlands clubs had claimed four First Division championships and two European Cups, with a third to follow a few months later. The Midlands was perhaps English football’s surprise powerhouse of the 1970s.