The 1974 FA Cup final was an association football match between Liverpool and Newcastle United on Saturday, 4 May 1974 at Wembley Stadium, London.

Liverpool and Newcastle had scares in the third and fourth rounds, in all cases drawing home ties against much smaller clubs and then winning the replays.

Forest made a written protest to the Football Association (the FA) and Newcastle were very close to being disqualified from the competition.

The final, televised live, was watched by a crowd of 100,000 and Liverpool won a one-sided match 3–0 with goals by Kevin Keegan (2) and Steve Heighway.

After the third goal, BBC TV's match commentator David Coleman said that Newcastle's defence had been "stripped naked" by Liverpool.

Newcastle were therefore strong favourites to win their first FA Cup but, in a major shock, Wolves won the final 3–1.

Newcastle's first win was in the 1910 final when they defeated Barnsley 2–0 in a replay at Goodison Park after the first match at Crystal Palace had ended 1–1.

[2] Liverpool entered the competition in the third round and were drawn at home against Doncaster Rovers, who were struggling in the bottom half of the Fourth Division, eventually finishing 22nd and therefore 90th of the 92 Football League clubs.

At Anfield, Doncaster were close to achieving a major shock but Liverpool managed to secure a 2–2 draw and then won the replay 2–0 at Belle Vue.

This time, despite facing strong opposition, Liverpool achieved victory at the first attempt and qualified for the quarter-final stage with a 2–0 win.

[7] Newcastle United entered the competition in the third round and were drawn at home against non-league Hendon, who were the reigning champions of the regional Isthmian League.

[8] This set up a sixth round home tie against Nottingham Forest who, like West Brom, were a mid-table Second Division team.

This ended in a 0–0 draw after extra time, and Newcastle finally won the tie 1–0 in a second replay at Goodison Park.

Many considered this decision incorrect as television replays showed that Newcastle's Alan Kennedy inadvertently played the final pass to Lindsay, so the goal should have stood.