When captain Bobby Charlton held aloft the European Cup at Wembley Stadium on May 29, 1968, in becoming the first English team to win the trophy Manchester United scaled a trajectory that began with the 1958 Munich air crash tragedy – their position as masters of Europe extending a golden era for English football, the national team having conquered the world less than two years before.
While England were expected to make a strong defence of their world title at the 1970 Mexico World Cup, now the top club prize in Europe had finally been won, given the preponderance of high-quality teams capable of winning the league title and thus giving strong European Cup representation, it was not outlandish to think other English sides would soon be reaching the summit of European football.
But from the emotional 1968 victory of Manchester United, it would take another nine seasons of trying before the European Cup was once more lifted by an English club. Indeed, when Liverpool repeated the achievement in 1977 it duly began a sustained period of domination by clubs from England – in a manner that looked set to begin as the 60s drew to a close.
But in between those two triumphs is a tale of controversy, tribulation, trial (literally in the case of Leeds supporters arrested for disorder in Paris during or after the 1975 final) and perhaps complacency – the road littered with the dashed hopes of English clubs who were not quite as good as we, or they, thought they were.
Between 1969 and 1976 there was joy for English clubs on other European fronts, the time bringing virtual monopolisation of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup/UEFA Cup (six wins) and two European Cup Winners’ Cup successes – but the main prize always remained out of reach, the extent of failure ranging from millimetres to country miles.
SAMTIMONIOUS.com examines what happened to those who carried the league champions pennant overseas and how successive campaigns became episodes of fake expectations or tests of the English patience………….
1968-69 – Representative(s) – MANCHESTER UNITED (holders), MANCHESTER CITY:
If one season proved a microcosm of those to come it was 1968-69. In the unusual occurrence of one city, let alone one country, having two entrants in the European Cup (Milan previously achieving the feat five years earlier), there would no instance of lightning striking twice – Inter taking the trophy from holders and city rivals AC in 1964 – the Manchester clubs thwarted at opposite ends of the scale.
In defending the trophy, United made steady progress to the semi-finals and even a 2-0 first leg San Siro defeat did not look insurmountable when AC Milan arrived at Old Trafford two weeks later on 15 May.
After surviving a first half scare when the visitors had a goal ruled out for offside, the second became a siege of the Stretford End goalmouth – United reducing the deficit with twenty minutes left when Bobby Charlton lashed home after some brilliant individual skill from George Best.
With noise levels going off the scale the hosts’ continued to press, believing parity had been restored through a close-range Denis Law effort (top scorer in the competition that season), only to see appeals for the ball crossing the line waved away.
At the final whistle not only had United relinquished the trophy, but there also came a sense the Best-Law-Charlton era, like the decade, was drawing to a close. They would remain in tandem for another three seasons – but none played in a United fixture of such significance again.
For a man who espoused coaching philosophies that embraced the more progressive nuances of continental play, ‘we’ll terrify the cowards of Europe,’ seemed a strange remark for Manchester City first team coach Malcolm Alison to make when the league championship landed at Maine Road in May 1968.
True, his charges had won a close title race by playing an expansive brand of football and two performances in similar vein would at least see them past round one opponents Fenerbache of Turkey – despite the ‘set-up for a fall’ comment of their training pitch professor.
Wrong. By the first week of October, City only had domestic competitions to contest – returning sheepishly from Istanbul after a 2-1 defeat put them out, this following a goalless first leg encounter.
1969-70 – LEEDS UNITED: Having become established during the past five seasons as a formidable force in English football, on winning their first league title in 1969 Leeds looked a team supremely equipped to mount a serious European Cup challenge. Defensively sound, incisive in midfield and attack, combative all over the field – such was their self-belief, when the season began rapacious manager Don Revie set his players the target of winning a League, FA Cup and European Cup treble.
When spring 1970 arrived such a trophy haul looked eminently achievable, Leeds approaching the final straight holding down top spot in the league with places booked in the FA and European Cup semi-finals.
But with the final throes of the season condensed into a few short weeks due to the impending Mexico World Cup, their fixture programme became an unrelenting grind – 15 matches in 46 days stretching manpower to breaking point.
After three FA Cup semi-final encounters against Manchester United, Leeds eventually prevailed to book a place at Wembley (the final against Chelsea on April 11, 1970, ending in a draw, necessitating the first replay since 1912), while the first leg European Cup semi-final against Celtic at Elland Road on April 1 was their fourth match in six days.
Behind to a first minute George Connolly goal, Leeds were unable to find any potency as Celtic safely protected the advantage they would take back to Glasgow.
With all hopes of retaining the league title dashed as Everton surged on to become champions, chances of reaching the European Cup Final suddenly improved when Scottish skipper Billy Bremner put them ahead in the Hampden second leg (due to colossal interest the match was switched from Celtic Park resulting in a crowd of 135,805, the highest ever recorded for club match under UEFA auspices).
Just four days on, however, from the 2-2 extra-time FA Cup Final encounter with Chelsea on a cabbage patch Wembley pitch, Leeds found themselves stretched by incessant attacks – pressure that eventually resulted in five hectic minutes early in the second half, Celtic scoring either side of Leeds goalkeeper Gary Sprake being replaced due to injury by understudy David Harvey.
No doubt deserving of their 2-1 victory (they had been the better side in both games), Celtic were to fall at the final hurdle, a May 6 meeting with Dutch champions Feyenoord in Milan resulting in a 2-1 extra-time defeat after opening the scoring.
This sequence of events would have been familiar to Leeds who a week before had seen their Old Trafford FA Cup Final replay against Chelsea go exactly the same way – but given their steely resolve, it was unwise to think the European Cup had seen the last of Leeds United.
1970-71 – EVERTON: Regarded by many as the most entertaining team in England to watch as the 60s drew to a close, of which their 1969-70 title triumph was a commendable consequence, on becoming champions Everton appeared to have many attributes that would serve them well in a European Cup campaign.
But between winning the championship and defending it came the Mexico World Cup, in which the quartet of Alan Ball, Brian Labone, Tommy Wright and Keith Newton all featured prominently for England – their fatigue and niggling injuries cited in Everton making a sluggish start to the new season.
Still, the European Cup looked an avenue fit for exploring and with previous competition notables such as Real Madrid, Benfica, Barcelona and both Milan clubs all absent, Everton had good grounds for optimism. They began by dispatching Icelandic outfit Keflavik with a minimum of fuss, the field opening up further when holders Feyenoord fell at the first.
Round two brought a much more stringent test of Evertonian credentials when they were paired with West German champions Borussia Moenchengladbach, whose international contingent, including Gunter Netzer and Berti Vogts, saw them labelled ‘the best team left in it‘. Although Vogts gave his side a 35th minute first leg lead Howard Kendall levelled shortly after the break, the visitors taking a creditable 1-1 draw back to Goodison Park.
Over 43,000 were present for the return, sound of the first whistle having barely died away when Johnny Morrissey put the home side in front. Yet before half-time the Germans were level and with neither side able to establish superiority, normal and extra-time brought no further goals – the first ever European Cup penalty shoot-out (the concept had been introduced for the 1970-71 competition) taking place at the Gwladys Street End.
Ironically, given the subsequent history of these sudden death affairs, it was the English who held their nerve – the slight disclaimer being it was Scottish full-back Sandy Brown who scored the crucial fourth penalty. Goalkeeper Andy Rankin then did what has required of him as Everton went through by a 4-3 margin.
While they continued to stutter through their league programme, Harry Catterick’s side made steady FA Cup progress, booking a semi-final place (where they were paired with neighbours Liverpool) three days before a March 9 European Cup quarter-final meeting with Greek representatives Panathinaikos.
Having avoided Ajax and Celtic – who were drawn together – there was talk on the blue half of Merseyside of a European/FA Cup Final Wembley double, both finals scheduled for beneath the Twin Towers.
But managed by former Hungarian great Ferenc Puskas, the Greeks proved a solid, if at times cynical outfit, Everton paying a heavy price for missed opportunities when the visitors broke away to score with nine minutes left. Substitute David Johnson forced home an injury time equaliser and although still favourites to go through, it left the Athens second leg a far from forgone conclusion.
When the time came Everton failed to make much headway on a dusty, rutted pitch, dark arts and decisions going against them as Panathinaikos saw their way to a goalless draw. Catterick and the watching English press questioned the ‘neutrality‘ of French referee Robert Helies, but it was first leg failings that cost them dear.
The gloom descending on Goodison took further hold when they succumbed to a 2-1 Old Trafford FA Cup semi-final defeat three days later and finishing the season with just one win in nine matches, the decade had already begun unravelling – the rapid disintegration of an excellent Everton title-winning team one of the great mysteries of English football in the 1970s.
As for Panathinaikos they battled on to reach the final, but at Wembley were no match for the coming men, the Dutch masters of Ajax – although those who dismiss late 70s/early 80s finals won by English clubs as boring would be well advised to watch extended highlights of the 1971 final.
Pulsating it is not.
1971-72 – ARSENAL: Only the second team of the century to complete the League and FA Cup double, Arsenal, having won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup two seasons before, clearly had plenty going for them in heading out on their European journey.
Opposition from Norway and Switzerland were comfortably swotted aside in the two pre-Christmas rounds, the ante significantly upped, however, when drawn against holders Ajax in the early spring quarterfinals.
Suffering a 2-1 first leg reversal on March 8 was hardly the end of the world, but in the Highbury return a 14th minute George Graham own goal gave them a mountain to climb. Arsenal huffed and puffed, but for all their hard endeavour were given a lesson in possession-based ‘game management’ long before the term had been invented.
What with the English champions looking limited when judged against the best club side in Europe and then England being exposed by a fluent West German team at Wembley six weeks later, large writing began appearing on the wall – the quotation marks added when Cruyff-inspired Ajax retained the European Cup and West Germany became European champions.
1973 – DERBY COUNTY: Winning the tightest title race for years to secure a place among the European elite, an inventive, well-drilled Derby side under the guidance of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were never going to be short of ambition.
There was a duck to water element about the way Zeljeznicar and then more notably Benfica were dispatched and when Spartak Trnava received short shrift at the quarter-final stage, the prospect of an Ajax v Derby final to delight the purist began to loom – anticipation increasing when Clough’s men were drawn against Italian champions Juventus in the semi-final.
In the Turin first leg Kevin Hector quickly replied after the hosts’ struck first – although what followed became the source of an exhaustive Sunday Times investigation into decisions made by West German referee Gerald Schulenburg.
Clough never wavered from his view the official had been ‘bought‘, leaving people to draw their own conclusions on the fact that despite persistent Juventus fouling, the only two players booked were Roy McFarland and Archie Gemmill – whose yellow cards, each for reportedly innocuous offences, meant they would both miss the second leg.
On that highly contentious night in Turin, few disputed a Juventus side including the likes of Zoff, Bettega, Capello and 1966 West German World Cup finalist Helmut Haller, deserved to win the game, even if they were flattered by the 3-1 scoreline.
The performance of Portuguese referee Francisco Marques Lobo in the goalless Baseball Ground return also fell under journalistic scrutiny. Juventus general manager Italo Allodi had previously been implicated in referee bribe scandals, most notably when employed by Inter Milan, whose 1965 European Cup Final semi-final second leg against Liverpool produced some highly contentious refereeing – but after a lip-service UEFA enquiry Juventus were exonerated, even if suspicions of third-party involvement hung around for years.
Juventus duly succumbed to Ajax in the final, the team of Cryuff, Neeskens, Krol and Rep (who scored the only goal) completing a hat-trick of triumphs as the trophy went to Holland for the fourth year in a row.
In the event Ajax may have been too good for Derby anyway – not even Clough and Taylor, for all their recruitment prowess, would be able to lead an unfashionable East Midlands club to the heights of winning the European Cup………………
1973-74 – LIVERPOOL: After ending a seven-year barren spell with a League Title/UEFA Cup double, Liverpool returned to the European Cup for the first time since 1966 – and with charismatic manager Biull Shankly in charge of a skillful, hard-running team, this was unlikely to be a low-key re-acquaintance.
The away draw/Anfield second leg victory over Luxembourg champions Jeunesse Esch was routine enough, but the second round fixtures against Red Star Belgrade would become landmarks in shaping a new approach to the Anfield way of thinking.
When full-back Chris Lawler scored late to reduce the arrears in Belgrade, the Merseyside second leg suddenly became a more attractive proposition – but it was Red Star who became the star attraction, playing out from the back and being disciplined in possession.
In what proved his final European match at the helm (he would resign after winning the FA Cup the following summer), Shankly saw a glimpse of the future and in the wake of another 2-1 defeat, Lawler ironically scoring again, set about instilling in his men the need to be patient, but precise – traits that saw Red Star applauded from the field by an appreciative Anfield crowd.
Shankly to his eternal credit heeded the lesson – arguably the most important given on an English football pitch during the 1970s.
1974-75 – LEEDS UNITED: Given their previously fractious relationship, Brian Clough and Leeds United looked uncomfortable bedfellows right from the start. In taking over from Don Revie, who on leading Leeds to their second league title in 1974 agreed to succeed Sir Alf Ramsey as England manager, a positive for Clough, in a union riven with negatives, was another crack at the European Cup.
As it transpired his 44-day tenure was over before the Elland Road squad needed to find their passports, Swiss champions FC Zurich overcome between Clough’s departure and the appointment of Jimmy Armfield. While the early season upheaval affected league form, the European Cup provided welcome relief as Ujpesti Dozsa and then Anderlecht were swept aside by an experienced side intent on one last, all-surpassing hurrah.
Standing between Leeds and a place in the final were star-studded Spanish champions Barcelona, now infused with the Dutch artistry of Cryuff and Neeskens – but despite dominating for long periods of the Elland Road first leg, the 2-1 advantage Leeds took to Spain for the return looked far from fireproof.
But an early Peter Lorimer strike in a packed-to-the-rafters Nou Camp gave the visitors a firmer foothold and although there was barely a pause between Barcelona attacks, they managed a goal from Clares but no more – Leeds’ hard-nosed determination seeing them through in the most partisan of atmospheres.
In their first European Cup Final they would face holders Bayern Munich, whose ranks included five of the West German team who were World Cup winners the previous summer. The prospect was a little less daunting due to Bayern, like Leeds, arriving for the Paris final on the back of an indifferent league season – not that the Elland Road mentality allowed them to be intimidated or overawed by anyone.
An interesting battle looked in prospect – the tone set by an early Terry Yorath foul on Bjorn Andersson which led to the Swedish defender being carried off, the Leeds man fortunate to escape a red card. It would be one of few decisions to go in their favour during the entire game.
On top for most of the first half, Leeds just needed a goal to cement their superiority. Penalty claims for handball against Bayern skipper Franz Beckenbauer were waved away by French referee Michel Kitabdjian, but when Allan Clarke was tripped by the same player as he broke into the box, the case for a spot-kick looked even stronger – although once again the West German World Cup winner escaped sanction (he later admitted the second incident was a penalty).
If stunned by those decisions, the Leeds players and their thousands of supporters were left seething twenty minutes into the second half by the overriding moment of controversy.
When Bayern cleared a Johnny Giles free-kick to the edge of the box, it was smashed into the net by Lorimer, the celebrations on the pitch and stands loud and wild. But joy proved short-lived as the referee, who at first awarded the goal, disallowed it for offside against Bremner (on the most marginal call), despite not being flagged by the linesman who had returned to the halfway line.
When it became clear the goal would not stand, the mood where the majority of Leeds supporters were gathered in the Parc de Princes turned ugly, their frustration manifesting in broken seats being hurled toward the pitch and fights with the French police.
On the field Leeds were then hit with a sucker punch as Franz Roth gave the Germans a 71st minute lead – and when Gerd Muller put the outcome beyond doubt in the closing stages, the night became less about pass and move and more about restoring law and order.
Afterwards manager Armfield displayed admirable dignity despite the circumstances of the defeat (his team victims of dire rather than dubious refereeing). Not so a section of the Leeds supporters whose anger was taken out in damage to property and fighting in the city centre, the violence leading to the club receiving a four year suspension from European football (reduced to two on appeal). The ban, however, was never evoked as due to a decline in their fortunes Leeds would not play in Europe again until 1979-80.
On that May night Leeds could not have gone any closer to winning the European Cup and in reaching the final proved that British football virtues of application and ability could still carry a team through.
While on the pitch there would soon be dizzying levels of success for English clubs in the European Cup, off the field in Paris was the latest dismaying chapter in a story that would yet become darker still.
1975-76 – DERBY COUNTY: If their 1972 title win under Clough and Taylor had been a skin of the teeth affair, the 1974-75 triumph under Dave Mackay (who had been a player under Clough before succeeding him), was more survival of the grittiest. Winning a convoluted championship race, with a relatively modest points total Derby emerged victorious from the challenging pack.
Their second campaign in three years opened with two challenging ties against Slovan Bratislava but after that examination had been passed, round two brought one of the ultimate European Cup tests – home and away fixtures against Real Madrid who still reigned as competition kings, despite the six-time winners not having won the trophy since 1966.
The first leg is often cited as the greatest night ever witnessed at the Baseball Ground, the gloriously gifted Charlie George, previously a 1971 Arsenal double winner, scoring a hat-trick as The Rams recorded a rousing 4-1 victory.
Even a three-goal cushion was not enough to survive the onslaught that hit them in the Bernabeu, but when George scored a vital away goal on the hour they regained the aggregate lead – which was held until Real scored from a disputed 82nd minute penalty to lead 4-1 and force extra-time.
With the momentum back in their favour Madrid completed a remarkable comeback to send most of a 95,000 crowd delirious, Derby accepting defeat in good grace, mutterings about Real’s late penalty tempered by a ‘soft’ one they had received a fortnight earlier.
So, with English European Cup interest already over, ended by a side who would make the semi-finals (whereupon they were beaten in comfortable style by Bayern en route to a third successive triumph), the final third of 70s arrived with genuine concerns the best England had to offer were not at a level where they could challenge German supremacy – which in 1976-77 would see Bayern joined in the competition by a resurgent Borussia Monchengladbach.
Nine seasons on from Manchester United becoming the first English champions of Europe, few would hazard a guess when a second triumph would arrive – let alone a third, fourth, fifth and sixth……………….
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.