Words: Dave Proudlove // @fslconsult
May was a busy month for English clubs in European competitions. Arsenal ran Paris Saint Germain close in the Champions League semi-finals but ultimately failed, falling to the eventual winners, while in the Europa League, both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur put their appalling Premier League campaigns behind them to reach the competition’s final in Bilbao after comfortable semi-final triumphs, a final won by Tottenham. And in the Europa Conference League, Chelsea breezed through their semi-final and then comfortably beat Real Betis in the final.
But while English clubs took two European trophies, the performance of English clubs in Europe’s premier club competition has been underwhelming at best during the Champions League era, despite the claims of the Premier League to be the best league in the world.
Spain are the competition’s most dominant nation thanks, in the main, to Real Madrid lifting Old Big Ears on 15 occasions. But despite the pedestrian performance of English clubs in modern times, England is still the competition’s second most dominant country. And a big contributory factor in that record is an incredible run from the late 1970s to the early 1980s which saw an English club lift the then European Cup in six consecutive years.
It would be fair to say that England in the late 1970s was a nation on the brink of change. Despite the equality that the post-war settlement and building of the welfare state brought, a series of economic shocks left the UK the ‘sick man of Europe’, ripe for the neo-liberal assault that was ushered in by Margaret Thatcher and her acolytes in 1979.
The economic malaise and the nation’s international standing was in some ways reflected by the performance of the England team. Following their appearance at the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico, England failed to qualify for another major tournament in the 70s, missing out on the 1972 European Championship finals in Belgium, the 1974 World Cup finals in West Germany, the 1976 European Championship finals in Yugoslavia, and the 1978 World Cup finals in Argentina. But while the national team found itself in a rut, English clubs were about to embark on a European Cup-winning rampage.
When Bill Shankly became Liverpool manager, he vowed to build a “bastion of invincibility” at Anfield, and after taking the club back into the top flight in 1962, Shankly led them to three First Division titles, two FA Cup triumphs, and their first ever European trophy, the 1973 UEFA Cup. Aside from the honours, Shankly’s most important contribution was off the pitch. He completely changed the club’s mindset, and at the heart of this was the celebrated Anfield Boot Room, a small room that stored players’ boots which Shankly had converted into an informal space where he and his coaching team met to discuss players, tactics, and plotted the means to defeat their team’s next opponents.
The Boot Room was to produce three of Liverpool’s next five managers (Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, and Roy Evans), with the other two (Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness) became key players from the Boot Room era, while coach Ronnie Moran was a constant presence. It was in the Boot Room that the ‘Liverpool Way’ was developed, a philosophy that underpinned a period of success that lasted for just over 30 years, while the key figures from the Boot Room provided consistency, stability, and effectively managed periods of change. The most critical period of change arrived in 1974 when Shankly retired following Liverpool’s FA Cup victory over Newcastle United, and Bob Paisley took charge.
Bob Paisley - the greatest English manager of all time.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The 1974/75 season saw the closest First Division title race in history, and as it drew to a close, anyone in the top six had a chance of securing the championship. One of those was Bob Paisley’s Liverpool side, but a defeat to Middlesbrough in their penultimate game of the season saw them finish runners-up to Derby County, giving them a place in the 1975/76 UEFA Cup.
Paisley’s second season in charge saw him secure his first managerial silverware, clinching the First Division title after a tight race with Queens Park Rangers with a 3-1 win at Wolves on the final day of the season. With 14 minutes remaining, Liverpool were 1-0 down and the title was heading to Loftus Road. But three late goals from Kevin Keegan, John Toshack and Ray Kennedy gave Paisley his first trophy. And that was followed a few weeks later by the UEFA Cup – Liverpool’s second – after a two-legged triumph over Club Brugge.
Liverpool’s title victory gave Paisley his first tilt at the European Cup, a trophy that Bill Shankly had always coveted. Indeed, Shankly’s biggest footballing regret was that he never brought the European Cup back to Anfield. It was something that Paisley was quietly determined to put right.
Their European Cup campaign began with a first round tie with Northern Ireland part-timers Crusaders. Liverpool made hard work of the first leg at Anfield, but a Phil Neal penalty and a second half strike from John Toshack gave the Reds a 2-0 lead going into the second leg, which proved to be less comfortable than the 5-0 scoreline suggests: four of the five came in the last ten minutes.
The second round draw handed Liverpool a tricky looking clash with Turkish champions Trabzonspor, and as with the first round, Liverpool were on their travels for the first leg where they slipped to a 1-0 defeat. However, this was just a minor hiccup, and the second leg at Anfield saw Liverpool cruise to a 3-0 win with all three goals coming in the first 20 minutes, to secure a place in the quarter-finals where they would face Saint-Étienne.
Over the years, Anfield has developed a reputation for raucous, atmospheric European nights, and this can be traced back to their 1977 quarter-final second leg with Saint-Étienne. Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Paisley needed a big performance from his team, and with 55,000 packed into Anfield they had the sort of backing they needed to help them overcome the deficit. Paisley’s men got off to the best possible start when Kevin Keegan opened the scoring after just two minutes to level the score on aggregate. Liverpool took that lead into the break, but a little over five minutes into the second half, disaster struck when Dominique Bathenay equalised for Saint-Étienne, giving them what looked to be a crucial away goal.
That’s when the Anfield crowd intervened. Needing at least another two goals, the Kop roared and the Main Stand shook as Paisley’s team piled forward, and it didn’t take long for them to strike. On 59 minutes, Ray Kennedy put Liverpool back in front, and back on the front foot. However, with the clock ticking away, it was looking like a third goal would elude the Reds. But with six minutes to go, Liverpool’s most famous substitute intervened. Put through by Ray Kennedy, David ‘Supersub’ Fairclough buried Liverpool’s third in front of the Kop to make it 3-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate. Saint-Étienne were visibly deflated, and Liverpool clinched their place in the semi-finals where they would face Switzerland’s FC Zürich.
David Fairclough slots home for Liverpool against Saint-Étienne in 1977.
Photo Credit: Liverpool FC
The semi-final with FC Zürich was more straightforward. Liverpool ran out 3-1 winners in the first-leg in Zürich thanks to two goals from Phil Neal and one from Steve Heighway. The second leg was even more comfortable, and a 3-0 win saw Paisley’s Liverpool side seal a first ever European Cup final appearance. The final was to be held in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, where they would face West German champions Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Liverpool headed to Italy a few weeks after being crowned First Division champions, and although full of confidence, were wary of a dangerous Mönchengladbach side spearheaded by Danish international Allan Simonsen, who was enjoying the best spell of his career and would be named European Footballer of the Year later that year.
After a cagey opening, Liverpool took control of the final just before the half hour when Terry McDermott gave them the lead, a lead that the Reds took into the break. However, Borussia Mönchengladbach came out for the second half with real purpose, and on 52 minutes drew level when Allan Simonsen fired home a thunderous strike. Liverpool were rocked, but just over ten minutes later regained the lead when veteran centre-half Tommy Smith netted. On 82 minutes, Phil Neal wrapped things up from the penalty spot – his fourth goal of Liverpool’s European Cup campaign – to ensure that the European Cup was going to Anfield for the first time, as Liverpool became only the second English club to lift the trophy.
The summer of 1977 saw a changing of the guard at Anfield. Kevin Keegan left Liverpool after six years at the club to join Hamburg – who Liverpool would demolish to clinch the UEFA Super Cup – to be replaced by Kenny Dalglish, who signed from Celtic for a British record transfer fee. Dalglish was joined at Anfield by Graeme Souness who arrived from Middlesbrough.
The 1977/78 season was to be a season of contrasts for Liverpool. While they were to dominate on the European stage – taking the UEFA Super Cup following a 7-1 aggregate victory over Kevin Keegan’s Hamburg, and beating Club Brugge at Wembley 1-0 to retain the European Cup – domestically, they were usurped by a new kid on the block, led by a familiar face.
Jimmy Case and Kevin Keegan ahead of the 1977 UEFA Super Cup second leg at Anfield.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
But for injury, Brian Clough would have become one of English football’s greatest ever strikers. He scored an incredible 251 goals in 274 appearances for his hometown club Middlesbrough and Sunderland, but won just two England caps. His playing career was ended by a serious knee injury in 1964 when Clough was aged just 29. Following his recovery, Clough immediately threw himself into management, and the following year he became manager of Hartlepool United, where he appointed Peter Taylor as his assistant, thus beginning a long and fruitful partnership.
After two seasons with Hartlepool, the pair landed in the East Midlands for the first time, taking charge at Second Division Derby County. Clough and Taylor transformed the club, and after leading them to the Second Division title and promotion to the First Division, in 1972 they secured the First Division title for the first time in the club’s history. The following season they reached the semi-finals of the European Cup where they were beaten by Juventus, by which point their relationship with Derby chairman Sam Longson had dramatically deteriorated, leading to Clough and Taylor’s resignation.
The pair headed south for a spell with Brighton, though Clough returned north after just eight months to incredibly take the vacant Leeds United job after his great foe Don Revie had resigned to become England manager; perhaps crucially, Taylor chose to stay at Brighton. Clough had become a celebrity due to regular TV appearances, and he had been highly critical of Leeds under Revie, and so his appointment was seen as a fairly strange one. It didn’t last, and Clough’s infamous spell at Elland Road was over after just 44 days.
In January 1975 after a few months away from the game, Clough was appointed manager of Nottingham Forest. On Clough’s arrival at the City Ground, there were clear parallels with his arrival at Derby almost a decade earlier. The club was languishing in the lower reaches of the Second Division, and hadn’t experienced success for some time, while the place had an air of decline about it. Nottingham Forest needed a rebuild, a canny operator, and some inspiration.
Clough’s first game in charge was an FA Cup third round replay with Tottenham Hotspur which Forest won 1-0. But that was to be about the only highpoint as they finished the 1974/75 season 16th in the Second Division.
The summer of 1975 saw the start of Clough’s Forest rebuild, as he brought in John McGovern and John O’Hare who he’d taken to Leeds the previous summer, and who had both won the league title with him at Derby County. The two were joined by Frank Clarke who arrived on a free transfer, while Clough brought the previously out-of-favour Martin O’Neill and John Robertson back into the fold, while making talented youngster Viv Anderson a regular. Clough’s first full season in charge of Forest was much better, as they finished eighth. But there were still a few missing ingredients, though the long, hot summer of 1976 saw him make his most crucial move, a move that would help him find those missing ingredients: in July 1976, Peter Taylor joined Clough at Forest, and the pair would build a team that would take the club to unprecedented and unmatched heights.
Brian Clough and Peter Taylor.
Photo Credit: Bob Thomas
On his arrival at the City Ground, Taylor told Clough that he’d overachieved by leading Forest to eighth place the previous season as a number of the squad were “Third Division players”, and set about making changes, working with John Robertson to improve his fitness, turning Tony Woodcock from a bit-part midfielder to a dangerous forward, and making a number of shrewd signings including Garry Birtles from non-league Long Eaton United, and veteran centre-half Larry Lloyd. All of this was to pay dividends when Forest clinched promotion to the First Division after snatching third place on the final day of the season when fellow promotion chasers Bolton Wanderers lost 1-0 at home to Wolves; the Forest players and management heard the news mid-flight on their way to an end of season break in Mallorca.
Peter Taylor once again conducted some crucial transfer business for Forest as they prepared for life back in the First Division. One of his most important signings proved to be Scottish centre-forward Kenny Burns who arrived at the City Ground from Birmingham City. Burns had developed a reputation as a hard drinker and big gambler, but Taylor – who was meticulous in tracking players and understanding their character – concluded that much of this was exaggerated, and recommended his signing in a £150,000 deal. Burns was successfully transformed from a centre-forward to a centre-half and became a key figure during the 1977/78 season, subsequently being named the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year. Taylor’s second bit of business saw Forest sign Peter Shilton from Stoke City for £325,000 – then a record transfer fee for a goalkeeper – with Taylor justifying the move by claiming that “Shilton wins you matches.” The signing of Shilton ultimately enabled a third signing, one of the shrewdest that Clough and Taylor would make during their time at Forest. Prior to the signing of Peter Shilton, Forest’s first choice keeper was John Middleton, but on Shilton’s arrival he left the club to sign for Derby County in a part-exchange deal that saw Archie Gemmill – another of Derby’s league title winners – reunited with Clough and Taylor.
Forest began life back in the top flight well, losing just three of their first 16 games, and after losing at Clough’s former club Leeds United on 19 November 1977, they remained unbeaten in the league, their only loss between then and the end of the season being an FA Cup quarter-final tie away at West Bromwich Albion. Clough brought the League Cup to the City Ground in March 1978, beating Liverpool 1-0 in a replay at Old Trafford after a goalless draw at Wembley, and then delivered the club’s first and only First Division title after finishing seven points clear of runners-up Liverpool. Along the way, Forest conceded just 24 goals in their 42 league games – adding credence to Peter Taylor’s claim that Peter Shilton wins football matches – becoming one of just a few clubs to win the title immediately following promotion from the Second Division, while Clough became the third of four managers to have won the title with two different clubs. Forest’s title triumph meant a debut European Cup campaign.
Forest captain John McGovern presents the league trophy to the club’s fans, 1978.
Photo Credit: PA
The 1978/79 season opened with Forest facing FA Cup winners Ipswich Town at Wembley for the Charity Shield, where they beat Bobby Robson’s side 5-0, a record Charity Shield win. However, the draw for the first round of the European Cup was less kind to them: they were pitted against holders and domestic rivals Liverpool.
Under Bob Paisley, Liverpool had become a genuine European force, lifting the UEFA Cup in 1976 and following this with two successive European Cup triumphs. But under Brian Clough, Forest seemed to be more than a match for Paisley’s men. During their title winning season, Forest faced Liverpool four times and didn’t lose once, taking the league title from them, and beating them in the League Cup final. Liverpool were determined to put things right. The first leg was at the City Ground, a few days after Forest had beaten Arsenal to secure their first league win of the season, and Clough’s side made it two successive victories, beating Liverpool 2-0 with goals from Garry Birtles and Colin Barrett. The return leg at Anfield was a tight contest and finished in a goalless draw, and Forest progressed to the second round where they faced Greek champions AEK Athens who had beaten Porto 7-5 on aggregate after two remarkable legs.
The second round turned out to be a bit of a breeze for Forest though. The first leg saw them visit Athens and secure a 2-1 win, but the second leg at the City Ground was far more straightforward with Forest romping to a comprehensive 5-1 win. Their 7-2 aggregate victory secured them a quarter-final place where they would face Swiss club Grasshopper.
A month after their European Cup win over AEK Athens, their lengthy unbeaten run in the First Division came to an end when they lost 2-0 to Liverpool at Anfield. Forest had gone 42 league games without defeat, an English record that stood until 2004 when Arsenal surpassed it with a 49 game run.
In February 1979, and just a few weeks until the European Cup resumed, Nottingham Forest broke the English transfer record when they made Birmingham City’s Trevor Francis the country’s first £1m player. Francis was ineligible to appear in the European Cup until the final, but he was to play a crucial role.
The first leg of Forest’s quarter-final tie with Grasshopper was at home, and the hosts got off to a dreadful start when after just 11 minutes, Claudio Sulser gave the visitors the lead. But Forest hauled themselves back into the game when Garry Birtles equalised just after the half hour, and two minutes into the second half they took control when John Robertson gave them the lead from the penalty spot. Two goals in the last three minutes from Archie Gemmill and Larry Lloyd gave Clough’s side a three-goal lead to take into the second leg in Zurich. The second leg was a formality, though Sulser again gave Grasshopper the lead, this time from the penalty spot, but this was cancelled out five minutes later by Martin O’Neill. The game finished 1-1, and Forest progressed to the semi-finals having won the tie 5-2 on aggregate. Five years after Derby’s controversial exit to Juventus, Brian Clough was once again a European Cup semi-finalist, and it was West German champions Köln who they would face.
As the semi-finals approached, Forest lifted the League Cup once again, beating Southampton 3-2 at Wembley, and were still in the running for the First Division title on the back of a ten game unbeaten run stretching back to January, though in reality, Liverpool were pulling away and looking likely to regain the championship. So, if Clough’s side were to secure a second European Cup campaign, they were going to have to win it. But they got off to the worst possible start in the first leg of their semi-final. Belgian international Roger Van Gool opened the scoring after just six minutes for Köln, and things went from bad to worse on 20 minutes when Dieter Müller made it 2-0 leaving Forest with the proverbial mountain to climb. Garry Birtles dragged Forest back into the game, pulling a goal back on 28 minutes, and a little under ten minutes into the second half they equalised through Ian Bowyer. Forest’s comeback was complete ten minutes later when John Robertson put them in front, but five minutes from time, Köln made it 3-3 with a goal from Japanese international Yasuhiko Okudera. The first leg had been a thriller, but Clough’s side would be travelling to West Germany for the second leg very much the underdogs with Köln in front on away goals.
Prior to their trip to West Germany, Forest continued their fine league form, extending their unbeaten run to 14 matches, and so went into the second leg full of confidence despite Köln being favourites. And that confidence translated into one of Forest’s best performances of the campaign as they won 1-0 with another goal from Ian Bowyer, with John McGovern orchestrating (Günter Netzer commented after the game, “Who is this McGovern? I have never heard of him, yet he ran the game.") Nottingham Forest had reached the European Cup final at the first attempt, where they would face Swedish champions Malmö at Munich’s Olympic Stadium.
Shortly after their semi-final victory, Forest’s title challenge ebbed away when they drew 0-0 at home to Liverpool and lost 1-0 at Wolves in the space of three days. Thus, the European Cup became the main focus of their attention.
Having reached the final where they faced Swedish champions Malmö, record signing Trevor Francis was available for selection, and Clough had no hesitation in picking him despite a relatively slow start to his Forest career. And Francis was to repay that faith and a huge chunk of his transfer fee. After a tense and cagey first half, Forest took the lead just before the half-time whistle when the ball was played out to John Robertson on the left. Robertson beat two defenders before whipping in an outswinging cross towards the far post, where the ball was met by Francis who headed it home. Francis’ goal turned out to be the winner, and Clough had made history: the European Cup was on its way to the East Midlands.
Trevor Francis’ iconic 1979 European Cup winning goal.
Photo Credit: Peter Robinson
The summer of 1979 saw some upheaval at the City Ground as Clough reshaped his squad ahead of the new season. The domestic season turned out to be a little disappointing for Clough’s side. They finished in fifth place, some 12 points behind Liverpool who retained the title, exited the FA Cup in the fourth round after a 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool, and lost 1-0 to Wolves in the League Cup final – Forest’s third successive final. Forest’s better results and performances were instead reserved for European competitions.
Forest began the defence of their European crown as they secured it: with a tie against the Swedish champions, though this time they would face Öster instead of Malmö over two legs, the first of which was at the City Ground. Forest went into the second leg in Sweden with a two goal advantage, both of which were scored by Ian Bowyer in a ten minute spell in the second half. The second leg was a much tighter contest, which finished in a 1-1 draw and saw Forest progress 3-1 on aggregate. Tony Woodcock levelled the game late on after Mats Göran Nordgren had given his side an early second half lead. The result set Forest up with a second round encounter with Arges Pitesti of Romania.
As with the first round, Forest found themselves hosts in the first leg, and once again cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win, with Tony Woodcock opening the scoring after 12 minutes, and Garry Birtles netting the second just four minutes later. The return leg in Romania saw Forest notch another victory, goals from Ian Bowyer and Garry Birtles giving them a 2-1 win and a place in the quarter-finals where they would face East German champions BFC Dynamo.
A month before their quarter-final, Brian Clough’s men had the small matter of a two-legged tie with Barcelona for the UEFA Super Cup. Forest hosted the first leg at the City Ground and an early goal from Charlie George saw them take a narrow 1-0 lead to the Camp Nou for the second leg. The second leg was always going to be a tough one for Forest, but they took it in their stride. Barcelona took the lead on 25 minutes after Brazilian Roberto Dinamite dispatched a penalty, but Forest equalised just before the interval through Kenny Burns, a goal which gave Forest the trophy.
A few weeks after their Super Cup triumph, Clough’s side hosted BFC Dynamo in the first leg of their European Cup quarter-final. Given that the likes of Ajax and Real Madrid were still left in the competition, Forest will have considered it a favourable draw, though it didn’t seem that way at the full-time whistle: a Hans Jürgen Riediger goal had given BFC Dynamo a 1-0 win and a crucial away goal to take into the second leg.
But Brian Clough and Peter Taylor had assembled not just a talented team, but a resilient one, and a devastating first half performance in the return leg in East Germany saw them turn things around, thanks to two goals from Trevor Francis and a John Robertson penalty. BFC Dynamo pulled a goal back with a penalty early in the second half, but the damage had been done. Forest ran out 3-1 winners on the night to secure a 3-2 aggregate win and set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Dutch giants Ajax. Although Ajax weren’t the force they were when Johan Cruyff was pulling the strings, they still presented Forest with a significant challenge, and their most difficult tie of the competition.
The first leg of the semi-final was at the City Ground which saw one of Forest’s great European nights as the three-time European Cup winners were beaten 2-0. A first half Trevor Francis goal and another John Robertson penalty saw Forest put one foot into the final, though Ajax weren’t about to roll over. The second leg was a tense affair for Forest, and when Danish international Soren Lerby put them in from with 25 minutes left, Forest supporters would have been forgiven for fearing the worst. However, Clough’s men saw the tie out, and clinched a second successive European Cup final appearance where they would face West German champions Hamburg – including Kevin Keegan – at the Bernabeu, who gave notice of their own powers of resilience in their semi-final with Real Madrid, by overcoming a 2-0 first leg deficit by beating the Spanish masters 5-1 to clinch a 5-3 aggregate win.
Forest ended their domestic campaign reasonably well as they prepared for their second European Cup final. After a 3-2 defeat away to Aston Villa on 5 April, they went six games unbeaten without conceding a goal before a 3-1 loss at Wolves on the final day of the season, by which time Clough and Taylor had a little over two weeks to prepare for Forest’s trip to Madrid.
Before a crowd of 51,000, Clough’s European champions faced-off against the fancied Hamburg, for whom Kevin Keegan – who had been named European Footballer of the Year in 1978 and 1979 – was a key figure. But Forest were to demonstrate why and how they had become European champions. John Robertson handed them the lead on 20 minutes with a right-footed strike from just outside the box after he’d cut inside from the left. Forest then defended resolutely for the remainder of the game to keep Keegan and Hamburg at bay and seal a second successive European Cup triumph.
Old Big ‘ed with Old Big Ears – Brian Clough celebrates Forest’s 1979 European Cup triumph.
Photo Credit: Bob Thomas
To win one European Cup is an incredible achievement. To win two is quite remarkable. But the enormity of Clough and Forest’s exploits has perhaps only been properly appreciated in hindsight, particularly among those who have lifted the trophy in modern times.
Back in 1996 when England hosted the European Championship, one early summer morning, a young Portuguese coach headed north on a train out of London. His destination was Nottingham, and in particular the City Ground. And the reason for his trip was curiosity; he wanted to understand more about the provincial city and the club that had brought home two European Cups less than 20 years earlier.
That young Portuguese coach had recently started working for Sir Bobby Robson at Barcelona, and was labelled disrespectfully in some quarters as ‘the translator’. His name was José Mourinho.
In the foreword to Daniel Taylor’s book about Clough’s exploits at Forest, ‘I Believe In Miracles’, Mourinho waxes lyrical about Clough and his Nottingham Forest team, and his admiration for them and what they achieved. And he also expressed wonder at how a club from a relatively small city could have lifted Old Big Ears not once, but twice:
“I walked into the city centre…and then I walked all the way to the stadium…I walked all the way and when I saw the stadium I thought: ‘Are you kidding me – this club won the European Cup? Twice?’…it was a nice stadium and a nice city, but it was a small place…there are some places in football where you go to watch a match and immediately you can feel it is a club with an important history. You go to Manchester United, or Milan, or Madrid and they may not play well, or it might not be their best team playing, but you can smell the history. You go to Nottingham and this small ground – and these guys won two European Cups?”
Amen.
Tony Woodcock and Larry Lloyd celebrate with the European Cup after the final in 1980.
Photo Credit: National Football Museum
While Liverpool had seemingly shrugged off Clough and Nottingham Forest domestically, their performance in Europe had been the polar opposite of Forest’s, exiting in the first round of the European Cup in two successive seasons to Forest and Dinamo Tbilisi respectively. However, this was turned on its head during the 1980/81 season. Although they lifted the League Cup after beating West Ham United in a replay at Villa Park, they finished the season in a distant fifth place, nine points adrift of champions Aston Villa thanks to a campaign littered with costly draws.
They qualified for the European Cup having won the First Division title the previous season, pipping fierce rivals Manchester United in a tight race, and were handed a seemingly straightforward first round tie with Finnish side OPS. However, the first leg in Finland turned into a minor embarrassment for Bob Paisley’s men. Terry McDermott opened the scoring after 15 minutes, but the English champions failed to build on their lead, and with less than ten minutes left on the clock, Seppo Puotiniemi equalised for OPS to level the tie. However, the second leg was an entirely different affair, as Liverpool trounced the Finns 10-1, with both Graeme Souness and Terry McDermott notching hat-tricks; English winger Keith Armstrong scored OPS’s consolation goal. Liverpool’s 11-2 aggregate victory saw them paired with Scottish champions Aberdeen in the second round, where they were to face future foe Alex Ferguson, who had broken the Old Firm’s stranglehold on the Scottish Premier League.
Ferguson was still a good few years away from making good on his pledge to “knock Liverpool off their fucking perch”, and his Aberdeen side never really laid a glove on Paisley’s side who cruised into the quarter-finals after a 5-0 aggregate win. A Terry McDermott goal after just five minutes saw them win 1-0 at Pittodrie in the first leg, while they swept the Dons away in the second leg, beating them 4-0 at Anfield. The quarter-final draw handed Liverpool a potentially tricky tie when they were paired with Bulgarian champions CSKA Sofia, who had knocked holders Nottingham Forest out in the first round.
Any fears that Liverpool’s support may have had were quickly dispelled though when another Graeme Souness hat-trick helped them to a 5-1 first leg victory at Anfield. The second leg was a mere formality, and David Johnson goal after ten minutes gave them a 1-0 win in Bulgaria to set up a semi-final clash with West German giants Bayern Munich.
Given Liverpool’s patchy domestic form, many would have been forgiven for making Bayern Munich favourites to progress to the final at the Parc des Princes in Paris, particularly after a goalless draw in the first leg at Anfield. But with the tie seemingly heading for extra time at the end of the second leg in Munich, Liverpool stunned the Germans when Ray Kennedy put them in front with just seven minutes left on the clock. It gave Liverpool a precious away goal and left the hosts needing to score twice, and though Karl-Heinz Rummenigge gave them hope with a goal on 88 minutes, Bob Paisley’s side held on to reach the final on away goals. Waiting for Liverpool in Paris were Real Madrid, who had lifted a record six European Cups, but hadn’t won the competition since 1966.
The final was a predictably tight contest, and was settled eight minutes from time, the winning goal coming from a perhaps an unexpected source, left-back Alan Kennedy. Liverpool’s 1-0 win saw them lift the European Cup for a third time, completing an incredible 11-year sequence in which the trophy was won by just four different clubs, but with 11 different runners-up. And it was the last time that Bob Paisley was a European champion.
Alan Kennedy scores the winner in the 1981 European Cup Final.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Aston Villa’s title triumph at the end of the 1980/81 season was quite remarkable. Despite being one of English football’s most successful clubs, that First Division title was their first since 1909/10, and to date, is their last.
In the early 1970s, Villa found themselves in the Second Division, and in the summer of 1974, Ron Saunders was appointed first team manager who became renowned for his strict approach to fitness and no-nonsense management. Saunders’ methods were effective, and he led Villa to a League Cup triumph, promotion back to the First Division, and European football. However, all of this was conducted against a backdrop of tensions with the Board, and in particular Doug Ellis, who Saunders had a particularly strained relationship with. Initially, this didn’t detract from Saunders’ work, and by the dawn of the 1980s he’d built a team around the likes of Gordon Cowans and Dennis Mortimer, and brought through young talent such as Gary Shaw, a team which became First Division champions. Incredibly, Saunders used just 14 players during their title winning campaign. Villa’s title triumph handed them a first ever European Cup campaign.
Villa’s defence of their First Division proved to be a meek one, but their European Cup form was something else, though they enjoyed a little luck along the way.
Ron Saunders’ title winners began their first European Cup adventure with a first round tie with Icelandic champions Valur. Iceland were very much one of Europe’s footballing minnows back then, and the first leg at Villa Park saw a predictable and comfortable home win, Villa putting five goal past their visitors without reply. The second leg was equally comfortable, two goals from Gary Shaw giving Villa a 2-0 win to complete a 7-0 aggregate win, handing them a place in the second round where they would face BFC Dynamo of East Germany.
Villa travelled to East Berlin for the first leg, and came away with a 2-1 win, though their hosts proved to be difficult opponents. Tony Morley put Villa in front after just five minutes, handing them a crucial away goal, but this was cancelled out five minutes into the second period when Hans Jürgen Riediger equalised for Dinamo. The game looked to be heading for a draw when with five minutes left on the clock, Morley put Villa back in front. It was to prove to be the goal that clinched the tie for Villa after Dinamo won 1-0 at Villa Park in the second leg. Villa subsequently took their place in the quarter-finals on away goals, where they would face a very tricky looking encounter with Valeriy Lobanovskyi’s Dynamo Kyiv. But before Villa could compete for a place in the semi-finals, the club was seemingly thrown into turmoil.
Ron Saunders had been in charge at Villa Park for almost eight years, and no one could dispute that he had been a resounding success. He’d led Villa to silverware, including their first First Division title in over 70 years and their first European Cup campaign which had been a success. But behind the scenes, Saunders had grown increasingly exasperated with the Board, and in particular Doug Ellis, who had begun to interfere in footballing matters. A month ahead of their European Cup quarter-final, Saunders resigned, blaming the Board’s failure to back his efforts to strengthen the squad, and if that wasn’t enough, he crossed the city to become manager of Birmingham City who had sacked Jim Smith.
With the club’s biggest games in recent times on the horizon, Villa needed stability, and they turned to Saunders’ right-hand man, the softly spoken and unassuming Tony Barton.
Barton’s playing career was unremarkable, scoring 43 goals in 201 appearances for Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Portsmouth. He retired from playing at Fratton Park and became part of the club’s coaching team, before leaving in 1980 to become assistant to Ron Saunders at Villa Park. And when Saunders swapped Villa Park for St. Andrews, Barton proved to be the right man at the right time for Villa.
The first leg of their quarter-final with Dynamo Kyiv saw Villa head east beyond the Iron Curtain, where the two sides played out a goalless draw. A fortnight later, Lobanovskyi brought his talented side to Villa Park with the tie still in the balance. But Villa quickly set about tipping things in their favour, and opened the scoring after just seven minutes through Gary Shaw. And with the second leg heading towards half-time, Ken McNaught grabbed a second which wrapped the tie up and took Villa into the semi-finals.
The draw paired Villa with Belgian champions Anderlecht, who had sailed through to the semi-finals, seeing off Widzew Lodz, Juventus, and Red Star Belgrade along the way, and went into the tie as favourites. The first leg was at Villa Park, Tony Morley scoring the only goal of the game on 27 minutes to give Villa a slender lead to defend in the second leg in Belgium. Given Anderlecht’s performances in the competition, they were confident that they could overturn Villa’s lead. But Villa were resolute and kept the Belgian champions at bay, grinding out a goalless draw which took them to the final in Rotterdam, where they would face the mighty Bayern Munich.
Predictably, Villa were very much the underdogs going into the final, as Barton had failed to improve their league form and they finished the domestic season in midtable. Bayern Munich’s own domestic campaign had failed to meet expectations as they finished in third place behind FC Köln and champions Hamburg. However, they did win the German Cup, while their considerable European pedigree meant that their odds on lifting the European Cup were short.
Villa’s performance in the 1982 European Cup has become the stuff of legend, and the key figure in their shock victory was an unlikely one. Ron Saunders had brought goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer to Villa Park in 1977, signing him from Arsenal where he’d been first choice for three seasons. By the time of European Cup final, Rimmer was 34, and his best days were behind him, though he was still Villa’s number one and an important member of the side. With just ten minutes on the clock in Rotterdam, Villa were forced to substitute Rimmer after a recurrence of a shoulder injury, to be replaced by 23 year old Nigel Spink. Spink had joined Villa in 1977 from Chelmsford City aged 18, but his opportunities were limited by the presence of Jimmy Rimmer – he had made only one first team appearance prior to the 1982 European Cup final – and so it was perhaps ironic that Rimmer’s injury presented him with his big break. Spink kept Bayern Munich at bay with a heroic performance as Bayern Munich dominated. Given Bayern Munich’s supremacy, it was vital that Villa took any opportunity that came their way, and on 67 minutes, veteran striker Peter Withe did just that, tucking home a ball in from the left from Tony Morley. Brian Moore’s memorable commentary describing the goal became part of English footballing folklore and is now commemorated at Villa Park:
“Shaw, Williams prepared to venture down the left. There's a good ball in for Tony Morley. Oh, it must be and it is! It's Peter Withe.”
Bayern Munich continued to swarm all over Villa in search of an equaliser, and with three minutes left, they had the ball in the net only for the officials to intervene. But Villa hung on, and lifted the European Cup for the first time, the sixth time in six seasons that an English club had won the trophy.
Tony Barton lifted the European Cup after just three months in charge at Villa Park.
Photo Credit: Bob Thomas