Football Journey

2012-02-01T10:04:00.000-08:00

Yugoslavia continued to maintain the strongest East European championship. Measures cannot be precise, yet, the Yugoslavian domestic football was at least a notch stronger than most countries on the continent. Partizan (Belgrade) won the title – another difficult to measure aspect. On one hand, Partizan is traditionally one of the strongest clubs in the country, the arch-rival of Crvena zvezda. On the other hand, the best years of the club were obviously in the distant past – Partizan won their last title in 1964. After 1970 even the rivalry kind of changed – the Belgrade axis was replaced by Serbia vs Croatia axis: Crvena zvezda vs Hajduk (Split). The reasons were unclear, but Partizan somewhat lost ground – they hardly had a squad as strong as those of Crvena zvezda and Hajduk for years and 1975-76 season was no exception. Hard to put a finger on anything, but it was obvious that Partizan was unable to recruit the best players. One reason was the feroucious rivalry with Crvena zvezda: to this very day the number of players who played for both clubs is tiny. But it was similar in Croatia as well – Hajduk players rarely moved to Dinamo (Zagreb) and viceversa. Strong hatred for the opposition cancels exchange. The result was a change of status quo – Partizan and Dynamo played second fiddle for years. To a point, the success of the ‘gravediggers’ (depending on sympathy or lack of it, the nickname of Partizan means adoration or contempt) was heroic and truly joyous for the long-suffering fanship. A title at last. It was not a confident win by any means – Partizan clinched first place one point better than second-placed Hajduk. May be outside factors made the victory possible – Hajduk and Crvena zvezda had too many players in the national team and preoccupation with the European Championship weakened them on the home front. Crvena zvezda was also going through change of generations – old players were steadily going abroad after 1974 and new team was not ready yet (they finished 4th). May be Partizan won by an accident, but the ‘gravediggers’ used the opportunity, fought for the title and grabbed it. Their 7th title – by numbers alone, the Army club was still the main rival of Crvena zvezda. Champions at last: standing from left: Kozic, Tomic, Arsenovic, Djordjevic, Djurovic, Ivancevic.
First row: Bjekovic, Zavisic, Todorovic, Vukotic, Kunovac.
Not a bad team, but mostly second-tier players. At the time, only Nenad Bjekovic was included in the national team and not as a regular starter – between 1968 and 1976 he played only 22 matches for Yugoslavia, scoring 6 goals. Bjekovic was mostly a domestic star and he was the top goalscorer of the season with 24 goals. His goals undoubtly helped Partizan – the champions ended with most wins and most goals scored – but still he was not considered good enough to play for Yugoslavia in the European campaign. Well, there was plenty of talent in Yugoslavia… which may be makes Partizan’s victory more important: they overcome strong opposition, somewhat against the odds. Even so, not a really great team… may be really helped by Crvena zvezda’s predicament.
As noted earlier, Crvena zvezda was going through generational change – from the great team of only two years back just a few remained: the Petrovic brothers, Krivokuca, and Acimovic. Bogicevic and former OFK Beograd defender Stepanovic were also around, but they, Acimovic, Krivokuca, and Ognjen Petrovic were due to move to foreign clubs. The replacement were talented, and unlike Partizan’s squad, were to become national team regulars, almost every one of them, but so far were too young and unsettled. Crvena zvezda was shaky and not a contender – they finished 4th, a place they rarely ended at, so it was a disaster year in a way. Top, from left: Ognjen Petrovic, Jelikic, Krivokuca, Keri, Muslin, Baralic.
Bottom: Vladimir Petrovic, Filipovic, Savic, Acimovic, Stamenkovic.
May be a disaster by the club’s standards, but unlike the champions two players were stars in the national team – Ognjen and Vladimir Petrovic. As for the rest – they were just in need of little time, for this is practically the team reaching the UEFA Cup final in 1979. Unlike Partizan, Crvena zvezda was able to recruit better talent. Ocasional slip, then… which is never an excuse for fanatical supporters.

2012-01-30T06:36:00.000-08:00

A little tour of the domestic league of 1976 European Champions. Banik (Ostrava) – Dukla (Prague). Nehoda (Dukla) scores in the net of Michalik (Banik). At the end of the season Michalik was champion of CSSR, but Nehoda champion of Europe. They were to play side by side for the national team soon.

The Bratislava derby Slovan – Inter. Hardly friends… although Jurkemik (left, Inter) and Masny (Slovan) were together in the national team and lifted the European Cup.
Oil and arms go together… well, not always. Inter (in stripes) had no respect for the rifle-makers - Zbrojovka. The unfortunate goalkeeper Hron can only watch Pospisil (#10) scoring and the match ended at that – 1-0 for Inter (Bratislava). And the match no gun ever win… against the referee. Sarganek dismises Zbrojovka (Brno) players Kroupa nd Vaclavicek. Kind of bored, isn’t he? More riflemen, this time in attack: Zbrojovka (dark shirts) vs SKLO Union (Teplice). Tough life for a goalkeeper… but who is attacking and who is defending? Well, Dukla (Prague) tries to score in the net of Inter (Bratislava). Slovaks were increasingly under Czech siege this season.
It was not an easy victory of the Czechs at all – Slovaks still had enough teeth left. Dusan Kabat (Spartak Trnava) makes a full of Dukla (Prague) defender. Alas, the great team of Trnava was already declining.
Not much love between Czechs either: Barat (Bohemians Prague, in stripes) strikes a bit before Huml (Banik Ostrava) tackled him. Bohemians were playing better and better, but it was the year of Ostrava, so it was Huml victorious at the end of season. More of the Czech – Slovak battles? Slavia (Prague) had a strong season and here their stopper Frydrich almost scores in the net of Inter (Bratislava, in stripes).

Czech year at last! Segmuller (Slavia Prague) went together with the ball in the net of Slovakian VSS Kosice. Football as bliss.

Football as misery… unfortunately, once again it was Slovak misery… Dukla just scored against Jednota (Trencin). Poor goalie Machac behind the post and the stopper Mojzis are devastated so much, there is no need to show their faces.
Completely Czech year at every level, and the future was seemingly Czech too… Seventeen years old Josef Jurkanin already in attack for Sparta (Prague). Winning the Second Division and adding the Czechoslovakian Cup for a good measure.
Arguably, 1976 was the best Czechoslovakian year ever.

2012-01-28T00:20:00.000-08:00

If anything, Inter (Bratislava) provides some useful information about the organization of Czechoslovak football: it was a factory club and there were many more like Inter. Clear distinction between factory and ordinary clubs is probably impossible – industry was ‘sponsoring’ many, many clubs in the Eastern Europe. Yet, there were clubs entirely belonging to industrial enterprises – thus, Inter Slovnaft was the official name when Slovan was not clearly belonging to particular industry. Other clubs did not have any other name but the one of their ‘owners’ – Skoda (Plzen), LIAZ (Jablonec) – both belonging to automotive industry; Zbrojovka (Brno) – military industry. Specific plants, not general industry or ministry, so once again it is tough to judge: the names may have been disguised advertisement in times when direct advertisement was prohibited (rather, unthinkable) in the Communist world. Well, there was no problem to put ‘Skoda’ on the shirts of team called Skoda… the logo is the same as on the cars manufactured by Skoda, but so what? Same factory, same club, same names, same logos… you see the club and you are reminded of the cars. Very usefull, especially when playing abroad. Do you need Zbrojovka rifle?
On the surfice, it looked logical giant factories to be able to provide enough money for strong football teams, but it was – strangely – rarely the case. Factory clubs were not playing first fiddle in Czechoslovakian football and often were quite miserable. The bottom of the 1975-76 table was occupied by two of those.
LIAZ (Jablonec) finished 15th.
A prime example of advertisement which is not advertisement: LIAZ on the shirts. The name of the club, though… Unlike the heavy trucks made in Jablonec, the team was weak. Rudolf Svoboda was the only player of some fame – he played a few matches for the national team, which is interesting trivia – Svoboda was allowed to play unshaved for Czechoslovakia in times when beards were not tolerated even in ‘liberal’ Communist countries.
TZ Trinec finished 16th and last, 4 points behind LIAZ. TZ stands for ‘Trineckych Zelezaren’ – a metallurgy firm, producing steel, and still exicting today. Main sponsors of the football club, yet, not so directly as LIAZ in Jablonec. Like LIAZ, there was one good player in the squad – Miroslav Paurik, who played now and then for the national team. Like LIAZ, TZ Trinec bounced between First and Second Division, somewhat more at home with the lower tier, where they were going once again.
LIAZ and TZ Trinec were relagetad and replaced by unusual pair: Sparta (Prague) was returning to First Division after a brief exile (until 1975 Sparta was the only Czechoslovakian club never tasting the grounds of Second Division). The other club was complete newcomer: VP Frydek-Mistek won promotion for very first time in their history.

There isn’t anything worthy about the squad, but these guys were yet another factory club – VP is the abbreviation of ‘Valcovny Plechu’, a mill, which also exists today, however, in dire finacial straights. Back in 1976, it was shiny picture indeed – going up, up, up… to the envy of the other club from Frydek-Mistek – Slezan – which was miserable in Third Division.
The newly promoted clubs completed the braking of Slovakian yoke – both were Czech clubs. Championship, Cup, Second Division winners – all Czech this year. The tide was turning. As for VP Frydek-Mistek, the future was not to be particularly bright – they were relegated the next season, never to return to First Czechoslovakian Division again. So, 1975-76 season was their best year ever.

2012-01-25T13:02:00.000-08:00

Slovan (Bratislava) ended second in both championship and Cup, which can be seen as disappointing season for the club providing half the national team of the European champions. May be tired? May be approaching crisis? Slovan was not finished yet, but failed to win a trophy this season. Third finished long-suffering Slavia (Prague) – one of their best seasons in the 1970s, but oppressed or not, Slavia was notoriously unpredictable – a strong season was followed by near collapse; then up again, and so on.
A point behind Slavia finished once upon a time mighty Dukla (Prague) – 4th place was not bad by now and looked like the Army club was gaining strength again. As a whole, it was Czech season signaling the end of Slovak dominance. But it was not the end of Slovaks yet – they were still strong and here is one of their lesser known, but particularly strong clubs of the 1970s: Inter (Bratislava). They finished 6th, six points bellow the champions – not bad at all, for they were quite close and competitive. Inter were pretty much among top 5-6 clubs during the decade, although never strong enough to win a title.
And who were they anyway?

The club was founded in 1940 as SK Apollo by the Apollo refinery. A factory club, but formed during ‘peculiar time’, which made it ripe for annihilation once the Communists took over. The club survived, however, and the same refinery – renamed into Slovnaft – continued to finance the club. The club went through various names – TKNB, Sokol, Cervena Hviezda – until it was merged with Iskra in 1965 and became Inter. The full name is Internacional, most often with attached Slovnaft to it, as well as in their logo, but is commonly known as Inter. Why Inter? History is silent about that, but I suspect a little game: the name came in 1965, when the first winds of the ‘Prague Spring’ were starting blowing. The name is a wink somewhat: it refers immediately to two quite different things – the mighty Internacional (Milan) and the Communist Internacional. It is suspect name, for it suggests ‘Western influence’, but also is not a name to be dismissed easily, for it would be an attack on huge Communist symbol. And the name remained. However, Inter remained the smaller club of Bratislava too – well behind Slovan in popularity, influence, and money. Inter won the Czechoslovakian championship in 1959 – their only title ever – but were constant and quite strong members of the First Division.
Sixth in 1975-76 season, their usual upper-mid-table position. The squad? Typical for a club in the shadows cast by mighty neighbours: players no longer needed by Slovan, or not fitting into Slovan’s designs. Well known veterans like Zlocha. Young guns like Mraz, Barmos (who became a solid national team player), Sajanek. The key players were Ladislav Petras and Ladislav Jurkemik, both national players for years and part of the squad winning the European Championship. Jurkemik, 22 years old by now, was yet to play and play for Czechoslovakia, but Petras was old hand – he played at the 1970 World Cup and scored the Czechoslovakian goal against Brazil. After scoring Petras run widely across the pitch, making the sign of the cross – unusual gesture in 1970, and even more unusual for a player from a Communist state. I wonder what the ‘officials’ told him after the match… must have been some outrage, for he disappeared from the national team for awhile. But it was time for changing generations anyway, so it is hard to tell was he punished or not. He played strong football, though, and was invited again.
Anyway, Inter contributed to the Slovak dominance of the early 1970s and were not a bad team at all. But… they were doomed by their predicament: Slovan was the local giant.

2012-01-23T11:04:00.000-08:00

To place Czechoslovakian club football is a risky affair: it was not the most exciting championship in Europe. But CSSR became European champion in 1976 with guts and class. Was it better domestic championship than the Yugoslavian one? At par with, say, Portugal, France, Holland, Belgium? May be yes, may be no… To my mind, the Czechoslovaks played pleasant, mellow, and pretty much fair domestic championships in the 1970s. With good players spread throughout the league, the championships were intriguing. There were not – or not any more – state-supported ‘giants’. Or, at least there were no obvious giants dominating year after year. However, Slovak teams ruled. The strong performance of the national team was an international surprise, but there was a surprise at home as well: Banik (Ostrava) won the 1975-76 championship.
It was the first Czech club to win the title since 1967! Czechs won, but still not a club from the capital Prague… so far, Bratislava had the edge – Slovan finished second and Slavia (Prague), the best placed club from Prague – third. So the Czech title was more or less only a half-revenge, braking the Slovak ‘yoke’, but still Prague was left empty-handed.
As for the new champions, they were really new… the club from the Sileasian city of Ostrava was not new, of course: it was founded in 1922. In general, they performed well and constantly among the better Czechoslovakian clubs. They considered Sparta (Prague) their arch-rivals, something probably lost in Prague, where internal derbies like Slavia – Sparta, or either club vs Dukla,carried real weight, along with inter-city rivalry with Bratislava and particularly with Slovan. Anyhow, Banik were increasingly getting stronger in the 1970s and after winning the Cup in 1973, they added new triumph in 1976 – their very frist title!
The squad was solid and typical for the 1970s: a few stars, often included in the national team: Lubomir Knapp, Rostislav Vojacek, Libor Radimec, Pavel Michalik. A bunch of well respected league players – Micka, Huml, Klement, Albrecht. Well balanced, experienced team, a contender, but hardly a squad capable of monopolizing the championship. Banik clinched the title without dominating: 6 other teams scored more goals than the champions; one club had better defence than theirs; three clubs finished with more wins, but Banik ended with least losses – one point above second-placed Slovan and 2 points better than the next two teams. May be they were more lucky than strong, but let’s not spoil the party. Most importatntly, Banik were not one-time wonder – they played strongly for a few years now, and were to stay among the top Czechoslovakian clubs.
The season had more bitter gifts in store for the Slovak clubs: the Cup went to the Czechs as well, and in interesting fashion too – Sparta (Prague), hailing from the Second Division, won both legs of the final – 3-2 and 1-0. Slovan (Bratislava) ended second in both championship and Cup – signifying change of guard: Czech football was in strong recovery. For suffering Sparta, humiliated by relegation the year before, winning the Cup was precious – the old ‘grand’ club was rapidly coming back (they also won the Second Division and returned to top flight.)
Sitting, from left: Ondracek (?) – chief of team, Bohumil Vesely, Stratil, Nevrly (?), Smistik (?), Melichar, Caudr (?), Palka (?), Uhrin – coach.
Middle row: Houdek (?), Stransky, Kotec, Kislinger, Postulka (?), Urban, Kotal (?), Rosicky.
Top row: Busek (?), Sandor (?), Vlcek (?), Chovanec, Klement, Cermak, Maier (?), Vdovjak (?).
Well, Sparta collected her 7th Cup coming out from Second Division, but the squad above is actually the one for 1976-77 season. To a point, it shows what was wrong with Sparta – painful change of generations. The great team of the 1960s was either changed late or insufficiently. Bohumil Vesely still remained from the golden years, but meantime players like Kislinger, Stransky, Melichar, Urban were the main bulk. Players, who were far from great, yet good enough to be trusted… they were no winners and the team stuck. Stratil, Chovanec, Cermak were promising better future, but the team was still unfinished, still in transition, and still dominated by middle of the road players – Jiri Klement arrived from Banik (Ostrava), for instance. Fresh from the champion squad, but hardly a star player. Coaching was unsettled question too – little known people coached Sparta in the Second Division, but young Dusan Uhrin was hired for 1976-77 – he was still years away from fame, and judging by his experience with Sparta, hardly a great coach, for he was sacked in mid-season. Sparta was still shaky… but don’t blame Uhrin for that: this is the first team he coached, he was just starting his career, and it is easy to be impatient and heavy-handed with beginners. Not made yet, but on the road to recovery, Sparta.

2012-01-21T00:13:00.001-08:00

Rangers won both cups for a treble this year, a significant achievement, unless one looks at the attendance… Cup finals are usually well attended in Scotland and the numbers taken just by themselves are impressive: 58, 806 fans saw the League Cup final between Rangers and Celtic. The Scottish Cup final – Rangers vs Heart of Midlothian – draw 85, 250 fans! Well, consider this – by 1976 around Europe attendance was becoming large concern – it was rapidly decreasing. Scottish numbers were very high… and very low, when compared to attendance just three years ago, when over 122,000 people went to see the Scottish Cup final. In 1969 the number was over 132, 000! But never mind – Rangers grabbed both cups and Protestants were in the erthy paradise.
The Catholics were in misery… hopefully purgatory, and not hell… Celtic was good enough only for League Cup final, lost 0-1. No comfort… and emptyhanded. A lost final is practically nothing at all for a club like Celtic and its fans.

The stars of the great Celtic of the 60s retired, age is age… and transition was so far painful. May be it was their haircuts… remember that the longer the hair, the better the player during the 1970s? Well, not enough long hairs here, so may be next year.
Of course ‘next year’ was the consolation of the other losing finalist, but they were not Celtic. For Heart of Midlothian reaching the Scottish Cup final was quite good: the Hearts were desperate for something like success – they lifted a trophy for the last time in 1963, when they won the League Cup. Since then – absolutely nothing, not even among the top three in the championship after 1964. So, this was their best season since 1963, although they lost the final 1-3.

Sitting, from left: Gibson, Aird, Shaw, John Haggart – manager, Busby, Park, Prentice.
Second row: Gallacher, Brown, Callachan, Hay (?), Burrell, Cruickshank, Murray, Jefferies, Clunie, Kay, Fraser.
They may call themselves ‘The heart and soul of Edinburgh’, but… were on slippery slope already and the occasional leap to a cup final was not going to help. The squad featured some legends… club legends, that is, for when it came to the national team, Hearts players were hardly given a though. But Jim Cruickshank, Donald Ford, Drew Busby were the stars of the club… Cruickshank managed 6 caps; Ford played a total of three matches for Scotland, and Busby – none! Nice team, but if one thinks kit… otherwise a lost cup final was the most to brag about.

2012-01-18T11:53:00.000-08:00

If the Swiss were going to reform their league football for the 1976-77 season, the Scots went into reorganizing in the summer of 1975 and the first results were present by the summer of 1976. No more two divisions, but three, although the number of the professional clubs remained the same – 38. No more classic First Division either – now the top flight was called ‘Scottish Premier Division’, as if the name change would elevate the quality… 10-club league, every team playing 4 times against any other opponent. Thus, there were more league games – 36 instead of the old 34. The new scheme aimed to remedy chronic ills: small gates, low quality of most games, financial troubles, aging stadiums, and inequality – in performance terms – between the best two and most of the rest. Form today’s standpoint, the reform was hardly a success… it is still duopoly, Celtic and Rangers. It is still quite boring championship. It is still financially unstable league. One thing the Scots had no way to change: their players generally moved to English clubs as soon as they could. The grand exodus of talent practically precluded any attempts to reform domestic football – and the reform could be seen more as an attempt to merely preserve the sport, to find a way to survive, not to really improve. And the first season of the new Premier Division hardly brought anything optimistic… the difference between the first and the last teams was 43 points! And those were still the years when a win gave 2 points, not three. Very likely this was the biggest gap between first and last finishers in Europe – so much for increasing quality and competitiveness. The usual suspects were still at the top – Celtic, who finished second, were good 5 points ahead of the third placed Hibernian. But that was just about everything Celtic managed to achieve, for their archrivals Glasgow Rangers won all trophies – championship and both cups. Hardly a surprise, since Rangers had the best squad by far – and pretty much the same as the year before. Their championship campaign was more than confident: they left Celtic 6 points behind.
By Scottish standards, impressive team, with Parlane, McCloy, Forsyth, Jardine, Greig… to name a few. However, the same guys from 1974-75 – and perhaps those, who English clubs were not very keen of… hardly a compliment.
The dubious ‘honor’ of finishing last in the first season of the Premier Division went to St. Johnstone, a miserable team, collecting only 11 points and truly hopeless, for the next lowest record was 32 points. St. Johnstone were relegated – an unfortunate occasion, for they had nice kit.
The first champions of the new First Division (the Second Scottish Division really) were Partick Thistle. The promotion actually returned them to top flight, where they have been administratively expulsed from the year before – because of the reduction of the new top league. Their names are hard to read… but let say that nothing is missed because of anonymity… except for Alan Hansen, but this would be the story of Liverpool, not Partick Thistle.
This would be just about everything for the Scots in 1976 – except one thing: with the exception of Ayr United, all of the ‘original’ clubs is still in the Premier Division today. There have been ups and down, but in general everybody still plays there: Motherwell, Heart of Midlothian, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Dundee… obviously the better layer of suffering Scottish football.

2012-01-16T08:02:00.000-08:00

May be the Swiss were thinking of crisis as well, for they were bound to reform their football. !975-76 season was the last with traditional league – it was to be decreased from 14 to 12 teams for the next year and the whole format was to be changed, but details will be given later. For the moment – the last three clubs were relegated and only the winner of the Second Division promoted. At the top everything was familiar – FC Zurich was once again confident champion, 5 points ahead of the nearest rival Servette (Geneva). Once again FC Zurich finished with only one loss - 19 wins and 6 ties proved how supreme they were, just like in 1974 and 1975. They also scored a lot – 69 goals, allowing only 26 in their own net. To top it all, they win the Cup as well – a double, unlike the two earlier seasons. Confidence and mature superiority – the squad was practically the same as the two previous seasons, perhaps reaching its peak in 1975-76. By now they were playing quite well in Europe as well – not exactly making waves, but they were pleasant to watch, elegant and efficient, and not easy to beat. FC Zurich line-up before winning the Swiss Cup: from left: Kuhn, Grob, Rutschmann, Martinelli, Scheiwiler, Fischbach, Heer, Katic, Zigerlig, Risi, Botteron
To a point, FC Zurich examplified Swiss football: modest, unassuming, not abrasive at all, not crazy either – few local stars, completed with lesser local players and inexpensive mid-range foreigners. The Swiss were careful with imports: Ilija Katic was the typical case – he was not a star Yugoslav player, but reliable one, who fit perfectly to the Swiss way and became constant top goalscorer. True, Swiss clubs were importing more foreigners by 1976, and gradually bigger names, but still carefully – Slobodan Santrac was an example of new trend: Grasshoppers (yes, it was still Grasshoppers in mid-70s) bought the former Yugoslav national player, but the striker was aging and not very expensive because of that. Good to score a plenty and provide class in Switzerland, although beyond his prime. ‘Crisis’ was hardly the world describing Swiss football – rather, it was not improving, remaining the same, and thus stifling the possible progress of talented teams like FC Zurich. The reduced league aimed at establishing both financial stability and competitive championship – about 6-7 clubs were relatively good in terms of players and were to benefit from the new championship formula: after the first half, the league was to be split on two tournaments: the top 6 playing among themselves for the title and the bottom half – to decide the relegated two. 1975-76 ended with complete triumph of FC Zurich, but really… playing with the outsiders was not helping as much as playing against Servette (Geneva).
Which finished second in both championship and Cup. Servette reached the final and lost it 0-1. Katic scored the winning goal for FC Zurich in the 9th minute.
Double second… top, from left: M. Locca (Coach), Alain Canizares, Claude Andrey, Jürgen Sundermann (Trainer), Marc Schnyder, Valer Nemeth (Trainer)
Middle row: Gilbert Guyot, Jean-Luc Martin, Ueli Wegmann, M. Cohannier (President), Rolf Riner, Lucio Bizzini, Alfred Hussner.
Sitting:Denis De Blaireville, José Zapico, Kurt Müller, Hans-Jörg Pfister, Franco Marchi, Karl Engel.
Not bad at all, by Swiss standards: a few national players and the rest solid, if not stellar. And like FC Zurich, playing together for a number of years already. Were they to be satisfied with ‘second best’? Unlikely, and the new formula of the championship was designed to help precisely clubs like Servette in a more competitive environment. Anyway, it was FC Zurich so far and let them be happy in 1976.

2012-01-14T00:23:00.000-08:00

Consistency is good… sometimes. For there is another kind of consistency as well: at the bottom. Dinamo (Minsk) ended last in the fall and was relegated – Minsk were one of the traditional candidates for relegation, so nothing strange they went down. Even if the two seasons were combined, they were going down… along with miserable Zarya (Voroshilovgrad), which, however, escaped relegation with some effort in the fall season. Spartak (Moscow) was also consistent in 1976: finishing 14th in the spring and 15th in the fall. And down they sunk to Second Division. Which was more than surprise – it was an earthquake! One of the original great clubs; one of the Moscow strongholds; one of the ‘untouchable’ in a sense – it was unthinkable Spartak going down! True, the club was on downhill for some time, and in 1976 there were some great problems on both administrative level and selection, but a relegation? Many – myself included – thought Spartak will be ‘saved’ by the Federation. Likely last minute ‘enlargement’ of the First Division, with nobody relegated this year. And there were quite open calls for just that, but at the end it did not happened, in part, because of the noble performance by Spartak’s mover and shaker Nikolay Starostin: he said that relegation is fair and Spartak has to face the music and start rebuilding. Which in a way started with his own return to the club, for he was ‘retired’ at the end of 1975. Greeting their fans after victory? Rather saying ‘good-by’ to First Division football for the first time in their history. From left: Yu. Pilipko, V. Papaev, V. Gladilin, M. Bulgakov, Vl. Bukievsky, A. Smirnov, Vik. Bukievsky, V. Samokhin, A. Kokorev, V. Vladyushtenkov, E. Lovchev.
By 1976 Spartak was sheer mediocrity, on a slippery slope since the beginning of the 70s, largely due to wrong selection and retirements. The only high-class player left was their captain Evgeny Lovchev, still the best left full back in the country, but also often playing in midfield as well. Lovchev was so disappointed, he decided to leave the club, however, not immediately after the grand failure. Yet, the strangest thing was not Spartak’s mediocrity, but the acceptance of it by the Federation – it was almost a miracle, that the Soviets allowed one of their legendary clubs to go down. But they did – a fair decision in unfair country.
From the Second Division climbed up familiar names… consistent as well, in their unsettled tradition of constantly moving up and down.
Kairat (Alma-Ata) clinched first place in the Second Division and returned to top level football after one year absence. Second placed Neftchi (Baku) dwelled longer in the lower level – since 1972. Given their shaky history, neither club was seen as possible improvement of top Soviet football, but… they won promotions, so better celebrate.
Kairat (Alma-Ata), champions of Second Division: bottom row, from left: B. Evdokimov, S. Abenov, F. Hisamutdinov, V. Podvesko, K. Ordabaev, A. Mironenko, V. Astrakhankin, M. Gurman, V. Likhosherstnykh.
Second row: S. F. Kaminsky – coach, K. Issabaev – masseur, A. Ubykin, V. Chebotarev, S. Bayshakov, V. Talgaev, V. Shevchuk, A. Yonkin, V. Kislyakov, S. Rozhkov, V. Kruglykhin, V. A. Skulkin – assistant coach, I. Kuchin – team’s doctor, T. S. Segizbaev – coach.
The squad was nothing much – some aging second-string players from bigger clubs (Rozhkov); some reliable Second League players (Ubykin); the rest – unknown. Perhaps their regular goalkeeper Ordabaev summarize the whole club: he was always one of the best in Second Division and always unnoticeable in First Division. Even the only solid player of the club – the striker A. Yonkin, who was second best goalscorer of USSR in 1974 – was a liability: he was moody and inconsistent. As a compensation, the club had two head coaches – Kaminsky and Segizbaev, ruling jointly the team, a novelty not only in 1976.
Neftchi (Baku) finished 2nd in Second Division and was happy to return finally to First Division. Sitting, left to right: Z. Gadzharly – masseur, A. Aliev, R. Kuliev, R. Uzbekov, E. Abbassov, A. Orudzhev, T. Abbassov, F. Dzhavadov, S. Kurbanov, A. Mamedov, V. Ogerchuk.
Second row: A. A. Gryazev – assistant coach, A. Miroshnikov, A. Rakhmanov, A. Namazov, G. A. Allahverdiev – team’s boss, Yu. Romensky, G. B. Bondarenko – coach, I. Smolnikov, R. Ali-Zadeh, B. Kulamov, A. Nurmamedov, A. Banishevsky, B. Hetagurov – team’s doctor, N. Kretingen – administrator.
A better squad than Kairat’s really – some of these players establsiehd good reputations in Soviet football, if not becoming firstrank stars: Aliev, both Abbassovs, Kurbanov, Ali-Zadeh, etc. One was to have even brighter future – the goalkeeper Yury Romensky eventually went to Dinamo (Kiev) and for awhile was their first keeper. But promotion was the sweetest for Anatoly Banishevsky. One of the greatest stars of Soviet football in the second half of the 1960s, regular national team player for years, and arguably the best ever Azerbaidzani footballer. Also a keen photographer. Aging by now, Banishevsky was no longer the terrific striker and goalscorer – and rarely mentioned by the ever greatful Soviet press – but he was still helping his beloved club and if nothing else, it was great that the legendary player would be able to finish his career in First, and not Second, Division.
Weird 1976 season in USSR… without real change or improvement. Rather, Soviet football was getting worse – the relegation of mighty Spartak (Moscow) signified the sense of deep crisis.

2012-01-11T08:18:00.000-08:00

The second 1976 championship was no fun either. The spring champions were… ‘also runs’ in the fall, finishing 6th. Once again, their attack was a disaster, scoring only 15 goals. Once again, the defense fared better, allowing only 13 goals. Once again hald the league scored same or more goals than Dinamo (Moscow). They were out of the championship race, not a contender. Ararat (Erevan), 2nd in the spring, outdid the champions, though: they finished 14th, escaping relegation with a victory in the last match of the season! Clearly, Markarov’s ‘revolution’ (defensive football) was bringing fruits… only one team received more goals than Ararat. The strong performance in the spring was an illusion – the Armenians were going into change of generations, the old mighty squad was retiring and there was not enough young talent to replace them. Plummeting into mediocrity was beginning… Shakhter (donetzk) also went down in the fall, but other clubs climbed high. In fact, only two clubs remained stable – Dinamo (Tbillisi) and Karpaty (Lvov), who ended at the same places as in the spring – 3rd and 4th, with Karpaty once again the best scoring team in the league. The fall champions were more than surprise: they came from nowhere – Torpedo (Moscow) finished 12th in the spring, with negative goal difference and appearing to be in trouble with their leaky defense and poor attack. If anything, their defense improved in the fall and Torpeado somewhat mirrored the Dinamo (Moscow) spring success – they clinched minimal wins, keeping their sheet clean (only 9 goals received – Dinamo allowed 8 in the spring) and scoring sparsely. And just like Dinamo (Moscow), 1976 was to be the last ‘great’ year for Torpedo – it was their 3rd and last title, the second won in distant 1965. Top, left to right: V. Shustikov – assistant coach, Yu. Zolotov – ‘disciplinary head coach’, G. Kamensky – administrator, Yu. Mironov, A. Zarapin, A. Degtyarev, V. Belousov, S. Prigoda, A. Elizarov, N. Khudiev, V. Buturlakin, V. Ivanov – head coach, A. Proyaev – team’s doctor, B. Alexandrov – physical coach, V. Petrov – masseur.
Bottom row: S. Grishin, V. suchilin, V. Yurin, V. Filatov, V. Sakharov, V. Kruglov, A. Belenkov, E. Hrabrostin, S. Petrenko.
The squad was less famous than Dinamo (Moscow) – just a few occasionally were invited to the national team, and as whole, were ‘second class’ players, so to say. Nothing surprising in that, for traditionally small Torpedo had no chance to recruit big names, but because of that they were traditionally tied and dependable squad. Their victory was much sweeter than the one of Dinamo – at least for me, for I like the underdog – but what if it was a normal season? Well, if spring and fall are combined (artificial combination, for the aims at the spring had nothing to do with those in the fall for many a club), strangely the only consistent clubs were to finish… 2nd and 3rd with 35 points each. Torpedo was to end 4th. Champions were to be Dinamo (Moscow) with 38 points. Such combination is telling only one thing: 1976 was very, very mediocre year for Soviet football – champions with barely 63% points out of the possible maximum! And Dinamo (Kiev) outside the top four places.
Consistency paid back in the Cup tournament: Ararat (Erevan), still riding their spring good form, reached the final, where they were meet Dinamo (Tbillisi). Since the spring was gone by the time the final was played, it became one-team show… the Georgians confidently destroyed their Armenian neighbours 3-0.
Ararat’s goalkeeper saved this ball, but he was unable to stop endless Georgian attacks.
It was triumph of attacking football and perhaps the only bright moment in 1976. Dinamo (Tbillisi) were fun. Creative, technical, entertaining, and scoring. No ‘but’ about them. First row, left to right: V. Koridze, A. Mudzhiri, V. Gutzaev, V. Kopaleyshvili, R. Chelebadze, Z. Tzereteli, D. Gogia, G. Machaidze.
Second row: N. Akhalkatzi – coach, N. Dzyapshipa – club’s chief, Sh. Hinchagashvili, D. Kipiani, N. Hizanishvili, M. Machaidze, P. Kanteladze, A. Chivadze, E. Ebralidze, M. Gogoshidze, S. Metreveli – assistant coach, E. Telia – team’s doctor, V. Chelidze.
This was the first, yet unfinished, great team built by Nodar Akhalkatzi: well known names, getting long in the tooth, along with bright youngsters. Skill was never a problem in Georgia; the problem was moodiness. The former was mainly the reason national team coaches turning their backs to Tbillisi – the fantastic winger (when mood striked him right) Gutzaev is perhaps the best example. But there was a new vintage which was to made lasting impression in USSR and Europe: Hinchagashvili, Manuchar Machaidze, Chivadze, and Kipiani. Especially David Kipiani! What a great player he was becoming. If there was hope for Soviet football, it was in the legs of the Georgians and their consistency in 1976 was a big promise for the future.

2012-01-09T10:06:00.000-08:00

Changes in Hungary, but when it came to changes USSR had no equal: every season introduced new reform, only to be changed next year. 1976 was to have not one championship, but two separate ones – spring and fall ones, each with its own national champion. It was wild scheme, tailored to suit the national team. The national team? Well, Dynamo (Kiev) was made the ‘base’ of the national team officially, so in a way team USSR was to compete in the domestic league – a curious notion, bringing weird questions: if Kiev loses, is it a lousy national team? Or is it simply a case of unimportant ‘training’ of the national squad – but then what about Kiev fans? Are they to accept that their club is to play second fiddle by order? The roots of the experiment were international football – sheer climatic reasons dictate domestic season: spring-fall instead of European fall-spring. Thus, Soviet specialists grumbled for years that their players are in good form at the wrong time and therefore unable to achieve anything internationally. The 1976 was tailored to the needs of international games, both of the national team (which had to play ¼ finals – and hopefully more – for the European Championship and at the Olympic Games in the summer), Dinamo Kiev (participating in the European Champions Cup), and eventually other clubs. The last part an attempt to go in step with the rest of Europe – so far Soviet clubs of the year before qualified for European tournaments, according to the final table in late November. There was no telling in what shape such teams would be next year in September, when they were to launch their European campaign. So the spring champion of 1976 was to play in the UEFA Cup the same year and the fall champion was to be the Soviet participant in the next year Champions Cup – an experiment, which, if successful, may lead to some new general scheme, however difficult, for full restructuring of Soviet season was impossible. There was no way to move only First Division to fall-spring season – unless make it exclusive closed league: the general problem was relegations and promotions. And for 1976 nobody was to be relegated at the end of the spring season (when the Second Division was just in mid-season), but clubs were to go up and down at the end of the fall season (when Second Division was also finishing). The whole scheme seemed disjointed at best and with no apparent benefits. At the end of the year it was clear that there were no benefits whatsoever and the experiment was abandoned as every other from the last few years.
As a general observation, 1976 was a disappointment: the national team (Dinamo Kiev) underperformed, mildly said, at both European Championship and the Olympics. In the European Chmapions Cup same Dinamo Kiev was good only to reach ¼ finals and did not play at all – instead of the bright attacking football, capturing attention in 1975, the team of Lobanovsky returned to the old defensive Soviet style, with solitary striker – Blokhin. Domestically, Dinamo was even worse. At home, the massive failure was attributed to too many games and tournaments – hardly a plausible excuse, for Soviet players were still playing less matches than the leading West European players. Abroad, the bleak performance fueled new speculations of doping in 1975, for Dinamo players were more than a shadow of themselves, close to their usual performance before 1975. Whatever the reason was, Dinamo failed in 1976 on every level.
Particularly telling was their record in the spring championship: 5 wins, 5 ties, 5 losses, 14 – 12 goal difference, 15 points and mid-table 8th place. Note that Dinamo (Minsk), one of the finally relegated teams, was 9th in the spring just because of worse goal difference than Kiev. But they scored more goals than mighty Cup Winners Cup winners and practically the national team of USSR! In the fall, without international duties, Kiev played a bit better and finished 2nd with 18 points (6-6-3; 22-16). Not a great record either.
As a whole, the season was weird - the spring championship was hardly important for most of smaller clubs, for there was no fear of relegation. Zarya (Voroshilovgrad) was obviously in huge decline by now and finished last. Spartak (Moscow) was in trouble too – finishing 14th with meager record of 10 points. Torpedo (Moscow) was hardly better, ending 12th, however, with only a point less than Dinamo (Kiev). On top the picture was a bit more optimistic: Shakhter (Donetzk) was 5th, but with negative goal difference! Karpaty (Lvov) was 4th and Dinamo (Tbillisi) 3rd – goal difference decided who was to be 3rd and who – 5th. Ararat (Erevan) finished 2nd, a point above Dinamo (Tbillisi), and Dinamo (Moscow) was first – a surprise champion. Observers were lukewarm: it was noted that young coaches were pushing ahead – Akhalkatzi (Dinamo Tbillisi) and Markarov (Ararat), but some old hands were not to be dismissed – the return of Yust in Karpaty (Lvov) instantly improved the team. There was hardly some kind of new trend: Akhalkatzi essentially invigorated the traditional technical attacking brand of Georgian football. Eduard Markarov, a prolific striker and goal scorer just a year or two ago, now introduced… defense. His version of modern football was based on 5 defensemen, three central full-backs, which really a news in Erevan, formerly playing attacking game. As for Dinamo (Moscow)… lucky may be. The taste of victory was forgotten already – Dinamo hasn’t been champions since 1963! A revival? No… the ersatz 1976 spring title is – so far – the last for Dinamo.

Bottom, from left: G. Evryuzhikhin, A. Petrushin, O. Kramarenko, A. Shepel, A. Parov, A. Makhovikov, S. Nikulin, M. Gershkovich.
Top: I. I. Mozer – assistant coach, A. Bubnov, V. Pavlenko, V. Zenkov, A. Novikov, A. Yakubik, I. Gontar, O. Dolmatov, V. Losev, A. Kosmynin – team’s doctor, A. Maksimenkov, A. A. Sevidov – coach.
An old, experienced and revered coach and a squad, which can be best described as transitional – a few veterans, soon be out (Evryuzhikhin, Gershkovich, Yukubik) and a lot of promising, but inexperienced yet youngsters (Bubnov, Pavlenko, Losev, Nikulin, Parov). In 1976 Vadim Pavlenko was seen as the brightest hope – he soon faded, but others became stars, particularly Bubnov. From a distance, the squad is impressive – a good 11 players played for USSR at one or another time, but… no one became really great. Dolmatov and Maksimenkov already reached their limits and perhaps were the best description of the whole team: good, but not great and not able to improve. Strikers were already a problem: Shepel was brought exactly to improve the attack, but he failed just like he failed in Dinamo (Kiev). The champions ended with 17-8 goal difference. Strong defense, surely, but 17 goals scored in 15 matches tells that attack was not the forte of the team – 8 other teams scored the same or more goals, half the league!

2012-01-07T00:15:00.000-08:00

Football is never certain when observed – new champions are what? A momentary miracle, or change of guard with long-lasting consequences? One does not even to be confused by opposing camps – one’s mind is uncertain all by itself… just a year ago Ferencvaros looked hopeless and Ujpesti Dosza almost great. Not so in the summer of 1976… for Ferencvaros won a double! Both the Hungarian championship and the Cup. Ujpesti Dosza slipped to 3rd place in the final table and Fradi fans were more than happy: the violet yoke ended and how! Ferencvaros won its first title since 1968, a long years of waiting and suffering the monopoly of Ujpesti Dosza. Great for the fans, but was it a beginning of new era? Hard to tell – Ferencvaros surely suffered a long and painful decline, largely due to change of generations. The young squad reaching – and pathetically losing – the Cup Winners Cup final in 1975 was clearly inexperienced. Meantime it was obvious that the days of Ujpesti Dosza have to end soon – 7 titles in a row, yet, won by one and the same squad, which was getting older with every next year.
The inevitable seemingly happened: the Fradi gained experience, matured in a way, when the Lilak were nearing retirement… and Ferencvaros came back with a vengeance and looked like they were going to dominate Hungarian football for some time.

The team certainly looked solid, with room for improvement – veterans like Geczi, Juhasz, Muha, and Branikovics were to step down soon, but it was no longer a matter of generational change, but only of fine tuning: the skeleton of solid champions was already in place – Magyar, Pusztai, Martos, Rab, Megyesi… and most importantly the brilliant Laszlo Balint, in his prime, and the young bright midfielder Tibor Nyilasi, arguably, the last truly great Hungarian player. With them Ferencvaros had the edge for the years to come – Ujpesti Dosza had to enter transitional period and to suffer some decline. Predictions… tainted by doubts as well, for it looked like Hungary settled into duopoly and generally insignificant pool of talent. Any other hopeful signs? May be MTK (Budapest). Great past, but MTK lost its importance quite long time ago – like Ferencvaros, the old ‘Jewish club’ won its last trophy in 1968 – the Hungarian Cup. Unlike Ferencvaros, MTK won nothing in 1976 – they managed only to reach the Cup final , which they lost 0-1. But it looked like improvement – they finished 6th in the championship and added cup final as well. Were they to restore some of their old glory? Were they to become a challenger and not merely terciary Budapestian club, struggling for forth place in the city’s ranking with another faded oldtimers – Vasas (by mid-70s the giant of the 1950s – Honved – more or less occupied third position, with Czepel sinking to the bottom of the pool of ‘big’ Budapest clubs)?
MTK looked good somehow – with players getting ‘second wind’, yet, better then what the club had a few years earlier. May be, may be…

Top, from left: Szigeti, Palicsko, Csetenyi, Nyiro, Burg, Gaspar.
Bottom: Takacs, Kovacs, Koritar, Kiss, Kunszt.
Revival for MTK? Well, it was not ‘pure’ MTK anymore, but a merger – in 1975 MTK fused with VM into MTK-VM. It lasted for a while.
Along with the old boys, another, younger, club showed claws: Videoton (Szekesfehervar). The provincial boys had different names in their earlier years, but since 1968 they were renamed after their sponsor – electrical goods manufacturer. Thoroughly industrial by name, and with solid financing, they were to become strong team in the 1980s – 1976 was just a first spark of life, not even taken seriously, for provincial clubs were one-time wonders in Budapest-dominated Hungary.

Runners-up in 1976 and with even better things to come, but – so far – this is the best domestic achievement of Videoton.
At the bottom of the league there was joy: the Hungarian Federation decided to extend the League to 18 teams for the next season and there were no relegations in 1976. Lucky outsiders.

2012-01-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

The world was more inclined to point at the bottom of the Polish league: Stal (Rzeszow) and Polonia (Bytom) were relegated and who were they? Arka (Gdynia) and Odra (Opole) were promoted. And who were they?

Arka (Gdynia) in 1974-75, when they were relegated to the Second Division.
Same boys coming back one year later… Let’s pause a minute in contemplation… Arka went up 1973; down in 1975; up in 1976… replacing Stal (Rzeszow), who won promotion in 1975, only to be relegated in the next season. If the top of Polish football was shaky, the lower levels looked like a disaster. May be the miracle of 1974 was just that: a miracle?

2012-01-02T06:49:00.000-08:00

Just like East Berlin in DDR, Warsaw did not play major role in Polish football. Polish football continued to be ‘decentralized’, lacking dominant ‘big’ clubs. But with the stellar rise of the Polish national team since 1972, the club situation was baffling: strong national team, yet not a single club becoming really strong – even the East Germans had concentrated their best players in 4-5 clubs, but the Poles did not. One result was signs of decline detected by 1976 – aging players retiring, going abroad, or simply over the hill, and hardly any new exciting youngsters. The finger was pointed at Kazimierz Deyna – one of the best players at the 1974 World Cup was rapidly fading away in the opinion of many an observer. Correspondingly, his club Legia (Warsaw) was far below the top spots – it finished 8th in 1975-76. Legia (Warsaw) – presumably, a ‘big’ name. Top row from left: Kazimierz Deyna, Tadeusz Nowak, Tadeusz Cypka, Boguslaw Kwapisz, Leslaw Cmikiewicz, Leslaw Kedzia, Zbigniew Karwoski.
Middle: Lucjan Brychczy, Adam Topolski, Henryk Bialas, Marian Nowacki, Wladyslaw Dobrowski, Ignacy Ordon – assistant coach, Andrzej Streilau – coach, Ressler – administrator(?).
Bottom: Waldemar Tuminski, Jerzy Jagiello, Zbigniew Nowacki, Marian Lachowski, Piotr Mowlik, Mariusz Lisowski, Jan Pieszko, Ryszard Milewski.
Meantime the closest to a ‘superclub’ the Poles ever had – Gornik (Zabrze) of the late 1960s – was the prime example of inability to produce strong replacements: old stars retired or went abroad (the last so far – Lubanski), and although the club still had big names (Gorgon and Szarmach), it was not a strong club anymore. And Ruch (Chorzow) was seemingly taking the perilous path of Gornik, with older players heading mainly to France. Ruch ended 4th and Gornik – 9th – in 1975-76. From a distance, the picture was somewhat different: a championship of relatively equal clubs, entertainingly unpredictable. Champions reigned for one season… it looked like tough, competitive league, and in its own way it was. However, outside Poland the clubs were quickly destroyed – the European tournaments were the real test, which Polish clubs failed year after year. So, the true meaning of the Polish league was rather equality in weakness, not in strength, and the results rather support this conclusion: the 1975-76 champion of the country was decided on goal difference! The points of the top two clubs were indicative as well – in 30 games, they got only 38 points! This is barely above 50% from an ideal total of 60 points, hardly suggesting strength. The team finishing second – GKS Tychy – ended with goal difference of only +4 goals (38-34)!
It may be exciting to see a club founded in 1971 to fight for the championship in 1975-76, but… given the age of the club and the fact it had no noticeable players, it looked like just sheer luck, chancy performance thanks to the weakness of others, rather than real strength. Were the champions better than? Winning on goal difference… which was no brainer, for +4 is hardly winning number. Champions, unable to get above 5-years old club even by a point… not convincing.
Which never matters for the champions themselves – in this case, Stal (Mielec). Their second title! And – fair is fair – those were the best years of the club – they finished second the previous year. And reached the Cup final in 1976 as well.

Stal was harvesting the fruits of the talented team built in the early 1970s – these were pretty much the same guys, winning the championship in 1973, and to a point were representative of what a winning Polish team was: a skeleton of classy players, completed with experienced second-stringers. The ‘winning formula’ was experience: the team playing long enough together and thus better amalgamated than others in a given year. Stal’s ‘skeleton’ was good enough for success: Zygmunt Kukla between the goalposts, increasingly getting better, and already on the verge of becoming national player; Krzysztof Rzesny, occasional national player, in defense; Henryk Kasperczak, getting very close to a real star by 1976 and voted Player of the Year in a recognition, ruled in midfield; and Grzegorz Lato, who was pretty much the superstar of Polish football by 1976, in attack. True, there were two players of note – Jan Domarski, the centre-forward, who was part of the great 1974 World Cup squad, and the left winger Witold Karas, who almost made the national team in 1974. But both were declining by now in contrast to Kasperczak and especially Lato. By now even the role of Lato was changing: he was the leading player of the national team of Poland, operating on wider field and increasingly involved in playmaking, no longer the speedy consumer on the right wing, who had to be fed with balls. Kasperczak was flourishing as well and if the two stars were not enough to preserve the deadly reputation of the national team, they were enough to clinch a second title for Stal (Mielec).
Since Lato was considered among the biggest world stars at the time, it was baffling that he stayed with obviously small club with no great future. The ‘why’ was answered the same way then as now: Lato was loyal to his club. He was also handsomely paid… and saw no reason to move to ‘bigger’ Polish club, for at the time it was not much of a change anyway – the stronger Polish clubs at that time belonged not to ‘great’ cities, but to smoggy industrial towns. Mielec was of this kind as well. Besides, there were no great clubs… it was the same ‘skeleton’ model as in Mielec. It was easy to remain loyal when there is no better option really. The hometown had the means – and the smarts - to pay plenty to three-four players, so even money would not be better elsewhere. Lato stayed until he went to play abroad, but respect to him: it is so easy to stop developing in such circumstances. Lato and Kasperczak resisted the temptation to be local stars fading into lazy life: they were getting better players instead, stars on the pitch, not in the pub.
Yet, even with them Stal was not strong enough – they won the title, but lost the Cup.
Stal met Slask (Wroclaw) at the final and after receiving two unanswered goals went home to enjoy a single, not a double.
Slask (Wroclaw) won their very first trophy. Like GKS Tychy, Slask were relatively young Polish club, a product of the Communist system: they were founded in 1947 and were Army club. Typically East European scheme? May be… but so far Slask did not win anything at all. Unlike GKS Tychy, they were not to be one-time wonder – the Cup signified their rise to real prominence. Slask was to stay among the top Polish clubs in the following years, already having built its own ‘skeleton’: the goalkeeper Zygmunt Kalinowski, the great libero Wladyslaw Zmuda, Roman Faber, and Janusz Sybis. Front row, from left: Jacek Wisniewski, Janusz Sybis, Krzystof Jarosz, Mieczyslaw Olesiak, Jan Erlich, Zygmunt Kalinowski, Roman Faber, Tadeusz Nowakowski.
Standing: Zbigniew Dlugosz, Krzystof Karpinski, Tadeusz Pawlowski, Henryk Kowalczyk, Marian Balcerczak, Wladyslaw Zmuda, Zygmunt Gawlowski.
So far the fresh Cup winners hardly registered as a team: Kalinowski was reserve goalie of the 1974 Polish team, not playing a single minute, and by 1976 was rarely considered a national team option. Faber was kind of ‘also run’ in terms of national team; Sybis’ days were yet to come (but not exactly remembered, when they did), and Zmuda was more of ‘one of the 1974 team’ than a star on his own right – he was to become famous a few years later. Actually, Zmuda was still referred as ‘Zmuda II’ – ‘Zmuda I’ was the coach of Slask, weirdly having the same name as the player – both named Wladyslaw Zmuda. Since the coach was the mastermind of the team, the player was to be more or less one of the creations, hence, ‘second’ at best. At the end, Zmuda I deserves his good reputation: he already formed the ‘skeleton’ of Slask and now it was time to enjoy results – the first one was the Polish Cup. Joy in Wroclaw; nothing much to the world.

2011-12-31T00:19:00.001-08:00

DDR on the other hand stuck – by 1976 the pattern was settled and quite peculiar: no outstanding favorite, but a group of 5 clubs competing year after year. Four were constant – Dynamo (Dresden), Carl Zeiss (Jena), 1. FC Magdeburg, and Lokomotive (Leipzig). The fifth club varied, but Dynamo (East Berlin) was increasingly consistent, although not yet a contender. Among the constant four, Dynamo (Dresden) and somewhat better than the rest and Lokomotive (Leipzig) the weakest. Yet, there was no great club in East Germany, and this combined with small league hided the supremacy of the top five: it was invisible by surveying the table alone – points did not show a divide. It was becoming clear only when looking at all final tables since 1970.
There was one more peculiarity: DDR was the only East European country where Army and Police clubs did not rule domestic football – Dynamo (Berlin) was not even seen as potential champion yet, and Forwarts (the Army club) was champion in 1969 for the last time. Since then the club sharply declined and was not even in Berlin any longer, but in Frankfurt Oder since 1971. Hardly a real relation, yet a curious similarity nevertheless: the decline of Forwarts mirrored the decline of CSKA (Moscow) – both Army clubs seized playing major role since 1970 and never restored leading positions (the fall of the Communist system is the marker – CSKA recovered since 1990; Forwarts disappeared altogether). As for Police-sponsored football – Dynamo (Berlin) was building strength, but so far hasn’t win a single championship.
Perhaps those were the best years of East German football, if results are the whole indicator: World Cup finals in 1974; Magdeburg Cup Winners Cup winner in 1974; DDR becoming Olympic champion in 1976 – these achievements were never to be repeated, but so far it looked like East German football was on the rise. And Dynamo (Dresden) finished first in the spring of 1976 – their third title. Sitting, left to right: Watzlich, Hafner, Kotte, Urbanek, Boden, Sachse, Heider, Helm, Richter.
Standing: Dorner, Schmuck, Kreische, Ganzera, Schade, Weber, Lichtenberger, Muller, Riedel.
The squad was representative for both the success of the ‘top 5 clubs’ and the coming troubles for East German football: best players were concentrated in those clubs, making them dominant. 13 players of this squad played for the national team – a very serious number, and also unmatched by any other club at the time. But the best players of the country happened to be practically one generation… most of them were slightly over 25 years of age by 1976 and had many years to play yet, but they also reached the limit of their abilities – yes, they harvested the fruits of their labour, but the 1976 Olympics was also their swan song. No significant new talent was elbowing its way and stagnation was in the air – the best East German generation was strong enough to become legendary at home, yet not a single player became international star. For Dynamo (Dresden) this season was perhaps their best ever as well: they won 19 out of total 26 matches, losing only 2. They scored astonishing 70 goals, having the best defense as well, allowing only 23 balls to end in their net. Dresden finished 6 points ahead of the second placed Dynamo (Berlin).
Lokomotive (Leipzig) won the Cup, beating Forwarts (Frankfurt Oder) 3-0.
If anything, Lokomotive were establishing themselves as ‘cup’ club – they always fell short of really contesting championship, but they flourished at the cup tournaments. It was decent squad, yet, of lesser pedigree than Dresden: it was sturdy team, lead by the national team players Wolfram Lowe, Henning Frenzel, Joachim Fritsche, and Manfred Geisler. Kuhn, Altmann, Friese, Roth, Sekora, Grobner completed the team – a bunch of promising youngsters and well respected older guys, but in the big picture – second-best players, just a bit under the stars of East German football. Which explains why they were good at cup tournaments, but not league-champions material.
At the bottom of the Oberliga were Chemie (Leipzig), stronger club once upon a time, and Energie (Cottbus) dead last. Hansa (Rostock) and 1. FC Union (Berlin) were promoted, after winning the 5-club promotional tournament between the winners of the 5-leagued Second Division. From present day standpoint, curious names: since the German Unification Hansa (Rostock) and Energie (Cottbus) are arguably the most successful former East German clubs, given their steady performance in the First and Second Bundesliga. Both clubs were small fry in DDR… as well as Union (Berlin). ‘True” Berliners never wormed up to the Communist clubs of Army and Police, and Forwarts had to be even relocated elsewhere. But ‘true’ Berliners had no chance of supporting the ‘true’ Berliner club – Hertha was out of reach in West Berlin. In spite, ‘true’ Berliners supported Union… aware of that, the rulers of the country kept Union down. The club had no official support and no big sponsors – without means, Union normally played in second division. Promotion to the Oberliga was a heroic achievement, although the club clearly had no chance of even establishing itself among the best. If anything, at least East Berlin restored itself among the big European capitals: in football terms, that means a city with more than one club playing in First division. May be so, but East Berlin was not playing central role in East German football so far.

2011-12-28T10:18:00.000-08:00

Tiny signs of recovery in Romania, but also in Austria. Once again, it was restoration of the power of traditional favorites, in the Austrian case the clubs from Vienna – Austria and Rapid. It is always questionable whether returned dominance of traditional big clubs is a sign of improvement, or a sign of stagnation, but long suffering Austrian football at least appeared stabilized: the small reorganized league was seemingly more competitive. 10 clubs, playing four times against each other provided plenty of games and generally better quality. Financial troubles were not really solved and the problem with overall quality remained: the Second League just did not seem to be a provider of stable clubs – it consisted of largely little known clubs, hardly attractive to potential sponsors. Old club, yet quite faded by now – First Vienna FC won the Second Division and the single promotion to First Division. Austria Klagenfurt was relegated – the exchange was hardly an improvement, but at least the other 9 clubs in the Bundesliga appeared stable… and somewhat eternal, considering what was coming from below. Between themselves, the ‘eternal’ possessed whatever pool of talent Austria had, a small pool indeed, but there were exciting young players around, bringing some hopes for the future. In the effort to attract public the Austrians turned even into the new fad, gaining popularity in Europe – indoor football:

Rapid (Vienna) – Austria (Klagenfurt) in January? Only indoors… it was not yet futsal, but its precursor. Stadl scores attractive goal for Klagenfurt… if only they were able to score on real pitch, they were not to be relegated, but they were not that good on grass.

On grass it was different story… struggle in the fog. Rapid (Vienna) once again on the receiving end – this time in the ‘small’ derby with Admira-Wacker (Vienna), but the unhappy goalie Antrich eventually brightened up – Rapid won at the end.
Which was good enough for third place at the final table. Swarovski-Wacker (Innsbruck) finished second and Austria (Vienna) were champions with 7 points lead, impressive 21 wins, and 77 goals scored against only 29 received – the best numbers in the league. It was the first title for Austria since 1970 and their 11th altogether.

As the team goes, it was strong enough by Austrian standards: Josef and Robert Sara, Felix Gasselich, and Hans Pirkner provided class, but three other players were more important – very likely the Uruguayan imports Julio Cesar Morales (striker) and Alberto Martinez (midfielder) really made the difference. Both came to Austria in 1973, from famous clubs – Morales from Nacional and Martinez from Penarol, and both stayed with Austria for years, thus supplying quality and stability. Morales was the most famous foreign player in Austria by far: he played for Uruguay at the 1970 World Cup and won the Intercontinental Cup with Nacional in 1971. Along with them was rapidly developing a new star – Herbert Prohaska (sitting first from right above), playing since 1972, yet only 21 years old in 1976. On his way of becoming major European star, Prohaska is a key player of the brief revival of Austrian football, which started pretty much in 1976, and the central figure of the strong Austria Vienna team of the second half of the 1970s.
Arch-rivals Rapid suffered longer than Austria – they won their last title long time ago – in 1968, and after that only one measly Cup in 1972. This season they were still not good for anything better than 3rd place in the league, but won the Cup – their 9th.

As a squad, they were less impressive than Austria – Kienast and Persidis provided contemporary quality; 30-years old August Starek supplied experience, after years playing for Bayern (Munich). The German touch was reinforced by the imports: Emil Krause and Herbert Gronen. West Germans, but… nobody ever heard of them, so it was German influence just on principle. Yet, Rapid had a real star on the making, just like Austria (Vienna) – Hans Krankl. Krankl in action. He was already detected in Europe – prolific goalscorer already. He was 23 years old and real international fame was still in the future, but he was already a star in Austria.
As a whole, Austrian clubs were not that great, but Prohaska and Krankl promised better years ahead. It was not an empty promise – Austrian football gradually got strength, a revival already started. Small steps so far, but steps nevertheless.

2011-12-26T14:38:00.000-08:00

Across Danube River Steaua (Bucharest) triumphed with a double. It was coming back with a vengeance – Steaua did not win championship since 1968! It was there 8th title and a Cup for good measure. It was confident season for the Army club – they finished 7 points ahead of second placed Dinamo (Bucharest); won 21 out of 34 championship games, scored impressive 79 goals – the most in the league by far. On a larger scale, it looked like the domination of Bucharest clubs was restored – big Steaua and Dinamo on top, and on the bottom – two clubs from Cluj: Universitatea last and CFR just a place above. The novelty? Univerisatea was among the top clubs 2-3 season previously. CFR are Romanian champions just now: freshly winning the 2009-10 season. Who would imagine that in 1975, when the ‘railways’ boys were relegated? Back then another conclusion was more convincing: the end of provincial football challenging the big clubs from the capital. May be even the end of dark years of Romanian football?

No Army crewcuts for the Army team – and hairy boys winning everything! Front row, left to right: Marcel Raducanu, Florea (?), Constantin Dumitriu IV, Ion Ion, Tudorel Stoica.
Middle row: Radu Troi, Teodor Anghelini, Ion Dumitru, Anghel Iordanescu, Viorel Smarandache, Gabriel Zahiu, Constantin Zamfir.
Top: Emerich Jenei – coach, Viorel Nastase, Stefan Sames, Dumitru Moraru, Vasile Iordache, Mario Agiu, Iosif Vigu, Greiniceanu (?) – assistant coach.
To a point, quite a balanced squad, full of national players – Raducanu, Iordanescu, Anghelini, Moraru, Dumitru… However, this was not a squad revered as much as the one coached by Stefan Kovacz few years ago. The top stars of Romanian football at that period – Dobrin, Oblemenco, Georgescu – played elsewhere. As a whole, this team did not leave long lasting impression – it was more likely an attempt for building something new, but the material was still fragile. From the distance of time, something important has to be pointed out, though: it was the first spell with Steaua for Emerich Jenei, who was yet to become famous coach, but his first year at the helm of Steaua brought big results, at least in Romania. In a way, it was continuation of the Hungarian tradition of the club: ethnic Hungarian, Stefan Kovacs (or Stefan Covaci, or Istvan Kovacs), made the last strong Steaua. Another ethnic Hungarian (today Jenei is often listed as a ‘real’ Hungarian and under ‘proper’ name – Imre Jenei) started new era for Steaua. Kovacs and Jenei are considered among the 4 best ever Romanian coaches, along with Mircea Lucescu , who had nothing to do with the Army club. The fourth is Anghel Iordanescu – so far sporting medieval mustache and winning trophies on the pitch, not from the bench.

2011-12-24T00:21:00.001-08:00

What was coming up confirmed the crisis… Akademik (Svishtov) and Marek (Dupnitza – back then Stanke Dimitrov) were promoted. Akademik never played in the First Division before. Marek did play quite regularly, but they had the reputation of the most brutal team. It was actually a comfort to see them going down, hopefully, never to return… nobody (their fans, known for stoning visiting teams, excepted) was welcoming back Marek. Neither club looked like improvement – rather, they were one more sign of crisis.

Akademik (Svishtov), winners of the Northern Second Division. A ‘students’ club, belonging to the University of Economics in the small city on the shore of Danube River – small town, small university… given the predicament of the ‘big’ Akademik (Sofia), the picture was troublesome: since Akademik (Sofia) had difficulties recruiting and keeping good players, what possibly can do a club with smaller resources? But it was good – on principle – to see them going up!
Bottom, left to right: Il. Popov, V. Bozhilov, Al. Benchev, St. Zakhariev, V. Mikhov, P. Petkov.
Middle: Tz. Kamenov, O. Karchev, Iv. Genov, Iv. Aleksandrov, A. Borisov, Yu. Stoimenov.
Standing: Zh. Panev – coach, N. Kolev, V. Petkov, Iv. Nonchev, N. Dzharov, Pl. Valkov, P. Stankov, Iv. Zarkov, N. Kerkelov – assistant coach.
Even for debutants it was amazingly anonymous squad: a few players were barely recognizable for playing briefly in smaller First Division clubs; the rest were nobodies. Nobody was coveted by other clubs, whether big or small. And nobody remembers these guys today with only two exception – Petar Stankov, because he briefly played for the national team, and Valentin Mikhov. Mikhov, however, is well known not as a player – he became a major functionary after the fall of Communism, still heading his own creation – ‘The Professional Football League’.

Marek (Stanke Dimitrov) won the Southern Second Division, returning after years if exile to top flight. Nobody really wanted them – the memories of broken legs and stones flying from the stands were strong – but here they were coming again… Sitting, from left: A. Tomov, R. Karakolev, St. Shaldupov, St. Stoyanov, S. Pargov, L. Kolev, Al. Kyuchukov, Y. Ikonomov – masseur(?)
Middle: Ya. Dinkov – coach, L. Brankov, Iv. Karabelyov, G. Bogdanov, D. Dimitrov, Sl. Lazov, V. Zaprov, G. Belchinsky, D. Kukov – assistant coach.
Third row: N. Krastev, L. Sevdin, Iv. Palev, Em. Kyuchukov, K. Petkov, D. Doryanov, S. Raynov, An. Dinev.
Another anonymous team… a few aging survivors from the last time Marek played First Division football, just enough to keep memories of brutal villains alive – Shaldupov, Pargov, Belchinsky, Sevdin; one old horse, taking it easy after years in Slavia – Nikolay Krastev, that was all…
Neither club was seen as improvement of First Division and both were expected to be relegated the next year. Marek nobody wanted anyway, but they were to shatter predictions soon – suffice to say that 6 players of the above squad became national players, and they were not the only ones either. Unthinkable in the summer of 1976, when it looked like Bulgarian football was going to the devil.

2011-12-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

At the end of the table and relegated were Cherno more (Varna) and Spartak (Pleven). Both satellites – Cherno more of CSKA, and Spartak of Levski-Spartak. How much of their performance was due to weakness and how much to helping the ‘mother clubs’ and thus sacrificing themselves? Hard to tell… Spartak were rarely strong and Second Division was quite familiar to them. The team was aging too and they were late with rebuilding. Cherno more were declining for some time and also late in rebuilding aging team, but it was not a club bouncing up and down – they were constant feature of First Division.

Dead last – Spartak (Pleven). This is formation from the spring of 1975, but it was practically unchanged in 1975-76. Top, left to right: M. Varbanov – coach, V. Minkov, St. Dimitrov, P. Todorov, D. Dimov, I. Bratanov, V. Marinov – assistant coach.
Bottom: Kr. Lazarov, B. Yakimov, Pl. Nikolov, T. Barzov - captain, Sl. Stoilov, Al. Chenkov.

Cherno more finished next to last and faced the music… This is the squad for 1976-77 season, as it was in the summer of 1976 – there were changes during the new season. A whole bunch of old players were retired, but most of the above were part of the relegated squad anyway. Bottom, left to right: Andreev, Christov, Svetozarov, Vladimirov, Boychev, Yordanov, D. Georgiev – captain.
Top: Kerekovsky, Rafiev, Dimov, Denev, Simeonov, Y. Bogomilov, Marev, Diamandiev, Parushev.
How to tell how these two teams were worse than many others: Spartak had a group of young, but already established players like Barzov, Nikolov (both soon to move to Levski-Spartak), Bratanov (one of the most promising fullbacks at the time) and Lazarov (fiery right winger). With the exception of unlucky Bratanov, whose career ended prematurely because of heavy injury, the rest were soon to play for the national team. Cherno more had even more talent: Marev, young, but already one of the best sweepers in the country and national team player; Yancho Bogomilov, a very promising stopper (eventually joining CSKA a few years later), and bunch of erratic, but lethal when in the right mood strikers – Damyan Georgiev, Plamen Christov, Yordanov, and Rafi Rafiev. Svetozarov and Diamandiev were considered quite promising as well… may be ‘quite’ was the secret: promising at time of poor talent. Bulgarian football was in decline and although the relegated teams did not look worse than those, who survived, they were not better either. At the end, only three players of the two teams combined really established themselves – Marev, Barzov, and Nikolov.

2011-12-19T11:08:00.001-08:00

Levski lost the championship, finishing second, but there was still a possibility for at least partial revenge: they met CSKA once again at the Cup final. There was never love between the arch-enemies and matches were more often than not ugly, but the Cup final deteriorated into viscous battle. It was rainy day and the slippery pitch was dangerous anyway, so hard tackles quickly fired short fused spirits. Traditionally CSKA was the first to start brutalities, but Levski did not shy away from retaliation – this season there were plenty of ‘iron legs’ and ‘short tempers’ around: Rangelov, Denev, Vassilev, Kolev, Yankov (CSKA); Grancharov, Milanov, Tishanski (Levski). With the exception of Plamen Yankov and Kiril Milanov, all were on the pitch… which resulted in 6 yellow cards (Goranov, Denev, Sredkov, and Rangelov of CSKA, and Grancharov and Pavlov of Levski).

The referee trying to keep Grancharov (Levski) from fighting with Kolev (CSKA), who just severely fouled Levski’s player. Even a player practically never involved in brutality – Pavel Panov (Levski, with the ball in his hand) – lost his cool. As for Tzonyo Vassilev (CSKA, number 4) – he was never away from a fight… things were so bad, the coaches of both teams stepped in to beg their players to cool down – and Sergy Yotzov (CSKA) and Ivan Vutzov (Levski) had been known as ‘iron legs’ in their playing days, so the battle was really extraordinary to impress such coaches. Ugly match, which ended 2-2 in the regular time – all goals scored in the first half, when Levski quickly built 2-0 lead and CSKA managed to equalize. The drama continued in extra time – Levski scored in the 93th minute, but a minute later CSKA equalized again. Exactly in the 100th minute Levsky scored again – the header was attributed to the ‘blue’ captain Kiril Ivkov, a mistake, for the goalscorer was Georgy Tzvetkov. Ivkov later corrected the mistake – a rarely seen jest. This goal to be the end of CSKA – Levski attacked furiously to the final whistle.
Disappointing season, a Cup, and kit, which became cultic: this is not the full squad, but the selection winning the Cup final (although they played in Adidas by that time): top, from left: Donchev – assistant coach, Gaydarsky, Yordanov, Iliev, Vutzov – coach, Staykov, Ivkov, Grancharov, Aladzov.
First row: Tishanski, Voynov, Stoyanov, Tzvetkov, Panov, Pavlov, Spassov.
Only Stefan Staykov did not play at the final. Inconsistency was the main quality of Levski-Spartak: strong in fall of 1975, having perhaps their best run in the European Club tournaments; then disgusting spring, blowing away a ‘sure title’; then getting motivated again for the Cup final.
Akademik (Sofia) finished third – one of their best seasons ever and generally the crown achievement of gradually progressing team since 1971.
Bottom, from left: B. Angelov, D. Gologanov, Ml. Vassilev, L. Lozanov, B. Simov, S. Yankov, D. Aleksiev, St. Parvanov, P. Aleksandrov.
Top: D. Roev – coach, G. Roev, T. Paunov, Yu. Ivanov, Yu. Nikolov, Yo. Nikolov, Il. Chalev, Kr. Goranov, D. Efremov, G. Tikhanov, E. Manolov – assistant coach.
Climbing to third position – for a club with limited resources, no influence, no supporters, and big clubs constantly stealing players from ‘the students’, Akademik were truly heroic. Danko Roev was a miracle coach, managing to find new players under such circumstances, maintaining the pleasant technical style of the team. I personally prefer an earlier version of Akademik, but the 1975-76 vintage finished at the highest possible place for a small club. And perhaps it was the only enjoyable performance in otherwise bleak year.

2011-12-17T00:17:00.001-08:00

North of Greece things were going in the opposite direction – Bulgarian football was shaky: stuck in stupor at best; going steadily downhill at worst. The only promising teams – Slavia and Akademik, both from Sofia – stood no chance: political interest vested in CSKA and Levski-Spartak did not permit anybody else to become real contender. The whole body of Bulgarian football suffered because of that – the main result was lack of talent. At the end the big clubs suffered as well, for there was nobody to replace their aging stars. Which did not stop the big clubs from grabbing whoever seemed able of kicking the ball… lowly Akademik was constantly plundered, as well as the provincial clubs. Slavia was rather stifled – no players were stolen from the oldest Bulgarian club, but referees made sure that champions will not wear white. And it was the same old, same old CSKA and Levski duel… Perhaps the most significant feature of this season was that CSKA and Levski-Spartak appeared in ‘modern’ kit: CSKA dressed in Adidas, and Levski – in West German-made kit, believed to be Puma, but not looking like Puma. It changed the look of the team: no longer entirely blue, but blue and white shirts. Eventually, this kit became iconic and was repeated in later years. As kits go, East European countries were slow to catch up with fashion, mainly for political reasons. Since CSKA and Levski belonged to arch-political institutions – the Army and the Police – it was unbecoming for them to use ‘capitalist’ gear (did not apply to training sweats and boots, though). Thus, the most powerful Bulgarian clubs were not the first dressed in Western kit – Slavia claims to be the first club purchasing Adidas, although I think lowly Minyor (Pernik) used Adidas before Slavia. Finally the big boys followed the fashion – already behind most Soviet clubs, but ahead of East Germany. As for real football…
CSKA continued to stumble in its attempts rebuild the aging squad – in the ‘normal’ way of the club, ruthless plundering of other clubs was the method. 6 new players arrived: the top scorer of the 1974-75 season Ivan Pritargov (Trakia Plovdiv), Milen Goranov, the key striker of Akademik (Sofia), the very promising left winger Tzvetan Yonchev (Botev Vratza), the occasional national player Dimitar Dimitrov (Beroe Stara Zagora), Angel Rangelov, who had great 1974-75 season (Sliven), and entirely unknown youngster Plamen Markov (Rakovski Sevleivo). All of them came from traditional hunting fields of CSKA, but only two players passed the usual cover – that they were ‘called for regular army service’: Yonchev and Markov. Two clubs belonged to the army ‘family’ – or satellites – Trakia and Sliven, so they had no say whatsoever in the matter. One transfer was particularly interesting: Rangelov came from CSKA’s youth system, but, as almost every homegrown youth of CSKA, was not invited at all to the first team. He had strong season with Sliven, though, and now the ‘mother club’ suddenly became interested – it was a new practice, of which Sliven was to suffer in the next few years. Trakia – curiously, for this was new as well – was actually compensated: CSKA gave them three players for Pritargov! Sounds great… except those three were dead meat. Yet, there was no improvement… with the new boys CSKA continued to play shaky, unconvincing football.
Levski-Spartak acquired three new guys: the attacking midfielder Yordan Yordanov (Minyor Pernik), the tough central defender Ivan Tishanski (Akademik Sofia), and another toughie, the right full back Nikolay Grancharov (Cherno more Varna). Curiously, the new boys came because of the already mentioned stupid policy of CSKA: Tishanski and Grancharov were products of CSKA’s youth system, but just like Rangelov, the Army was not interested in them (Tishanski did polish the reserves bench for two seasons, but Grancharov was never included in the first team). Unlike CSKA’s recruits, the newcomers settled quickly in Levski and with Krassimir Borisov finally fitting in the team, Levski was in much better shape than CSKA in the first half of the 1975-76 season. The moment of truth came at the derby with the arch-enemy: Levski annihilated CSKA 4-1. CSKA was pale shadow of itself; Levski was in great form; the winter break find them leading by 5 points. Title was in the bag!
It was different picture in the spring – a repetition of 1973-74, when great fall was followed by mediocre spring and Levski won the title thanks to the points collected in the fall. It was exactly the same in 1976… the lead gradually dwindled to only 2 points before the spring derby with CSKA. Meantime CSKA made desperate last change midseason: their coach Manol Manolov was sacked and replaced by another former CSKA player Sergy Yotzov, who built strong squad in the satellite Sliven. Yotzov tried to reshape the team somewhat – moved Denev ahead as a striker, and moved Milen Goranov back to midfield, but it was largely cosmetic change. The team did not really improve, but it was still strong enough the small fry in the league. Derbies have life of their own, regardless the form of the opponents – given the condition of both teams, it should have been lackluster draw… the match wasn’t much, but it was not a draw: CSKA won 3-1, tied points with Levski and suddenly was leading on better goal difference. Observers still point out missed penalty as the crucial moment of the season: Levski got a penalty when the result was 1-0 for CSKA. The army goalie Stoyan Yordanov saved the penalty, crashing Levski’s spirit. I don’t think so: Levski was not outplayed per se, but was in bad enough form to be likely looser. It was mental… somehow the team did not seem ready to clinch even a tie. Curiously, ‘red’ folklore still remembers this otherwise unimpressive match – as a prime example of ‘systematic atrocities against CSKA’. The ‘wrongness’ is… the missed penalty. It was protested by the players even after their goalie saved it, so the referee showed two yellow cards (another crime committed against noble CSKA). Well, it was particularly disputable penalty: Levski’s striker flipped the ball above reach of CSKA’s goalie and Rangelov cleared the ball from crossing the goal line with his hand. A ‘natural right’ was seemingly violated: one simply does not call penalties against CSKA, period!
Levski never shook up its sluggishness – at the final table they were 2 points behind CSKA. Fanship apart, the season was meager – CSKA was hardly convincing winner; Levski lost form with meteoric speed; Lokomotiv Plovdiv, very strong in the last 4-5 years, gave signs of aging and loosing steam; Slavia, already without Isakidis, was unstable and not exactly up the football they played the previous year; Sliven was weakened; the rest of the other clubs were in decline. The relegated teams were interesting in this light: satellites of CSKA and Levski were never relegated together before, as far as I remember. Cherno more (Varna, belonging to the Navy) was strong team just a few years ago and constant first division club. The weakness of the ‘mother’ clubs relegated the satellites, I suspect – neither Cherno more, nor Spartak (Plaven, belonging to the Police) had worse squads than the other smaller clubs in the league. Donating points to Levski or CSKA, plus other schemes helping the struggling ‘grands’ perhaps cost them heavily.

One more title for CSKA, but one of the least convincing in their history – a transitional team at best. Back row, from left: Filipov, Rangelov, Denev, Vassilev, Yotzov-coach, Marashliev, Zafirov, Penev, Yordanov.
Sitting: Atanassov, Stankov, Sredkov, M. Goranov, Pritargov, Kolev, D. Dimitrov, Pl. Markov, Yonchev, Yankov.
Still too many players clearly over the hill, but with too big reputations to be replaced easily. The ‘cleaning of the house’ continued a few more years – the young recruits were not significantly better than the veterans yet. As a curiosity, entirely unpredictable in 1976, two future coaches of the Bulgarian national team played together this season: Dimitar Penev, who led Bulgaria to 4th place at the 1994 World Cup and Plamen Markov – the last coach to qualify Bulgaria to major finals: the 2000 European Championship.

2011-12-14T11:14:00.000-08:00

It was overall Thessalonikian year – their third big club, Aris, rounded the success with strong performance as well, finishing 6th in the championship. Looked like a major shift in Greek football: much more competitive championship, with strong provincial teams, for there was not only the clubs from Thessaloniki, but others as well, especially the newcomers PAS Ioannina. Looked like Greek football was improving, gaining strength.
But it was hardly so from another perspective: the success of PAOK and Iraklis was bitter pill for Aris. All trophies to the rivals (sweet for both, for the other two consider Aris their arch-enemy) and nothing for the ‘best’ club… measly 6th place. Which, frankly, is pretty much the traditional dwelling of Aris: always among the top six clubs, though, rarely among the medalists.
Aris was founded in 1914, which speculatively explains the name – the First World War started, so it may be some military spirit involved in choosing the name: the ancient Greek god of war Ares. Whether war enthusiasm was the reason or not, the name and the colours of the club – black and yellow – were symbolically thick. Strength, power, crushing victories, rolling over any opponent. It made for perfect clash in Thessaloniki: Ares vs Hercules – Aris vs Iraklis – the god vs the mere demigod. And if Iraklis expressed modern Greek nationalism with their blue and white, Aris evoked deeper roots: the club used the colours of the Byzantine Empire. It was a claim of supremacy from day one. With time the original rivalry faded – PAOK emerged and bypassed Iraklis as the main local rival of Aris, which was entirely the case by the 1970s. So far, Aris was the most successful club at home – they won three titles: 1928, 1932, and 1946, the only championship played during the bitter civil war following the end of the Second World War. This made for bragging… Aris consider themselves ‘one of the big six’ clubs in the country to this very day, although the success ended long time ago. Nominally, they are one of the ‘big’ clubs – by the virtue of titles and by their usual finishing among the first six teams in the league. In reality they were better than most smaller provincial teams, but never a title contender – they finished high, yet rarely among the medalists. By the beginning of the 1970s they were rather second strongest club in Thessaloniki, behind PAOK, which the club and the fans never recognized – they consider their arch-rivals PAOK and Athenian based Panathinaikos, AEK, and Olympiakos (Piraeus). The original Thessalonikian derby counted only for Iraklis by now, but Aris remembered it in 1976, when the old enemy won the Greek Cup, obviously getting strong and dangerous. The season was bitter one for Aris – in the best year ever for Thessalonikian football the rivals won everything and the gods dressed in yellow and black finished only 6th. By the end of the decade they changed their logo, and the new one curiously expressed the predicament of the club:
The mighty god of war is rather idly resting, representing no fighting spirit whatsoever. May be even asleep… which was not the idea in 1975-76. The club took measures to challenge the competition: the usual measures – foreign coach and players. On the surface, typical Greek enforcements for the time: fairly unknown foreigners – Bulgarian coach, Dobromir Zhechev; Brazilian striker – Barboza; and Yugoslavian player, Licanin. There was one more addition, quite mysterious and mirroring the Soviet transfer Iraklis made at the same time: Kostas Isakidis came from Bulgarian 1975 Cup winner Slavia (Sofia).

Top, left to right: Stifas (?), Spyridon, Papafloratos, Barboza, Pallas, Venos, Licanin, Balafas, Koumarias, Tzifopoulos, Papaioannou.
Sitting: Ananiadis, Stavridis, Firos, Ballis, Nalpantis, Kouis, Christidis, Drambis, Lazos, Papazoglou, Vardanis (?), Georgidis (?).
By Greek standards, not a bad squad – few national or at least fairly respected players: Firos, Pallas, Papaioannou, Papazoglou, Christidis. Two foreigners. One mystery: Ananiadis is usually listed as Hungarian, which means he was either ethnic Greek permitted to move ‘home’, or runaway who took Greek name. Unknown player in any case, but Greek football policies were Byzantine… take the new coach Dobromir Zhechev: what credibility had he? Before taking over Aris his coaching career was exactly 6 month long – an assistant coach of Levski-Spartak during the spring half of the 1974-75 season. He was part of the Bulgarian 1974 World Cup squad and was still playing in the fall of 1974. It is possible that Aris were thinking to use him as a player, not as a coach, but since Bulgarian players were not permitted to play abroad that meant Zhechev to become a refugee. Given his age, it was not worthy risk, even if Zhechev was agreeable – convincing UEFA and FIFA to permit him to play in Greece would have been lengthy, months at best. It was tempting to get experienced defender with 4 World Cup finals in his resume, but Zhechev was almost 33 years old and already did not play half a year. As for coaching… he clearly lacked experience.
The arrival of Kostas Isakidis was a scheme kept under cover. He was ethnic Greek born in Bulgaria and one of the new bright players Slavia introduced in 1974. The very young playmaker was arguably the most promising among Slavia’s ‘babies’ and already played for the national team of Bulgaria. Slavia won the Cup in 1975 and seemingly was destined to bigger success… then the season started and Isakidis was no longer in the team. Months passed until rumors were confirmed – he was in Greece. Apparently, not as a defector, but formalities took their tall and he was permitted to play for Aris in the spring of 1976.

Isakidis with Slavia in 1974-75.
The real intriguing part of this transfer is coincidence: Isakidis duplicated the transfer of Hadzipanagis – both were ethnic Greeks; both were very talented and included in the national teams of USSR and Bulgaria, both were young, both were transferred at the same time and to the same city. Yet, the countries of their birth did not transfer players to play professionally abroad. The truth will be probably hidden forever, but it looks like high state politics were at play and the players were just bargaining chips for something else. The players perhaps were entirely unaware of the big game, but they paid high price anyway: since both played for their homeland national teams, they had no chance playing for Greece. It is possible the Soviets instructed Bulgaria to play along; it is possible Bulgarian football officials just used Hadzipanagis’ precedent for their own purposes – onlyl speculations and nothing made clear to this very day. Mere coincidence? Unlikely.
The parallels stopped in Thessaloniki, though: Hadzipanagis became great star of Greek football, but not Isakidis – he kind of faded and disappeared from sight.
As far as Aris was concerned, all of the above helped them not – they won nothing and Zhechev was sacked at the end of the season. On a bigger scale it was different – Greek football was becoming better and more competitive: provincial teams were seemingly challenging the big Athenian clubs. Thessaloniki’s clubs were prime example – their combined performance was incredibly strong and they were not even the only fresh wind: bright newcomers were elbowing ahead as well – PAS Ioannina.
The club from the capital of Epirus region has confusing name – it is spelled ‘Giannina’, ‘Jiannina’, and ‘Ioannina’. Hard to tell which spelling is correct, but let’s settle on ‘Ioannina’ for now. As much as Greek hate to be compared to Turks, this club mirrors Trabzonspor – it was founded in 1966 after a merger of two small local clubs, just like the Turkish club. Then the new club quickly climbed through the leagues and appeared in the First Greek League in 1974 – the same year Trabzonspor won promotion. Solid midtable finish in their first season, shooting straight to the top the next year – PAS Ioannina finished 5th, seemingly on the verge of greater things. The strong performance was attributed mainly to six players, but here one enters the dark world of Greek football scheming… the mighty six players arrived from Argentina. To this very day both official and unofficial Ioannina sources maintain that the Argentines were of Greek descent. Half of them played under Greek names for the club, the rest – not, but none of the original names suggest Greek roots. Sober statisticians at RSSSF consider all of the bunch proper foreigners, some of them ‘Italo-Argentine’, but none clearly of Greek origins permitting ‘oriundi’ status (for that matter Isakidis is considered foreign player as well – because he played for the Bulgarian A-team, unlike Hadzipanagis). Very likely the club forged documents in order to speed up naturalization and thus be able to use the whole company (even the shady Greek rules generally followed the main European rules: only two foreign players on the pitch.) Whatever was cooked up, one thing is certain: the best years of PAS Ioannina were due to Oscar Marcelino Alvarez, Alfredo Glasmann, Edourdo Lisa, Juan Montez, Edouardo Rigani, and Sergio Espinoza. As for Greek roots… you be the judge. Rigani appeared under the name Kontogeorgakis and Glasmann became Glasmanis. None was well known player, but they were strong enough to elevate Ioannina – Alvarez was particularly impressive and caught the eye of Panathinaikos and was transferred in the summer of 1976. No matter – the rest five stayed and suddenly PAS Ioannina was forceful opponent.

PAS Ioannina getting ready for 1976-77 season – minus Alvarez, but with new coach, fresh from Aris (Thessaloniki): bottom row, left to right: Maipas, Espinoza, Demiris, Liakos, Papachristou, Kontogeorgakis (Rigani), Mantos, Tsourlidas, Hadziantoniou, Bretanos, Voiatzis.
Top: Dobromir Zhechev (Bulgaria) – coach, Seitaridids, Teodoridis (?), Hadzikapetanis, Montez, Christodoulou, Zisis, Glasmanis (Glasmann), Pantelidis, Kapsimalis, Lisa, Bagias, Grammeniatis, Karamanolakis (?) – assistant coach.
Not a single noticeable Greek player, but enough Argentine power to keep them going. By 1976 the foreign imports already had strong and positive impact on Greek football. The quality was increasing and the 1975-76 season suggested tougher, competitive future, further bettering the local game. However, it was a false alarm… the big Athenian three quickly restored the status quo and the provincial clubs were kept at bay once again. The Greeks still had to wait a few years until climbing up the steep ladder of European football – it was building time so far.

2011-12-12T09:03:00.000-08:00

The Cup went to Thessaloniki as well – to Iraklis. Which begs the question which trophy was more important for the city in 1976 – the title or the Cup? To a point, PAOK are not entirely Thessalonikian club, they are exiled ‘outsiders’, temporarily sheltered by the city. One day, when Greece ‘recovers’ Constantinople, they will move back to their original home. So says the myth, nurtured by opponents… Iraklis, by contrast, is the oldest club in Thessaloniki. Founded in 1908, although the seeds were planted three years earlier. The original concoction was gymnastic club, named ‘Ottoman Hellenic Club of Thessaloniki – Iraklis’.
The all-sports club still exists and is popular as such. The football branch was established in 1908, developing somewhat independent existence and different logo:
It is named after the mythological hero-demigod Heracles or Hercules. Iraklis in Greek. As symbols go… the club colours are blue and white, patriotic to boot, for they are taken from the Greek national flag. As soon as Thessaloniki was no longer part of the Ottoman Empire, the original name was changed – the Ottoman reference was dropped; nationalism emphasized. Then again… those who hate Iraklis would be quick to point at the shameful past of ‘collaboration’ – it is past of ‘resistance’ to supporters, of course. The name suggest might, power, strength, the all-conquering Hercules performing miracles… but look at the logo: the guy is kind of tired and resting, is he not? The club performed no miracles – until 1976 it won precisely nothing. First success! And in the face not only of Athenians, but in the face of PAOK and even more hated Aris! The old boys were kind of fading already, the fan base dwindled to very modest numbers, if there was glory, it was entirely in long gone past and not at all related to football. A revival then? Just about time! It looked so anyway, for the club had money and appeared to be building a strong team. Iraklis got one of the best ever players in Greek football – and managed to keep him to the end of his career. It was very strange transfer: the new star came from USSR.
Vassilis Hadzipanagis came… and won! It was sudden transformation – with this boy Iraklis was suddenly a factor. By Greek standards, it was a big transfer – so far most foreign players were hardly known names even in their home countries. Hadzipanagis was a different story: considered one of the brightest young players in USSR since 1972, and already playing for the Olympic team, he was ‘famous’ when compared to the usual foreign players in Greece. His transfer was a mystery, however: the Soviets did not export players at all. Curiously, Vassily Hadzipanagis was not a Soviet citizen, although born there – the son of Greek Communists, taking refuge in USSR after the Greek Civil War following the end of the World War II, was born in Tashkent, and technically should have been Soviet by virtue of birthplace. Why he was not is unknown – his lack of proper citizenship was discovered when he was invited to the Soviet Junior national team, when he already was playing first division football with Pakhtakor (Tashkent). Hadzipanagis accepted to get Soviet citizenship then and eventually went as high as the Olympic team. Which was his undoing… how exactly Iraklis got interested in player from relatively obscure and far away Asian-based club is murky, but Hadzipanagis wanted to move to Greece as well. The Soviets tried to stop him – pointing out that playing for USSR is much, much better option than playing for Greece (true at the time), but there was apparently no big effort to keep the player: very likely his case was decided on Communist Party level – may be the Greek Communist Party asked the Soviet one and political good will won the day. ‘Good will’ may be not the right word, though… but never mind. Hadzipanagis went to Greece, joined Iraklis and became Vassilis. His contract was lucrative, yet restrictive – it was long-term and later the club refused offers from other Greek and foreign clubs, so Hadzipanagis spent his whole Greek career with Iraklis. Nowadays he is somewhat unhappy that he missed better opportunities, but there is no hard evidence he asked Iraklis for transfer when he was playing. As for the club, it was clever move with high value: Hadzipanagis provided entertainment and gathered crowds until his last playing day. The Greek Federation tried to outsmart FIFA and use the star in the national team, but FIFA was not fooled at all – ruling the match Hadzipanagis appeared with blue national team shirt illegal. Too bad for the player, for he was not able to play real international level football – but I doubt he was to be Soviet national player, if he stayed in USSR: Lobanovsky ruled back then.
Anyway, Hadzipanagis boosted Iraklis immediately: the team still finished at their usual mid-table position (8th) in the regular season, but won the Cup! First trophy! Now, imagine what is in the cards… just bring a few more good players to the new superstar! And watch out PAOK and Aris, intruders and impostors, the ‘old one’ is coming back with a vengeance – the true club of Thessaloniki.
And complete triumph for Thessaloniki in the bargain! May be…

2011-12-10T16:31:00.000-08:00

Greeks were not to be outdone by some Turks and they had more intricate story in 1976: not a single trophy went to Athens. Thessaloniki ruled Greek football this season and layers of rivalries, hatreds, and meanings played a role. Difficult to entangle too – if Trabzonspor enjoyed unconditional support at home and probably some sympathy among provincials hating Istanbul, the Greek scenario was immensely complicated. PAOK won the championship, leaving AEK (Athens) 5 points behind. The champions had everything: most wins (21 out of 30 games); least losses (only 2); best attack (60 goals); best defense (17 goals received). The season was entirely theirs. Meantime Iraklis won the Cup, so the season entirely belonged to Thessaloniki. Pride, revenge, rivalry, envy… a whole mixed bag, slowly stewing for years: Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece, having old clubs traditionally belonging to the ‘big five Greek clubs’, yet, so far they played second fiddle at best. Too many ‘firsts’ happened for comfort…
PAOK won their first title. By mid-70s it was the most popular club in Thessaloniki and pretty much the strongest one, but… it was the youngest club of the city and not entirely local. To a point, it was ‘exiled club’, founded in 1926 by refugees expelled from Turkey. Hence the name: ‘Panthessalonikian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans’. It was also a mirror of the similar club established in Athens – AEK – but, given time, the clubs of the exiles were not to be great friends. PAOK had its roots back in Istanbul (always Constantinople for the Greeks), going back to 1875 when Hermes Sports Club was formed – ancient pride, yet not a local one… although militant nationalism sees in such club an opportunity to claim – or mourn – lost belongings, ‘rightfully ours’ ( Constantinople). With time PAOK became popular and gained strength, this time adding a new appeal: the all too familiar provincial hatred of the capital city. PAOK performed well, yet never able to win a trophy – the ‘corrupt’ Athenian clubs got everything, boo them! During the 1960s PAOK supporters became known for their anti-junta feelings, so the myth of resisting the military dictatorship was built – the myth of oppressed club by the state. Ironically, in the later years PAOK fans evolved into hooliganism and violence, so may be the junta has been right to suppress them… but never mind, at least at home PAOK claims 38% of the total fans pool. This guys want trophies, mere whining and myths of oppression are not sufficient. And here it came: the very first title! What a boost! Revenge on Athens, revenge on local rivals, revenge on the Turks even, prove of another sensitive issue – ‘Macedonia is Greek’… long suffering in the shades ended.

Black and white pride. Champions at last, although the team was not exactly full of stars.
Two intriguing foreigners – the goalkeeper Bladen Fortula came from Yugoslavia. Curiously anonymous player with strange name: most likely a Kosovar, which may have been (or not) the reason of his virtual anonymity. Whatever is known about him is that he came to Greece from Partizan (Belgrade). Most likely deep reserve there. He joined smaller club at first and eventually moved to PAOK and a title. The other foreigner was equally obscure:
Guerino Neto (the Greeks almost always write him in reverse – Neto Guerino) was one of the many South Americans playing in Greece during the 1970s. The striker came from Brazil with no name at all – even the PAOK official website is unable to give information where he played before joining PAOK. Well, he played in Brazil (naturally) for Nacional (Manaus).

Nacional (Manaus) 1973: top, left to right: Procopio, Flavio, Souza, Tiao, Toninho Cerezo, Pompeu.
Bottom: GUERINO NETO, Serginho, China, Angelo, Reis.
No wonder Guerino Neto’s past is difficult to unearth: Manaus may be a big city, having the first opera house in South America, but is midget in football. And if Nacional had somebody to be proud of, it was not Guerino Neto, but Toninho Cerezo (Brazil’82, AS Roma, Sampdoria). However, fame was years away from either player in 1973. Eventually Guerino Neto left the jungles to themselves, Teatro Amazonas to Werner Herzog (to use it in ‘Fitzcarraldo’), and world fame to Toninho Cerezo. He became a Greek hero – one of the little known South Americans who settled well in Greece, played successfully for years, helping the development of Greek football, and beloved by the fans. Unlike Fortula, Guerino Neto was revered as a real star and contributed a lot. He was a central figure of the winning PAOK along with

Giorgos Koudas, a fast left winger and Greek national team player. Perhaps the biggest star PAOK ever had, a real club legend, and the picture shows amply why. The only thing casting doubt was the depth of the winning squad – Fortula, Guerino Neto, and Koudas were hardly enough for consistent success. But who cares when title is won? First ever! Next year – the second!

Koudas celebrating flamboyantly with the fans the title. The cop is happy too… all Thessaloniki happy. May be…

2011-12-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

Trabzonspor won the Turkish championship and took a revenge on Galatasaray, by beating them at the Supercup challenge. It was so strange, that most observers considered the victory of the unknown just a freak. Nobody outside Istanbul ever won a title, if the status quo was to be disturbed, the possible candidates were other Istanbul clubs or someone from Ankara or Izmir. Surely these boys from the Black Sea coast were not to be taken seriously…
Trabzonspor were new club in every respect – founded in 1967 in the ancient city of Trebizond, or Trapezus, or Trapezounta, Trabzon in Turkish. History apart, it was hardly a city coming to mind by the 1960s – even tourists did not flock there yet. The birth of the new club was difficult one: a merger of 4 local clubs, which went into two stages with lawsuit in between, which nullified the first merger and the concocted new club. Not exactly a beginning suggesting glory days ahead. As for the name, it was rather typical for Turkish club: the name of the city with additional ‘spor’ – the corrupted Turkish version of ‘sport’ – at the end. Trabzon Sport Club, in other words (‘club’ is present in the full name – again in the Turkish version: ‘kulubu’ – but hardly ever mentioned). The new club started in the lower levels, as newcomers should, so nothing to brag about at first. But they steadily climbed up and got promoted to First Division in 1974. Normally, a club of such brief and shaky history, goes down quickly – may be a season or two desperately trying to survive, and then the plunge down almost in free fall to debts unknown… Trabzonspor finished 9th in their first season, midtable, but still in the lower half of the league, which was pretty much the normal scenario – now the plummeting was coming… Instead, Trabzonspor finished first in their only second season! Three points ahead of the second best, Fenerbahce; winning 17 out of 30 championship matches and losing only 4. They also had the best defense, allowing only 14 goals. What a surprise! The first provincial champion!

Top: Tuncay, Huseyin, Necati, Bekir, Senol, Cemil
Bottom: Kadir, Turgay, Ali Kemal, Mehmet Cemil, Ali Yavuz
Just by the look of them, one can tell there was quality: remember, the longest the hairs, the better the players in the 1970s! Trabzonspor were more bearded and more long-haired than Galatasaray, so clearly the better team! As for names – one has to look years ahead perhaps… remember the coach leading Turkey to bronze at the 2002 World Cup? Senol Gunes? Here he is – the goalkeeper of the new champions. The two greatest Turkish coaches clashed in 1976 and Senol got the upper hand… which in a way is true for their coaching credentials as well. But the future was unknown in 1976, and Trabzonspor were considered just to be one-time wonder by observers. A freak accident, then everything going back to normal… how wrong observers were… Trabzonspor was there to stay and win. 1976 was just the beginning and especially remarkable beginning: barely 10-years old club was already a champion. If anything, it was a sign of general improvement of Turkish football: new and provincial club was challenging the monopoly of the big old Istanbul clubs. However slowly, something is happening; something positive was happening. It is hardly incidental that the best Turkish coaches came from the best teams of 1976. It may have been unknowable in 1976, but Trabzonspor are still among the best Turkish clubs, ranking among the big 4 clubs, and recently coached by… yes, Senol Gunes.

2011-12-05T05:39:00.000-08:00

Changes in football are always baffling – what does it mean to have brand new winners? A sign of improving or a sign of a crisis? Is it a sign of significant reshaping or just occasional lucky event? There were many new winners around Europe in 1976, that much was obvious, and nothing else. It was relatively simple case in championships without few traditional favorites – new champion was nothing new really. But when newcomers pile up? Norway, Sweden – fine; now go South and add some more names, noting that Turkey and Greece were different than Scandinavians: they were dominated by few big clubs.
Turkish football was getting better, yet barely so far to play any role in Europe. Since the national league was established in the late 1950s Turkish football was largely based in three cities – Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir. For years only clubs representing this three cities played in the league, which at one point had 22 clubs, but by 1975 was stabilized at 16. By the end of the 1960s provincial clubs started creeping in and disturbing the monopoly of the three cities. So far the ‘outsiders’ fought for mere survival in the league, but after 1970 some managed to settled and even gained strength – particularly Bursaspor and Boluspor. But that was fighting among the leagues rabble, for at the very top nothing changed at all – it was dominated by the big three Istanbul clubs: Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, and Besiktas. No other club ever won the championship and no matter how many clubs from Ankara and Izmir played top league football, they were just fillers. Because of the monopoly of the three giants changes were hardly noticeable – until 1975-76.
Galatasaray won the Cup and nothing strange in that, except it was difficult win, after two legged final, crowned by penalty shoot-out, when Galatasaray clinched the victory 5:4.

Top, left to right: Gokmen Yozdenak, Sevki Senlen, Mehmet Ozgul, Enver Urekli, Olcay Baserir, Yasin Ozdenak.
Bottom: Bulent Under, Fatih Terim, Mehmet Oguz, Olcay Basarir (?), Metin Kurt.
A powerhouse by Turkish standards, full of national team players, and having two players worth mentioning: Yasin, who joined Pele and Co in Cosmos (New York) and was known under the name of Erol Yasin, and Fatih Terim, who hardly needs introduction. Everybody knows the coach… hardly anybody knew the player outside Turkey.
Strong as they were, Galatasaray won the Cup with great difficulty – therefore, they met one of their rivals at the final, right? Fenerbahce or Besiktas. It was not so: the stubborn opponent was one Trabzonspor. The unknown club lost the Cup – but nothing else.

2011-12-03T00:10:00.000-08:00

1976 was a year of changes around Europe – surprising winners, suggesting reshaping and challenging the status quo. Either this, or suggesting decline… Sweden, the best Scandinavian country, introduced change as well. The Cup went to Stockholm.
AIK triumphed and just as well, for the old club did not win anything since 1950.
Top, left to right: Lars-Oscar Nilsson - coach, Sven Dahlqvist, Jan-Olof Wallgren, Per-Arne Wahlstedt, Bo-Lennart Jepson, Stefan Lundin, Göran Göransson, Christer Andersson, Yngve Leback, Schramm - administrator.
Bpttom: Manni Thofte, Tommy Lundh, Rolf Zetterlund, Leif Karlsson, Claes Marklund, Göran Falck - masseur.
Typical Swedish team – hardly a single recognizable name.
New champions, even less known than the Cup winners, came along too – Halmstads BK.
Founded in 1914, the club from the relatively small town of Halmstad had no trophy to display so far. First title is always big news, even in a country where champions changed frequently.
Just like the Cup winners, the new champions had no stars and little attention was paid to them outside home. They did not look like a team on the road to greatness – skeptics probably detected weakening of Swedish football instead of improving. Numbers suggested so: the championship was littered with ties. Goals were scarce. The dominant club of the 70s – Malmo FF – was defensively minded this year: they lost only 3 matches, receiving 21 goals in 24 championship games. Malmo FF finished second. The Cup winners – AIK – were kings of ties: 13 matches, precisely every second championship game of theirs was tied. The heroes of few years ago – Atvidabergs FF – finished second to last and departed First Division football. Halmstads BK look different in this environment: they obviously an attacking team. They scored the most goals in the league – 56. They also finished with most wins – 17 – the only club with more than 50% of the championship games won! The next best total was 12 wins, so the difference was huge. Nevertheless, there was little to be optimistic about. It was just good to have a small club beating everybody else.

2011-11-30T06:01:00.000-08:00

More mighty names? A quick jump to Northern Ireland – Crusaders raided the championship.
And crusaders they were somewhat – the club from Dublin won their second title. If they were to play against Aris, surely they were to take the head of the Greek God… alas, there was no way such clash of ancients to happen in the European tournaments.

If anything, it was brave enough to play football in Northern Ireland of the 1970s. And even braver to have ‘provocative’ name – ‘Crusaders’ sounds dangerously Catholic… This is just about everything for the champions. At the bottom of European football nothing great was happening, so let’s go up the scale.

2011-11-28T07:50:00.000-08:00

Luxembourg keeps scandalous events for banking and investment schemes – the football is sparkling clean… and miserable. Unless one supports the giants of the local game.

They are Jeunesse d’Esch, of course. A double this year – 15th championship title and 7th Cup. Not bad? Many a club can envy such a record.

Thanks to the overall supremacy of Jeunesse, the Cup finalists were to appear in the European Cup Winners Cup – a brief appearance on the ‘big field’, but appearance nevertheless. The happy boys display ferocious name – Aris, the ancient Greek god of war. The name was good enough for a close fight at the Cup final – they lost only 1-2 – but outside Luxembourg the club scared nobody…

The name helped little in the long run – the club is not existing since 2001.

2011-11-26T00:10:00.000-08:00

If Tom Lund was the highest point of ‘lowly’ football, the rest of the achievements down there hardly ever get international attention. Local records, yes… some curious trivia too… yet even scandals hardly cross national borders. In Malta Sliema Wanderers won their 21st title – massive number by mid-70s, but… Maltese number.
The Cup was won by Floriana.
Floriana was leading confidently 2-0 against Valletta at the final until 86th minute. Then the match was abandoned and the Cup awarded to Floriana. A scandal? Not big enough to ruffle the winners or to interest anybody neither then, nor now.

2011-11-23T07:14:00.000-08:00

A notch up and to the West: Norway, slightly stronger football nation than Finland, had her champions as well. The Cup went to Brann (Bergen).
Founded in 1908, Brann was modest club, normally playing in the First Division. So far, they have been champions twice (1961-62 and 1963) and won the Cup three times. The 1960s and the 1970s were really up and down years – strong seasons were followed by mediocrity. The only thing Brann was to really boast about was attendance: they established a record of season average - 15 486 – in 1963. It was not bested before 2003!
Cup winners going berserk in the mud. One has to really appreciate those Bergen fans braving the weather.
The Championship ended with Lillestrom FC first. ‘The Canaries’ ended the 4-year monopoly of Viking (Stavanger).
There is not much to tell about Lillestrom – they were founded in 1917, relatively ‘young’ club by Norwegian standards in the small town of the same name. It was a merger of two earlier clubs, but the new one was hardly a powerhouse. So far, Lillestrom had won a single title, in 1959, and that was all. However, the 1970s were perhaps their best years, eventually crowned with the second title in 1976.
Looks like this was the team of champions – nothing much. Except for Tom Lund.
Arguably the best ever Norwegian player, Lund, born 1950, is forgotten now. In all fairness, he was not widely known during his playing days either, but this was unjust and cruel joke: Tom Lund should have been a big international star. I saw him playing and he was fantastic. So why he remained unknown? The answer is simple – he played only for Lillestrom during his career from 1967 until 1982. A total of 336 matches, scoring 196 goals. He was perhaps the prime reason for the strong decade of the normally ‘also run’ club. His talent was not missed by big foreign clubs, though, and here comes the enigma (at least from today’s point of view): Ajax wanted him to replace departing Cruyff in 1973. Lund refused. He turned down offers from Real Madrid and Bayern Munich as well. Since Lund never explained his reasons, it is still speculated that his fear of flying was the reason. It was big fear indeed – Lund traveled by car or by train for matches abroad, joining his teammates of either Lillestron or the Norwegian national team at the final destination. But the simple fact is he remained loyal to his club and never became international star because of his loyalty. Old times… there were still players preferring simple life to fame and money.
Lund played regularly for Norway – a total of 47 games between 1972 and 1982, scoring 12 goals. And here is in action captaining Norway against Sweden in 1977.
But his biggest contribution was for his club – he elevated Lillestrom to steady force in Norwegian football.
Tom Lund captaining Lillestrom and endearing fans, including myself. Truly lost hero, but one has to admire his loyalty nevertheless. Impossible to imagine a player like him today.

2011-11-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

From the deepest rocky European South a giant leap to the frozen North: 1976 provided some similarities between Cyprus and Finland. Lowly football, yes, and little known too. Cypriot footballers, at best, went to play in Greece – the Fins ventured further: there were professional players as far as France, but few and hardly remembered anyway. No Jari Litmanens among them. Politics affected Finish football as they did Cypriot football: after the split of Cyprus exile clubs emerged – best know those of Famagusta, who still play as exile clubs stationed in the Greek part of the island. Exile players like Kaiafas were also common. Finland suffered different, usually avoided by the political Left, exiles: those, who run away from territories swallowed by USSR after the Second World War. Among them was the oldest football club of Finland – Reipas was found in 1891 in Viipuri. In 1947 the town was no longer part of Finland and the club moved to Lahti. In Europe it was known as Reipas Lahti, although hit should have been only Reipas, but never mind: it was tough to remember them anyway. And it is even tougher now, for the club is no longer around – in 1996 Reipas merged with local rivals Kuusysi into brand new club FC Lahti. But it is still worth recalling old Reipas: Jari Litmanen started his career at 16, playing for Reipas from 1987 to 1990. In 1976 there was no Litmanen, but here was Finnish Cup:
Just like with Omonia, regretfully I am not certain of the proper spelling of the Cup winners: Standing, left to right: Sassila, Lampi, Saranen, Kanerva, Satala, Hoppi, Parkonen, Tupasela, Toikonen, Reppo, Kosonen.
Sitting: Hamalainen, Lindholm, Huka, M. Kautonen, Antunen, Virtanen, Nordlan, Sandberg, T. Kautonen, Hautemaa.
May be nothing in Europe, but Reipas was not nothing in Finland: this was their 4th consequent Cup they won since 1972 (omitting 1975, when no Cup tournament was staged). Cup specialists for sure – give them direct eliminations.
Champions became different guys:
Kuopion Palloseura from Kuopio, the 8th largest city of Finland (whatever that means in terms of ‘large’). They are commonly known as KuPS and are remarkable for something else than Reipas: KuPS holds the record of Most consequent seasons at top flight – from 1949 to 1992 they played First Division football. With some success as well: in 1976 they won their 5th title, after winning the championships in 1956, 1958, 1966, and 1974. However, it was their last win for the next 40 years… who could have envisioned that in the victorious year?

2011-11-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

Olympic football is not bottom level game of course. Let’s go deeper down… a competition as well, for sometimes is more difficult to figure out the worst than the best. All too relative as well: Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino, Iceland, Cyprus, Albania, Finland, Norway… the pariahs of European football. They rarely met head to head in official games, making it tough to compare. Making it tough to really know and show local heroes.
Cyprus by default, then. After returning to normal league football one thing was normalized: a club was able to win back to back titles, since there was no more joining the Greek First league. This benefited mostly Omonia (Nicosia) in my view.
It is not ‘Omonia’ and it is not ‘Nicosia’, but Omonoia (Lefkosia) – both the city and the club are written and pronounced differently in Greek, yet, the ‘Westernized’ misnaming stuck outside the island. The name means ‘Unity’ and the club is relatively new: it was found in 1948, a result of political struggles and tensions originating in Greece. The Greek Civil War between Right and Left after the end of the Second World War rocked Cyprus as well and one result was a group of players expelled from or refusing to play for Right wing club APOEL. The formed Omonia and the club joined the Cyprus Football Association in 1953. The yearly years were modest, but eventually the newcomers built strength – they won there first title in 1961, which proved to be not incidental at all. Their nickname is ‘Kifinea’ – ‘male bees’ – and ‘male bees’ are drones: hardly a compliment, unless one thinks of happy lazy life and occasional sex. However, drones Omonia were not – at the beginning of 1975-76 season they had already 5 titles and three Cups, having been champions in 1974 and 1975. They found themselves champions again in 1976: 6th title and their 3rd in a row.
Champions, but enigmatic as well – I am not sure of the proper spelling of the names, so forgive me. Top, left to right: Drakos, Dimitriou, Kanaris, Shakolas, Kondoyorgis, Loukas, Gregory, Peppis, Tzvetan Ilchev – coach, Andreas – assistant coach.
Bottom: Stelios – administrator, Andoniou, Phitis, Charalambous, Elephteriadis, Mavris, Patikis, Chaklis, Kaiafas.
Their Bulgarian coach Tzvetan Ilchev left right after winning the title, but what other interesting news? Surely they had a few national players, hardly known outside Cyprus. Lowly team, no? Except for Sotiris Kaiafas – the goal scoring machine. Kaiafas at the end became the only known abroad player, for he was the top European goalscorer in 1976 and got the Golden Boot award. In a way, Kaiafas continued the unhappy political tradition of Omonia: he was a refugee from the Turkish part of the island, his home village run over in 1974 and suddenly appearing behind a border. And because of that Kaiafas was one of the very few Cypriot players to experience foreign football – he played one in South Africa, an ironic twist in a way, but he came back to Cyprus and joined Omonia to mutual benefit. At the end, he is one of the best ever Cypriot players and certainly the best all-time Omonia player, a legend.
Right wingers got their revenge:
APOEL (Nicosia) won the Cup, but there is nothing more to say about them. Except it was their 9th Cup so far.

2011-11-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

USSR eventually won the bronze after winning 2-0 against the young and inexperienced Brazilian team. The victory pleased no one at home: it was not noted that there was no improvement even on Olympic level – once again just a third place. Tactics, form – everything was criticized. Terrible team.
The ‘bronze’ team of 1976 Olympics: left to right: V. Kolotov-captain, V. Astapovsky, S. Reshko, A. Konkov, V. Veremeev, O. Blokhin, V. Matvienko, L. Buryak, V. Onishchenko, A. Minaev, V. Troshkin. According to Olympic rules, only those who actually played during the tournament received medals. V. Zvyagintzev, M. Fomenko, V. Fedorov, and L. Nazarenko got medals. Prokhorov and Kipiani did not. It was noted and mentioned in the Soviet press, as yet another bit of criticism: Lobanovsky did not have the decency to play David Kipiani just a few minutes, allowing the Georgian to get a medal. It was unfair. And truly was, but the outraged was only about Kipiani – Prokhorov was not mentioned at all. Apparently, it was fine for the reserve goalie not to play even a second.
The final was not great fun either – another tough, uninspired match, in which DDR overcome Poland 3-1.
Schade (14) scores the opening goal.
Montreal, 31st July, 1976

East Germany 3-1 (2-0) Poland

East Germany:
Croy, Lauck, Weise, Dörner, Kurbjuweit, Kische, Schade, Riediger (Bransch),Höfner, Lowe (Grobner), Hoffmann.

Poland:
Tomaszewski (Mowlik), Szymanowski, Wieczorek, Zmuda, Wawrowski, Maszczyk,Deyna, Kasperczak, Lato, Szarmach, Kmiecik.

Referee: Ramon Barreto (Uruguay)
Attendance: 71,617, Olympic Stadium

Scorers:
1-0 [ 7'] Schade; 2-0 [14'] Hoffmann; 2-1 [59'] Lato; 3-1 [79'] Höfner

There were no enthusiastic post-match commentaries and rightly so. It was observed that Poland struggled and decline seemingly settled. Deyna and Lato in particular were seemingly beyond their prime, but the rest of the team was apparently worse and not deserving even criticism. Well, Tomaszewsky, who was fantastic two years ago, had to be replaced at the final – a comment enough. Szarmach was the top scorer of the tournament with 6 goals – small consolation. Evidently, Poland was paying the heavy price for having small pool of good players: the heroes were getting old and new legs were unavailable.
DDR was organized, disciplined, and experienced – it was their regular national team and practically the same players who played at the 1974 World Cup. No surprises – it was dull, especially unattractive team, but in good condition and thorough. No stars, just regular team, dedicated to collective effort. It worked at the Olympics.
The Olympic champions plus two extra players (Kotte and Schnuphase): top, left to right: Walter (?) – assistant coach, Kische, Dorner, Riediger, Bransch, Grobner, Schade, Weber, Schnuphase, Georg Buschner – coach.
Middle: Kotte (?), Hoffmann, Croy, Grapentin, Lowe, Weise.
Bottom: Riedel, Hafner, Kurbjuweit, Lauck, Heider.
At the end of 1976 they were voted the team of the year in DDR, but outside home country the team attracted little interest. However, DDR was even better sample of the entirely collective football which was coming. No great individuals at all. And no fun, unfortunately.
Poland finished second – a team going downhill, it was judged.

2011-11-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

Quarterfinals did not need even predictions – they were mere formality, considering the pairs. Michel Platini lost 0-4 – may be this is the best comment. USSR continued to display terrible form and barely managed to advance.
Brazil 4-1 Israel
Soviet Union 2-1 Iran
East Germany 4-0 France
Poland 5-0 North Korea
The semi-finals were the first real football to be played… potentially. Brazil had small chance to win against Poland – but it was before the match started. Poland was more likely winner – and they won. The other match was to be boring affair, DDR pretending to play and really allowing USSR to go ahead. Not so – DDR won, but it was not as sensational win as the Polish one four years back at the 1972 Olympics. The Soviets already displayed many problems, they were sluggish, rusty, and entirely clueless. They were also surprisingly conservative, returning to the scared football they played before Dinamo Kiev’s ‘revelation’. Even against obviously weak opponents Lobanovsky preferred to field 5 defenders. It was plain stupid by now: the whole concept of hoping Blokhin to outrun defenders and score – there was no variety, no back-up plan, if this doesn’t work… and it was not working, for it was quickly grasped by the other teams and even pathetic opponent was able to block Blokhin by keeping a defender to shadow him everywhere. DDR did not play particularly good – they were not able to, for they were quite limited squad – but they were fit enough, and running decided the match in their favour – 2-1.
Poland – Brazil above. May be this was the most attractive match at the Olympics… by default. Poland was the better squad and confidently won. Bellow – USSR – DDR. Clumsy fighting, ugly physical game, in which the ball appeared to be some alien object to both teams. Kolotov and Onishchenko (in dark shirts) wrestle with Hafner and Kische.
Football was not exactly the strongest quality of either team. Minaev kind of trying to trick a German.

2011-11-12T00:17:00.000-08:00

The rest of the finalists were not really powerful and on top of it, they were reduced by three – Nigeria, Ghana, and Zambia withdraw as part of the general African boycott against New Zealand, which committed a crime – played rugby matches with outlawed South Africa. The rest of the African countries wanted New Zealand to be banned from the Olympics; it was not; the Africans boycotted the games; the football tournament was left with only 13 participants. Brazil, France, Spain – those were the strongest among the rabble, although not much at all. Young players without professional contracts, some playing 2nd and 3rd division football (the Spaniards) were collected in the ‘strong’ teams. Brazil was coached by respected name – and the players were selected on the basis of promise: as a future national players. France was similar, and to a point – Spain. Yet, nothing big and strong at the present. The rest of the finalists is hardly worth mentioning – Cuba (replacing Uruguay, after they decided to withdraw from the tournament and Argentina declined to replace them as well), Mexico, Guatemala, Iran, North Korea, Israel (probably because there were no Arabic countries reaching the Olympics), and hosts – Canada. The only thing interesting about the finals is really trivia: the players, who became big (or smaller) stars in the following years – Edinho, Carlos (Brazil), Platini, Amisse, Rouyer, Fernandez (France), Eskandarian (Iran), Hugo Sanchez (Mexico), Arconada, Juanito (Spain). Not even a full squad…
The predictable East European walkover to predictable final happened not to be so easy: it looked like nobody was in decent form. Cuba nibbled a point out of Poland – 0-0. The revelation of 1974 managed to go ahead after 3-2 win over Iran. Not a hint of supremacy…
USSR barely won their match with Canada by 2-1. France was unable to win against Israel… Platini vs nobody: 1-1. The preliminary groups were shallow – the most interesting part of them were the complaints – even the Soviets complained from the condition of the grounds the hosts provided. USSR, however, used the state of the ‘stadiums’ as an excuse for their obviously bad form and lack of ideas. Lobanovsky was good at complaining – to cover his back.
Terrible tournament from the beginning: remember the top goalscorer and one of the most impressive players at the 1974 World Cup? Grzegorz Lato? He alone should have been enough to beat Cuba with 4-5 goals difference… but it was 0-0 at the final whistle.

2011-11-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

The Olympic Games kind of confirmed the end of individuals, if anybody cared to follow the tournament. By 1976 Olympic football was losing its attractiveness even for the Socialist countries. In the West it was considered the domain of East Europe states and their ‘amateurs’ – it was not important to follow tainted and hardly entertaining competition. It was a sham, confirmed once again just by looking at the Soviet roster: 10 players were listed as university students (8 of them attending Physical Education departments – the usual bogus education for Eastern European sportsmen); 1 was listed as just graduated from University; 1 was a military man, but unclear was he a soldier or an officer; 1 was ‘technician’; and 4 – ‘educators’. The last group was especially murky in defining – school teachers? College instructors? University professors? Or just sports instructors in some factory? It was all bogus, so it did not matter really – the most suspect part was the case of the two CSKA players in the squad: since it was the club of the Army, normally players were militarized and given officer’s ranks. Astapovsky was listed as army man, but Nazarenko was listed as university student. Students excepted, no one else was probably even aware of his ‘profession’ – and, please, don’t ask where was their ‘working place’. But this was familiar for a long time and not even curious any more. More interesting was the absence of the fresh European champions – Czechoslovakia did not qualify for the Olympics. It looked like the priority was the normal national team – a change becoming somewhat visible by now, and entirely new East European approach. USSR officially separated their A team from the Olympic one – different coaches, different players. In 1975 Konstantin Beskov was the Olympic team coach and Spartak Moscow was the ‘base’ of the formation. There was no clear border, though – players were taken from one team to another, depending on whims of the national team coach. At the end the scheme was changed once again – for the Olympics Beskov was replaced by Lobanovsky, and there was no longer unique Olympic team – the national team players simply became Olympic team players. Messy affair even in purely sporting terms: what was the point of using one bunch of players during qualifications only to discard them when the finals start? No wonder motivation was lost.
One of the original Olympic teams in 1975: from left: V. Filatov, V. Utkin, V. Sakharov, A. Minaev, V. Zvyagintzev, V. Hadzipanagis, N. Osyanin, A. Maksimenkov, A. Prokhorov, E. Lovchev – captain.
The whole idea of using particular clubs as the ‘base’ of national formation, with just a few additional players, was crazy enough – and probably concocted by Lobanovsky, who used practically the whole Dinamo Kiev in the national team. Beskov may be disliked the idea, but that was the order. It did not work – Spartak Moscow was in shabby form – so in the team above only 3 players came from Spartak. Other things did not work either: Zvyagintzev, Prokhorov, and Lovchev were just taken away from Beskov by Lobanovsky. Most surprisingly the ethnic Greek – Hadzipanagis – was permitted to go to Greece and play professionally there: no Olympics for him, but it was especially stupid move by the Soviets: their national formations were struggling and they lost carelessly a very good player on top of it.
Anyway, when Lobanovsky arrived, with his assistants Bazilevich and Oleg Morozov (he was not attached to Lobanovsky’s usual thinktank – most likely Morozov was imposed on Lobanovsky, which never makes for good and healthy team athmosphere), the players shown above disappeared: only Prokhorov, Zvygintzev (by now also playing for Dinamo Kiev), Minaev, and Fedorov went to Montreal. The rest was familiar… 11 Dinamo Kiev players plus reserves from here and there. It was the national team again – Aleksander Prokhorov (Spartak) and Vladimir Astapovsky (CSKA) were already the goalies of the A team, since Rudakov was in bad form. Leonid Nazarenko (CSKA) was already used in the A team as well. Vladimir Fedorov (Pakhtakor Tashkent) and David Kipiani (Dinamo Tbilisi) were also perspective national team players. Only Aleksander Minaev (Spartak Moscow) was so-so – apparently, in good form, but not a player Lobanovsky was going to use much. The rest of the squad perhaps does not need mentioning… the starting eleven of Kiev and a substitute as well – Viktor Zvyagintzev, Viktor Matvienko, Stefan Reshko, Vladimir Troshkin, Mikhail Fomenko, Anatoly Konkov, Leonid Buryak, Vladimir Veremeev, Viktor Kolotov, Oleg Blokhin, and Vladimir Onishchenko. Yes, the heroes from 1975 – but in 1976 they were playing weak football, lost the European Championship ¼ finals. Dinamo Kiev was struggling and underperforming, but the same players were really a disaster when playing as USSR. Even tactics were changed – by now it was no longer fast attacking football, but cautious, defensive oriented game, depending on occasional counter-attacks. All balls were to go to Blokhin, in hope he will outrun opposite defenders and score. It was too plain and predictable to bring success, but that was USSR conducted by Lobanovsky. It was expected to win the Olympics – mostly because the only relatively strong opposition were Poland (minus some players gone professional in the West, most important absence – Robert Gadocha) and DDR (considered in a slump already and a puppet team, ready to give victory to the ‘Big Brother’ without even a pretense of a fight).

2011-11-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

It was mainly matches at home, ending in ties:
2-2 against Poland.
Deyna shoots, Varadin is late to block, Viktor getting ready to dive, but the ball seemingly is off target.
A penalty against Poland. Tomaszewski protested the penalty against Gorgon, but he saved Masny’s kick.
Jozef Moder tackled by Hungarian defender in Budapest. If anything, the match with Hungary was played on better pitch, but 1-1.
Fighting the mud along with DDR to another tie. Weisse strikes somehow, Gogh is too late to prevent.
After the mud came the snow and Romania.
Pivarnik (left) and Masny unable to penetrate Romanian defense.
Pivarnik in attack – never mind the snow, he displayed the qualities of modern full back – that is, joined the strikers.
Svehlik escapes from Angelini’s tackle.
Nehoda strikes and Sandu can only watch.
But – 2-2 at the end.
And from the snow to the lake:
Dobias, Sajanek, Matvienko, and Konkov in the water just about a month before their official meeting in the European ¼ finals. CSSR – USSR: 2-2.
Not pretty pictures, not pretty results… why bother following Czechoslovakia in their fantastic friendlies against unexciting opponents? But it was in these games the team solidified and built character.
Panenka was praised in the snow: commentators said that he finally started playing for the national team the way he played for his club. He was not English-type player, so it was really something to get noticed when playing in impossible conditions. Closer attention should have been paid to development of Czechoslovakia in the mud, swamps, and snow – they were not winning, true. They were missing penalties, true. When summer arrived, they managed ties again – but won at the end in extra time and by penalty shoot-out. To my mind the string of friendlies was the key to the Czechoslovakian success.
One thing after major tournament is ‘lessons’… what new brought the tournament. The European finals actually brought nothing new. No innovations. Rather, it was obvious that total football spread and it was the norm. The formula of success was building well rounded team capable of playing total football and preserving excellent condition. However, hardly any new major stars emerged – the new European champions were just a lesser version, yet, very competent, of the great innovators from few years back. CSSR truly depended on collective game, more or less every player participated equally, and the importance of the defenders was reinforced: it was not the strikers scoring the important oals, but back-liners, surprising the opposition. The game was becoming tougher, though – traditionally mellow and technical team, CSSR suddenly displayed gritty pressure on the whole pitch. It was confirmed that not individual stars, but collective effort made a winning team – the age of great individuals was seemingly over.

2011-11-05T00:16:00.000-07:00

The last sense of repeating the past in the championship full of repetitions: Czechoslovakia evoked Poland of 1974. There were important similarities – both countries surprised the world by eliminating England. Both were expected to expire quickly after incidental advance, but both stunned the world by continuing ahead with great performances. Both countries carefully and slowly built their teams. Both had great and long lasting head coaches. Both had capable assistant coaches, becoming famous on their own. Both countries were not exactly innovators, but adapted very well useful elements of total football into their game, in accord with the abilities and peculiarities of the available players.
Yet, they were not identical and differences were just as many: Czechoslovakia had old reputation and Poland did not. Czechoslvakia was considered - and rightly so – in a decline since 1970. Poland was so unimportant, decline was not really a consideration – rather, then came out from nowhere. Czechoslovakia managed a revival. Traditionally, Czechoslovakian club football was stronger than the Polish one, and the pool of talent was more numerous and had more depth. Poland depended on lightning attacks, but the Czechoslovaks employed various tactics – they were very confident in defense; were able to change the tempo – or to adjust to changing tempo; they were more patient and careful.
Overall, both countries had strong and well balanced teams, with strong stars in every line. To a point, the Poles had better strikers. To a point, the Czechoslovaks had more dangerous defenders participating in attacks and often scoring the goals. However, the best advantage of both countries was that hardly anybody took them seriously – until it was too late. They were able to become lethal out of sight.
So what happened? By 1972 the Czechoslovaks were still licking their wounds from the disastrous 1970 World Cup. A new team was needed – and there was none. Meantime Poland won the 1972 Olympic games, and after that the squad was just finely tuned and shaped with careful additions. CSSR started from scratch at that year: Vaclav Jezek and appointed head coach of the national team. Jozef Venglos was made his assistant. Both coaches were peculiar for East Europe: Jezek came straight from Holland, where he coached ADO Den Haag since 1969. He managed to take his humble club to third place during the time of great Ajax. If anything, he learned about total football right from the source. Venglos did not even start his coaching career in Czechoslovakia – he ventured into coaching in 1966 and in Australia, eventually becoming the coach of the national team. He returned to his native land in 1969 and in 1973 he became the coach of Slovan Bratislava. He was still the club coach in 1976, combining club work and the national team. It is important to mention that Slovan were strong during that time – and the credit goes to Venglos. Slovan became the backbone of the national team with mainly Slovak additional players, for those were the years of Slovak domination anyway. Vencel, Pivarnik, Ondrus, Jozef Capkovic, Svehlik, Masny, Gogh became European champions, but a whole bunch of other Slovan players were also used in the national team between 1972 and 1976. Add Petras and Jurkemik (both Inter Bratislava), Pollak (Kosice), Dobias (Spartak Trnava). Add Dusan Herda, who played in Prague, but was ethnic Slovak. And this was not the whole list either – Jezek and Venglos slowly shaped their team, using many players. Some were young unknowns; some were established, but never called before; some were old, even ‘discarded’ – Frantisek Vesely, for instance. The end result was well rounded team, with equally strong reserves, and a bunch of useful players with national team experience, who stayed back simply for lack of available space in the ‘big’ squad. Jezek and Venglos new how precious is experience in the national team, even when sitting on the bench – they were not afraid to invite to the finals few players ‘for the future’, who played little so far – Biros, Herda, Stambachr. It was clear they were not going to play even a minute, but… when Stambachr became Olympic champion in 1980, and was a key player of the team, he already was formal European champion from 1976. It was long term approach – and Czechoslovakia was better suited for that than Poland, limited by smaller pool of talent.
The whole time of rebuilding Czechoslovakia was off the radar – the missed the 1974 World Cup. The team showed teeth in 1975 – the main team was more or less made and it was the right time to build confidence and shape tactics. It was a clever move – a number of friendlies were played, avoiding undue attention and close scrutiny: matches with middle-strength teams. Strong enough for tough games and experimenting; yet not world powers. It was grave mistake nobody was watching: Czechoslovakia – in my opinion – became smooth working machine exactly in these games. Results did not matter much – it was making the team experienced, versatile, and confident. It was at that time Antonin Panenka, playing for lowly Bohemians Prague, became a key national player. The preparatory work was missed… but who cared for friendlies with DDR and Switzerland in those years? The road to victory was silent – and brought great results at the end.
The masterminds of the European champions Jezek and Venglos watch carefully from the bench their team against Switzerland.
The last goal scored by Masny against Sweden – 4-0, a rare Czechoslovakian win in a friendly.
Lone striker Nehoda surrounded by Swiss players – hardly looking like future European champions at play.
Pivarnik clears the ball with his hands and Risi scored the penalty – 1-1 with the Swiss.

2011-11-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

Final. Bets on West Germany, partly because they played well against Yugoslavia, partly because it was difficult to discard Beckenbauer, partly because Czechoslovakia’s ‘luck’ was bound to end. One thing was strange, though: the finals attracted smaller crowds than the semi-finals. Yugoslavia’s elimination was the main reason, but still it was strange: Holland – Czechoslovakia was attended by more fans than the final deciding who will be the European champion. 70 000 went to Crvena zvezda stadium to watch Yugoslavia – West Germany; less than half the number went back to the same stadium to see the final. In a way, the victory of the Germans was in the bag and it was not even interesting to witness… CSSR had only one change from the previous match – Svehlik instead the suspended Pollak. The Germans were pretty much the same too – Dieter Muller was a starter this time, taking the place of disappointing Danner. The match started and the goals quickly followed – but they were not in the Czechoslovakian net. By the 25th minute it was 2-0 for CSSR! It was a mirror image of the semi-final against Yugoslavia – the Germans suffered heavy assaults, resulting in 2 early goals.
Svehlik scoring the first goal of the final in the 8th minute.
Full backs defend, right? It all depends – Vogts tries to defend, but Karol Dobias – 2-0 in the 25th minute.
This time the Germans responded much quicker than they did against Yugoslavia: they scored in the 28th minute. And it was Dieter Muller again – the magic name continued to work, West Germany truly found her new Muller. Or so appeared. The first half ended 2-1. It was entertaining, fast 45 minutes of attacking football, both sides quite equally dangerous and the Czechoslovakians missing golden opportunity for a third goal.
The second goal was mostly German – they attacked constantly, pressing the Czechoslovakians in defense. Ivo Viktor had to work hard, but he managed.
Fogts, Moder, Beckenbauer and the ball…
Both teams fought well, CSSR’s defense surviving constant attacks and it looked like no fresh goals were to materialize. The public started leaving the stadium – there was a minute left, the match was practically over, but there was a good reason to stay to the final whistle when Germans were playing… Holzenbein scored with a header precisely in the 89th minute. Remember Bayern – Atletico Madrid from the spring of 1974? Regular time ended 2-2, thus, every match of the finals went into extra time! Extraordinary!
Overtime, however, was lesser fun – both teams looked tired and cautious. Changes were made early – once again Flohe came on the pitch at the beginning of the second half (replacing Wimmer). Then Bongartz replaced Beer in the 80th minute – Schon tried to put some vim into his team, when Czechoslovakia waited and used clearly defensive tactic – another defender, Jurkemik, replaced Svehlik in the 79th minute. There was no room for fresh legs during the extra time, except for CSSR – and this time they decided on striker: Vesely replaced Dobias in the 94th minute. Nothing happened, though – overtime ended and penalty shoot-out was to decide the European Championship. Always a gamble. Still, West Germany had better odds – better goalkeeper; better shooters; iron nerves. Fate was playing a joke of repetitions this year… the third one was during the penalties. They went one for one, nobody missing, until Uli Hoeness took the forth for the Germans and… shoot the ball over the crossbar. Remember him missing a penalty in the 1974 World Cup match against Poland? Now again. Since Czechoslovakia had the first penalty, their last had the chance to decide the championship. Antonin Panenka kick the ball and it was 5-3! The Germans lost. It was a penalty to be discussed for years – until now. The ‘cheeky’ penalty, the risk Panenka took… he was and is criticized for his ‘casual’ approach, seen as carelessness by some. Yet, it was the winning goal.
Light ball right in the middle of Maier’s net. If the goalie did not move, the ball was to bounce off him and away… but goalkeepers always plunge aside. Was it undue risk? Was it a cool calculation? Panenka leans to the former in his interviews. Well, it is easy to speak after the fact.
So why the fuss over Panenka’s penalty? Well, it looks like the same as the one Jurkemik delivered a bit earlier. Except Jurkemik really kicked the ball, and Panenka did not.
Never mind, though: thanks to Panenka CSSR won!
The happy goalscorer runs euphoric.
And Czechoslvakia, already dressed in Germans shirts, lifted the European cup. Happy winners of the 5th European championship – nobody managed to win the tournament twice so far! New European champions again!
Beograd, June 20, Crvena zvezda
Czechoslovakia 2-2 West Germany [aet]
[Svehlík 8, Dobiás 25; D.Müller 28, Hölzenbein 89]
[ref: Gonella (Italy); att: 35,000]
Czechoslovakia win 5-3 on penalties
[Masny 1-0, Bonhof 1-1; Nehoda 2-1, Flohe 2-2; Ondrus 3-2, Bongarts 3-3;
Jurkemik 4-3, U.Hoeneß 4-3 (over the crossbar); Panenka 5-3]
Czechoslovakia: Viktor, Pivarník, Ondrus, Capkovic, Gögh, Dobiás (94 Vesely),Móder, Panenka, Masny, Svehlík (79 Jurkemik), Nehoda
West Germany: Maier, Vogts, Schwarzenbeck, Beckenbauer, Dietz, Wimmer (46 Flohe), Bonhof, Beer (80 Bongartz), U.Hoeneß, D.Müller, Hölzenbein
German losers… what else, since second place was actually a major step down for the reigning world champions. From left: Beckenbauer, Maier, Schwarzenbeck, D. Muller, Wimmer, Dietz, Holzenbein, Bonhof, Beer, Vogts, Hoeness.
Brand new European Champions! Top, left to right: Vaclav Jezek – coach, Ladislav Jurkemik, Anton Ondrus, Dusan Galis, Alexander Vencel, Antonin Panenka, Ivo Viktor, Jozef Capkovic, Marian Masny, Pavol Biros, Zdenek Nehoda, Jozef Venglos – assistant coach.
Bottom: Miloslav Kundrat – team’s doctor, Ladislav Petras, Karol Dobias, Jan Pivarnik, Lubomir Knapp, Jan Svehlik, Koloman Gogh, Jaroslav Pollak, Jozef Moder, Vlastimil Ruzicka – masseur.
Oh, well – almost the team: L. Knapp did not make the final selection, but Jozef Barmos, Dusan Herda, Frantisek Vesely, Frantisek Stambachr, and Premysl Bicovsky did. From them only Vesely played at the finals. He was 33 years old at the time – and still enough playing years ahead of him, as it turned out.

2011-10-31T06:17:00.000-07:00

Third place still mattered in those days, although for the Yugoslavs it was not exactly something to look forward. From the first minute against Holland it was detectable that Yugoslavia was not firm and determined. The boys in blue attacked, wanted to win, but… there was also something dead in their spirit. Yet, there were no changes in the starting eleven – Yugoslavia was seemingly willing to fight for the third place. But so was Holland, and it was exciting match at the end. Unlike Yugoslavia, the Dutch made changes – Neeskens and van Hanegem were unable to play because of their expulsions against CSSR. Johnny Rep was also absent – he had mediocre match with the Czechs and that seemed the apparent reason. But may be it was not the real reason – players refusing to play were old news about the Dutch. Cruyff was also not on the pitch – the biggest ‘change’, if coach Knobel was permitted to make changes – the mouthy superstar was suspended for two yellow cards. Rene van de Kerkhof and Ruud Geels finally got their chance along with entirely unknown Peters and Arntz. Holland looked more crippled than improved and Yugoslavia once again had the edge in Zagreb.
At least in the first minute. In the 39th minute the result was 2-0 for Holland – the substitutes proved their worth. May be it was time to forget about Cruyff ? May be not… Holland was not so supreme as two years before; with van de Kerkhof twins it was grittier team, lacking finesse and creativity. Holland looked tougher than usual, but Yugoslavia was not waving the white flag and in the absence of Cruyff and Neeskens – the advantage of technical skills and imagination. The regular time ended 2-2.
Holland managed to win in the extra time – Ruud Geels scored his second and this time winning goal in the 107th minute. Once again extra time was the nemesis of the Yugoslavs – unlike their West European opponents, the Yugoslav players did not manage well overtime, neither physically, nor psychologically.
Holland got bronze and perhaps impromptu introduced its own future - Cruyff-less team, with Willy and Rene van de Kerkhof commandeering the game. It was unlikely concocted by George Knobel – he was sacked right away. Indeed, it is very questionable what exactly Knobel did with team Holland – old problems remained without even an attempt for solution. Goalkeeping was a liability – Schrijvers was hardly a good keeper, yet he was first choice. Jan Ruiter, who played splendidly for Anderlecht, was mere reserve – and actually played only once for Holland during his long career. Van Kraay, not exactly newcomer, but hardly a regular before, was rather conservative addition to the defense line, but Rijsbergen and Jansen – Michels’ improvisation in 1974 – were kept precisely where Michels put them. Ruud Geels played well and finally looked like firm starter. Somewhat Holland failed short of the expected.
Zagreb, June 19, Maksimir Stadion
Netherlands 3-2 Yugoslavia [aet]
[Geels 27, 107, W.van de Kerkhof 39; Katalisnki 43, Dzajic 82]
[ref: Hungerbühler (Switzerland); att: 7,000]
Netherlands: Schrijvers, Suurbier, Van Kraay, Krol, Jansen (46 Meutstege), Peters, Arntz (71 Kist), W.van de Kerkhof, R.van de Kerkhof, Geels, Rensenbrink
Yugoslavia: Petrovic, Buljan, Muzinic, Oblak, Katalinski, Zungul (46 Halilhodzic),Jerkovic, Popivoda, Surjak, Acimovic (46 Vladic), Dzajic
Yugoslavia finishing forth. This team was seen as better than the one from 1974 and potential European champion. Plenty of talent, plenty of experience, plenty of motivation. At the end – a disappointment. May be harshly judged by the fans and the media. May be justly so – they failed to win on home turf. This is the line up from the home match against Sweden in the qualifying group, played in Zagreb and confidently won 3-0. Same team lost both final games… true, in extra time, but great teams do not lose. Before the match with Holland Dragan Dzajic announced that the ‘little final’ will be his last appearance for the national team A great player stepped down.
The ‘forgotten’ Holland of 1976. Nobody knew that this will be the last big international tournament for Cruyff. Apart from that, it looks like Dutch practical whimsicality was in good health: remember Cruyff playing with different kit than the rest of the team in 1974? Five more players joined him in 1976 and Holland was really mixed on the pitch. Some with two stripes, others with Adidas’ three.

Standing from left to right: Piet Schrijvers, Ruud Krol, Wim Meutstege, George Knobel, Wim Suurbier, Johan Neeskens, Johan Cruijff, Wim van Hanegem and Jan Ruiter.
Sitting left to right: Adri van Kraay, Wim Rijsbergen, Johnny Rep, Rob Rensenbrink, Willy van de Kerkhof, Jan Peters, René van de Kerkhof and Ruud Geels.
As a whole, a good, strong squad. Perhaps everybody was seeing them as gods, and when gods fail… in fact, it was a winning team: a silver and a bronze so far. What’s wrong with that? Except of deserving better coach.

2011-10-29T00:21:00.000-07:00

The draw for the ½ finals put host Yugoslavia against West Germany, and the Dutch were lucky – facing Czechoslovakia. Predictions? Holland and… it was equally possible to be either the Yugoslavs, or the Germans. The World champions were favoured a bit higher possibility – and replay of the 1974 World Cup final was very likely.
The final tournament opened in Zagreb on June 16, 1975: the first ½ final was between Holland and Czechoslovakia. Both teams came out with their best elevens, Holland practically not different from the squad, who played the final in 1974. Experience, toughness, and above everything – Cruyff, who this year was wearing not the famous number 14, but plain 9. It was the day for CSSR to learn her own place in football, and if nothing bad happened in the first minutes, no worry – it just a matter of time. The Czechoslovakians were somewhat slow to get it… they showed no fear and ignorantly attacked. The punishment came in the 20th minute… but it was punishment for the mighty Dutch – Anton Ondrus, the sweeper, scored: 1-0 for CSSR.
Ondrus scores against Holland.
Holland came back into thegood things ended in the back - midfield and attack were mess, and to this very moment Schon was experimenting without a hint of success. But Germans were Germans and very dangerous just because of that.
Yugoslavia was perhaps the only team in Europe managing painless transition – few aging players from 1974 were out (and playing abroad), but the well of talent was deep – former reserves were now starters; players left behind in 1974 were now donning the blue jersey. Ognjan Petrovic, Danilo Popivoda, Vladic, Peruzovic easily replaced Maric, Petkovic, Pavlovic. There was a brand new hero – Slavisa Zungul. Perhaps the only not crowded position was that of the playmaker – Karasi was gone and there was no new star at home. But there was one playing abroad – Branko Oblak, for Schalke 04 – and this was a player to comnly line without difficulties and having more than enough players to chose from – Kaltz was simply sitting on the bench, for instance. Maier was in superb form – and voted German player of the year for 1975. However, good things ended in the back - midfield and attack were mess, and to this very moment Schon was experimenting without a hint of success. But Germans were Germans and very dangerous just because of that. game in the 77th minute, when Ondrus scored his second goal – unfortunately, in his own net this time. The unthinkable happened in the overtime: CSSR scored 2 more goals, the last by Frantisek Vessely, the substitute veteran, who quite surprisingly was recalled to the national team when everybody thought he was gone forever. Holland scored a total of zero goals – and as the match progressed, it became increasingly clear the Oranje were not the well-oiled machine of two years ago. Three players were sent off, two of them Dutch – frustration governed Holland.
Zagreb, June 16, Maksimir Stadion
Czechoslovakia 3-1 Netherlands [aet]
[Ondrus 20, Nehoda 114, Vesely 119; Ondrus 77og]
[ref: Thomas (Wales); att: 31,000]
[sent off: Pollák 60, Neeskens 76, Van Hanegem 115]
Czechoslovakia: Viktor, Pivarník, Capkovic (106 Jurkemik), Pollak, Gögh, Ondrus, Masny, Panenka, Móder (96 Vesely), Nehoda, Dobiás
Netherlands: Schrijvers, Suurbier, Van Kraay, Rijsbergen (37 Van Hanegem), Krol, Neeskens, Jansen, W.van de Kerkhof, Rep (65 Geels), Cruijff, Rensenbrink.
Next day – the big match in Belgrade! There was not much to say about the Germans – they were disgusting so far, clearly had many troubles, and were not even a shadow of the 1974 team, let alone the one of 1972. They were solid only at the rear: Dietz was the able, if plainer, substitute of departed Breitner, and the rest were very, very familiar. It was the only line without difficulties and having more than enough players to chose from – Kaltz was simply sitting on the bench, for instance. Maier was in superb form – and voted German player of the year for 1975. However, good things ended in the back - midfield and attack were mess, and to this very moment Schon was experimenting without a hint of success. But Germans were Germans and very dangerous just because of that.
Yugoslavia was perhaps the only team in Europe managing painless transition – few aging players from 1974 were out (and playing abroad), but the well of talent was deep – former reserves were now starters; players left behind in 1974 were now donning the blue jersey. Ognjan Petrovic, Danilo Popivoda, Vladic, Peruzovic easily replaced Maric, Petkovic, Pavlovic. There was a brand new hero – Slavisa Zungul. Perhaps the only not crowded position was that of the playmaker – Karasi was gone and there was no new star at home. But there was one playing abroad – Branko Oblak, for Schalke 04 – and this was a player to compensate for any apparent talent in Yugoslavia. He became the first properly foreign based footballer to play for the national team – and to captain it as well. Yugoslavia 1976 was considered much stronger than Yugoslavia 1974, had a splendid qualifying rounds, experience and gift. Motivation was extremely strong, and was playing at home, in front of frantic crowds – Yugoslavia had the edge. On the negative side – as ever, moodiness was recalled as potential weakness. The Yugoslavs were capable of playing fantastic football and beat anybody, but… if were easily given to frustration when the match was not going their way and under pressure the team traditionally was known to quickly collapse.
This time collapse was seemingly not in the cards – by the 33rd minute it was 2-0 for the Plavi. West Germany was practically gone, for the hosts were playing very fast attacking football – too fast for the Germans! There was drama – it was the end of the world champions, who displayed fully their own troubles and limitations. Goners. Finally, a punishment for the lame performance at the (most) of the 1974 World Cup tournament.
The second half started without a sign of improvement – Flohe replaced Danner, which was more a gesture of helplessness… at least at the beginning of the second half. Flohe managed to score in the 65th minute and gradually, almost invisibly, the scales tipped the other way. In the 79th minute Muller came on the pitch, replacing Wimmer – and 3 minutes later he scored the equalizer. Muller is Muller… although it was not Gerd, but brand new Dieter Muller. The old fox Schon seemingly – just like in 1974 – shaped his winning squad in the last minute, yet, exactly when really mattered. The extra time was predictable… it was visible that the Yugoslavs were running out of steam and the Germans getting stronger. Muller scored two more goals – West Germany won 4-2 and found her new Muller in the bargain. Now it was easy to say who will win the championship – for the first time the same country was to be European champion twice and consecutively at that. West German football continued to be the best in the world!
Beograd, June 17, Crvena zvezda
West Germany 4-2 Yugoslavia [aet]
[Flohe 65, D.Müller 82, 115, 199; Popivoda 19, Dzajic 32]
[ref: Delcourt (Belgium); att: 70,000]
West Germany: Maier, Dietz, Schwarzenbeck, Beckenbauer, Vogts, Danner (46 Flohe),Bonhof, Beer, Wimmer (79 D.Müller), Hölzenbein, U.Hoeneß
Yugoslavia: Petrovic, Buljan, Muzinic, Oblak (106 Vladic), Katalinski, Zungul,Jerkovic, Popivoda, Surjak, Acimovic (106 Peruzovic), Dzajic
Too bad for delightful Yugoslavs, but here was the lesson – nobody was able to rise to the occasion as Germans did, and that was the true display of class.
Heartbroken Branko Oblak leaves the pitch, although, playing in West Germany, he should have known who was really best.

2011-10-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

Before the crown there was the crawl. The European quarterfinals proceeded unspectacularly, in the sense of ending with the expected winners.
Wales, despite of having the ‘best team ever’ – the old staple player Mike England was reduced to a substitute – was no match for Yugoslavia. It was considered the easiest ¼ final draw and it was – Yugoslavia won 2-0 in Belgrade and finished whatever uncertainty survived until the second leg by opening the result in Cardiff in the 18th minute. The match ended 1-1, which hardly mattered anymore – Yugoslavia got the hosting of the finals.
Holland was to meet their archenemy Belgium, traditionally, their toughest opponent. It also looked like eternal couple – the two countries competed in the preliminary group for a 1974 World Cup spot and back then both matches ended in scoreless ties. Not this time: Holland annihilated Belgium in the first leg – 5-0 in Rotterdam. Rensenbrink scored a hat-trick against a squad filled with his Anderlecht teammates. It was over already and in Brussels the Dutch allowed Belgium to score first and after that Rep and Cruyff provided second victory.
West Germany and Spain were seen as the most difficult pair, with odds tipping to the Germans. The opening in Madrid supported predictions: 1-1, which gave the edge to the Germans. In Munich Hoeness and Topmoller scored a goal each in the first half and it was over. By now, Spain was accepted as eternal loser anyway. The Germans continued to struggle, but their willpower was intact and more obviously the key ingredient of German football.
Lastly, Czechoslovakia and USSR. Hardly the toughest draw in purely football terms and of little interest, for by habit whenever the Soviets were playing against another East European team, it was expected the opponent to be ordered to lose. It was not to be that way – Czechoslovakia won 2-0 at home and tying the second leg at Moscow 2-2.
Moder scores the first goals in Bratislava. It was commented in a weird way by the Soviets: a second earlier Pollak was fouled, but since the Czech attack was not interrupted, the Turkish referee Ok did not stop the game. Soviet players, though, were caught by surprise and practically did not react, expecting a free kick. The goal was much commented – as both blunder of the defense and blunder of the referee. The confused reaction was also due to the simple fact CSSR clearly outplayed USSR and there was little reason for complaints.
The second leg in Kiev brought some changes in the Soviet squad and was fought in earnest, but the Czechoslovakians still played better. Here J. Pivarnik clears ahead of V. Veremeev.
I. Viktor wins the air battle with V. Troshkin and clears the ball.
O. Blokhin equalizes and saves the day. Looks ferocious and Viktor, the goalie, entirely helpless – but it was only 2-2 and the Soviet team was out.
In fact, it was the Soviets tying, for the ‘lesser brothers’ lead 1-0 and then 2-1 until Blokhin prevented full-blown disgrace in the 88th minute. Yet, it was a ¼ final worth a comment: there was very little outcry in USSR. It was somewhat strange quarterfinal – before that a friendly was played between the opponents, which was unusual, but very likely arranged way before the UEFA draw was known. The friendly ended 2-2, and although both teams used some deep reserves in it, most players were regulars.
Frantisek Kozinka (playing here for his club Bohemians Prague) appeared in the friendly – the only complete unknown in the Czechoslovakian squad.
Muddy affair – the friendly was played on very tough pitch, but it was not the only mud in the Soviet football.
Some troubles were detected in the Soviet selection and the way they played, and it was considered that Czechoslovakia were particularly difficult opponent. Yet, no visible measures were taken for the real games. It was difficult to figure out what the Soviets were up to – for the first time they had separate Olympic team, coached by its own coach – Konstantin Beskov. The national team was in the hands of Lobanovsky – or more accurately in the hands of the duo Lobanovsky-Bazilevich. Oleg Bazilevich is rarely spoken of today, but at the time it was not Valery Lobanovsky, the great coach – it was Lobanovsky-Bazilevich, equal to each other in both Dinamo Kiev and the national team. They used mostly players from their own club – so many, that even the reserves were from Kiev, and even players, who were substitutes in Dynamo were included – and played – in the national team (Zuev, for instance). This practice came under fire after the day when USSR was represented entirely by Dynamo’s players and slight adjustments were done, but it was mainly Dynamo on the pitch – Zvyagintzev was included in the national team in 1975, as one of the non-Dynamo players, but in 1976 he was no longer captaining Shakter (Donetzk) – he was in Kiev, fighting for a spot in the team with another national player, Reshko. About all that there were complains from Lobanovsky as well – he was unhappy his boys were playing so many matches: national championship and cup; European club tournaments; and in the national team on top of everything. But what was so unfair? It was Lobanovsky using the same 12 players at every possible occasion. And the results vastly differed: Dynamo was the ‘revelation’ in 1975, conquering Europe. The very same team was struggling and shallow with the red USSR shirts – the national team was not winning.
Which immediately brings back the so-called Olympic team. Was it really a separate team? Lobanovsky-Bazilevich took players from it whenever they wanted to do so. However, Beskov had different vision of football, so it was not very clear what was the benefit of taking his players. Besides, Beskov was not shrinking violet and very likely he and Lobanovsky were not at good terms. As a result, neither selection performed well and various players very likely were not happy at all. Typically, nothing appeared in the press – there was suspect silence instead. Small and seemingly casual and unconcerned reports of matches, giving the impression that the Soviets did not really care what was going – this itself was very unusual, for traditionally it was the A-national team which mattered. May be they were counting on the Olympic team? This did not appear true either – Beskov’s team was seemingly of lesser importance: it was players taken from it for the national team, not the other way around (until later, when a bunch of national team players were included for the Olympic Games in Montreal). It is a speculation, but it looked like the Soviets decided the European Champions Cup to be their priority in 1975-76. At least larger and more in depth coverage was done on the progress of Dinamo Kiev in Europe. Whatever was kept in secret, it did not matter in the open – USSR was eliminated after two not particularly great games and Czechoslovakia went to the finals. So far quietly – among the last four teams, CSSR was considered the weakest.

2011-10-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

1976

1975 was so bleak, one couldn’t wait 1976 to begin – it was not possible to be worse and future in football is always full of hopes. And the new year materialized them: European Championship, Olympic games, the Intercontinental Coup was played again, new exciting teams emerged. By 1976 total football was no longer something played by few and desired by many – it was the established brand of football. However, it evolved in a unforeseen way: becoming tougher and increasingly lacking imagination. There was embedded contradiction in total football – ideally, it was to be a game in which everyone was capable to play at any position. Curiously, the most creative position – the playmaker (or the dispatcher, or the conductor – different names were used) – suffered from it. Soviet commentators – strangely, for the Soviets were late comers struggling to adapt to total football – proclaimed the end of the playmaker: it was outdated and slowing the game, since traditionally every ball was to go to him in order of developing attack. The new football required whoever had the ball to be able to act as a playmaker of the moment. Sounded good, yet, the observation was made after shallow Soviet performance and in the same article the absence of typical playmaker (Muntyan, in the particular case) was lamented. Was the playmaker obsolete or was he still important? Sure, teams full of stars were able to use them as passers – Holland with Neeskens and van Hanegem; West Germany with Overath, Netzer, Breitner, Hoeness. Yet, it was Cruyff and Beckenbauer who generally ‘made the flow of the game’. Especially Cruyff, who by 1976 was playing far back, hardly on the tip of the attack, but rather in midfield – as a traditional playmaker, in other words. It was hardly automatic – it depended on available players and those lacking skills and vision were able just to run endlessly. Which was becoming the modified brand of total football, endorsed by the West Germans and, increasingly, by the Dutch. Anyway, the year was fun and the crowing moment was the European Championship finals.
It was the 5th continental championship and the last in ‘traditional’ format: qualifying round-robin groups, followed by 2-legged ¼ finals of direct elimination, and 1-leg ½ finals and finals, played in one country. The host of the finals was to qualify, though – no direct participation of the organizers, who were not even organizers yet – it was a host country, decided pretty much after the ¼ finals were played. Yugoslavia hosted the finals – two cities were involved: Belgrade and Zagreb, with the final played in Belgrade at the Crvena zvezda stadium, commonly known as ‘Mala (Small) Maracana’.
It was much more interesting tournament than the one in 1972, although there was no clearly supreme team as West Germany was four years ago. The finals stand unique: not a single match was decided in regular time. The four games run into overtime and penalty shoot-out, which speaks volumes for the level of competition. For the fans, it was great delight – and also big agony, for the drama was huge and tense.
Everything else paled, compared to the European Championship, but still there was plenty of excitement – Saint Etienne and Anderlecht enlarged the number of great playing clubs. And, increasingly, Liverpool was becoming truly great. Italy showed signs of recovery as well. A good year, crowned by the European Championship.

2011-10-22T00:21:00.000-07:00

The picture of the year? No matter how good or bad football is, it always provides plenty of moments to chose from. But the spirit of 1975 was bad, so let’s go to the circus. NASL, of course. The North American league had to sell fast the sport to ignorant public, so any kind of publicity stunt was employed.
Pele and Joe Namath with unfamiliar balls, designed for different limbs of the body. Who can capture the minds and the wallets of the New Yorkers? The King? Numbers tell the true story: how much was $450 000 a year in football? A whole lot… but that’s silly ‘soccer’. Namath was getting $ 5 000 000 and ‘football’ remained the word for the ‘real’ game. And ‘pigskin’ was the real ball. The circus started in earnest across the Atlantic – for the joy of countless football veterans from Europe and South America: not very demanding and rather funny game, generously paid. Something like Sunday kickabout made old legs wealthy. Real money stayed on the gridiron… and in New York Namath was the King.

2011-10-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

Czechoslovakia was visiting Portugal first and the match ended as the English hoped – 1-1 tie. However, the result still preserved the chances of the other competitors too and as far as the Czechoslovakians were concerned – it was convenient result.
After the tough match in Porto, Czechoslvakia had a qualification match for the 1976 Olympics with East Germany. Since the Communist countries used their ‘amateur’ players, same players participated in every possible tournament – at the moment, though, it was inconvenient for CSSR and may be benefiting England: too many games at the same time. Injuries and tiredness were surely to take their tall on the Czechoslvakians.
From left: Pivarnik (5), Viktor (1), Ondrus (4), Gallis (8), Masny (10), Jurkemik (3), Pollak (9), Gogh (2), Moder (6), Nehoda (11), Bicovsky (7).
Almost the same team as against England, but good enough only for 1-1 tie against DDR.
Portugal and England tried their best to keep themselves alive, and, therefore, neither won. They ended 1-1 and Portugal was effectively out – they had one more match, but had no chance to end first. England still had hopes – it was small and desperate one, in the hands – or rather the feet – of lowly Cyprus. The outsiders had to prevent CSSR from winning – a tie was qualifying England on better goal difference, the match was in Nicosia, where Cyprus almost won a point against England… keep fingers cross… England reduced to the mercy of outsiders.
Czechoslovakia won with confidence: 3-0.

CSSR aginst Cyprus at home months ago: from left – Bicovsky, Nehoda, Gaidusek, Panenka, Svehlik, Koubek, J. Capcovic, Masny, Ondrus, Viktor, Pivarnik. Slightly different squad it was than the one beating England, but against Cyprus there was no real need to field the best players. A relative term ‘best’ – CSSR was developing and changes were normal. The home match ended 4-0 and brought the first points for CSSR.
Cyprus was there just to improve others goal difference – CSSR had no problem at their home match. Panenka (above) scored 3 goals and Masny (bellow) one more.
The away match in Nicosia produced one goal less and the last 2 points, catapulting Czechoslovakia to the ¼ finals.
1.CZECHOSLOVAKIA 6 4 1 1 15- 5 9
2.England 6 3 2 1 11- 3 8
3.Portugal 6 2 3 1 5- 7 7
4.Cyprus 6 0 0 6 0-16 0
The bomb dropped: England was failing to reach the final stages of big international tournament for a second time. Once again it was underestimated Eastern European country to eliminate England. Poland was the sensation of the 1974 World Cup, after outwitting England. Was Czechoslovakia to repeat Poland? A new sensation?
At the end of 1975 France Football published its annual classification of national teams – CSSR was number 1 (followed by USSR and Yugoslavia). The state Czechoslovakian information agency CTK also placed the team at first place. The skeptics were not convinced – sure, the Czechoslovaks made a stir, eliminated England, and generally played good football, but did not look like great team. Besides, it was particularly bleak year, with practically everybody underperforming. The truth will be uncovered in 1976, when the real games begin – then the Germans and the Dutch will be in shape and just wait and see: nobody will remember CSSR in a month or two.
The surprise winners of Group 1: Czechoslovakia in quite a different version, fielded in a friendly with Sweden on October 13, 1974. Back then, they won 4-0, but it was just a friendly. Top, left to right: Karol Dobias, Ivan Pekarik, Jozef Capkovic, Jozef Adamec, Anton Ondrus.
Bottom: Marian Masny, Jan Svehlik, Alexander Vencel, Premysl Bicovsky, Pavel Stratil, Vojtech Varadin.
This team did not look very strong in 1974 – a mixture of aging players (Adamec, Stratil, Dobias, J. Capkovic), second-stringers (Vencel, Pekarik), and various young unknowns (Ondrus, Masny, Svehlik, Bicovsky, Varadin). When journalists voted for the Czechoslovakian Player of the Year at the end of 1974 only 4 of the those above made it in the top 10. Dobias was 34th! And most of those guys were still members of the national team at the end of 1975 – true, some were relegated to the substitute bench, but national players nevertheless. How good a team with such players could be in a long run? Not really… Czechoslovakia was expected to exit the European championship at the ¼ finals. Lucky to advance that far, no matter the surprise of winning Group 1 at the expense of England.

2011-10-17T00:34:00.000-07:00

A small tremor was felt when England visited Cyprus – it should have been relaxed, almost tourist trip, and between tanning and beers, the mighty guests were to score 5,6,7,8… whatever number they fancied, goals. Instead England struggled and barely won 1-0. Still, they got 2 points and continued to lead, but now the program of the remaining games was an obstacle as well: England was left with two away matches against Czechoslovakia and Portugal. CSSR, after hosting England, was visiting Portugal and lastly Cyprus. Portugal was not out of the race either with three home games. Heavy calculation replaced confidence: suddenly England depended on the results of the opponents and, ideally, had to win both matches on hostile turfs.
England getting ready. Somehow the picture seems prophetic: Don Revie shows the way, the team looks at the opposite direction.
Did not look like terrible when England and Czechoslovakia came on the pitch.
New scipper – Gerry Francis instead of Emelyn Hudges. Dangerous team nevertheless.
CSSR hardly introduced changes. Gogh is listed with wrong number here by mistake –he played with number 2.
Apart from squad photos, nothing went right at first – on October 25, 1975 the match started.
Colin Todd blocking Zdenek Nehoda – or may be not. Hard to see…
From left – Keegan, Pivarnik, McFarland, Masny, Bicovsky, Clarke. Who kicked the ball? Where were these players – in front of the Czechoslovakian net? In front of the English one? Somewhere else? May be in England? The British fog was so thick, the match was abandoned at the 17th minute.
Replay on October 30 in better visability.
And everything goes normal… in the 26th minute Keegan made a cross, Knapp was late, Viktor kind of uncertain, Channon volleyed and the Albion Lions were leading 1-0.
Followed by typically English goal with powerful header… except it was scored by a player with dark shirt. Colin Todd was late and Nehoda equalized – 1-1 in the 45th minute.
The equalizer from another angle – how British a goal can be?
Until Gallis scored another English looking goal 2 minutes later and Clemence was helpless.
Same goal from another angle: Clemence had no chance, Madeley seems a step behind Nehoda, but it was Gallis, hidden behind, to score with a header. 47th minute of the game.
If the Wembley match between England and CSSR was symbolized by the picture of punching Dobson and missing Viktor, now it was different: Francis trying hard, but Viktor trying even harder and winning the ball. And the match at the end.
Final triumph – the happiness of little known Peter Gallis says it all.
Suddenly the ghost of 1973 came alive – was England repeating itself? Nothing was lost yet, but the future was not entirely in English hands either – they had to win their last match in Lisbon. Portugal and CSSR had to end in a tie… which was not up to Don Revie and his players to arrange at all. But winning their last match was up to them.

2011-10-15T00:18:00.000-07:00

Then Portugal was scheduled to pay a visit to CSSR. With a point at Wembley, where Czechoslovakia miserably lost 0-3, a tie was expected in Prague.
The new Portugal: front, left to right: Martins, Octavio, Alves, Coelho, Chico.
Standing: Artur, Alhinho, Humberto, Damas, Teixeira, Osvaldinho.
Not a team equal to old Portugal with Eusebio, yet dangerous enough with Humberto and Artur in defense and Alves in midfield. May be not a danger to the English, but to the Czechoslovakians – surely.
Led by Barros and Ondrus the opponents came out on the pitch in Prague. The Portuguese looked fierce, too fierce. Remember, in the 70s the longer the hair and the beard – the classier the player. Ondrus paled next to Barros, the outcome of the match was crystal clear.
CSSR lining up before the home game against Portugal started: left to right: Bicovsky, Nehoda, Gajdusek, Petras, Knapp, Koubek, Jozef Capkovic, Masny, Ondrus, Viktor, Pivarnik – captain. Hardly a great team, with some unknown players like Knapp and Koubek, and some remembered for their fiasco at the 1970 World Cup like Petras. Jumping ahead, the substitutes, replacing Koubek and Knapp during the match were also quite unknown – J. Svoboda and Medvid. Perhaps when these guys grew their hair longer then now, they were to start winning, but not yet…
Five goals later the burly Portuguese, not the Czechoslovakians, were completely destroyed.
Damas winning the air battle with Petras, who once upon a time made the sign of the cross after scoring against Brazil at 1970 World Cup. Back then few players were crossing themselves and surely not those from Communist countries. Now Petras was losing a cross and the representative of a Catholic country was getting the upper hand. But no goalie is a hero after 5 goals in his net:
Petras scoring the 5th.
This picture summarizes the match – supreme Nehoda, desperate Barros and Damas, the ball missed and going in the net, Pivarnik at the back ready to lift hands in triumph and Alhinho looking gloomy next to him.
Alarming victory of CSSR? Well, not really – there was no panic: everything was fulfilling predictions – CSSR and Portugal were to fight among themselves for the second place, neither particularly great, and England having an easier life. May be Portugal was even out of the race already – but England had a confident victory over Czechoslovakia already.

2011-10-12T00:12:00.000-07:00

Seven qualifying groups ended as predicted. Even Wales was hardly a surprise, for the group was weak anyway. If anything, qualifications were dull – but, as ever, criticism was shunned – just watch out, in few months everything will be different when the boys start playing for real. The only bomb dropped from Group1. At first it was considered tough group, but the favourite was more or less clear: England. Portugal and Czechoslovakia were able to give a fight, but nothing else. Cyprus did not count of course. Portugal was still rebuilding and judged to be in transition, therefore not ready for a real challenge. Czechoslovakia was under the radar since 1970 – after miserable performance at the 1970 World Cup, CSSR was in a crisis – a whole generation stepped down and there were no strong replacements in sight, at least not to European eye. The country failed to do much in the European Championship 1972, failed to qualify for the World Cup 1974, and on club level the Czechoslovakians were still pleasant to watch – but only to ¼ finals at best, when they were inevitably outclassed. It was expected Czechoslovakia and Portugal to compete for the second place in the group – may be giving trouble to England, but at the end everything would be ‘normal’. England was the likeliest winner – the failure of 1973 was not to be repeated: it appeared that England managed to learn a lesson or two since then, and, most importantly, managed to change generations and build new strong team. One thing was ‘certain’ - England was not going to underestimate the opposition as they did in 1973. And predictions were kind of fulfilled – England played three games at home, before anybody else, and collected 5 points easily: 3-0 with CSSR; 0-0 with Portugal; and 5-0 with Cyprus. The tie with Portugal produced some grumbling, but not real concern – after all, it was expected the opposition to steal a point or two. But look at the record – 8 goals scored and none received! No way England would fail.
Malcolm MacDonald celebrating one of his 5 goals against Cyprus: he was the top scorer of the English 1974-75 season with 27 goals and looked like England found a scoring machine.
Portugal, looking desperate against constant assaults, extracted a point at Wembley – 0-0. Their keeper Damas, sandwiched between menacing Watson and Channon clears the ball, but… Portugal was clearly not able to do more than that. A slip of the English perhaps… but then look at the weather. Excusable mischance, to be amply compensated later – the team was just too strong.
In a way, the picture was telling what was to be: the opponents missing a punch, but not the English, who were to knock down the rest. In reality – the Czechoslovakian goalie Ivo Viktor clears the ball from Dobson. But symbolism so far represented the true situation: Viktor appears desperate, Dobson too strong… England won with confidence 3-0.
So good so far! Clear supremacy, strong team, rich on choices and variations: MacDonald and Dobson were not even real starters, so imagine the wealth of the English pool! They had Kevin Keegan after all!
For many, Keegan was already the best European player. With him England was unstoppable. May be the best was just to cancel the remaining games – what was the point when England was so strong?

2011-10-10T00:18:00.000-07:00

The steelier among the iron groups was Group 5: Holland, Poland, and Italy. Finland completed the group, her sole purpose was to donate points and provide comfortable goal differences to the aces. The most exciting teams at the World Cup in 1974, correspondingly finishing with silver and bronze medals. The Italian fiasco at the World Cup did not diminish the aura of the national team – Italians were thought determined to wipe clean the tarnish, but even without the sting from 1974 they were always a predatory team and a favourite. As it turned out, Italy suffered more than a sting – a massive change of mentality was needed, on every level of Italian football. Unfortunately, defensive football proved very difficult to shake – Italian mind was so conditioned by defensive schemes by now, that it was instinctive. And this instinct was never sufficiently erased – Italy plays primarily defensive football to this very day. But it was painfully clear in 1974 that catenaccio was outdated and the brand of losers. Naturally, the first to go was the old coach Feruccio Valcareggi. He was at the helm since 1966, therefore, incapable of atuning his views to the 70s. He was replaced by Fulvio Bernardini and it was under his guidance Italy hit rock bottom. In retrospect it looks like Bernardini was chosen not to rebuilt the national team into modern squad, but rather appointed as the person most suitable to swallow all possible blame: Bernardini was good 15 years older than Valcareggi. Born in 1905, he was 70 years old when accepting to coach the national team. His record was even more alarming than his age – he made both Fiorentina and Bologna champions of Italy, but long ago – Fiorentina in 1956 and Bologna in 1964. The years were telling… those were exactly the times when catenaccio was taking shape and was ‘the modern way to play’. Bernardini was hardly the coach to change anything and he also had plenty of players with mega-reputations and deeply embedded old habits, who were difficult to replace even if the coach wanted to. Unlike West Germans stars, the Italian ones were not eager to quit the national team. The coach himself was reluctant to ignore them - it was not easy to retire Mazzola, Rivera, Fascetti, Riva, even for a coach willing to do so, but Bernardini was not very willing to begin with. Yet, there were constant attempts to refresh the squad, to introduce new players, in the hope that some less known and younger players would be naturally inclined to play more open game, if not genuine total football. New players were constant failure – everybody in Italy was conditioned to defensive game and the new boys were just paler copies of the big old stars. Experiments led to nothing and Italy finished measly 3rd in the group, scoring astonishing number of goals – a whole lot of three in six games! They were tough to beat as ever, but proved to be only that. Italy was not even able to win over Finland at home – the 0-0 tie provided the outsiders their only point.
This left only Holland and Poland as real contenders, providing they were able to break the Italian walls, and the Dutch had the edge, despite the fact they had new coach. Like Holland, Poland depended on limited number of great players. Similarly, both countries essentially preserved the same squads and same tactics after the World Cup. And at that similarities ended – unlike Holland, Polish stars were not concentrated in 3 clubs, but scattered in many. Unlike the Dutch, who were playing together weak after weak and thus were able to maintain strong form, Polish stars were most often surrounded with weaker teammates and lacking collective boost, they had difficulty to stay in top condition. Dutch coaches had it easier, for the main starters hardly needed a lot of training – the concern was rather tactical: which combination of players was best for a specific opponent. Everybody was familiar with everybody else and there was hardly any problem with execution. In Poland the national team had to be trained and shaped, especially when new players were included. But Kazimierz Gorski was working with the national team for a long time and made it more like a club squad already – the trouble was aging on one hand and players allowed to play abroad. So far, Polish football was officially ‘amateur’ and on top of that export was done in almost clandestine manner, so foreign based professionals were automatically out of the national team. In 1975 this became a bit of a problem, for Lubanski was permitted to play in Belgium and Gadocha nd Marks – in France. Given the limited pool, this was severe loss – three strikers were difficult to replace. On the brighter side Polish players were more than willing for the national team, if only to get a chance to go abroad, and under Communist conditions scandals and open rebellions were impossible. The Dutch had no problem calling foreign-based stars like Cruyff, Neeskens, Rensenbrink, but there was problem with stubbornly opinionated and pig-headed players. Frequently Dutch stars refused to play because of disagreements, or boycotting the coach, or teammates. Frequently there was no reason at all – a player just did not think important certain match or preferred to stay home instead of going to a national team camp. Private matters played a large role – Cruyff disliked van Beveren and for this reason alone Holland had no decent goalkeeper for years. Coaching itself was becoming laughable: Rinus Michels returned to Barcelona after the World Cup ended and new coach was hired. It was amusing choice – George Knobel. George, or Georges Knobel was freshly fired from Ajax, where he effectively managed to destroy a great team in less than an year. This dubious achievement was awarded with appointment to coach the national team – where the largest bulk was Ajax players, not to mention Cruyff and his long memory. It was Knobel, who asked Ajax players to vote for a captain of the team – and they voted for Keiser, not for Cruyff (he was still there at the time). And what kinf of coach was Knobel anyway? He came to Ajax from nowhere and sunk it. Leaping a bit ahead, Knobel’s career was practically one year in Ajax and two years with the national team. After 1976 he disappeared, coaching in Hong Kong and Malaysia. Hardly a gifted specialist, judging by his career… and his contribution to Holland was more than suspect. He inherited an improvised by Michels squad and changed absolutely nothing. For instance, Hulshof and Gerrit Muhren, who missed the World Cup because of injuries, were healthy now, but neither was ever called back. Van Beveren was not recalled either, although Knobel got rid of pathetic goalie Youngbloed and Schrijvers, reduced to substitute by Michels, was first choice again.
It was goalkeeping and central defense in need of shaping, but Knobel simply kept whatever Muchels concocted out of sheer lack of players. A good deal of players was aging too and here the small pool of talent made the final decisions: youngsters were constantly tried, but old legs were better at the end. Apart from bigger number of PSV Eindhoven players, no changes were made by Knobel neither tactical, nor in selection. And it was the familiar names from Ajax and Feyenoord at the end, for apart from the van der Kerkhof twins no PSV players really gained regular spot in the team. The brothers were rather ominous addition, though – they were not artistic, but rather German kind of players, and they were eventually to shape Holland into a lesser copy of West Germany circa 1978: physical fighters with lots of strength and very short of improvisation, invention, and beauty.
At the end of the day, Holland had slightly larger and better core of stars than Poland and also the real edge – Cruyff. He was often ‘unavailable’ – meaning, he decided which games to play and which to skip, but having even the possibility of Cruyff playing was an advantage – guessing was a trouble for the opposition.
1.NETHERLANDS 6 4 0 2 14- 8 8
2.Poland 6 3 2 1 9- 5 8
3.Italy 6 2 3 1 3- 3 7
4.Finland 6 0 1 5 3-13 1
At the end Holland advance on better goal difference, which was not much to say for the team, given the mediocrity of Italy and relatively weaker than 1974 Poland.
George Knobel destroyed burly looking Ajax before joining the same players in the national team. Perhaps the luckiest mediocrity he was – and double lucky, for Holland managed to qualify. What was his contribution, though?
Johann Cruyff against Finland in Helsinki. Holland won 3-1 and probably more than ever Cruyff was the real maker and shaker of the Dutch. Still using number 14 and surely having the last word.

2011-10-08T00:22:00.000-07:00

So far, five easy qualifying groups, the easiest of them all almost ending with surpise elimination of the world champions. Three groups were taugh, however, and therefore – unpredictable. Group 4 was the least interesting among them – Spain, Scotland, Romania, and Denmark. The Danes were the outsider, no problem – they were envisioned to finish last and they did not disappoint. The rest were seen more or less equal – not really great and with many troubles. The Scots pleased everybody at the World Cup in 1974, but they had scoring difficulties and tended to underperform against weaker opponents. Spain and Romania both missed the World Cup finals and were deep in their own crisis – Romania in transformation; Spain routinely by now failing to advance. It was to be a Russian roulette – much depending on chance, on momentary form, on matches with Denmark, and very likely on goal difference. It was expected to be nasty, unexciting fight for the first spot. And it was – most matches ended tied. Wins were collected from the fixtures with Denmark and nobody shined. Spain and Romania did not lose a single game, but Romania finished 5 of their 6 group matches in draws. Scoring was not the forte of any team. The decisive match was probably played in Glasgow, where Spain clinched 2-1 win over Scotland. The rest of the games between the favourites were ties and Denmark collected their single point at home against Romania. Which at the end moved Spain to ¼ finals. Scotland was true to predictions – even if they did not lose at home to Spain, the Scots were not going to progress for they scored as low as expected. Only a home win against Spain would have qualify them.
1.SPAIN 6 3 3 0 10- 6 9
2.Romania 6 1 5 0 11- 6 7
3.Scotland 6 2 3 1 8- 6 7
4.Denmark 6 0 1 5 3-14 1
Spain, visiting Romania on 16 October, 1975: top, left to right: Sol, Benito, Miguel Angel, Pirri, Camacho, Migueli.
Bottom: Quini, Villar, Santillana, Del Bosque, Rojo I (or Chechu Rojo – he was listed by either name).
Looking grim and determined fighters – exactly what they were. A mean squad, capable of extracting a point in Bucharest – 2-2. Not exciting at all – Santillana excepted. Pirri, Camacho, and Del Bosque were surely top guns, but as a whole a game-killing squad and it was difficult to imagine another, more playful one. Villar, Rojo, Benito, Miguel Angel were perhaps the best representation of Spanish football – tough players, not at all great, and easily replaceable with countless others of the same mold. Which at the end was liability, for seemingly Spain was lacking enough truly outstanding players. Even the goalscoring machine Quini was largely a fighter, easily lapsing into dirty tricks and time-wasting and entirely forgetting that there was a net at the other end of the pitch. Going ahead, but unlikely very far.

2011-10-05T00:23:00.000-07:00

And such was the contribution of most new national players – at the end, only Dietz, Kaltz, and Stielike established themselves in the national team. However, by 1976 only the left full back Dietz was a firm national player. The other two were still questionable (in the case of Kaltz – Berti Vogts was the main obstacle). It was not only new players giving headache to Schon – out of desperation, he tried, discarded, tried again, and discarded again some players, who no longer had firm place in the team – Heynckes and Wimmer. Both were starters in the great team winning the European championship in 1972, but were relegated to the substitute bench at the World Cup in 1974. Heynckes was reintroduced in hope to improve scoring – he was the top goalscorer in Germany in 1974-75, and generally was second best the previous seasons. But he was not up to Schon’s expectations – and he was quickly replaced by another player in the next match. The replacement failed as well, Heynckes was called again… it was painful struggle.
Heynckes scoring against Greece and 1-0 for West Germany. It was not enough… Heynckes seemingly was able to score occasionally against outsiders by now, and his rare goals were not winners either – the Greeks equalized.
Similarly Wimmer: he was originally a defensive midfielder, moved to playmaker’s position in Borussia after Netzer went to Spain. In the national team Wimmer was edged by his younger teammate in Borussia – Rainer Bonhof – and firmly benched during the World Cup. In late 1974 and 1975 he was a starter again – seemingly, Schon was trying to use him as a playmaker – but Wimmer was not Netzer or Overath… At the end, Flohe and Culmann were playing more and more and the whole German team looked tough, but clueless. Capable of running, but not of playing. Frustration was obvious. I watched Bulgaria – West Germany in the drizzle of cold April day in Sofia: the match was huge disappointment – chaotic Bulgarian squad, having no idea what to do on the pitch was opposed by equally chaotic and not knowing what to do German squad. By sheer willpower, the World Champions prevented a loss. It was impossible to tell who were the world champions, except by the colour of the shirts… both teams were increadibly bad. Sign of the times to come – the bleak, artless, unimaginative German football of the 1980s, winning only by will and physicality, was already in place. There was strength and no spark. West Germany moved ahead, but without even winning against lowly opponents like Bulgaria and Greece. It could be said that Malta actually qualified West Germany – by beating Greece and losing 0-8 to the Germans.
Two 1-1 ties against… Greece. Erich Beer, one of the not-so-young new players introduced by Schon seems impessive with this flying header in front of Pallas and Kaltz. Modest players like Pallas were a big problem for the mighty Germans… for the likes of Beer. Kaltz was hardly big help yet. What a downfall – it looks like Maier needs the gloves of the Greek goalie Kelesidis. Well, at least this photo is misleading – at least Maier was in top form and distinct from his Greek colleague. Can’t say the same for the Germans on the left.
The last hope was in revoking the World Cup – back than Schon modified the team every game until finally finding the right variation. It came at the last match in the semi-final round robin group and became the squad winning the tournament. May be he will be able to find his winning team when it matters again? Old fox like Schon… in a way, he did it again. Almost did it. But by the end of 1975 there was no sign of greatness and the only reason West Germany was seen as still dangerous team was because it was West Germany. Alas, a very different one from even a year ago – West Germany of the 1980s, hateful to watch, was already taking shape. The team which banished fun from football.

2011-10-03T00:25:00.000-07:00

Let’s cut the next cake: from left - Bayern president Wilhelm Neudecker, Franz Beckenbauer with wife Brigitte, and the star of 1954 World Cup Fritz Walter. The Kaiser displays fashionable jacket to make the party brighter.
Love birds? Not really – publicity stint rather. Sepp Maier at the Oktoberfest, having a beer with one of the best German alpine skiers Christa Zechmeister. The table is littered with football photos which Maier must sign and give away.
The seemingly endless party looking so fine and jolly in print was unable to hide growing discontent and outright trouble. The first scandal occurred immediately after winning the World Cup: the German Federation invited the national team to a celebratory reception. But the suits in the Federation were old and conservative – wives and especially girlfriends were not invited. Breitner, Muller, and Hoeness (if memory serves me correctly) were outraged and stormed out to celebrate elsewhere. Breitner made his opinion known to the press, which was hardly surprising, for he was well known critic of everything. Muller, however, was usually keeping his mind to himself and his bitter outburst was more serious news. Disgusted Muller announced that he was quitting the national team. The whole subject of women was torny: invitations were selective and arbitrary, rubbing players in the wrong way – Frau Beckenbauer was invited, but not Frau Muller. Unmarried players felt entirely discriminated against, for girlfriends were not invited at all. Parties had little to do with football, yet, the matter who can attend and who cannot official functions played destructive role in dividing the team.
Gerd Muller’s announcing that he does not want to play for West Germany anymore opened a problem of replacements – so far, the West Germans were able quietly and methodically to change aging players with new ones. There was no fuss over Seeler, Haller, and Schnellinger few years back – but then there were Beckenbauer, Muller, Netzer, already with huge reputations and experience. Now the situation was different
and Beckenbauer’s warning was actually right: replacement loomed as a megaproblem, for there were no obvious newcomers. The emotional announcement of Muller aggravated the problem by making it public and focusing entirely critical scrutiny on a process normally kept away from public view.
Eventually, it became known that Muller did not decide to quit out of the blue – he told Schon before the World Cup started that it was his last tournament. Muller felt tired, playing too many games in a year, and national team duty was too much. He was no longer young. The original announcement was fine – every player has to step down some time and Schon, alerted in advance, had time for quite search of replacement. But it was also a classic problem: how to replace a megastar? It is never painless and easy, for practically every new candidate pales in comparesment. There is always reluctantcy to call somebody else… and in the case of Muller it was even worse: was it possible at all to replace the best goalscorer in the world? Numbers alone tell differently – Gerd Muller is still unique in the history of football: he scored more goals for the national team than the games he played. Pele and Maradona don’t come even close to his average. And his manner of playing was also unique, so… perhaps fielding him a little longer… perhaps only in important games… perhaps not asking him to help in defense… which was not a solution after all, but just depending on Muller. But he said ‘no’. And he was not alone, so let’s see who was gone after the World Cup.
Only one player was not a problem: Hottges. The iron full back was not a starter since 1972, serving as reserve for Bertie Vogts. He appeared only once at the World Cup finals and only as a substitute. He exited quietly largely because Vogts was great and young enough. Grabowski also announced his retirement from the national team – looks like he and Muller told Schon early and the general public learned later. By itself, Grabowski’s retirement was not big deal – he was getting old and after three World Cups not only he felt it was time to call it a day. The trouble was that he left the team along with Muller and suddenly there was no centre-forward at all, the position was empty. And not only this one, but the whole attacking line – Erwin Kremers was gradually benched after 1972 and was just unused reserve at the World Cup. Jupp Heynckes lost his place during the World Cup as well and somehow never played strongly for the national team again – the second best goalscorer in the Bundesliga at the time failed to score for West Germany and obviously not a replacement for Muller. Attack was in trouble, and, unfortunately, not only the attack – Overath seemingly retired from the national team as well, for he did not play for West Germany after the World Cup. A new whole opened… for Netzer was the same age as Overath. Even with Beckenbauer in the team, there was a need of a playmaker in midfield and there was none. Schon and Netzer hardly tolerated each other anyway, but now a truce was impossible – aging Netzer was not in good form and reluctant to play, which made him more erattic than ever. After a struggle to a 1-1 tie against Greece in Dusseldorf on October 11, 1975 Netzer announced that he was no longer to play for West Germany. He was joined by his teammate in Real Madrid Paul Breitner – perhaps the only player able to step into playmaker’s shoes. Both appeared only twice after winning the World Cup – in Sofia, against Bulgaria, April 27, 1975 and then against Greece in October. Both matches were sluggish disgrace of football, ending 1-1, and the flamboyant moody stars were not willing to take it anymore: both severely criticized the way German football was organized and said that they don’t want to be part of it. Half of the team was gone… key positions were empty. Uli Hoeness was not available either, for he was struggling with injuries, which eventually cut his career short.
Instead of continuation of winning formula by quiet replacement of player now, another later, a third in a year, Schon had practically to build a new team – which was not the concept he had, and readjusting proved difficult. Schon was unable to revolutionize his own thinking and start from scratch – instead, he tried to continue his original concept, which increasingly appeared more as an chaotic patchwork than visionary rebuilding. Almost a full squad of players were introduced to the national team – W. Seel, R. Geye, K. H. Korbel, J. Pirrung, B. Dietz, R. Seeliger, B. Nickel, E. Kostedde, M. Ritschel, U. Kliemann, E. Beer, D. Danner, F. Keller, U. Stielike, B. Gersdorff, M. Kaltz, R. Kargus, R. Worm, H. Bongartz, K. Toppmoller, and finally – at the European Championship final – Dieter Muller. Most of them were strikers and nobody a playmaker – showing scary deficit of talent, for the best part of the new national players were not exactly young and not really stars, but rather well established second-stringers. Good for smaller clubs, but never attracting the interest of Bayern or Borussia. Many names, but they did not last longer than a match or two.
Infusing new blood – B. Gersdorff and E. Beer in the friendly with Austria. The new blood was rather stale… Beer was 28 years old, for instance.
The rollercoaster was largely good for trivia… for the first time a black player donned German jersey.
Erwin Kostedde on snow… well, he was not ‘black’ – strictly speaking, he was mulatto, born in Germany, so snow was not a challenge to him. Born in 1946, Kostedde had checkered career so far – starting with SC Preussen (Munster), and moving to MSV Duisburg, Standard (Liege, Belgium), and Kickers (Offenbach), before joining Hertha (West Berlin) for 1974-75 season. There were more clubs to follow… including a new spell with Standard (Liege) and a spell in France. Big star he never was – the fact he played for so many clubs, but rarely longer than a season, suggests clearly he was not born to be a great footballer. But he scored plenty, including the Bundesliga goal of the season in 1974. His inclusion in the German national team suggests desperation, not improvement. It also suggests a crisis and absence of talent, for Kostedde debuted when 29 years old – Gerd Muller, born one year before Kostedde, already felt too old to play for Germany. As for lasting impressions… one may safely say the new striker made none: he played a grand total of 3 matches, scoring no goals.

2011-10-01T00:33:00.000-07:00

Group 8 was originally seen as the easiest group – West Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, and Malta. Two non-entities and half dead Bulgaria – and the World Champions. Even prediction was pointless. It was the group not to be commented… it was so clear: West Germany casually will qualify and only then one should be looking.
It turned out differently. Very differently, in fact, although the development was not based on great football and fun. Malta was not to be counted at all, but so was Greece – the Greeks were expected to beat Malta and lose from both Bulgaria and West Germany. Bulgaria was still considered superior to Greece, but not a challenge to the Germans. The final table was made at the moment of the draw. Then games started…
Bulgaria was in big crisis – the disgrace at the World Cup alarmed and outraged everybody concerned with football in Bulgaria. The usual way of dealing with disappointments was a call of ‘massive change’, typically amounting to making a new team. At least in words – in reality, it was always a chaos: new players, old players, different coaches, but no visible program in place. Unfortunately, the Bulgarians were unable to really evaluate the state of football in the country: it was considered that only the squad at the World Cup was getting old and lame. The true picture became clear when the qualifications for the European championship started: things were worse than imagined. In short, Bulgarian football in the 1970s was in a big crisis – there were not really good players emerging. The pool of talent was terribly short. The slap in the face came Greece: instead of easy win, Bulgaria struggled to win a point in Sofia – 3-3, and the Greeks played better. At the end, the only wins Bulgaria got were against Malta and the ‘best’ match was the home against West Germany. Bulgaria finished third.
Greece was the surprise team: neither Bulgaria, nor West Germany managed to win against the Greeks. However, Malta did – the only points Malta got, a surprise on its own.
Greece, surprising even themselves: left to right: A. Glezos, K. Eleftherakis, H. Terzanidis, S. Sarafis, Y. Delikaris, T. Palas, Y. Firos, K. Iosifidis, A. Andoniadis, P. Ikonomopoulos, D. Papaioanou.
A great team they were not, but a beginning – certainly. From 1975 the progress of Greek football was getting steady and increasingly visible. The first real fruits were come in few years time, but the first steps were made by this squad – players already having experience and confidence with Panathinaikos. Olympiakos was improving as well; the impact of foreign players was good for Greek football; some players were well known, if not considered big stars, around Europe – Andoniadis, Ikonomopoulos. Younger players were eager to follow in the steps of the Greek stars – Domazos was increasingly challenged by others and finding that he had no longer a guaranteed place in the national team. Glezos, Eleftherakis, Papaioanou, and especially Delikaris were getting well respected in Europe. Greece was no longer a weakling, a donor of points to others – and it happened during the qualifying stage for the 1976 European championship. Greece was still not strong enough to go ahead, but it was getting close. A team on the rise.
1.WEST GERMANY 6 3 3 0 14- 4 9
2.Greece 6 2 3 1 12- 9 7
3.Bulgaria 6 2 2 2 12- 7 6
4.Malta 6 1 0 5 2-20 2
At the end it mattered not who ended second and who third – the World Champions quilifyed, as expected. The final table looks neat: the Germans did not lose a match; scored most goals; received least - no problem, clear domination. But the table misleads.
The line-up for the home game with Malta on February 28, 1976: left to right: Beckenbauer, Maier, Schwarzenbeck, Heynckes, Wimmer, R. Worm, Holzenbein, B. Dietz, E. Beer, U. Stielike, Vogts.
Strange names? Well, against Malta – nothing strange: just an opportunity to try new candidates. And rightly so – the new Germans won 8-0. As they should… except closer look brings questions: before this match, their last in the group, the Germans scored only 6 goals in 5 games against inferior teams. Greece scored more… and had equal points. It was this match with Malta to save West Germany from disgrace and to create a final record which looks great on paper. The reigning World Champions barely qualified for the second round and were ridden by troubles during the campaign. They did not play a single good game! Experiments with the squad were not real experiments, but almost desperate efforts to make somewhat strong team – and the experiments were failing.
It all started at the end at the 1974 World Cup – when Franz Beckenbauer voiced a heavy warning. German football was on the verge of crisis, he said. There were no new bright players and there was a need of radical change in training methods and vision in order of producing stars. What German football was making was sameness: mass production coming out of a factory. Beckenbauer’s criticism was discarded – it was party time and what could be wrong in a country just winning a World Cup? Let’s go for the beer and the cake… we are best!
Cake and beer. It was normal after all – if one is not celebrating conquering the world, then what? Joyous months of countless celebrations and receptions. Everybody happy, posing for the next photo.
Schon cuts the cake. Hoeness, Muller, and Maier behind looking not picture-perfect happy.

2011-09-28T00:27:00.000-07:00

Group 7. Although DDR was much talked about during 1974 World Cup, the team was not seen as potential winner of the group – if there was to be any fight for the first place, it was to be between France and Belgium. And it was not to be between two strong teams, but between two weak ones – France was shaky, trying to build competitive squad and so far failing. Belgium was in decline, with stars getting older and declining. New great players were seemingly absent. However, Belgium always performed better than expected in major tournaments – at least the fighting spirit of the ‘Red Devils’ did not diminish. DDR and France did not disappoint the pundits predicting gloom for the two countries. At the end, Iceland benefited most – the outsiders ended with unbelievable 4 points.
1.BELGIUM 6 3 2 1 6- 3 8
2.East Germany 6 2 3 1 8- 7 7
3.France 6 1 3 2 7- 6 5
4.Iceland 6 1 2 3 3- 8 4
France, struggling to build a team – and failing so far. But a skeleton of a team to make strong impression was already shaping. So far nothing… the team losing 1-2 at Leipzig on October 12, 1975 to East Germany: top, left to right: Tresor, Adams, Janvion, Bracci, Batheney, Baratelli.
Bottom: Rocheteau, Gallice, Michel, Guillou, Emon.
In a few years almost the same guys were to be praised – did not look possible in 1975.
When in doubt, choose Belgium – aging or not, they delivered. Rarely scoring goals, rarely receiving goals, pinching a point here, a point there, and advancing. Always collected, no ups and downs. Not exactly entertaining by 1975, but – first in the group. This is the team capturing 2-1 win over France in Brussels on October 12, 1974: top, left to right: G. van Binst, E. van den Daele, J. Verheyen, H. Broos, M. Martens, C. Piot.
Bottom: W. van Moer, R. Lambert, Francois vander Elst, J. Teugels, P. van Himst.
Some players were seemingly forever representing Belgium – van Himst, Piot, van den Daele. By 1975 they were judged over the hill and hardly capable of big surprise. It was a team seen in need of massive change, but new blood was not available. Dark years were envisioned for the Devils… especially when van Moer was heavily injured.

2011-09-26T00:30:00.000-07:00

Group 3. Yugoslavia and Sweden were expected to compete for the first place, but expectations failed: Yugoslavia quickly took the lead and Sweden finished third. Easy group for the ‘plavi’.
1.YUGOSLAVIA 6 5 0 1 12- 4 10
2.Northern Ireland 6 3 0 3 8- 5 6
3.Sweden 6 3 0 3 8- 9 6
4.Norway 6 1 0 5 5-15 2
Yugoslavia vs Sweden, September 6, 1975: top, left to right: B. Oblak, O. Petrovic, I. Buljan, D. Muzinic, I. Surjak, J. Katalinski.
Bottom: D. Vabec, J. Jerkovic, F. Vladic, Dz. Hadziabdic, D. Dzajic.
It was all about depth – after the Word Cup a whole bunch of players went abroad, but there were plenty more eager to don blue shirts and get famous. Transition was smooth and none lacked experience and confidence. For the first time Yugoslavia included ‘real professional’ player in the squad – Branko Oblak, playing for Schalke 04 in West Germany. The rest of the team above was soon to go to Western European clubs as well, but so far they aimed at the European cup. Strong team, but traditionally moody.
Group 6. It was easy to predict the winners: USSR. The rest of the group were weaklings. The only question was were the Soviets any good – and they were not that great.
1.SOVIET UNION 6 4 0 2 10- 6 8
2.Ireland 6 3 1 2 11- 5 7
3.Turkey 6 2 2 2 5-10 6
4.Switzerland 6 1 1 4 5-10 3
USSR clinched the first place only a point above Republic of Ireland – not a sign of supremacy.
This line-up was used in both matches with Switzerland in 1975: left to right: Muntyan, Troshkin, Onishchenko, Lovchev, Zvyagintzev, Buryak, Konkov, Blokhin, Veremeev, Rudakov, Fomenko.
With Lobanovsky at the helm, team USSR was practically Dinamo Kiev. There was an ‘extreme’ , when Lobanovsky fielded only Kiev players, including the reserves, but the ‘modified’ selection (after protests and criticism) was hardly different: only Lovchev (Spartak Moscow) and Zvyagintzev (Shakter Donezk) were not from Dinamo and Zvyagintzev was eventually transferred to Kiev. So, the sensational Cup Winners Cup and Supercup winners in 1975. And the European player of the year. A team to make waves and shake Europe? Hmm… it was a team to start and end qualifying campaign with losses – 0-3 to Irelnad and 0-1 to Turkey. Scoring was a problem. Domination too… USSR rather fought its way than outplaying weaker opponents. At the end, the unconvincing performance of the national team fueled further the controversy clouding Dinamo Kiev’s success: how come the same players were so powerful in the club and so helpless in the national team? But as far as the national team was concerned, it did not look like USSR was a contender.

2011-09-24T00:22:00.000-07:00

Going up? There were ephemeral and long lasting candidates in 1975, but my observations will be reserved for a team almost everybody missed to notice back then. Let’s take a look at competition in progress, for the unnoticed team belongs to it – the 1976 European Championship. So far – preliminary rounds, beginning further back, in 1974. Qualification round robin groups rarely get full attention – they are spread in more than two years and generally attract close interest only among immediate participants. Big overall observations are largely speculations on the ‘greatest”. And who were – are 0 the greatest? Italy, (West) Germany, Holland (finally), England (by habit), Spain (stubbornly), USSR (always ‘may be’). The usual suspects. Forget the rest until the quarterfinals. 1976 was to be the last European championship in ‘classic’ format: after preliminary groups, 2-legged direct elimination in the quarterfinals, and semifinals and finals in one country and one ‘sudden death’ matches.
The qualifying stage seems weird today, for we are conditioned to careful ‘presellecting’ and no longer to random draws. From contemporary point of view, the 8 qualifying groups back in 1974 were… uneven. There were some ‘light’ groups and some very ‘heavy weight’ ones, quite against ‘reason’: Holland, Poland, and Italy were to fight for one spot, but in the same time there was a group consisting of Wales, Austria, Hungary, and Luxembourg. The second and third finishers at the World Cup together when there was group of fading teams, to say the least… no wonder a whole lot of preliminary matches were hardly noticed. No wonder that some group winners were either already predicted, or did not really matter who qualified. Non-eventful groups… them first.
Group 2: Luxembourg were ‘certain’ team – to end last. Among the other three countries, it was expected Hungary and Austria to put some fight for the first place, neither very good at the time. And because of their decline Wales finished first – hardly a trong team set to disturb European status quo. What is there to say? Hungary and Austria were worse than thought.
1.WALES 6 5 0 1 14- 4 10
2.Hungary 6 3 1 2 15- 8 7
3.Austria 6 3 1 2 11- 7 7
4.Luxembourg 6 0 0 6 7-28 0
Wales in 1975: bottom, left to right: A. Griffiths, B. Flynn, W. D. Davies, R. Thomas, J. Mahoney.
Top: D. Smallman, T. Yorath, M. Page, L. Phillips, J. Roberts, J. Toshack.
Surprise winners – or heroic ones. Wales going ahead with confidence, but it was not a team expected to advance further. Similar to Northern Ireland, Wales was spirited team without enough high caliber players. Most of the choices were playing in lower divisions. There were hardly any stars. Toshack and Yorath were not enough to make the team real contender. Lovely team, adorable underdogs, but also the team to be eliminated at the ¼ finals.

2011-09-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Going down in 1975? Leeds United, surely. Missing one more opportunity in Europe, banished from European football after the riot of their fans in Paris, winning nothing. It was steady downhill to oblivion after that.
‘Super Leeds’ banner and Allan Clarke showing the League Cup to the fans in 1974. Nothing like that in 1975, so it is symbolic picture, showing the backs of the players. As if exiting already. Contrary to the banners, Leeds were only almost great… judging by their record. And the party was over.

2011-09-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

Departing – the other inevitable side of football. Karl-Heinz Schnellinger hung his boots after the end of the Bundesliga season. Another bit of the 1960s stepped down, quite literally with the relegation of his last club. Born in 1939, Schnellinger ammased impressive biography: one of the best central-defenders or libero during the 60s, he somewhat slipped out of attention with the turn of the decade. He was nicknamed ‘Volkswagen’ for his unassuming, dependable kind of game. Never out of form, never flashy, yet he always delivered – and he delivered mostly in Italy.
Volkswagen for Milan, where the German spent most of his career.
He started in 1959 with 1. FC Koln and won the West German championship (before the Bundesliga) in 1962. In 1963 he moved to AC Mantova (Italy), but clearly was not to stay in a modest club – AC Roma got him next year and after one-year spell in Rome, he became rosonero and stayed with Milan for almost 10 years (1965-74). And he won a plenty – twice champion (1962 with 1.FC Koln and in 1968 with AC Milan), 4 Italian Cups – AC Roma, 1964 and three with AC Milan (1967, 1972, 1973). In 1969 he won the European Champions Cup with AC Milan, followed immediately by winning the Intercontinental Cup. Add two Cup Winners Cups – 1968 and 1973. That’s on club level.
As a national team player, he was not so successful and it was not his fault really – perhaps he was just unlucky to play between the two greatest generations of West German football – too young to be among the World Champions of 1954 and too old to grace the European Champions of 1972 and the World Champions of 1974. But… he played at fours World Cup finals - 1958, 1962, 1966, and 1970. One of the still few players of such achievement. He played 47 matches for West Germany and scored 1 goal.
Getting ready for his last World Cup. The leam starting the friendly against Romania in April, 1970: left to right: Wolfgang Overath, Sepp Maier, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, Franz Beckenbauer, Wolfganf Weber, Erich Maas, Helmut Haller, Horst Hottges, Gerd Muller, Jurgen Grabowski, Berti Fogts. Kaiser Franz still in midfield – not yet moved to defense, where the Volkswagen reined supreme. The 1970 World Cup was worthy ending for the great player – he scored his first and only goal for the national team against Italy. West Germany eventually lost the match, but the clash is still considered one of the best games ever played.
How bitter to lose to a teammate? Schnellinger swapped jerseys with another Milan player – Gianni Rivera. Against each other, Rivera won… but together they still had to win an international cup. Alas, nothing with West Germany – Schnellinger was called for the last time in 1971 – there was iron duo already in place (Beckenbauer and Schwarzenbeck) and there was no more place for Karl-Heinz.
He left AC Milan in 1974 and returned to West Germany, tasting the Bundesliga for the first time.
Swan song… Schnellinger joined Tennis Borussia (West Berlin), newcomers to the Bundesliga. Both the club and its new captain were debutantes. TeBe did not have competitive squad and Schnellinger was not able to save the club from relegation alone. Perhaps his last season was bitter… perhaps not: people forget that many superstar played their final seasons in small clubs and lower divisions (Bobby Charlton, for instance).
Captaining TeBe against the yet future champions Borussia Moenchengladbach and trying to prevent deadly Jupp Heynckes from scoring. Left of Schnellinger is hopeless goalie Birkenmeier. Difficult last season in the cold both symbolically and literally struggling with the snow. After TeBe went down, Schnellinger retired from football. Didn’t like the snow? May be… Birkenmeier went to play in the USA and Schnellinger returned to Italy and settled as a businessman.
Hats off to the great player – he ended his career modest as ever, as a true Volkswagen. And as a true Volkswagen he captured hearts.

2011-09-17T00:36:00.000-07:00

European Player of the Year was another Eastern European player and close look at the final list was more alarming than the Golden Boot ranking: it clearly showed how impoverished 1975 was. 26 voters assembled from around Europe named a total of 32 players in their lists. The number was not strange – bias was a major force and many a voter sneaked a compatriot player, so the numbers usually swelled without corresponding to actual worth of international performance. Most voters were rarely seeing foreign stars anyway, so it was hard to acuse them of favouritism – they simply were not sure of the form of even big names, but knew well enough local talent.
What was troublesome was the top five: only three players got first place in individual lists. Sepp Maier was voted first twice. Franz Beckenbauer got 4 first places. The rest – 20 lists – went to Oleg Blokhin. Johann Crujff got none. Neeskens sunk down to the bottom of the final table. So with Gerd Muller. So with pretty much every star of the 1974 World Cup and most of the European famous names.
Blokhin ended best with 122 points. The total of Kaizer Franz, finishing second, was 42 points. Cruyff got only 27. Bertie Fogts – 25 and Sepp Maier 20. 80 points difference between first and second! One may think a new Pele suddenly appeared in time when there was no any other player worth a dime. Was it really Blokhin 80 points better than Beckenbauer? Light years better than Cruyff? Not at all. It was just mediocre season and in the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed was king. Everybody was underperforming, losing, or winning a little bit. Blokhin only was winning more than anybody this year: Soviet championship, European Cup Winners Cup, European Supercup, scoring all the goals in the Supercup finals, best goalscorer of the USSR. Nobody else got so many trophies and at such convenient time, for the Supercup, the Soviet championship, and the goals in both competitions came in the fall, near to the time of voting, and the memories were fresh.
Oleg Blokhin attacking Bayern and scoring supergoal, and winning the Supercup. Arguably, this confrontation elevated him to the yearly award.
In 1975 Blokhin was 23 years old and Europe’s number one. Was Blokhin that great? By Soviet standards – yes. By international ones – hardly. He debuted for Dinamo Kiev in 1969 and quickly established himself in the first team and more: he was included in the national team in 1972. By 1975 he was a staple of both Dinamo and USSR. He was also the best Soviet goalscorer 4 years in row, beginning in 1972. Back then he topped everybody else with 14 goals. In 1975 his record was 18. Well, hardly a potential Golden Boot winner, but in USSR there hasn’t been great and consistent goalscorer for a long, long time. It was a bit unsusual, though, for Blokhin was a classic left winger – very fast, relatively skillful, and also quite limited to the left side touchline: he seemingly disliked moved elsewhere and appeared to lack abilities to play anything else but classic left wing. He was also often criticized in the Soviet press in the previous years, especially for weak playing in the national team. Hardly Blokhin’s fault, though – Dinamo Kiev was prepared to play for him and use his goalscoring when the national team had different scheme and Blokhin, at least in his early years, was to be a supplier rather than consumer. As a supplier he was not that strong – he was best used as a final striker, a finisher. When Lobanovsky got his hands on Dinamo Kiev, it was exactly for that he used Blokhin - he discarded the centre-forward and as strange as it was, the left winger was the finisher. So far Blokhin had been rather predictable and limited winger, depending largely on his speed and using scoring opportunities. Onishchenko was by far the more interesting, dangerous, and inventive player, but Blokhin scored the goals. And now his speed and goals against Bayern made him the best European player. Sure – for his abilities, Blokhin had a great year. It would not count for much, given his limitations, if there was somebody else playing strong football in 1975. But everybody was playing worse football, not better…
Oleg Blokhin was never voted again Player of the Year and for a while it looked like his 1975 award was just a freak accident. But he surprisingly widened his game and 10 years later was much more accomplished player. And already the best Soviet player of all time. Hard to imagine in 1975, although he was the King of Europe.

2011-09-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

Awards completed the year. Just like everything else in 1975, the best individual players were strange. The Golden Boot went to Dudu Georgescu. The Romanian striker of Dinamo Bucharest was barely known around Europe, but this was hardly surprising: since the requirement was simply the most number of goals scored, the Golden Boot was very likely to be won by inferior player from gutter championship. Romanians were not at their best football in mid-70s, but still not terribly bad. Georgescu was rising star, at least locally. He topped Europe with his 33 goals – in the 18-team Romanian league that made almost a goal in every match: 33 goals in 34 games. Actually, very good as far as percentages go.
Dudu Georgescu celebrating yet another goal.
And much more somber Georgescu posing with the Golden Boot and surrounded by worthy company: left to right: Riedl (Royal Antwerpen and Austria, Bronze Boot), Onnis (Monaco and Argentina, Silver Boot), Yazalde (Sporting Lisbon and Argentina, Silver Boot), Vogts (Borussia Moenchengladbach and West Germany, The Best Defenseman of the Year), Georgescu (Dinamo Bucharest and Romania, Golden Boot), Geels (Ajax and Holland, Silver Boot).
Georgescu was not trouble – the numbers were trouble. His 33 goals were the lowest number so far in the history of the Golden Boot. Looked like goals were increasingly difficult to score, which may have been due to tougher defenses (no wonder Bertie Vogts is really at the centre of the picture), or due to decreasing number of great strikers. Three Silver Boots were awarded for three players were tied at 30 goals each, but none played in really big championship. Total football was king and goals were less? Troublesome contradiction. One thing was more or less sure in retrospect: the decline of the Golden Boot and the controversy surrounding the award can started in 1975 – from this year it was clear that great strikers were not to win it, for they played in tough leagues. Anonymous Joes from small leagues were to be best goalscorers of Europe. Dudu Georgescu, to his credit, was not among the small fry – he was born goalscorer and in different times would have fared much better. Unfortunately he played in time when Romania was ‘rebuilding’ and made no impression on international football. And Romania did not export players during Georgescu’s career, so he had no chance for playing in better club and getting true recognition. He continued to score, though.

2011-09-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

So far unsatisfying and bleak club season ended sourly. The Intercontinental Cup was not played at all and it looked like the end of this tournament. Thus, the European Supercup was, at least technically, the peak of club football. In reality the competition was shaky – it started as a private challenge between Ajax and Glasgow Rangers and although sanctioned and incorporated by UEFA, the contest between the European Champions Cup and the Cup Winners Cup winners attracted little interest – fans went in mass, of course, but otherwise nobody paid much attention. Somehow the ‘top’ competition was not seen as really ‘top’ – and the stigma remains to this very days. In 1974 there was no contest at all – apparently, for political reasons, for clubs of the two Germanies had to meet (ironically, they met after all – in the second round of the 1974-75 European Champions Cup Bayern eliminated 1. FC Magdeburg, beating them twice.) Nobody even noticed the Supercup was played… but it was to be revamped in 1975, opposing Bayern to Dinamo (Kiev). It was not expected to be great… there was grudge against both clubs. It was expected Bayern to win – Dinamo were not thought really good and it was high time to put them in their place. Bayern was the lesser evil – it was painful to think of another trophy going to Munich after yet another boring performance, but their experience, will power, and physicality was deemed supreme. The contest was still organized in two legs, first match in Munich. A bomb dropped… Dinamo outrun Bayern and won. In Kiev they won as well. Bayern, the natural born winners, were not able to score at all. The Soviets played faster, tougher… they looked more German than the Germans. In the clash of robots, the Soviet made had better batteries. Oleg Blokhin scored all goals – Gerd Muller ended with zero.
1st Leg, Olympiastadion, Munich, 9 Sep 1975, att 30000

Bayern Munich (0) 0 Dinamo Kiev (0) 1
66' 0-1 DK: Blokhin

Bayern Munich
Maier, Zobel, Horsmann, Schwarzenbeck, Beckenbauer, Weiss, Dürnberger(Roth), K.H. Rummenigge, G. Müller, Kappelmann, Wunder
Dinamo Kiev
Rudakov, Troshkin, Fomenko, Reshko, Zuev, Konykov, Damin, Buryak,
Kolotov, Slobodyan, Blokhin

2nd Leg, Republican Stadium, Kiev, 6 Oct 1975, att 110000

Dinamo Kiev (1) 2 Bayern Munich (0) 0
40' 1-0 DK: Blokhin
53' 2-0 DK: Blokhin
Dinamo won 3-0 on aggregate

Dinamo Kiev
Rudakov, Troshkin, Fomenko, Reshko, Zuev, Konykov, Muntyan, Buryak,Veremeyev, Onyshchenko, Blokhin
Bayern Munich
Maier, Weiss, Horsmann, Schwarzenbeck, Beckenbauer, Roth, Dürnberger(Hansen), Schuster (Torstensson), Wunder, Kappelmann, K.H. Rummenigge
The picture shows what was expected before the matches: Zobel ready to score in the net of Rudakov.
If not Zobel, hawkish Muller then… under pressure, Dinamo was to crack sooner or later – and on photos it looks just that.
But it was unstoppable Oleg Blokhin to crack Bayern. Three times and in the presense of Schwarchebeck (4) and whoever wears number 8. really, Bayern players were reduced to ‘whoever’ anonymity by Dinamo.
Reshko, Fomenko, and Muntyan try to lift the Supercup. Weird cup… somewhat too huge for its actual reputation. Looks too heavy for Kiev’s players too… as if not really for them. But it was theirs and without a shade of doubt. Mighty Bayern was utterly and completely destroyed.
So, Dinamo were the best of the best… Doubts emerged during the matches and percolate ever since. One is the attitude of Bayern – there was a suspicion that they were not really trying and only putting an appearance. They were thought not interested in this Cup and not wanting to play. Beckenbauer is still regularly asked to tell the truth… football players are notoriously tied-lipped when the topic is suspicious games. They are vague at best – usually, there was wide-spread corruption during their times, but they don’t really know concrete names, because they themselves were never involved. That’s the most one can get from players… and Beckenbauer routinely answers that Dinamo was just better in the early fall of 1975, Bayern tried the best they can, but were outplayed and lost fair and square. May be there was something in the Kiev’s camp, may be some tampering, but the Kaiser doesn’t really know… but Bayern – they were clean.
The suspicion remains largely because Bayern were outrun – then the starting list was put under scrutiny and looks like Bayern played with whole bunch of reserves.Muller did not appear in the second match, Hoeness missed both games, Zobel and Roth did not either play in both matches, or were substitutes, Hansen and Trostensson were substitutes. Rummenigge (not the superstar yet, but rather suspect ‘may be’), Weiss, some entirely unknown Schuster… Horsmann… the latter was probably the only justifiable starter, for he was expected to be the new Bayern’s left full back – alas, one of the biggest disappointments against Dinamo. Strange team… not wanting to win? Not caring for the Supercup? Possibly.
As for Dinamo, their fantastic condition was very suspicious. It was mildly suspect against Ferencvaros, but very suspect against Bayern: how come out of the blue sluggish and hardly impressive players transformed into mighty runners, passed the ball with uncanny precision and beat Bayern in what the Germans were best? Officially, nothing wrong was suspected, though and as far as UEFA is concerned, Dinamo-1975 was never acused or investigated. Outside UEFA there was and is a strong conviction that Dinamo were doped – not for the particular finals, but for the whole season. After all, Lobanovsky worked close with ‘scientific laboratory’ and who knows what ‘science’ was concocted there. The real doubt is fueled by this: in 1974 Dinamo were still neither great, nor impressive, They were good enough for the Soviet league out of which so far no good club team ever emerged on the international scene. Then the same players had fantastic 1975 season – the sudden transformation was too much and perhaps would have been swallowed as normal development, if the squad continued to play great football. But Dinamo sunk into mediocrity in 1976 and for the most of team it was quick and steady downfall after that. How come those guys had only one great season, so different from their usual level? How come they faded so quickly and beyond repair? The questions perhaps will never be answered.
What can be answered is something usually overlooked: USSR (and Russia today) had spring-autumn season as opposed to fall-spring season in most of Europe. In the early September Dinamo were in midseason and in prime form. Bayern were coming out of the summer break and the German season barely started. If Dinamo were well oiled squad, playing regular championship games, Bayern had new players to fit in and had only friendlies behind them. The Soviets were made team and the Germans were a team in making. This was big difference and also explains the ‘strange’ players fielded by Bayern. It was not like Dinamo fielded their normal starters either, but they had the advantage of known quality: Damin, Zuev, Slobodyan were varieties of established team – Bayern’s ‘strange’ players were experiments in possibilities. Players getting to know each other, players tried, players put in different positions for learning different tactics and options. Whether accusations of doping and not willing to play have any weight is perhaps less important than the simple fact that Dinamo were in prime form and Bayern objectively had no way to be in such form yet. Suspicions or not, Dinamo Kiev took the Supercup home. Good for them, yet, the Supercup was sour ending of a sour season.

2011-09-10T00:17:00.000-07:00

Of course, one forgets immediately domestic misfortunes when a final comes: Bayern vs Leeds United! The names alone suggested mighty clash, for never mind momentary form, when British and German clubs meet one must be certain that the opponents will put fantastic fight. The stage was perfect – Paris. The referee was one the top at the time – the Frenchman Kitabdjian. So, no monkey business.
M. Kitabdjian – important to mention, because it was the Greek referee two years earlier robbing Leeds from a Cup Winners Cup. There was no such danger this time and considering the opponents, the game was in capable hands. Before the match started, that is.
When it started it was not what fans hoped for… Clash it was, surely, but football? Leeds United attacked for 90 minutes and Bayern was reduced to defending in their own penalty area. It was not like the Germans came on the pitch minding to play catenaccio – they loved to attack as well, except they were not capable of attacking. Hardly pressed by Leeds, they just fought to clear the ball away from the net. It was English show, yet, unsuccessful one… Beckenbauer and company fought hard, as a wall, and the dominance of Leeds was fruitless. Or almost fruitless – a goal scored by Lorimer was denied , for Bremner was offside. On two occasions penalties were denied. The English were quick to cry ‘robbery’ and point accusingly to the ‘blind’ Kitabdjian, but… Bremner was offside and as for penalties… both occasions were rather questionable.
Lorimer shoots and scores, but Billy Bremner is offside… bad luck, no more. Leeds was so supreme a goal was just a matter of time.
Looks like clear penalty and no whistle. Decisisve moment? Perhaps. As for the penalty… one has to take the times into account. Short of mass murder, 1970s referees hardly ever awarded penalties. Blatant diving was employed as a counter-measure by 1975, but Allan Clarke was not a diver or at least not at this moment. The other problem was Kaizer Franz himself: he was not a dirty player, just the opposite – a gentleman never playing rough. His tackles were feather-light, hardly ever getting into contact with the striker. And he had huge reputation as well, so one thinks not even twice, but ten times before calling a foul against Beckenbauer. It is not to say the Kaizer was above committing fouls, but… they did not look like fouls: here he appeared to be trying to slide and clean the ball, missed, and caught Clarke’s leg accidentally. It is largely in the posture – Franz appears to miles away from Clarke’s body, seemingly disinterested in it, even doing his best to avoid the slightest hint of contact. And the Kaizer duped the referee, for he committed a foul – a foul not looking like a foul… Leeds paid the price, but fouls like that were increasingly employed, eventually named ‘professional fouls’ and moved away from the penalty area: they were routinely committed just to stop an attack, became essential tactical weapon and plagued and destroyed the game in the 1980s. The denied penalty above is simply an early example.
But whatever Leeds were denied by the referee hardly excuses the team – they were so supreme, they should have scored, no matter the heroics and the fouls of Beckenbauer, Schwarzenbeck, and above all Maier, in entrenched defense. Sure, it looked like goal was to be scored in the very next second, in the next attack… but Leeds failed to score.
Dire times for Bayern – Muller spent most of the game in front of the net, except it was not Leeds net, but his own. Lorimer was unstoppable… and failing to score again and again, and again.
Until the 71st minute… when the Germans scored. Ten minutes later Muller finally appeared in front of Leeds goalie and it was 2-0 Bayern. They shot twice in 90 minutes and scored 2 goals.
What a major disappointment: Bayern was outplayed, clearly was not equal to the task, but nevertheless by sheer power of will not only survived, but won. Not pleasing anybody, though. Undeserving victory… but victory.
Final, Parc des Princes, Paris, 28 May 1975, att 50000

Bayern Munich (0) 2 Leeds United (0) 0
71' 1-0 BM: Roth
81' 2-0 BM: Müller

Bayern Munich (trainer Cramer)
Maier; Beckenbauer, Schwarzenbeck, Dürnberger, Andersson (Weiss);
Zobel, Roth, Kapellmann; Hoeness (Wunder), Müller, Torstensson
Leeds United (trainer Armfield)
Stewart; Reaney, F.Gray, Madeley, Hunter; Bremner, Giles, Yorath
(E.Gray); Lorimer, Clarke, Jordan
Referee: Kitabdjian (France)
By hook and crook Bayern lifted the European Champions Cup for a second time. There was plenty to be said about this final post-factum. Losers first.
Leeds United before the start of the final. It became the swan song of the club, although nobody detected it at the time. The signs of downfall were already there – Leeds plummeted to midtable position in England, but their weak season was obscured by the general unpredictable competitiveness of English football. The bad luck and outrages refereeing further obfuscated the club’s troubles: they lost two European finals, but were seen as victims of others. Years later British observers reasoned that Leeds were already dangerously aging, but such opinion somewhat contradicts evidence: so far Leeds showed capability of gradual smooth change of generations – surely Giles, Bremner, Reaney, Eddie Gray were getting long in the tooth, but Madeley, Clarke, Hunter, Lorimer were still in their prime, and Yorath, Jordan, and McQueen were young and already establishing themselves as key players. Transition seemed fine. True, Don Revie left to coach the English national team, but Armfield was experienced enough and looked like just a matter of time until he gets Leeds in shape. It was not to be, though – 1975 was the final year of Leeds United, they expired right then and if one looks at their record from the early days of Revie’s dream back in the 1960s, one thing became painfully clear: Leeds were not winners. They won very little during their golden years and the vision of making an English version of great Real Madrid never materialized. Internationally, Leeds won only the old Fairs Cup in 1968. Somehow, as good as this team was, it was not a winner – it was only a second-best, a promise of greatness never fulfilled. After the lost final there was more, practically putting the lid on Leeds: fans violence was already growing, but this time it was really noticed – angry and disappointed English fans started massive fighting immediately after the final whistle. The riot was so bad UEFA punished the club with three years banishment from European competitions. Football violence only grew after that and became a permanent part of the game – so 1975 and Leeds have the dubious honour of introducing the trend to the world.
Bayern put different stamp of football – on the pitch, not in the stands.
Happy with their second European Champions Cup: bottom, left to right: Hans-Josef Kapellmann, Sepp Maier, Rainer Zobel, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck.
Top: Franz Roth, Bernd Durnberger, Franz Beckenbauer, Klaus Wunder, Franz-Josef Weiss, Gerd Muller, Conny Torstensson.
First of all, Bayern became only the third club so far able to win back-to-back Cups – after Real Madrid and Ajax Amsterdam. A sign of greatness, hands down. Unlike the other two, Bayern was not exactly convincing winner – they rather survived the perils of the finals, and by sheer will extracted victory. Tough and admirable for that boys, but hardly pleasing to watch. Like Leeds, Bayern had disastrous season and new coach – unlike Leeds, their previous coach did not leave on his own, but was fired. Yet, like Leeds, the new coach hardly changed anything, continuing already established tactics and squad. Cramer continued what Lattek already started: gritty, physical game, in which Bayern was constantly pressing the opposition everywhere on the pitch. Iron spirit, excellent condition, and no no-sense fancy football. Imagination was seemingly banished for good after 1973 – just outrun the opposition and win. Victors Bayern were – tough relentless, inexaustible fighters, with iron determination and no nerves. They employed mercilessly every trick in the book – the so called ‘professional fouling’ was more or less their invention; they never shied away from artless clearings; from the off-side trap. And there was no way to break their spirit and will – no matter the result, they were playing as if they were winning. The impression on their opposition was massive: Bayern was a team impossible to beat, they looked fierce, and even leading 3-0 against them was no comfort, but frightful. Born winners and winners they were, except it was no longer the real stars who won the games: especially in Europe, it was the ‘gritty’ players who won the games. It was Schwarzenbeck equalizing in the 90th minute against Atletico Madrid in 1974. It was Franz Roth scoring the first goal against Leeds in 1975. It was the ‘work horses’ making the difference: unimpressive, unimaginative, unartistic, yet, ever determined, always excellently fit, and capable to play at every position. Roth, Durnberger, Weiss… dull and effective crushers. And victory depended on them. And Bayern was increasingly becoming full of them. And this dreadful kind of football was becoming the norm, for it was successful. Who cares about beauty when at the end a cup is lifted in triumph. Mediocrity was becoming the road to victory. It cannot be denied, though – Bayern’s brand of football was triumph of will, discipline, condition. One has to appreciate that. One may not like it too. Bayern were bitter-sweet winners.

2011-09-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

As ever, the ‘real thing’ was the European Champions Cup and there was little alarm at first – it started ‘naturally’, that is, the expected winners were winning. It was kind of boring beginning, although the fun was to start at later stage. Or so was thought. There was a little personal disappointment: my Levski was paired with Ujpesti Dosza at the first round. Since hope never dies, the atrocious spring season of Levski was to be put aside and better game was surely to be played at the beginning of the new season. The Hungarians were seen as beatable… until they arrived in Sofia and destroyed clueless Levski. Grieve aside, Ujpesti Dosza looked pretty impressive – mobile, fast, confident, playing total football most of the time.
Ujpesti Dosza: top, left to right: Adam Rothermel, Jeno Kellner, Laszlo Fekete, Laszlo Fazekas, Antal Dunai, Ferenc Bene, Laszlo Nagy, Karoly Szigeti.
Sitting: Endre Kolar, Laszlo Harsanyi, Andras Toth, Endre Dunai, Jozsef Horvath, Sandor Zambo, Peter Juhasz.
Entirely different team from hopeless Ferencvaros seen against Dinamo Kiev in the spring of 1975. The Lilacs were the right combination of experience and youth, they had no weak position, and even their reserves were strong. In the fall of 1974 Ujpesti Dosza looked very promising: after the great World Cup, football apparently continued to develop in the right way and here was evidence - more and more teams were embracing total football. Which was a promise for competitive fun… not to materialize. The Hungarians were eliminated quickly at the 1/8 finals, losing both legs to Leeds United. The whole tournament continued in this predictable way – the favourites progressing, no surprises, and nothing really new emerging. It was rather routine process, in which something else eventually was noticed: the favourites were winning, but not confidently. They struggled. And struggled not that much because of worthy opposition, but because there was something wrong with them. By the ¼ final stage it was painful: Ararat (Erevan, USSR), Ruch (Chorzow, Poland), and Atvidabergs FF (Sweden) reached it, but by the lucky chance of drawing lesser opponents – none of the three was a revelation. They were promptly eliminated, yet, the mighty favourites going ahead did not impress. Bayern even lost the second leg to Ararat 0-1. The final four were easily assessed and after the first ½ final leg it was not a prediction, but a certainty:
Beckenbauer vs Cruijff. Not because Bayern and Barcelona were great – both clubs had mediocre season so far – but because there was nobody else and at the end the best players in the world were the whole difference. Bayern extracted 0-0 tie visiting Saint Etienne (France) and Barcelona managed 1-2 loss visiting Leeds United. The second legs were no brainer…
In a way, the snowy pitch at St. Etienne symbolized the season: tough and gritty, without smiles and happiness. The Germans had to use even Muller in defense, but Maier, Beckenbaure, Schwarzenbeck, and – yes, laughable defender Muller – were able to survive the assaults of Herve Revelli and company. The same was envisioned in the other ½ final as well.
Bayern won 2-0 in Munich, but Cruijff and his Spanish tugs met their match in Barcelona… Leeds United, highly versed in tuggish and tough fighting managed 1-1 and went to play the final. What a collapse in a less than an year time… managed by the creator of total football and having two of the archpriests of the style – Cruijff and Neeskens – Barcelona showed classic boring Spanish football and was gone. No better in the domestic championship either… which was the case of Bayern and Leeds as well. The finalists were midtable clubs…

2011-09-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

Cup Winners Cup. The tournament reached its lowest point this season. True, it was never exciting and increasingly becoming not the second, but really the third European competition, yet even by its declining standards it was bad – at least in previous years strong clubs played at the final. In 1975 the finalists were not so and both were East European: Dinamo (Kiev) and Ferencvaros (Budapest). It all depends on the standpoint, though – for some (myself included), it was clear sign of post-World Cup hangover. For others – a sign of decline, either of European football as a whole, or at least of this particular tournament. In times of superclubs, to keep a competition for occasional lucky one-timers was useless. There was a third part, naturally: they argued that everything was just fine and especially football in Communist East Europe was on the rise. Well, if one was supporter of Dinamo or Ferencvaros, it appeared to be exactly that. For non-supporters it was plainly fun to have new names contesting the Cup. From today’s point of view the skeptics of 1975 seem right: the tournament is dead for years now precisely because it was weak and no fun.
It was not that there were no strong candidates, however few: Liverpool, Real Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, PSV Eindhoven, Benfica entered the competition and were considered favourites. Three clubs on the rise; one recovering; and one aging, but still strong. Speculations in the early Autumn of 1974 quickly proved wrong – the favourites were eliminated one after another, and quite early too. Liverpool finished at the 1/8 finals after two ties against Ferencvaros – 1-1 at home and 0-0 at Budapest. The Hungarians moved ahead thanks to away goal. Eintracht Frankfurt did not go further than 1/8 finals, losing both legs against Dinamo Kiev 2-3 and 1-2. Benfica and Real Madrid advanced gloriously to the ¼ finals: Benfica managed a 0-0 tie visiting PSV Eindhoven, but lost at home 1-2. Real Madrid was better show: it was improving Real coached by Milan Miljanic vs his former club Crvena zvezda. Netzer and Breitner vs Dragan Dzajic. Real won 2-0 in Madrid. In Belgrade the result was the same, but for Crvena zvezda. It was almost bizarre: Breitner’s foul in the penalty area provided the Yugoslavs with scoring opportunity and their goalkeeper did not miss.
In a second, although it does not look possible, Breitner will foul Jankovic.
A rare moment in the 70s: goalkeeper against goalkeeper. Ognjan Petrovic (in black, on left) scored confidently.
Extra time proved goalless and Crvena zvezda won the shootout 6-5. Good buy, Real! In a way, the former pupils of Miljanic were better than his current ones. Real Madrid was perhaps the strongest looking team in the competition:
Potential great winners? Only in Spain.
Only PSV Eindhoven reached ½ of the early candidates for the Cup. Their hour of fame coming? The new great Dutch team? Dinamo won 3-0 in Kiev and lost 1-2 in Eindhoven ending the flight of the Dutch. Meantime Crvena zvezda, the other possible finalist by now, was eliminated by Ferencvaros after a 1-2 loss and 2-2 tie. No prediction came true this year, but it may have been fate too, for draws were ‘seeded’ or otherwise manipulated in favour of big clubs back then. Dinamo Kiev faced CSKA Sofia at first and the draw was no brainer – it was expected the Bulgarians to lose without challenging ‘Big Brother’. It was strangely tough, yet dull, fixture: the Bulgarians hardly played at all, but Dinamo struggled and won both legs by measly 1-0. Then they surprised Eintracht Frankfurt beating them both legs. Looked like the Germans underperformed. In the ¼ finals Dinamo was paired with Bursaspor. The Turks were hardly an opposition back then and lost both matches – 0-1 and 0-2. The Soviets lost a match only at the ½ - after comfortably beating 3-0 PSV Eindhoven at home, they lost 1-2 the away game. Hardly mattered, except to prove that the Phillips club was not going to be great. Dinamo had 2 easy opponents and 2 strong, and so was the case of Ferencvaros – their first opponent was hardly an opposition: Cardiff City, representing as ever Wales, although the English First Division was absolutely out of reach for Cardiff. Naturally, Ferencvaros won both legs – 2-0 and 4-1. Then Liverpool came and after two ties the Hungarians went ahead thanks to their away goal. The ¼ final was much lesser opponent: Malmo FF. Ferencvaros won in Malmo 3-1, but ended in 1-1 at home. Then Crvena zvezda in the semi-finals – 2-1 and 2-2 qualified the team from Budapest, although Crvena zvezda was the better club as far as names go. So far Kiev was doing much better job with 9 wins and 1 loss. Ferencvaros were kind of lucky… 4 wins and 4 ties. Were these two deserving finalists is pointless question, for they eliminated their opponents, when the ‘deserving’ Real, Liverpool, etc, ended at the short end. After all, it was telling that only one of the original ‘favourites’ reached the ½ finals. But it was also telling that the finalists were not exactly great… Interest alone was the judge: 13 000 fans attended the final at Bern. Sure, it was a small venue and in a country lukewarm about football, and thanks to Communist restrictions neither finalist had any home fans supporting it at the stands, but 13 000 is very low – only three finals had smaller public and all lowest attended finals involved East European clubs. It was not only the absence of fans: the media was not interested either. Neither club was deemed really strong and interesting. There was a suspicion that the Hungarians were not going to put a fight, either smart enough to grasp the idea of Communist subordination, or, if stupid, will be ordered to lose.
I had the same feeling and was certain that Kiev will get the cup without even pretense of struggle from Ferencvaros. My dark expectations were fulfilled – or so I thought – by the team Ferencvaros fielded: it was too young, unknown, and surely inexperienced. The names sounded wrong somewhat – certainly not the players of two years ago. At the other side Dinamo strutted on the pitch with their best.
The game was no brainer – it was one team show. Dinamo outrun, outplayed, outscored the helpless Hungarians. At the end, it was boring game, for there was only one team playing. Ferencvaros were so bad, I was certain they played their reserves. Tibor Nyilasi was substituted, but he he was completely unknown player at the time, hardly 20 years old. My impression of Ferencvaros was entirely negative: I though they played some kind of tribute to their veteran goalie and captain Geczi and the rest were deep reserves who hardly ever appeared in a real match.
The Soviets did not impress me either – as many a commentator, I found their football mechanical, uninspired, dull, and prefabricated. They moved like robots, doing prescribed limited job on assembly line. The only players I liked were Onishchenko, Troshkin, and Konkov. There was some inspiration and some freedom detectable in their moves, although it was clear they were severely restricted by tactical scheme raining supreme and ignoring imagination altogether. Perhaps the biggest victim of Lobanovsky’s mechanical football was Onishchenko, who operated on both wings, visibly by orders. It would have been interesting, if both wingers were changing places, but Blokhin never went to the right wing and from this Onishchenko suffered: moving to the left, he doubled Blokhin, there was no space for two speedy wingers and generally such moves confused and limited the Dinamo’s attack. Against better opponent such deficiency would have been punished, but Ferencvaros had no bite at all. One thing very obvious about Dinamo was their condition: they run with fantastic speed, never stopping even to catch their breath. Winning the game was sure thing – as they did – but also it was very suspicion display of physicality. Were the Soviets doped? Nobody can tell – no official accusation was ever made, yet, the speculations exist to this very day. However, suspicions came in full force a bit later – Ferencvaros were so bad, it was not to take much to beat them. As for ‘great’ Kiev (and fueling speculations of doping), it was surprising that they scored only 3 goals against dead Hungarians.
Onishchenko, the best player at the final, scored two goals. In a way, this picture sums the whole match: the Hungarians were late, clumsy, weak, and not a real challenge. What exactly is doing Geczi here? Hardly trying to catch the ball…
Leonid Buryak tries a header – headers were never strong point of Soviet players, yet, against Ferencvaros they fancied even headers and they kind of worked. With opponents so lame everything worked.
A miracle: Geczi saves the shot of Onishchenko (left, on the ground).

Final, St. Jakob Stadium, Basle, 14 May 1975, att 13000

Dinamo Kiev (2) 3 Ferencvarosi (0) 0
18' 1-0 DK: Onischenko
39' 2-0 DK: Onischenko
67' 3-0 DK: Blokhin

Dinamo Kiev
Rudakov; Troshkin, Matvienko, Reshko, Fomenko; Muntjan, Konkov,
Burjak, Kolotov; Onischenko, Blokhin
Ferencvarosi
Geczi; Martos, Megyesi, Pataki, Rab; Nyilasi (Onhaus), Juhasz,
Mucha; Szabo, Mate, Magyar
Winners are always happy: Dinamo Kiev won and now even Blokhin (on the left) is all smiles.
The President of UEFA Artemio Franchi presents the Cup Winners Cup to Dinamo captain V. Kolotov.
The winners, patently looking grim. ‘The revelation of the season’, wrote Mirroir du Football… owned by the French Communist Party. Were they really a revelation? Finally USSR got a winning club. Finally a Soviet club looked strong. But… it was very dull year, practically the whole European football playing some kind of boring tired game. Dinamo really looked fresh when compared to others. As fresh as mechanic toys look fresh and eager to show preconditioned movements in pre-designed patterns. As long as battery runs… Dinamo were not fun at all and if they were the future of football… it was scary.
But let the boys enjoy their victory: bottom, left to right: Kolotov, Matvienko, Muntyan, Reshko, Onishchenko.
Top: Fomenko, Blokhin, Rudakov, Buryak, Lobanovsky – coach, Troshkin.
Konkov is missing for some reason. May be banished for smiling? Lobanovsky was not one to allow frivolity, but nevertheless his robots got the Cup.

2011-09-03T00:17:00.000-07:00

A season saturated with Borussia photos, that was 1974-75. May be their finest season, but it was increasingly West German scene anyway. The UEFA Cup produced little surprises at first, except for the early exit of the English clubs. So far the third European club tournament has been English domain – now only Derby County managed to reach 1/8 finals and no further. Velez (Mostar) eliminated them, as to confirm the crisis of English football. When the ½ stage arrived it was a manifestation of new order in the European football: Juventus was the only ‘traditional’ club. Two West German had to play against each other and the forth – meeting the Italians – were Dutch. Perhaps this was the greatest hour of Twente (Enschede) – they won both legs against Juventus. Not to be outdone, Borussia also won both matches against 1. FC Koln. As for results, they were exactly the same: Twente won 3-1 and 1-0 in Torino. Same results in favour of Borussia, although in reverse: they won 3-1 visiting Koln and managed 1-0 on home turf. May be that was the important difference at the end, but before the finals one thing was sure: the UEFA Cup final was just a smaller version of the World Cup final a year earlier. May be Dutch victory this time? After all, they were up and coming and Borussia were already established name somewhat lacking international success. One more thing was equal – both finalists hailed from small towns and had small stadiums. Borussia, hosting the first leg, preferred to play it at Dusseldorf. Twente on the other hand played at their even smaller than Borussia’s stadium the second leg. The first match ended 0-0, Borussia playing surpising nominal 4-4-2 and unable to score. Looked like Dutch revenge for the lost World Cup final was coming. But one had to pay closer attention to Borussia’s earlier performances: they appeared to be more comfortable when visiting and their hosts were obliged to play open football. In Enschede Borussia played 4-3-3 – more attacking version than at home. By the 60th minute they were leading 4-0 and the Cup was already theirs. It was 5-1 at the final whistle. Was it a challenge really? Borussia won so easily. To a point, this final spelled out the end of Twente – they never became the forth great Dutch club and faded away. As trivia goes, it had been Germans scoring on compatriots – Twente’s goalkeeper Gross was a West German import. Arnold Muhren, sold by Ajax to Twente continued his misery as a substitute player. Was he an empty promise? Just wait 5 more years. Then add 8 more, but at 1975 he looked like doomed to failure. Stielike was still young and shaky, but Simonsen was already a bright star. Three goals by Heynckes and 2 by Simonsen – one more trophy for the Germans.
For Twente – sweet memories and their squad on the the program:
Final 1st Leg, Rheinstadion, Dusseldorf, 7 May 1975, att 42000

Borussia Monchengladbach (0) 0 FC Twente '65 (Enschede) (0) 0

Borussia Monchengladbach
Kleff; Wittkamp, Stielike, Vogts, Surau; bonhof, Wimmer, Danner
(Del'Haye), Kulik (Schaffer); Simonsen, Jensen
FC Twente '65 (Enschede)
Gross; Drost, Van Ierssel, Overweg, Oranen; Thijssen, Pahlplatz,
Van der Vall, Bos; Jeuring (Achterberg), Zuidema

Final 2nd Leg, Diekman, Enschede, 21 May 1975, att 21000

FC Twente '65 (Enschede) (0) 1 Borussia Monchengladbach (2) 5
2' 0-1 BM: Simonsen
9' 0-2 BM: Heynckes
50' 0-3 BM: Heynckes
60' 0-4 BM: Heynckes
76' 1-4 Tw: Drost
86' 1-5 BM: Simonsen (pen)
Monchengladbach won 5-1 on aggregate

FC Twente '65 (Enschede)
Gross; Drost, Van Ierssel, Overweg, Oranen, Bos (Muhren), Thijssen,
Pahlplatz (Achterberg), Van der Vall, Jeuring, Zuidema
Borussia Monchengladbach
Kleff; Wittkamp, Vogts, Surau (Schaffer), Klinkhammer; Bonhof,
Wimmer (Koppel), Danner; Simonsen, Hensen, Heynckes
German goal in German net.
Heynckes scores his second for the night.
Simonsen makes it 5 from a penalty. Gross is helpless.
And Berti Vogts lifts the UEFA Cup.
First international trophy for Borussia – today UEFA Cup, next year the European Champions Cup? Very likely, with a squad like this. As for the Dutch, there will be some cup lifting too, alas, only for two players – Thijssen and Muhren.

2011-08-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

From amateur leagues to world class Bundesliga - on every level West German football was THE FOOTBALL in 1974-75.
A glimpse of the season:

And the German football was to place to be as well – the thrill was huge: from legendary players like Karl – Heinz Schnellinger relegated to Borussia Moenchengladbach champions again. Snow, slush, great grass, penalties, heavy tackles, superstars arguing with referees… the present was German and the future – without a doubt German too.

2011-08-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

With Bayern so weak, the German championship was open for grabs? Not so. It was predictable champion: Borussia Moenchengladbach won their third Bundesliga title. Looked natural. It also looked like that Borussia were progressing constantly: by 1975 their coach Hennes Weissweiler was no longer a guy with difficult to pronounce name, but one of the top world coaches, known to all and sundry. Winning was the name of his game.
After the match with Eintracht Braunscweig and Jensen scoring, Berti Fogts shows to the public the German champion shield.
Jupp Heynckes got the gun as the top goalscorer of the championship.
Top, left to right: Hennes Weissweiler –coach, Henning Jensen, Hans Posner, Gunter Kostner, Hans-Jurgen Wittkamp, Josef Heynckes, Christian Kulik, Dietmar Danner, Hans Klinkhammer, Frank Schafer, Horst Koppel, Stock – masseur.
Sitting: Ulrich Surau, Allan Simonsen, Karl del’Haye, Bertie Fogts, Wolfgang Kleff, Hans Quasten, Ulrich Stielike, Rainer Bonhof, Herbert Wimmer, Roger Roebben.
By now, Borussia were firmly established as the second best German club, the constant rivals of Bayern. They were also considered the alternative of Bayern – a maverick team, devoted to free, almost wild, attacking football, unlike to measured, disciplined, and stiff brand of the Bavarians. Borussia were thought to be the team scoring madly, a main part of the legend about them. They scored plenty, but… usually Bayern scored more goals. So far, 1974-75 was the highest scoring season for Borussia - 86 goals! Alas, even now they were not the bst scorers – third placed Eintracht Frankfurt bested them with 89. So much for the legend, but Borussia were really dedicated to endless attack – unlike Bayern’s, their defense was the weakest line and allowed considerable goals against Borussia. 40 in the winning season – more or less, Borussia depended on outscoring the opposition: about 2 goals for 1 received. The mavericks were not really mavericks, but one thing they did much better than Bayern: they replaced players better, and with the years the squad as getting increasingly stronger.
If Bayern became a superclub, Borussia were relatively small one and this difference shaped club policies in favour of Borussia. Bayern was buying high profile players, but never as big as their secret superstars. Borussia had to sell and buy cheap replacements. To sell Beckenbauer or Muller was almost unthinkable in Munich. In Moenchengladbach there was no such stigma – cash was needed, so Netzer was sold without fuss – his absence opened room for younger unknowns. One result was the performance of imported players: when Torstensson and Andersson came to Bayern with considerable fame, but played erratically and somewhat not up to expectations, Borussia acquired 2 young unknown Danes – Simonsen and Jensen. Both not only established themselves as starters, but constantly improved their game. By 1978 people hardly remembered Bayern’s Swedes whether Borussia’s Danes were world famous strikers, eventually ending in Barcelona and Real Madrid. And they were not alone.
Like Bayern, Borussia depended on cluster of big stars – Fogts, Heynckes, Wimmer, Kleff. There were players close to the European and World champions and often included in the national team – Koppel and Danner. There were supportive workaholics like Wittkamp, Kulik, and Surau. But there was a lot of young talent, aiming on stardom: Bonhof already established himself in the national team and certainly was a star, but others were pushing too – apart from the two Danes, there was Stielike. There was Del’Haye. May be Klinkhammer. In a way, the departure of Netzer provided opening for a very fruitful policy: nobody was untouchable and, therefore, youngsters had very good chance for a starting place. Rummenige had to wait until Muller decided to leave Bayern – Simonsen did not have to wait for anybody. If anything, Simonsen had to watch his back for equally young Del’Haye… which motivated the Dane to get increasingly better.
Policy apart, Borussia appeared better balanced team than Bayern – goalkeeping and defense were bellow Bayern’s standards, yet, good enough. Midfield hardly suffered from the absense of Netzer – there were Wimmer, Bonhof, and – increasingly stronger Stielike. In contrast, Bayern really had only Hoenes and may be Kapellmann. In attack – Bayern depended on Muller. Borussia had Simonsen on the right wing; Jensen as a centre-forward; and Heynckes on the left wing. If anybody was coming close to Gerd Muller at the time, he was Heynckes, consistently scoring about 30 goals a season. Younger, eagerer, freer Borussia seemed to be the better present – and future – of West German football. They were still to win titles – coached by Udo Lattek, who replaced Weissweiler after the end of the season. Weissweiler went to Barcelona and Lattek had a good laugh at Bayern’s expense, but it was a bit later. For now – Borussia collected third title and was getting ready for more.

2011-08-27T00:34:00.000-07:00

And somebody had to come big, for mighty Bayern was coming small… they finished measly 10th! Beckenbauer and all – 10th. The lowest place Bayern had since they burst into the Bundesliga. Their lowest finish so far was 6th place in 1966-67, their second season in the top league. Udo Lattek approached the Bayern’s President Wilhelm Neudecker and, concerned, told him ‘we need some changes’. The President was in agreement: ‘You are right! We need changes – you are sacked!’ By Beckenbauer’s suggestion Dettmar Cramer replaced Lattek. The irony of it… once upon a time Lattek was assistant of Cramer. The former assistant went to Borussia Monchengladbach – and won the next two championships. Bayern was not to see a new title any time soon…
The summer of 1974 – world champions, solid, ready for another season of winning… Breitner departed, but the rest was at hand. In January 1975 Lattek was out and Cramer in. But Lattek had been right: Bayern needed a change. Squad change rather than coach change. For 10 years now the Bavarians depended on cluster of superstars, supported by more or less middle of the road players. New talent was exactly making waves – compared to the great Ajax, Bayern did not produce a whole team of world class stars. Hoenes and Breitner, yes, but after them only Rummenige and he was yet a questionable quality. Breitner left, Hoenes was increasingly fragile – his constant injuries eventually finished his career early. It was still Maier, Beckenbauer, Schwarzenbeck, and Muller – just like 10 years ago. The two Swedes – Torstensson and Andersson – were inconsistent. So was the occasional national player Wunder. Zobel was hardly great midfielder, far more limited than Overath for instance. The cluster of superstars was added by sturdy Hansen, Roth, and Durnberger, but they were support players at best. Unlike Borussia Moenchengladbach, Bayern was unable to replace players with younger and better ones, especially when foreigners were the case. By 1975 faced problems similar to those of Real Madrid, Inter, Milan – a change was needed, but was it possible to replace aging superstars dear to the fans and still performing strong. Unlike the Spanish and Italians, Bayern had additional difficulty: the aging stars were not retiring yet; on the contrary – they were in great form. Let go Beckenbauer and Muller? The current best player in the world and goal scoring machine? Clean sweep was difficult at best, with few additional problems: the first was Rummenige, still in secondary role – unfortunately, he played at the same position as Muller. The other was Beckenbauer – with him on the pitch, who really needs another playmaker. True enough, yet this limited Bayern to some degree: the strongest line of the team was the defense, including the goalie. Attack was increasingly reduced to Muller – no wingers really impressed and survived for long. The midfield, with injury prone Hoenes, was hardly imaginative force – instead, it was increasingly becoming the prototype of the German modification of total football: mobile, tough, disciplined steamroller without any spark of creativity. No wonder Roth was very stable and decisive player – always dependable, running as hell, and possessing no imagination whatsoever. But was it obvious? Hardly so – after all it was not even Roth, but Durnberger who embodied the new German football: Durnberger played at any post – he was attacker, midfielder, defender, always in the team, yet, somewhat a substitute, patching holes. Great player he was not… dependable – yes. But he was hardly the kind of player to replace a Beckenbauer and shine on his own.
The ‘steamroller’ kind of football worked against European teams and Bayern was winning at the large stage. At home the brand did not work – on one hand, all German teams were playing the same kind of football by now and the likes of Roth and Durnberger were matched by almost every German club: tough runners clashed with tough runners. On the other hand, the cluster of superstars were very familiar at home – for steady ten years they were more than familiar to the opposition, and most clubs learned how to neutralize them. Younger feet were killing the getting older Beckenbauer and Muller. It was not enough to win at home anymore. In ten years time Bayern became a superclub except having superteam… yes, there were 5 world champions, but Roth, Durnberger, Zobel had no chance to be included in the national team and their kind of player was increasingly shaping Bayern. A radical change was needed, and radical change was impossible… at the end Lattek was fired, the players stayed, Bayern finished measly 10th and the hardship was not over at all. Unfortunately, Bayern shaped the future of football – the awful game of the 1980s. Ironically enough, it was Beckenbauer voicing concerns for the future of the game, yet, he has not listen to and more importantly – his very presence in Bayern killed options for radical change.

2011-08-24T07:24:00.000-07:00

At the end, the most likely candidates for greatness were Fortuna Dusseldorf and Eintracht Frankfurt. The Dusseldorfers finished merely 6th, but already were detected. So far their climb was quite, but steady.
Fortuna did not have particularly great stars, but Seel, Herzog, and Zewe were already playing or at least considered for the national team. The rest was trurdy bunch without much flair, but well shaped, experienced, and ripe. Close to Hertha really, as far as the quality of the squad was concerned, but unlike Hertha, it was already built team. There was not a change of generations lurking dangerously, as in Koln; there was no shaping of a team, as in Hamburg. Fortuna were only to get better and likely candidate for greatness – there time was ‘now’. May be a player or two, and – harvest time.
But the likeliest of all was Eintracht Frankfurt. Steadily at top, finishing 3rd this year. It was all – the German Cup was won in 1974 and was kept in Frankfurt in 1975 as well. Eintracht beat MSV Duisburg 1-0 at the final, proving winning spirit.
Cup winners second year in a row. Bronze medals from the championship. What could be next? A title? European cup? Eintracht were the best candidate to become the third great German club – able coach – Weise; megastar World Champions Grabowski and Holzenbein; young, but experienced candidates for the national team – Nickel, Korbell, Trinklein; well respected and dependable players like Kunter (always written Dr. Kunter!), Beverungen… Experience, energy, selection – Eintracht had everything. Just wait the new season to start. They were coming big. At least it was thought they were coming big.

2011-08-22T05:55:00.000-07:00

Hamburger SV and 1. FC Koln were not potential candidates either: the Hamburgers were getting out of their late 60s crisis, but great they were not yet. It was good that they were recovering and may be after a few years of development they could challenge Bayern and Borussia M. Not now.
Much more promising than Hertha – but still in need of work. Some were getting recognition – the coach Klotzer, Kaltz, Kargus, Nogly, Volkert – but were not ripe so far. Others were nearing retirement – like the legendary Turk Ozcan. It was still a team in between.
1. FC Koln was slightly different: unlike HSV, they were stable performers, without really able to compete for the title.
Solid team, coached by a legend – the maker of Bayern, Zlatko Cajkovski. Overath, Weber, Cullmann, Flohe, Lohr provided class – three fresh World Champions were no joke. There was some additional promise too, but the problem was that the key players – Overath and Weber were nearing retirement and Flohe and Cullmann were not at the same class. The team was entering the critical moment of changing generations and the future was looking rather grim, if goalkeeping was a sign enough. The club was unable to find reliable goalie… the most suspect and shaky candidate was one Tony Schumacher. That’s right: arguably the best keeper of the 1980s was… a flake.

2011-08-20T00:23:00.000-07:00

The disgrace of VfB Stuttgart brings the question of the possible third big German club. Internationally, West German football ranked best. It was natural to produce more than two top clubs – which so far did not happen. Instead, something different happened – the champions of the early years of the Bundesliga not only did not repeat their first success, but rapidly faded. Only the ‘newcomers’ – Bayern and Borussia M – got better and stable. There was to be at least more great club, though… in the early 1970s Schalke 04 was on the verge of greatness. The flight was cut short by the bribing scandal in 1971 and although penalties were short, and by 1975 every guilty player was already on the pitch, Schalke 04 not only did not recover, but was entering a crisis. The search continued, alas, year after year there was a club playing well one season only to disappoint the next. However, there was hope in 1975 – Hertha finished 2nd; Eintracht Frankfurt – 3rd; Hamburger SV – 4th; 1. FC Koln – 5th; and Fortuna Dusseldorf – 6th. Sifting them carefully, potential third strong club was more than possible.
Perhaps not Hertha. It was hoped that the West Berliners would be strong, but they had checkered history so far – even relegation. Not it looked like they were rising, but it was too early to be sure.
It was still unshaped team – solid, yet, not stellar players. The seeds of better team were the Swede Magnusson, the former German national goalkeeper Wolter, and the increasingly getting better striker Beer, already attracting the eye of Helmut Schon. But it was a team in need of acquiring more top players and shaping into stronger squad. Probably in few years time; not now.

2011-08-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

The other two unfortunate losers were different.
Tennis Borussia from West Berlin finished 17th. They managed to get promoted in 1974, when the winners of the Regional leagues competed for promotion for the last time. TeBe were not big club and, to a point, reaching the top level of German football was sheer luck. Good luck lasted only one season – they were down immediately. Hardly a surprise, but TeBe maintained the momentum – they were to return to Bundesliga soon. From the perspective of the club, the mid-70s were the best years.
Unlike Wuperttaler SV, TeBe squad was more interesting: little known goalkeeper – Birkenmeier – was to gain some fame across the Atlantic Ocean. By the end of the 1970s, he was a teammate of Beckenbauer and Co. in Cosmos New York. He became the best goalie in NASL for several years. Of course, the better future was unforeseeable in 1975, when Birkenmeier had the unpleasant task to retrieve balls from his net. Many of them… If the goalie was yet unknown, another player had huge reputation – Karl-Heinz Schnellinger returned from Italy and one of the greatest stars of the 1960s joined TeBe for his last season. Schellinger was unable to save his new club from relegation and retired.
The 16th place went to VfB Stuttgart.
Unlike the other two losers, Stuttgart were old timers: one of the original members of the Bundesliga. Perhaps nobody expected the home town of BMW to be a weakling in football, but VfB were mediocre mid-table club so far – their best place was 5th. This season they ended in the relegation zone and moved down to sample the new Second Bundesliga. Hard to believe today.
Whatever the reasons were, VfB Stuttgart had mediocre squad – few of the boys got better reputations and that well after 1975. Yet, it was curious fall – VfB Stuttgart were not good, but they were not among the group of unsettled clubs, hopping up and down year after year. It looked like the Stuttgarters were stable mid-table club, but playing with fire eventually burned them.

2011-08-15T03:58:00.000-07:00

Of course the real strength of German football was the Bundesliga and by 1975 it was arguably the best championship in the world. Unlike the other big European domestic leagues West Germany lacked the thrill of derbies and also lacked large number of potential candidates for the title. Bundesliga was not unpredictable as the English club football. It did not have the massive clash of mighty traditional enemies as in Italy and Spain. In terms of competition Bundesliga was more like the smaller European leagues: dominated by 2 clubs. It was also similar to France – most cities were represented by only one club, thus, local derbies were absent. Also absent was the clash between cities, regions, and social classes. There was nothing like Manchester United vs Manchester City, Barcelona vs Real Madrid, Juventus vs Milan, Ajax vs Feyenoord. Bayern – Borussia Moenchengladbach was paling in comparison and this was the closest West Germany had as a derby – other cities somewhat weakened and second clubs of the same city were never strong enough to make for a derby even when playing in the Bundesliga, which was rare. Bayern – TSV Munchen 1860 had original potential for a big derby, but by 1975 TSV Munchen 1860 was a second division club.
West Germany compensated for the lack of traditional thrills with financial stability of the clubs, good pay, thoughtful selections, vanguard training and tactics, and entertaining football. It was fast, attacking, high scoring open football, employing most elements of total football with specific German addition: very physical brand of game, performed by very fit players. The increasing lack of technicality and imagination was compensated by speed and stamina, and avoidance of defensive tactics. Increasingly better players were hired from abroad and by 1975 foreigners were more than willing to play for German clubs – from salaries to football itself, West Germany was attractive.
The success of German football was to be continued by stabilizing the lower levels – thus, introducing the Second professional division, which immediately affected the First as well – the number of relegated clubs was increased from 2 to three.
Wuperttaler SV ended dead last. It was meteoric performance – Wupertteler SV won promotion in 1971 and finished 4th in their first season in the Bundesliga. They immediately played in the UEFA Cup, although the club was not seen as a potential major force in German football. And it was not – downfall followed. In 1974 Wuperttaler SV barely escaped relegation, but in 1975 the inevitable happened and were to taste the new Second division in the next season. Coming out of nowhere and just as quickly returning back to a level more suitable for them.
Perhaps the squad explains best the downfall: not a single even barely recognizable name in it. Wuperttaler SV exited Bundesliga after a weak season – only 2 wins! They never returned.