England. To a point, lagging behind Germany. Structurally, conceptually, and financially. England was slow to change its ways – tactical innovations did not happen; money were getting alarmingly short; stadiums were getting increasingly old and shabby; there was no vision for training kids new kind of game. All of that was becoming clear only when compared to the West Germans – most of Europe, including Italy and Spain, was in similar conditions, so it was not painfully obvious that English football was ill prepared for the future. The alarm came from another source: rapidly increasing violence among fans. So far there was no concept what to do with the phenomenon, so it just grew. There was even fascination with that, especially outside the British Isles – it was not long before the violent fan culture spread everywhere. Yet, English football preserved its competitive edge and continued to keep its entertaining standards. Which probably contributed to the painfully slow realization of the need for fundamental changes.


Anyhow, lets begin from the bottom. Cambridge United won the 4th Division, moving up to 3rd for the next season.

4th level football hardly makes big news and therefore there is next to nothing to say about the players. No big stars here, past, present, or future ones. However, Cambridge started its climb this year and more than maintained a momentum, but, of course, nobody was really able to envision that. One thing should be mentioned, though: Cambridge was the club with best record among all professional English clubs: out of 46 seasonal games, they won 26 and lost only 7.

The Cup tournament was a bit surprising: Borussia Moenchengladbach was eliminated in the first round. Bayern managed to reach ¼ by beating Bayern Amateurs at 1/8. However, the second team fought hard against the stars – the match ended 5-3 for the professionals. In the next stage Bayern lost. The ½ finalists were curious bunch: Bayer (Uerdingen) from Second Division; Rot-Weiss (Essen), hopelessly last in First Division; 1. FC Koln, who were not exactly winners in the last 6-7 years; and Hertha (West Berlin) – sporadic club, generally accustomed to midtable. None of the strong clubs reached so far. Bayer and Rot-Weiss had excellent runs, but went so far and no further. Koln and Hertha met at the final and were unable to produce a winner – 1-1 tie. In the replay 1. FC Koln clinched 1-0 victory and won the Cup.

Koln normally counted among the better German clubs, but this was their second Cup and first trophy since 1968. The 'Billy Goats' finally won something and it was great for venerable Wolfgang Overath to end his career on high note. Sadly, he was not a member of the winning team.

Koln were quite a solid team: Flohe, Cullmann, Dieter Muller, Zimermann, the Belgian striker van Gool, and solid second-stringers (on national scale) Konopka and Lohr. Schumacher was becoming promising keeper, finally improving after shaky previous years. Preben Elkjaer-Larsen was on the bench. The triumph was a result of the coach not so long ago fired by Barcelona (or Cruyff) – Hennes Weisweiler.

To be 'second' at Cup tournaments means practically nothing. Hertha reached the final, managed to get a replay, and lost at the end by a single goal. Misery.

Here they are, the finalists. The Berliners were kind of doomed to second place. Yet, those were their best years in the 1970s. Alas, without final success.

At the end, when one look at the 1976-77 season something old, familiar, and unchanging was immediately detectable: Udo Lattek and Hennes Weisweiler. Rivals and leaders, and constant winners. Lattek won with Bayern and now with Borussia. Weisweiler won with Borussia and now with Koln. Their noble fight was not over yet and one thing was certain: these two really shaped the German football of the 1970s. On the other hand, it was becoming boring – year after year Lattek and Weisweiler... Meantime other legends were coming to end: Beckenbauer played his last season for Bayern and also retired from the national team. Season over, he went to New York and joined Pele after 427 games and 60 goals for Bayern, and 103 caps and 14 goals for West Germany. Wolfgang Overath retired at the end of the season as well – ending with 409 matches and 84 goals for one and only club, 1. FC Koln. Overath also played 81 matches for West Germany, scoring 17 goals, but he retired from the national team right after winning the World Cup in 1974. Now it was entirely over for him. Looked like Beckenbauer played his last match in Germany too, but – no. The Kaiser had quite a few years ahead of him, contrary to sad expectations. No matter, it was an and of an era - Overath was a staple since 1962. Beckenbauer – since 1964. In a way, these two WERE the Bundesliga. And now – gone. Time for new heroes (may be). Or may be old ones?

Dieter Muller (1. FC Koln) was the top goalscorer with 34 goals. Since the 1976 European finals he was expected to become superstar – may be was already? May be next year for sure? After all, he bested the 'real' Muller, Gerd, by 6 goals and managed to score the highest number since 1973. But the best player of the year was a veteran – Sepp Maier. There was still a lot in the old legs and hands, was the message. May be young guys should just give up their ambitions... anyhow, it was surprising and telling reward for the eternal goalkeeper: 65 balls ended in the net behind him! Imagine how much he saved, to end up with ONLY 65.

Sepp Maier going strong when his team was rapidly declining. Well deserved award for one of the best ever keepers.

Life at the bottom of Bundesliga was less exciting. Karlsruher SC lost tough battle against 4 other teams – Fortuna Dusseldorf, 1.FC Kaiserslautern, 1. FC Saarbrucken, and VfL Bochum – and ended 16th, in the relegation zone.

It was no great surprise – newcomers rarely survive for long. Karlsureh SC fought as much as they were able to, but no luck. Under them finished teams which were doomed for the most of the season.

Tennis Borussia (West Berlin) failed their second attempt to establish themselves among the best German clubs. Nothing really to be said about them. I like small clubs and usually support them, but reality has nothing to do with my preferences: TeBe had little money and therefore unable to build surviving team.

Rot-Weiss (Essen) finished last – and no surprise either.

Rot-Weiss normally existed in the lower half of the table and playing with fire can be done only so long. They were usual candidates for relegation and fulfilled the expectations this season. Horst Hrubesch sunk down, but still he was nobody. Frank Mill, who also got some fame in the 1980s, started his career by going to Second Division.

The bottom three were to be replaced in the next season by the winners of the two Second Bundesliga groups. The iconic FC Sankt Pauli (Hamburg) topped Nord group. Looked like Tennis Borussia was not going to be missed... In the South VfB Stuttgart finished first and returned to top flight, hopefully with lessons learned. The play-off between the second placed clubs promoted TSV 1860 Munchen. Another familiar name escaping purgatory. As a whole, the newcomers appeared to be stronger teams than the relegated. Well, by name only.

Below the first three finished Eintracht Frankfurt with 42 points and the best scoring record of the season – 86 goals. Frankfurt was still keeping their place among the best, still having plenty of great players, and still failing to become real winner. Their good years were not finished yet – unlike Schalke 04, Eintracht was evidently trying to maintain strong squad. Grabowski was getting old, but the team was still fit and shapely. Holzenbein scored a plenty.

Eintracht is worth mentioning for something quite different than their football: weird change of fashion started around 1975 and now was coming to full bloom. Idiotic kits, introduced at first in England and now rapidly crossing the English Chanel. Here is one example... what happened to the traditional red and black stripes?

Frankfurt were not even the biggest offenders – Hamburger SV played in pink and blue. Nothing against the pink, but... like Frankfurt, Hamburg departed from their traditional colours. Good enough for 6th place. Call me stubborn, but I didn't like and don't like such kits.

The best league of the World – the Bundesliga. There was no doubt about it, although the British soccer stars did not announce the verdict yet. Soon they will – and move to West Germany. 1976-77 was practically no news: tough, competitive, fast, attacking... typical German season. Apart from Bayern, the rest was healthy. Mighty Bayern was sick, though: they finished 7th , 7 points behind the champions. Forth best attack in the league, scoring 74 goals, but surprisingly leaky defense, allowing 65 goals! Only the relegated clubs had worse record. The diagnose was quite clear: aging stars. There was one more problem – Uli Hoeness. It was bad luck really: his old injury at the European Champions Cup final against Leeds United was permanent and eventually cut his career short. Bayern obviously had to build new team and the process started in the summer of 1977, when Kaiser Franz moved to Cosmos (New York). With Bayern out of the race, Borussia Moenchengladbach won their third title in a row. Once again they edged Bayern in total Bundesliga victories and if there was anybody to laugh out loud, it was Udo Lattek. Bayern fired him, didn't they? 7th place serves them right.

Familiar champions. Bonhof, Kleff, and Wimmer are missing here, but they were in the team, which was more than well balanced. Borussia seemingly handled replacement of aging players better than Bayern – Stielike was rapidly becoming major world-class star. So was becoming the little and fragile looking Dane Simonsen. Bonhof was no news since 1974 – he was a big star. No need even to mention players like Vogts and Heynckes – better mention young promising talent: Del'Haye, Kneib, Wohlers, Ringels. Stiff competition in the squad, but all that talent did not suffice for easy championship – Borussia won only by one point difference. Even the arch-rival in decline was no that far behind, lagging by 7 points. And something really disturbing – Borussia was eliminated at home in the very first Cup round. Somehow Borussia was less convincing this season, but champions they were anyhow. The myth of exciting attacking team, which does not care for defense for it will outscore any opponent was over: guided by Lattek, Borussia really won thanks to its tight defense. They did not score much, only 58 goals, but had the best defensive record in the league: 34 goals received. On average 1 goal per match – in German football such record was amazing.

Second place was decided by goal difference: Schalke 04 had better one than Eintracht Braunschweig , both clubs finishing with 43 points each.

High place for Schalke 04, no doubt, but not really a recovery. The club was still riding on the talent of their 1971-72 squad, its flight cut short by the bribing scandal. This second place was almost a last breath...

Eintracht's third place was quite a surprise, for Braunscheig were hardly ever in the top half of Bundesliga. They did not have famous names, a modest team really, but with great coach. Branko Zebec utilized his players in the best possible way – keenly aware of the development of the game, he emphasized collective, tight, physical, energetic football. And it worked.

                                               1977

About this year one thing: restoration. The heroes of revolutionary total football were coming to the end of their careers. Cruyff and Beckenbauer. The newly emerging heroes were kind of traditional. Keegan and Simonsen. There was slight geographic switch as well – from Holland and West Germany to England and Italy. Total football was still the ideal, but the new rulers of the game played something else. It looked like total football, but was just an approximation. At the time, the change was not clear, just detected. In truth, it is not all that clear even now: by 1977 total football continued to be dividing line – many a country, many a club were still struggling to catch up. Many seemingly adjusted well, but without really mastering the ideal. They adjusted to the tempo, to the covering of the whole field, to the constant pressure applied to the opponents, to the fitness requirements, to the attacking philosophy. Most teams employed the magic 'libero', the easy switching of players position when needed. Yet, it was not the football Ajax played, but something different. Not so exciting. Not so creative. And strange discrepancy appeared – there was no unquestionable star. There was no fascinating all-conquering team. No further innovations. Instead there was a battle between equals... the European Champions of 1976 did not reach the World Cup finals in 1978, they were kind of outrun by fit and energetic, yet, not classier opponents. So it went... strong club football did not translate into strong national team in some instances. Weak domestic championships were not automatically preventing a country of having capable national team. As long as a squad was capable of disciplined game and was fit enough to run speedily for 90 minutes it was likely to win.

In this situation something emerged, not all that clear yet, but it was a start of long dominance. Liverpool and Juventus. Respected and strong clubs, no doubt, but so far playing second fiddle at best in international football. Neither club was particularly innovative, both incorporating elements of total football into their traditional game without changing it radically. Liverpool played traditional attacking English football, adding more speed and increase participation of strikers in defense. Stubbornly English, Liverpool did not use libero and used outdated and unreliable defensive tactic – they played in line.Juventus gave the impression of attacking team, yet, it was just a variation of the traditional defensive Italian brand: furious covering of the whole field and quick attacks as soon as they got possession of the ball. True, Juventus used more strikers than conventional Italian teams and did not barricade themselves in front of their own net, but still defense was the first on their mind. Neither club had a player like Cruyff or Beckenbauer – they had well known stars and Kevin Keegan was voted best player in Europe, but... suffice to say he never dominated the game the was Cruyff and Beckenbauer did. Both clubs won their first serious international trophies in 1977. Both clubs shaped European football from 1977 to the end of the 1980s. Both clubs were remarkably non-radical.

The new old heroes – Emelyn Hughes and Bertie Vogts shake hands before the European Champions Cup final. Neither was a 'radical' player, but both were solid. Neither was a megastar.

At the end Hughes got the Cup. Liverpool 'arrived' and, unknown then, was to stay. 'So long, total football', in a way.

Apart from that, 1977 was largely preoccupied with the qualification rounds for the 1978 World Cup. Curious ups and downs there, as ever, but also, as ever, not that great hype. The big excitement was saved for the next year.

One goes out, another comes in. The one who debuted in 1976 does not need any introduction. He is still in the news. It is useless even to add anything about him, for he is Diego Maradona. Even back in 1976 he was not exactly unknown – Argentina already not only heard of him, but saw him. The Europeans heard of Maradona almost as soon as he played his first official match – the mood was a bit skeptical at first. On one hand, South Americans tend to exaggerate – hearing about ‘new Pele’ every year made Europeans not very receptive. On the other hand, young talent came out every year and most of them did not really live up to expectations. Modern football was becoming difficult for youngsters – it required physicality as well as psychological maturity and the days of 17-years old Peles were seemingly over. So Maradona was most likely to be some exotica, destined to burn out almost immediately.


Retrospectively, there are some ironies about Maradona:

He was born in the impoverished district Villa Fiorito of Buenos Aires and grew up in this house. Hardly a tourist spot… what a pilgrimage going to see it today (if it exists) make? The guy with the golden earring – and this shack! But, true to football legendary tradition, the greatest players come from places like this one – so nothing unusual. Naturally, small Diego was not that much into school, but a ball was everything. And he was spotted, and trained, and strated playing for one of the boys teams in the system of Argentinos Juniors – Cebollitas.

With Cebollitas Diego went not only 136 matches unbeaten, but started making a name for himself: children teams outside North America, where the so-called ‘soccer moms’ make something of a crowd, do not attract public, but because of Diego Cebollitas got regular – and increasing in numbers – fans. From there more unusual fame came – Diego’s skills were impressive and he was invited to entertain the crowds with keepy-uppy and other tricks during the break of real professional matches. He was paid a bit, which was much needed money in Villa Fiorito. There the 12 years old was spotted by television people and invited – with his ball, of course – to one of the prestigious TV shows ‘Sabados Circularos’.

So Diego became a TV star… which was very suspect, for prodigies like him have been many. There are some today as well. It is predictable pattern – most of them never become football players, let alone famous ones: they are amusing entertainers for awhile, until the public gets tired of them. They are good at playing tricks with a ball, but not that good at playing the game of football. Luckily, Diego was different and opted to play the game – different, but probably also lucky to be part of Argentinos Juniors system. A bigger club most likely would have kept him in the juniors for years. Argentinos Juniors were smaller, not having big names, not very successful, and desperate for some positive change. Diego was not only making positive impression to the first team stuff – he was included in the team and on October 20, 1976 the coach Montes called the guy still 10 days short of sixteen and told him ‘Go and do what you do best’.

Maradona did exactly that – displayed some fine handling of the ball and tricked the first defender coming his way. And because of that the guy on the left is kind of remembered today – his name is Cabrera. As for Diego, he enchanted the crowd on the stands.

The next ‘first’ came 20 days later, on November 14. Playing against San Lorenzo (La Plata), Maradona scored his first official league goal – top photo. He liked scoring and decided to repeat it (bottom photo). Almost instantly his name reached Europe. And after that… after that there is much, much more, but that was all in 1976. And with this the year comes to a close.