40 years ago Forest played arguably their most significant game in the whole Cloughie era. After a decidedly dodgy start to the season, with all sorts of worries up front after the bizarre sale of their top striker Peter Withe with no decent replacement in sight, they faced their first ever game in the European Cup as English League Champions. Cruelly, of all the teams they could have been drawn against in an era before the safety of group stages, when the draw wasn't even seeded, was another English club, the holders for the past two years, and previous league champions Liverpool. The Merseyside outfit's form at the start of the season was (apart from having been knocked out in the League Cup by Sheffield United) frightening, and in complete contrast to Forest's. They'd won all five of their opening league games, scoring 19 goals and conceding just one. Forest had drawn four and only won their first, albeit against Arsenal, the Saturday before, having scored just three goals and conceding two. So, our first trip "in Europe" would be back to Anfield.
Nobody wanted to beat Forest more than Liverpool and the form book pointed to an easy win. I don't think even the most ardent of Forest fans walking over Trent Bridge that night could have anticipated what was to unfold but, as often was the case in those days, those of us who were doubting Thomases were foolish to question the magical motivational powers of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor on their players. Form was brushed away and Forest played brilliantly. Liverpool had to resort to dirty tactics to try to stifle the speed and agility of Tony Woodcock and the new kid on the block, Gary Birtles, making just his third appearance for the club. Liverpool failed.
Previous Post Oldham Athletic (away) League Cup 2nd Round
But before joining the 38,318 packed into the City Ground for the excitement that night, I want to do a quick historical review about the European Cup, which Forest had the great privilege of competing in that season. I'll list the progress made by English clubs since the tournament began in 1955, which will include, of course, two wins by Liverpool themselves.
Before the game, I'll quickly review the first division games played at the weekend - I'll discuss the match itself, of course, and then afterwards, I'll review all the other games played in that first round, focusing on a couple that lost out.
The seemingly obvious idea idea of an international football club competition in Europe goes back as far as 1897. The challenge cup, as it was called then, was played between clubs of the Austrian-Hungarian empire - primarily between clubs of Vienna, Budapest and Prague. But after the first world war, and the end of the Austro-Hungarian empire, a new cup was designed in its place: The Mitropa Cup. The first games were played in August 1927 and eight teams took part, two each from Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. The tournament was played pretty much every season from then until the start of the second world war. The most successful clubs were Austra Vienna, Ujpest Dozsa, Ferencvaros, Bologna and Sparta Prague.
Another attempt, "Le Coupe des Nations", managed just one season, in 1930. Ten teams took part, not including Sheffield Wednesday, the English champions. Ujpest Dozsa won the only title.
After the war, another attempt at an international football tournament for some European clubs was organised called the Latin Cup. Only clubs from Portugal, Spain, France and Italy took part. The first winners, in 1949, were Barcelona. The tournament was held for the next four seasons but not in 1954, due to a clash with the World Cup being held in Switzerland that year.
The Latin Cup resumed after that, and continued for another three years, being won twice by Real Madrid. The Mitropa Cup, too, resumed in 1955 and, apart from a break in 1960, and again (coincidentally, in 1978-79) continued up to 1992 although, it has to be said, that for most of the later years it had become a less well respected trophy. Still, it had 51 "editions" by the time it faded away, a number only matched by the European Cup in 2006.
So, what about the European Cup?
It was the South American "Campeonato Sudamericano de Campeones" - forerunner to the Copa Libertadores (South American Club championship) that inspired the European Cup. Specifically, a journalist, Jaques Ferran, who worked for the French sportspaper L'Equipe, who was in Chile covering the tournament in 1948, that first promoted the idea of a similar European competition to his boss, Gabriel Hanot.
In the summer of 1953, Stan Cullis, manager of then English Champions, Wolverhampton Wanderers, had organised a series of friendly international matches against famous teams such as Racing Club of Buenos Aires, Spartak Moscow and Honved. After their successful tour, Cullis, rather brashly, announced that Wolves were "Champions of the World". That was enough to spark Hanot to campaign to a congress of European football associations in March 1955 to start a European Club competition (and UEFA itself) which would start in just a few months time.
The first European Cup game was played on 4th September 1955 in Lisbon where Sporting played out a 3-3 draw with Partizan Belgrade. 16 teams took part in the first tournament, including Hibernian from Scotland but, rather typically, England did not compete. The first trophy was a different one to the one Forest lifted in 1979 and 1980.
Chelsea had won the league the season before and were invited to join in. Ted Drake, their manager, was keen but Alan Hardaker, the secretary of the Football League stepped in and vetoed their admission. So, instead of Chelsea playing Djurgarden in the first round, as they'd already been drawn to - the Polish champions, Gwardia Warszawa were drafted in as a last minute replacement.
Real Madrid, amazingly won the first five European Cup titles. In the first tournament of 1955-56, they beat Stade de Rheims 4-3 in the final in Paris in front of 38,000. English champions, Chelsea, did not participate remember, thanks, apparently, to Alan Hardaker.
Here're the highlights of the first final...
And the Real players holding the trophy for the first time.
In 1956-57 Real beat Italian champions 2-0 Fiorentina in front of 124,000 in Madrid. On their way to the final, Real Madrid beat English champions Manchester United in the semis.
Real won the first leg in the Bernabeau 3-1 and went 2-0 up at half time in the second leg at Old Trafford before United came back to draw 2-2.
Here are the highlights of that match...
And here are the highlights of the final against Fiorentina...
Real players parading the cup in front of 124,000 fans.
Manchester United represented England again in the next tournament in 1957-58 and again made it to the semi-finals having beaten Partizan Belgrade 5-4 over two legs in the quarter finals. It was during the return from the second leg (which they drew 3-3) that the Munich air disaster happened, which killed 23 out of 44 passengers, including eight of the famous "Busby Babes" United team. The flight had refueled at an airport near the German city on the way back to England but failed (on its third attempt) to take off from the slush covered runway.
Incredibly, Manchester United managed to get a team together for the semi-final against AC Milan, which was played just three months after the disaster. They won the first leg 2-1 but lost away 0-4 making it 2-5 on aggregate.
This was the team that had played in Belgrade...
And here's the team that played at Old Trafford three months later...
Waiting for Milan in the final were Real Madrid, who won their third title by beating them 3-2 in front of 67,000 in Brussels.
Here are the highlights of the 3rd final, again won by Real Madrid.
In the 1958-59 season, Manchester United were invited to represent England again, after the Munich air disaster but they withdraw in the end and their tie with Young Boys of Switzerland was declared a walk over. The league champions, Wolverhampton Wanderers were also present and despite getting a bye to the second round, they lost to German champions Schalke 04. They drew the home leg 2-2 but lost away 2-1.
It was in Germany that the final was held and Real Madrid, once again, lifted the trophy, beating Stade de Rheims again, this time by 2-0 in front of 80,000 spectators.
To complete the set, Madrid won the competition for the fifth time in 1960. This was probably the pick of the bunch as it was played in front of the biggest crowd ever for a European Cup final - 135,000 at Hampden Park, Glasgow - and it was the highest scoring final ever, with ten goals.
Real Madrid beat German champions, Eintracht Frankfurt, 7 goals to 3.
England had, again, been represented by Wolves. They were eliminated in the quarter finals by Barcelona. Wolves lost 4-0 in the away leg and then 5-2 at home.
Here's some great classic footage of the 5-2 home defeat - their first to a foreign club...
What a line up...
Alfredo Di Stefano AND Ferenc Puszkas - in the same team.
Here's a classic photo of Di Stefano with the five trophies.
England were represented by Burnley, who had won the league the season before for the second time in their history. Burnley made it to the quarter finals but lost to SV Hamburg 5-4 on aggregate having beaten them 3-1 at Turf Moor in front of 46,237.
Here are some clips of Burnley's greatest moments...
The next season, 1961-62, England's representatives were double winners, Tottenham Hotspur, who equaled Manchester United's achievement of reaching the semi-finals. Unfortunately, they were drawn against Benfica and lost the away tie 3-1. Spurs won the home leg, but not by enough to get to the final.
Here are the Pathe highlights...
Eusabio, just turned 20 years old, scored the last two in the another great final against the original masters, Real Madrid. The match was played in Amsterdam in front of 65,000 fans. Madrid went into a 2-0 lead only for Benfica to fight back to equalise. Madrid restored their lead though Puszkas just before half time, completing his hattrick. In the second half, three more from Benfica sealed the win.
Here are the highlights of another great match...
The next two competitions were won by Internazionale. Inter beat Real Madrid 3-1 in Vienna in front of 74,000. (Everton, England's representatives, unlucky drew them in the very first round and were eliminated 1-0 over two legs).
Next season, Liverpool represented England in the European Cup for the first time and made it to the semi final. They actually beat Inter Milan 3-1 in the first leg at Anfield that year, only to lose the second leg 3-0 in the San Siro.
Inter beat Benfica in the final 1-0 that year.
The domination by Latin language speaking nations continued the season after, making it the first eleven seasons, when Real Madrid won the trophy for a record sixth time in 1967 after which they were allowed to keep the original trophy.
Manchester United were the English champions again this season and again they reached the semi-final, losing to Partizan Belgrade 2-1 on aggregate.
But Partizan would lose 2-1 in the final against Real in Brussels in front of 55,000.
This would be the first time an "h" was put into the champions of Europe. We'd had six "campeones", three "campioni" and two "campeões". Internazionale Milano reached the final but the new Champions of Europe were Jock Stein's "Lisbon Lions". The first time a British club had gone to the final, let alone won it.
Celtic beat FC Zurich 5-0 (over two legs, 2-0 at home, 3-0 away) in the first round. Tommy Gemmell scored three of them.
In the next round Celtic beat French champions Nantes 3-1 both home and away. Lennox scored two.
In the quarter finals, it was Vojvodina (of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia) that were brushed aside 2-1 on aggregate and in the semis it was another team from behind the iron curtain, Dukla Prague, who were disposed of 3-1 at home with Celtic holding on to a 0-0 away.
The English representatives were, for the second time, Liverpool but this time they got nowhere near the final as they were dumped out of the tournament 5-1 by Ajax Amsterdam. Among the scorers was a 19 year old called Johan Cruyff.
So into the final went the Glaswegian bhoys, along with 56,000 fans in the international stadium in Lisbon.
Here are the highlights...
Then, in 1968-69, it was the turn of AC Milan to win their second European Cup (and Italy's fourth) beating Ajax of Amsterdam, playing in their first final, 4-1.
England had two entrants, for the second time. Both Manchester clubs took part. City, as English champions, United as champions of Europe.
City were knocked out by Turkish league winners Fenerbahce in the first round. They drew the home leg 0-0 but lost 2-1 in Istanbul.
United made it to the semi finals before facing eventual winners AC Milan. They lost 2-0 in the San Siro stadium in front of over 80,000 and despite winning the second leg at Old Trafford 1-0, it was not enough.
Highlights...
Ajax had got to the final by beating West German champions FC Nurnburg 5-1 (agg), Fenerbahce 4-0 0, Benfica 3-0 (after a 4-4 tie in two legs) and Spartak Trnava. This first Dutch success in the European Cup was a sign of things to come.
Here are the match highlights...
Ajax beat Milan 2-0 in the final...
What about the Germans?, one may ask. Weren't they supposed to be the World's best at football? 18 European Cups in and still no German champions and only one finalist, Eintracht Frankfurt.
To be fair, these were the days before reunification and about one third of Germany was now carved off and imprisoned behind the wall of Eastern Europe in the so-called DDR ("German Democratic Republic.)
But, it had to happen and from 1974 until 1976 the club from Bavaria dominated European football and Franz Beckenbauer strutted around the best pitches of the continent like some Kaiser.
In 1934-74, the English champions were, again, Liverpool. But after struggling to get past Luxembourg champions, Jeunesse d'Esch, they were dumped out of the competition by Yugoslav champions Red Star Belgrade.
Bayern had beaten Swedish champions Atvidaberg, East Germans Dynamo Dresden, CSKA Sofia and Ujpest Dozsa on the way to Brussels where they faced Atletic Madrid, who were in their first ever European Cup Final. 49,000 watched them draw 1-1 in the Heysel Stadium so, for the first time, the match was replayed at the same ground, two days later. Just 23,283 watched apparently - the lowest attendance for a final.
In 1976 Bayern won their third title, beating French champions, St Ettiene in Glasgow, 1-0.
England were represented by Derby County again but this time they were drawn against Real Madrid in the last 16 and lost a titanic struggle 6-5 after beating them 4-1 at the Baseball Ground. Derby beat Sloan Bratislava in the first round.
Bayern beat Jeunesse d'Esch, Malmo, Benfica and Real Madrid to get to the final.
And, so to last season. As Forest were walking away with Liverpool's league title, the Merseysiders themselves were winning their way through to a second successive European Cup Final.
This time, Liverpool got a bye past the first round and beat Dynamo Dresden 6-3 in the second. In the quarter finals they overcame Benfica 6-2 and in the semis beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-2.
So here's a summary of all 23 European Cups played by the end of the 1977-78 season.
Real Madrid, with six titles, remained well in front of Bayern and Ajax who had both won it three times.
How on earth could Nottingham Forest join such a well respected list of the World's greats as this...? After drawing Liverpool in the first round - the first time, note, two English clubs had to face each other in the European Cup - it seemed we wouldn't actually get the chance, anyway.
At least, as English champions, we went into the tournament with pride.
"All" that stood in our way was.... Liverpool.
As we'd see later, Mills would make 132 league appearances for Forest and 122 for Notts County. He also played 18 times for Derby County but the league side he played for most, was another local club, Leicester City, where he made 200 appearances from 1989-1994.
Anyway, Forest finally put in a good performance, after a dodgy first half, and beat a pretty good Arsenal outfit to gain their first league win of the season and gain a bit of confidence.
Liverpool, ominously won (easily) yet again - their fifth straight victory - at St Andrews, scoring their 19th goal in the process. But both Coventry and Everton remained just a point behind after their excellent starts continued too. Spurs finally won, so Derby slipped into the relegation zone.
And Bob Paisley was upping the ante before the game. Can't blame him really. They must have been ultra confident of a win.
See that Forest were 9/4 to get through, compared to Liverpool's 1/3...
So 16 first round matches were played the same night as Forest beat Liverpool.
With two legged affairs, it's only really half time, so only a fool would think Forest were through to the next round. But that brilliant cross by Birtles after dancing over two desperate, lunging attempts at a tackle, the perfect nod back by Woodcock, straight into the path of Barrett who had started the move after two timely blocks and then carried on running - when he shouldn't have - and then that powerful, unstoppable volley that screeched past Ray Clemence in the closing minutes did feel like it could be a killer blow to Liverpool, I must admit.
Elsewhere, a few matches did seem to be all over though. It was hard to see how Portuguese champions could come back from trailing the first leg 6-1 in Athens. Maltese champions, Valetta, were 8-0 down to Grasshoppers Zurich and Luxemboug champions Progress Niendercorn were probably not going to progress being 5-0 down to Real Madrid.
In two weeks, we'd find out.
So, what happened elsewhere? As expected, AEK Athens went through against Oporto, despite losing the second leg 4-1. Grasshoppers put five more against Valetta to win the tie 13-3 on aggregate. These two teams would end up being our next opponents in the competition.
Real Madrid put another seven past Progress Niendercorn to win the tie 12-0 on aggregate, so no surprises there.
Perhaps the biggest shock of the round, especially when seen from today's eyes, was Glasgow Rangers beating Italian champions Juventus. Juve had won the first leg 1-0 in the San Siro but Rangers powered back with a 2-0 win to win the tie 2-1 on aggregate.
Here are the highlights of the match at Ibrox.
So, it was "arriverderci" to the Italian champions at the first hurdle.
Juventus had won the Serie A quite comfortably the season before.
Even in 1978, Juventus were the dominant force in Italian football, although it wasn't as ridiculous as it has been the last few years.
My plan is to review each of the 31 non-English participating teams/countries this way but time is running out and I had a strict deadline imposed on me forty years ago to finish this post.
Here are the results of the first round, second legs...
With Liverpool and Juventus out already, Forest's hopes of actually winning the trophy were raised a notch or two. The Portuguese champions, Porto, were also out - another country who had won the cup twice. But there were still plenty of big names in "the hat". Real Madrid, obviously, had to be the most feared team. Then, apart from Real and Forest, PSV Eindhoven and FC Cologne were probably the two most respected teams left.
Nobody wanted to beat Forest more than Liverpool and the form book pointed to an easy win. I don't think even the most ardent of Forest fans walking over Trent Bridge that night could have anticipated what was to unfold but, as often was the case in those days, those of us who were doubting Thomases were foolish to question the magical motivational powers of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor on their players. Form was brushed away and Forest played brilliantly. Liverpool had to resort to dirty tactics to try to stifle the speed and agility of Tony Woodcock and the new kid on the block, Gary Birtles, making just his third appearance for the club. Liverpool failed.
Previous Post Oldham Athletic (away) League Cup 2nd Round
But before joining the 38,318 packed into the City Ground for the excitement that night, I want to do a quick historical review about the European Cup, which Forest had the great privilege of competing in that season. I'll list the progress made by English clubs since the tournament began in 1955, which will include, of course, two wins by Liverpool themselves.
Before the game, I'll quickly review the first division games played at the weekend - I'll discuss the match itself, of course, and then afterwards, I'll review all the other games played in that first round, focusing on a couple that lost out.
European Cup Origins
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| Mitropa Cup |
Another attempt, "Le Coupe des Nations", managed just one season, in 1930. Ten teams took part, not including Sheffield Wednesday, the English champions. Ujpest Dozsa won the only title.
 |
| Latin Cup |
The Latin Cup resumed after that, and continued for another three years, being won twice by Real Madrid. The Mitropa Cup, too, resumed in 1955 and, apart from a break in 1960, and again (coincidentally, in 1978-79) continued up to 1992 although, it has to be said, that for most of the later years it had become a less well respected trophy. Still, it had 51 "editions" by the time it faded away, a number only matched by the European Cup in 2006.
So, what about the European Cup?
 |
| Jacques Ferran |
In the summer of 1953, Stan Cullis, manager of then English Champions, Wolverhampton Wanderers, had organised a series of friendly international matches against famous teams such as Racing Club of Buenos Aires, Spartak Moscow and Honved. After their successful tour, Cullis, rather brashly, announced that Wolves were "Champions of the World". That was enough to spark Hanot to campaign to a congress of European football associations in March 1955 to start a European Club competition (and UEFA itself) which would start in just a few months time.
The first European Cup game was played on 4th September 1955 in Lisbon where Sporting played out a 3-3 draw with Partizan Belgrade. 16 teams took part in the first tournament, including Hibernian from Scotland but, rather typically, England did not compete. The first trophy was a different one to the one Forest lifted in 1979 and 1980.Chelsea had won the league the season before and were invited to join in. Ted Drake, their manager, was keen but Alan Hardaker, the secretary of the Football League stepped in and vetoed their admission. So, instead of Chelsea playing Djurgarden in the first round, as they'd already been drawn to - the Polish champions, Gwardia Warszawa were drafted in as a last minute replacement.
Early Dominance by Real Madrid
Here're the highlights of the first final...
And the Real players holding the trophy for the first time.
In 1956-57 Real beat Italian champions 2-0 Fiorentina in front of 124,000 in Madrid. On their way to the final, Real Madrid beat English champions Manchester United in the semis.
Real won the first leg in the Bernabeau 3-1 and went 2-0 up at half time in the second leg at Old Trafford before United came back to draw 2-2.
Here are the highlights of that match...
And here are the highlights of the final against Fiorentina...
Real players parading the cup in front of 124,000 fans.
Manchester United represented England again in the next tournament in 1957-58 and again made it to the semi-finals having beaten Partizan Belgrade 5-4 over two legs in the quarter finals. It was during the return from the second leg (which they drew 3-3) that the Munich air disaster happened, which killed 23 out of 44 passengers, including eight of the famous "Busby Babes" United team. The flight had refueled at an airport near the German city on the way back to England but failed (on its third attempt) to take off from the slush covered runway.
Incredibly, Manchester United managed to get a team together for the semi-final against AC Milan, which was played just three months after the disaster. They won the first leg 2-1 but lost away 0-4 making it 2-5 on aggregate.
This was the team that had played in Belgrade...
And here's the team that played at Old Trafford three months later...
Waiting for Milan in the final were Real Madrid, who won their third title by beating them 3-2 in front of 67,000 in Brussels.
Here are the highlights of the 3rd final, again won by Real Madrid.
 |
| Campeones por tercera vez! |
In the 1958-59 season, Manchester United were invited to represent England again, after the Munich air disaster but they withdraw in the end and their tie with Young Boys of Switzerland was declared a walk over. The league champions, Wolverhampton Wanderers were also present and despite getting a bye to the second round, they lost to German champions Schalke 04. They drew the home leg 2-2 but lost away 2-1.
It was in Germany that the final was held and Real Madrid, once again, lifted the trophy, beating Stade de Rheims again, this time by 2-0 in front of 80,000 spectators.
To complete the set, Madrid won the competition for the fifth time in 1960. This was probably the pick of the bunch as it was played in front of the biggest crowd ever for a European Cup final - 135,000 at Hampden Park, Glasgow - and it was the highest scoring final ever, with ten goals.
Real Madrid beat German champions, Eintracht Frankfurt, 7 goals to 3.
Here are some highlights of that amazing match.
England had, again, been represented by Wolves. They were eliminated in the quarter finals by Barcelona. Wolves lost 4-0 in the away leg and then 5-2 at home.
Here's some great classic footage of the 5-2 home defeat - their first to a foreign club...
What a line up...
Alfredo Di Stefano AND Ferenc Puszkas - in the same team.
Here's a classic photo of Di Stefano with the five trophies.
Benfica's Turn
The domination of European football by the Iberian peninsula wasn't over yet as Portuguese champions, Benfica,beat new Spanish champions, Barcelona, to take the title 3-2 in Berne in front of the lowest attendance for a European Cup final at that time, just 28,000.
Here are some highlights...
England were represented by Burnley, who had won the league the season before for the second time in their history. Burnley made it to the quarter finals but lost to SV Hamburg 5-4 on aggregate having beaten them 3-1 at Turf Moor in front of 46,237.
Here are some clips of Burnley's greatest moments...
The next season, 1961-62, England's representatives were double winners, Tottenham Hotspur, who equaled Manchester United's achievement of reaching the semi-finals. Unfortunately, they were drawn against Benfica and lost the away tie 3-1. Spurs won the home leg, but not by enough to get to the final.
Here are the Pathe highlights...
Eusabio, just turned 20 years old, scored the last two in the another great final against the original masters, Real Madrid. The match was played in Amsterdam in front of 65,000 fans. Madrid went into a 2-0 lead only for Benfica to fight back to equalise. Madrid restored their lead though Puszkas just before half time, completing his hattrick. In the second half, three more from Benfica sealed the win.
Here are the highlights of another great match...
Time for the Italians to Dominate
From 1963 until 1965 it was the turn of Italian clubs, well actually Milan, to dominate.
In 1962-63 AC Milan beat Benfica 2-1 at Wembley in front of just 45,000. Ipswich Town, the English champions, had one easy draw and one hard one in the competition. In the first round, drawn against Maltese champions, Floriana, they won 4-1 away and then 10-0 at home. But in the next round they were drawn against AC Milan, destined to win the cup.
Here are some highlights of the final.
The next two competitions were won by Internazionale. Inter beat Real Madrid 3-1 in Vienna in front of 74,000. (Everton, England's representatives, unlucky drew them in the very first round and were eliminated 1-0 over two legs).
Here are the highlights of the final...
 |
| Champions of Europe 1963-64 |
Next season, Liverpool represented England in the European Cup for the first time and made it to the semi final. They actually beat Inter Milan 3-1 in the first leg at Anfield that year, only to lose the second leg 3-0 in the San Siro.
Inter beat Benfica in the final 1-0 that year.
The domination by Latin language speaking nations continued the season after, making it the first eleven seasons, when Real Madrid won the trophy for a record sixth time in 1967 after which they were allowed to keep the original trophy.
Manchester United were the English champions again this season and again they reached the semi-final, losing to Partizan Belgrade 2-1 on aggregate.
But Partizan would lose 2-1 in the final against Real in Brussels in front of 55,000.
 |
| Los Blancos - European Champions for the 6th time, 1965-66. |
Celtic - the First British Success with the new trophy
For the 1966-67 tournament, a new trophy (the one with the "big ears") was designed by Jürg Stadelmann.
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| New Trophy from 1967 |
Celtic beat FC Zurich 5-0 (over two legs, 2-0 at home, 3-0 away) in the first round. Tommy Gemmell scored three of them.
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| Lisbon Lion Gemmell later played for Forest |
In the quarter finals, it was Vojvodina (of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia) that were brushed aside 2-1 on aggregate and in the semis it was another team from behind the iron curtain, Dukla Prague, who were disposed of 3-1 at home with Celtic holding on to a 0-0 away.
The English representatives were, for the second time, Liverpool but this time they got nowhere near the final as they were dumped out of the tournament 5-1 by Ajax Amsterdam. Among the scorers was a 19 year old called Johan Cruyff.
So into the final went the Glaswegian bhoys, along with 56,000 fans in the international stadium in Lisbon.
 |
| Oops they put the wrong trophy on the cover |
Manchester United lift the Trophy for England
Finally, in 1968, an English team lifted the European Cup for the first time. It was the Manchester United team that included Nobby Stiles, Brian Kidd, Bobby Charlton, George Best and (man of the match) Johnny Aston. (Who would later play for Mansfield Town.)
United beat Hibernians of Malta 4-0 home (drawing 0-0 away) in the first round. Two goals each from David Sadler and Dennis Law. In the second round they beat Yugoslav champions Sarajevo 2-1 at Old Trafford (goals from Best and Aston) after a 0-0 draw in the away leg.
In the quarter finals it was Polish champions Gornik Zabrze who stood in their way. A 2-0 home win was followed by a 0-1 away defeat but they proceeded to the semi where they faces the mighty Real Madrid.
A single goal from George Best in front of 62,562 gave United a 1-0 lead to take to Madrid where there they survived a titanic 3-3 draw in front of 125,000 to win through to their first ever final.
Here are the highlights from the second leg...
Benfica, with Eusabio still scoring freely (he was the top scorer that year with six goals) had beaten Glentoran, Saint Ettienne, Vasas Budapest and Juventus to reach the final at Wembley stadium. 100,000 fans watched a heroic night from the Blues (bizarrely neither team played in red that night.)
Here are the highlights...
Then, in 1968-69, it was the turn of AC Milan to win their second European Cup (and Italy's fourth) beating Ajax of Amsterdam, playing in their first final, 4-1.
England had two entrants, for the second time. Both Manchester clubs took part. City, as English champions, United as champions of Europe.
City were knocked out by Turkish league winners Fenerbahce in the first round. They drew the home leg 0-0 but lost 2-1 in Istanbul.
Highlights...
Ajax had got to the final by beating West German champions FC Nurnburg 5-1 (agg), Fenerbahce 4-0 0, Benfica 3-0 (after a 4-4 tie in two legs) and Spartak Trnava. This first Dutch success in the European Cup was a sign of things to come.
Dutch Masters
Holland came from nowhere to dominate European football for the next four years.
In 1969-70 the competition was won by Feyenoord of Rotterdam, who beat Glasgow Celtic in the final 2-1 in Milan.
England's representatives that year were Don Revie's Leeds United, a team close to their peak.
Leeds had a massive 16-0 (10-0 home, 6-0 away) aggregate win over Norwegian Champions Lyn Oslo in the first round. They then beat Hungarian champions Ferencvaros 3-0 both home and away.
In the quarter finals, Leeds narrowly won against Standard Liege 1-0 both home and away to claim their place in the semi finals, where they drew Scottish champions, Celtic.
This was the first European Cup match I took an active interest in. Being a bit of Leeds fan in those days. I remember feeling distraught (not for the last time) that they'd lost.
Here are the highlights...
In 1969-70 the competition was won by Feyenoord of Rotterdam, who beat Glasgow Celtic in the final 2-1 in Milan.
England's representatives that year were Don Revie's Leeds United, a team close to their peak.
Leeds had a massive 16-0 (10-0 home, 6-0 away) aggregate win over Norwegian Champions Lyn Oslo in the first round. They then beat Hungarian champions Ferencvaros 3-0 both home and away.
In the quarter finals, Leeds narrowly won against Standard Liege 1-0 both home and away to claim their place in the semi finals, where they drew Scottish champions, Celtic.
This was the first European Cup match I took an active interest in. Being a bit of Leeds fan in those days. I remember feeling distraught (not for the last time) that they'd lost.
Here are the highlights...
So it would Celtic, not Leeds, who played Feyenoord in the final in Milan, in front of 50,000 supporters.
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| Feyenoord, European Champions 1970 |
Not to be out-done, Ajax Amsterdam stepped up their game the next season to win their first of three consecutive European Cup titles.
English interests were the responsibility of Harry Catterick's Everton who made it to the quarter finals aftre beating Icelandic champions, Keflavic 9-2 on aggregate and West German champions, Borussia Moenchengladbach on penalties after two 1-1 draws, home and away.
They lost on away goals to Greek champions Panathinaikos who would then get to their first final after beating Red Star Belgrade on away goals.
The final was at Wembley again...
English interests were the responsibility of Harry Catterick's Everton who made it to the quarter finals aftre beating Icelandic champions, Keflavic 9-2 on aggregate and West German champions, Borussia Moenchengladbach on penalties after two 1-1 draws, home and away.
They lost on away goals to Greek champions Panathinaikos who would then get to their first final after beating Red Star Belgrade on away goals.
The final was at Wembley again...
Here are the highlights...
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| Ajax Amsterdam, Champions of Europe 1971-1973 |
The next season, Ajax won through again to play Inter Milan in the final in Rotterdam in front of 67,000.
On the way to the final, Ajax beat English champions (and double winners) Arsenal. The gunners were out-gunned 0-1 at home and 1-2 away.
Just 1-2 down from the away leg, Arsenal must have had hopes of reaching the semi-finals, but were beaten at home 0-1 after an own goal from George Graham.
On the way to the final, Ajax beat English champions (and double winners) Arsenal. The gunners were out-gunned 0-1 at home and 1-2 away.
Just 1-2 down from the away leg, Arsenal must have had hopes of reaching the semi-finals, but were beaten at home 0-1 after an own goal from George Graham.
Ajax beat Milan 2-0 in the final...
In the European Cup the next season, 1972-73, England was represented by none other than Brian Clough and Peter Taylor's Derby County.
The Rams beat Zelneznicar Sarajevo 4-1 (on aggregate) in the first round. In the second round, goals from Roy McFarland, Kevin Hector and John McGovern powered them to a 3-0 home win against Benfica which they comfortably defended 0-0 in Lisbon.
In the quarter finals it was Czechoslovak champions, Spartak Trnava. Derby won again 2-0, to overcome a 1-0 deficit from the first leg. Hector got both.
So, to the semis and in the way stood Italian champions Juventus, who had yet to play in the European Cup final themselves. Juve won the first leg 3-1 in Turin in controversial circumstances and the two goal margin proved too much to overcome at the Baseball Ground so Derby were out.
Here are the match highlights...
The Rams beat Zelneznicar Sarajevo 4-1 (on aggregate) in the first round. In the second round, goals from Roy McFarland, Kevin Hector and John McGovern powered them to a 3-0 home win against Benfica which they comfortably defended 0-0 in Lisbon.
In the quarter finals it was Czechoslovak champions, Spartak Trnava. Derby won again 2-0, to overcome a 1-0 deficit from the first leg. Hector got both.
So, to the semis and in the way stood Italian champions Juventus, who had yet to play in the European Cup final themselves. Juve won the first leg 3-1 in Turin in controversial circumstances and the two goal margin proved too much to overcome at the Baseball Ground so Derby were out.
Here are the match highlights...
So, Juventus faced Ajax and lost 1-0 in front of 93,500 fans in Belgrade.
In Bayern, In Bayern, nummer eins ist FCB!
To be fair, these were the days before reunification and about one third of Germany was now carved off and imprisoned behind the wall of Eastern Europe in the so-called DDR ("German Democratic Republic.)
But, it had to happen and from 1974 until 1976 the club from Bavaria dominated European football and Franz Beckenbauer strutted around the best pitches of the continent like some Kaiser.
In 1934-74, the English champions were, again, Liverpool. But after struggling to get past Luxembourg champions, Jeunesse d'Esch, they were dumped out of the competition by Yugoslav champions Red Star Belgrade.
Bayern had beaten Swedish champions Atvidaberg, East Germans Dynamo Dresden, CSKA Sofia and Ujpest Dozsa on the way to Brussels where they faced Atletic Madrid, who were in their first ever European Cup Final. 49,000 watched them draw 1-1 in the Heysel Stadium so, for the first time, the match was replayed at the same ground, two days later. Just 23,283 watched apparently - the lowest attendance for a final.
In 1974-75 after the Clough debacle at Leeds that sparked "The Damned United", Jimmy Armfield managed to take the whites to the final in Paris where they played holders, Bayern Munich.
This was only the second time an English club had reached the final but they would not emulate Manchester United's win seven years earlier.
Leeds had beaten Zurich 5-3, Ujpest Dozsa 5-1, Anderlecht 4-0 and Barcelona 3-2 (all on aggregate) to reach the final.
This was only the second time an English club had reached the final but they would not emulate Manchester United's win seven years earlier.
Leeds had beaten Zurich 5-3, Ujpest Dozsa 5-1, Anderlecht 4-0 and Barcelona 3-2 (all on aggregate) to reach the final.
I was a Leeds fan at the time and was distraught yet again to see them lose. Here's the match in full (if yer c'n tek it!)
In 1976 Bayern won their third title, beating French champions, St Ettiene in Glasgow, 1-0.
England were represented by Derby County again but this time they were drawn against Real Madrid in the last 16 and lost a titanic struggle 6-5 after beating them 4-1 at the Baseball Ground. Derby beat Sloan Bratislava in the first round.
Bayern beat Jeunesse d'Esch, Malmo, Benfica and Real Madrid to get to the final.
Liverpool are Champions of Europe
So, getting up to date now, it was Liverpool who claimed England's second European Championship in 1977, as Forest were getting promoted back to the First Division.
Liverpool beat Belfast based Crusaders 7-0, Turkish champions, Trabsonspor 3-1, French champions St Ettiene 3-1 and FC Zurich 6-1 (all on aggregate) in reaching the final. Kevin Keegan, Phil Neal and David Johnson were their top scorers.
And, so to last season. As Forest were walking away with Liverpool's league title, the Merseysiders themselves were winning their way through to a second successive European Cup Final.
This time, Liverpool got a bye past the first round and beat Dynamo Dresden 6-3 in the second. In the quarter finals they overcame Benfica 6-2 and in the semis beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-2.
So here's a summary of all 23 European Cups played by the end of the 1977-78 season.
Real Madrid, with six titles, remained well in front of Bayern and Ajax who had both won it three times.
How on earth could Nottingham Forest join such a well respected list of the World's greats as this...? After drawing Liverpool in the first round - the first time, note, two English clubs had to face each other in the European Cup - it seemed we wouldn't actually get the chance, anyway.
At least, as English champions, we went into the tournament with pride.
"All" that stood in our way was.... Liverpool.
The Updated Form Book
Forest's early form in the season so far had been worryingly drab, with four draws out of four and all but one, a nil-nil draw. No-one, not even bottom of the table QPR had scored fewer league goals than us (just one). Clough had a spat with our main striker last season, Peter Withe, and he'd left to join Newcastle United with the league season just two days old. Steve Elliott, drafted in as his replacement after being top scorer in the reserves last year, was not clicking - even when goals eventually did come (in the League Cup Second round replay against Oldham Athletic, which Forest won 4-2).
So, as Forest faced Arsenal in the league in the Saturday before our big "European" tie, changes were made. Elliott was dropped and in came two fresh faces: Gary Birtles and Gary Mills. Birtles' first game of the season dropped under the radar a bit because Mills was making his debut at just 16 years and 302 days old - the youngest player ever to represent Forest in the league.
Gary Mills
Gary Mills was born in Northamptonshire and was picked up by Forest scouts at the obscene age of 11. He played in Forest's reserves at the age of 14, by all accounts.
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| Mills, youngest lad to play a league game for Forest |
As we'd see later, Mills would make 132 league appearances for Forest and 122 for Notts County. He also played 18 times for Derby County but the league side he played for most, was another local club, Leicester City, where he made 200 appearances from 1989-1994.
Gary Birtles
Making his first start in 18 months the same day, was another Gary - Birtles. I had mistakenly thought it was his debut (in fact, even Gary seemed under that impression in a recent interview feature about the Liverpool match) but I'd forgotten that he had, in fact, already played one league game for us in the second division, against Hull City, as a winger. Forest won 2-0 with goals from, typically, Peter Withe and Tony Woodcock.
Birtles was famously signed from Long Eaton United for £2,000, he was over five years older than Mills, still just over 22. Like Steve Elliott, Birtles had been among the goals in the reserves the previous season but as the Clough/Taylor first choice Elliott had flopped, I don't think many were quite expecting what they were about to see from Birtles.
So, how did the new boys do?
Birtles was famously signed from Long Eaton United for £2,000, he was over five years older than Mills, still just over 22. Like Steve Elliott, Birtles had been among the goals in the reserves the previous season but as the Clough/Taylor first choice Elliott had flopped, I don't think many were quite expecting what they were about to see from Birtles.
So, how did the new boys do?
Forest 2 Arsenal 1
Anyway, Forest finally put in a good performance, after a dodgy first half, and beat a pretty good Arsenal outfit to gain their first league win of the season and gain a bit of confidence.
Liam Brady put Arsenal ahead after four minutes and stayed in the league until Robbo equalised with a controversial penalty and Ian Bowyer grabbed the winner. (This was John Robertson's 93rd successive appearance for Forest - sounds impressive but he wasn't even half way through his eventual total of 239.)
Liverpool, ominously won (easily) yet again - their fifth straight victory - at St Andrews, scoring their 19th goal in the process. But both Coventry and Everton remained just a point behind after their excellent starts continued too. Spurs finally won, so Derby slipped into the relegation zone.
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| Forest up to 6th after their first win (with 3pts for a win they'd have been 9th) |
Liverpool now had three players in the first division's top scorers...
And Bob Paisley was upping the ante before the game. Can't blame him really. They must have been ultra confident of a win.
See that Forest were 9/4 to get through, compared to Liverpool's 1/3...
The Programme
Not as special as it might have been. Perhaps someone at the club didn't really believe we'd win either.
The Teams
Birtles was "first name on the sheet" apparently, but not Mills. Martin O'Neill remained out of the side for the big match, so Bowyer and Gemmill, combined in midfield.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Colin Barrett, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 8 Ian Bowyer, 8 Archie Gemmill, 9 Gary Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: Gary Birtles 26m, Colin Barrett 87m.
Liverpool
1 Ray Clemence, 2 Phil Neal, 3 Alan Kennedy, 4 Phil Thompson, 5 Ray Kennedy, 6 Emlyn Hughes, 7 Kenny Dalglish, 8 Jimmy Case, 9 Steve Heighway, 10 Terry McDermott, 11 Graeme Souness.
Match 277: Forest's 199th, Liverpool 7th, City Ground 140th.
I was in the Trent End that night to watch perhaps the most significant game in Forest's history. If we'd lost to Liverpool, maybe the glory would have ended sooner. We'll never know.
I'll let the professional describe the game.
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| Birtles... 1-0! |
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| Woodcock's perfect set up header for Barrett... 2-0!! |
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| The realisation starts to sink in! |
Other Games in the European Cup 1st Round
There were 33 teams in the European Cup of 1978-79 which meant that a single tie had to be played as a preliminary round. The two unfortunate clubs that had that extra step to go through were French champions Monaco and Romanian Champions, Steaua Bucharest (aka Red Star Bucharest.)
Due to a legal battle that is too complicated to contemplate the club are now known as FCSB (Fotbal Club Steaua Bucaresti) but they are still the most successful club in Romania today.
At the time of this match though, they'd only just joined Dinamo Bucharest on nine title wins.
They had only won the league on goal difference from Arges Pitesti.
In the preliminary round, Monaco (of France) defeated Steaua Bucaresti 3-2 on aggregate.
Monaco won the first leg at home 3-0 and although Steaua won in the second leg in Bucharest it was not enough to win through to the first round proper. So they became the first team to be eliminated from the European Cup that season.
Due to a legal battle that is too complicated to contemplate the club are now known as FCSB (Fotbal Club Steaua Bucaresti) but they are still the most successful club in Romania today.
At the time of this match though, they'd only just joined Dinamo Bucharest on nine title wins.
They had only won the league on goal difference from Arges Pitesti.
In the preliminary round, Monaco (of France) defeated Steaua Bucaresti 3-2 on aggregate.
Monaco won the first leg at home 3-0 and although Steaua won in the second leg in Bucharest it was not enough to win through to the first round proper. So they became the first team to be eliminated from the European Cup that season.
So 16 first round matches were played the same night as Forest beat Liverpool.
With two legged affairs, it's only really half time, so only a fool would think Forest were through to the next round. But that brilliant cross by Birtles after dancing over two desperate, lunging attempts at a tackle, the perfect nod back by Woodcock, straight into the path of Barrett who had started the move after two timely blocks and then carried on running - when he shouldn't have - and then that powerful, unstoppable volley that screeched past Ray Clemence in the closing minutes did feel like it could be a killer blow to Liverpool, I must admit.
Elsewhere, a few matches did seem to be all over though. It was hard to see how Portuguese champions could come back from trailing the first leg 6-1 in Athens. Maltese champions, Valetta, were 8-0 down to Grasshoppers Zurich and Luxemboug champions Progress Niendercorn were probably not going to progress being 5-0 down to Real Madrid.
In two weeks, we'd find out.
The Second Leg at Anfield
I am ashamed to say that I didn't go to the second leg. I was about to re-start my academic life at Nottingham University and so I think it was mainly just bad timing. I know several of my Forest mates went and they said it was brilliant. As always when I missed a big game, I would regret it. But I suppose everyone draws the line somewhere.
Still, I watched the match highlights on the TV and of course was elated with the outcome.
As I didn't go, I'll cover the second leg here too. Here are the highlights....
As I didn't go, I'll cover the second leg here too. Here are the highlights....
So, what happened elsewhere? As expected, AEK Athens went through against Oporto, despite losing the second leg 4-1. Grasshoppers put five more against Valetta to win the tie 13-3 on aggregate. These two teams would end up being our next opponents in the competition.
Real Madrid put another seven past Progress Niendercorn to win the tie 12-0 on aggregate, so no surprises there.
Perhaps the biggest shock of the round, especially when seen from today's eyes, was Glasgow Rangers beating Italian champions Juventus. Juve had won the first leg 1-0 in the San Siro but Rangers powered back with a 2-0 win to win the tie 2-1 on aggregate.
Here are the highlights of the match at Ibrox.
So, it was "arriverderci" to the Italian champions at the first hurdle.
Juventus had won the Serie A quite comfortably the season before.
Even in 1978, Juventus were the dominant force in Italian football, although it wasn't as ridiculous as it has been the last few years.
My plan is to review each of the 31 non-English participating teams/countries this way but time is running out and I had a strict deadline imposed on me forty years ago to finish this post.
Here are the results of the first round, second legs...
With Liverpool and Juventus out already, Forest's hopes of actually winning the trophy were raised a notch or two. The Portuguese champions, Porto, were also out - another country who had won the cup twice. But there were still plenty of big names in "the hat". Real Madrid, obviously, had to be the most feared team. Then, apart from Real and Forest, PSV Eindhoven and FC Cologne were probably the two most respected teams left.
Second Round Draw
So that was it! Amazingly, even after Forest's dodgy start to the season, we'd risen to the challenge again and overcome the mighty mighty Liverpool to really get into Europe.
The draw for the second round was made...
Next up for Forest was a trip to Greece and AEK Athens.
Ελλάδα, εδώ ερχόμαστε!
The draw for the second round was made...
Next up for Forest was a trip to Greece and AEK Athens.
Ελλάδα, εδώ ερχόμαστε!
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