Month: October 2015

Decline of Dutch football was detected earlier, but in 1980 it was definite: Holland was just a mediocrity at the European Championship finals. A glance at the season just finished before the finals tells why: the great old generation aged, but it was still the decisive force. The next generation, at its prime by now, lacked similar class, but the most troublesome sign was the absence of talented youngsters. Second Division of any country is hardly an indicator of the health of the game, but the handful recognizable names were all veterans – Joop van Daele (b.1947, Fortuna), Cees van Ierssel (b.1945, Heracles’74), Kalle Oranen (b. 1946, Heracles’74), Dick Helling (b. 1950, Volendam), Gerrie Muhren (b. 1946, Volendam). Even the foreigners, less famous than their Dutch counterparts, were ancient – the Yugoslavians Kristo Mitrovic (b. 1946, Vlaardingen) and Mikan Jokanovic (b. 1946, VVV Venlo). Not a single young player became recognizable name in the future. Ideally, lower divisions should supply the top league with promising players – there were no such here. The few more or less shapely clubs dominated the league – FC Den Bosch, 4th, finished 8 points ahead of Cambuur, 5th. 19th and last was the hopeless outsider, too weak even for a weak league.

SC Amersfoort ended with 19 points – 7 less than FC Vlaardingen, 18th.

At the top of the table everything evolved around promotion rules: the champions moved directly to first division. The following 4 clubs had a final promotional tournament between themselves for the second spot – to a point, this stage was a recognition of the weakness of the lower league: no matter how good season one club may have had, it was not truly stronger than the clubs right after it. Four clubs were superior during the season, but still there no real competition – FC Groningen was far above the rest.

With 57 points, they left the next team far behind – 6 points behind. No worries for a second. Groningen was relegated from first division in 1973-74 and finally managed to climb back, but whether they would stay among the best or not was another matter – and a problem for the next season.

Volendam, just relegated from top flight, finished 2nd with 51 points. Also with 51 points, but worse goal-difference, Wageningen finished 3rd. FC Den Bosch was 4th with 50 points. These the clearly superior clubs, but he final promotional tournament needed 4 participants, so the 5th placed club by default became one of the top league teams. Cambuur with 42 points, but it was not the points giving them a chance of promotion – Cambuur were lucky to have better goal-difference than De Graafschap. But luck can go only so far when there is no some class. Cambuur played well in the fianl tournament, quite equal to 3 of the participants, yet finished last with 5 points. De Graafschap, having better goal-difference than Cambuur, took the 3rd place. Volendam bested Cambuur and De Graafschap by a point, but it did not matter at all since only the winner got promotion.

FC Wageningen were obviously the best team at the final tournament – they finished with 8 points from 4 wins and 2 losses. Two-point difference does not look a big deal, but one has to consider the number of the teams – when they are only 4, 2 points spells out superiority. The combined record of the lower clubs was 5 wins. Wageningen were the only club with perfect home record – 3 wins. A good season all-together, crowned with promotion to the top league, which they left in 1974-75, finishing at the last place. Like Groningen, Wageningen’s real test would be the next season – happily promoted for the moment. The newly promoted clubs had no players to speak of – the only somewhat classier player was

Sammy Morgan of FC Groningen. Between 1973-75 he played 40 games for Aston Villa – the pinnacle of his career, but keep in mind that Aston Villa was in the second division at that time. He also played 18 matches for Northern Ireland – the last of them in 1978, but that was that for international football, since Morgan was born in 1946. One old and so great even when he was young player for two newly promoted clubs… way too little to hope for miracles in first division.

Not only Hearts had troubles – other well known clubs were in the dark too.

George Best makes a pretty picture, but only a picture… he was not real help for struggling Hibernian.

Perhaps this is the only interesting fact about the team at the time: a rather early and still unusual for Scottish team shirt-adds. And nostalgic reminder of once upon a time famous football gear maker. Rather symbolic… Best and Bukta going down together. And Hibernian too – they finished not only last, but were hopeless this season: 18 points in 36 games, only 6 wins. The club above them had 8 more points!

Which was also nothing. Dundee was only stronger than Hibernian – they had no chance of survival, finishing 7 points less than 8th placed Kilmarnock.

Kilmarnock – 8th at the end, well behind the teams above, but never in danger of relegation.

Dundee had difficulties even before Hearts and the reduced premier league was too small to accommodate a struggling club – Dundee were relegated in 1975-76. Managed to come back after winning the second division in 1978-79, but was too weak a team to secure a place among the best – down they were going one more time.

Another club was in trouble too – Glasgow Rangers. They finished 5th! The last time they were so low in the table was in 1964-65. To a point it a telling comment on the state of Scottish football at the time – seemingly, declining. Which, of course, does not diminish the success of some clubs.

St. Mirren finished with bronze medals. Excellent season for a club without big names and one playing second division football in 1976-77. Their picture is also a telling document of the lax spirit of those years: everybody is dressed in Umbro, except the goalkeeper, sporting not only Adidas, but a jersey originally belonging to the Norwegian national team. The kit makers did not have yet the iron grip in clubs and players. However, as good as St. Mirren were this season, they were not contenders – Celtic finished 5 points ahead of them.

The race for the title was between two club and single point decided it – Celtic was 2nd with 47, but even if they managed 48, they would have stay second because of worse goal-difference. The champions scored more goals and received less than Celtic. It was dramatic victory for a club, which was well known, but… hardly successful. To a point, Scotland had almost a brand new champion – Aberdeen.

Here they are – the exciting new Scottish champions! Their victory was dramatic, but significant, especially from the distance of time. First, it was the 2nd title won by Aberdeen so far – and the first was won in the long gone 1954-55. This was great for club and fans, but there far more important aspects to it. First, Aberdeen had a group of bright emerging stars, who defined Scottish football in the 1980s – Steve Archibald, Gordon Strachan, Willie Miller, Alex McLeish. With such a backbone, Aberdeen started their greatest period of all time. This is the second important point, but it was naturally unknown in 1980. Third, this season could be considered the true beginning of fantastic career of a man who became a legend long time before his retirement – Alex Ferguson was the young and only promising coach and mastermind of the champions. Of course, he was noticed already, so Aberdeen hired him, but Aberdeen – not Celtic or Rangers! And he made them champions instantly. And with him Aberdeen achieved a lot more, and on and on he went to his present godly reputation. This was the true significance of the 1979-80 season – and perhaps the only optimistic sign in Scottish football.

Aberdeen won the title, but were they to stay on top? Were they really strong or just one-time wonder? So far, they were not overwhelming – won the title with difficulty, and… lost the League Cup final.

Aberdeen reached the final like they did in 1976-77 and faced Dundee United, having so-so season so far. Both finalists had curiously weak opponents in the semi-finals – Dundee United destroyed second division Hamilton Academical 6-2, but Aberdeen struggled against a team which was not a member of the professional leagues – Greenock Morton. The future champions eventually prevailed 2-1. At the final, on December 8, 1979, Aberdeen was met by equally ambitious foe and after overtime the result was 0-0. A replay was scheduled for December 12 and this time Aberdeen was thrashed 0-3.

Dundee United were not bad, but hardly strong – they were merely better and more stable than most league members, which is not much to say about a league of 10 members. But a cup final, especially on British Isles, was entirely different matter and Dundee United naturally had no fear. ‘The Arabs’ had quite a lot at stake – they never won a trophy before and now felt they had a good chance. This was a time later named the ‘Jim McLean era’ – under his coaching, the club was quietly improving and finally the efforts brought real results and more joyous events were yet to come, but 1979-80 season was rightly a historic one: at last, the club won a trophy.

The FA Cup final opposed the big eternal enemies. Aberdeen lost the semifinal 0-1 to Glasgow Rangers, proving that no matter how good, they were not really superior – or at least not yet. Celtic had it easy – they hosted Hibernian, and the outcome was no brainer: 5-0. A final between the arch-rivals needed no speculations, introductions, and predictions. Rangers, having a weak season, were perhaps hungrier, but this would have been a factor against other opponent, not Celtic. Naturally, the atmosphere was great – if about 55 000 (combined) attended the League Cup finals, over 70 000 came to support their clubs at Hampden Park. Regular time ended scoreless and only in overtime a single goal was scored – McCluskey drove the nail in the coffin of Rangers.

Rangers really had an awful season – the previous two years they won the five trophies shown on their picture – 1 title and 4 cup. This year – nothing!

As for Celtic, joy at last.

Of course, club and fans expected trophies, but to a point they just saved face. Celtic lost the title, was not a factor in the League Cup – by the usual standards, disappointing season. So the FA Cup was a must. To overcome the arch-enemy was another motivating point, so it was not so bad at the end. Both Scottish giants were not in great shape, and compared to raising Aberdeen and Dundee United looked dangerously stagnated, but the Scottish predicament was such that no matter how good smaller clubs were, they would be at par with the big two at best. Celtic was in better shape than Rangers – perhaps this was more important.

Scotland had two big news in the 1979-80 season – one at the beginning and the other at the end of the season.

George Best signed with Hibernian. Exciting? Well, ten years ago this would have been the news of the world – not it was just a ‘big local news’. Best himself evaluated this contract just as one more club trying to cash on his name in his autobiography. Perhaps he was not far from the truth, considering the agreement: he was free to live in London, catch a plane to Edinburgh to train with the team on Friday, play the next day, and fly back to London right after the match finished. The result of such agreement was predictable… often Best did not show up at all. His total record with Hibernian is 17 matches and 3 goals. But this was not all – as many other British players at the time, he was really under double contract: with Hibernian and after April 1980 with San Jose Earthquakes of NASL. Schedules of two leagues overlapped, creating immediately a conflict: Best moved back to USA before the end of Scottish season, then he was late for the start of the next Scottish season. The second return of Best to British Isles was one more fiasco, but under the circumstances predictable one: Hibernian got full gates a match or two, but since Best was not really part of the team, the excitement dried up just as quickly. One more sad chapter in the life of self-destructive genius and no benefits for the game. The other news was much better – it was the actual beginning of a legend, but all in good time.

The Scottish Division Two – the third level – was won by same city rivals:

East Stirlingshire, fonded in 1881 and based in Falkirk, finished 2nd with 49 points. A point better than them was Falkirk FC.

Why the pots with some green stuff would be anybody’s guess, but Falkirk were champions of Division 2. Both clubs of the city were moving up to Division 1, replacing the losers of this season:

Clyde FC finished last, 14th, and

Arbroath FC – 13th. Both clubs were relegated, of course. Better things at the other side of the table, but for only two clubs – the second level championship was not competitive this year. Two clubs were way above the rest, assuring their promotion and concerned only with the first place as a matter of a pride.

Airdrieonians -commonly shortened to Airdrie – lost the race for the top place. They finished with 51 points, 7 more than 3rd-placed Ayr United. Airdrie lost their first division place when the top league was reformed and reduced to 10 teams in 1976 – this was the first time they were moving back to the top league since. Well done, even without finishing first.

Airdrie was bested by 2 points – Heart of Midlothian ended champions of Division 1. 20 wins, 13 ties, 6 losses, and 58-39 goal-difference.

A second division champions, but champions nevertheless – the trophy counts. Hearts were relegated the previous season, but were too strong for the lower level, and managed to go up right away. As for staying in the top league… it was a worrying question. Since the reduction of the top division, the club was relegated in 1976-77, promoted in 1977-78, relegated again in 1978-79, and now – promoted one more time, but those were bleak years for the club. And far from over yet.