Month: July 2016

Third Division clubs had to worry about relegation and 13 – more than half of the league members – was preoccupied with avoiding relegation. Two clubs were doomed rather early and gave up, as far as English clubs ever give up: the boys bravely tried to get points, but were weaker than the rest of the league.

Hull City finished last with 31 points. Kittens, not tigers.

Blackpool were like Hull City this season and took the 23rd place in the final table with 32 points. Nothing to be proud of… only one team behind them and 4th division next year.

Colchester United was 22nd, but nothing like the bottom two – they fought as much as they were able. With 39 points, Colchester finished with only 4 points less than the 12th placed team. Down they went.

Sheffield United was the last relegated team – they finished 21st with 40 points. The most famous among the relegated, a club used to play first division football, but now they were going to the lowest professional division. Lucky, unlucky, the club was going through hard times, perhaps reaching its lowest point – nothing worse could happen in the future.

Of the large group clubs trying to escape relegation Newport County ended at the highest spot – 12th place. With 43 points, they were only 3 points ahead of Sheffield United, but he only lowly club with positive goal-difference. Let’s note and remember one player in this squad – John Aldridge. One day, much later in the 1980s, he will pop up.

Exeter City was 11th, immediately above Newport and the lowest of the 6 teams having solid mid-table season – no ambitions for promotion, but not worried with relegation either. Exeter was like that since they were promoted in 1977. Good years for the club, the only question was how long their solidity will last.

Plymouth Argyle were the same as Exeter during the same period, only they came not from 4th division, but were relegated from the 2nd in 1977. This year they ended 7th with 52 points – 7 more than Exeter and 2 points ahead of Burnley.

Burnley was 8th, nothing spectacular – rather the opposite. Martin Dobson and Alan Stevenson were national team players early in the 1970s… now in 3rd division.

And the very top – 5 clubs competing for 4 promotional spots. Chesterfield had the reason to cry at the end – they finished 5th because of worse goal-difference. Lost promotion to Huddersfield.

Huddersfield Town were lucky indeed – they were promoted only thanks to better goal-difference, but were promoted. Well, they were first division members back at the end of the 1960s – may be starting to climb again? At least for the moment, it looked this way.

Charlton Athletic finished with 59 points – 3 points ahead of Huddersfield and 2 points behind the league winners. Third only on worse goal-difference, but no big deal: they were going up.

Barnsley bested Charlton and took the 2nd place – happy boys, going up.

Rotherham United had a wonderful season and were the 3rd Division champions as a result – not a overwhelming champs, but they won the tough race against Barnsley and Charlton. The least known club among the promoted, they should have been really proud of their achievement – if the other promoted clubs had a history of first division football, modest Rotherham was looking for second division as a big success. Always nice to see the underdog winning.

 

England – the strongest club football internationally, rather dull national team, trying to live with ‘continental’ imports, increasing financial problems. Fourth division.

York City finished last, 24th with 33 points. Not that it mattered – nobody was relegated from the lowest professional division. The team was dead last only for the record.

Most of the league was just that… small professional clubs, unable to dream of more than 4th division.

Hereford United – a typical member of 4th Division: a bad season this time, 22nd at the end, but may be next year – a bit up. Or not. What mattered here was at the top – the teams trying to get promotion. The top 4 were blessed with that and Peterborough United missed the boat – 5th with 52 points.

Wimbledon was 4th and promoted with 55 points. Satisfying season, although they missed 3rd place by a point.

Doncaster Rovers bested Wimbledon, but was far behind the teams competing for the league title. Enough for promotion, but almost 10 points behind the 2nd placed team.

Lincoln City finished 2nd with 65 points and the best defense in the league. They lost the title, though – by 2 points.

And the champions were Southend United with 67 points. Well done. There are clubs, which could be champions of lower leagues only. Nothing wrong with that, wonderful and successful season. Going up – what could be better?

 

The Cup opposed Roma and Torino. This year the rules were changed – after years of single final, now two legs were introduced. Current form rarely matters at finals – Torino was not at its best, but for the final they were more than ready. So Roma and there was no winner – both legs ended 1-1.

 

 

First Leg (13/6/81)

Roma – Torino 1-1

Roma: Tancredi; V. Romano, Maggiora; Turone, Falcao, Santarini; B.

Conti, Di Bartolomei, Faccini, Ancelotti, Scarnecchia. All.:

Liedholm.

Torino: Terraneo; Cuttone, Salvadori; Volpati, Danova, Zaccarelli (28′

Davin); Bertoneri, Pecci, Graziani, Sclosa, Pulici (67′

D’Amico). All.: Cazzaniga.

Referee: Pieri di Genova.

Goals: 31′ Ancelotti (R), 59′ aut. Santarini (T).

 

Second Leg (17/6/81)

Torino – Roma 1-1 (3-5 penalty)

Torino:Terraneo; Cuttone, Volpati; P. Sala, Danova, Zaccarelli (98’Davin); Bertoneri, Pecci, Graziani, Sclosa, Pulici (75’Salvadori). Coach.: Cazzaniga.

Roma:Tancredi; V. Romano, Maggiora; Turone (120′ Santarini),Falcao, Bonetti; B. Conti, Di Bartolomei, Pruzzo (46’Birigozzi), Ancelotti, Scarnecchia. Coach: Liedholm.

Referee: Michelotti di Parma.

Goals: 37′ Cuttone (T), 62′ Di Bartolomei (penalty) (R).

The winner had to be decided by penalty shoot-out and only now Roma prevailed – 5-3.

Losing finalists. Standing from left: Cuttone, Mariani, Terraneo, Zaccarelli, Danova, Van de Korput.

Crouching: Pulici, Sclosa, Ferri, Dossena, Beruatto.

Perhaps unlucky, for shoot-outs are always a matter of luck, but Torino had a bit weaker team than Roma. This is not a photo from the Cup final – the Dutch national team defender Van de Korput missed the final – but close enough. A bit aging – Zaccarelli, Pulici – a bit thin. ‘A bit’ could be too much when a trophy is at stake.

Up and coming Roma – still number 2 in Italy: no title, but a second consecutive Cup. Second row, from left: Amenta, Turone, Falcao, Spinosi, De Nadai, Di Bartolomei.

First row: Pruzzo, Santarini, Conti, Ancelotti, Tancredi.

Well, 4th Cup for Roma – not bad at all and still a hungry team. Well made too – some oldish players, who were either not needed anymore in their former clubs (Spinosi) or quite unable to made it where they played previously (Tancredi, Turone) flourished in Roma, adding their skills to established stars like Pruzzo and Di Bartolomei, and younger bright players like Conti and Ancelotti. Falcao was perfect buy – Roma not only got a world class star, but key addition to the team: Falcao immediately became the motor of his new club. A team for greater victories than Italian cup was assembled already.

Happy with the Cup and getting used to posing with just won trophy – the best years in the history of AS Roma were going on.

 

Contrary to expectations, not the opening of the Italian market for foreign players, but the Totonero scandal affected more the 1980-81 of Serie A. Without Milan the championship was weakened. The suspended players disturbed the normal development of some clubs. Three clubs had to fight against the penalties – their fate was different this year: one club was too weak to survive, one managed just that, but that was their aim anyway, and the third probably would have been stronger challenger if not penalized. But those clubs were guilty and paid for their involvement in the Totonero scandal. Meantime, the impact of foreign players was not that great, perhaps with one exception – Napoli. The championship was more or less similar to previous years: many ties, low scores, still defensive football dominated. Two clubs were hopeless outsiders. Six clubs were preoccupied with avoiding relegation. Two clubs competed for the title. One club was really going up and up, getting stronger and promising even better days. One club seemingly was plunging down.

At the rear of the league Pistoiese and Perugia settled for relegation early.

For Pistoiese climbing to Serie A was great achievement, but staying there proved impossible – they were too weak for that and nothing surprising about it. The team lost 20 of total 30 matches played. Last with meager 16 points.

Perugia was different case – nobody expected heroics from them, but they were also penalized with 5 points and had to overcome this handicap. Perhaps the mess surrounding Paolo Rossi affected the club as well, but without him the team was almost nothing. Down they went early in the championship, finishing 15th with 18 points. Even if Perugia was not penalized they would have been next to last.

Six clubs tried hard to avoid the third relegation spot – Torino came on top of them with 26 points. The others finished with 25. To a point, Torino was a bit of a disappointment this season, for they were strong in the second-half of the 1970s. But the team was not getting stronger, rather the opposite was happening and there was more than a hint of decline. Anyway, they escaped. So did 4 of the 5 clubs ending with 25 points – results between them decided final positions. Brescia draw the short stick, took 14th place and relegated, although it goal-difference was a factor they would have been saved at the expense of Ascoli.

Avellino were, in a sense, the heroes of the table’s bottom – they finished with 25 points, but with positive goal-difference. Avellino really overcome the handicap of 5 points penalty for their participation in the Totonero. If not that, they would have been 6th . Avellino also got a foreign player, who did really well – the little known Brazilian striker Juary.

But the club really jumping up thanks to successful acquisition of foreigner was Napoli – they signed Ruud Krol, aging, but still in excellent form. The arrival of the master boosted the team and they finished with bronze medals.

Third row: Pellegrini, Fiore, Speggiorin, Del Frati (assistant coach), Marchesi (coach), Castellini, Krol.

Middle: Cramnado (masseur), Capone, Marino, Ferrario, Nicolini, Sansonetti, Bruscolotti.

Front row: Damiani, Giudetti, Vinazzani, Musella, Marangon, Improta.

Inter, however, went in the opposite direction – the champions of 1979-80 bought Herbert Prohaska and the Austrian was world class – in theory, this addition should have made the team stronger. But Inter was not at all in the race for the title – they finished 4th.

Second row from left: Renato Cipollini, Nazzareno Canuti, Herbert Prohaska, Alessandro Altobelli, Gianpietro Marini, Graziano Bini.

Crouching: Gabriele Oriali, Carlo Muraro, Domenico Caso, Giuseppe Baresi, Franco Pancheri.

Three strong regulars are missing here – Ivano Bordon, Giuseppe Bergomi, and Evaristo Beccalossi – but even with them the squad is a bit thin. Yet, considering the squads in the league, Juventus excepted, Inter should have been a title contender. Instead, they were good enough for running for bronze and lost even this battle to more inspired Napoli.

Napoli and Inter were not strong enough, so only two clubs competed for the title – AS Roma and Juventus.

Roma, once again coached by Nils Liedholm, was gradually improving since 1974 and now was a title contender. The only truly developing team in the recent years, finally showing real claws, but still not ready to concur Serie A. Roma lost the title by 2 points, not a big difference, but perhaps they paid heavy price for not playing aggressively enough: Roma was the only team in the league not losing any match at home, but they lost too many points precisely at home games – almost half of them were ties: 7 out of 15 home games. It was not their year yet.

Juventus lost two home matches, but they were really looking for wins, not ties – at the end they finished 2 points ahead of Roma, thanks to 17 wins, 10 ties, only 3 losses, the best attack and the best defense in the league. The 19th title in their trophy room.

So familiar champions. Standing: Causio, Zoff, Fanna, Bettega, Scirea, Gentile.

Crouching: Cuccureddu, Prandelli, Cabrini, Tardelli, Brady.

Stabilty is the first word coming to mind regarding Juventus – carefully made team, which made timely adjustments, preserving top position. The best Italian team from the early 1970s, getting stronger and stronger. The Irish great midfielder Liam Brady was added for this years, but even without him the squad was top-notch – 8 current national team players! Incredibly stable team – the regulars hardly missed matches: Furino, not in the picture, was the only regular with less than 25 championship games this season. The previous years were not different – the starters had tons of experience, knew each other perfectly, slowing down was noticed quickly and remedies were thought of at once. Bettega, for instance, was a bit beyond his peak already, but Paolo Rossi was coming to replace him – that was typical Juventus thinking and no wonder the team was strong for so long already and not showing any sign of possible decline. Perhaps Prandelli was not up to the standards – he was not a typical starter, but more of a regular substitute, playing ‘just’ 20 matches this year – but he is familiar name today as a coach. So much for trivia – the rest is consistent strength, unmatched not only in Italy. Oh, well – Giovanni Trapattoni was coaching ‘The Old Lady’, still young and not even reaching the top of his potential.