Author: Vesselin

At a glance, the Romanian final table suggests adventurous attacking football – only one team finishe with less than 10 wins and tied matches were few. Nothing like ultra-careful Italian or Soviet league, where the rule was to get a point from a fixture. But nothing like German or English football either – the Romanian approach was play for a win at home and when visiting – whatever happens. Win at home, lose away – no surprises. Scoring was not high, which is typical for such approach. More than half of the league was really trying to escape relegation as a result – 5 points divided at the end the 7th placed SC Bacau from the 17th. From the fretting bulk the happiest perhaps was the newcomer from the home village of Causeuscu:

Standing from left: A. Mincu, Lică, Ciocioană, Dumitru Anescu ( coach ), Nedea, Anghel, I. Carciumarescu ( assistant coach ), Stanciu, Badea, Martinescu.

Sitting : Voiculet, Fl. Dumitrescu, P. Manea, Palea, Ghe. Manea, Soarece, Florea.

There was little doubt that this club soared thanks to political support – the club was found in 1973 and in 1978 won promotion to first division. In 5 years it climbed from the lowest possible league to the top. The debutant changed its name for the occasion, playing as FC Scornicesti their first season among the best – the name did not last, may be because Scornicesti was not really a city, but rather the head-quarters of agricultural county Olt, which provided the financial support of the club. Thus, the club represented the area of the ‘kolkhoz’, not a particular town or village. Anyhow, the club was not all that mighty to compete with bigger cities and clubs – the best Scornicesti aimed for was staying in first division. They finished 13th – a point above relegation zone. For newcomers – well done.

It was not so for others. There was one outsider this season:

Gloria (Buzau) earned just 15 points and were the only team with less than 10 wins. No surprise at all – Gloria was never a big club, played rarely in first division, and when they did, they were expected to be on the bottom. And last they finished in 1979-80, going down to their familiar second division.

Above them were two unlucky clubs, which fought for survival, but lost the battle. By very little, but they lost it.

Olimpia (Satu-Mare) finished 17th with 30 points.

CS Tirgoviste (Tirgoviste) took 16th place with 31 points – they finished in the relegation zone on worse goal-difference. ASA (Targu-Mures) also had 31 points, but survived having better goal-difference. As for Tirgoviste, they were traditional outsiders and relegation was expected. Olimpia was not a strong club having a bad season either – usually the occupied the lower half of the table, playing hide and seek with relegation.

The club relatively down this season was Dinamo (Bucharest) – they did not have great squads in the 1970s. Yet, compared to most members of the league, Dinamo was ultimately stronger – they were 5th this season, not in the race for the title, but above most teams nevertheless. ‘Down’ was relative in their case: ‘down’ by the standards of the club and its fans, but still among the top 5-6 clubs. Dinamo edged their Bucharest neighbours Sportul Studentesc on goal-difference and ended only 2 points bellow bronze medalists Arges (Pitesti). Arges won the title the previous year and were still running strong – the 70s was arguably the best years of the club, yet, they never had truly great squad, which explains why they were not title contenders in the season following the title. The title contenders were just two clubs: Steaua and Universitatea (Craiova). Like Arges, Universitatea had great decade – unlike Arges, they managed to establish themselves as permanent force in Romanian football.

Head to head, the two clubs went from start to end, both finishing with 44 points – 5 more than Arges and FC Baia-Mare. Each team finished with 17 wins, 10 ties, and 7 losses. Goal-difference decided the title and it favoured the provincials. Steaua outscored everybody – 74 goals – but they also had leaky defense, allowing 44 goals in their net (6 teams had better defensive record). This tipped the scale – Univeristatea had the best defensive record (31 goals allowed) and second-best attacking record (66 goals scored). Steaus finished with +30 – Universitatea with +35, and the title was theirs.

It was familiar team from previous successful seasons, able to avoid decline because of generational change – rather, younger stars reinforced it. Legendary Ion Oblemenco was no longer playing, becoming assistant coach, but there was enough established and young talent – Balaci, Stefanescu, Camataru from the old guard and Lung and Negrila, who soon became famous, especially the goalkeeper Lung. Difficult victory, but may be because of that even sweeter – topping Steaua by so small margin.

Second Division apparently was clean this season… Three groups of 18 teams each. The last 4 teams going down, champions – up. Most participants were and are unknown clubs, few were recognizable names – they played often among the best, but only one name was internationally familiar – Rapid (Bucharest), down on their luck, and relegated the previous year. Now in Seria II, they had tough time too – another club from Bucharest, which often played in the top league, opposed Rapid and at the end prevented it from returning to top flight. Seria II was perhaps the toughest Second Division group – few former first division teams plus a bunch of Bucharest clubs, which were not much, but surely were ready to give hard time to a famous club – Rapid – against which they had a rare opportunity to play in one league. Seria II was the only group where the first place was closely contested:

Progresul Vulcan, as the club was named at the time, finished first with 44 points. Rapid was second with 42. Petrolul (Ploesti), another former first division club, ended 3rd with 39 points.

The other two groups were one-horse race.

Corvinul (Hunedoara) won Seria III with 49 points – 6 more than 2nd placed Bihor (Oradea).

Second division clubs are rarely seen, so here is Bihor – not much of challenger in 1979-80.

Seria I produced the most superior winner:

FCM Brasov, normally playing first division football, was clearly too strong for second division: they finished 10 points ahead of FC Constanta.

The three winners were promoted – an end of second division exile for at least two of them.

At the end of the 1970s and the beginning of new decade, Romania had peculiar position: it was respected, but not really known. Romanian football slipped out of mind largely because the country failed to reach international finals since 1970. It was not that much of a decline of Romanian football, yet, there was a bit of that – generation changed with the inevitable uncertain performance for awhile. The 1970s generation was perhaps relatively weaker compared to other countries. Now it was getting older and the next crop was not ready yet to take dominant position. Romanian football did not declined, but rather failed to improve. Apart from the prolific goal-scorer Dudu Georgescu no other Romania became internationally famous during the 70s. And it was a provincial decade – the big clubs from the capital Steaua and Dynamo lost their dominance. They were not getting weaker – they became equal to strong provincial teams. The general result was that Romanian football became enigmatic and unknown – a strange situation for a country having massive championship: 18-team top league, 54 teams played in the second division, and 192 teams played in the 12 groups of Third Division.

Naturally, Third Division was entirely unknown. 12 groups of 16 teams each, the lowest 4 relegated, and the champions promoted to second level. Small, unimportant clubs, but few of them played top league football in the 21st century. Clubs like Recolta (Stoicanesti):

Standing from left: Andrei, Cârstea, Florescu, Ciobanu, Răduţ

Crouching : Rotaru, Cioabă, Mihalache,  Zăvelcă.

Recolta finished was 9th in Seria VI. Some did much better, of course:

Minerul (Lupeni), for example. They won Seria VII and were promoted to Second Division. Along with the other winners: Ceahlăul (Piatra-Neamţ)- Seria I, CSM (Borzeşti) – Seria II, CSU (Galaţi) – Seria III, IMUM (Medgidia) – Seria IV, Sirena (Bucharest) – Seria V, ROVA (Roşiori-de-Vede) – Seria VI, CFR (Timişoara) – Seria VIII, Rapid (Arad) – Seria IX, CIL (Sighetu-Marmaţiei) – Seria X, Metalul (Aiud) – Seria XI, and Oltul (Sfântu-Gheorghe) – Seria XII. Metalul (Aiud) was the most dominant winner, finishing 10 points ahead of the closest pursuer – if that really meant anything. Perhaps the only interesting thing about the Third Division championship this season was the penalties given to clubs caught in fixing results: in the last round few strange results occurred – Gloria Strehaia – CSM Turnu-Severin 18-2 (Seria VII), Bihoreana Marghita – Armătura Zalău 1-10 (Seria IX), and Dacia Unirea Brăila – Amonil Slobozia 10-1 (Seria IV). The reasons were painfully familiar… Armatura tried to get promotion, the other two suspect winners – to avoid relegation. At the end, the fixed matches were voided and all participants awarded with 0 points and 0-3 loss. Corruption was possibly wide spread, but in the football world the usual measure is to punish the weakest… penalties in Third Division show ‘principle fight against corruption’, without even scratching the surface of the problem: compared to Third Division, the higher levels were ‘clean’. Were they? One can dig results of fixtures, particularly near the end of a season – or jump to the end of the 1980s, when the ‘Golden Shoe’ award was discontinued after the Romanians produced a number of clearly fake top-scorers.

The Cup final was played in Czestochowa and in it Legia (Warszawa) destroyed Lech (Poznan) 5-0. To a point, it was expected victory.

Lech had miserable season – they finished 10th in the championship, but they were traditionally not much anyway. Yet, their squad was stronger – as names – than Szombierki (Bytom), having few national team players – Mowlik, Chojnacki. A Cup final should have been mobilizing call, but apparently was not.

Legia, unlike Lech, was in good form at the end of the season,when the Cup final was played and easily won their 6th Cup. They were the better team anyway:

Lead by 1974 hero Marek Kusto, having current top players like Janas, and young talent like Okonski and Majewski, Legia was the superior squad and in better form. For the club, the victory was great success – it was the first trophy they won since 1973. The 1970s was not good for Legia – and for the clubs from the Polish capital in general – since Poland never had dominant big club, the capital was in disadvantage: industrial cities were able to take star players, because the big plants provided more money. Legia finally built a talented team, but like Widzew, it was perhaps not at its peak yet. May be the political situation in the country benefited Legia as well – it is difficult to evaluate, yet, the industrial cities, particularly ship-building and mining ones, were striking, money were blocked, and football was the last thing on the minds of both workers and establishment. Legia was in a better position, since the club was not attached to industry. But this is immaterial at the end: Legia won a trophy after many bleak years. Very comfortably too, suggesting that the team was rising and better things may come yet.

Politcis aside, First Division experienced change of guard – it started earlier in the decade, but now it was explicitely pronounced. Stal (Mielec) finished 13th. Ruch (Chorzow) – 11th. A few years back those were leading clubs, but their stars left to play abroad and decline quickly followed. Most of the league was seemingly the same as ever – depending on momentary strength or weakness, especially of one or two key players. Arka (Gdynia) is a typical Polish club:

Adam Musial and Janusz Kupcewicz are the big names here – espacially the hero of 1974 Musial. The rest are ordinary players. This season they finished 8th – but the final position meant little: just as well the same team could end near the top, or relegated. Relative parity in the league, but there was one much weaker club than most:

Polonia (Bytom) won just 3 matches this year and tied 10. This gave them 16 points… 5 less then the nearest team and last. Usually, Polonia dwelled in the middle of the league, but a team which is never any special sooner or later is doomed to failure. However, the name should be kept in mind for a moment.

GKS Katowice finished 15th – not all that surprising, since the club was nothing much during the 1970s and no stranger to second division football. Now they were going down again along with Polonia.

Since Stal and Ruch were in decline, and Wisla, Gornik, and Legia – not too strong, more or less the favourite should have been Slask (Wroclaw) – they enjoyed good years recently, winning both the league and the cup, and had the most balanced team and may be the biggest group of talented players at the moment. But they were not great team and this season showed exactly that. Slask started well and was steady almost to the end of the championship, leading the league twice. Most of the time they were second, expected to come on top at the end. Until he 28th round their lowest position was 3rd place – in the 1st round and once more later! Then they suddenly colapsed, dropping in the last three matches out of the race for the title and to final… either 3rd or 4th place, depending on which table one looks at. Slask finished with 36 points, but Legia and Widzew also had 36. Widzew is allways placed 2nd, suggesting that goal-difference determined final positions. Slask had the worst goal-difference of the three clubs, yet, sometimes is given at 3rd place, sometime – 4th, behind Legia. Face to face record favours Slask, goal-difference – Legia. Which method was actually applied is unclear -even today different sources show different final tables. But the sure thing is that Slask lost the title, which is a bit surprising.

Widzew (Lodz) finished 2nd – perhaps the club ending just right on the spot coresponding to their relative strength. Widzew was steadily climbing up in the recent years. They were 2nd in 1976-77, second in 1978-79, and once again – second. Obviously, strong period of a club, which has been insignificant so far in their quite long history. The prime reason is easy to see today – they had Zbigniew Boniek. The climb of Widzew goes along with the climb of Boniek to stardom – he was almost the only Polish player noticed at the 1978 World Cup. But he was not at his prime yet, and so Widzew was not at its prime – and had to wait a little bit for real success. Silver medals were just right at the moment.

With Widzew not ready yet, and Slask not trully great, the title was left open… and Poland got the most surpirsing champion. Nothing at all suggested a title when the championship started in the fall of 1979 – the team was last after the opening round, and expected to stay in the bottom region, where they usually belonged. But this lowly team climbed to 1st place after the 6th round and after that they were 2nd only once. Szombierki (Bytom) finished 3 points ahead of all pursuers.

The club was old – founded in 1919 – but hardly heard of outside Poland: they were not playing first division football often, let alone finishing in the upper half of the table. Even in their home town they were not top – supporters were divided, but the bigger club was Polonia (Bytom), which at least played more or less regularly in first division. Szombierki was expected to excape relegation, if lucky, and perhaps the only pride of their presense in the league was providing a local derby – this season only Lodz and Bytom had 2 teams in the top league. It was very unusual for Europe lesser cities to provide derbies and not the capital, but that was the peculiarity of Polish football. However, Bytom was not expected to keep two clubs in the league – and it did not, but not as thought: Szombierki finished number one; Polonia – just the opposite: dead last. Half of the city was smiling, the other half was crying. As local rivalries go, Szombierki had a lot to brag about: they were smaller than Polonia, but brought the first success to the city in the very year Polonia hit the bottom.

Here are the new champions – a historic squad for three reasons: first, they won the very first trophy in the history of the club. Second, they were and still are the most surprising Polish champions. Third, Szombierki is considered the weakest Polish champion ever. Jumping ahead, this title is not only the only trophy won by the club, but a second one is highly unlikely: the club exists, but currently plays in 3rd Division and has not been heard of… well, almost since 1980. The extreme rarity of the club’s success deserves one more picture of the champions:

Well, nothing special as a team… the most famous of the squad is the coach: Hubert Kostka, the best Polish goalkeeper in the 1960s and long time national team regular. But that is the player – the coach never became big name: as for the club, this is the biggest achievement of coach Kostka. Among the players Roman Ogaza was the only star and that with a question mark. The winger was in and out of the national team for years, but never really a first choice. He belonged to the 1974 generation, but… he was part of the 1972 team, which won the Olympic games, yet, only a member, not a starter. This was his highest achievement with the national team – in 1974 he was not in the squad. For many, he was underrated. For others – he was not really top class, for he was slow for a winger. There was always a better option than him. And seemingly the critics were right – by 1980 Ogaza was already 28 years old and unlike his peers foreign clubs were not really after him. He played abroad eventually, but after a few years, when he was already nearing the end of his career. It tells volumes when the only recognizable player of the new champions is a player like Ogaza: it was not a strong team and it was not a team to develop further, let alone build a dynasty. What usually is said about this squad is that they were experienced players – journeymen, moving from club to club often. Ogaza himself played for variety of clubs. A good run this season, but the team largely took advantage of the weaknesses of opposition. Ruch and Stal in decline, Gornik and Wisla shaky, Widzew not ready yet, Legia attacking top places too late in the season and unable to compensate sloppy earlier performance, and Slask suddenly colapsing at the end. The record of Szombierki with their immediate pursuers is telling: they lost badly all away matches with the next three clubs in the final table, not scoring even a goal. Legia beat the champions at their home turf. True, Szombierki destroyed at home both Widzev (3-0) and Slask (5-0), but head-to-head total was 2 wins and 4 losses – every other team of the top 4 did better. Szombierki took advantage of sloppy performance of the others against lesser teams, steadiness, no flops, and a bit of trickery. Yers later the goalkeeper W. Surlit told what tactic was used this year: Szombierki used two stadiums at home. Their regular one was small, English-type stadium, where the fans were too close to the field. When Szombierki hosted big club with a huge home stadium, they played at their small stadium – the fans were too close, packed, and intimidating. Against clubs with similar small stadiums, they used the big stadium in the city – this time the visitors were in disadvantage: their fans were too far away and unable to form a compact group. The scheme worked may be because of the strikes and economic-political problems: football was not really in the mind of most people and fewer were travelling to other cities to support their club. Thus, Szombierki managed to have a compact crowd bigger or at least equal to the opposition’s and able to intimidate the visiting players. This helped, but such tactic helps only ones. Szombierki took advantage of the circumstances, did the best they could, and won. Which was great – a victory of the underdog. Kings of the city. Historic moment to be cherished forever – and still better than their home rivals: Polonia so far did not win anything.

Poland had unusual season. Similarly to Sweden, Polish football was going through minor crisis – a change of generations. It was noticed at the 1978 World Cup and perhaps reached its lowest point in 1979-80 – by now, hardly anyone of the great 1974 squad was playing in Poland. New stars were still not at the their prime and the vacuum was enlarged by the traditional absense of bid clubs – good players were scattered in the whole league. The leading clubs of the most of the 1970s suffered by the exodus of their stars – Stal (Mielec), Ruch (Chorzow), and, to a point, Wisla (Krakow). Apart from purely football problems, there was a political one: Polish workers demanded economic and political changes, ‘Solidarity’ was born, industrial towns were on strike, tensions grew, and football was the last thing on people’s minds – including players, coaches, and officials. But the championship was played in full.

In the Second Division nothing special happened.

Baltyk (Gdynia) won the Western Group and was promoted to top flight. Zaglebie (Walbrzych) was a contestant of a kind, finishing 3 points behind the winners. Both clubs were head and shoulders above the rest of the league.

The Eastern Group did not have even resemblance of a rivalry.

Motor (Lublin) finished 10 points ahead of 2nd place Gwardia (Warszawa). Technically, the Eastern Group should have been the stronger half of the Second Division, judging by the clubs playing in it, but this was only on paper – since most clubs came from industrial cities, the political situation perhaps made the champion weaker than usual. Still, Motor and Baltyk ended champions and promoted to higher level.

No big club reached the Cup final. The finalists were curious pair: the penalized for bribery and fielding illegal player teams, Iraklis (Thesaloniki) and AGS Kastoria (Kastoria). If Iraklis, thanks to fixing matches, was solid mid-table club, Kastoria was lowly, fighting to survive in the league. On paper, Iraklis was favourite – they had arguably the greatest star in the country, Hadzipanagis, plus a Polish import, Wawrowski. Kastoria had no famous player at all and entirely Greek squad. Yet, they destroyed Iraklis – 5-2! It did not possible at first – Iraklis scored opening goal from a penalty early in the final. Kastoria managed to equalize near the end of the first half and the second half was entirely theirs. For a second consecuitve year the Cup went to small club – Panionios won it in 1979 and now – Kastoria.

The ‘Gounarades’ (Fur-traders) were small fry by any standard: they were born in 1963 from a merger of three local clubs: Aris, Atromitos, and Orestias. The new club was not much stronger than the former clubs, but eventually gathered some strenght and won promotion to first division in 1973-74. They did not take the league by storm, though – yet, this period is the best in the history of the club: they played in first division from 1974 to 1983. After that they managed just a single season among the best – 1996-97. Winning the Cup was their crown achievement – and their only trophy.

Naturally, the boys were happy and

the fans even more so. This was a great day for small Kastoria. The greatest day!

The Cup winners were nothing much so far – the victory made them famous instantly, but also it was ominous. A small club had no chance of keeping good players… The big clubs immediately took the strongest – Simeoforidis, Papavasiliou, Dintsikos, and Sarganis. The captain of the team, Giorgios Paraschos, was called to the national team, but did not establish himself there – he played only 4 times for Greece. The only real star emerging from the Cup winners was their goalkeeper Nikos Sarganis: he was bought by Olympiakos right after the Cup victory and debuted for the national team. Later he played for Panathinaikos too and between 1980 and 1991 played 58 matches for Greece. During his career he scored 6 goals – in the days when goalkeeper very rarely scored goals. Well, good for the players, but not so for Kastoria, which after the great victory only saw the best players leaving one after another. But a great victory is great victory – the best moment in the history of Kastoria remains in memory.

The 1970s were a decade of steady ascent of Greek football, culminating with Greece playing at 1980 European Championship finals. But there was dark side to Greek football, making it an enigma. Success and scandal went hand in hand, as if there was no way to better the game without illegal means. 1979-80 was no exception: the Federation announced that Greek football was to be professional , starting with the next championship. This decision immediately triggered a strike of the players. There were some bugging questions and unsolved to this very day problems, but the most immediate result was penalties. The decision of the Federation concerned only first division – the players of the second division felt unfairly treated and went on strike. Since the championship was nearing its end, the Federation decided to award wins to these clubs which fielded players in the last games. In case of both teams not showing up, the no-show game had no winner and nobody got points. Fair and simple? No… A glance of the final tables of the 2 groups of Second Division shows that only 1 of the 40 participating clubs finished without deducted points! 39 clubs had points deducted, ranging from 1 (Atromitos) to 11 (Levadiakos). Perhaps nowhere in the world there was ever been such a dirty championship. The sole exception, therefore, deserves mentioning:

A.O. Vizas Megaron. They finished 2nd in the Southern Group of Second Division, unfortunately far behind the winners, so… fairplay did not pay out. The winners had 2 games in which they did not get points for failing to show up, plus 1 point deducted – and were promoted.

Well, that is almost all what is clear. The RSSSF website provides something like explaination: because of the strike, ‘the last four days of the championship were not played. Not all teams went on strike, and these won their matches 2-0.’ This explaination does not match deductions and awarded games: 4 days in practical terms means just one round. Yet, some teams are shown with more than one awarded game. May be what is meant is ‘the last four rounds’? This doesn’t tally either. Nothing is said about deductions – if we consider that actually teams were penalized with deuctions for not showing up, 4 rounds barely make sense – yet, short of justifying deductions of more than 8 points. Most likely teams were penalized for other infringements, which paints very unpleasant picture: 39 of 40 clubs were found guilty! Corruption of so vast scale is scarry even to think about it, immediately suggesting that it was not peculiar only to second division – at the end, the big clubs were untouchable… And because of that, the small fry was not really punished either – there had to be 2 promotions and with only one clean club in the Second Division… promotions went to the unclean. But this is not all.

The strike itself triggers the question what was the status of Greek players until 1980? Amateurs? Impossible, because of the massive presence of foreign players: in the 1979-80 season Olympiakos had 8 foreigners! When foreigners were allowed to play in Greece is ever-lasting mystery – there were foreigners since the late 1950s, but officially even in the 1970s foreigners were not allowed… and fake documents were made to them, often changing the original names to Greek ones. But not every name was changed… ‘Oriundi’ rule had been applied for a long time: foreign players of Greek descent were considered domestic. This perhaps applied to Cypriots as well. Inventing ‘Greek roots’ helped bending the general rule of using foreign players in the 1970s: 2 per game. A glance at line-ups shows that on paper Greek clubs followed this rule (international games were different matter – UEFA had no rules about foreigners, so in the European torunaments not only the Greeks often used more foreigners than allowed by the domestic leagues). Many foreign players were fielded as Greeks – and this explains why Olympiakos had such a big number – but the mess was tremendous. Who was domestic and why? The German born Maik Galakos was listed as Greek in the Olympiakos squad – yet, when he played in West Germany, he was listed as German! At the same time Panathinaikos listed Helmut Kirisitz – seemingly, of Greek descent – as Austrian import. Yet, Panathinaikos also had a certain player named Niko Kovi, listed under Turkish nationality – not the first Turkish-born Greek, who came to Greece – and as a rule of thumb, getting Greek citizenship according to etnicity, the very reason for emigration. But Olympiakos topped that: Christos Kaltsas, born 1956, is given as Romanian. Yes, he was born in Romania – but he did not play in Romania at all: his first club is a Greek one, and he joined it in 1973! From the dates, it is quite clear that he came to Greece as teenager, most likely his parents decided to return to their homeland. So, how was he a foreign player? Meantime some genuine foreigners took Greek citizenship (and some settled in Greece for the rest of their lives!) – naturalization is hardly ever shown in statistics: such players are listed as foreigners. Case in point: the Uruguayan born Julio Losada of Olympiakos. Contrary to his case is the one of Vassilis Hatzipanagis, biographically listed with dual citizenship – Greek and Soviet – but statistically given as domestic Greek player. The mess has one practical application, though: the foreigners were not amateurs. And if they were not, Greek stars were not either – Hatzipanagis always speaks about his restrictive contract with Iraklis, preventing him of playing for bigger clubs, including Arsenal (London). And get this: Iraklis was relegated at the end of 1979-80 season to the remaining non-professional Second Division! What was he in the next season? If amateur, what stopped him from moving to bigger club? All boils down to constant infringement and violation of rules and massive corruption, which was a public knowledge and the general attitude was to pretend not seeing it. So the championship ended with finals tables ‘normalizing’ the situation.

Atromitos (Athens) won the Southern Group and was promoted to First Division. They got no points for 2 matches, apparently striking players did not show up, and 1 point deducted for something else. With such record, they finished 6 points ahead of clean Vizas (Megaron).

Panserraikos (Serres) won the Northern Group – they also failedto show up at 2 games and got no points and had 2 points deducted for who knows what. No worries… they still finished 8 points ahead of Niki Volou and moved up to top flight.

The battle between new and old was not decisive. Malmo FF reached the Cup final, which turned out to be a challenge between the ‘losers’ of the championship – IK Brage was the other finalist. Attendance was low, so fans just missed the fun: the final ended 3-3 and went to penalty shoot-out. In it Malmo FF won 4-3.

Unfortunately for IK Brage, they were just a tiny bit bellow the other strong clubs this year. Fortunately for Malmo, the team was still strong enough and transition perhaps was going to end well – the season was not lost at all, they still won a trophy.

Winning the cup was perhaps vastly important for Malmo, because the moment was crucial: this was no longer the old great team. Their already legendary coach Bob Houghton returned to England. Gone were stars of the 1970s – Bo Larsson, Staffan Tapper, Jan Moller. As most often happens with strong teams, the sign of coming decline is when the least significant members of the old great squad becomes the defining star of the moment – Ingemar Erlandsson here. The newcomers were a bit alarming: another English coach was hired to replace Houghton. But when Houghton arrived, he was at least young and promissing coach – with his development the team developed. Keith Blunt was not young and so far not successful – he came from Sutton United, a club not even a member of the professional leagues. His arrival suggested stagnation, not development. He also brought two English players with him: Tim Parkin, b. 1957, formerly of Blackburn Rovers, and Paul McKinnon, b. 1958, who played for Blunt in Sutton United. Young players, but… when unknown players from low leagues are imported, that means trouble: Malmo apparently had no strong players left and the general quality was so low, that unknown imports were the only solution. So it looked like… and may be so it was, and the club needed to jump over difficult hurdle – if winning something this year, they had a good chance of avoiding crisis. If not – it was going down all the way. It is familiar story. Malmo FF won the Cup. They also had rapidly rising new star – Robert Prytz.