If the Golden Shoe award, chancy as it was, appeared fair this season – the top three were remarkable, constant, and well known scorers for years – the European Footballer of the Year award was not so. The problems started after 1974 – aging stars and no truly outstanding players. Habits were also playing a negative role – young talent did not get many votes, but old reputation was preferred. What largely counted was technically the previous season – voting took place at the end of the calendar year, but the autumn was practically ignored: votes were largely based on the end of the season, on winning teams, especially those winning international trophies. 1978 was problematic year mostly because Europeans did not really impress at the World Cup finals – those who did were unfortunate enough to play for teams early eliminated. There was not a single exciting player like Cruyff and Beckenbauer before 1975. It was uncertain choice – pros and cons were more or less equal, it was trying to figure out a better one of a bulk of equals… And for a first time in the 1970s (if not in the whole history of the award) the best player did not win anything with his club and country. 30 players were voted for and what a mixed group they were! What a display of ‘reasoning’ too… local sentiments (Joao Alves, Benfica), recognition of emerging new talent (Hansi Muller, Didier Six), impressive World Cup discoveries (Paolo Rossi, Antonio Cabrini, Zbigniew Boniek, Archie Gemmill), some strong performance of players compared largely with their domestic rivals (Marian Masny, Slovan Bratislava, Zdenek Nehoda, Dukla Prague, and Peter Shilton, Nottingham Forest) or on international club level (Fracois van der Elst, Anderlecht). As a shiny example of confusion stays to this very day in the international statisticians site the club Boniek was ignorantly listed back in 1978 – Stal (Mielec), a club he never played for. The mistake is somewhat understandable: Boniek was really discovered at the 1978 World Cup finals and his club was almost unknown outside Poland – Widzew (Lodz). Later, when Boniek was real mega-star, his early days were more or less unimportant – and the mistake stays. Anyway, nobody of the mentioned so far got many points – most finished with 1 or 2. Yet, the list is strange – no Spanish players for instance. True, Spain did not impress at the World Cup, but some were no worse than Alves or Masny. Few Italians and they got little points – Antognoni was not chosen by anybody. Playing for smaller clubs clearly was no help – Platini, although considered one of the fastest rising stars and having impressive World Cup, got just a single point. Playing for Nancy and the fact that France was unfortunately, but still early eliminated at the World Cup worked against him. Archie Gemmill ended with more points than Platini, seemingly because of his fantastic goal against Holland at the World Cup. The Germans paid heavy price for their dismal World Cup performance – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge got a single point. Sepp Maier was not voted for at all – but Shilton, still ‘shaky’ in the English national team (Clemence was preferred) got 9. From the emerging stars only Paolo Rossi was recognized – he was 5th with 23 points. The checkered Scottish performance obviously affected the points Dalglish got – 10 – although he had excellent season with Liverpool. He shared 8th place with Alan Simonsen, the European player of 1977 – the Dane played no worse than the previous year… Some had dismal season and yet appeared on the list – Cruyff and Neeskens. Some had strong year and got almost nothing – Franco Causio. But the desperate search for somebody truly above the rest was most obvious at the very top. Roberto Bettega was overlooked… he ended 4th with 28 points, but he was at his peak, Juventus was strong and Italy played surprisingly well at the World Cup finals. Near him were Rossi – 5th, and Ronnie Hellstrom and Ruud Krol, 6th with 20 points. Hellstrom excelled at the World Cup finals, yet Sweden did not go far, was less impressive than France and Scotland, and at club level Kaiserslautern was hardly a winner. Anyway, Rob Rensenbrink got 50 points – the combined number of Bettega and Rossi. Yes, he was strong with Anderlecht, but hardly the most memorable player of Holland at the World Cup. He failed to replace Cruyff, as it was expected, and in general was less exciting than 4 years earlier. Three journalists voted him best in Europe, but this was good only for a distant 3rd place. The race was between two players Hans Krankl and Kevin Keegan. Krankl got 81 points – selected first by 8 journalists. Keegan was voted number one by 9 – neither was really best in the minds of the voters… On the positive side, Krankl was the best scorer in Europe, had wonderful World Cup, and was in perhaps at his peak. On the negative – Austria, as good as it was, did not reach the top 4 at the World Cup and Rapid (Vienna) won nothing. But look at the rival.. Keegan was a big news in 1977-78. He was still adjusting to German football and new teammates. Hamburger SV won nothing. England did not even qualify for the World Cup finals. The most memorable moment of the season was the European Super-cup final, which Hamburger SV and Keegan lost 0-6 from his former teammates of Liverpool, now lead by Kenny Dalglish. Compared to the previous few years, Keegan had rather weak season… but since nobody was really excellent this year and negative arguments against practically everybody were easy to find, Keegan seemingly got points on reputation – a recognition of a star of high caliber since 1974, who so far got no award. Did not seem right, yet, it was pretty much the same in 1977, when Simonsen emerged as the best player – and without any drop of form the same player was ignored in 1978. Of course, not everybody thought Keegan best, but point here and a point there added to a total of 87. In general, the voters settled on Keegan and Krankl – 22 out of 26 put those two on their lists.
Kevin Keegan – the new European footballer of the year. An ironic photo somehow – Barcelona’s duo seemingly laughing at the pink shirts… Keegan was questionable winner. Not because he was not a top-notch player, but because his season was not great. May be Roberto Bettega deserved to be number one, but points count and Keegan was proclaimed best.