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.