Primera Division had a surprise too, but it was not related to the arrival of new foreign stars. If they were any indication, it was mixed or so-so season. Hans Krankl ended as the best league scorer, but Barcelona was not even among the top three. Rainer Bonhof helped Valencia win the cup, but in the championship they were 7th. Daniel Bertoni was rarely heard of and his new club Sevilla fought not for the title, but to esacpe relegation. At the bottom of the league things were settled early in the season and the only problem was the third relegation spot. Recreativo Huelva were dead last with 21 points. A point better were Racing Santander. Both teams were far behind everyone else. The battle for survival involved almos half the league, but the smaller clubs inevitably were the most involved. Celta Vigo were the unlucky club – they finished with 28 points and 16th. The lucky boys were Rayo Vallecano.
Survivors, top row from left : Anero, Alcazar, Uceda, Manano, Luna, Fermin.
Crouching : Manau, Francisco, Landaburri, Astegiano, Alvanto.
The pariah of Madird were big contrast to their their wealthy neighbors Real and Atletico – they were not even proper rivals, but just a small club of modest means. Just playing in Primera meant much for them. Survival was ever present issue – and this season they finished fine : 15th with 29 points. Safe.
Similar were others – Hercules Alicante, Burgos, Salamanca – but a group of bigger clubs underperformed. Real Zaragoza barely escaped relegation – 14th with 30 points.
Standing, from left: Irazusta, Lasa, Camus, India, Oñaederra, Antic.
Crouching: Víctor, Alonso, Amorrortu, Arrúa, Juanjo.
The squad was nothing to brag about and Zaragoza was not a big factor in Spanish football, but not outsider either. Mid-table – yes, but not the relegation zone. Yet, there they were… lucky to survive.
A bit better than Zaragoza, but a disappointment nevertheless was Sevilla.
Standing from left : Juanito, Alvarez, Sanjose, Gustavo Fernandez, Gerolami, Blanco.
Crouching : Scotta, Juan Carlos, Yiyi, Rubio, Bertoni.
With Gustavo Fernandez (Uruguay, 26 yers old, reserve at the 1974 World Cup), Hector Scotta (Argentina, 26, former national team player), and newly recruited Eduardo Gerolami (Uruguay,26) and fresh world champion Daniel Bertoni (Argentina, 23) Sevilla looked very dangerous. But with 33 points they finished 11th.
Athletic Bilbao and Valencia were also disappointing – the Basques ended 9th with 34 points, Valencia with a point more was 7th.
On the brighter side were Real Sociedad – they were not a club usually coming to mind, but had very strong season, finishing 4th and missing bronze medals only because of worse goal-difference. This looked like temporary success at the time, but in fact Real Sociedad was at the beginning of their best years. Las Palmas was another club playing strong, but they were steady for some time.
This was the ‘Argentinian’ period of Las Palmas – they depended on gauchos, who played well and more or less defined the club in the 1970s. Daniel Carnevalli, now 32, was between the goalposts for years. Carlos Morete was not famous, but reliable he was. Miguel Brindisi, 28 now, was one of the brighest Argentinian stars only a few years ago – and he still was considered influential midfielder. Las Palmas also had Uruguayan – the reserve goalkeeper Nilson Bertinot, and Paraguayan – Crispin Maciel. And Mauritanian… well, exotica… but not really : the 22 years old right full back Gerardo was born in Mauritania, but he was of Spanish origins and perhaps like the other foreigners – naturalized quickly. Perhaps he was not even an oriundo, but Spanish citizen from birth. Anyhow, Las Palmas maintained solid performance year after year – this one they finished 6th.
Good and bad, but the ugly was Barcelona. Cruyjff announced his retirement, real or fake, and was back in Amsterdam. Barcelona failed to win the championship after 1974, which did not stay well with anybody in Catalonia. Coaches were hired and fired, players were added – and nothing. Crujff was replaced by great current star – Hans Krankl, the Austrian goal-scoring machine. He arrived from impressive World Cup performance and the expectations were high. He and Neeskens were the official foreign stars, but Barcelona had lot more – 2 Argentines : Rafael Zuviria and Juan Carlos Heredia, an Uruguayan : Alfredo Amarillo Kechichian, a Brazilian : Bio, and Moroccan : Jose Ramos. With the exception of Bio, all were ‘oriundi’ and permitted to play. Add the cohort of Spanish stars… and a new coach. Lucien Muller came from Burgos. 44 years old with plenty of experience already. The former French star played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid and after retiring coached in Spain , beginning with Castellon in 1970. Muller was hired to win the title of course. Barca was always aiming at the title – before the season starts. Then it was not so great – Muller did not last to the end of the season, as many others before him. Barcelona struggled, but ended only with best attack in the league. Hans Krankl finished as number one scorer, as hoped, but his goals made no difference – Barcelona finished 5th. 38 points were only one more than Las Palmas’ , the champions had 9 points more than Barca. Failure.
This picture is interesting because of the reserve kit : Barca with a trace of white triggered a revolt 10 in the 1990s. The fans demanded the offending kit to be changed – the club did not, but playing with whole white jerseys did not infuriate the fans in the 1970s. On the other hand using the colour of the arch-enemy may have been the reason for the terrible season. Just ask the fans. The problems were not the jerseys – Barca had problems ever since 1974 : aging players, which perhaps were kept too long ; not really great newcomers ; and goalkeeping. After Sadurni retired a pair of the same age was used alternatively – Artola and Mora. Neither excelled. The contrast with Real Madird was particularly painful – Real had two national team keepers at the time when Barca had two flunkies. Neeskens was becoming a problem too – he was fading. 5th place was not what he was expected to deliver – and he moved to the stable of Cosmos after the end of the season. To enjoy New York life and drugs. Still, the season was not entirely lost to Nesskens and Barca – the high note was international victory, more than compensating for the domestic failure. May be it was the reason for the weak season, may be not, but at least it was great excuse.
Good season for Atletico Madird. In general, the decade was good and successful for Atletico, but there was always doubt. They never had the best squad in Spain – at least not for the critics, who found them old, tired, and depending of second-raters, occasionally over-achieving. No exception this season – this is the introduction of the squad in July 1978 :
Ayala, Luis Pereira, and Leivnha were seemingly eternal… getting older, not better. Leivinha… hardly anyone remebered that he was hailed as the ‘next Pele’ in 1972 or 1973. Now he had hard time to get in the starting eleven. The other two were no longer called to play for Brazil and Argentina. Two more Argentines were in the team – Oscar Gonzalez (24) and Ruben Cano (27) – and both were ‘oriundi’. Ruben Cano actually was entirely natiralized and included in the Spanish national team – yet, not considered a great star. Reina was getting too old, but his reserves were worse. Marcial… well, if he was really so good, Barcelona would have kept him. Atletico was easy to criticize and dismiss. Even the club’s brass – three coaches lead the team this season, fired one fter another – the Uruguayan Hector Nunez was at the helm in July 1978, but he was replaced by Luis Aragones, who also did not last – the Hungarian Ferenc Szusza came next. Considering the troubles, Atletico finished very well – 3rd with 41 points. Better goal-difference won them the bronze – they had 1 goal more than Real Sociedad.
Above Atletico finished the big surpise of the season – a club which never played major rôle in Spanish football. A club accustomed to mid-table position and not looking any different than usual before the start of the season.
Sporting Gijon never won anything and had no money for big transfers. It was a club without stars, save for one player. The usual bunch of South-americans, ‘oriundi’ or bona fide imports, were anonimous : 4 Argentines, whose names mean nothing- Rezza, Doria, Ferrero, and Oscar Ferrero. The Spaniards were equally modest. Perhaps the most important person was the coach – Vicente Miera was not famous, but he was young – only 38 years old. Which menas he was very likley influenced by the current developments of the game and did not stick to outdated methods. He had no stars, but obviously made a team. Well, he had a star – a single one : Enrique Castro Gonzalez – Quini. Big, strong, physical, thretening centre-forward and great scorer. Quini was leading Spanish striker since 1973, he was at his prime and national team regular. With him in front and ten working horses fighting and supporting, Sporting Gijon won 17 league matches – the second highest record this season. They also had the best defensive record, allowing only 30 goals. They soared, moved ahead of the whole league, save one club. Better than Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, all… but a team of journeymen can go only that far… Gijon was not able to really compete for the title. They finished 4 points short.
Heroes, standing, from left: Ciriaco, Castro, Joaquin, Redondo, Cundi, Rezza.
First row: Morán, Uria, David, Quini, Ferrero.
Great, but… one-time wonder surely. Quini was not going to last – and he did not. Still great season – the best ever ! So far this yeat remains the best achievement of Sporting Gijon. However, they were not one-time wonder, as expected : they played really well in the next few years, reaching the cup final twice. The best period in the history ofthe club started.
The champions do not need introduction… one more success for Real Madrid. And comfortably won – 4 points ahead of the nearest pursuer, losing only 3 games during the campaign.
Familiar squad too – lead by Luis Molowny, Real had the best squad in Spain since 1975. There was no need of big signing and no foreign star was acquired – the best was alerady at hand. Five foreigners – Ulrich Stielike, who missed the 1978 World Cup thanks to stupid decision of the West German federation banning foreign-based players, of which the real loser was the national team ; his former teammate in Borussia Moenchengladbach, the Danish centre-forward Henning Jensen ; the former captain of Argentina Enrique Wolff, remembered from the 1974 World Cup, and two more of his compatriots – Roberto Martinez and Carlos Alfredo Guerini. The Argentines was naturally ‘oriundi’ – Roberto Martinez even played for the national team of Spain. He was 33 by now, but still dangerous. As for the rest… there was no end : Santillana, Juanito, Del Bosque, Miguel Angel, Sol, Benito… even the reserve goal-keeper was a national team player – Garcia Remon. Aguilar was no longer a starter in such company. Pirri still was. The one left out was Camacho – seems very strange today : may be the competition was so great that arguably the best Spanish defender at the time was not able to keep his place among the regulars. The reason was different : Camacho suffered great injury at training and practically missed the whole season. There was real danger that he will not recover at all – luckily, he beat the odds. Yet, even without Camacho Real was too much for the opposition. Another title, it was not a news really.