Perhaps three moments characterize the 1979-80 Spanish season best – two transfers and the Cup final. The Cup final not only opposed a second division to first division team, but most importantly two sides of one and the same club. The transfers mark the high and the low of players’ luck and more. The first transfer announced the arrival of the best ever Uruguayan scorer Fernando Morena to Spain.
Morena was arguably the best Uruguayan player of the 1970s, famous for a long time, and arriving to Spain with a fantastic record: in his previous 6 years with Penarol he scored 162 goals in 140 matches. What was unusual then? Two things: first, he was coming to Europe quite old, approaching his 28th year. Of course, playing for famous club like Penarol seemingly explains his late transfer, but given the political and economic situation of Uruguay in the 70s confronts such explanation: tough military regime and terrible economic situation were the realities leading to great exodus of players. The military Junta was not interested in football, so the clubs were in poor shape and short on money. It is strange that a player of such a caliber stayed at home that long. May be too long… Morena was perhaps less known abroad in 1979 than in 1974. He signed with Rayo Vallecano, not with any of the big clubs. Not even with the solid middle Spanish clubs, but with a small one. Hardly a transfer for a star – rather, for a faded star, former star, or just a journeyman. Lesser players had better and more lucrative careers with Spanish clubs – Fernando Morena did not last long in Europe and was hardly noticed.
The other transfer was the very opposite: one day in the summer of 1979 a young guy knocked at Real Madrid’s door and tell them he wants to play for them. This was unheard of case,especially for a club like Real – it was taken for granted that the famous Real can have only policy: ‘you don’t call us, we call you’. Yet, the player persuaded the club to give him a try, was found more than good enough and Real decided to sign him – which meant buying him from his former club to the tune of 960 000 English pounds! It was a story so unusual, it became the big news in the summer of 1979: it was not just that a player offered his services to Real Madrid. What made it so exciting story was that the player was young, fairly unknown, and came from England.
Laurie Cunningham – pictured here in his early days with Leyton Orient – was born in 1956 and played professional football since 1974, but it was just by the end of the decade when he climbed to some fame. That is, after he moved from Leyton Orient to rising West Bromwich Albion in 1977. In 1979 the talented left-winger fulfilled his dream – he was included and debuted for the national team of England – but whatever he was so far was only a bright hopeful. Hardly a big star and almost unknown outside England. His daring move to Madrid instantly made him famous and expensive – West Bromwich Albion certainly jumped on the opportunity and hiked his price. Real Madrid was impressed enough to pay and Cunningham became the first ever English player to play for Real Madird. Not only that, but he was black – at the time when black English players were still few and just breaking into the national team. There was some luck too: Real Madrid did not have a second foreigner at the moment and Cunningham was instant starter. A transfer in sharp contrast to Morena’s – a oldish player, all but forgotten by now, went to a small club, but the young fairly unknown Englishman moved to the biggest club in the world and became a big star even before playing an official match for Real. As for what was real and what was inflated… Morena played for Uruguay from 1971 to 1983; Cunningham played for England 6 times, all of them during the 1979-80 season, did not make the team for the European finals in 1980, and was never called again. But that is visible when looked from a distance – at the time, Cunningham was the wonder in everybody’s mind and mouth.
Once the summer was over, it was back to business and the heat of the transfer market was replaced by the heat of the championship. The gritty Second Division had no big names to attract attention, but it had rules worth mentioning – B teams of clubs were allowed to participate in the leagues, only having no right to play in the same league with their A team. The rule was not new at all and mostly concerned the big Spanish clubs – Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao often had their B team in the Second Division. Normally, information of Second Division came with the note that so-and-so teams cannot be promoted, if they finish at the top of the league. As it happened, this season there was only one B team playing in the second level, and it was different. Different by name – if B teams appeared just as that: Barcelona B or Atletico Madrid B, and so on, Real Madrid visibly had no such team. Instead, there was Castilla CF. A small club, which was taken by Real. The name was preserved, but this was the B team of Real Madird and like any other B team, had no right of playing in the same league with the first team. That is, Castilla CF would not be promoted to First Division. Nothing to worry, though – they finished 7th. The problem came from another angle. Castilla CF had a good run, others faced disaster – especially from today’s perspective.
At the end of the table and relegated finished: Algeciras CF – 20th, Gimnastic de Tarragona – 19th, Deportivo La Coruna – 18th, and Celta Vigo – 17th. Strange to see La Coruna and Celta going to Third Division today, but back then neither club was even well known. Similar to modest Algeciras really. Gimnastic was also of the same ilk, long ago reduced only to a name of historic importance.
Second Division was largely made of similar clubs – most had played in first division, but never a big role. They moved up and down, depending on momentary luck. They were not particularly strong – Castilla, the second team of Real Madrid, was 7th with 40 points. The champions of the league finished with 47. That is, pretty much on the level of Real’s B team – but the top three were promoted.
CA Osasuna ended 3rd with 44 points and got the third promotional spot.
In Basque, the name means ‘health’ – in the sense of ‘strength’ or ‘vigor’. As for performance, Osasuna so far played 8 seasons in First division and 13 seasons in Third Division since their foundation in 1920. Their most successful years were between 1955 and 1960, when they enjoyed the longest run in First Division – 4 consecutive seasons, reaching the 5th place in 1958-59. However, their last visit to Third Division was 1976-77. The home city of Osasuna – Pamplona – is world-famous, but not for football. Osasuna did not play first division football since 1963.
With 45 points Real Valladolid finished 2nd.
Founded in 1928, they had a bit better history than Osasuna – played longer in the top league and only once in the third division. But like Osasuna, they did play in the First Division for a long time – since 1964.
With 19 wins, 9 ties, and 10 losses Real Murcia won the Second Division. 2 points ahead of Real Valladolid and not the best in anything – Osasuna won more matches and scored more goals, Castilla and Alaves allowed the same number of goals.
The oldest of the promoted teams – officially founded in 1908 – ‘Los Pimentoneros’ (Paprika-men) had the same kind of history as the other two. Their longest run in first division was 3 seasons – from 1944 to 1947, and the they were in 3rd division in 1976-77. But they played in the top league in 1974-75, unlike their rivals, which did not such joy for a log, long time.
Happy winners, well done, good for them, and so on. Yet, neither club appeared much different than previous winners of Segunda – smallish clubs, lucky to be among the best, and struggling to last more than season.