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Howard's Way

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Billy Dean said:
I think they knocked Barcelona out of the UEFA Cup in the semis one year
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1987.

Dundee United were one of the top sides in Europe from about 1983 to 1987. Aberdeen, too. Clubs from Portugal, Belgium, Romania, Holland, Sweden and other smaller countries were powerhouses. European football was far more interesting then - less rigged, basically. That's not to say rigging didn't happen - ask Dundee United and Nottingham Forest - but it tended to be in the guise of Dino Viola or Constant van den Stock in those days, rather than with the official approval of Boris Johnson, Ceferin, a few Sheikhs, and a veneer of hypocrisy today.
 
Drico said:
1987.

Dundee United were one of the top sides in Europe from about 1983 to 1987. Aberdeen, too. Clubs from Portugal, Belgium, Romania, Holland, Sweden and other smaller countries were powerhouses. European football was far more interesting then - less rigged, basically. That's not to say rigging didn't happen - ask Dundee United and Nottingham Forest - but it tended to be in the guise of Dino Viola or Constant van den Stock in those days, rather than with the official approval of Boris Johnson, Ceferin, a few Sheikhs, and a veneer of hypocrisy today.
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That's only true if we're looking at CWC appearances though.

A lot of the "smaller country" teams were essentially state/mafia sponsored and owned for the most part, making it obvious who's gonna be winning the title and getting the best of the best players around before a ball was kicked.

What I'm saying is that it's exactly the same as it's always been for the most part, just the money and facilities are less spread around so there's no "even cheating field", so to say.
 
DualityNSNO said:
That's only true if we're looking at CWC appearances though.

A lot of the "smaller country" teams were essentially state/mafia sponsored and owned for the most part, making it obvious who's gonna be winning the title and getting the best of the best players around before a ball was kicked.

What I'm saying is that it's exactly the same as it's always been for the most part, just the money and facilities are less spread around so there's no "even cheating field", so to say.
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Only in Eastern Europe, where Dynamo Berlin and CSKA Sofia, for example, were sporting arms of the state. But it's not at all true in Western Europe were IFK Gothenburg, FC Porto, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Austria Vienna, and Club Bruges were all powerhouse clubs.

To prove that point, each of those sides had huge rivals in their own countries to overcome - and the league title in those countries was anything but a foregone conclusion. Malmo, Benfica, Celtic, Rangers, Rapid Vienna, and Anderlecht were all top clubs in those countries and in European competition.

Eastern Europe was corrupt. Today, well, it's no longer constrained to that part of the continent...
 

jazzy said:
A quick heads up to anyone who hasn't seen it that Howard's Way is on Sky Football at 8pm tonight.

I'm sure most Evertonians will have watched it but hey let's watch it again and wallow in when we were the best team in Europe.
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Although the money sky colllect from the armchair is why football is rubbish.

I shudder to wonder what Howard would make of the club now.
 

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