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It could have been, had we beat the RS in the cup semi. Although the season was poor, we were still in with a good shout of a European place before the European Cup quarters and FA cup semis (only 3 points behind in the league, for a Uefa Cup place). Once eliminated from both of those competitions, we won only 1 of the remaining 8 league games, so it looks like we put our eggs in the 'Cups' basket that season. The Panathinaikos result was a shocker- they weren't even one of the 14 'seeds' that season, so weren't highly rated at all.
I don't think so (with Colin) although he had a couple of attempts on goal and, no, away goals not a factor then.
I was wearing flares & listening to The 'Oo. I have other excuses.
A complete balls-up at Goodison did for us. Imagine if we'd made the final against Ajax. It used to keep me awake missing out on that one.
Funny thing is Major, I wasn't yet born and it's p*ssed me off many a time lol
. Even if we'd lost (which in fairness, was probably the more likely outcome as they were one of the all-time great European teams) it could have been a real classic and one people talked about for years.It was a disastrous few days. And ultimately battered the morale of a brilliant and usually very resilient side. Dominoes began to fall:
Very good post. Not sure about a 'great chance' vs Ajax who were without doubt the better side- and had little trouble with British sides of that era (RS, Arsenal and Stein's mighty Celtic team) and it wasn't exactly a gimme vs Red Star Belgrade in the semi-final either for a team who, lets face it, had one good win in Europe in a decade (vs Monchengladbach- and that was after two draws and a penalty shoot-out).
Agree mate but hoping massive backing at Wembley would have got us over the line!!
Possibly mate. We'll never know...but we couldn't beat Borussia or Panathinaikos at Goodison, so, beating the greatest team of the 1970s was a big big ask. Obviously The Catt maybe wasn't quite equipped for European football as much as we should've been (his record is dreadful, quite frankly). Also, with Red Star Belgrade, they had many of the players who put the RS to the sword in 1973...prompting Shankly to evaluate that, maybe, they needed to change their approach vs European teams...which Paisley then adopted, playing a more 'possession' based game, rather than more direct football, resulting in their horrible euro success that followed.
A fitting tribute to an outstanding Red Star team. And, yes, the other RS did learn the lesson about possession while we, er, decided to take an extended rest from Europe to concentrate on the league. ?
I agree about the likely result, that Ajax team was sublime. But can you imagine how fired up the little curly one - to name but one - would have been with a Wembley full of blues, several of whom would have paid for the privilege? Instead, we had to watch one-way traffic on the box! (Was it ITV who had that final? I keep hearing the voice of Brian Moore, but it could just be senile dementia.)Funny thing is Major, I wasn't yet born and it's p*ssed me off many a time lol
Pass the ball back hahaha!!! Effective though in that era!
It was the Dome, mate. I'm sure the curly one would have relished the game- but so would the great Neekens, possibly marking him- and equally adept at being an enforcer, creator or and box-to-box midfielder, which he was for the national side- a real complete player and arguably the best all-round midfielder of the 1970s.
True mate, and it's not a myth, like some Reds want to believe, they really did love the back pass back then.