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Forest still complaining about refereeing decision 32 years later


Inglorius

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Uefa had Forest-Anderlecht referee bribe evidence 'for four years' - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-37453762

European football chiefs were given evidence of one of football's greatest corruption scandals years before taking action, it has been claimed.

In 1984 the president of Belgian side Anderlecht bribed the referee ahead of their Uefa Cup semi-final victory over NottinghamForest.

The facts were finally revealed in 1997 and Anderlecht were banned from European competition for a year.

But new evidence shows Uefa was told about the bribe as early as 1992. 

Four years after winning their second European Cup, Brian Clough's Forest faced Anderlecht in the semi-final of the Uefa Cup.

After convincingly winning the first leg 2-0, Forest had a dubious penalty awarded against them and a goal disallowed in the return tie, finally going out 3-2 on aggregate.

The truth behind those refereeing decisions only emerged during a 1997 criminal case when Anderlecht admitted paying the Spanish referee Emilio Guruceta Muro.

At first Uefa insisted it could take no action because the bribery took place more than 10 years previously, but eventually a one-year European ban was imposed on Anderlecht.

The evidence showed that shortly before the match Anderlecht president Constant Vanden Stock had approached local criminal Jean Elst.

Belgian journalist Frank van Laeken said: "Elst contacted a friend in the region, who went to Alicante and spoke to the referee.

"The referee said 'OK, I'll do it for 1.2m Belgian francs'."

Referee Muro died in a car crash in 1987, aged 45, but Anderlecht's stadium is still named after former club president ConstantVanden Stock, who died in 2008.

Elst and Van Aaken were both jailed. Elst died in prison while Van Aaken's conviction for blackmail was overturned on appeal.

But for the players, the events of 25 April 1984 remain as painful as ever.

Forest goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen said: "For me it was building up that the referee was cheating.

"All the 50-50 balls around their 18 yard box, he blew the whistle and gave a free kick to Anderlecht."

Then Anderlecht were awarded a penalty fora challenge by Forest's Kenny Swain.

Striker Garry Birtles said: "That penalty was the most embarrassing decision I have ever seen in football.

"The distance between Kenny Swain and their guy who went down was absolutely ridiculous."

A last-gasp Forest goal, which would have been enough to win the tie, was also controversially disallowed. Anderlecht won 3-0 and went through.

Birtles said: "It was wrong then, it's wrong now and it will be wrong always.

Paul Hart, who scored the disallowed goal, said: "The whole thing stinks, it really does.

"When it's brought up, it still rankles."

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They have every right to.

I'm still complaining about Juventus bribing the ref and Armfield sending out The Dirties to clog us 4 days before we played the second leg against Real Madrid.

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54 minutes ago, eddie said:

They have every right to.

I'm still complaining about Juventus bribing the ref and Armfield sending out The Dirties to clog us 4 days before we played the second leg against Real Madrid.

Is there any truth in this? Before my time.

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5 minutes ago, Paul71 said:

Is there any truth in this? Before my time.

Armfield sent the dirties out to clog everyone. Can't believe that he was one of the radio voices of football for so long as he was just revie -lite. 

A bit young to know all ins and outs of the first leg. Wasn't the ref or juve or both subsequently found guilty of bribery or something?  Italian football has been so dodgy down the years I might be thinking of a different decade. 

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4 minutes ago, HantsRam said:

Armfield sent the dirties out to clog everyone. Can't believe that he was one of the radio voices of football for so long as he was just revie -lite. 

A bit young to know all ins and outs of the first leg. Wasn't the ref or juve or both subsequently found guilty of bribery or something?  Italian football has been so dodgy down the years I might be thinking of a different decade. 

I don't know, but I do think any club found guilty of bribery no matter how long after the event should face massive consequences, a year ban is just a slap on the wrist. 

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12 hours ago, Inglorius said:

 

Then Anderlecht were awarded a penalty fora challenge by Forest's Kenny Swain.

Striker Garry Birtles said: "That penalty was the most embarrassing decision I have ever seen in football.

"The distance between Kenny Swain and their guy who went down was absolutely ridiculous."

 

Not sure whether this is on YouTube but it is worth a look if you can find it.  I remember it as the worst decision be a mile that I have ever seen, only one explanation even obvious at the time

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24 minutes ago, Spanish said:

Not sure whether this is on YouTube but it is worth a look if you can find it.  I remember it as the worst decision be a mile that I have ever seen, only one explanation even obvious at the time

I just saw it on Youtube. Talk about an overstatement, he was pulled back and delayed going down. See those given all the time, hardly the worst decision ever seen.

Our ruled out equalising goal/Chris Martin dismissal at Burnley in the 2013/14 season, while not as high-profile, was a much worse decision than that.

 

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42 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

I just saw it on Youtube. Talk about an overstatement, he was pulled back and delayed going down. See those given all the time, hardly the worst decision ever seen.

Our ruled out equalising goal/Chris Martin dismissal at Burnley in the 2013/14 season, while not as high-profile, was a much worse decision than that.

 

It looks bad to me, but is a bad quality video. The martin dismissal still gets to me, that was a proper 6 pointer game at the time, when you watch it neither booking is warranted, the 'dive' he loses his footing but does not claim anything. 

I do not believe there was anything sinister with the referree, but I do feel he may have had preconceptions about martins style, in fairness we all know people consider him a diver.

 

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11 hours ago, CumbrianRam said:

Quite ironic when people still moan about Atwell an incident which happend 8 years ago in a nothing season.

To be fair, for me it was the first Derby vs Forest I ever saw in the flesh. Sticks out for me for that reason really.

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