DCFC in Europe scrapbook

[Eatonram]

I seem to remember the return leg was televised, I think by ITV but have never been able to track it down.

[LeedsCityRam]

European Cup Quarter Final 2nd leg – Wednesday 21st March 1973 & the return leg with Spartak Trnava at the Baseball Ground

Derby were seeking to overturn a one goal deficit after the first leg in Czechoslovakia & managed to do exactly that – two Kevin Hector goals either side of half time giving the Rams a nervy win under the BBG lights;

 

Kevin Hector firing home the crucial second goal on the night;

 

 

Pre-match edition of the Ram sought to reassure fans that new Government legislation (brought in to combat rampant 70s inflation) would not prevent Derby from rewarding players should they go onto win the European Cup;

 

Elsewhere, Real Madrid comfortably beat Dynamo Kiev 3-0 in the Bernabeu whilst Juventus scraped past Ujpesti Dozsa on away goals, coming back from two goals down to draw the second leg in Hungary 2-2. Reigning Champions Ajax were beaten 2-1 in Munich but still went through comfortably by dint of their first leg 4-0 win;

 

The semi-final line up then boasted the reigning back to back Champions of Europe (Ajax), six times Champions of Europe (Real Madrid), 14 times Champions of Italy (Juventus) & little old Derby County, only 4 years out of Division Two & in our first ever European competition. Heady days. The draw pitched Derby against Juventus with the first leg being away in Turin, whilst Real Madrid faced Ajax. First legs to be played 11th April 1973;

[Guest]

This was an all-ticket game with the best seats in B Stand costing £1.75 and terrace tickets were 60p, an increase on the previous rounds. ITV were covering the game for a fee of £6,000 with the potential of additional sales to other countries at £500 per country.

Derby knew what was needed to get through to the semi-final stage; a minimum two goal victory was required. They would hope to get an early breakthrough and it was recognised that few East European sides could survive sustained pressure, so one goal should lead to more. However, there was no room for error with away goals counting double in the event of an aggregate draw. Derby had exited the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage the previous weekend at the hands of Leeds United at the Baseball Ground; with a David Nish own goal separating the two sides. This defeat was the fourth in the last five games and they had failed to score in the last three.

Spartak arrived at Birmingham airport on Monday and based themselves in the Riverside Hotel in Branston, Burton-upon-Trent for three nights. They had planned to train at the Baseball Ground on Tuesday evening before a cocktail party for officials and the press at the stadium.

Alan Hinton returned to the side; his groin strain had cleared up enough to get him out on the field and as was found out in the first leg, he was hugely important and influential for Derby. Trnava welcomed back Kuna, who was suspended for the first leg and he was considered to be of equal importance to the Czechs as Hinton was to the Rams. David Nish was struggling with an injury, but considered fit enough to play, despite not being 100 per cent.

The early stages of the game showed that Spartak would be no walkover and they were the best side to have visited the Baseball Ground so far in the competition, despite being the underdogs to lift the trophy. Kuna showed he was their best player and they were able to keep Derby at bay until McGovern’s low centre was slotted home by Hector to bring the aggregate scores level before the break. Spartak were dangerous in the build-up but by half-time, Boulton had been largely untroubled.

Nish surprisingly came out for the second half after suffering an injury as Derby searched for the second goal which came when Davies was bundled over in the box as he got on the end of a Hinton cross. Everyone, apart from Hector, was waiting for the referee to signal a penalty. Hector, 15 yards out, played on and volleyed his shot just under the bar to send the Baseball Ground into raptures. Derby continued to create chances without adding to their lead. I can still remember the intensity of the final 15 minutes as we watched on nervously, knowing that if Derby conceded a goal they would go out on the away goals rule. Gemmill was needlessly booked for protesting too much to a refereeing decision; his petulance was subsequently proved to be extremely costly. But despite many unusually desperate clearances upfield the Rams held on to the final whistle.

Financially, the European games were successful, with another profit of over £23,000 being realised from this tie. That was after the payment of player bonuses of £200 to each of the squad and £1,500 each for Clough and Taylor.

Chelsea manager Dave Sexton said in the Daily Mail ‘I would bet on Derby to beat them (Ajax or Bayern) over two legs. Derby are a fine team and would not be overawed by Ajax. Ajax against Derby would make a marvellous final.’ However, Derby were to be drawn against Juventus.

 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Brailsford Ram

[Guest]

On Friday 23rd March 1973, the Derby Evening Telegraph reported on the outcome of the draw for the semi-finals of the European Cup made in Zurich earlier that day.

[Guest]

Since the draw for the semi-finals pairing the Rams against Juventus, reflecting the excitement of all connected to the club, the Derby Evening Telegraph looked forward with relish to the coming battle against the Italian Champions.

[LeedsCityRam]

European Cup Semi Final 1st leg – Wednesday 11th April 1973 & the away leg with Juventus at the Stadio Comunale in Turin

Whilst Derby had avoided reigning Champions Ajax & perennial Champions Real Madrid in the draw, the task of facing Juventus was hardly a straightforward one. By 1973, Juventus had been Italian Champions 14 times & were in the midst of winning number 15. Their squad also contained many familiar names - Dino Zoff was in goal, prolific striker Jose Altafini (who managed to play for both Italy & Brazil) was up front and the team even featured a young Fabio Capello.

Pre-match Brian Clough interview with some horrible prescient comments about refereeing of the upcoming game in Turin;

Despite Kevin Hector’s equaliser on the half hour giving Derby a precious away goal, Juventus scored twice in the second half to secure a 3-1 win. This though was only part of the story given the now infamous scenes outside the referee’s room at half-time & the highly suspicious bookings of Gemmill & McFarland, meaning they would miss the second leg

Footage of the goals from Stadio Comunale;

 

 

Daily Mirror match report;

 

 

Programme from Turin;

 

In the other semi-final, Ajax took a two goal lead into the last 10 minutes but Pirri struck with 5 mins remaining to give Real Madrid a priceless away goal for the second leg at the Bernabeu;

Edited April 11, 2023 by LeedsCityRam

[Guest]

Derby were in the middle of five successive away games and had won their most recent 1-0 at Arsenal on March 31st. That gave them an eleven day break as their scheduled game against Wolves was postponed because Wolves were playing in the FA Cup semi-final. This allowed time to fully prepare the players for what was potentially the biggest game of their lives.

The official party, including former Juventus star John Charles (who was acting as an advisor and translator), left Derby on Sunday afternoon for a 3.00pm flight from EMA to Turin. They would return immediately after the game, arriving back at EMA at 11.00pm as it was an afternoon kick-off. The VIP party was staying at the Turin Palace Hotel  in the city     

There was some unrest in the Derby camp when Brian Clough and Peter Taylor verbally clashed in front of the players. The night before the game there was to be a dinner for the journalists with Brian Clough as the main speaker. Peter Taylor was due to attend but not speak as he was not overly confident addressing the press. At the appointed departure time, Clough was still playing cards and Taylor, who was ready to leave, stormed back to his room following some choice words to Clough - who knows what affect this public disagreement  had on the players before such a big game?                     

Derby fans had a choice of a three day or one-day trip from EMA. While I fancied the longer haul, with one eye on the May final in Belgrade and the drain on my savings from the first three ties, I opted this time for the one-day excursion

Derby had announced the team internally and there was a major surprise with Tony Parry included at the expense of Alan Durban. The squad, as usual, went for a pre-match walk and at some point during that the decision was reversed and Durban was restored to the team. Roger Davies had a groin strain and would be replaced by John O’Hare and the influential Alan Hinton was still missing with his groin injury. As the 3.30pm kick-off at the Studio Communal approached, the huge black and white flags carried by the Italian fans began waving, something the Derby team had not seen on their travels b

The first twenty  minutes were a bit strange for a semi-final with the home team happy to sit back and watch Derby pass the ball around at will and even Webster and Todd were finding the time and space to join in the forward play. In the twenty-seventh minute however, Juventus took the lead out of nothing when Todd was beaten in the air on the Derby right and the lofted centre split McFarland and Nish allowing Altafini to run between and coolly slot past Colin Boulton. Two minutes later though Derby drew level when O’Hare played in Hector who beat Salvadore and Morini to fire home past Zoff.

This was the first goal scored by an English club in Italy in the European Cup. Since English sides had entered the competition in 1956, there had been five previous visits to Italy by the reigning champions of England. The visitors had been Manchester United, twice, Ipswich Town, Everton and Liverpool. All of those ties had resulted in home victories without a goal being scored by the opposition.

As we celebrated Hector scoring the goal on the unsegregated terraces, I felt a punch to the back of my head. As I turned around to resist a further attack, I could not believe the sight behind me. The Italian fans behind us had run backwards up the terraces in expectation of retaliation! Just like their tanks at Monte Cassino in WW2, the Italian fans only seemed to be able to manoeuvre in reverse gear and remarkably remained at a distance from us for the rest of the game.

The only other chance of note in the first-half fell to Marchetti whose shot from the right-wing was cleared off the line by David Nish. At the break, the score was 1-1 with Derby having the luxury of an away goal and in a position to dictate the course of the second-half and hopefully come away with a positive result.The defence was coping with the Italian forwards and the midfield was matching its Juventus counterparts. After an altercation at half-time between Juventus substitute Haller and Peter Taylor, the half-time team talk was disrupted and there did not seem to be a coherent message given to the players; they were not sure whether to attack or defend and ended up doing neither.

The game changed on sixty-two minutes when Haller was brought on to replace Cuccureddu who was injured after colliding with Todd. He immediately took a position out on the wing and this change of formation sparked Juventus into their best football of the game.. After being on the field for just four minutes, Haller’s influence had an effect as a Juventus move from the left went across the stationary Derby back line and eventually came to Causio who had time to turn and shoot into the corner of the net. Causio then hit a post before the thirty-four-year-old Brazilian Jose Altafini scored again seven minutes from time which started the flag-waving among the jubilant Juve

John O’Hare had an excellent game and was admired by members of the Italian press who were impressed with his close control and ability to hold the

A 3-1 defeat was not the result Derby wanted but it could have been worse. They were grateful for Hector’s goal and the knowledge that Alan Hinton could be fit to return for the second leg. However, they would have to play the home game without Gemmill and McFarland who were both controversially booked in the first leg; Gemmill had his name taken for a trip on Furino, retaliation after Furino’s elbow had made deliberate contact with his face. McFarland’s booking however was very strange. He jumped with Cuccureddu for a high ball and the two heads clashed and he was booked. As both Derby players had already been booked in the competition this meant an automatic one-match ban in the second leg. Furino would also miss the game but his prolonged kicking and fouling of Gemmill all over the field should have ended in more punishment than a booking. As the Derby Evening Telegraph observed, ‘It looked like a put-up job.’

It was only after the game that the full drama of the goings-on behind the scenes became public knowledge. Peter Taylor originally raised alarm bells even before the kick-off when he came into the dressing room saying, ‘Haller’s in with the ref again. That’s twice I’ve seen him.’ At half-time Haller, only named as a substitute, walked off with referee Gerhard Schulenburg instead of his team-mates so Taylor followed them and got an elbow in the ribs from Haller and a large group of stewards and police stopped Taylor - and even tried to arrest him - before he managed to get to the safety of the Derby dressing room. John Charles, still highly respected by  the Juventus supporters as a former player, calmed the incident down but then Taylor had missed the half-time interval. This, together with the strange bookings of McFarland and Gemmill, caused Brian Clough to explode with rage after the game, ‘No cheating b******* will I talk to, I will not talk to any cheating b*******!’ Brian Glanville from the Sunday Times spoke fluent Italian and was ordered by Clough to translate for the Italian press - which he duly did with a predictably hostile re

This incident had a lasting effect on the management duo and after that game they always had someone watching the referee’s room to stop any such thing happening again. An official complaint was made to UEFA about the referee’s handling of the game but, after an enquiry, no apparent action was taken.

[Guest]

Cloughie's thoughts on the eve of the second leg:

[LeedsCityRam]

European Cup Semi Final 2nd leg – Wednesday 25th April 1973 & the return leg against Juventus at the Baseball Ground

After their 3-1 defeat in Turin two weeks earlier, Derby needed a 2-0 win as a minimum to progress to the European Cup Final but knew that an away goal for Juventus would mean they’d have to score at least 3 to take the tie to penalties & 4 to win the tie outright. The task was made harder by the suspensions of Archie Gemmill & Roy McFarland after their farcical bookings in Turin – Clough also dropped Alan Durban to the bench & started with Roger Davies, Peter Daniel & the fit again Alan Hinton. Juventus meanwhile were unchanged from the first leg.

The Baseball Ground was again packed to the rafters & the early signs looked good as Derby camped in the Juventus half with Hinton particularly prominent. The Italians were clearly hanging on around the 30 min mark & in trying to get a foothold in the game were becoming increasingly violent – John O’Hare was targeted in particular.

Highlights of the match;

Link for the full 90 mins below & a real treat for those of who never saw the 70s side in the flesh – goals & highlights are one thing but seeing their class throughout an entire game proves what a team they really were;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldL0YsVnTXo

Sadly Alan Hinton’s penalty miss on the hour mark & Roger Davies’ red card a few mins later were self-inflicted wounds that made an aggregate victory even more difficult. There were still chances when down to 10 men (Daniel, Nish, O’Hare & Hector all had opportunities) but none were taken & Boulton did well on a number of occasions late on to stop the Italians sneaking a late goal on the night. A bitterly disappointing end to a wonderful campaign & a real chance of European glory.

 

 

 

Pre-match copy of The Ram;

 

In the other semi-final, Gerrie Muhren’s goal in the Bernabeu gave Ajax a 0-1 win on the night & a 3-1 win on aggregate so setting up an Ajax v Juventus final in Belgrade on May 30th;

Ajax went on to lift their third consecutive European Cup in Belgrade – Johnny Rep’s goal after 5 minutes proving the difference in Johan Cruyff’s last European game for Ajax before leaving for Barcelona;

 

 

[Guest]

On 29 March a letter was received from UEFA regarding the limited press facilities at the Baseball Ground. The usual facilities catered for 30 journalists and this had been extended to over 60 by utilising additional space behind the dugouts; but the letter suggested that even this would be inadequate for the visit of Juventus. The example quoted in the letter was the recent Ajax v Bayern semi-final game where over 200 press places were required.

The overall winners of the tie would go through to the final that was to be played in Belgrade on 30 May with an 8.30pm kick-off at the Craven Zvezda stadium. A possible replay date was also fixed for two days later at the same venue.

Derby knew exactly what they needed to do following the first leg - a 2-0 win would be good on the away goals rule and a 3-1 victory would send the tie into extra-time and the possibility of a penalty shootout. The Italians’ reputation was well known - there would be a lot of pushing, kicking and off-ball incidents as well as no-nonsense defence. What Derby could not do was to allow Juventus to score an away goal as that would almost certainly put the tie beyond them.            

Prior to the tie Terry Hennessy was ruled out of action for the rest of the season with injury, with similar doubts about Alan Hinton. The team that drew 1-1 with West Ham United on the previous Saturday bore little resemblance to that selected for the Juventus game, with Graham Moseley in goal (just his second appearance) and Tony Parry (his seventh appearance) in the starting line-up. Due to the suspensions carried over from the first leg, Peter Daniel replaced Roy McFarland in central defence for his fourth European game and O’Hare moved back to a position in midfield. Roger Davies was fit and Alan Hinton was risked, although he was not fully fit; he had not played a game for over a month and did not play in his usual wide position.  

Ticket prices were increased again for this game - £3 seats in the B Stand and Ley Stand Centre and £1 for terrace tickets on the Popside. ITV had exclusive broadcast rights on the game, being allowed to show 45 minutes of highlights after 10.30pm. The fee was £7,000 plus any revenue from sales throughout Europe (Italian TV would be charged £3,000 and any others £1,000). Player bonuses for reaching the final and winning had been agreed - £800 for playing and an additional £500 for winning the competition.

The game started well for the Rams as within the first couple of minutes Juventus had given away a free-kick, there were appeals for a penalty and Zoff was scrambling around his line to keep out a shot from the unlikely source of Ron Webster. This was followed shortly afterwards by shots from O’Hare and Hinton. The remainder of the first-half passed without incident, with the Italians containing the Derby threat.

However, the tie was effectively over just after the hour mark. Firstly, Spinosi tripped Kevin Hector in the area (the Italian’s 25th foul of the game) giving Derby a huge opportunity to go ahead on the night. Unusually, Hinton missed the penalty kick, hitting it wide and high at the Normanton End. Had that gone in it was possible that Derby would have gone on to win the tie and go through to the final.

As time ticked by, it was becoming obvious that Derby were not going to progress. After 63 minutes, Roger Davies finally snapped, punched Morini and was rightly sent off. Morini had been antagonistic throughout the game and there was a series of off-the-ball incidents that eventually came to a head. That cost him a club disciplinary fine of £100 and he was automatically suspended for the next three European matches. It was also effectively the end of the contest as Derby had few ideas left to throw at the Italians.

With 20 minutes left to go, Derby made their last substitution with Peter Daniel being replaced by John Sims and then Juventus staged some attacks of their own with Anastasi and Longobucco giving Colin Boulton some difficult saves to make. At the final whistle, the huge black and white flag-wielding Italian fans invaded the pitch as they celebrated reaching the final. Juventus did what Italian sides were renowned for - expert defending, cynical tackles and the ability to break away quickly on the counter-attack. They did this extremely well as for all of Derby’s possession, they got few clear shots at goal. Even Hinton’s crosses that had troubled every other team he had faced were being headed away by Salvadore and Morini. From England, only Manchester United had got further in the competition and Derby could hold their heads high after a successful first European campaign. One can only speculate on what would have happened if the first leg had not allegedly been fixed and the bookings of McFarland and Gemmill had not happened….a place in the final? A win and a chance to defend the trophy? New signings? Clough and Taylor not leaving the club within six months?

With the home team keeping the gate receipts, the four European ties produced £135,000 in additional income and £38,000 in TV revenue. Francisco Marques Lobo, the Portuguese referee for the second leg, reported to his FA that an Italian agent (former referee Deso Solti) had offered him a bribe to favour Juventus - a UEFA subcommittee inquiry in Zurich didn’t even bother to interview the main parties involved and took no action. Juventus proceeded to the final - another bribe? Over a year after the game, the Sunday Times’ Brian Glanville and Keith Botsford interviewed Lobo and published the bribery story (known as the Lobo-Solti case) which did not go down well in Italy.

Edited April 25, 2023 by Brailsford Ram

[PistoldPete]

9 hours ago, LeedsCityRam said:

European Cup Semi Final 2nd leg – Wednesday 25th April 1973 & the return leg against Juventus at the Baseball Ground

After their 3-1 defeat in Turin two weeks earlier, Derby needed a 2-0 win as a minimum to progress to the European Cup Final but knew that an away goal for Juventus would mean they’d have to score at least 3 to take the tie to penalties & 4 to win the tie outright. The task was made harder by the suspensions of Archie Gemmill & Roy McFarland after their farcical bookings in Turin – Clough also dropped Alan Durban to the bench & started with Roger Davies, Peter Daniel & the fit again Alan Hinton. Juventus meanwhile were unchanged from the first leg.

The Baseball Ground was again packed to the rafters & the early signs looked good as Derby camped in the Juventus half with Hinton particularly prominent. The Italians were clearly hanging on around the 30 min mark & in trying to get a foothold in the game were becoming increasingly violent – John O’Hare was targeted in particular.

Highlights of the match;

Link for the full 90 mins below & a real treat for those of who never saw the 70s side in the flesh – goals & highlights are one thing but seeing their class throughout an entire game proves what a team they really were;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldL0YsVnTXo

Sadly Alan Hinton’s penalty miss on the hour mark & Roger Davies’ red card a few mins later were self-inflicted wounds that made an aggregate victory even more difficult. There were still chances when down to 10 men (Daniel, Nish, O’Hare & Hector all had opportunities) but none were taken & Boulton did well on a number of occasions late on to stop the Italians sneaking a late goal on the night. A bitterly disappointing end to a wonderful campaign & a real chance of European glory.

 

 

 

Pre-match copy of The Ram;

 

In the other semi-final, Gerrie Muhren’s goal in the Bernabeu gave Ajax a 0-1 win on the night & a 3-1 win on aggregate so setting up an Ajax v Juventus final in Belgrade on May 30th;

Ajax went on to lift their third consecutive European Cup in Belgrade – Johnny Rep’s goal after 5 minutes proving the difference in Johan Cruyff’s last European game for Ajax before leaving for Barcelona;

 

 

Looks like one way traffic, shame some of the best chances fell to our defenders. I don't ever remember Gladys missing any penalties, what time to do it. . 

[Normanton Lad]

On 11/04/2023 at 15:35, Brailsford Ram said:

As we celebrated Hector scoring the goal on the unsegregated terraces, I felt a punch to the back of my head. As I turned around to resist a further attack, I could not believe the sight behind me. The Italian fans behind us had run backwards up the terraces in expectation of retaliation! Just like their tanks at Monte Cassino in WW2, the Italian fans only seemed to be able to manoeuvre in reverse gear and remarkably remained at a distance from us for the rest of the game.

 

Thank you for those great memories, but I think your memory is playing tricks with your reference to Italian tanks at Monte Cassino. You are thinking of El Alamein. Monte Cassino is a mountain and I doubt if tanks – Italian or otherwise – were of much use in the battle. Anyway, the Italians had changed sides by then. After the battle many Italian women, children and animals were raped and killed by Allied troops.

I haven’t bought a paper for years but I think Brian Glanville is still writing. He was very knowledgeable about a lot of topics, but I don’t think football was one of them. I can remember reading one of his articles around 1974 when he said Leighton James was the best attacker in Europe! I liked Leighton but he was never that good even when he was on form.
 

Edited April 25, 2023 by Normanton Lad

[Guest]

On 25/04/2023 at 20:13, Normanton Lad said:

Thank you for those great memories, but I think your memory is playing tricks with your reference to Italian tanks at Monte Cassino. You are thinking of El Alamein. Monte Cassino is a mountain and I doubt if tanks – Italian or otherwise – were of much use in the battle. Anyway, the Italians had changed sides by then. After the battle many Italian women, children and animals were raped and killed by Allied troops.

I haven’t bought a paper for years but I think Brian Glanville is still writing. He was very knowledgeable about a lot of topics, but I don’t think football was one of them. I can remember reading one of his articles around 1974 when he said Leighton James was the best attacker in Europe! I liked Leighton but he was never that good even when he was on form.
 

1900 tanks used at the battle of Monte Cassino according to this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino

Brian Lester Glanville is an English football writer and novelist. He was described by The Times as "the doyen of football writers—arguably the finest football writer of his—or any other—generation", and by American journalist Paul Zimmerman as "the greatest football writer of all time."Wikipedia.

If he wasn't knowledgeable about football he did well to get this lot published:

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/brianglanville

We all get an opinion wrong from time to time, but to be fair to him, Leighton James was highly rated when he was at Burnley but he was a big disappointment after he signed for Derby in 1975.

[LeedsCityRam]

On 07/03/2023 at 19:03, Eatonram said:

I seem to remember the return leg was televised, I think by ITV but have never been able to track it down.

Footage from the two goals have been posted on Youtube in the past few days, with a jaunty French backing track. Enjoy 👍