European Cup Trivia

[jwdd27]

I'll take question 3, as it's easiest.

Keegan at Hamburg and Cunningham at Madrid are the obvious ones, and Peter Latchford at Celtic would be the third, U23 rep.

[Alex Anderson]

5 is Bobby Lennox and the rest have me in pain. Sign of a great quiz.

[Alex Anderson]

2 must be a Liverpool player. Must be. But can I bloody remember who? Can I buggery ... Tony Woodcock went to Cologne from Forest didn't he??!! ... and he joined Cologne later than 78-79 ... didn't he??

[pebblethefish]

I came up with an intricate theory about Woodcock leaving Forest, playing against them, then being allowed to play for them again in the Super Cup. I checked it on Wikipedia (I allow myself to as I never post my answers) and found out I was completely wrong. As wrong as you are in following up the Liverpool angle.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I came up with an intricate theory about Woodcock leaving Forest, playing against them, then being allowed to play for them again in the Super Cup. I checked it on Wikipedia (I allow myself to as I never post my answers) and found out I was completely wrong. As wrong as you are in following up the Liverpool angle.

I've just done the same, that's a brilliant question.

Noted for Alex's interest (cos I know he likes a crowd stat) there was only 12,000 at Forest's home leg.

[Alex Anderson]

Thanks pebblethefish - saved me a lot of headache. Yeah, between Larry Lloyd, ex-Liverpool, being there before 78-79 and Kevin Keegan featuring in another classic trivia question on Forest's European Cups (Which English player won in the final against Germans with an English club and then lost the final with Germans against an English ...), and them meeting in the first round - and Woodcock - I just couldn't get out of a Liverpool-Englishstrikers-Bundesliga miasma.

I know they played Cologne and Malmo - and that Rangers beat PSV and Juve the same tournament and signed Robert Prytz ... from Malmo (and later Chris Woods - sub - and Trevor Francis - goalscorer - from Forest) but I'm struggling to remember who else Forest beat that season. In the quarter finals. It was Ajax wasn't it. Or was that the following season? I'm remembering watching Forest v Ajax footage in the last few months on YouTube -something to do with this thread and I'm remembering their away strip looked shit - but did I also see Forest v Ajax it in the I Believe in Miracles film which was so fucking brilliant I now can't remember any of it? Fuck it - random Dutchman who played for Forest in the 80s - Johnny Metgod. He scored the goal for Forest in that so-oft-shown FA Cup game when Sir Alex was nearly sacked, didn't he.

I'm going with Johnny Metgod for Q2 (they played Valencia in that Super Cup final - look how I try to compensate for not knowing the answers to the questions asked) and I don't even know if that's how you spell his name.

In that case, for Q1, I'll guess Cologne - from clog-wearing, tulip-munching Northrhine-Westphalia - played in Haarlem in ... nope - shit - it's 79-80 - Cologne weren't in it that season. The German reps were HSV (and it was at the Volksparkstadion, against St Pauli, that Cologne clinched the 77-78 Bundesliga). Fuck it - I have no idea whereabouts Haarlem is in the Netherlands. It could have been some Belgians, but I'll display zero imagination or actual knowledge and stick with HSV, from prostitute-respecting, Hanseatic League-ing Hamburg.

I've just done the same, that's a brilliant question.

Noted for Alex's interest (cos I know he likes a crowd stat) there was only 12,000 at Forest's home leg.

And THAT's it! Thanks, Walt. THAT's why I was watching Forest v Ajax on YouTube a few months back - we did a bit on this thread about the worst-supported home campaign of any European Cup winner. I was researching Forest's claim to that boast (call it research and it's not just surfing the web watching heritage football, Alex). Ignoring per-capita comparisons, looks like Forest can chuck the Super Cup in there too.

Although I do remember seeing a picture of Milan hosting Ajax in front of no-one at the San Siro in 73 ... no - no! - No Super Cup. It's the start of the slippery slope to the Intertoto ...

[Alex Anderson]

Holy fuck. I had no idea that post was that long as I was typing it. That's what happens when I take a day off - it all backs up.

Shorthand:

Q1: HSV
Q2: Jonny Metgod

Both guesses.

I'm off to see the first British finalist in the European Cup-Winners' Cup host the first British team to play in the European Cup (and reach the semis). If I miss the ko it's tee rex's fault.

[seand]

Okay I'll take Q1 as it was a massively significant match in irish football history. League of Ireland champions Dundalk from just south of the border in a staunch nationalist heartland drew Linfield from a strong unionist background from Belfast in the first round. At the height of 'The Troubles' the first leg in Dundalk was played out to the background of a full scale riot and ended 1-1. Both clubs were fined, Linfield were banned from hosting the return leg. They had connections at Haarlem from previous friendly tournaments so elected to host the return leg there. Dundalk won 1-0 in an almost empty stadium, thus providing one of my favourite trivia questions - which was the first irish side to win a European match in Holland? Anyway Dundalk should really have beaten Celtic in the next round but lost 3-2 in Glasgow and missed a sitter late on at home. That match was part of a remarkable 8 match unbeaten run at home in Europe.

[seand]

4 I'd say in Baresi but could be Maldini

[ursus arctos]

Maldini was 11 years old in 1979, so it must be Baresi

[tee rex]

OK, looks like you've got 4 out of 5. Solid teamwork.

1. In 79-80 Haarlem in the Netherlands was the venue for one team's "home" leg, but they weren't (aren't) Dutch. Who?

Linfield versus Dundalk - venue changed after serious trouble in the first leg. Background story here.

3. In the 79-80 QFs there were three England reps (two full internationals, one u23) NOT playing for Forest. Who?

Kevin Keegan, Laurie Cunningham, Peter Latchford.

4. Who made his European Cup debut for Milan against Porto in 79-80 but didn't play in the competition again for 9 years?

Franco Baresi.

5. Which Lisbon Lion made his last European Cup appearance at the Bernabéu?

Bobby Lennox.

Number 2 is probably impossible unless you happened to be there in person, in the ground or maybe in the squad, and even then, he must be the most forgettable player of the Clough-Taylor glory years. Stan Bowles and Charlie George and Jim Montgomery (see earlier question) are other names that most of us would need to look up, but at least you've heard of them in other contexts.

He played for Grasshoppers against Forest in the QF, and then Clough signed him. Kudos if that helps you drag up his name, I'll leave it open for now.

[Alex Anderson]

There was a "Sulser" doing the rounds for Swiss clubs then, wasn't there? Tho I might be thinking about FC Zurich v Liverpool a year or so previous.

And I might be thinking of a downhill skiier.

[ursus arctos]

Claudio

Played for Grasshoppers, though I don’t recall him playing for Forest

[ursus arctos]

Having now looked this up, I can safely say that this is a bridge too far for anyone other than Forest or Grasshoppers obsessives.

He appeared for Forest about two dozen times, but I have no recollection of it at all.

[Alex Anderson]

Cheers, ursus. Nicely done, tee rex. Good quiz. Good range from obvious to impossible. Got my ass kicked but enjoyed it.

If you know what I mean.

[Alex Anderson]

What page are we on now?

[tee rex]

Yes, Real Madrid, European Cup, the very definition of glamour. So I have to ask ...

What on earth is going on here?

It's Limerick vs Real Madrid, from that 80-81 competition. With all the atmosphere of a testimonial. And, did Laurie Cunningham have any friends?

[seand]

I'm a bit conflicted about how proud I am to finally see the League of Ireland start to dominate the European Cup thread

[Alex Anderson]

Aye I remember seeing a piece in WSC, years ago, about Limerick hosting Real at Lansdowne Road. Think it might have been as part of the As Good as it Got series.

And, apart from the fact they really do seem to be blanking Laurie Cunningham (Los Blancos - no pun intended), Real look so downright bloody glam in that strip. So much more than they do in today's.

And I had no idea about that Linfield v Dundalk game - which, unfortunate to say, is strange for a Rangers supporter.

All fascinating stuff.

[tee rex]

I forgot before, the "impossible" answer was Raimondo Ponte. Read all about him in my forthcoming book: "Send 'em back: useless Football League imports in the era of Ardiles and Muhren"*, with a foreword by Alberto Tarantini.

Still on 1980-81, and because you all love the masochism, anyone care to name (or spell) the Polish champions in that season's competition? If I had ever heard of them, they had slipped my mind ever since. It turned out to be their only title, and only appearance, and only victory ever in Europe (one round). Don't torture yourselves, it's not one of those answers that will fight its way through the fog of memory, give up and Google (and you'll still not remember tomorrow).


*(not yet written, or published, a four-figure advance would help)

[Alex Anderson]

Feel your pain, tee rex. I have several such books forthcoming at any given time. What is it with publishers and their myopic insistence on "writing the words"??!! Bloody philistines ...

Raimondo Ponte? Quality name if nothing else. That and the 1980 Polish champions go into my latest tome, Fog of Memory FC - players and teams you'd only remember if they punched you or if you found their name entertaining in a vaguely racist or immature manner (dedication "For tee rex - il miglior ideas man").

Foreword by José Ufarte.

But, today, there's only one European Cup team to be considered on this page ...

[Alex Anderson]

[denishurley]

An easy enough one - against which team did Manchester United wear a kit of red shirts, red shorts and red socks in the 1956-57 European Cup?

[ursus arctos]

The Polish Champions were Szombierki Bytom, who are the second most popular club in the city nearest to the village where my grandfather grew up. They were very much one year wonders and are currently in the regionalised lower leagues.

Is the kit answer Athletic Club?

[Satchmo Distel]

Look at the boots and the state of the pitch in that picture and yet they still had the class to play perfect football on it.

Gary Imlach's biography of his dad has a beautiful chapter on the Forest v Man U game from Autumn 1957. This one:

https://www.11v11.com/matches/nottin...er-1957-74828/

I infer that most away crowds applauded that team rather than expressing any jealousy.