The recent North London Derby was touted as the most important of the fixture’s history in at least a generation, for Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal required a full three points to make up ground on a Leicester side whose fariytale march to the League title is drawing closer to reality with every passing game.
Yet Tottenham find themselves in second place, setting up for their highest finish since 1967, and the possibility of being champions for the first time since 1961 is still alive. With it comes the possibility that more than one of English football’s biggest names will not finish in the top four. Indeed, both Arsenal and Manchester City would be rather less secure in their places if others had not managed to outdo them in the underperforming stakes.
When was the last time an even vaguely similar season took place? One of the best examples was 1980-81, the season where Ron Saunders’ Aston Villa won the League championship – the club’s first since 1910 – while Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town finished runners-up. In fourth place was West Bromwich Albion, then managed by Ron Atkinson, while down in seventh was Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest, a somewhat temporary comedown from the heights of the previous few years. Between 1976 and 1982, the European Cup did not leave English soil with Liverpool wining three of them, while Nottingham Forest won two (1979 and 1980) and Aston Villa one (1982). For good measure, Ipswich Town took the UEFA Cup in 1981, beating surprise Dutch champions AZ Alkmaar in the final. Even clubs outside the First Division had runs in Europe – West Ham reached the quarter-final of the Cup-Winners’ Cup, while Third Division Welsh side Newport County also reached the same stage of the same competition.
For fans today, all of this must seem magical. Just as Leicester’s challenge for the title and leadership of the Premier League seems more magical an in irreversibly less even playing field, yet simultaneously a sign that English football may be changing in ways not so easily noticeable. While it may seem like a throwback to the days of a more even playing field where such miracles could be dreamed up, there was and is still something incomparable about what was created not only by Brian Clough at Derby County and Nottingham Forest, but of other managers who may not have achieved quite as much, yet created or presided over teams that are still talked about to this day and deservedly so. As it were, only Clough at Forest kept things going for longer.
Such was the case of Ipswich Town in the years of Bobby Robson. Ipswich had won the League under Alf Ramsey in 1962, a monumental feat in the context of the times, yet also one that was not given a follow-up. Under Robson, the Blues made steady progress to become regular title contenders during the 1970s, as well as winning the FA Cup in 1978. However, they broke ground at the end of the decade with the signing of the Dutch duo Arnold Mühren (who set up Marco van Basten for that famous 1988 goal) and Frans Thijssen. This marked the beginning of a trickle of foreigners into the English game, which while significant still paled in comparison to the flood of players (and later managers) that would enter from the 1990s onwards. Thijssen and Mühren combined with John Wark in midfield to supply an attack of Paul Mariner, Alan Brazil and Eric Gates. In goal was Paul Cooper, while the defence included England internationals Mick Mills, Russell Osman, Terry Butcher, Kevin Beattie and Scotland international George Burley (who later managed Ipswich).
In the previous season of 1979-80, Ipswich had started slowly but embarked on a strong run of form over the remaining two-thirds of the season and would finish third, with a memorable 6-0 win over Manchester United one the highlights. Now, a formidable-looking side was going for a treble of the League championship, FA Cup and UEFA Cup which, up until the closing stages of the season, remained a distinct possibility. In fact, they would lose just two of their first 32 League games and reach the FA Cup semi-finals. A defeat to Manchester City would spark a run of seven losses in the last 10 League games, allowing Aston Villa to overrun them despite a win at Villa Park. In the UEFA Cup, however, the Blues brushed aside a St Etienne side who would be French champions that year and had Michel Platini and Johnny Rep among their stars, also beating surprise Dutch champions AZ Alkmaar over two legs in the final.
Ron Saunders had taken Aston Villa back into the First Division in 1975 after an eight-year absence (including two years in the Third Division) and won two League Cups in 1975 and 1977 with steady progress in the League. By 1980, he had put together a team featuring Jimmy Rimmer in goal, Kenny Swain, Allan Evens and Ken McNaught in defence, midfield playmaker Gordon Cowans and winger Tony Morley providing creativity with Dennis Mortimer and Des Bremner showing steel and Gary Shaw and Peter Withe up front. All in all, in 1980-81 only 14 players were used by Aston Villa and seven were ever-present in the domestic campaign. By March, it had developed into a two-horse race between Villa and Ipswich. They maintained their momentum as the Blues floundered over the final stretch, and could even afford a final day defeat at Arsenal on the final weekend of the season, as Ipswich also lost and thus delivered the title to Villa Park.
West Bromwich Albion, under the management of Ron Atkinson, played some sparkling football in the late 70s and the start of the 80s, albeit building on foundations put in place by previous managers like Johnny Giles. In front of Tony Godden in goal was a back four of Brendan Batson, John Wile, Ally Robertson and Derek Statham. Ahead of them, the side that finished third in 1979 contained such players as Tony Brown, Bryan Robson, Len Cantello, Ally Brown, Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham. However, a number of changes to the team saw names like Remi Moses, Gary Owen and Peter Barnes come in – the last two being shipped out by Manchester City during the infamous sales of 1979. They were still a formidable and attractive team as their fourth place finish in 1980-81 was to show, although it could have been even better and there were some fine results for them that season.
They were not the only ones, but these are three teams worth recalling from 35-years ago as this season’s Premier League reaches an apparently unprecedented climax. These high points were but to be relatively short-lived for all three. Ipswich were runners-up once more the following season, while Aston Villa finished mid-table but won a European Cup with Tony Barton replacing Ron Saunders. Along with West Bromwich Albion, both of those clubs experienced a gradual decline in fortunes as the decade went on, although Villa were back up there by the end of the 80s. It was not a good decade for other West Midlands clubs either – Birmingham City found itself in the Third Division by 1989, while Wolves were in the Fourth Division just six-years after winning the League Cup in 1980, although they too pulled themselves back up with the goals of Steve Bull.
By contrast, any decline at Nottingham Forest after consecutive European Cups was relative and short-lived, for Brian Clough not only kept Forest among the elite, but did so in some style. After 1981, Liverpool won three consecutive League titles before Everton under Howard Kendall finally broke their stranglehold. But the chances of English clubs continuing their domination in Europe would be denied for some time thereafter.
Still, for the time when English clubs ruled the roost in Europe, there was a certain kind of magic in seeing the kind of teams that were created and could make an impact from seemingly nowhere. Perhaps, in a different way, there is a chance of this returning?
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook.
