Sporting Trivia Challenge Trophy

[red devil]

Ajax did the double 'double', winning their league and the then European Cup in consecutive seasons;

that'll be the plastic treble..;-)

[david_carnell]

Doh....how did I not get my own team.

I forgot all about the Leeds vs Stuggart debacle followed by, somewhat OTT imo, a replay at the Nou Camp (and woe betide anyone who calls it Camp Nou).

Ahhh....a Carl Shutt winner.

[Mick Mac]

Glasgow Celtic (in 1967

Ajax (1972)

PSV Eindhoven (1988)

Manchester United (1999)

Correct Rolo - your turn now

Matt - Liverpool do not seem to have won the FA Cup in 1984

Liverpool

[matthew123]

Liverpool won the League Cup in '84 which was certainly a lot more prestigious and competitive in those days than the FA Cup has been for the last 10 years.

[Mick Mac]

Yes - but not the "domestic league and cup double" anticipated by the question. Think it meant the league and the country's premier cup comp (I'm not being cheeky btw)

[red devil]

matthew123 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Liverpool won the League Cup in '84 which was

> certainly a lot more prestigious and competitive

> in those days than the FA Cup has been for the

> last 10 years.

Bollocks!, talking of 'prestigious and competive' cups, the European cup was a pile of shit in the 70's and 80's, for instance in 76/77 'pool had to beat the 'cream of Europe' in Crusaders of Belfast, Trabanzor, Saint Etienne (QF), FC Zurich (SF) and Borussia Moenchangladbach in the final...quality!

[matthew123]

>> the European cup was a pile of shit in the 70's and 80's

Ajax won it 3 years on the spin in the seventies. Largely made up of Dutch internationals, such as Johann Cruyff, who formed arguably the world's number one National side that decade reaching both World Cup finals (in 74 and 78).

Following Ajax, were the legendary Bayern Munich who also won it 3 consecutive years, composed of half the formidable West Germany national side with players like Gert Muller and Franz Beckenbauer.

In the 80s there was the great Milan team who won it with legends like Van Basten, Gullit and Maldini.

What people tend to forget that in the 70s and 80s there was the Iron Curtain and playing a team from Eastern Europe was effectively playing almost the National side of that country.

Just because Manchester United didn't even reach the preliminary round of the Competition during both decades should not undermine what is generally considered the golden period of European football.

[????]

What Matt said - Champinos League!! er, how many teams were champions in England last year? just call it the Richest clubs in europe league or something

[DaveR]

The BM side Liverpool beat in the final in 77 had won the Bundesliga 3 years running, and won the UEFA cup twice in the 70s

St Etienne were the top side in France at the time, with a certain M Platini in midfield

red devil, I'm afraid you're talking out of your aris (salonika)

[red devil]

Lyon have been French champions for 7 years years running, does that make them a top side in Europe?, it's all relative, they would struggle to finish in the top half of the Premiership...admittedly you can only beat what is put in front of you, but Platini was a diamond in a crappy pile of crappiness, who soon high-tailed it to Italy once the lure of the Lira called, ironic wouldn't you say considering his views on the Premier League?..

I'd argue that they weren't since they got beat in both finals, nor did they even manage to win the European Championship until the end of the 80's (see below)...

exactly, because of the dearth of quality it was easy for a half decent team to dominate; since the Champions League was formed no team has successfully defended their crown because of the number of high quality teams that compete, great European clubs like Real Madrid, Barca, Milan have all failed, I mean Notts Forest won it by beating Malmo and retained it by beating Hamburg, c'mon...

this was at the end of the 80's and was a precursor of the way football was about to change, numerous foreign imports, huge squads, and a meglomaniac owner throwing money at a club...as I stated in an earlier post this coincided with English clubs being banned for 5 years and then having to play catch up for the next 5 years...

the scariest thing about playing an Iron Curtain side then was the flight on Aeroflot and what was on the menu not the team sheet...nowadays the top european teams include the top players from eastern europe as well as the cream of south/central america and africa, there is no comparison in the overall quality...

what has Utd got to do with it?, we were shit then, and 'generally considered' by who, one-eyed red-tinted-glasses wearing mickey mousers?..

Mr R is that a silent se on the end of your name?..

[Annasfield]

United haven't exactly had a tricky run to get to another final of the CL this season though have they? Villa real, Aalborg and Celtic (sorry MickMac) and then only winning two of the group stage games. At least it was a proper competition back in the day. One of the only times I wish I was older.

[ruffers]

You can't help but wonder how the competition would end up as the old fashioned knock out tournament, ideally without seeds.

[red devil]

Anna, all the seeded teams get so called inferior opposition in the group stage, just like any major championship like the World Cup, I personally think the group stage is a waste of time and is just a money making scam dreamt up by UEFA, once you get past the group stage and into the last 16 it's a proper knock-out competition, and generally there are no easy games, you'd have to be extremely lucky to win the Champions League without playing at least 2 or 3 high quality teams...

[Mick Mac]

No need to apologise Anna - I know Celtic are rubbish (hopefully just a little bit less rubbish than Rangers).

[DaveR]

"Man U fan makes shock claim - 'football is much better now we're top'"

[matthew123]

Once we cut through the laughable myth that football was shite for 26 years before United won the Title in '92 and teams were dropped over the Iron Curtain by parachute from a burning Aeroflot plane... surely even the most blinkered United fan Red Devil will recognise that Ajax and Bayern were amongst the European greats?

French football of 30 years ago is like comparing today's Scottish football with that of the 60s and 70s, there is simply no comparison what with the economics of today driving a concentration of quality so tight you can now reach a Final without having played anyone of calibre.

How can anyone can brush off players like Cruyff and Beckenbauar is beyond the pale. But what I guess it comes down to is that the Club that won most European Cups during the 70s and 80s is Liverpool F.C.

Since the inception of European football the great teams are generally considered to have been Real Madrid (56 to 60), Inter Milan and Benfica (60s), Ajax and Bayern (70s), Liverpool (77 to 84) and Milan (89 to 94). Likes of Chelsea, Barcelona and United are up there but they are far from the historical elite.

[red devil]

Congratulations on being top of a pile of shit...FC Zurich my arse!..