27 years ago, will it ever happen again?

[cdward]

It is 27 years since our greatest ever day.
Question is will we ever do it again?

I would like to think so, but there is a 30 point gulf between us and Manure.
Arsenal and Chelsea have both been close in recent years and still not won it, Liverpool have won it without being good enough to win the Prem.
So will we ever see the highs of 82 again?

PS (i will start a "it's been 52 years" thread on Saturday)

[Deano's Mullet]

Anything can happen in football. Chelsea went from nobodies to being League Champs and European Cup Finalists, I am pretty sure we can too - especially if you chuck more and more money at the game without self destructing like Leeds or Newcastle.

[Yossarian]

Ever is a very long time but I can't see it happening in my lifetime. Football has undergone a revolution in the last twenty years and the power now rests with a small elite. The football aristocracy will not give up their power without a fight and there is nobody big enough or willing to take them on. I doubt we will even enter the competition in my lifetime.

As for the FA cup, with its perceived value being a lot less for the big teams we could still win this one day.

[SoccerHQ]

Not in my lifetime and I'm only 20.

It's hard enough even qualifying for the bleeding thing.

Let's win the FA cup instead. (wink)

[Irish villain]

Part of being a supporter is the idea of hope. There has to be hope in order for sport to have meaning. Fans have to believe that one day their team will be crowned in glory.

Sadly, football is losing that critical element as success is now something which has to be bought. Success is now determined by how much prize money a team can earn through a top four finish.

I think we need to get back to the idea of silverware being the ultimate hallmarck of success in football.

As for the question in the poll. Yes it can happen again. We have got to believe that our club can reach those heights again even if the circumstances of the game today mke it harder to visualise.

[PeterWithesShin]

Sadly, such is the gulf betweent the "elite" of Europe and everyone else that I really can't see it happening.

[TheTimVilla]

No, not a chance, no way, never.

[TaxDodger]

It's a bit annoying we have to finish above four of the best 5 or 6 sides in Europe just to qualify. There again we're more likely to win it than the Premiership.

[OldUser]

It's perfectly possible that we could win it again one day. Without hope what's the point?

[ez]

Its such an unlevel playing field these days i doubt i'll see it again. One good thing about being over 40 is remembering i was around to see it happen.

[Legion]

We'll win in 2012. 30 years from that momentous day in Rotterdam:

[greenwichvilla]

Yes, bit I don't think i'll be alive to see it (and i'm only 25)

[TopDeck113]

Perversely it is in some ways easier to win than when we did it.

(1) You don't have to win your domestic league to qualify.

(2) The group stage allows you to get away with one, possibly two, bad days at the office.

(3) No more journeys into the unknown to face Eastern European opposition. No more on-field skulduggery/bribing of officials by the Latin Europeans.

The fact that all of the Sky4 have reached at least one final since the turn of the century would suggest that if we - or indeed a Man City, Spurs or Everton - could usurp one of them on a regular basis, we might as a consequence have the wherewithal to go all the way.

[Gregorys Boy]

Silly me i thought you were talking about winning the League Title.
The funny thing is it's probably easier to win CL than the League Title for a club in our prositon.  I'd still say yes, but i would like us to become a firm fixture in the top four first, all a long way off.