When English Football Ruled Europe

[Damo70]

Ha! I have a copy at home, stuck in an album sleeve. Which one I have no bloody idea. I'll let you know one day.

I have the plastic pennant commemorating the game that was handed out to everyone on the coaches hanging up in my living room alongside a framed picture of the sixteen players and Tony Barton with the cup (I think it was the pre season team pic for the following season) and next to it is a black and white framed pic of the 1957 FA cup winning team. I look forward to the day we win both trophies again and I can hang the two more up to date ones alongside them.

The match programme is somewhere at my parents house. It is written in German or Dutch, I can't remember which as I haven't dug it out for years.

[PeterWithesShin]

Somewhere i've got one of these from when my dad went to the away leg




And also got a pennant he brought back Rotterdam and one I brought back from Madrid.

[PeterWithesShin]

The match programme is somewhere at my parents house. It is written in German or Dutch, I can't remember which as I haven't dug it out for years.

Is this it? Well it's obviously not your copy as I haven't been to their house.



Or have I......

[curiousorange]

There was a Dutch programme as well, which is pretty much permanently available on eBay for about fifteen quid. I've ummed and aahed about buying one because I don't know if they're reproductions.

One thing I do have from that night is my granddad's supporter's club card. I carry it with me everywhere. I showed it to Spinksy and Tony Morley on one of those after-dinner talks and they looked mildly embarrassed.

[Damo70]

The match programme is somewhere at my parents house. It is written in German or Dutch, I can't remember which as I haven't dug it out for years.

Is this it? Well it's obviously not your copy as I haven't been to their house.



Or have I......

Yep, that is the one I have got somewhere. One silly little thing I seem to remember is that Alex Cropley was listed as one of our squad even though he had left a year or two previously.

[dave.woodhall]

The white one is the UEFA edition and the other was printed by Feyenoord. The latter is, I beIieve, the rarer of the two.

[Damo70]

The match programme is somewhere at my parents house. It is written in German or Dutch, I can't remember which as I haven't dug it out for years.

Is this it? Well it's obviously not your copy as I haven't been to their house.



Or have I......

My dad is a hoarder. If you wanted to successfully ransack the whole house, garage and shed you would ideally need to wait for them to go on something like a six week cruise to allow yourself enough time to get in and get out again. Also, be prepared for a degree of disappointment. What my dad thinks could be worth keeping and what actually has any real worth are often two very different things. Ironically, the only thing I think he ever managed to sell at a profit was a Sinclair C5, but that was only after it had been in the garage for twenty years and his next door neighbour was very keen to buy it as a toy for his grandson.

[dacvillan]

I have the european cup tie that brian clough wore in the commentry box that memorable night it is blue ith the villa crest in the middle it is hanging in my bedroom and it reminds of our glory every night

[lennythekad]

Somewhere i've got one of these from when my dad went to the away leg




And also got a pennant he brought back Rotterdam and one I brought back from Madrid.

I’ve got that pennant, PWS. It’s rarer than hens teeth. There were only about 40 of us at the game, and I remember walking round the ground at half time, and buying it from a small shed selling souvenirs.
I’ve got the photo of the 40 of us in the lobby of the Holiday Inn in Krakow, where we stayed.

[Charlie8182]

I thought I knew everything there was to know about that night, even including who the referee was and the Bayern team, but I had no idea that Gary Newbon was sat on the Villa bench until I saw that.

[Pat McMahon]

Why were there so many empty seats? That's always what it looks like on the YouTube clips anyway.

I think it was down to the recession and people's personal finances, football violence and football attendances in general around that time. But you are right, looking at the TV footage it seems quite empty compared to other European cup finals around those years.

I think Damo, PWS and Rudy nailed the main reasons, notably the recession and hooliganism, with falling attendances across the country. The recession had really kicked in by then and our poor league form meant gates were lower than the previous season.

Air travel was not affordable in 1982 so most people would have had to take a couple of days off work to travel on the club trains and coaches. Also, in theory you could only get a ticket and travel package from the club- no ticket only sales from UEFA or Feyenoord. In reality there were a few Dutch lads scattered around the Villa end (“tonight we are English”) and a coach load of lads went from the Crown &Cushion and got tickets. There was also a knot of Villa fans at the opposite end of the ground in the Bayern end.i have no idea how they got their tickets.

It would have been very hard for neutrals to buy a ticket for the game -UEFA absolutely wanted to avoid trouble and repeats of the scenes from Anderlecht. So the hangers on and locals who attend finals now could not go back then. A mate of mine who is  a Wednesday fan was living in Holland at the time and pestered his dad to go (he was only 12) and he could only get tickets via some sponsors. So he, his brother and his dad were sat behind the goal with the Bayern fans and celebrated our win. We always joke that he has seen as many Villa trophies as Wednesday - all he has to show is the 1991 Rumbelows cup final v Manyoo.

[Damo70]

I don't think tickets could have been that hard to get. I used to go to home games on the Holte with three of my next door neighbours, a father and two sons. They all had season tickets but my dad used to give me the money to pay on a match to match basis until my first season ticket in the mid eighties. My neighbours were able to get tickets for the final for me and my dad (he is a bluenose but came to keep an eye on me as I was only eleven) despite neither of us having season tickets.

[villa `cross the mersey]

The hooliganism aspect shouldn't be understated-  when I went to Villa Park to get my tickets for the final I was interviewed by Dutch TV and asked if I had been at Anderlecht - I had been and gave my account of how the policing had been a bit over the top - the interviewer made it clear that the Dutch Police were expecting  a bit of bovver between the German and English fans - as it turned out the Dutch Police handled it just right - due to the Dutch ambivalence towards Germans all the neutrals / locals were backing the Villa

[Damo70]

The hooliganism aspect shouldn't be understated-  when I went to Villa Park to get my tickets for the final I was interviewed by Dutch TV and asked if I had been at Anderlecht - I had been and gave my account of how the policing had been a bit over the top - the interviewer made it clear that the Dutch Police were expecting  a bit of bovver between the German and English fans - as it turned out the Dutch Police handled it just right - due to the Dutch ambivalence towards Germans all the neutrals / locals were backing the Villa

When I worked in Tenerife doing hotel entertainment the amount of guests was normally mostly Brits followed by Germans followed by the Dutch. From mixing with plenty of Dutch people and hearing their opinions of the race they called 'the squareheads', I think your term of 'Dutch ambivalence' is a very polite way to describe the Dutch people's feelings towards their neighbours.

[Ads]

When we were in Hamburg we took 4 times as many as Ajax had done previously and the German police commented on what a load of throbbers Ajax had been compared to us.