Champions League glory is within the grasp of this team of well-heeled superstars. But I remember when football was an actual competition, says Guardian journalist Phil Mongredien
They were halcyon days; certainly they were more egalitarian. At the start of every season there would be seven or eight teams that could legitimately fancy their chances of winning the league. At the time, Liverpool were the best team in the country, but they were far from infallible. In 1975-76, they didFifty years later, that element of unpredictability seems like a relic from a distant age.
‘Masterminded by Ron Saunders, Villa embarked on a remarkable renaissance that within seven years would see them win the league and then top that by winning the European Cup.’ Saunders greets fans at Villa Park, 1975.Yes, each of City’s players is phenomenally talented. Yes, as a team they play absolutely beautiful football of a calibre that I couldn’t have imagined in the 1970s, as I watched Villa’s no-nonsense centre-half Ken McNaught boot the ball out of the ground one more time.
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