If Newcastle United's fine start to the current season has fans dreaming of a return to European competition after an absence of a decade, our film footage recalls the the sudden culmination of the club's short-lived continental campaign 45 years ago.
It was November 2, 1977, and the Magpies were hosting French Ligue 1 side Bastia in the the second round, second leg of that season's UEFA Cup. It was a match which would end in defeat but still be remembered years later for the stellar performance of once of the visiting players, Dutch star Johnny Rep.
United had eased through the first round of the competition, disposing of Irish part-timers Bohemians over two legs, before going 2-1 down to a late goal away at Bastia whose home was the beautiful Mediterranean island of Corsica, the one-time birthplace of Napoleon.
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That crucial away goal gave the Magpies some hope in the return leg at St James' Park, but there was a problem. The game came in the midst of a start to a domestic campaign which would be one of the most disastrous in the club's history and end in bitter relegation.
After beating Leeds 3-2 at St James’ on the opening day, the team conspired to lose the next 10 league games on the trot. They would remain in the bottom two for the rest of the campaign, finally going down with barely a whimper.
But back on November 2, 1977, 34,580 fans turned up for the home leg of the UEFA Cup tie, still hopeful of a change of fortune. Sadly, under the floodlights as our footage from French television shows, Bastia thoroughly outclassed their hapless hosts.
(Incidentally, football action aside, the film clip will for some of us poignantly recall the old ground as it was in 1977. The terraced Leazes End would be demolished at the of the season. The Edwardian-built West Stand would soldier on until 1987. And the Gallowgate End terraces would finally bow out at the end of the 1993-94 campaign. Only the East Stand remains as part of the modern 52,000-capacity all-seater St James' Park.)
On the night, Jean-Marie De Zerbi and Johnny Rep put the visitors 2-0 up within eight minutes, with Alan Gowling pulling a goal back with a looping header on 36 minutes. It was hotshot striker Rep - a European Cup winner with Ajax and two times World Cup finalist with Holland - who put the game to bed with a memorable 25-yard thunderbolt at the Leazes End midway through the second half.
United, managed at the time by former school teacher Richard Dinnis, were out of Europe and “out of their depth”, according to the Evening Chronicle. Bastia midfielder Jean-François Larios was also critical. "I thought Newcastle played without intelligence. They panicked and they didn't play football. They were poor," he told John Gibson. It was a damning but fair assessment.
Bastia would reach the UEFA Cup final that season but lose to PSV Eindhoven, while Newcastle United would not return to the European stage for another 17 years.
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