The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
A game of three halves
What if Dundee United had made it to the 1984 European Cup Final for a Battle of Britain clash against Liverpool? A new book considers just that, as Michael Alexander finds out
It is regarded as one of the most painful hard luck tales in Scottish football history.
After a stunning 2-0 victory in the first leg of the 1984 European Cup semi-final against AS Roma at Tannadice, Jim McLean’s all conquering Dundee United heroes went on to lose the second leg 3-0 in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico – shattering the Terrors’ dream of a place in the European Cup Final.
No sooner had the final whistle sounded, ending what had been an intimidating match played in a hostile atmosphere, than Roma fans invaded the pitch.
United manager McLean found himself being verbally and physically abused by a threatening mob of Italian players, including Franco Tancredi, the Roma goalkeeper, and Agostino Di Bartolomei, their captain and playmaker.
Off the pitch, the powder keg game is remembered for many things, including libellous accusations from the Italians that the United players were on drugs and the confirmation some years later that French match official Michel Vautrot had been bribed £50,000 by AS Roma ahead of the match.
In the end, football justice was served when Liverpool went on to beat Roma 4-2 on penalties in the final, held at the Italian club’s own ground.
But what if things had turned out differently? What if the Scottish champions had made it through to play for the ultimate prize against the Anfield men in a Battle of Britain?
It’s a hypothetical situation explored by football fan turned author Simon Turner in his debut book, If Only: An Alternative History of the Beautiful Game, which boldly turns sporting history on its head by exploring how games can hinge on what appear, at first, to be infinitesimally small events.
The long suffering Walsall FC supporter, who works as an accountant in Birmingham, has imagined a world where Scotland win the first-ever World Cup in 1930, Derby County are crowned champions of Europe in 1973 against Ajax and 1966 isn’t the only year that England win anything.
“Unless you support Manchester United or Chelsea or Celtic or one of those sort of teams, I think most football fans spend most of their lives going ‘if only’,” says Simon, 47, in an interview from Lichfield, Staffordshire, where he lives with his wife Val and two teenage children.
“What gave me the idea for the book, was a biography on Brian Clough. I knew when he was at Derby he’d won the league title but I didn’t realise – because I was only a small kid at the time – that they’d got to the semi-finals of the European Cup.
“When I read that I wondered who they’d have met in the final if they’d got there?
“I went away and looked it up and discovered it was Johan Cruyff’s Ajax. What a great match that would have been – Brian Clough’s Derby v John Cruyff’s Ajax.
“That was the spark that gave me the idea. There must have been lots of other matches that almost happened and didn’t. I went away, did some research, and came up with six.”
Simon opens the book with a spotlight on the inaugural World Cup in 1930. Scotland had a good team. The original “Wembley Wizards” famously beat England 5-1 at Wembley in 1928, and Simon reckons they’d have done pretty well at the World Cup – if they’d taken up the invitation.
He examines how England could have achieved a World Cup double in the 1960s and won the 1968 European Championships – if it hadn’t been for cruel bounces, the width of a crossbar or dubious refereeing decisions.
He also looks at what might have happened if England hadn’t lost on penalties in the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup and spotlights Leeds United’s near miss of a Champions League final against Bayern Munich in 2001.
Dundee United’s European adventures in the 1980s were something he came across during his research and he found the story of Jim McLean’s successes “fascinating”.
“I was a teenager in the 80s and I vaguely remember Dundee United getting a decent run,” said Simon, who has never been to Tannadice but visited the Dundee and St Andrews area with his family on holiday three years ago.
“The more I read about Dundee United, the more fascinated I became. I didn’t really know anything about the history of the club and how Jim McLean built that team up from nothing.”
For the book, he blends factual history with a fictional description of how matches might have turned out.
So who would have emerged victorious if Dundee United had met Liverpool in the final?
Simon bestows that honour on Liverpool. But as Graeme Souness lifts the European Cup – as he did in real life – the fictional chapter concludes that the night really belonged to Scotland’s golden generation – with “mutual respect” given to Dundee United.
The more I read about Dundee United, the more fascinated I became.
SIMON TURNER