Dunfermline 6 Valencia 2 19.12.62

[Superally]

On this day.................. Perhaps One of the greatest ever?

 

[GG Riva]

It must certainly rank as one of the Pars greatest ever results. Valencia's team was full of incredibly gifted players. It was no surprise they went on to lift the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. (Not the last time the Pars would be eliminated by the eventual winners - Real Zaragoza, Dinamo Zagreb and Slovan Bratislava. Anderlecht lost the final on a 4-3 agg to Arsenal in 1970.)

If truth be told, the game should never have gone ahead. The pitch was a skating rink. Jock Stein was adamant that it was playable. Some of the Valencia players stared wide-eyed at the piles of snow around the track. The Pars adapted far better to the frozen surface than their illustrious visitors. It's been suggested that each player only brought one pair of boots. Would the Pars team have had access to more suitable footwear? I've no idea. The 6-2 win tied the aggregate at 6-6 as Vakencia had won 4-0 in the first leg, so perhaps they thought the tie was won. No away goals in those days. A 3rd game was played in Lisbon and Valencia edged it 2-1.

[buspasspar]

GG the 3rd Game in Lisbon was 1-0 maybe a wee senior moment 😀

I was there that night .. will never ever forget it 

[Superally]

48 minutes ago, buspasspar said:

I was there that night .. will never ever forget it 

Guess you were pretty young buspasspar. I was only 20mths at the time 

[GG Riva]

1 hour ago, buspasspar said:

GG the 3rd Game in Lisbon was 1-0 maybe a wee senior moment 😀

I was there that night .. will never ever forget it 

Aye, my bad, I mixed that playoff game with the later one v Atletico Bilbao, as they were then, because the Generalissimo didn't like the English version the Basques originally used. They went back to Athletic when Franco died. 

[buspasspar]

14 years old  S'ally ..  Bus from Clacks when the Dunfermline bus station was at the top end of the Town .. opposite the Brunswick ?

Saw the floodlights and then the heart started  racing  .. the Town was buzzing back in the Fairs cup days 

Run down Piggy's Lane to get into the ground in plenty time 

Saw all the games .. and saw all my hero's 

Am a lucky man .. COYP

[Superally]

A fair wack of history inside there @buspasspar

[Stanza]

15 hours ago, GG Riva said:

Aye, my bad, I mixed that playoff game with the later one v Atletico Bilbao, as they were then, because the Generalissimo didn't like the English version the Basques originally used. They went back to Athletic when Franco died. 

Pedants'R'Us has posted this ...

Broadly correct, as the English name harks back to the club's foundation by British migrant workers and young Basques who had studied in Britain. The name change at Franco's behest in 1941 was to "Atlético", and they reverted to "Athletic Club" in 1972*, which was before Franco died in 1975. (Info from Athletic's website.)

*By that time Franco was increasingly gaga, so probably nobody told him...