Forgotten great teams

[Seaside Mafia]

This thread is to educate us on great teams that are forgotten(or perhaps overshadowed by greater teams). In their time, tghey were respected and loved. In time, the fans forgot about them because of various reasons.


Barcelona 1958-1960: Perhaps, this team is not forgotten by Barcelona fans and people in Spain. Howwever, outside of Spain, people talked about Real Madrid of the same period. This was perhaps one of the greatest Barcelona team ever assembled. They won back-to-back La Liga titles against Real Madrid. Thery also won two Fairs' Cups. Unfortuniately, Real madrid won five straight European Cups in the same period. In 1961, Barcelona reached the European Cup Final, but met the great Benfica in the Final. The team included Ladislao Kubala, Luis Suárez, Czibor and Kocsis.

River Plate of 1940's La Máquina: Outside of Argentina, very few fans would remember them.


Everton from the mid-80s. Beat Liverpool to the Championship, then the UEFA cup. Would have been in the European Cup the following season if the Heysel Stadium disaster hadn't happened. Graeme Sharp, Peter Reid, Trevor Steven, Gary Lineker, Neville Southall. Very good side. Unfulfilled.

[deejay]

Red Star of Belgrade in 1991. European champions with that incredible midfield of Prosinecki, Savicevic, Mihajlovic and Jugovic. Along with Ajax it just blew your mind that such a small country could produce so much talent.

[nutbar]

Racing Club Paris. A great team in the 30's and 40's.

Even in the 80's they had players like Bossis, Luis Fernandez, Francescoli, Ginola, Littbarski, Rabah Madjer. Now they're in the French amateur leagues.

[dor02]

Red Star of Belgrade in 1991. European champions with that incredible midfield of Prosinecki, Savicevic, Mihajlovic and Jugovic. Along with Ajax it just blew your mind that such a small country could produce so much talent.The former Yugoslavia was bigger in area and population than Holland but was still remarkable that those players were so gifted. A lot of Yugoslavia's 1990 World Cup squad played for Red Star and if Yugoslavia played at Euro 92, most of these Red Star players would have been stars in Sweden.

Everton in the 80s were a top team like Seaside Mafia said. I still believe that if it wasn't for the ban on English teams, Everton probably would have won the European Cup in 1986.

[John Simkin]

The first season of the Football League (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Football%20League) began in September, 1888. Preston North End (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Fpreston.htm) won the first championship without losing a single match and acquired the name the "invincibles". Major William Sudell (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Fsudell.htm), had persuaded some of the best players in England, Scotland and Wales to join Preston: John Goodall (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONgoodall.htm), Jimmy Ross (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONross.htm), David Russell (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONrussell.htm), John Gordon (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONgordon.htm), John Graham (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONgrahamJ.htm), Robert Mills-Roberts (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONmillsroberts.htm), James Trainer (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONtrainer.htm), Samuel Thompson (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONthompsonS.htm) and George Drummond (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONdrummond.htm). He also recruited some outstanding local players, including Bob Holmes (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONholmes.htm), Robert Howarth (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONhowarth.htm) and Fred Dewhurst (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRESTONdewhurst.htm). As well as paying them money for playing for the team, Sudell also found them highly paid work in Preston.

Preston North End (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Fpreston.htm) also beat Wolverhampton Wanderers (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Fwolves.htm) 3-0 to win the 1889 FA Cup Final (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Ffacup.htm). Preston won the competition without conceding a single goal. The club also won the league the following season. However, it was the last time they won the First Division and in the last 110 years have spent much of the time in the lower divisions.

[dgpro]

What football really is... watch this video
http://www.digitalphotoframeonline.com/vidoes

[Robbie Quaid]

Haha! Uh, Robbie Quaid here! I would have to say one of the best sides from the past would have to be the Busby Babes of Manchester United from the late 1950's! They showed so much promise & had that tragic accident not happened they would have, chances are become one of the greatest club sides to ever grace the soccer field! The average age on that squad was about 21 years of age with a few old heads thrown in for experience. It was a great side & started the legend of Manchester United! United has had many good sides since that time but never have had a side with so much talent & promise as the Busby Babes! It was great to see them destroy Roma this year in the Champions League & the look on Totti's face after the match! Haha! All the talk Totti ranted about prior to the two game match up against United & in the end he was schooled in a big way! Haha! Totti is a great player with skill & talent that deems respect but he's also an idiot everytime he opens his mouth! Haha!:D

[dor02]

Totti is a great player with skill & talent that deems respect but he's also an idiot everytime he opens his mouth! Haha!:DI agree with that.

As for the Busby Babes, I don't consider them to be a forgotton side but the Munich Tragedy rings in people's minds more than the football.

[kingkong1]

This thread is to educate us on great teams that are forgotten(or perhaps overshadowed by greater teams). In their time, tghey were respected and loved. In time, the fans forgot about them because of various reasons.


Barcelona 1958-1960: Perhaps, this team is not forgotten by Barcelona fans and people in Spain. Howwever, outside of Spain, people talked about Real Madrid of the same period. This was perhaps one of the greatest Barcelona team ever assembled. They won back-to-back La Liga titles against Real Madrid. Thery also won two Fairs' Cups. Unfortuniately, Real madrid won five straight European Cups in the same period. In 1961, Barcelona reached the European Cup Final, but met the great Benfica in the Final. The team included Ladislao Kubala, Luis Suárez, Czibor and Kocsis.

River Plate of 1940's La Máquina: Outside of Argentina, very few fans would remember them.Let' not forget to remember that teams like Pelé's Santos & Garrincha's Botafogo are practically forgotten when it comes down to mention the best clubs of football ever.

Real Madrid beat Santos once in the Santiago Bernabeo (1 x 0) and never more allowed its players to face them - even in the Bernabeo again; the Spanish for decades thereafter 'ran' from Santos like the devil from the cross.

No wonder: they knew what would happen to them if they didn't, and they definitely contributed with their fear to reinforce Santos' supremacy.

RM was elected 'Club of the Century' because of its accomplishments in Europe, but Pelé's Santos was by far the best team that's ever stepped on a green (as far as 'ball on the ground' is concerned - and that's what really matters in football).

But in that aspect the Real Madrid of the 50s/60s was historically still behind of teams like Puskas' Honved, Cruyjff's Ajax and Garrincha, Didi, Nilton Santos' Botafogo (in that order, for me).

Di Stéfano's River Plate, Evaristo's Barcelona (60s),Tostão's Cruzeiro, Eusébio's Benfica and Zico's Flamengo would closely rival them.

The bulk of the fame of Real Madrid, Barcelona & Spanish clubs in general is mainly result of very well administered marketing ;) ...

[glennaldo_sf]

Red Star of Belgrade in 1991. European champions with that incredible midfield of Prosinecki, Savicevic, Mihajlovic and Jugovic. Along with Ajax it just blew your mind that such a small country could produce so much talent.

I know its hard to include CHEATS in this thread.. but Marseille, the team they beat were the dominant team in France at this time (early 90s), in many ways like Lyon are now. And they went one step forward, winning the European Cup in 1993 after being on the losing side in 91 final to the aforementioned Red Star team... but remembering watching that match... it was one of the most one sided champions league games I can remember as Red Star clinged on for dear life until they won on a penalty shootout.

Marseille in this time had some exciting players like Chris Waddle, Jean Pierre Papin, Abedi Pele, Rudi Voller, Eric Cantona, Marcel Desailly, Dider Deschamps, Fabien Barthez, etc. Unfortunately this team will be remembered for all of the wrong reasons as it turns out they had bought many of the games they had bribed some of their key matches in their most successful season, the 1992-93 Champions league / first division double. The team lost both these titles but some of the aforementioned players went on to bigger and better things, especially with the French national team. Had it not been for the bribary scandal in 93 just think of what could have been.

[Tribune]

Di Stéfano's River Plate, Evaristo's Barcelona (60s),Tostão's Cruzeiro, Eusébio's Benfica and Zico's Flamengo would closely rival them.



That Barcelona team was never "Evaristo's". Their iconic player was Laszlo Kubala.

[kingkong1]

That Barcelona team was never "Evaristo's". Their iconic player was Laszlo Kubala.Ok, ok!...

I was just drawing a little the ember to my potato!...

Geeez! :p ...

[kingkong1]

But in that aspect the Real Madrid of the 50s/60s was historically still behind of teams like Puskas' Honved, Cruyjff's Ajax and Garrincha, Didi, Nilton Santos' Botafogo (in that order, for me).Forgot to include Beckenbauer's Bayern München as a team superior to 50/60s Real Madrid among those four.

[TheHun]

That Barcelona team was never "Evaristo's". Their iconic player was Laszlo Kubala.

Here are some of the players from the 1959-62 Barcelona side.

Rare Mexican issued cards:

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/3830/196162mexicankocsisfa1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/6681/196162mexicanbarcelonaju6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

They include "RE" Cayetano the Paraguayan international and Fernand Goyaverts from Belgium.

Spanish Internationals - Joan Segarra, Enrique Gensana, Pedro Zaballa, and Alfonso Foncha.

Others are goalkeeper Jose Pesudo and Martin Verges.

The legendary Hungarian - Sandor Kocsis needs not intro ... enjoy

[TheHun]

Everton from the mid-80s. Beat Liverpool to the Championship, then the UEFA cup. Would have been in the European Cup the following season if the Heysel Stadium disaster hadn't happened. Graeme Sharp, Peter Reid, Trevor Steven, Gary Lineker, Neville Southall. Very good side. Unfulfilled.

Don't forget Kevin Sheedy and Andy Gray ... SKY Sports pundit.

Yes, Everton were overshadowed by Liverpool that year.

[Catel]

I know its hard to include CHEATS in this thread.. but Marseille, the team they beat were the dominant team in France at this time (early 90s), in many ways like Lyon are now. And they went one step forward, winning the European Cup in 1993 after being on the losing side in 91 final to the aforementioned Red Star team... but remembering watching that match... it was one of the most one sided champions league games I can remember as Red Star clinged on for dear life until they won on a penalty shootout.

Marseille in this time had some exciting players like Chris Waddle, Jean Pierre Papin, Abedi Pele, Rudi Voller, Eric Cantona, Marcel Desailly, Dider Deschamps, Fabien Barthez, etc. Unfortunately this team will be remembered for all of the wrong reasons as it turns out they had bought many of the games they had bribed some of their key matches in their most successful season, the 1992-93 Champions league / first division double. The team lost both these titles but some of the aforementioned players went on to bigger and better things, especially with the French national team. Had it not been for the bribary scandal in 93 just think of what could have been.
No, you're wrong.

It is true Marseille's chairman Bernard Tapie was suspected in many affairs (corruption and doping) but only one of them was proven to be true: Valenciennes-OM, just 3 days before the C1 final in 1993. Marseille had corrupted the Valenciennes defenders and has asked them to be "gentle" with the forwards in order to not hurt them. It was not a time when the greatest teams had 6 high-skilled strikers as now. Marseille had only Völler and Boksic, Jean-Marc Ferreri as sub, and a French title to fight with PSG.

When the case was revealed, the French authorities reacted too late. OM was already European Champion, but the UEFA forbid them to play the European Supercup, the Intercontinental Cup and to play the UEFA season 93/94. As PSG, 2nd, refused to play at their place*, Monaco, which finished 3rd in 1993, took their place and was eliminated in C1 semi by Milan AC in 1994.

Finally, the trial took place one year later because the case was very confused: Tapie is a master of manipulation. And because OM was a great champion, the first French club to have won a Europe Cup final, it was not easy to attack a national pride.
The OM 1993 title was dismissed, Tapie sent to prison and forbidden to manage a football club. A few time later, OM was relegated in 2nd division by the DNCG: the club accounts were in the red (Tapie was a great spender, too).

This story could be a brilliant "greek tragedy". The situation was the same in 1990. Tapie would have felt anyway... He was an absolute monarch who had prepared his own Revolution against him.

*PSG was once owned by TV Channel Canal +, which was the French Championship broadcaster too. OM fans were its main customers...


Some videos of the "great OM":
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjx34_retrospectivesaison19901991_sport
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1p6g0_om-retrospectivesaison19911992_sport
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1r9k0_om-psg-31-3-jours-apres-munich_events

[Moishe]

Independiente 1970s and River Plate 1940s are the most forgotten. Independiente has more Copa Libertadores than anyone else and not many people outside of Argentina could see River in that era play.

Millionarios of the early 50s from Colombia are a forgotten team. Di Stefano, Pedernera and Nestor Rossi formed a part of the Blue Ballet.

I just recently talked with my viejo, tio and godfather who all saw La Maquina play as boys and teams. Two of the mentioned were gallinas while my godfather a diablo rojo still considers La Maquina the greatest team he's ever seen. My viejo says that perhaps the best player on that team during the late 30's to 40's was a keeper named Bossio. He reminded me that river played with only two in the back:eek:

Pedernares is perhaps my viejos players offensively and refers to him as Pele before we had Pele. Clearly in his eyes the best of the combo at Millionarios which he'd seen when visiting Bogota for family.

Let' not forget to remember that teams like Pelé's Santos & Garrincha's Botafogo are practically forgotten when it comes down to mention the best clubs of football ever.

Real Madrid beat Santos once in the Santiago Bernabeo (1 x 0) and never more allowed its players to face them - even in the Bernabeo again; the Spanish for decades thereafter 'ran' from Santos like the devil from the cross.

No wonder: they knew what would happen to them if they didn't, and they definitely contributed with their fear to reinforce Santos' supremacy.

RM was elected 'Club of the Century' because of its accomplishments in Europe, but Pelé's Santos was by far the best team that's ever stepped on a green (as far as 'ball on the ground' is concerned - and that's what really matters in football).

But in that aspect the Real Madrid of the 50s/60s was historically still behind of teams like Puskas' Honved, Cruyjff's Ajax and Garrincha, Didi, Nilton Santos' Botafogo (in that order, for me).

Di Stéfano's River Plate, Evaristo's Barcelona (60s),Tostão's Cruzeiro, Eusébio's Benfica and Zico's Flamengo would closely rival them.

The bulk of the fame of Real Madrid, Barcelona & Spanish clubs in general is mainly result of very well administered marketing ;) ...

Pederneras and El Charro's river according to my viejo;)

[dor02]

I just recently talked with my viejo, tio and godfather who all saw La Maquina play as boys and teams. Two of the mentioned were gallinas while my godfather a diablo rojo still considers La Maquina the greatest team he's ever seen. My viejo says that perhaps the best player on that team during the late 30's to 40's was a keeper named Bossio. He reminded me that river played with only two in the back:eek:Wasn't Bossio one of Argentina's keepers at the 1930 World Cup?

Are Independiente referred to as diablos rojos? (Correct me as I don't know how to speak Spanish)

[Moishe]

Wasn't Bossio one of Argentina's keepers at the 1930 World Cup?

Are Independiente referred to as diablos rojos? (Correct me as I don't know how to speak Spanish)

Bossio was the guy at the 1930 WC, he continued to play for river for a bit. He may have actually been gone as La Maquina emerged. Diablos Rojos are indeed the Red Devils. We are the epitome' of a dysfunctional Argentine family. The overwhelming majority of the family support BOCA and the others did so as a rebellion:D It seems my godfather grew up in Avellaneda before moving to into the capitol and stuck with his team until this day.

[Smoga]

This is a very enjoyable reading thread, guys! Keep it up.