When Small Clubs Ran Riot: Borussia Monchengladbach

The way they’ve been hoarding the glory lately, it wouldn’t be so far-fetched to believe that Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid have been winning titles since the Jurassic era. But it wasn’t always so. Between the late 1960s and early 1980s a spate of small-town clubs achieved unprecedented success across the continent. They hailed from decidedly unglamorous places like Monchengladbach, Bruges, Saint-Etienne, Malmo, Nottingham – yet for a brief period of time they were the undisputed kings of Europe.

What happened next became a familiar trend…

For most of the game’s history, small-town teams were able to thrive because every single club was on an equal footing economically. The size of a club’s fan base and revenues didn’t matter since most of them drew their players locally. But once big wages and transfers infiltrated the game during the 1980s, it became purely a matter of the “haves” and the “have-nots.”

Some clubs began renovating their stadiums to make more money and buy the top players. TV rights and the Bosman Ruling exacerbated the gap between the rich and poor even further. Small-town clubs could simply no longer hold on to their best players, and fell into the frustrating and still-ongoing cycle of grooming talent and then watching it be lured away by a bigger club.

These days, most of the former European giants from the 60s and 70s are floundering in the lower leagues. They’re more likely to appear in some random trivia question than they are in a cup final. But in tribute to these bygone treasures – and with the occasional pang of nostalgia that comes with being a 40-something footy fan – we are going to take a look back at some of the greats.

First up…

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