When England fans ruined their match against Belgium 40 years ago

09-Oct-2020 11:38:20 | The Guardian

There will be no supporters at the England v Belgium game this weekend. If only that were the case at Euro 80

By Steven Pye for That 1980s Sports Blog

The 1970s were not kind to the England team. After losing in the quarter-finals at the 1970 World Cup, the team failed to qualify for the next four major tournaments. After the debacle of the Don Revie years – which ended in acrimony in 1977, when he decided that managing England was “no longer worth the aggravation” and took the United Arab Emirates job instead, prompting a 10-year ban from the FA (which was later overturned in court) – the responsibility of finally taking the team to a tournament fell on the shoulders of Ron Greenwood.

Many England fans thought Brian Clough was the right man to replace Revie, but the FA clearly saw Greenwood as a safe pair of hands, a calm presence after the chaotic end of the previous regime. And his permanent reign did begin with a positive start. After missing out on two World Cups and two European Championships, England reached their first major tournament in a decade in some style, qualifying for the newly expanded European Championship in 1980 without losing any of their group games.