Cynicism is never one-sided: the aftermath of Leeds vs Bayern, 1975

There wasn't much of a party atmosphere in Paris on the night of the European Cup final in 1975. UEFA had taken the match to the Parc des Princes as a way of honouring the first final, won there by Real Madrid in 1956, and invited a host of celebrities, from French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac to European Cup legends like Alfredo di Stefano, Francisco Gento, Ferenc Puskas. But the mood was sore, and tetchy. At the traditional post-match banquet, held at the Sheraton Hotel, victorious Bayern Munich coach Dettmar Cramer was worried about his injured players. "Of course I'm happy," he said, "but my feelings are divided. People tend to laugh when I say something like this, but it affects me very much that Björn Andersson and Uli Hoeness suffered such serious injuries."

The Bayern players were angry. Leeds United, according to midfielder Franz Roth, "were already foaming at the mouth during the warm-up." Captain Franz Beckenbauer said, "That was the dirtiest team I've ever played against." The Bavarian view was of justice being done, even if justice was not beautiful. "The game won't go down in the history of the great games of world soccer," said West German national team manager Helmut Schön, "but you can use tactical means like the ones Bayern used as long as they're legal. In such an important game, the end justifies the means. We saw once again that goals and nothing else count in a game like this." Leeds, he said, "wanted to do it with the crowbar and so inevitably had to fail, against world-class players like Beckenbauer and Maier." Among those toasting the team was the West German Federal Minister of Economics, Hans Friderichs. "What matters in life," he said, "is not how many chances you have, but how many opportunities you take advantage of."

The celebrations didn't exactly continue in Munich. Local dignitaries gathered at Marienplatz to welcome the team home, as did 20,000 fans, but after their flight from Paris was delayed the players had developed a hunger. They went elsewhere, for a snack, sending word that they were going to be late. The town councillors grumbled that they'd be better throwing the party without the team, while bored fans in the square started throwing punches at each other. Eventually the players turned up, waving to the crowd from the town hall balcony, celebrating whatever there was to celebrate. They were 10th in the Bundesliga and everyone had seen Leeds outplaying them in the European Cup final. Dettmar Cramer's private thoughts from a few months earlier, shortly after taking over as manager, were shared by many who were supposedly having a good time. "I've taken over a team that's dying," he'd said, "that just stands there. Nobody runs. In short, a heap of rubble."

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Bayern's victory had eased the club's financial burden for at least a year, as income from re-qualifying for the European Cup could be used for keeping the expensive team together. Franz Beckenbauer was soon talking about improving it. "I firmly expect those responsible at our club to sign a few more ready-made players who are ready to go," he said. Cramer was a little more cautious, as he had to be. He'd only arrived in January, but in March the sporting director, Robert Schwan, indiscreetly told a journalist that, 'He had never made a bigger mistake than hiring Cramer'. Schwan had backtracked, and Bayern's president, Wilhelm Neudecker, was now claiming Cramer had been given a new contract for 1975/76 weeks before the final was played. Simultaneously, he was admitting he'd spoken to other candidates since then anyway. "Mr. Cramer was informed about everything," he said, and as he was sitting next to him at a press conference, the manager was forced to agree. "There's nothing to add to that," Cramer shrugged. And he knew, too, that there was going to be little to add to the playing budget. Even so, after the final, he'd gone to commiserate with his counterpart Jimmy Armfield, and find out how much Leeds United might be asking for their striker, Joe Jordan.

That might have contributed to the Leeds team's decision not to attend the post-match banquet. Armfield would not have wanted any more of his players tapped up. It didn't do a lot of good if so: next morning, British newspapers were lining Billy Bremner up for a move to Manchester United. As it was, the main reason for not joining the party was fury at the referee, Michel Kitabdjian. In the changing rooms, Armfield told the players, "The match has been an absolute scandal." He told the press he felt the same as when his home had been burgled. "The lads played well, they played their hearts out," he said. "And I think that makes it worse."

Johnny Giles didn't always agree with Armfield, but he was with him on this. "It would have been better had we been played off the park and been well beaten," he said. "But we weren't. We were all over them." Allan Clarke was fuming at Beckenbauer, and at the referee for not punishing Der Kaiser's foul on him. "I think I would have scored had he not tripped me," he said. "I was staggered when the referee did not give a penalty." Peter Lorimer had extra reasons to be upset when his goal was disallowed. His father was ill, so the Lorimer family were watching with him at home in Scotland. "I knew they would be there — about thirty of them," Lorimer said. "When I hit that ball and it went in I immediately thought, 'That's one for my dad. That will make him perk up.' I was running back to the centre circle absolutely delighted when I saw the referee running back towards the goal. I couldn't believe it. Disallowed. It didn't make sense."

After the game, an official from the French Referees' Association found Armfield and apologised for Kitabdjian's performance. Journalist Howard Whitten got an unofficial view from his taxi driver after the match. "He is not corrupt, he is just the worst referee in France." It wasn't Kitabdjian's first controversy. In 1969, after a World Cup qualifying match ended in a draw, the ref had to decide which country went to Brazil by flipping a coin. It went Tunisia's way, but Kitabdjian wasn't satisfied, so he threw another coin in private and now declared Morocco the winner. The fallout led FIFA to bring in penalty shootouts, but Kitabdjian was allowed to carry on with his brand of refereeing according to the blowing of the wind.