On the same date in 1976, Derby County beat Finn Harps of the Irish Republic at the Baseball Ground in a UEFA Cup tie.
The "newspaper style" programme left much to be desired, but only cost 15p.
Having had their first 8 games in the season as defeats, goals from Kevin Hector (5), Charlie George (3), Leighton James (3) and Bruce Rioch brought the tally to 12 (9-0 at half time) and a win for Derby County in the first leg of their First Round UEFA Cup tie. In the second leg, away, they won 4-1.
In the next round, The Rams met a proper club and lost 2-5 on aggregate to AEK Athens.
On September 12th 1972 in the European Cup, Derby represented the English Football League and The Rams made it to the semi-final. They beat Zeljeznicar, from Yugoslavia, in Rd 1 4-1 on aggregate, then met the powerful Benfica , from Portugal, winning 3-0 on aggregate.
In the quarter-final they beat Sparta Trana of Czechoslovakia, 2-1 on agg and then reached the semi-final where Juventus proved too strong. The Italians won 1-3 in Italy and characteristically played out a 0-0 draw away in Derby.
Where is he now? Bruce Rioch got a mention earlier and he is now 73 years old. Born in 6th September, 1947 in Aldershot, he played at Luton Town 149 apps, Aston Villa 154, Berby 106, Everton 30, Derby 41, Birmingham City 3, Sheffield Utd 8, Seattle Sounders 46, Torquay 71, amassing 133 goals. Scotland 24 caps. The first player born in England to captain Scotland.
He started management in 1986 at Torquay and by 2008 had managed (or mismanaged?) 11 clubs including Odense Boldklub and Aalborg BK.
His last appointments were with Falmouth Town in Cornwall in 2010 and Penryn Athletic in the South-west Peninsular League.
His longest stay was at Middlesbrough 1986-1990. They rest were short visits!
I used to hate that "Ram" Paper. No idea whose idea it was, but much preferred the smaller, glossier, longer lasting programmes.
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