As the late 70s turned into the early 80s, our remorseless pre-eminence just rolled on and on. We finally saw off the challenge of Forest, winning the league 5 times in 6 years, interrupted only by Villa’s win in 1980/1. The next major challenger to emerge came from uncomfortably close to home. Just across the park, in fact.
There were some lows even during that period of unparalleled success, of course – Forest knocking us out of the European Cup in ‘78, FA Cup semi-final defeats against United in ‘79 and Arsenal in ‘80 – the first after 1 replay (at Goodison), the second after no fewer than 3 replays, with games at Hillsborough, Villa Park twice and finally Highfield Road, Coventry.
A couple of real highs – apart from winning trophies – included our sumptuous 7-0 spanking of Spurs at Anfield in September ‘78, one of our most imperious displays, and the famous 5-0 at Goodison in November ‘82 – Rush scored one, Rush scored two, Rush scored three and Rush scored four. Joe Fagan took over from Bob Paisley in 1984 and immediately won a treble – League (3rd year running), League Cup (fourth year running), and our 4th European Cup. All seemed as well as could possibly be.
A year later though, Everton had finally prised the title away from our protective mitts, although at least we had yet another European Cup Final to think about. Against Juventus. At the Heysel Stadium, Brussels, May 29th, 1985. And everything changed.
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