FrankMunro-371
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Don't think anyone would doubt that the 70s team (in relative terms, because the game evolves etc etc) was better than anything we've had since. Just a) you can't expect people to vote on stuff they've never seen and b) nostalgia from that period is definitely misty-eyed for some reason.
I'm always very careful not to romanticise the late 80s for instance, it was an exhilarating period and it was a rebirth of our club. Would never knock the impact that it had. But let's not pretend we had a load of great footballers or anything, we didn't.
I don't think any empirical outside analysis of our 70s team suggests we were as good as some suggest, we weren't ever that close to winning the league when it was more open than it is today, the lack of international honours for many of the lionised players (at a time when England were tits, too) can't be an accident. Maybe they just weren't quite top class, no shame in that.
Had Parkin, Hibbitt and Richards played for a London club they would have been England regulars. Wagstaffe would never have been picked because England did not play wingers very often back then. I think finishing fourth, winning the league cup, getting to a European final, and FA Cup semi final shows the quality we possessed. I am not being misty eyed, I just remember a very good team containing players as good as anywhere in the country.