It disgusting that people don't know about the 1976 Euros

1958 this, 1958 that and yes the National team as fantastic at that time but everyone from past and present players and staff through to the media never mention the fact that Wales got to the Quarter Finals of the Euros in 1976!!!

It's disgusting to be honest about the lack of respect shown to the players at that time.

"It is the forgotten campaign," says Leighton James.

A former Derby, Burnley and Wales winger, James won 54 caps and scored 10 goals for his country between 1971 and 1983.

The highlight of his international career is also the oh-so-nearly moment of Welsh football.

For many football fans, from Cardiff to Colwyn Bay and Porthmadog to Prestatyn, the crop of the mid-70s is the Wales team that time forgot: the quarter-finalists of Euro '76.

The Dragons - captained by Leeds legend Terry Yorath and led from the front by Liverpool's John Toshack - came within a whisker of reaching the last four of a major international competition.

The finals of the 1976 European Championship took place in mid-June, in an affair conducted behind the Iron Curtain. The competition format saw just the remaining four countries gather for the final stages.

West met east with communist Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia facing the free market might of West Germany and the Netherlands.

Wales, under the stewardship of Mike Smith, reached the last eight by topping a group containing the fancied Hungary as well as Austria and Luxembourg.

Other Home Nations, by contrast, fell at the first hurdle of the group stages, and it was up to Wales to fly the British flag in the quarter-finals.

Two matches against hosts Yugoslavia - who in 1976 were required to qualify for the tournament they were hosting - would decide Wales's fate.

"We were quietly confident," James told BBC Sport. "Provided that we didn't blow up out in Yugoslavia, we would have a chance in Cardiff."

Yet it all went wrong on a tough night in Zagreb.

"We lost 2-0, going a goal down after less than a minute," recalls James. "That was a disastrous start for us. We lost but we were still confident of clawing it back.

" In the second leg we had an East German referee and he refused to start the game unless the East German flag was flown over the stadium. He gave them an awful penalty and they scored, putting us 3-0 down. We then proceeded to hammer them, got a goal back, and really should have beaten them. We played very well on the day, but it wasn't to be."

Yet, despite the team's failure to qualify for the finals, a Welshman still had a part to play.

One of the darkest moments in Dutch footballing history took place on 16 June 1976 when the masters of total football took on unfancied Czechoslovakia, the eventual tournament winners.

After 120 gruelling minutes played in a quagmire under pouring rain, and with two Netherlands players and one Czech sent off, the underdogs emerged 3-1 winners.

The referee in that controversial, unforgettable European semi-final? Welsh official Clive Thomas.

"It was the most difficult [second] half of a match that I ever refereed in my career," Thomas confessed to BBC Sport 36 years later.

"It rained the whole day before, it rained the day of the game. Holland had no chance of playing their ideal game of total football.

"I had the impression as the second half wore on that the Dutch thought they were bigger than the game, and that they were bigger than you. They could do what they liked. That wasn't my game of football.

"Johan Cruyff was one of the worst, but then he always had been. You had to nail him right at the very beginning, because if he knew that he had control of you then you had had it. I saw too many matches where Cruyff had control of referees.

"You don't expect players of that calibre to act like they did."

Thomas even admits that, as he received abuse from certain Dutch players having dismissed Willem van Hanegem for repeated dissent, he considered abandoning the game.

Is Thomas disappointed that the Welsh footballers of his generation never got to experience the 1976 finals in Yugoslavia, as he did?

"It was a shame Wales didn't get there. But I got to the semi-finals because they didn't," he explained.

"Talk about Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes, all of them. Not one of them have had what I had. I've been to the World Cup and to the European Cup. None of them have gone to a finals."

How does ex-Wales international James recall 1976, that year of the oh-so-nearly?

"I feel pride, plus a little bit of sadness that we didn't get to Yugoslavia," he reflected.

"When we all meet up we still mention it and we get a little peeved or annoyed that people tell us we've qualified for nothing since 1958.

"We went out in the quarter-finals, and that's still something the footballing public of Wales doesn't pay much attention to."

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/17787913

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/17787913

Even the Welsh manager Coleman doesn't seem to know this fact!!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32103171

I was at the the Yugoslavia game in Ninian Park. East German referee. Neither country exists any more, but we're still here!

My dad always bangs on about the game that john charles got kicked out of the game?. Is that the same one?.

My dad always bangs on about the game that john charles got kicked out of the game?. Is that the same one?.

Are you 'attempting' to take the piss ?

My dad always bangs on about the game that john charles got kicked out of the game?. Is that the same one?.

Are you 'attempting' to take the piss ?

No, a genuine question. He has always said that we would have won if it weren't for him getting targeted.

My dad always bangs on about the game that john charles got kicked out of the game?. Is that the same one?.

Are you 'attempting' to take the piss ?

No, a genuine question. He has always said that we would have won if it weren't for him getting targeted.

so how old do you think the best Welsh footballer John Charles was then in 1976..?

My dad always bangs on about the game that john charles got kicked out of the game?. Is that the same one?.

Are you 'attempting' to take the piss ?

No, a genuine question. He has always said that we would have won if it weren't for him getting targeted.

Only 18yrs out on dates he is referring to game before Brazil! (58) as Charles missed that game because he was kicked to death in game before. of course it is popular opinion Wales had chance to beat Brazil if Charles had played!

How come the Quarter Finals weren't held at the same time as the Semi Finals and Final? Seems very strange.

How come the Quarter Finals weren't held at the same time as the Semi Finals and Final? Seems very strange.

That was the format then!

I always thought Wales had never qualified for the euro's. 1976 was 5 years before my time though.

I always thought Wales had never qualified for the euro's. 1976 was 5 years before my time though.

So 1958 must have been before your time too then ?

I always thought Wales had never qualified for the euro's. 1976 was 5 years before my time though.

So 1958 must have been before your time too then ?

but its the one that always gets discussed... so not really ignorance

I haven't forgotten I was there and as for John Charles I don't know where he was in 1976 but in 1974 he was player manager of merthyr

I always thought Wales had never qualified for the euro's. 1976 was 5 years before my time though.

So 1958 must have been before your time too then ?

but its the one that always gets discussed... so not really ignorance

I got it, so it's up to the press to educate the public on football history is it ? It's got everything to do with ignorance yet I bet the same type of people abuse others for being part-time Wales fans if they don't turn up

Terrible referee, lethal crowd atmosphere, pitch invasion to end all invasions, shame about the score.
Banned to play in Liverpool after that game I think ?

I think it was prearranged that the hosts Yugoslavia would go through....was Blatter involved with Eufa back then ??

There you go lads!!! Go and educate the Welsh public!!! http://youtu.be/_ZzJSo0dxVc

Went to that game in Zagreb with city supporters coach run by Mair andRoy Daniel.

Went to that game in Zagreb with city supporters coach run by Mair andRoy Daniel.

I bet that was an education mate fair play

I always thought Wales had never qualified for the euro's. 1976 was 5 years before my time though.

So 1958 must have been before your time too then ?

Yeah it's really my fault 76 don't get remembered

I always thought Wales had never qualified for the euro's. 1976 was 5 years before my time though.

So 1958 must have been before your time too then ?

Yeah it's really my fault 76 don't get remembered

You are only 3 years younger than me yet I know about it and I was born in 78

I always thought Wales had never qualified for the euro's. 1976 was 5 years before my time though.

So 1958 must have been before your time too then ?

Yeah it's really my fault 76 don't get remembered

You are only 3 years younger than me yet I know about it and I was born in 78

Good for you

I always thought Wales had never qualified for the euro's. 1976 was 5 years before my time though.

So 1958 must have been before your time too then ?

Yeah it's really my fault 76 don't get remembered

You are only 3 years younger than me yet I know about it and I was born in 78

Good for you

So not knowing about it doesn't wash with me. Call yourself a Wales fan

You win Adan,you've got the biggest cock

.Dam,got that sentance wrong,should have typed are instead of got.

Went to that game in Zagreb with city supporters coach run by Mair andRoy Daniel.

I bet that was an education mate fair play

9 day trip 3days out 3 there and 3 days coming home,Front window smashed on coach on m4 no mobiles in those days great trip it was.

Rudi Clockner was the referee, who refed the famous 1970 world cup final between Brazil and Italy, It was a game Wales should have won, and one of the Yugoslav players went on to become a jack legend. Toshack had two goals disallowed, his cousin Terry Yorath missed a penalty, and a fan was banned for life for throwing a corner flag javelin style at the ref, what a day

I remember it well, one of the last games I ever went to with my late Dad, we went in the Canton Stand where our season tickets were. The atmosphere was incredible, it seemed like the whole of the ground was seig heiling the Ref because of his dodgy decisions. Some Yugo fan thought it would be a good idea to run on the pitch waving his flag, a big mistake...the corner flag being thrown, the penalty miss, Stan Stenent getting involved, and more...a trully memorable night...

I was at the the Yugoslavia game in Ninian Park. East German referee. Neither country exists any more, but we're still here!

I was there that day one of my first disappointments following Wales I never forgotten it .then two years later I went to anfield and we got knocked out of the world up by scotland couldn't believe thAt one either