In the small hours of the morning, a figure lit only by the orange glow of the streetlights walked down the central reservation of a Parisian dual carriageway. He held an empty bottle of champagne loosely to his side. It was Jimmy Armfield, the Leeds United manager. He couldn’t sleep. He hadn’t even tried to go to bed. If he had closed his eyes, it would only have meant seeing it all again. And that was too painful. “Nobody seemed to know where to go or what to do,” Armfield wrote. “I wasn’t drunk – I just needed to be away from it all for a while.”

Flashing through his mind were the events of the night before, the moments that made up the 1975 European Cup final against Bayern Munich; the injustice, the anger, the dejection, the runners’ up medals abandoned on the dressing room table at the Parc des Princes as the indifferent Leeds players headed for the bus and back to the hotel. “I felt like leaving mine too,” Armfield recalled. “Instead, I scooped them up and put them into a plastic bag.  I handed them all back later on.”

How devastatingly ironic that a season which had begun so tempestuously with Brian Clough telling the players to throw all their medals in the bin because, in his view, they had cheated to win them ended with Leeds feeling that they had been swindled, a feeling that endures to this day and finds its defiant expression on the Kop at Elland Road during every match in the chant: “We are the Champions! Champions of Europe!”

When Leeds lost on May 28, 1975, the Long Sixties were finally over. Don Revie’s promise that “one day this club will rule in Europe” had never been fulfilled. Knocked out in the semi-finals by Celtic in 1970, “it turned out, that this was our last hurrah,” Johnny Giles lamented. Written off as a spent force in the aftermath of Clough’s disastrous 44 days at the club, Leeds were 19th in the league when Armfield relieved caretaker bosses Maurice Lindley and Syd Owen for Arsenal’s visit to Elland Road on October 5, 1974.

Barry Foster, the Yorkshire Post journalist, told the new Leeds manager that everyone associated with the club believed Revie’s ageing side had one big season left. “They knew the break-up was coming but time was still on their side – just.” Revie had invited Armfield to White’s, the aptly named hotel he was staying in while working at FA headquarters in Lancaster Gate as England manager. “All you have to do with those players is send them out on the field. They’ll do the rest,” Revie explained. “You’ll be able to sit in the stand and pick up your bonus. They’re the best players in the country.” 

That of course was easier said than done. Viewed suspiciously by the dressing room and in particular Giles, who had wanted the job for himself, Leeds were still 19th in the league a month later and hit rock bottom mentally with a shock 3-0 defeat in the League Cup to Fourth Division side Chester. The former chairman Sam Bolton suggested on the bus ride back across the Pennines that the time had come to bring some new players in, but Armfield opted to keep faith in the team at least until the end of the season. His faith was repaid as Leeds rallied.

Defeat to Bob Paisley’s Liverpool on April 5 was the only one inflicted at home throughout the rest of the campaign. Yet Leeds had given themselves too much to do. Retaining the First Division title had long been a bridge too far. Under Armfield, they ended up in ninth position, their lowest finish of a decade otherwise spent exclusively in the top four. After their elimination from the sixth round of the FA Cup against Ipswich in March following a third replay, it had become apparent that the European Cup offered the solitary prospect of a shot at redemption and posterity too.

Standing in their way were the holders Bayern Munich. Among the ranks of this formidable side were Sepp Maier, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller and Uli Hoeneß. Each had been a member of West Germany’s starting XI in the 1972 European Championship final against the Soviet Union and later the 1974 World Cup final against Holland.

Without doubt, it was one of the best of all-time. But Bayern were suffering from a World Cup hangover. Like Leeds, they had started the season badly. A heavy 6-0 defeat to Offenbach Kickers on the opening day of the Bundesliga spelt trouble and as the days and weeks went by things showed little sign of improving. Bayern entered the New Year in 14th place, prompting coach Udo Lattek to tell the club’s president Wilhelm Neudecker: “We need to make some changes.” Quick as a flash, Neudecker replied: “That’s right. You’re sacked.”

Stepping into the breach was Dettmar Cramer, the so-called ‘Flying Doctor’ with a cure for Bayern’s ailments. He had come recommended by Beckenbauer. The pair had shared a close bond ever since the early `60s when the DFB had banned the teenage Beckenbauer from West Germany’s youth team after he got his girlfriend pregnant and then refused to marry her. Cramer, then coaching the country’s top prospects, pleaded Beckenbauer’s case with Sepp Herberger. He secured a reprieve for his young charge on the condition that he shared a double room with Cramer on away trips.

Bayern stabilised after Cramer’s appointment. They didn’t get any worse. But nor did they get much better and concluded the championship in 10th spot.  Their priorities were reappraised and the European Cup, which already assumed a great importance, was afforded even more significance. A 0-0 draw against a very good Saint-Étienne side at the Geoffroy-Guichard and a 2-0 win at the Olympiastadion ensured a return to the final.

Leeds in the meantime reached Paris by way of Barcelona. Residents of Thackley to the north-east of Bradford were treated to the sight of Rinus Michels, the founder of Total Football, leading a training session at their non-league team’s ground with Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens gracing its humble pitch before the first leg at Elland Road. Up until that point Barcelona hadn’t conceded a single goal in the competition. That changed when a long ball to the edge of the box was nodded down into Billy Bremner’s path and blasted into the top left-hand corner of Salvador Sadurní’s net in the ninth minute.

Cruyff helped Barcelona get back into the game in the second half by squaring a free-kick for Juan Manuel Asensi to toe-poke past goalkeeper David Stewart. But there was something in the air that night and Leeds smelled blood.  No one at the club had a keener sense of goal than Allan ‘Sniffer’ Clarke and so it was that he found the winner 11 minutes from time, pouncing in the six-yard box as Barcelona scrambled and ultimately failed to deal with another Paul Reaney cross, which had been flicked on by the leaping Joe Jordan.

At the Camp Nou, Leeds struck early again in similar circumstances: a long ball, a knockdown, a fierce shot, this time from Peter Lorimer. They now had the cushion of an away goal yet the final 20 minutes were nerve-wracking as Manolo Clares equalised with a header and Gordon McQueen received a red card for knocking out the goalscorer in a scuffle in the box. As the full-time whistle approached, Bremner had to clear a shot from Neeskens off the line, but Leeds held on valiantly and the Hillary Step had been made.

“If you give Leeds the ball, they will make you dance,” Cruyff said. Treading on Barcelona’s feet acted as a memorable prelude to the Last Tango in Paris. Leeds had a month to prepare for the final in stark contrast to their opponents Bayern. The First Division had ended on April 29, while the Bundesliga was due to run until June 14. Was it an advantage? Or did it leave Leeds rusty and help Bayern stay in rhythm?

“I needed to maintain momentum and keep the players in shape so I arranged a friendly against Brann Bergen,” Armfield wrote. “Then we played a testimonial match for Norman Hunter against a Don Revie XI at Elland Road, took on the Scotland Under-23 team at Hampden Park and finally met Walsall at Fellows Park on May 13.” 

Deprived of the suspended McQueen, it was decided to move the versatile Paul Madeley into the centre of defence alongside Norman Hunter. There was no position he couldn’t play, except maybe goalkeeper, but Armfield would have preferred to use Leeds’s ‘Rolls Royce’ on the left of midfield in a 4-3-3 to counter the very real threat posed by Bayern’s right-hand side, a strength highlighted in one of the reports compiled by chief scout Tony Collins.

Guiding team selection was the invisible hand of Revie. Mindful of honouring his legacy- burdened by it even - Armfield bowed to the sentiment that this had to be a ‘Family affair’. For that reason, he left Clough’s big money signing Duncan McKenzie on the bench, leading the striker to quip: “Jimmy’s indecision was final.”  There was no illusion as to what or who this game was about. “We are doing it for Don,” Bremner revealed, and Armfield didn’t have a problem with it. This after all was his opportunity to become the first English manager ever to win the European Cup.

Up in the TV gantry at the Parc des Princes, Revie sat next to the BBC’s David Coleman. Down in the tunnel, his players psyched themselves up. “They were shouting: ‘You fucking Germans will lose’,” recalled Bayern’s Swedish defender Björn Andersson in an interview with Richard Sutcliffe of the Yorkshire Post. “I am not sure if this was what always happened when an English team played a German team but we tried to shut it out of our minds and make sure we got ourselves up for the game.”

Minutes after kick off Andersson caught a punch in the eye from Bremner and was then stamped on by Terry Yorath, seriously injuring his knee. “I did not play again for eight months,” he added. Frank Gray also kicked Hoeneß so hard he had to receive treatment on the sidelines. Unable to carry on, he hobbled off before the interval. The knock Hoeneß sustained never healed and ended his career. He played on in pain for another four seasons but retired at the age of 27 and went on to become the brains behind Bayern’s business model.

Leeds brought the heat. Long balls from the deep-lying Giles were played up to Jordan and allowed the team to come forward and play in Bayern’s half. They controlled the territory. They dominated possession and chances weren’t lacking.  Lorimer seized upon a poor clearance from Beckenbauer and dribbled into the box. He went past one player, then another, and just as everything was about to open up in front of him, Beckenbauer slid in. The Bayern captain appeared to touch the ball with his hand. Lorimer appealed, but the French referee Michel Kitabdjian waved play on.

That wasn’t to be the last protest Leeds staged that fateful evening. Giles received the ball and angled a chipped pass over to Clarke on the left flank. ‘Sniffer’, direct as usual, cut inside, straightened up as he entered the box and left his man for dead in surging for the byline. That man was Beckenbauer. Lunging in from behind, he brought Clarke down and took none of the ball. “It looks like a definite penalty to me,” Revie shouted from the commentary box. “When I got to my feet I couldn’t believe the referee had given a goal kick,” Clarke wrote. “We all appealed, but the referee, who was less than 10 yards away from the incident, didn’t want to know.” 

The game’s narrative didn’t change at the beginning of the second half. Sepp Maier did brilliantly to paw away an effort from Bremner at close quarters, but soon afterwards the great goalkeeper was beaten. Beckenbauer was at the centre of controversy again. A weak header from the Bayern libero fell only as far as Lorimer in the 66th minute and he met it with a volley, hitting across the ball with his laces to find the back of the net. “1-0!” shrieked Coleman. The deadlock appeared to have been broken. Yet as the Leeds players wheeled away in celebration, Beckenbauer put his arm up. He claimed Bremner had been in an offside position when the ball was played.

Kitabdjian consulted his linesmen and with very little justification disallowed the goal, sparking outrage. The Leeds supporters started to rip out their seats and throw them at the French riot police. Four minutes later, Bayern countered and Franz Roth scored with a left-footed shot across goal. Stewart didn’t dive. He knelt then watched it bobble into the corner. Leeds had lost their heads. Their morale was on the floor and there was no coming back after Müller doubled Bayern’s advantage with a trademark goal, sneaking in front of Madeley at the near post to sweep a Jupp Kapellmann cross past Stewart.

“In the end we were the winners, but we were very, very lucky,” Beckenbauer admitted. He was right of course. Here was another case of Bayern-Dusel - the tendency for things to go in their favour even when undeserved. A year earlier in 1974, Atlético Madrid had been seconds away from lifting the European Cup in extra-time when Schwarzenbeck scored at the death and forced a replay, which Bayern won 4-0. Then a year later in 1976, a set of poteaux carrés   or square goalposts at Hampden Park meant Dominique Bathenay’s shot and Jacques Santini’s header bounced out rather than in for Saint-Étienne as Bayern went on to triumph 1-0.

That offered little in the way of comfort for Leeds. The dream was over. The nightmare began. Their fans rioted and earned the club a four-year ban from Europe. Armfield contested it with little support from his board. He gathered evidence of poor ticketing and how - because no one had been informed that there was an alcohol ban inside the ground – supporters felt compelled to drink what bottles of duty free they had bought before they went through the gates. Ever the gentleman, Armfield to his immense credit managed to get the sentence halved on appeal, but his biggest challenge lay in rebuilding a team that had come to the end of the line.

“It was like trying to dismantle a dry stone wall that a master craftsman had spent the best years of his life putting together, knowing there was bad weather on the way,” he wrote. Giles departed that summer to coach West Bromwich Albion while Bremner and Hunter left a year later for Hull City and Bristol City. Between February 1975 and May 1978, 13 players, 10 of them internationals, exited the doors at Elland Road. It was the end of an era. Revie’s ‘Family’ had grown up, fled the nest. The house was still a home, but something was missing – the one with the big ears. The European Cup.