"The Mighty Magyars"

[Big Swifty]

The origin of this was when, after Wolves became Division One champions in 1954, they challenged the top club side in Hungary, Honved (an army-based side containing Puskas, Kocsis, Bozsik and Czibor, stars of the national team), and the game was considered such a massive event that it was shown on the BBC live. (Remember there was only the one channel then, so if you didn't like football, well, tough.) A fuzzy picture and primitive camera-work to boot.
Wolves were 2-0 down but came back to win 3-2, and so they (especially their manager, Stan Cullis) proclaimed themselves champions of Europe, if not the world.

The editor of the French football magazine "L'Equipe", Gabriel Hanot, was immediately inspired to propose a "Coupe d'Europe" in his publication, and shortly afterwards the European Cup,as it was then known, was born - later, of course, taken over and run by UEFA.

So City's venture into foreign parts this season stems from Wolves beating Honved in December 1954

I hope this helps.

 

[Hungarian blue]

shame they couldn't build on it for whatever reason, I guess communism didn't help.

I guess so but that's not the main reason as some of the fellow countries did better, especially in recent years. I may write about it here some more (if there is interest), unfortunately I don't have enough time right now.

 

[manclad]

shame they couldn't build on it for whatever reason, I guess communism didn't help.

I guess so but that's not the main reason as some of the fellow countries did better, especially in recent years. I may write about it here some more (if there is interest), unfortunately I don't have enough time right now.

As the OP of this post I would definitley like to hear from you Hungarian Blue,as this is a period of football history that I am just finding out about(I was born in 1956 so it was all before my time).
There is another story on the BBC website today about a man called Jimmy Hogan(a Lancashire lad born in Nelson,near Burnley),and the Hungarians dedicated their 6-3 victory against England to Hogan,as he was the man who taught them the short,incisive passing and off the ball movement game,which became the trademark of the Magyars.
And this type of football eventually evolved into the "Total Football",played to great effect by Ajax and Holland in the 1970s.

 

[silverback]

Hungarian Blue,
Hope you can take the time it will be great to hear your opinions. Were you around at the time or have you done some research?

 

[gooner6729]

shame they couldn't build on it for whatever reason, I guess communism didn't help.

I guess so but that's not the main reason as some of the fellow countries did better, especially in recent years. I may write about it here some more (if there is interest), unfortunately I don't have enough time right now.

I suppose it didn't help that half the team including Puskas fled the country after the Soviet invasion.

For whatever reason communism and football didn't seem to mix. Not just in Hungary, but everywhere. Strange when you consider sport was strongly supported by communist governments, and that the East was superior to the West in most sports (eg: Olympics). Most totalitarian regimes of the left and the right failed to understand football. The only exceptions were the fascists Mussolini and Franco.

Puskas was fat. So was Gerd Muller and then Maradonna. As a kid that appealed to me about football. The fact that genius was more important in football than athletic prowess. I doubt there have been many fat marathon runners, swimmers who are 5 foot nothing or short, fat basketball players.

 

[Andy Conway]

shame they couldn't build on it for whatever reason, I guess communism didn't help.

I guess so but that's not the main reason as some of the fellow countries did better, especially in recent years. I may write about it here some more (if there is interest), unfortunately I don't have enough time right now.

As the OP of this post I would definitley like to hear from you Hungarian Blue,as this is a period of football history that I am just finding out about(I was born in 1956 so it was all before my time).
There is another story on the BBC website today about a man called Jimmy Hogan(a Lancashire lad born in Nelson,near Burnley),and the Hungarians dedicated their 6-3 victory against England to Hogan,as he was the man who taught them the short,incisive passing and off the ball movement game,which became the trademark of the Magyars.
And this type of football eventually evolved into the "Total Football",played to great effect by Ajax and Holland in the 1970s.

There's a great book on Jimmy Hogan. Prophet or Traitor? Tells a sorry tale of English FA incompetence.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prophet-Traitor-Jimmy-Hogan-Story/dp/1903158451