Today marks the 39th anniversary of the Blues’ 1-0 UEFA Cup semi-final second leg victory away in Cologne, securing a 2-0 win on aggregate, so TWTD spoke to the winning goalscorer, Town legend Terry Butcher.
Bobby Robson’s men went in to the second leg at the Müngersdorfer Stadion with a 1-0 lead, John Wark, pictured above with Butcher in the dressing room at Cologne, having headed the only goal in the game at Portman Road.
"We’d normally virtually won the tie in the first leg at home, Widzew Lodz, Bohemians Prague and Aris Salonika in the first game. We’d normally racked the goals up at home,” Butcher recalled.
"Tony Woodcock was playing for Cologne at the time, Harald Schumacher was in goal, so they had a pretty strong side and they kept it really tight and we were more pleased about not conceding rather than not having scored as many goals as in those previous games.”
Town’s preparations for the match were far from ideal with fixtures coming thick and fast at that stage of the 1980/81 campaign.
"Going into the game, it was the worst possible build-up to a crucial game, the semi-final of the UEFA Cup, because we’d lost to Arsenal at home on Easter Saturday 2-0, Kenny Sampson scored with a header, that’s how poor we were on the day,” Butcher, now 61, said.
"Then we went to Norwich on the Monday for the derby and Justin Fashanu scored so we lost that 1-0.
"We flew over to Cologne immediately after that game to play on the Wednesday. So we played Saturday, Monday, Wednesday.
"Sir Arthur South was on the plane, the Norwich chairman, Mr Pat and Mr John [Cobbold brothers] had invited him along, which I thought was nice and he was good fun.
"On the Tuesday we did nothing, we all went to the Phantasialand fairground. I think the gaffer thought it was good relaxation and it certainly proved that way. The boys were on the rollercoaster and all that sort of thing.
"It was really good fun and helped us to get over the two defeats, which were crucial defeats for us. The run-in wasn’t great for us at all. With the schedule and the number of high pressure games and leading from the front, it was really difficult to maintain the standard all the time, particularly with injuries as well.
"So going into that game, 1-0 was not precarious, but it wasn’t what we wanted. We knew we had to get our teeth into the game and be strong.”
Butcher, by then already an England international who would go on to win a total of 77 caps, said the Blues had a vociferous backing in the stadium and in the 64th minute the central defender gave those fans something to cheer about.
"We were bolstered in the crowd by the servicemen in Germany, the forces turned up and supported us, which was great. They made a right racket as well, it was really good,” he said.
"It was a very open game. The stadium had a running track round it so we were a good distance from the crowd.
"It was a tough game, really mentally tough as well. The pitch wasn’t in the best condition, it was a bit bobbly but then I managed to pop up with the goal.
"I couldn’t say it was one of my best headers, but equally you could say it was one of my best goals.
"It was a freekick on the right, so you normally went up and they lined up on the edge of the box. I looked at Millsy and I’m thinking ‘Go on Millsy, just put it in the box so I can go and attack it’.
"But he didn’t really put it in the box, it was a flatter freekick and it was curving away from me as it came to me, so I had to really twist and turn and I got a reasonably good connection on it from about 18 yards, I might have been slightly closer.
"When I headed it I thought it had gone wide and it seemed to be going wide but it just seemed to come in, just hit the ground before going in and it just shaved the post as it went in.
"I couldn’t believe it when I scored, I thought ‘Wow, it went in!’. To beat Schumacher was quite some feat because he was some keeper.
"It was unbelievable and to have scored the away goal it meant they had to get three goals to beat us and there was no way we were going to concede three goals, not that night anyway.
"It was an unbelievable feeling because having been so low after the two defeats when we were flying out there we were so high flying back, it was immense. And then we played Manchester City on the Saturday and I scored the winner then as well, 1-0.”
After such an important goal and one of the most memorable nights in the club’s history, Butcher deserved to celebrate.
"We came back, on the flight to Southend and Russell Osman and I got some miniatures for the bus home, a big bagful,” he remembered.
"So we had a good drink on the way back and we got back well past midnight in the early hours and went to Russell’s house in Ecclestone Close in the town.
"Rex, Russell’s dad who ran the Centre Spot at Portman Road, had made us a lovely casserole so we had a meal when we got back, because you don’t get much on the plane and you didn’t want much on the plane.
"I remember sitting outside with Russell at 7.30 in the morning with a crate of Holsten Pils and my neighbour went past me on his way to work, I lived just down the road in Furness Close, and he just said ‘Good result last night lads, well done!’ as he walked past us as if anybody might be sitting out drinking beer in the garden at that time any day of the week.”
That result saw the Blues into the final where they would face Dutch side AZ 67 Alkmaar over two legs.
Cologne: Schumacher, Prestin, Konopka, Zimmerman (Kroth 70), Bonhof, Cullmann, Littbarski, Botteron, Muller, Engels, Woodcock.
Town: Cooper, Steggles, McCall, Thijssen, Osman, Butcher, Wark, Muhren, Mariner, Brazil, Mills.