When England ruled Europe

It's difficult to envisage now but there was a six-year period when the rest of Europe trembled at the prospect of facing the champions of England in the European Cup.

No other nation has matched that unprecedented era for English club football. Spain's Real Madrid won Europe's most prestigious prize for the first five years and Feyenoord and Ajax monopolised it for Holland for four years in the early Seventies. But six years? That is a distinction shared by Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa. Look at the record books and you'll find they were dominant forces in Europe between 1977-82.

The record reads: 1977 Liverpool 3 B Monchengladbach 1 The battle between Kevin Keegan and Berti Vogts provided an intriguing sub-plot but Bob Paisley's champions provided a master-class in disciplined passing. European Footballer of the Year Allan Simonsen scored a memorable goal but Terry McDermott, Smith and Phil Neal (penalty) won it for the Reds.

After the emotion of Rome this was a dour anti-climax at Wembley, but the defending champions, strengthened by the arrival of Kenny Dalglish, Alan Hansen and Graeme Souness, were rarely troubled by the Belgians. Dalglish supplied the killer touch with a goal of typical delicacy.

1979 N Forest 1 Malmo 0 Having beaten Liverpool in a bitterly-disputed first-round clash, Brian Clough's Forest surged to the Munich final where they faced Sweden's Malmo. Managed by Bob Houghton at a time when English coaches were good enough to work abroad, Malmo offered stubborn resistance until Trevor Francis headed the winner on his European Cup debut. 1980 N Forest 1 Hamburg 0 Rewarded with an improved contract just before the start in Madrid, Clough was still making tactical changes after the kick-off to legislate for the threat posed by Keegan and Felix Magath. Once John Robertson had scored after 19 minutes, Forest clung on to their lead, with Peter Shilton outstanding. 1981 Liverpool 1 Real Madrid 0 The English champions beat Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen, CSKA Sofia and Bayern Munich en route to Paisley's third final. Real included former Orient winger Laurie Cunningham but Liverpool won the Paris final with a late goal from Alan Kennedy. 1982 Aston Villa 1 Bayern Munich 0 Villa manager Ron Saunders quit after a boardroom row midway through the European Cup campaign. Unknown coach Tony Barton took over and masterminded an unlikely victory in Rotterdam. Peter Withe's 67th-minute goal and young Nigel Spink's heroics in goal earned Barton the distinction of being the last English coach to lift the trophy.