UEFA Cup Winners Cup

Aah yes, the good old Cup Winners Cup, entry to which was only given to teams across Europe who'd won their domestic cup competition in the previous season.

Back in the Euro-cup heyday of the 1970's and 80's, when the European Cup, the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup were all running in tandem, this was the least prestigious of the three competitions, yet it still had its place and a certain value in the footballing calendar. So if you asked the fans, players and staff of Aberdeen back in 1983, Everton in 1985, and even Manchester Utd and Arsenal in 1991 and 1994, if they were glad the Cup Winners Cup existed, then you'd get a resounding "yes". These famous victories were all great nights for the clubs who lifted the trophy - they all go down on the club's roll of honour, and still have a special place in their history.

However, by the end of its lifespan in 1999, the Cup Winners Cup had almost become a thing of ridicule from a continent now seemingly obsessed solely by the new Champions League format that had been introduced in 1992, and the untold riches that a club could apparently unearth if it could grab a place in it.

Maybe it's the rich-clubs-getting-richer scenario that the Champions League seems to have resulted in, along with the subsequent dominance of the same clubs qualifying for it from their domestic leagues, year in, year out, that has made the Goalhanger look back on the Cup Winners Cup with a new level of fondness, and almost found itself wishing it was still around to give some of the lesser teams a one-off opportunity to live the European dream.

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