1976- 1980 overview

England’s hopes for qualification of the 1976 European football championships were seriously boosted by the emergence of Malcolm McDonald who wrote his name into the record books and lifted England’s hopes of progressing into the quarter finals when he scored all five goals in England’s 5-0 victory of Cyprus. However England disappointingly failed to qualify for the championships as they struggled to two draws against Portugal and a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Czechoslovakia. England’s failure to qualify for the 1976 European football championships was disappointing, however worse was to come the following year as England lost 2-1 at home to Scotland, despite key players such as Trevor Brooking and Kevin Keegan missing, England should have beaten their British counterparts and Scotland had retained the home championship and were now regarded as the best football nation in Britain as they qualified for the 1978 world cup finals. Jon Revie left the England’s manager post under his own accord in 1977, at that point England were struggling to qualify for the 1977 world cup finals as they lost away at Italy in a crucial qualifying match. Revie’s record as England manager was decent, with 14 victories coming from his 29 matches in charge and he moved into management in the Middle East. Ron Greenwood was handed the job despite many installing Brain Clough as the favourite for the post. England’s qualifying group for the 1980 European football championships included the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Denmark. Ron Greenwood’s men started off the qualifying campaign in emphatic style beating Denmark 4-3 in a thrilling tie. Kevin Keegan turned in one of his greatest ever performances against Northern Ireland as he inspired England to a 4-0 victory over the Irish to put them top of the group. England travelled to Sofia in a key match which they comfortably won 3-0, Keegan started off the scoring in that match for England. England comfortably qualified for the 1980 European football championships held in Italy.