'Totally corrupt' 1984 semi 'still hurts' Forest players
[Getty Images] Players involved the last time Nottingham Forest were in a European semi-final have been reminiscing on the tie on a special episode of BBC Radio Nottingham's Shut Up And Show More Football podcast. It was an occasion shrouded in bitterness and controversy. Forest were 2-0 up from the first leg of their 1984 Uefa Cup semi-final against Anderlecht, but lost the second leg 3-0 with a dubious penalty decision and disallowed goal just two of numerous decisions which aroused suspicion.
The truth behind those refereeing decisions only emerged during a 1997 criminal case when Anderlecht admitted paying the Spanish referee Emilio Guruceta Muro. It later emerged that the former president of the Belgian club Constant Vanden Stock had paid the Spanish referee a significant amount before the game. In 1997 Anderlecht were handed a ban for a year from Uefa's competitions but a BBC investigation revealed Uefa had knowledge of the bribe years before action was taken.
The topic is still a sore one for those involved. Looking back on the tie, former Forest defender Paul Hart said : "I had the same referee when I was playing for Leeds against Real Madrid and he sent two of our players off so Real Madrid could win. The first time we saw him was in the tunnel before the game and I said to Kenny Swain 'that's the same geezer'.
"He was totally corrupt, then you find out about it 20 years later about someone being bribed. I think the manager knew we'd been diddled. He was very quiet.
It was terrible. The stadium is still named after Stock. " Goalkeeper on the day Hans van Breukelen said : "It still hurts because we couldn't play in a European final and we had a good team.