In December 1967 City were drawn against Moscow Torpedo in the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup. The tie would involve a round trip of nearly 8,000 miles to the heart of Soviet Asia. There was never any chance of playing the tie in Moscow as the weather there would be sub-zero when the match was due to be played in March of 1968.
The Russian season runs from March to November and it is not unusual for early and late season games to be played in vast indoor arenas. So the switch of the tie to the warmer climes f Tashkent in the Republic of Uzbek was totally expected and agreed on by both teams on the day of the quarter-final draw.
Moscow Torpedo were formed in 1924 as the team of the motor workers of the City. They were named after the first Soviet built production car - the Torpedo, would you believe. They normally played, and still do, at the 21,000 Torpedo stadium in the south-west of Moscow.
The weather in Tashkent was said to be much like that in Cardiff, i.e. vile. Tashkent is located in what was central Soviet Asia and has been in recent years the scene of much ethnic unrest fuelled by the break-up of the Soviet Union.. The City is within reasonable distance of the borders of Iran, Turkey, China and Afghanistan. Although travelling to any of those countries is difficult as the city has the Kyzzl Kun desert to the north-east and the Tien Shan mountain range (looking directly across to the Himalayas) to the south and east. An unlikely venue for a European tie.
City manager, Jimmy Scoular, was unperturbed. He immediately contacted Celtic boss Jock Stein for the low-down on travelling to Central Asia. At first, the Russians insisted that the tie take place during City's Easter programme. The matter finally went to UEFA arbitration who decreed that the matches would take place on the 6th and 19th of March 1968.
This didn't really answer all Scoular's organisational problems. He had to work out how to fit the Tashkent trip around the less exotic trip to Middlesbrough and a home game against Hull City. Amid much argument, Scoular thrashed out an agreement.
Middlesbrough generously agreed to bring forward their match to March 9th. But in an act of selfish opportunism, Hull insisted on holding City to their March 22nd date - a mere 48 hours after City returned from Tashkent after a 6844 mile journey.
The City plan was to fly to Moscow from London on the 14th of March, spend a few days in the city taking in the sights and then make the 5 hour flight to Tashkent four days later. This would give them ample time to prepare for the showdown with Torpedo.
As early as January, interest was growing around the tie and City were confidently predicting a crowd of 40,000 for the home leg. They didn't get it. 30,567 eventually watched the all-ticket home tie. Perhaps the missing 10,000 were put-off by the punitive rise in ticket prices. Admission to the Grandstand was an unprecedented 30 shillings. City won the game 1-0.
On the eve of their departre for the second-leg, City recieved a bid of 70,000 for John Toshack from Fulham who were then in their last season in Division One. City accepted the bid like a shot but Tosh, after meeting Fulham boss Bobby Robson, decided to stay at Cardiff. "I've got a lot to learn in football and can learn it at Ninian Park." He said.
The day City arrived in Tashkent there was a violent rumble. No, it wasn't the arrival of miscreant City fans but an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale (as all earthquakes seem to do). Fortunatley, there were no injuries and little structural damage and the game was never in jeopardy. There was more disruption when City director, Stefan Terleski (a high profile Cardiff politician of the 60s and 70s) withdrew from the travelling party. Terleski, later an MP for Cardiff and Chairman of Cardiff City but then a mere City Councillor, feared his presence might provoke a major diplomatic incident in the Soviet Union. Terleski's father was said to be a political prisoner in Siberia and he had himself been a vocal critic of Soviet oppression.
"I would have encountered serious questioning and possibly even detention. I would not have been able to see my family again." He said.
Terleski was to have acted as City's official interpreter on the trip, a service he had performed during the first leg. For this service he received a table lighter.
Thirty years later Terleski's concerns seem to denote an over-dramtic sense of self-importance. But Russia was poised to invade Czechoslovakia in 1968 and had little tolerance for dissent. In the mid-80s Terleski's journey to Russia to be re-united with his family gained national attention. It was considered a shining example of 'Glasnost'. Proof that the reforms of Michael Gorbachev were real.
Other members of the City party back in 1968 were more relaxed. Club Doctor, Les Hamilton. was said to be administering anti-sickness pills routinely twice a day. "I have drugs for all eventualities", he said without a psychedelic gleam in his eye.
Friday. Moscow. Minus 4 degrees and falling. The City squad visited the Kremlin and later trained at the Lenin Stadium, a massive sporting complex with over 140 seperate facilities. There were also jaunts to the Moscow State Circus and the Bolshoi Ballet.
Saturday. City make the 5 hour flight to Tashkent. The match was to be played at the Pakhator Stadium, a 65,000 capacity venue. Interest amongst the local Uzbek population was intense with over 250,000 applications for tickets made. Cardiff were the first British team to visit Central Asia and they drew crowds wherever they went. Of the 65,000 tickets available only three went to City fans. Here's the roll of honour: Bill O'Donnell, Jack Haines and Les Jones. We salute you.
Several thousand Torpedo fans were airlifted to the game from Moscow and the match was televised through
out the whole Soviet Union. City did brilliantly to lose only 1-0 and were feted as heroes by the local Uzbek population. Hundreds of fans surrounded the City coach after the game to give a rousing send-off to the team
One wonders if there are any remnants of support for the Bluebirds in Uzbekistan. Is there anyone in Tashkent who 'looks for the City's result first'?
The result meant that City and Torpedo would have to play-off in Augsburg, Germany. There was no such thing as away goals or penalties in the 60s. History tells us that City won that game 1-0 to set up a semi-final against SV Hamburg. Was this City's greatest ever post-war victory?
But the most pressing concern that March evening in 1968 was whether or not City would make it back in time for the Friday night match against Hull City. The return trip took 26 hours. During the first leg of the journey to Moscow, twenty-six pairs of boots went missing. This set back was not allowed to interfere with the sightseeing which this time took in the Lenin Mausoleum.
City departed Tashkent at 5.30.am and arrived in London at 8.15 pm local time. The return journey was broken up with a meal at Reading (no sightseeing here) before the party eventually arrived in Cardiff at 2.15 am. There was even more travelling for the likes of Swansea based players like Leighton Phillips and Barrie Jones who went home by taxi.
It's a testament to the organisational skill of Scoular in that City made it back in time for the Friday night game at Hull after the longest journey ever undertaken by a British team in Europe. Hull took advantage of the emotionally and physically shattered City team to win the game 3-2.
But rest and relaxation was at
hand because from April 1st, and at considerably less than 30
shillings, you could see the Morecambe and Wise show at the New
Theatre.