By the 1972-73 season Shankly had completed his rebuilding process. Liverpool stormed to a record 8 th championship, using just 16 players all season. They made it a domestic and European double by winning the UEFA Cup, which had replaced the Fairs Cup the previous year. The fact that UEFA wanted to take the competition under its umbrella, as it had the Cup Winners’ Cup a decade earlier, made no difference to English clubs’ domination. Arsenal, Leeds and Spurs had won the last three finals, adding to Leeds’ and Newcastle’s victories at the end of the 1960s. Liverpool were thus bidding to bring the trophy back to England for the sixth successive year.
They faced holders Spurs in the semi-final and took a narrow 1-0 lead to White Hart Lane for the second leg. Martin Peters, who had moved to Spurs for a record ?200,000 after the 1970 World Cup, scored twice in a 2-1 win, but Heighway’s away goal put Liverpool through.
In the final they faced a highly rated Borussia Moenchengladbach side that included Netzer, Bonhof, Heynckes and Vogts. The first leg at Anfield showed Shankly at his cunning best. He played Brian Hall instead of JohnToshack, feeling that the smaller, quicker man might get more joy against the German defence.
Torrential rain forced an abandonment after 30 minutes, but in that time the Liverpool boss had seen that Moenchengladbach were susceptible to the high ball. 24 hours later Toshack was in the side champing at the bit after being left out of the original line-up. His flicks created two goals for Keegan and the Reds won 3-0. The German side nearly turned it round, winning the return leg 2-0, but Liverpool had their hands on their first European trophy.
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