Welcome back to the NASL madhouse… because for the final episode of our mid-season break, Graham and I are joined by super-guest Phil Craig to relive the glorious, chaotic magic of Vancouver Whitecaps 1979 — the year a club built on steel, structure and sheer bloody-mindedness survived North American football’s weirdest rulebook and ended up lifting the big one.

This is a league where draws don’t really exist, shootouts start 35 yards out, playoff series can be decided by a mini-game, and you can earn bonus points just for scoring goals… because obviously you can. And yet, in the middle of all that chaos, Tony Waiters’ Whitecaps basically said: fine — we’ll just defend our way through it.

We dig into the story from the Whitecaps’ roots in the NASL, the league’s star-powered boom years (hello, Cosmos), and the strange mix of glitz, instability and outright madness that defined football in North America in the late 70s. Then we get into the 1979 team itself: the spine, the characters, the British core, and the central importance of club legend Bob Lenarduzzi — with big-name flair supplied by the likes of Alan Ball, plus the kind of moments you couldn’t script if you tried (yes… we’re talking about Willie Johnston taking a sip of beer before swinging in a corner).

And of course, there’s the boss fight: the Cosmos. The glamour superpower. The brand. The villains. We walk through the playoff carnage, the controversy, the chaos of mini-games and shootouts, the sense that the match might never end… and how Vancouver somehow came out the other side.

Takeaways

• Why the NASL was both brilliant and completely unhinged — rules, points, shootouts, mini-games and all
• How Tony Waiters built a title winner in a league designed for chaos
• The key players and characters: Lenarduzzi, Ball, Parkes, Whymark, Hector, Johnston and more
• The Cosmos showdown: Chinaglia drama, playoff madness, and Vancouver refusing to blink
• The legacy of 1979 — and why this is one of football’s great “you had to be there” title runs

If you love football history, strange leagues, iconic underdogs and proper “how on earth did that happen?” stories — this one’s for you.

Subscribe for more episodes of By Far The Greatest Team and follow along as we rank the greatest sides ever — one glorious rabbit hole at a time.

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Is North Korea 1966 the most astonishing World Cup underdog run of all time?

In this Mid-Season Break Seasonal Special, super guest Phil Craig takes us down one of football history’s most improbable rabbit holes: North Korea at the 1966 World Cup. Set against the shadow of the Cold War, we unpack how politics, perception, and FIFA power dynamics shaped their path to England — and why their story deserves a place at the “Table of Greatness” conversation.

From a chaotic, obstacle-strewn qualification journey, to the shockwave win over Italy, to that jaw-dropping quarter-final with Portugal (yes, that first-half scoreline…), this is the episode where sport collides with history — and somehow ends up getting adopted by Middlesbrough along the way.

Takeaways

• How the Cold War shaped the way the world viewed North Korea’s team
• Why FIFA allowing participation wasn’t as straightforward as it sounds
• The night North Korea stunned Italy and flipped the tournament on its head
• How they used translated political ideology Chollima directly into tactical identity
• What the Portugal quarter-final revealed about their ceiling — and their tragedy
• The cultural clash (and warmth) of North Korea living in England, Boro-style

If you love World Cup lore, sports politics, and proper football-history weirdness, this one’s for you. Listen now, and then tell us: where does North Korea 1966 belong in the Table of Greatness?

If you enjoy these podcasts, please don't forget to subscribe and give us a rating and also tell everyone about them!

As our mid-season winter break continues, By Far The Greatest Team keeps the spotlight firmly on teams whose greatness deserves revisiting — even if they don’t always get the full episode treatment.

This time, Graham and Jamie hand the mic to Declan Clark, who takes on the task of making the case for one of English football’s most stylish and complete sides: Manchester City, 1968–1970.

In just three remarkable seasons, City assembled a team that could do everything. League champions, FA Cup winners, League Cup winners, and European Cup Winners’ Cup holders — all achieved with flair, intelligence, and a swagger that set them apart from their domestic rivals.

This was the City of Colin Bell’s relentless brilliance, Francis Lee’s fire, Mike Summerbee’s wing play, and Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison’s iconic management partnership — a side that married tactical innovation with attacking joy at a time when English football was evolving fast.

In this short seasonal special, Declan revisits the trophies, the personalities, and the cultural footprint of a Manchester City team that didn’t just win — they entertained, influenced, and left a lasting imprint on the English game.

🏆 Takeaways

• Why Manchester City 1968–70 may be the club’s greatest ever side
• How Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison reshaped English football thinking
• The trophies that confirmed City as a domestic and European force
• The role of flair, personality, and tactical freedom in their success
• Why this team still matters in the context of modern Manchester City

If you enjoy these podcasts, please don't forget to subscribe and give us a rating and also tell everyone about them!