UEFA accused over Forest cup bribe referee evidence

BBC East Midland's Inside Out television programme will tonight reveal evidence that UEFA allegedly waited four years before taking action against Anderlecht over the bribing of the referee ahead of their 1984 UEFA Cup semi-final victory over Nottingham Forest.

The facts were finally revealed in 1997 and Anderlecht were banned from European competition for a year. But new evidence shows UEFA was told about the bribe as early as 1992.

Four years after winning their second European Cup, Brian Clough’s Forest faced Anderlecht in the semi-final of the UEFA Cup.

After convincingly winning the first leg 2-0, Forest had a dubious penalty awarded against them and a goal disallowed in the return tie, finally going out 3-2 on aggregate.

The truth behind those refereeing decisions only emerged during a 1997 criminal case when Anderlecht admitted paying the Spanish referee Emilio Guruceta Muro.

At first UEFA insisted it could take no action because the bribery took place more than 10 years previously, but eventually a one-year European ban was imposed on Anderlecht.

Now, BBC’s Inside Out has found evidence UEFA had a dossier of evidence as early as 1992.

Despite repeated requests from the BBC, UEFA has not offered an explanation of the delay.

Watch the full report on Inside Out at 7.30pm tonight on BBC One in the East Midlands or on BBC iPlayer.