It wasn’t a time when calculating your carbon footprint was an issue. Cardiff City were instead enjoying an exotic and exhilarating ride in the Cup Winners’ Cup that took them as far as central Asia and into the semi-finals. On their way, the Bluebirds collected some notable scalps and souvenirs, but none more unusual than a few Russian balalaikas from a street market in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.

At the time, Cardiff were doing their best to avoid relegation from the Second Division and they had the luxury of European competition to keep their minds off problems at home. The club had qualified for the Cup Winners’ Cup by winning the Welsh Cup and their Scottish manager, Jimmy Scoular, used the trips abroad to build a stronger team and give his young players unique experience on foreign fields.

One such player was Gary Bell, a teenage defender trying to break into the first team. Bell had made his debut two years earlier against Wolves at Molineux. He remembers it well. “Bit of a tragedy, really,” he says. “We lost 7-1 and I gave away two penalties. What a great start. Things could only get better from there.

“The manager was putting together a good team with little money. I cost £750 from Lower Gornal Athletic. He signed Mel Sutton on a free transfer from Aston Villa, who proved a great midfielder. We had Don Murray, who signed as a schoolboy from Scotland. He built a good side with youth and experience. Brian Harris was also an excellent signing from Everton. “European competition was a great carrot for anybody when Jimmy Scoular was dealing in the transfer market. These foreign trips and playing in strange places helped experience. We were never disgraced in Europe. We never got a pasting and it helped us come close to winning promotion two or three times.”

Cardiff began their European campaign with a 1-1 draw against Shamrock Rovers in Dublin and a 2-0 victory at home. Next on their plate was the Dutch team NAC Breda. Again Cardiff drew 1-1 away and won 4-1 at home with goals by Bobby Brown, John Toshack, Barrie Jones and Mal-colm Clarke. Their quarter-final opponents were Torpedo Moscow. Cardiff won the first leg 1-0 at home thanks to a Barrie Jones goal. Next stop was Tashkent for the second leg. “It was our first trip across the Iron Curtain,” says Bell. “Everybody was excited, mixed with a little bit of apprehension.”

After a 130-mile coach ride to Heathrow airport, the team flew 1,550 miles to Moscow and stayed overnight. Although they trained in the Lenin stadium the next day, the Russian capital was snow-bound and there was no chance of the match being played there. Instead, they jumped on another plane for a four-hour, 1,700-mile trip to Tashkent near the Chinese border where they could play the Moscow team in relative warmth. A crowd of 68,000 locals watched Torpedo win 1-0 to earn a replay in Augsburg, Germany. “We all bought souvenirs but the balalaikas stood out. I never learnt to play it. It was for ornamental value really. I still have it somewhere tucked away, so it has lasted the test of time. We also bought a few bottles of vodka. If there is an opportunity, why not buy some of the local vintage?”

Immediately after the Tashkent match, the Cardiff players caught a plane back to Moscow and flew on to London. They then boarded a coach home. They had travelled nearly 7,000 miles and were away for almost a week. Norman Dean scored the only goal in the replay against the Russians in Germany to earn Cardiff a semi-final place against Hamburg SV and alongside AC Milan and the defending champions, Bayern Munich. Hamburg had a strong side, including West Germany internationals Uwe Seeler and Willi Schulz who played in the 1966 World Cup final against England. However, the highflying Bluebirds held them to a 1-1 draw in Germany with Dean again the scorer.

The return leg at Ninian Park could have gone either way until the final minute. Hamburg broke from the halfway line and the ball was passed to Seeler. “Bob Wilson in goal made his first mistake in the competition,” says Bell. “It was a bobbly, hard surface and he went down to save Seeler’s shot but the ball caught his fingertips and bobbled into the net. That was it. We didn’t have time to get back at them.”

Hamburg SV won 3-2 to reach the final, which they lost to Milan. Cardiff staved off relegation and enjoyed the memories.

“It was a big feather in the cap for the club,” says Bell, “and nobody can take those memories away from us.”

1 Steve Derrett A 20-year-old Cardiff-born full-back, he made 67 league appearances in a six-and-a-half-year spell and also played for Carlisle, Aldershot, Rotherham and Newport. He won four caps for Wales. He worked for a protective clothing company in Cardiff where he still lives

2 Gary Bell A young full-back, Bell was one of five members of the squad who did not play in Tashkent. He made 223 league appearances for Cardiff and finished his career at Newport. He had a couple of representative jobs with frozen food companies and for the past 15 years has been working with people with learning disabilities in Cardiff. He is also a match-day host at Ninian Park

3 Peter King After joining from Worcester City in 1960, King enjoyed a 13-season spell at the club. A versatile player, he scored Cardiff’s first goal in European competition, against Esb-jerg in 1964. He notched 108 goals in 465 games. He was a physical training instructor in the prison services and has retired to Spain

4 Brian Harris A defensive wing-half at Everton for 14 years, he played in more than 350 games and won the League and FA Cup. He is remembered for being pictured trying on a policeman’s helmet during the 1966 cup final against Sheffield Wednesday. Later that year, he joined Cardiff for £15,000 and was an inspirational captain. He played 149 league games and then managed Newport County. He was assistant at Cardiff and ran a pub in Chepstow. He died this year at the age of 72

5 Leighton Phillips The 18-year-old scored on his first-team debut two months earlier, but was not in the team for Tashkent. He played 182 league matches for the Bluebirds before joining Aston Villa in 1974. A defender, he was cup-tied when Villa won the 1975 League Cup, but helped them win promotion and the 1977 League Cup. He twice won promotion with Swansea and was capped 58 times by Wales. He lives near Swansea and is an insurance adviser