It is a commonly held view that the Exeter Chiefs' recent exploits in Rugby Union's Heineken Cup are the only major European campaigns with links to Devon since the Spanish Armada.
Wrong.
On October 5th 1977, Plymouth Argyle's Home Park ground hosted a European Cup Winners' Cup first round tie between Manchester United and St Etienne in the only competitive European football match to be played in England to the west of Southampton.
The first leg of the tie was played on Wednesday September 1977, in France, and was marred by crowd trouble 45 minutes before the kick-off of the match, which ended 1-1.
As an initial punishment, the Red Devils were banned from the competition and St Etienne were awarded a bye into the second round.
However, United appealed against the ban and were later re-instated in the competition on one condition: that the second leg of the tie was played at a ground 200 miles or more from Old Trafford.
Keen to avoid a repeat of the trouble that had occurred in the first meeting, the Red Devils' board were keen to seek out a ground in a remote location, which ticketless fans would think twice about travelling to.
In the end they finally plumped on Plymouth Argyle's Home Park, the most southerly and westerly ground in the Football League, as their chosen location.
At that time Argyle were managed by Mike Kelly and had just been relegated to the 'old' Third Division.
So keen the Red Devils were to avoid any crowd trouble that the Pilgrims were even put in charge of the distribution and sale of the match tickets.
As part of their distribution plans, the Pilgrims introduced a scheme whereby any fans who attended their league fixture on October 1st 1977 against Gillingham would be entitled to a voucher that would enable the holder to buy two tickets for the match.
With neither side being able to claim home advantage, St Etienne made a promising start to the match as they looked to involve their French international playmaker Dominque Rocheteau at every opportunity.
However, United grew in confidence as the half wore on and took the lead on 33 minutes when Stuart Pearson connected with a Steve Coppell cross to give the Red Devils a 2-1 lead on aggregate.
In the 65th minute, Coppell went from being provider to scorer when he slotted home after latching onto a long, inch-perfect pass from Arthur Albiston to give United a 2-0 win on the night and a 3-1 victory on aggregate.
Whilst Manchester United bowed out of the competition in the next round against Porto, the official attendance of 31,634 the potential of football as a spectator sport in the South West.
Only Argyle's 1984 FA Cup Quarter Final against Derby County, which attracted a crowd of 34,365, has surpassed the crowd figure for the visit of the Red Devils.
The Manchester United side that played against St Etienne at Home Park: (4-4-2)
Alex Stepney, Jimmy Nicholl, Arthur Albiston, Sammy McIlroy (Ashley Grimes), Brian Greenhoff, Martin Buchan, Steve Coppell, Jimmy Greenhoff, Stuart Pearson (Chris McGrath), Lou Macari, Gordon Hill
Footnote:
In May 2012, two of that Manchester United side who played at Home Park that night-Arthur Albiston and Sammy McIlroy- returned to Home Park to play a team of Plymouth Argyle legends in a match organised by the Green Taverners to help to raise funds for the club's staff who went without pay whilst Argyle were in Administration.
During the period in between, Jimmy Nicholl, Steve Coppell and Lou Macari all returned to Home Park as managers of Millwall, Crystal Palace and Stoke City respectively.
