Ta Ra Fergie by Pete Molyneux

Author:Pete Molyneux
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780752493725
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-06-12T04:00:00+00:00

15

IS A DREAM A LIE

IF IT DON’T COME TRUE,

OR IS IT

SOMETHING WORSE?

If 1966 was a great year for English football, then 1985 was its nadir. The stain of football hooliganism saw the game tarnished almost beyond repair. Late-season cup ties at Chelsea and Luton were marred by mass pitch invasions where fans fought running battles. The police were overwhelmed. At the European Cup Final on 29 May a dreadful disaster unfurled before the Liverpool and Juventus game at the Heysel Stadium, Belgium. Marauding Liverpool supporters charged at Juve fans and as the Italians fled there was severe crushing against a retaining wall at the side of the ground. Eventually the wall collapsed and thirty-nine people who had gone to see a football match never returned. Eighteen days earlier an old wooden stand at Bradford City’s ground caught fire during their game with Lincoln. Many supporters were trapped by the flames and fifty-six lost their lives.

All were distressing but the live broadcasts from Heysel which clearly captured the cause and effect sent shockwaves throughout the civilised world. The truth is, it came as no great surprise to most football supporters, especially those who had travelled abroad with England or any club team. Since the early 1970s English fans invariably ran into trouble abroad. Hooliganism had gone relatively unchecked in Britain for two decades. In the first half of that period fans didn’t travel abroad in numbers but as European excursions become affordable we simply exported the problem.

There was an eternal merry-go-round of blame in the UK. The FA and Football League blamed the clubs, the clubs blamed society, society blamed the fans, the fans blamed the police, the police blamed the Government and so on. Nobody took responsibility, everyone passed the buck. I heard a wise old saying many years ago, ‘When all’s said and done, there’s more said than done.’ When it came to tackling football hooliganism the saying was never more true. Following Heysel, the European and world football authorities took the decision out of the FA’s hands. Enough was enough; English clubs received a five-year ban from all UEFA competitions. Liverpool were handed a further three-year embargo as punishment for their fans’ direct involvement in the disaster. The British Government and police authorities began intense work tackling domestic hooliganism but it would take one more tragedy to force English football into radical action.

Ron Atkinson had brought the FA Cup back to Manchester twice in three years. Before Fergie’s era of a trophy almost every season, this was no mean achievement. In the previous ninety-nine years we had won the cup just four times. Big Ron had assembled a formidable side, the seventy-seven league goals in 1984/85 was the highest since 1968. The defence looked solid, McGrath and Hogg forging a strong partnership with Moran there if needed. Mark Hughes had an incredible first full season, scoring twenty-four times in fifty-six appearances and collecting the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Whiteside was turning into a midfield maestro, while Strachan and Olsen provided width, skill and goals during their debut seasons at Old Trafford.

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