10 things that sum up football in the 90’s
This is the first in the series of things that sum up football in different decades. The first decade in the series to be featured is the Nineties.
The Nineties was a revolutionary era in football, especially in the English game. It started with England reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in Italy in the summer of 1990 and ended with Manchester United winning the League, FA Cup and Champion’s League Treble in 1999.
Sky Sports was launched in 1991 and Sky won the rights to cover the new Premier League on their television channel in the summer of 1992, beating the competition of ITV.
With the money that was brought into the game by Sky, the game evolved hugely and many now describe professional football as a business instead of a sport.
Here are ten things that are synonymous of football back in the Nineties:
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| The North Bank mural at Arsenal’s ground Highbury |
1. Grounds looking like building sites
With the Taylor Report (that came in as a result of the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989) stating that all Premier League grounds had to be all-seater by the end of 1994, it was inevitable that most of the grounds would need to be rebuilt.
All terracing had to be removed and this left large gaps in the ground when the terraces were demolished. Arsenal came up with the great idea of putting a mural up to block the view of the building work going on behind it as seen in the above photo.
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| Ruud Gullit sporting Chelsea’s awful 1995/96 away kit! |
2. Hideous kits
Any decade that has kits made in them nicknamed ‘bruised banana’. ‘canary’ or even ‘bird poo’ can definitely claim the title of the decade with the worst kits. The three nicknames were from the Nineties (Arsenal, Norwich and Chelsea fans were subjected to them) and so, in my opinion, it was the worst decade for kit design.
It was the same decade that saw England play in an all-grey kit with the goalkeeper`s kit made up of all the colours of the rainbow!
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| Teletext football page on the BBC |
3. Teletext
Back in the Nineties, if you wanted to find out all the latest football news updates, you would have to go on Teletext!
I have the following numbers committed to memory for no other reason than they were football pages on Teletext: 302, 303, 312, 324
(Just to clear it up, 302 was the main football page on BBC, 303 was the latest Premiership scores, 312 was ‘News in Brief’ and 324 was the Premiership table!)
Teletext was vital for finding out the latest goings-on at your club and others too. This was before the Internet, Sky Sports News and mobile phones. Just imagine that kids!
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| Wembley Stadium, prior to demolition in 2000 |
4. The ‘old’ Wembley Stadium
The difference between the current Wembley Stadium and the previous stadium is astronomical. The new stadium can seat 15,000 people more, the conditions are better, there are no bad views and the transport is better.
But there is still a little twinge of nostalgia and yearning for the old stadium within most football fans. Yes the toilets were overflowing and many of the seats had poor views but it was still Wembley as we knew it!
It was a showpiece stadium and wasn’t used quite as much as the new stadium is. Ever since the new stadium was eventually ready for use in 2007, every single FA Cup Semi Final has been played there. Tottenham even used it for their home games for a season.
I’m sure that if every football fan was given ten things that they would change about the game of football, bringing back the old Wembley and it’s famous Twin Towers would be one of them!
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| The programme from the Aston Villa vs Liverpool FA Cup Semi Final in 1996 |
5. FA Cup Semi-Finals at neutral venues!
This point ties in well with the above about the old Wembley. Although there were four FA Cup Semi Finals at the old Wembley in the Nineties (Arsenal vs Spurs in 1991, both Semi’s in 1993 and Chelsea vs Luton in 1994), the majority of Semi-Finals were at neutral grounds.
Many fans feel that having the Semi Final at Wembley takes the glory out of getting there to play in the Final and to be honest, I totally agree with that opinion.
The FA announced in 2007 that they would need to host Semi Finals there for ten years to help pay for the cost of building the new stadium but we are now 12 years on and there is no word of any change to this.
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| The Monday Night Football titles in the mid 90’s |
6. Less football on TV!
I never thought that I would say this but there is too much football on TV!
There is at least one live game every day on or more of the many sports channels and you are spoiled for choice with the numerous matches on offer.
Back in the early Nineties there was only one live game on an occasional Sunday on terrestrial telly. Then Sky came along and gave us Super Sunday and Monday Night Football. ITV showed a game from the Football League and Channel Four broadcast Italian Football and showed a game on Sunday as well. Sometimes less is more!
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| A Bayern Munich fan catches up with the latest scores in other matches on his radio |
7. Fans with transistor radios in the crowd!
In the land before mobile phones with internet connection with all of the latest scores available at our fingertips, we had to rely on other fans in the crowd who were carrying radios.
You could spot them in the crowd, radio pressed to their ear with a permanent frown as they concentrated on other scores to come in. Then as soon as they knew, word would spread quickly and the rest of us would find out what was happening elsewhere.
If you weren’t fortunate enough to be near someone with a radio then you would have to wait for the tannoy announcement at half time. I’m sure that no one listens to them being announced now as everyone is looking on their smartphones.
There was also the quick walk to the car to get in for Sports Report to begin on Radio Five Live so you could find out the results from the other games going on around the country.
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| Alan Hansen, Des Lynam and Trevor Brooking (left to right) |
8. Proper pundits
I’m going to risk sounding old-fashioned but I miss the Nineties with the former presenters and pundits. They may all be enjoying their well-earned retirement but there was something comforting about Des Lynam et al.
I get really frustrated with the pundits and presenters of today’s Match of the Day referring to each other by their nicknames. Alan Shearer being called ‘Al’, Ian Wright ‘Wrighty’ and Mark Chapman ‘Chappers’ just really grates. I can’t for one minute see Lynam turning to Trevor Brooking and saying “What do you make of that goal then Trev?”
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| Eric Cantona with his trademark collar up |
9. Foreign players being a ‘luxury’
As the Nineties moved on, more and more foreign players came to the Premier League to ply their trade. They used to be a luxury and there was an air of mystique to them.
Signing a player from a foreign league was exciting and you never knew what you would get from the player (unless you were a West Ham fan who holidayed in Romania!).
Arsenal became the first team in English footballing history to put out a starting eleven of purely foreign players. That was in a league game at home to Crystal Palace in the 2004/05 season.
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| James Richardson of Channel 4’s Football Italia |
10. Football Italia on Channel Four
No Saturday morning in the Nineties was complete for me without seeing James Richardson sitting legs crossed outside a cafe reading the Gazzetta della Sport!
Channel Four would show the highlights of the previous weekend’s games and midweek action as well as preview the weekend’s games on the Saturday morning. They would then show an entire match on the Sunday afternoon live.
It is worth noting that I don’t think I ever watched an entire match as the football was so boring and defensive!
I will be posting the next article in this series, 10 things to sum up football in the 80’s next week
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