1985 European Cup final

[Guest L11FC]

Can someone explain to me what happened that day as I was 6. Did we start it or were we provoked ? From what iv'e read it wasn't just us who were at fault. Sorry to bring it up.:heartbrok

[Dr.Filth]

I was 15 at the time and hugely excited at what was to be my first of many (or so I thought) European away trips. As we now know it didn't turn out the way anyone ever could have imagined.

The security and organisation at the stadium were a shambles, the turnstile we went through had nobody working on it so we actually had our full tickets inside the stadium, one of my mates went back out again, sold our tickets outside and came back in without any trouble whatsoever!!

Eufa in their wisdom decided to split our end into 2 sections divided by a flimsy wire/plastic fence and give Juve fans half of it. As a result some Liverpool fans mistakenly ended up in their section and were soon spotted by Juve 'Ultras'. Bearing in mind what had happened in Rome after the previous years final when many Liverpool fans were stabbed and beaten by Roma fans, the sight of more Liverpool fans being beaten up by Italians while the Belgian police did little to help was obviously too much for some fans to just stand by and they charged the fence. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm condoning or excusing what they did and some of them were probably looking for trouble in those days but I was very nearby and that's the way I saw it. The Juve fans then ran away as more Liverpool fans charged resulting in 39 innocent Juve fans who hadn't been anywhere near the initial trouble being crushed when a wall collapsed in the far corner of the terraces. The scenes after that were fucking surreal, Juve fans from the other end of the stadium ran down to our end with scarves over their faces and started throwing rocks at us whilst ignoring about 10 Liverpool fans who were having a game of footy on the pitch!! Where did they get rocks from? The stadium was in such a poor state that the terraces were literally crumbling underfoot, no wonder a wall collapsed.

After an hour or so the match unbelievably went ahead but all I remember about it is Boniek being a full yard outside the area for the winning penalty and Paul Walsh being brought down in the area and getting nothing, but that didn't matter after what happened.

After the game we had to go past the Juve end to get back to where we'd parked the minibus, sensibly hiding all our scarves, hats etc. I still can't believe how lucky we were not to get spotted as the Italians were understandably out for revenge. We didn't even know anybody had been killed until we got on the ferry next morning or we wouldn't have gone anywhere near that side of the ground. It was the only time I've ever seen a water cannon on the streets and I hope I never see another.

[Guest clint eastwood]

those fucking cunts cant be forgiven for what they did.alot of it went back to the final in rome the previous year when all liverpool fans were targeted by roma supporters.in the city that day juve and liverpool fans got on like a house on fire,but it was clear we had some wankers there for trouble.the organisation was horrendous but lets not go blaming others.

[Guest Stormbringer]

My overiding memory was of the tv pictures showing a Juve fan(!) on the running track with a hand gun drawn. The Italians are nutters and I don't remember them being banned.

 

It is described quite well in Fever Pitch and clarified above that it was running charging fans that caused the crush. Ultimately as with other disasters it was the organisers that were to blame.

[Guest Paul Geffin]

Blah blah, it wasnt our fault.

 

Fact 1: Heysel would have happened if it had ben ANY English club playing that night.

Fact 2: Most would have admitted responsibility, not tried to shift the blame, and then spend the next 18 years pretending it didnt happen!

Beauts!

[Anubis]

Slow day on toffeeweb eh?

[Uncle Travelling Matt]

Its been a while Kangaroo Kid.......bored to be back?

 

....although a terrible tragedy, the one silver lining was at least the Blue Sh*te never got a crack at our Trophy :lol:

[Nunavut Patrick]

The same Fever Pitch that said Liverpool supporters threw bananas at Barnes.

[Paul]

Only last night I was thinking how pleasant it was that not a single bitter had posted on the new forum. Oh dear.

[Kopite]

Thought I recognised his name, isn't he that loon from New Zealand?

 

Obviously all the sheep have been locked away for Winter and he's bored.

[Nunavut Patrick]

Not to try and be like Hermes here Kopite, but it is summer in the southern hemisphere, so the sheep they are agrazin' in the lush fields of New Zealand.

[Guest Paul Geffin]

You woolybacks are obsessed with sheep....i suppose anything that keps you from murdering Italians eh.

 

Mabye thats why you all wear them 3 star jumpers...they're pure wool aswell!

Weapons!

[Guest Bellflower]

Blah blah, it wasnt our fault.

 

Fact 1: Heysel would have happened if it had ben ANY English club playing that night.

Fact 2: Most would have admitted responsibility, not tried to shift the blame, and then spend the next 18 years pretending it didnt happen!

Beauts!

How would you know ? you Kiwis are stuck in some kind of 1957 timewarp, 1985 hasn't happened yet ! PS put some money on Brazil in the World Cup.....

[Guest L11FC]

You woolybacks are obsessed with sheep....i suppose anything that keps you from murdering Italians eh.

 

Mabye thats why you all wear them 3 star jumpers...they're pure wool aswell!

Weapons!

Who murdered Italians ? And what murder ?

[Guest tokyojoe]

I'm not sure how many of you were there on that day, but I can give my personal account.

 

I lived in London at the time and on the Tuesday morning the alarm went off at 5.30 so I could catch a poxy bus to get to Heathrow.

 

Everyone in good spirits as we climbed aboard to fly to Brussels. Picked up from there and coached off to Bruge (many memories). The first night involved many, many Reds getting happily pissed, the bar staff helping kick footballs around (where they came from no idea).

 

Following day, lunch, the odd beer and then on the coach to Brussels, going past that silly building with balls.

 

Arriving at the ground, the atmosphere seemed ugly, though there were no obvious signs of fighting or anything like that that. I walked towards the tunstiles, ticket in hand, to enter the 'stadium'. Instead of going through the turnstiles that I was accustomed to, I walked through a bloody great hole in the wall that anyone could have driven a bus through. I held my ticket up and a Belgium cop looked at me with the expression that said 'I haven't got a fucking clue what is going on'.

 

A few seconds later, venturing into the ground, a brick flew through the air and just missed me. Shortly afterwards, the infamous 'charge' happened. I do not in any way condone that. I had absolutely no idea what was starting to unfold to my right at that time. The game proceeded under an incredibly eirie atmosphere. The result is now history.

 

We walked out to the coach park to get back to Bruge. We then learnt that 30+ people had died. We got back to Bruge at about 2am, found a bar, very numbed with shock, not really knowing what had happened. We sat in the bar, obviously Reds. The locals in the bar knew who we were but said do not be ashamed,for the Belgium Police where incompetent.

 

The following morning, waking up and seeing the local press, the enormity hit home. Straight on the blower to me Mam, after several attemps 'cos she was on the horn to the emergency number all night.

 

I cannot condone the retalition that happened, despite being on the recieving end of bricks, bottles and at least one Molotov Cocktail the year before in Rome, but we were slaughted as a club and made an example of.

[Kopite]

You woolybacks are obsessed with sheep....i suppose anything that keps you from murdering Italians eh.

 

Mabye thats why you all wear them 3 star jumpers...they're pure wool aswell!

Weapons!

LOL, you're the f*cking wool. How is Russell Crowe these days?

 

In fact you're a sputum-filled piece of distended rectum who is obsessed with Liverpool FC.

 

Baaaaaaaaaaa - have you creamed your pants at the mating call yet?

[Uncle Travelling Matt]

"a sputum-filled piece of distended rectum"?

 

.....why don't you just give him the rope to hang you with, that is pathetic!

[Guest Gizmo]

At least he might be able to confirm the rumour that Band Aid is the new New Zealand number 1.;)

[Kopite]

At least he might be able to confirm the rumour that Band Aid is the new New Zealand number 1.;)

I dunno, has the wireless hit New Zealand yet? I heard they were still using pigeons ;)

[Kopite]

"a sputum-filled piece of distended rectum"?

 

.....why don't you just give him the rope to hang you with, that is pathetic!

What? Are you deranged?

[Guest L11FC]

What i'm reading is that its wasn't just Liverpool's fault for charging, but other factors were at play that caused it in some measure.

 

1. UEFA

2. Juventus Ultras

3. Liverpool fans charge

4. Police

 

The whole thing sounds like a total disgrace from start to finish. No wonder Liverpool fans won't take the blame when nothing else is considered.

[Nunavut Patrick]

In any tragedy someone or some organization has to take the blame. Along with Hillsborough, Heysel wasn't going to fall in the lap of the authorities. UEFA washed their hands with Liverpool as a scapegoat. Yorkshire police did the same - supporters drunk... lies lies lies..... Today on the continent Italian fans(ultras) continue to stab and kill each other. Same with the Spaniards. English teams and English fans are singled out. How many Roma fans were stabbed two years ago? And the press eat the shite up.

[Guest Paul Geffin]

You woolybacks probably wont understand this but this is how scousers think about going the game, were not into the wool/colour thing like you and the mancs, i found this on the WSAG page...

 

 

 

 

Usually the Toffees tend to be at home, but this year the fixture computer has handed us one of the hardest games of the season with a trip down the backward end of the East Lancs to face Manchester United.

 

United, eh? First thing's first, what a team. No one who knows anything about football can have anything but admiration for the football played by the Mancs over the past decade.

 

Players like Scholes, Giggs, Keane and Van Nistelrooy are genuine greats, and there's the added bonus of seeing the obsessive Liverpudlians choking on their ale as 't'Red Devils lift ever more impressive hauls of trophies.

 

Off the field it's a different matter and I have real problems with our wooly neighbours. By this I'm not talking about the hordes of clueless gloryhunters who've attached themselves to United during the Premiership/Sky era. They're knobs obviously, but get a terrible press in comparison to the equally annoying pricks who've jumped on the Liverpool bandwagon and claim loyalty because they haven't witnessed a title for a whole 14 years, the poor dears.

 

No, it's the local, 'clued up' United support who get my goat.

 

Now I know some great lads who follow United. Season ticket holders, home and away types. Granted there's cultural differences, they call us "One song Everton", whilst we laugh at their comedy extensive back catalogue of Pete Boyle inspired rubbish. They call us scruffy shellsuits whilst we recall the days when they called us puffs for daring to sport wedges and jeans of under 30 inch width.

 

All jolly knockabout stuff but then there's the nasty side. A lot of United have a pathological, vein bursting hatred of all things Scouse. Anyone who has ever been unfortunate enough to applaud an Everton goal in a home area of Old Trafford will know what I mean.

 

And check out United in Europe on telly. They'll be playing someone mad like Real Madrid or Juventus and the first audible song you here will be about hating or burning Scousers, and then they have the gall to call Leeds, City, Bolton, etc. "Smalltime".

 

The whole singing thing bemuses me as well; many's the time I've seen United's clued up away support singing continuously for ninety minutes and wondered how they actually concentrate on the game, because bizarrely enough I'm quite into football.

 

That whole Manc attitude thing also comes across as being very contrived. Talk to your average 'clued up' Manc Red and they'll tell you how Manchester as a city is the last thing in casual - visiting the place tells a different story though.

 

Manchester undeniably boasts a better and wider range of shopping outlets, but generally you tend to see loads of lads with Freddie Ljungberg barnets and Gareth Gates type clobber. In fact it's just like anywhere else in Britain. The only 'casual' types you see are the 'football lads', unlike Liverpool where a number one skin remains de rigeur. Mancs might laugh at gangs of young Scouse lads in Lacoste shellies but at least it's unique. Manchester meanwhile with its 'lads' in Prada and CP company and its general population in River Island, is identical to Barnsley, Leeds or Stoke.

 

In short: in Liverpool people dress a certain way and don't give a fuck about anyone else. In Manchester the lads who go the match wear their labels and want to tell the world about it. Personally I blame Madchester and Tony Wilson.

 

Back to the football briefly and it'll be a real result if the Toffees could leave Old Trafford with a point, as I'm sure I'm not alone in usually writing this one off mentally when the fixtures are published. For years we've been sacrificial lambs in Manchester and under Smith this was the sort of game when Ferguson left Scholes and Giggs on the bench and gave the likes of Luke Chadwick and Quinton Fortune a run out. Last season though The Blues ran United all the way with the 3-0 scoreline being harsh in the extreme.

 

On paper United appear to be weaker than last season, but on the pitch they're still mustard. United should win, but...you never know.

 

You lot would never know this!

Beauts!

[Guest L11FC]

This terrible person robbed this crap off Whenskiesaregrey....the sad bluenose ! Which is amusing i'm sure you will agree? [:}

[Nunavut Patrick]

...as I'm sure I'm not alone in usually writing this one off mentally when the fixtures are published. Yeah, along with every other one except Wolves, Leicester and maybe Fulham or Spurs. Everton are shite, have been quite awhile and will continue to be. RVN is a cheating piece of shit. However, Utd do have some quality players and I admire, from a very far distance, Giggs , Ole Gunnar and Scholes. However, they are not close to achieving what we did. When they win back-to-back EC Cups, maybe. When Liverpool won "our trophy" you had to finish first, not second. If the Gerries hadn't been so arrogant and a certain shot that railed off the bar had been six inches lower, well they'd still call Alex Feguson Alex Ferguson not Sir Alex. In sum, LFC is the greatest club ever, Everton is not even close, and God Bless, Merry Christmas and a special Merry Christmas to Clive Thomas!!! PS- Radzinski was born in Poland, but just plays for Canada. I've talked to my MP about having his citizenship revoked. :party: