That 1980s Sports Blog
A blog about anything to do with sport in the 1980s.
Wednesday, 22 March 2023
1983 FA Cup final: Manchester United v Brighton
Monday, 6 March 2023
1983/84: Tottenham v Nottingham Forest
Wednesday, 8 February 2023
Golden goals: Peter Beardsley (1987)
Monday, 30 January 2023
1988/89: Everton v Arsenal
Maybe the Propellerheads and Shirley Bassey knew their ball, as the kids may or may not say now, in respect to Arsenal's 2022/23 season. "The word is about, there's something evolving. But to me it seems quite clear, that it's all just a little bit of history repeating."
You may be wondering if the introduction above is one of those legendary unfathomable clues on 321, yet it really is just my ham-fisted way of drawing comparisons with Arsenal's forthcoming match at Goodison Park and their Division One fixture at the same ground in January 1989. Because, in certain regards, what is evolving at Arsenal in 2023 does have elements of history repeating itself.
Tuesday, 17 January 2023
1984 FA Cup Fourth Round: Brighton v Liverpool
Thursday, 12 January 2023
1979/80: Tottenham v Arsenal
Squad rotation is now sadly a pivotal part of the FA Cup third round experience. Each year most Premier League clubs and those in the Championship striving for a slice of the cash cow make sweeping changes to their starting XIs, with the famous old competition suffering as a consequence.
Of course it wasn't always this way. There are a number of tales from the distant past of marathon seasons, cup replay sagas, and players out on their feet as managers without the luxury of vast squads attempted to drain every drop of energy from their reserves.
Wednesday, 4 January 2023
1986 FA Cup Third Round: Birmingham v Altrincham
It was a fitting chapter in the shambolic story of Birmingham City's 1985/86 season. When Gola League Altrincham visited St Andrew's in the 1986 FA Cup Third Round and left victorious, it says a lot about the state of the First Division side that it was not a huge shock. On and off the pitch, Birmingham City were spiralling out of control.
Manager Ron Saunders had predicted the trouble ahead. After leading the club to promotion in the previous campaign, the former Aston Villa boss urged chairman Keith Coombs to spend some money, otherwise the club faced an instant return to the Second Division.