1985/86: Football television blackout

Overindulgence is often a problem over the festive period, and this is not just limited to food and drink. December 2019 will see a total of 41 live Premier League matches available to UK viewers on Sky, BT and Amazon platforms, and combined with the numerous highlights packages on our screens is there a chance that we're reaching saturation point? Football might be in danger of eating itself, but it hasn't always been this way.

Can you imagine the uproar if an announcement had been made before the 2019/20 season declaring that there would be no football coverage on our television screens? No Match of the Day, Goals on Sunday, Super Sunday, Monday Night football, and a complete ban of any goal action on news programmes. Only Soccer AM for us to watch; it sounds horrific.

Rewind to 1985, and a football television blackout was very much a reality. Of course, it is hard to compare two vastly different eras; in 1985 the UK had a Prime Minister who would quite happily have seen football disappear round the U-bend. Thirty years later, football had become so popular that our political leader couldn’t decide which team he supported.

Football really was at rock bottom as the 1984/85 campaign drew to a close. Hooliganism blighted the sport, with deaths at matches in Birmingham and Brussels, the latter ultimately leading to a European ban. The Bradford fire demonstrated the complete lack of regard towards the safety of those still brave enough to attend matches, decaying stadia up and down the country just one reason behind declining attendances.

With football in such a mess, the last thing needed was for the sport to disappear from television schedules completely. But when the Football League rejected the joint BBC and ITV £17 million deal in February 1985, a battle commenced that would see television executives and club chairman at loggerheads until Christmas.

The bone of contention revolved around the number of live matches that both parties wanted to screen. The BBC/ITV package stated that 19 live matches would be shown each season, with the Football League adamant that the ceiling should be set at 13 (10 League matches, two Milk Cup semi-finals, and the final).

With chairmen such as Ken Bates (Chelsea), Robert Maxwell (Oxford), Irving Scholar (Tottenham), and Sir Arthur South (Norwich) fighting the corner for the Football League, any prospect of a quick resolution seemed unlikely. “Football rates itself far too highly,” BBC Head of Sport Jonathan Martin stated. “It has no God-given right to be on television.”

Liverpool chairman John Smith was far more realistic about the breakdown in talks. “It’s all very well certain publicity-conscious chairmen mesmerising our members with telephone numbers of cash. The clubs with any understanding realise they need television far more than television needs football.”

With 36 clubs out of the 92 in the League reportedly in debt, a lack of television money would prove damaging for bigger clubs through possible cancellation of sponsorship deals, and for clubs in the bottom two divisions that would miss out on a vital £25,000 payment from any television package.

A deadline of June was set for an agreement to be reached. Yet it soon became apparent that this would not be possible. “We are prepared to renegotiate,” ITV Head of Sport John Bromley admitted. “But it’s up to them to approach us. And we shall only be able to offer them substantially less than our original offer.” Naturally, this went down like a lead balloon.

As the summer progressed, neither side was backing down. “Time is running out and things look very gloomy,” Martin stated at the end of June. With clubs now faced with the prospect of improving ground safety after the Popplewell Inquiry, and no television deal in place, many feared for the future of those at the lower reaches of the League.

“It is no overstatement to say clubs are fighting for their existence,” Football League Secretary Graham Kelly said after a League meeting in July. But as the new season neared, it became apparent that for the first time in 20 years there would be no football coverage on television.

Bromley was frank about the attitude of the television companies towards live football. “Recorded football is a dead duck,” he declared. “The days when the Big Match of Match of the Day kept people in on a Sunday afternoon or Saturday night are over. The public don’t want it any more. They want live action.”

Any football in our front rooms would have been nice. But with the Football League concerned that more live matches would reduce crowds even further, a compromise was not reached. As the League season kicked off on Saturday August 17, football fans were left in the dark.

Armchair Manchester United fans did not get to witness their team winning ten League matches on the bounce as the 1985/86 season developed. Who was this mysterious Frank McAvennie character that we were hearing so much about? What were Motson, Davies and Moore up to during this break?

Talks continued into the autumn. Kelly was encouraged that “sufficient progress was made to justify a further meeting in the near future,” after another unsuccessful discussion in October. But in November, the deadlock had still not been broken. The Express’ Alan Thompson summed up the situation neatly:

“But lost in the quagmire of petty argument and bloated self-importance are the two things that really matter – the future well-being of football and the entertainment of the public.”

Fortunately, there was an early Christmas present on the way to football lovers. After months of wrangling, the good news broke in December that football would be coming back to our screens. A combination of talks between BBC1 controller Michael Grade and PFA Secretary Gordon Taylor, plus a meeting of Everton chairman Philip Carter and Jonathan Martin at the Sports Personality of the Year programme, got the ball rolling.

The £1.3 million package for the rest of the season would see six live League matches, two Milk Cup semi-finals, and the final shown, plus live FA Cup ties from the third round until the quarter finals. “We believe that putting the game back on the screens will stimulate interest rather than kill it,” Carter said. “We are anxious the more positive side of football is shown, and television is the vehicle to do that.”

“Everyone involved should be congratulated on a sensible solution,” Bromley stated. “We hope this deal will bring the glamour back to the game and bring the stars back into the living room.” Breathing a huge sigh of relief, those of us who had missed our football fix could now settle down on Saturday January 4 to watch Grimsby v Arsenal, and Portsmouth v Aston Villa on the Big Match. Bliss.

The following day, live football returned, as we got to see McAvennie set up strike partner Tony Cottee in West Ham’s 1-0 FA Cup win at Charlton. All was right with the world again. But amongst the wreckage of failed meetings, clues about the future direction of the sport were visible.

The waters had been muddied in October when talks of a new Super League circulated. With satellite channel Screensport also mentioned in future television packages, the seeds of the Premier League had well and truly been planted. The 1986-88 BBC/ITV package was £6.2 million, growing to £44 million between 1988-92. And then came Sky.

Paying £190 million for football rights in 1992, Rupert Murdoch’s Sky had indeed blown their opponents out of the water, as Tottenham chairman Alan Sugar advised. The rest is history. The latest Sky/BT deal in 2018 was £4.464 billion. In 1985, money was too tight to mention; seven years later a sleeping satellite station changed British football forever.