1983/84: Manchester United v Ipswich

It sometimes feels as if we are only ever a minute away from a statistic appearing on our television screens during a live football match. You know the kind of thing. Most goals from a corner, every time Arsenal line up their next training ground routine. Possession in the last five minutes. Number of successful passes by a certain player on Tuesday nights since 2002.

But putting my cynicism aside for a brief moment, every now and then a fact appears that makes you sit up a take notice. A snippet of information that you had no idea about, something that you could possibly bore your friends with the next time you go to the pub. 

Watching Manchester United defeat Tottenham in the recent Premier League match at Old Trafford, TNT informed us that the last time United had led at half-time in a league match and went on to lose was back in May 1984. A distant time before football began - if you believe some - consisting of a staggering 329 games of half-time leads leading to 303 wins and 26 draws.

1986/87: Manchester United v Tottenham

Anyone associated with Manchester United must have been a little bit sick of Tottenham by the end of the 2024/25 season. Four times the clubs met, each time the north London club victorious, most memorably in the final of the Europa League. 

The final in Bilbao may have been rewarding to Tottenham supporters, their 16-year trophy drought finally ending. Yet to any neutrals who chose to watch that match, the entertainment was in short supply. Let us hope that the live Premier League match between the two clubs at Old Trafford this weekend is slightly more exciting.

A repeat of the corresponding league fixture 40 years ago would be more than acceptable. The live BBC match in December 1986 gave us goals, mistakes, moments of brilliance, comedy, bravery, and a welcome palate cleanser after the depressing EastEnders omnibus. As an armchair supporter, it was a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday.

1983/84: Wolves

You fear for Wolves. A shocking start to the 2025/26 campaign has seen the club fail to win a league match in 11 attempts, manager Vitor Pereira shown the door, and the prospects of survival looking slim even at this relatively early stage of the season. It turns out that selling your best players and failing to replace them adequately is not a recipe for success.

A season to be fearful undoubtedly. But surely whatever happens to Wolves during this campaign cannot plumb the depths that supporters had to endure during the 1983/84 season and beyond. A decade that started so positively descended into despair as the club dropped like a stone.

Into the 90s: Liverpool v Arsenal (1990/91)

Bruce Grobbelaar had been here before. An Arsenal player bearing down on goal at the Anfield Road End of Liverpool's famous stadium in a crucial match in the title race, as millions watched on collectively holding their breath. Time seemed to stand still as keeper and attacker waited for the decisive moment.

Paul Merson's goal for Arsenal at Anfield in March 1991 was obviously not as dramatic as that Michael Thomas strike two seasons before. But there can be no doubting that it played a significant part in the destiny of the championship during the 1990/91 campaign. 

Golden goals: Neil Webb (1989)

It was quite the way to announce yourself. In front of the Stretford End, Manchester United supporters looked on as the ball hit the back of the net. The new boy beamed as he soaked up the adulation of the crowd. The future looked bright. 

Enough about Michael Knighton. For the potential new owner of the club was not the only man to make the headlines at Old Trafford on a sunny August day in 1989. The opening day of the season was memorable for anyone associated with the club, yet for one man making his debut it was the dream start.

Golden goals: Peter Shirtliff (1987)

It is hard to think of the Football League without the play-off system in place. The drama provided by the end of season fixtures is a perfect conclusion to the league season - for neutrals at least - with the race to reach the play-offs just as exciting. Gaining promotion via this method is the sweetest thing; losing, the bitterest pill.

The first season of the play-offs was a mere appetiser for the feast that has followed since. There would be no Wembley showpiece final - this was introduced in 1990 - yet this did not take anything away from the entertainment, suspense and intrigue surrounding the new end of season events. Change can sometimes be good; the 1986/87 play-offs proved this point emphatically.

1984/85: Nottingham Forest v Manchester United

Frustration by Manchester United. Since 1967 the club had tried and failed to win the Division One title, the wait not aided by the success of rivals Liverpool. As the years rolled by and the eighties arrived, the scars became deeper with every false dawn. 

The 1983/84 season was a prime example of the varying emotions experienced by United fans at the time. Going toe to toe with Liverpool through almost the whole campaign, there was hope, expectation, excitement, anticipation, before the inevitable disappointment. Somehow finishing fourth in a two-horse race, United had blown a great opportunity to end the drought.

Into the 90s: Gary Crosby (1990)

The start of an occasional dip into the second best sporting decade ever, with a look back at a controversial goal scored by Gary Crosby in March 1990.

The first division match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester City on March 2, 1990, was in truth a drab affair. As the clock ticked over into the 52nd minute, Forest's Garry Parker swung in a high cross from the right that City goalkeeper Andy Dibble claimed after a slight fumble. Nothing to see here it seemed, very much like the rest of the match.

For City the afternoon was going according to plan. Struggling at the wrong end of the table, the new manager bounce under Howard Kendall - 11 points from his first 18 available - was fading. Without a win in three matches, a point would nevertheless be very welcome against a Forest team holding slim hopes of edging back into the title race.

Dibble shaped to throw the ball, but held it in his right hand before all too brief look over his shoulder. It was then that a nightmare unfolded in slow motion for the Welsh keeper. Looking down at the ball, a split second later a sudden look of horror spread across Dibble's face, indicating that something had gone horribly wrong. 

1985: The Chris Whyte experiment

You didn't need to be a genius to work out what was coming. Two transfer windows without purchasing a centre forward was always going to be a gamble for Arsenal, especially when you consider that their one remaining option was clearly out on his feet in recent weeks. The injury to Kai Havertz was depressingly inevitable.

Already discussions have been rife about how Mikel Arteta copes with this crisis. Using Leandro Trossard through the middle seems the obvious answer, yet browsing social media - dangerous, I know - has thrown up various suggestions ranging from playing Raheem Sterling as a false nine, getting Mikel Merino to evolve into Havertz Mark II, to throwing defender Riccardo Calafiori up front and getting it in the mixer.

Playing Calafiori as a centre forward seems a long shot to say the least. Yet if Arteta did take this unusual step he would not be the first Arsenal manager to follow this path. Arsenal fans of a certain vintage will remember the Chris Whyte experiment in 1985, not a band plugged by John Peel on Radio One, rather the brainchild of Don Howe and John Cartwright.

1985/86: Chelsea v West Ham

Football may have been in the doldrums in England during a troubled time for the sport, but there could be no doubting that on the pitch the excitement provided by the 1985/86 title race was a welcome distraction. A glance at the Division One table at the end of March reveals that six clubs still held hopes of claiming championship glory.

Two of the contenders would meet during the Easter weekend as squeaky bum time neared. Chelsea and West Ham were enjoying fine seasons and, along with Arsenal, were trying to bring the title back to the capital for the first time in 15 years. Their clash at Stamford Bridge was a potential title eliminator, especially for the visitors.

1987/88: Newcastle v Liverpool

Sunday September 20, 1988. The First Division season has only been in up and running for a month, yet it is hard not to arrive at a premature conclusion. For the millions of viewers watching the BBC live coverage of Liverpool's win at Newcastle, all the evidence points to the fact that the title will once again be going to Anfield.

Hindsight shows us that all the kneejerk reactions were right. Ian Rush may have departed, but Kenny Dalglish had dipped into the transfer market to add key parts to his latest machine. John Aldridge had arrived in January 1987, and with Peter Beardsley and John Barnes joining in the summer, Liverpool were well equipped to wrestle the title back from Everton.

1988/89: Arsenal v Nottingham Forest

With their title credentials being questioned by many, a win against Nottingham Forest feels like a must for Arsenal after the latest unwanted international interruption. The progress made by Mikel Arteta's team over the last two years has rightly earned praise, but can the club go one step further and end their long wait for the title?

Comparisons can be made with the last time Forest won a league match away at Arsenal. Coming to Highbury in March 1989 after an international break, Brian Clough's in-form team were aiming to land another blow on an Arsenal side wobbling under the pressure. Table toppers they may have been at that time, but defeat for Arsenal would ring alarm bells.

1981/82: Tottenham v West Ham

Performing heroics against a local rival is a sure fire way in sport to guarantee a place in the hearts of your team's supporters. In football there are numerous examples of players enjoying a 90 minutes to remember in derby matches: Gary Rowell, Alan Sunderland, Ian Rush, Craig Bryson, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland. An object lesson in how to win friends and influence people. 

Another example of this could be found on the evening of September 2, 1981. Newly promoted West Ham went to White Hart Lane knowing that the clash would be a significant examination of their ability to compete in the top flight. What followed was the stuff of dreams. A memorable night for both the club and their number nine.

1988: The Paul Davis affair

One moment of madness. A split second that would play a huge part in the career of a footballer on the brink of international recognition. On an afternoon of frustration for Arsenal's players and supporters, one man could take no more. Paul Davis was about to inflict pain on both an opponent and his own future.

Trailing 2-0 at Highbury against Chris Nicholl's Southampton, Arsenal looked condemned to another home defeat, having lost two weeks before to Aston Villa. With 79 minutes played there was an air of desperation as George Graham's team looked for a way back into the match. This was not the stuff of title contenders.

1985/86: Ipswich v Liverpool

The Challenger Space Shuttle disaster had shocked the world; A-Ha were about to be knocked off the number one spot by Billy Ocean; England had started their Caribbean tour that would take a route from bad to worse; and the UK was experiencing a cold snap that would see large parts of the country covered in snow. Welcome to the winter of 1986.

Admittedly the clubs have not played each other much since, but you have to go back to February 1986 for the last time Ipswich defeated Liverpool at Portman Road. Even Kieran McKenna was not born, although is it just me or are more football managers looking younger now? 

Handed a tough opening match on their return to the Premier League, McKenna will be hoping his Ipswich team improve ever so slightly on the previous meeting between the two clubs in Suffolk: Ipswich 0 Liverpool 6.

Golden goals: Johnny Metgod (1986)

Thunderbastard. A football goal scored usually from long-range with high degrees of velocity and power. Think Davie Cooper in the 1987 Scottish League Cup final. Steven Reid for Blackburn against Wigan. Roughly 93% of Tony Yeboah's goals for Leeds. You can volley your xG into the stands. Here is a football term that should be celebrated.

Helpfully the Urban Dictionary definition in the opening sentence above gives an example of a memorable goal that happens to be the subject of this piece: "Metgod's free kick against West Ham in 1986 was an absolute thunderbastard of a strike. Probably the thunderbastard of all thunderbastards." Phil Parkes would probably agree.

1987/88: Liverpool v Nottingham Forest

There are always debates relating to greatness in sport. Constant comparisons between individuals and teams from various eras spark conversations in pubs, on phone-ins and social media, as those involved dig their heels in and present evidence supporting their case. 

Arguing about the greatest football team to ever play the sport could prove tiring. Judgement is often clouded by club allegiances, recency bias, or the more mature among us refusing to believe that a team from the distant past will ever be surpassed.

Take the Liverpool team in the 1987/88 season. Surely there can be no argument that Kenny Dalglish's side were great, as they swept aside the rest of the First Division with football that seemed to be from a different planet. The last great Liverpool team of that era has to enter a competitive field as the best to hail from Anfield during the glory years.

1989: The David Elleray experiment

When Amazon Prime footage emerged recently on Twitter of a referee officiating a French Ligue 1 fixture, the brief clip gave us all a fascinating insight into the role of match day officials. Communicating with colleagues, players and managers, while trying to make crucial decisions that could impact the course of a match and/or season, you wonder why people put themselves through this.

This is what referees really say to footballers during a game... 🗣️

A fascinating insight from Ligue 1! 👀🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/jfBcyhSe0g

— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) April 18, 2023

Undoubtedly there is a gap in the market for a documentary of this nature. A series following officials around at various levels of the game would be interesting and might make a few of us a feel a bit more sympathy towards these pilloried individuals. The job of a referee and assistant seems a thankless task.

There is a previous example of a referee walking out to the centre circle with a hidden microphone attached. A famous experiment carried out in February 1989 that certainly made an impression and opened a few eyes as to what it takes to try officiate a football match. David Elleray was about to take centre stage.

1983/84: Tottenham v Nottingham Forest

It was a move that divided opinion. When news broke in the summer of 1983 that Division One matches would be shown live on BBC and ITV, there was more anxiety than expectation. From this point in time, the relationship between the national game and television would change the sport forever.

The £5.2 million deal struck would see both channels allocated five league matches each, although the BBC only covered four due to a technicians' strike leading to the Watford-West Ham fixture being scrapped. There was certainly no chance of over exposure during the first full season of live coverage.

Golden goals: Peter Beardsley (1987)

It seems a bit strange to consider that Peter Beardsley was under pressure at the start of his Liverpool career in 1987. Admittedly the forward had only scored three league goals in his opening nine league matches for the club. But Beardsley had always been more a scorer of great goals rather than a great goal scorer.

Obviously the £1.9 million Liverpool paid Newcastle had a lot to do with the added scrutiny. The record deal between British clubs was part of a summer spending spree by manager Kenny Dalglish, with John Barnes and Ray Houghton also arriving. John Aldridge had joined in January 1987, as Liverpool aimed to prepare for life without Ian Rush.