The spring of 1989 will be a time in the history of Liverpool Football Club that will never be forgotten. The Hillsborough tragedy during the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest on 15th April that saw 96 fans crushed to death can never be overshadowed by any football match.
Shortly after its occurrence I did think that Liverpool would not continue to compete for the cup that season in honour of fans that they had lost, but in the end and probably quite rightly too they did play on for the same reason and in the end won the cup against Everton at Wembley on 20th May in the second all Merseyside final in three years.
From around the mid-70's up to the end of the 80's, Liverpool had been even more dominant than we have seen Manchester United being in more recent years. Just a week after the disaster at Hillsborough they were scheduled to play what many considered to be a potential title decider against Arsenal at Anfield; but because of the tragedy the game was postponed and the only other date available meant playing the game nearly a week after the FA Cup final on a Friday night. Liverpool were once again chasing a double having won the cup whilst Arsenal had had a dip in form that had seen them overtaken by Liverpool and going into this last game Arsenal were three points behind with a goal difference four worse than that of their rivals.
So George Graham's team knew exactly what they had to do to it pull off – they had to produce a little bit of a minor miracle inside fortress Anfield. A two goal win would be enough (I almost make it sound easy!) as Arsenal had scored more goals than their rivals but not many gave them any hope of achieving the outcome that they were after.
I was neither a great admirer of either club at the time and went and watched the movie “Cocoon 2” at the cinema that evening leaving the game to tape on the video recorder – just in case something happened that was worth taking a look at. When the film ended it must have been around 10.30pm and upon leaving the cinema I happened to see one or two cars with red and white flags hanging out of the windows with some highly jubilant fans inside. It struck me that they were in fact Arsenal fans and it was at this point I started asking myself the question – no.... it couldn't have really of happened – could it? I quickly watched the game on fast forward and on seeing Arsenal take the lead through Alan Smith on 52 minutes started to think maybe I had not imagined those fans after all.
I will never forget Steve McMahon holding that one finger up to indicate just one minute to go to all his team mates as it was just 60 seconds that separated Liverpool from another title – but those 60 seconds proved to be ones that would go down as some of the seconds that became most immortal in the history of Arsenal football club.
Commentator Brian Moore possibly came out with the most poignant of lines since Kenneth Wolstenholme in the 1966 World Cup Final when he shrieked “It's up for grabs now...” as Michael Thomas scored the last minute goal that sent the title to Highbury. Thomas of course signed for Liverpool just two years later which was a little ironic but he never managed the same heights there as his playing days in North London.
Unlike myself at the movies – my cousin, a dedicated Gooner fan was at Anfield and looking at the scenes of the crowd at that end of the ground I can only imagine how amazing it would have been to have been part of something like that. With Kenny Dalglish now back at the helm at Anfield some 22 years later it sometimes feels as if time has just stood still. A slightly older and greyer Kenny hasn't changed that much and that includes the grimace on his face if his team have not won a game.
Note also that this was just before the pass back to the keeper law was implemented and Liverpool were trying to do it in those last few minutes to run down the clock. Interestingly, the Liverpool captain was Ronnie Whelan and not Alan Hansen - surely the know-all TV pundit would have been the correct choice with all his guile and experience but no. Hansen had missed most of the season with a knee injury but in this match he played the full 90 minutes and I would be wanting Maybe this explains why he took the easy option and not chance his arm at football management.
This proved to be the ultimate in endings to a season and I do not envisage we will ever see the likes again – but never say never.
The teams that night were:-
Liverpool - Grobbelaar, Ablett, Staunton, Nicol, Whelan, Hansen, Houghton, Aldridge, Rush (Beardsley), Barnes, McMahon, Sub unused - Venison
Arsenal - Lucic, Dixon, Winterburn, Thomas, O'Leary, Adams, Rocastle, Richardson, Smith, Bould (Groves), Merson (Hayes)
Shortly after its occurrence I did think that Liverpool would not continue to compete for the cup that season in honour of fans that they had lost, but in the end and probably quite rightly too they did play on for the same reason and in the end won the cup against Everton at Wembley on 20th May in the second all Merseyside final in three years.
From around the mid-70's up to the end of the 80's, Liverpool had been even more dominant than we have seen Manchester United being in more recent years. Just a week after the disaster at Hillsborough they were scheduled to play what many considered to be a potential title decider against Arsenal at Anfield; but because of the tragedy the game was postponed and the only other date available meant playing the game nearly a week after the FA Cup final on a Friday night. Liverpool were once again chasing a double having won the cup whilst Arsenal had had a dip in form that had seen them overtaken by Liverpool and going into this last game Arsenal were three points behind with a goal difference four worse than that of their rivals.
So George Graham's team knew exactly what they had to do to it pull off – they had to produce a little bit of a minor miracle inside fortress Anfield. A two goal win would be enough (I almost make it sound easy!) as Arsenal had scored more goals than their rivals but not many gave them any hope of achieving the outcome that they were after.
I was neither a great admirer of either club at the time and went and watched the movie “Cocoon 2” at the cinema that evening leaving the game to tape on the video recorder – just in case something happened that was worth taking a look at. When the film ended it must have been around 10.30pm and upon leaving the cinema I happened to see one or two cars with red and white flags hanging out of the windows with some highly jubilant fans inside. It struck me that they were in fact Arsenal fans and it was at this point I started asking myself the question – no.... it couldn't have really of happened – could it? I quickly watched the game on fast forward and on seeing Arsenal take the lead through Alan Smith on 52 minutes started to think maybe I had not imagined those fans after all.
I will never forget Steve McMahon holding that one finger up to indicate just one minute to go to all his team mates as it was just 60 seconds that separated Liverpool from another title – but those 60 seconds proved to be ones that would go down as some of the seconds that became most immortal in the history of Arsenal football club.
Commentator Brian Moore possibly came out with the most poignant of lines since Kenneth Wolstenholme in the 1966 World Cup Final when he shrieked “It's up for grabs now...” as Michael Thomas scored the last minute goal that sent the title to Highbury. Thomas of course signed for Liverpool just two years later which was a little ironic but he never managed the same heights there as his playing days in North London.
Unlike myself at the movies – my cousin, a dedicated Gooner fan was at Anfield and looking at the scenes of the crowd at that end of the ground I can only imagine how amazing it would have been to have been part of something like that. With Kenny Dalglish now back at the helm at Anfield some 22 years later it sometimes feels as if time has just stood still. A slightly older and greyer Kenny hasn't changed that much and that includes the grimace on his face if his team have not won a game.
Note also that this was just before the pass back to the keeper law was implemented and Liverpool were trying to do it in those last few minutes to run down the clock. Interestingly, the Liverpool captain was Ronnie Whelan and not Alan Hansen - surely the know-all TV pundit would have been the correct choice with all his guile and experience but no. Hansen had missed most of the season with a knee injury but in this match he played the full 90 minutes and I would be wanting Maybe this explains why he took the easy option and not chance his arm at football management.
This proved to be the ultimate in endings to a season and I do not envisage we will ever see the likes again – but never say never.
The teams that night were:-
Liverpool - Grobbelaar, Ablett, Staunton, Nicol, Whelan, Hansen, Houghton, Aldridge, Rush (Beardsley), Barnes, McMahon, Sub unused - Venison
Arsenal - Lucic, Dixon, Winterburn, Thomas, O'Leary, Adams, Rocastle, Richardson, Smith, Bould (Groves), Merson (Hayes)
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