Today I'm going back 32 years to 1989 and Tottenham's visit to Old Trafford in pre-Premier League top flight days.
Tottenham have rarely enjoyed their visits to Old Trafford but this was one trip that turned out well for the Lillywhites. Goal poacher supreme Gary Lineker did something that he was not noted for when he curled one into the net from outside the penalty area and the goal proved to be the only one of the game. It was a collector's item for sure! All you ABMU (Anyone but Man U) fans out there can enjoy it again on the video attached to my blog.
Love them or loathe them, Manchester United are English football's biggest club in terms of revenue. That revenue is driven by a supporter base that, these days, seems to come from not just England but from right across the world. I find that I can go anywhere in the world and if I engage with the locals they tend to support either Liverpool or Manchester United with United being predominant. Occasionally there's the odd Leeds fan too (they're all odd aren't they?) which tends to have its roots in the early 1970's when Leeds were a pre-eminent team. I guess that in 20 or 30 years time, similar conversations will yield Manchester City or Chelsea fans but not so much at present. I suspect that affection for United dates back to the 1958 Munich Air disaster when the club and country lost a fine crop of talent when United's plane, which was carrying them home from a European fixture, crashed in snowy Bavaria. It was before my time of course (no comments please!) but the sympathy of the entire nation was apparently with United for a time. Even today, United supporters from the likes of Essex and Cornwall will make the trek to Old Trafford thanks to the affection for United inherited from a parent who began following United after Munich happened.
Season 1989/90 proved to be a good one for Spurs who finished third in the First Division behind Champions Liverpool and runners-up Aston Villa. There was however to be no European place for Spurs as English football was only just beginning to recover from its European ban following the Heysel Stadium disaster of 1985. Manchester United finished way down in 13th place but they did gain entry to European competition thanks to their FA Cup win against Crystal Palace and went on to win the European Cup Winners Cup the following season.
CRB Match No. 636
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