These Football Times

On the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, we conclude our conversations by talking to Andrew Knott, the man behind the Anfield crowd mosaics. Andrew takes us through his experiences as one of those who made it onto the pitch from the Leppings Lane terraces, where he would help ferry stricken supporters from the scene on makeshift stretchers, exposed as he was to some of the worst image...

On the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, we continue our personal reflections as Peter Scarfe speaks about his experiences on the terraces at Leppings Lane on 15 April 1989. Peter, the co-creator and chair of the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance (HSA) also talks about the invaluable work that the HSA undertakes, and the lasting effects the disaster wrought on those who were inv...

On the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, we talk to Dr Anne Eyre, a sociologist specialising in the psychosocial aspects of major incidents, emergency planning and disaster management, who was on the Leppings Lane terraces on 15 April 1989. An open and candid conversation, Anne kindly tells us not only of her experiences and the effects they have left her with, but also the positive w...

And now, the end is near, and so they face an impossibly difficult Question of Sport blowout to decide the Quiz Champion of the 1980s. Before that, our intrepid panellists choose their favourite games and players of the decade, reflect back on what the decade meant to them and, scandalously, refuse to indulge in some community singing of the B-side of the 1982 England World Cup single. Your ears a...

Following on from our series on the 1980s, we’ve one final visit to the decade as Chris Lepkowski, Aidan Williams and Stu Horsfield offer their choice of the goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, striker and manager who should be chiselled onto the decade’s Mount Rushmore. Gary Thacker attempts to retain some semblance of order.

A striker unearthed at lastminute.com , Robbie Savage writhing in agony, the winning manager watching the last few minutes of the game on TV in a cupboard, all human life is here in this FA Cup quarter-final at Filbert Street as Leicester, fourth in the Premier League, succumbed to third tier Wycombe.  Helping guide the regular team through the carnage is Gary Silke, co-author of the Got Not Got s...

Phil Harrison joins us in the Centre Circle to talk us through some shadowy tales of footballing life in Albania, all captured in his excellent new book, Inside The Hermit Kingdom.

And so the 1980s odyssey ends with a tumultuous season. We pay our respects to the Hillsborough disaster, with further podcasts to come on that subject, but this ONE concentrates on the football. Liverpool come through the tragedy to beat Everton in the FA Cup final, but a second double of the decade eludes them when it’s all up for grabs in one final game at Anfield AS Arsenal snatch the title fr...

We move into the 21st century with this tie, and find that it was easier to remember the 1970s. Nonetheless, rediscovering the day that Conference side Lincoln City went to Turf Moor and upset Sean Dyche and his Burnley team is a joy - unless you’re a Burnley fan. A year when the Cowleys burst onto the national scene as a management team, setting down the foundations that have since seen Lincoln r...

After surrendering their title to Everton, Liverpool come storming back, fuelled by John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and John Aldridge. A second league and cup double in three years seems inevitable but at Wembley, Dave Beasant saves a penalty and Wimbledon carry off the FA Cup after just 11 seasons in the Football League.  Elsewhere, Luton  stun Arsenal with a late comeback to win the League Cup, Che...

1986/87: in the Mersey Wars trilogy, we’re up to Everton Strike Back as Howard Kendall’s side regain the league title. Keith Houchen ensures he will be forever frozen in time with that diving header in the FA Cup final as Coventry win the trophy and disappoint a Spurs side that promise so much but end up empty handed, despite Clive Allen’s 49 goals. In Scotland, Graeme Souness starts his Rangers r...

The team mark the sad passing of Stan Bowles with a tribute to the man who illuminated Loftus Road, fell out with Malcolm Allison and Brian Clough, and who should surely have won more than just five England caps. A wonderful maverick.

A season that began in the shadow of Bradford and Heysel, with a blackout of TV coverage and the implications of the European ban, 1985/86 emerged as a campaign full of highlights. In the title race, Manchester United started like a train and ended like a rag and bone cart, West Ham couldn’t quite come through on the rails, Everton long looked like champions, but, in the end, it was Liverpool who...

Wrexham might have their own TV show, but the greatest League Two season of the 21st century surely belongs to Bradford City. The 2012/13 campaign saw them make two visits to Wembley, becoming the first fourth tier team to play there in one of the senior cup competitions, before returning to do battle in the playoffs.  It’s a ripping yarn that would make Barnstoneworth United proud, and City Gent...

With football still reeling from the tragedy of the Bradford fire at Valley Parade, just 18 days later, on 29 May 1985, came the Heysel Stadium disaster at the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus. Some 39 people, mostly Juventus fans, were killed and around 600 injured when a wall collapsed. Liverpool supporter Chris Rowland was there, and he later wrote his own account of those even...

Join us in the Centre Circle as we talk to author Gary Thacker about his latest book, O Jogo Bonito , focusing on the great Brazil team that won the 1970 World Cup. It’s a glorious tale of the events that led to the competition, the triumph itself, and what happened afterwards.

11 May 1985, Bradford v Lincoln. It should have been one of the most joyous days in the history of Bradford City, as they celebrated winning the Third Division at a canter. Instead, a fire in the Main Stand turned it into a day of tragedy, with 56 spectators  killed and at least 265 injured. Mike Harrison, editor of the legendary City Gent fanzine, was at that game and he joins Steven Scragg to di...

With England beleaguered by the wintry weather, non-league Blyth Spartans made two abortive trips to Stoke's Victoria Ground to get their FA Cup game played. Eventually, it was third time lucky as the collection of coalminers, sales reps and schoolteachers sprung one of the competition’s greatest ever shocks. Let Steven Scragg, Bill Hern and Dave Bowler take you back to the days when FA Cup ties w...

A season of agony and ecstasy with tragedies unfolding at Bradford and Heysel, both the subjects of separate podcasts in this series. We concentrate on the on-pitch issues in this one, Howard Kendall’s Everton emerging to take Liverpool’s crown from them, winning the Cup Winners’ Cup too and coming within a whisker of becoming the 20th century’s third double winners, beaten in the FA Cup final by...

With the announcement of Jürgen Klopp’s impending departure from Liverpool at season’s end, this week’s podcast concentrates on the job he’s done at Anfield, the moments that will live long in the memory, and the legacy that he will leave.

The midway point in our series, and not much changes as Liverpool win a third straight First Division title and a fourth League Cup in a row. But a new, blue presence is emerging at the bottom of Stanley Park with Everton reaching Wembley twice and carrying off the FA Cup, a portent of what is to come. Spurs win the UEFA Cup before Keith Burkinshaw walks out on them having had a visitation from th...

The greatest FA Cup game of all time according to many, Hereford’s third-round replay win over Newcastle in 1972 helped build the iconography of the FA Cup in the television era. Locked out fans climbing trees and floodlit pylons to watch, kids sitting behind the goal on hay bales, the pitch invaded three times by a tribe of snorkel parka wearers, Malcolm MacDonald missing sitters and that goal fr...

In the past, the European powers mercilessly exploited South America for its raw materials, making them wealthier and locking the indigenous people of the continent into poverty. Is there a similar trend developing with ever younger players being taken away from South America to the rich clubs of Europe?

As Ron Atkinson would have doubtless said, it was a case of déjà vu all over again in 1982/83, with Liverpool romping to the league title and retaining the League Cup. But there was change elsewhere, with Tottenham’s iron grip on the FA Cup finally released, Big Ron  getting his hands on a trophy, much to the delight of Gerald Ratner. Graham Taylor’s Watford blitzkrieged their way to second place...

The podcast rules over the grim goings-on at Reading, better days for Coventry , an attempt to work out where Kylian Mbappé will be hanging his hat this summer, and plenty more.