Your Boys Took A Hell Of A Beating

November 1979, the mud is upon us, the chill winds of the days before global warming are rippling across Villa Park, and Jimmy Rimmer is happily throwing goals into his own net. Meanwhile, there’s a dog on the pitch and commentator Hugh Johns is so delighted that he resembles said canine with an additional appendage. Once upon a time, says the sagacious Johns, you’d always find a dog on the pitch...

In one of the very greatest televisual meetings of all time, Brian Moore - clearly underemployed during the ITV technicians’s strike early in the season - nips over to Hamburg to report on the lifestyle of England’s greatest superstar of the moment, Kevin Keegan. We won’t spoil it for you, but this is absolute gold, from Keegan snubbing Thatcher to maximising every penny he can get, from being ove...

The galvanising force of the Manchester derby gets Manchester City playing once again, Malcolm Allison’s men shrugging off their hapless defending as they take on Dave Sexton’s side. Elsewhere Nottingham Forest travel to The Dell and are bombarded into submission, so much so that even Kenny Burns can’t catch anybody to kick up into the air. And we dip into Brian Moore’s postbag to decide if the of...

A trip to the Second Division begins this weekend as ITV screen the top of the table clash between Luton Town and QPR, the two leading the way in a congested promotion race. It’s a terrific game with plenty of action and lots to talk about. But there’s much, much more, for the mighty Eric Morecambe, only just recovered from heart surgery, has taken his place at Kenilworth Road once more. Afterward...

The European Championships of 1984, back in the days of only eight teams, were, quite frankly, a bugger to qualify for. Wales, the Netherlands, England, Northern Ireland all came close but didn’t get it over the line. But what if they had? Steven Scragg and Aidan Williams look at the tournament that Euro ‘84 might have been, as long as they can get through the sliding doors. Thanks for reading You...

Emlyn Hughes returns to Anfield in a Wolves shirt, and gets a dose of the medicine he’d been dishing out for the previous decade, while Match of the Day pinches some of Top of the Pops’ graphics to celebrate. Referee Don Shaw does his level best to upstage him. You can watch Liverpool continue on their merry way here . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscrib...

With its centenary to celebrate in 1988, in 1987 the Football League staged its Centenary Match at Wembley Stadium. Good start. Selecting the cream, ish, of the Football League, Bobby Robson took on a Rest of the World side coached by Terry Venables, the day before American Football ruined the pitch. Stu Horsfield was our correspondent on the scene on the day, and he takes Steven Scragg an Chris L...

Terry Venables and Malcolm Allison, two coaching peas in a pod you might think, but in football, there’s no room for the old pals act when league points are at stake. With newly promoted Palace enjoying life in the upper reaches of the First Division, the visit of Manchester City is just what you want to keep the pressure on at the top, especially if Venables had watched City’s complete surrender...

Our first trip to the Third Division and quite simply, this is amongst the greatest 42 minutes in world broadcasting history. A hefty crowd at Hillsborough, some tremendous meat and potatoes football redolent - bloody redolent, Carter - of the era, goals, and the magnificent incongruity of Fred Dineage presenting on Yorkshire TV. Come for the football but please, please stay for the post-match int...

Gary Thacker joins Steven Scragg to ponder the fate of a number of 1980s footballers whose careers suffered a false start at one club before they went on to become giants of the decade elsewhere. Why is it that Peter Beardsley, Kevin Sheedy, Ian Bishop and many others had to move clubs to make their name? YBTAHOAB investigates. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other...

We are joined by a very special guest for this supplementary module as Elton Welsby joins the pod to talk about his career in broadcasting, from working at Radio City in Liverpool to becoming the face of ITV’s football coverage. Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler talk to Elton about his new book, ‘Game For A Laugh’ which takes the reader through his entire career and his encounters with the greats of t...

Always looking to add to the academic staff at Your Boys Took A Hell Of A Beating, Professor Steven Scragg interviews Gary Thacker to see if he knows his 1980s onions. Chaos ensues… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yourboystookahellofabeating.substack.com

September 9th, 1981, Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion. England visit Norway for what looks like a routine World Cup qualifier, ready to book their place at the finals for the first time since 1970. 15 minutes in, when Bryan Robson uses the upper arm of God to help England into the lead, all seems well. But things are about to unravel in spectacular fashion, as Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler - plus an incand...

If you can meet with triumph and disaster - especially disaster - then you are probably a fan of West Midlands football in the 1980s. From a region that boasted league titles, European Cup winners, League Cup winners, thrills and spills at the outset of the decade, to a time when its clubs were all plumbing new depths and barely scraping together a shilling for the floodlights, that was 1980s foot...

In a time before the Vauxhall Conference and the Vanarama National League, making your way from the non-league game into the Football League proper was a matter of mastering the game’s darkest arts. With no nationally agreed pyramid and no clear path from the lower reaches into the Fourth Division, all was decided at a right boozy do at the Café Royal in London - a greasy spoon at Hilton Park shou...

England captain Kevin Keegan signed for Second Division Newcastle United on the eve of the 1982/83 campaign and spent two seasons as a player on Tyneside, throwing himself into the crowd after scoring on his debut, waving goodbye to them from a helicopter two years later, having piloted them back to the top flight. Steven Scragg and Aidan Williams talk us through his time as a player with the Magp...

We take you back to 1985/86 when for half the season, horror of horrors, there was no football on television. Don’t worry, the TV companies are making up for it now. Steven Scragg and Chris Lepkowski take you through a brief history of televised football before examining the whys and wherefores of a very different world when league football was whipped off our screens and, if you wanted to watch g...

From a first top flight title in a quarter of a century in 1979/80, through to the glories of Gothenburg in the teeming rain, and the collection of the UEFA Super Cup at the end of 1983, Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen enjoyed an unprecedented era of success for any Scottish side not based in Glasgow. Knocking the Old Firm off their perch, winning the Scottish Cup in style, putting Real Madrid to the swo...

1988/89, a seismic season for football on television as the cartel has gone and ITV have snatched sole rights to the Football League, meaning the end of ‘Match of the Day’ as we knew it. Spending £44million, in those days when that really was £44million, ITV were the masters now. Steven Scragg and Stuart Horsfield look back on the opening day of a season when football clubs were suddenly rich beyo...

Where else to start a new podcast about football in the 1980s than with the traditional curtain raiser, the Football Association’s Charity Shield? (None of this Johnny-come-lately Community Shield nonsense here). Steven Scragg and Aidan Williams take us back to the 1986 meeting of Liverpool and Everton at the proper Wembley Stadium, the first time that television had seen fit to screen the entire...

Welcome to Your Boys Took A Hell Of A Beating, the Open University for 1980s football - we will be asking questions later. Professor Steven Scragg has assembled a crack, or possibly crap, team of specialists to delight you with a series of in-depth modules, covering every possible facet of 1980s football in the weeks and months to come. In addition, our sister podcast, Football Revisited, will tak...