Think individually our larkers were just as good as theirs if not better but..... They were a proper team who finished 3rd in 1986 and who knew their roles and tactics
Add in an uninspiring draw against the Swiss and a semifinal that the Germans probably just edged and you've got to wonder how we managed to ****ing muller the Dutch in the middle of that mass of mediocrity.
That Switzerland game was on Itv the other day...another match where they camped in our half after the interval, and we couldn't keep or control the ball for more than 2 touches, until the inevitable equaliser...
I think on balance one of the best days of supporting City. Arsenal supporters are ****s of the first order.
Prematch. I was sat outside that McDonald's at top of Wembley way with my mate, the late Trevor Dunn, his son and another mate, talking to Robbie Brady's dad. Nice chap, though disappointed that his son was on the bench. Next to us where a bunch of shirt wearing arsenal fans from Holland I think..They were chatting away, but it was all double Dutch to me.
Yes I was. Working abroad at the time , but a mate got us tix for this one and Spain, which I also flew back for. Had a ticket for the SF but couldn't make it back. The atmosphere in Wembley against Spain before the game with 'Wonderwall and then after with 'Football's Coming Home' are up there with any ever experienced in a ground. Tens of thousands still in the ground 20 mins after the winning pen, and the DJ put on 'Football's Coming Home; on repeat. Utter delirium and the crowd wouldn't leave. On a separate note, watched ENG-SCO the other night & heard 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' sung...GTF, a Home Counties rugger song.
Was well-established that their support are the dregs of football. If I could live that weekend again, I might opt for a train there and back on the day or failing that, a 4 star hotel in the West End on the Saturday night. Other than that, wouldn't change much at all. The team gave their all for us and themselves, they thrilled the neutrals and the whole country was willing us to win. Looking back it was not just Arsenal it was the Establishment we were playing. The whole Piers Morgan celebrity supporters, the Wrighty Keown Dixon punditocracy, the vested financial interest of the status quo where rich clubs and owners get 'rewarded' for the hundreds of millions they pour in to guarantee the outcome and where journalists don't call it out, North v South, rich v poor, fashionable v unfashionable, the familiar v the obscure, and the right result for the national media. It was Arsenal, but it could have been Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd or even Spurs......same scenario, but at least fans of those clubs are not quite as smug, complacent and entitled as Arsenal's.
I did feel marginally sorry for the numpty and his girlfriend bedecked in red and white who tried to get into the city end. All smiles until they got through the turnstile and the stewards promptly turfed them out. You would have thought he would have questioned how he got a ticket? But not this lad!
I nearly killed a guy in front of me, I lept forward with anticipation of it going in and nearly went over his shoulder. Amazingly, I went with my brother in law, who usually goes to city with a friend of his, but this friend was away, so he came with me. He never left his seat, even when we scored and just politely clapped. strange guy.