It was a beautiful, balmy evening wasn't it? That's my memory.
The crowd reaction throughout the match was weird, in a wonderful way. In the 1980s we were the most educated footballing audience in Britain. That's not surprising. We'd been to the best school. But we were also in danger of becoming a bit spoilt and a therefore a bit complacent. The '88 season gave everyone on the Kop a jolt. Right from the start it was clear that this term we were going to be treated to an fresh and exhilarating set of lessons. And there's no doubt about it - the Forest game was the climax. It was the game where everything came together - a pure alignment of theory and practice. The crowd knew this, even while it was happening. You knew you present at a great act of creation. I've never heard a football crowd murmur before, but it did that night. Every time Beardsley got the ball there was a loud appreciative hum. Not a footy sound. More like a theatre sound. They were the artists. We were the connoisseurs.
What made it especially sweet for me was that I'd taken my best mate on to the Kop - he was a Man Utd fan. There was no point rubbing it in afterwards. The whole 90 minutes had been a demonstration of our ever-lasting superiority. I sort of think I've been paying for that experience ever since.
But it was worth it.
Lovely piece! I know the game has moved on before anyone starts, but it really does demonstrate the 'we had the best eleven in the country and we just went out and played' mentality that we had. There is no stiffling of tactics and ridgid movement, its free flowing and beautiful!
The pieces are perfect for me though, forget individuals just look at the hole pattern. We had Aldo who was there to get on the end of things, we had barnsey who could land a cross on a 50pence peice, we had beardo who could drop into the hole and would always offer a shimmy! Steve nichol was a fantastic right back who would support the attack at every opportunity, and Houghton would support Aldo at everty opportunity which would leave space for Nichol to attack. Gillespie was our towering centre half and Hansen was our classy defender who could bring the ball out from the back. That left macca as our hard man and our driving force from midfield!
we are not that far away in my honest opinion, Aqu to be our beardsley, maxi to be houghton, Johnno to be our nichol, mash to be our macca, torres is more complete then aldo, Agger to be our hansen, all we need is a barnsey and we have the advantage today of having stevie G!
Come on the might reds!!
