The Archive

Cathy Cassell describes how Sheffield enjoyed danish company

For most Sheffielders, memories of Euro ’96 will be tinged with red and white. No-one had predicted the eventual size and impact of the Danish invasion on Sheffield. For two weeks, wherever you went there were there Danes. Danish families following their national team were taking up all the seats in McDonalds and filling the Peak District pubs at dinner time. There were Danish newspapers on the streets, ciggie prices advertised in krona and red and white flags for sale all over town. 

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Jon Rea explains why the fun of Euro ’96 never quite made it to Nottingham

The disappointing support from local fans is only partly helpful in explaining why, for Nottingham at least, Euro ’96 was the story of the party nobody came to.

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Germany's victory at Euro '96 produced an unforseen reaction among some of those watching it at home, as Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger reports

I knew he was going to miss. The set-up was too perfect for him not to miss: An evening at Wembley with the tournament on the line. He had had one of his half-baked games, had received a yellow card that would bar him from the final – and the he was the captain. Perfect. There was no question Möller would live up to his image of the underachieving genius cracking under pressure. 

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James Taylor watched Euro'96 in Prague, where local fans had plenty of oppertunities to toast the players health

Golden boys get silver was the newspaper headline as the Czech team arrived back to a crowd of 50,000 in Prague’s Old Town Square. How different from the beginning of June when most people were writing them off as no-hopers, lucky even to be on the map. A poor performance in the first game against the Germans did nothing to dispel this. Local papers concentrated instead on the Czech fans, who were surprised by the friendliness of the police and insisted on having their pictures taken with all the police horses Manchester could muster.

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Simon Kuper and Rutger Slagter explain why the upheaval in the Dutch squad following Euro '96 may not be quite what it seemed

“Kabel” is the new word in Dutch football. The kabel (cabal in English) people are talking about has four members, all of them black Dutchmen: Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert and Michael Reiziger. Winston Bogarde also wants to be in the kabel, but he can’t because he’s too old, not good enough at football, and wears too much jewellry.

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