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League Division Two 1974-75

Steve Anders recalls Manchester United’s only season in the last 75 years in the second tier of English football, which proved to be a year remembered for hooliganism

The long-term significance
Hooliganism was becoming a major social problem. In the first significant trouble involving the English abroad, Spurs fans had rioted at the second leg of the UEFA Cup final in Rotterdam in May 1974. Three months later, a Blackpool fan was stabbed to death during a Division Two match against Bolton at Bloomfield Road.

Thursday, July 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Health check

Steve Menary assesses the debts of clubs in the English league and discusses whether the goverment should intervene into football politics

Since the turn of the year, a committee of MPs from across the political spectrum have been interviewing football administrators to work out whether the game’s governance is “fit for purpose”. The hearings are over, the committee’s recommendations are due in June and the case for reform is compelling.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - The Archive

League Division One 1965-66

Peter Bateman recalls the 1965-66 season when Liverpool and Everton both had campaigns to remember

The long-term significance
This season confirmed the shift in football’s balance of power northwards. The Championship trophy went to Merseyside for the third time in four seasons and the FA Cup for the second season running. Liverpool also reached their first European final. Leeds Utd established themselves as a force in the game while Manchester Utd had a rare trophyless season in between Championships.

Saturday, May 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Sheffield United 2 Leeds United 0

These Yorkshire rivals may yet head in different directions out of the Championship. But in a tense occasion on a sunny day the confident pre-match favourites fall to a chastening defeat. David Stubbs reveals all

Bramall Lane’s highest ever attendance was the 68,287 who witnessed an FA Cup tie against Leeds in 1936. The rivalry between the two clubs is intense but fitful, as both have bobbed up and down between divisions over the years. In the early 1970s, when Sheffield United climbed back into Division One under manager John Harris, I recall as a young lad in Leeds watching highlights of the home and away Sheffield fixtures on Yorkshire TV the following Sunday afternoon.

Saturday, May 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Having a say

Adam Brown looks at how the political interaction of fan culture has developed since the disenfranchisement of the mid-1980s

The year 1985 was a nadir for English football in a decade of great change for football supporters in Britain. And May was the pit of the trough. Supporters were caged in decrepit stadiums and 56 of them died in a fire at Bradford City’s ground on May 11. Violence was rife at home and abroad, policing was brutal and on the same day a 14-year-old was killed during fighting between Leeds and Birmingham fans and police at St Andrew’s. Just over two weeks later, these two factors came together killing 39 and injuring 600 at Heysel.

Thursday, April 21st, 2011 - The Archive

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Stories

League Division Two 1974-75

Steve Anders recalls Manchester United’s only season in the last 75 years in the second tier of English football, which proved to be a year remembered for hooliganism

Health check

Steve Menary assesses the debts of clubs in the English league and discusses whether the goverment should intervene into football politics

League Division One 1965-66

Peter Bateman recalls the 1965-66 season when Liverpool and Everton both had campaigns to remember

Sheffield United 2 Leeds United 0

These Yorkshire rivals may yet head in different directions out of the Championship. But in a tense occasion on a sunny day the confident pre-match favourites fall to a chastening defeat. David Stubbs reveals all

Having a say

Adam Brown looks at how the political interaction of fan culture has developed since the disenfranchisement of the mid-1980s