Was 1985 English football’s darkest year?  There could be a number of nominations for this much coveted title but 1985 contained the tragedies of Heysel Stadium and the Bradford City fire.  Weeks before these events the sixth round FA Cup replay between Luton Town and Millwall degenerated into a shocking riot.  The average attendance at a Division One match in 1972 had been over 30,000.  By 1985 that had slumped to just 18,374.  No British team had qualified for the Euros in France in 1984 so no British television channel bothered to cover it, so low was the interest in the game.  Football in 1985 said the Sunday Times was a slum sport played in slum stadiums and increasingly watched by slum people.  Jim
White, Colin Shindler and Jon Holmes discuss whether or not that withering verdict was justified.

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