Quote Originally Posted by Carlos the Jackal View Post
that's a bit harsh Richard. Mid eighties they had great team until Kevin Radcliffe got injured. Had they been able to play in Europe I'm sure they would have done well. The ban was harsh on the English clubs, I think it was because the English clubs were dominating Europe at that time. I bet the call for the ban was loudest from that shower real Madrid, who were worried your lot would pass them in European cups and I wouldn't have been surprised if they did. Strange the national team wasn't banned, probably because they were shit. They never banned the Dutch....a scary place to go at that time.
I seem to remember that the FA egged on by footballer hater Thatcher did UEFA's dirty work by withdrawing English clubs so all UEFA had to do was confirm the ban.

As you say it seems odd that the national team wasn't banned despite England fans causing mayhem all over Europe and this continued with riots in Dublin in 95 and at Euro 2000