'Memries' February 13th 1999, the day we all loved Steve Bruce!

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1973Blade

1973Blade

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Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the famous Arsenal cup tie, where Steve Bruce ordered our players to walk off in protest at Kanu's (unwitting) unsporting behavior . Arsene Wenger agreed to a rematch, in what I think must be unique circumstances.
I was watching the game on a 'big screen' at Bramall Lane social bar ( which in reality was so small you could barely see it!) Whatever happened to Steve Bruce?!
 

I was there, and I don’t think there was a single day that season where I “loved Bruce”. I tolerated Bruce at best, and was generally relieved when he announced he was resigning.

Also, the fact that this is remembered as “The Kanu Incident” rather than “The Cheating Overmars Disgrace” is a historical abomination.
 
Quote from Filthy Rich and Catflap when Richie Rich and Eddie were talking to Jumbo Whiffy

Richie Rich says - This man Eddie, a man we all know and love, this man Eddie, a man who I knew when he was only a half a ton
 
Sparky said:
I was at both games. Still felt we were robbed. The replay should have been at BDTBL.
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Indeed it should have been. We were just getting on top as well when they did that.
 

Recall Wenger saying something along the lines of ..I'm fair-minded not stupid..when it was suggested the re-match should be at the Lane..Came out smelling of roses (with 15mins ish to go at home he may have had a bit of a point - not that I care for that anymore now than I did then)..I'm sure Steve Bruce had plenty to say, and quite rightly, just nothing I remember.... We move on ...:)
 
1973Blade said:
Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the famous Arsenal cup tie, where Steve Bruce ordered our players to walk off in protest at Kanu's (unwitting) unsporting behavior . Arsene Wenger agreed to a rematch, in what I think must be unique circumstances.
I was watching the game on a 'big screen' at Bramall Lane social bar ( which in reality was so small you could barely see it!) Whatever happened to Steve Bruce?!
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I was at the game and also the replay

I mentioned this a while ago, but i met Brucie last year and mentioned this to him amongst other Blades related topics. The passion was clearly there about the incident, but he seemed to hold back a bit... until he said something along the lines that he honestly thought that we were getting a replay at the lane, but when Arsenal turned around and said that the game could be replayed at Highbury, we were kind of stuck as it was a good gesture following the very unsporting behaviour by Kanu and Overmars.
 
fishpie said:
Recall Wenger saying something along the lines of ..I'm fair-minded not stupid..when it was suggested the re-match should be at the Lane..Came out smelling of roses (with 15mins ish to go at home he may have had a bit of a point - not that I care for that anymore now than I did then)..I'm sure Steve Bruce had plenty to say, and quite rightly, just nothing I remember.... We move on ...:)
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If Wenger wanted to be fair-minded, he should have instructed his team to let us score an equaliser straight away.

That’s what other managers have done in similar incidents.

I can’t believe Wenger and Arsenal get so much credit for being sporting when it was in their hands to make full amends immediately.
 
Ahh Bruce. Only manager I genuinely sympathised with, understood why he resigned.

Although that game is the only thing I can probably genuinely remember about his manager reign other than every fucker being sold.
 
This incident was at a time when kicking a ball out for a player to be treated, and then giving the ball back to the injured team from the resulting throw in was in its infancy and I can see why confusion could occur.
But the referee is in charge of the match and should stop play if he thinks a player is injured and restart it with a contested dropball.
It should never be left to a player, of either side, to decide whether to kick the ball out or not, that is the responsibility of the ref.
The other thread on laws we do not follow any more highlights how slack the law as have become and this particular method of stopping and restarting a game should have been strangled at birth.
 
Eddiecolquhounsleg said:
This incident was at a time when kicking a ball out for a player to be treated, and then giving the ball back to the injured team from the resulting throw in was in its infancy and I can see why confusion could occur.
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In its infancy? Seriously? It was fairly standard and clear practice. The fact they had to blame it on Kanu’s recent arrival to “the British game” glossed massively over the fact it was standard practice in other countries too, particularly Europe, or that Overmars had already been here a full season prior.
 
LoughboroBlade said:
In its infancy? Seriously? It was fairly standard and clear practice. The fact they had to blame it on Kanu’s recent arrival to “the British game” glossed massively over the fact it was standard practice in other countries too, particularly Europe, or that Overmars had already been here a full season prior.
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Well I can't really remember it occurring much before that time. It is not a law of the game , it is a convention that appeared over a period of time. I will stand corrected if someone can say specifically when this started but it certainly wasn't prevalent in the 60s 70s and 80s.
 
Funny, I remember the incident well but would have sworn our manager was Warnock at the time
 
Eddiecolquhounsleg said:
Well I can't really remember it occurring much before that time. It is not a law of the game , it is a convention that appeared over a period of time. I will stand corrected if someone can say specifically when this started but it certainly wasn't prevalent in the 60s 70s and 80s.
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That might be the case, those are decades I either wasn’t alive or not yet a fan, but I’d have said it was about as novel a concept to the game as the backpass rule. This was 1999 – it was not something new, and the outrage at the time was completely fair. I genuinely don’t think I’ve been more angry at a game before.
 
I too was at both games. Pre Internet, I phones etc etc we didn't find out until about midnight that there was gping to be a replay.
 
Northyorksblade said:
I too was at both games. Pre Internet, I phones etc etc we didn't find out until about midnight that there was gping to be a replay.
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Got told by a copper at St Pancras on the way back that Wenger had offered us a replay. Didn't believe him at first as we thought he was lying in an attempt to calm us down.
 
Bath Blade said:
Got told by a copper at St Pancras on the way back that Wenger had offered us a replay. Didn't believe him at first as we thought he was lying in an attempt to calm us down.
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Bert was in the bar at King's Cross when the news came through, it probably saved half a dozen Arsenal fans who were there from a severe battering. The Unitedites were VERY angry that day.
 
Eddiecolquhounsleg said:
This incident was at a time when kicking a ball out for a player to be treated, and then giving the ball back to the injured team from the resulting throw in was in its infancy and I can see why confusion could occur.
But the referee is in charge of the match and should stop play if he thinks a player is injured and restart it with a contested dropball.
It should never be left to a player, of either side, to decide whether to kick the ball out or not, that is the responsibility of the ref.
The other thread on laws we do not follow any more highlights how slack the law as have become and this particular method of stopping and restarting a game should have been strangled at birth.
Click to expand...

In the same season, an incident took place in a lower division game involving Wrexham, who had Jeff Whitley on loan to them from Man City. There was a drop ball awarded after an injury and as the opposition had been in possession, Whitley was told by the ref to play it back to the keeper. He hit the ball too hard and it went in the net. The ref's response to this was simply to disallow the goal and make Whitley do it again. The ref should have stopped play at Highbury as soon as he saw what they were up to.

What really makes my blood boil about this incident is you never read about why we put the ball out of play. We did it because Lee Morris was injured. He was injured because Gilles Grimandi did a brutal tackle from behind on him inside the penalty area. No foul given, of course. Should have been a pen.
 

Bert said:
Bert was in the bar at King's Cross when the news came through, it probably saved half a dozen Arsenal fans who were there from a severe battering. The Unitedites were VERY angry that day.
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Without doubt, the angriest I have ever been at a football match, although not quite angry enough to rip seats out which I saw other United fans doing that day.
 
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