90/91 Season

[Bath Blade]

Listening to the doom and despondency around QPR and Southampton at the moment got me thinking back to our start to the season in 1990. I was only 11 at the time, but don't remember the feeling of impending catastrophe that is around the struggling premier league clubs at the moment. There's talk that Adkins would have been sacked if they'd lost on Saturday, yet their two successive promotions and then bad start is very similar to our predicament 22 years ago, and I don't recall any suggestion that Bassett could be sacked.

Was my youth clouding the air of despondency as we kept losing, or could everyone see that we'd turn it around, or is it simply that football has changed and staying in the premier league is the only thing that matters?

 

[Selly]

Listening to the doom and despondency around QPR and Southampton at the moment got me thinking back to our start to the season in 1990. I was only 11 at the time, but don't remember the feeling of impending catastrophe that is around the struggling premier league clubs at the moment. There's talk that Adkins would have been sacked if they'd lost on Saturday, yet their two successive promotions and then bad start is very similar to our predicament 22 years ago, and I don't recall any suggestion that Bassett could be sacked.

Was my youth clouding the air of despondency as we kept losing, or could everyone see that we'd turn it around, or is it simply that football has changed and staying in the premier league is the only thing that matters?

It's the latter IMO.

Adkins, as with Billy Davies at Derby some years ago, will end up paying the price for being too sucessful too soon.

 

[shreds1975]

I think there was less "be all" and "end all" about being in the top division. It was pre-Premier League days and so although there was a financial benefit to being there, the differentiation was not as extreme.

It also came off the back of a long spell out of the top flight and given the successive promotions fans were all the more forgiving. We hadn't spent particularly big, relative to other clubs but you could still see teams we could compete with and potentially finish above. For all the money Soton/QPR have spent this Summer that must be hard for them to see this currently.

Having spoken to some of the players at the time, it seems like there was alot of positivity behind the scenes and in the end it took one win to kickstart the season.

I was 15 at the time and it was my first season of watching United in the 1st Division, so maybe I look back at that time with a rose tinted view. It would be interesting to see how slightly older Blades remember it.

 

[TarquinDelouche]

Was my youth clouding the air of despondency as we kept losing, or could everyone see that we'd turn it around, or is it simply that football has changed and staying in the premier league is the only thing that matters?

I think football has definitely changed. More money is invested and the rewards are bigger these days. The exposure that clubs get is higher, and possibilities for foreign investment were almost non-exsistent back then.

I also like to think that because managers lasted longer, there was more of a relationship between fans and manager. People were likely to be more forgiving then than now.

 

[Grecian2000]

I think the reason Bassett wasn't under any pressure was that we were playing well and were in every game even if we weren't actually winning. I remember leaving many of the games early in the season (Derby away being the most obvious example) wondering how the hell we'd come away without a win.

As stated above, when we started winning it became a habit and we went on an amazing run. It is no coincidence that this run took place after Chris Wilder was restored at right back and got a run in the side and Glynn Hodges arrived.

 

[Darren]

I think the reason Bassett wasn't under any pressure was that we were playing well and were in every game even if we weren't actually winning. I remember leaving many of the games early in the season (Derby away being the most obvious example) wondering how the hell we'd come away without a win.

As stated above, when we started winning it became a habit and we went on an amazing run. It is no coincidence that this run took place after Chris Wilder was restored at right back and got a run in the side and Glynn Hodges arrived.

Hmm. That's not quite how I remember it. There were some dreadful performances when we didn't look like we would score if we played all night. The games at Norwich and Palace spring to mind and the home game v Sunderland. After we lost that latter game (our 14th game without a win) I came away thinking that I couldn't see how we were ever going to get a win.

I think the tolerance for Bassett was due to the fact that no United fans, in their wildest dreams, had expected to be in the first division two years after we went down to the 3rd in 1988, so the season was a bonus and no-one was that exercised by the poor form.

 

[georgebernardshaw]

I think the reason Bassett wasn't under any pressure was that we were playing well and were in every game even if we weren't actually winning. I remember leaving many of the games early in the season (Derby away being the most obvious example) wondering how the hell we'd come away without a win.

As stated above, when we started winning it became a habit and we went on an amazing run. It is no coincidence that this run took place after Chris Wilder was restored at right back and got a run in the side and Glynn Hodges arrived.

Am I right in thinking that a home win against Forest started the run? 3 - 2?

 

[Rodders]

Am I right in thinking that a home win against Forest started the run? 3 - 2?

Indeed it was, my first League game. Jock Bryson also had a shot that hit both posts that I recall.

 

[Rodders]

As stated above, when we started winning it became a habit and we went on an amazing run. It is no coincidence that this run took place after Chris Wilder was restored at right back and got a run in the side and Glynn Hodges arrived.

Colin Hill was played at right back wasn't he? Did we drop Morris and move Hill to partner Beesley? I was only 10 at the time!

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

In response to the OP its definitely a case of the latter as SellyOak says. Relegation from the Premier League is a catastrophic scenario for most of its 20 clubs. It's the fear of not getting back because most of them have enormous wage bills and probably cant cover the cost with parachute payments. Even if they can they probably wont, they'll blow it all on more players to try and get back.

The financial gap is huge and probably even bigger than we are all led to believe. It then puts club owners in a situation where they simply cannot afford to maintain trust in a manager who is losing games.

 

[Northyorksblade]

The Forest final whistle was greeted as though we'd won the FA cup! Great days. Massive pitch invasion (it was allowed in those days)

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

not sure but i remember the whole squad including bassett were practically gods round these parts. no way he would have got sacked. think we were all amazed to just be there. the commitment was there from the players, i think everybody genuinely thought we would be ok once we got a win.

but i think the adkins thing is crazy. no way he should be under pressure.

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

The Forest final whistle was greeted as though we'd won the FA cup! Great days. Massive pitch invasion (it was allowed in those days)

i remember it well! there was a whistle shortly before, for a free kick i presume, and it fooled a lot of people thinking it was over!

 

[Bath Blade]

The Forest final whistle was greeted as though we'd won the FA cup! Great days. Massive pitch invasion (it was allowed in those days)

Just watched the goals (and pitch invasion) on Youtube. Fantastic memories.

 

[upton blade]

great memories, just started high school that season and can honestly say i thought we would never get a win and then the forest game changed the doom and gloom to excitement and utter f*ckin pride in being a blade. those were the days.

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

yeah you may be right. now i think about it more, i think everybody just thought no way we have the team to compete. we pretty much had the same team as in division 3. i remember thinking we'd lose to liverpool about 8-0! then simon tracey got injured. amazing team spirit. old harry really knew how to get his teams up for it back then. those 2 seasons where we went on crazy runs up the table, after looking dead and buried, were amazing times. i remember we beat someone at home for a record 7 wins in a row, and i was thinking "i dont believe how good we are!"

then the next year, i remember putting us into 7th place on the shoot league ladders! it looked pretty good!

 

[Guesty]

Indeed it was, my first League game. Jock Bryson also had a shot that hit both posts that I recall.

Would have been his hat trick if it had gone in, I think. As it was, Deane scored what turned out to be the winner in the same move.

 

[TopBoy]

Always remember leaving the ground having beaten Forest 3-2 and Yazz "The Only Way Is Up" was bleating out of the PA system.

 

[Compound_Legend]

Relive those days of yesteryear...

 

[bricktop]

The Forest final whistle was greeted as though we'd won the FA cup! Great days. Massive pitch invasion (it was allowed in those days)

And I was a part of that pitch invasion.


And the Righteous Brothers, you lost that loving feeling was in the charts!

 

[super_pig]

funny thing is that even though we went all that time without a win i never thought we'd go down
the thing that sticks in my mind is when we got a corner at the kop end and Des Walker looked up at the kop in full voice. he looked absolutely terrified.. i can still see his face

 

[Cheets]

I remember going to Villa in early December. We lost 2-1 but outplayed them. Our fans were singing "We'll win again, don't know where, don't know when". The atmosphere was absolutely immense in those days, especially at away games.

 

[Russ]

The Forest final whistle was greeted as though we'd won the FA cup! Great days. Massive pitch invasion (it was allowed in those days)

Love it, thanks for the memories guys. Yes Northyorks it felt so good after so many matches without winning.

Some good players in their team as well.

Does anyone know what the gesture by Deansy meant at the end? Did someone give him the V sign LOL

 

[oldblade]

I remember going to Villa in early December. We lost 2-1 but outplayed them. Our fans were singing "We'll win again, don't know where, don't know when". The atmosphere was absolutely immense in those days, especially at away games.

I remember that game at Villa Park, and you are right. We played very well and certainly did not look like a bottom of the table side that had onlygot a grand total of 4 points.

When Vinny Jones equalised in the second half you'd have thought we'd just won the league. The away end went absolutely berserk. Mind you it was our first goal in what felt like about nine hundred and ninety nine years!

 

[Rodders]

I remember that game at Villa Park, and you are right. We played very well and certainly did not look like a bottom of the table side that had onlygot a grand total of 4 points.

When Vinny Jones equalised in the second half you'd have thought we'd just won the league. The away end went absolutely berserk. Mind you it was our first goal in what felt like about nine hundred and ninety nine years!

It was 9 hours since we scored - I still remember the commentary from the end of season review video! Must have seen that part leading up to the Forest goals a million times at the time!

 

[Northyorksblade]

Went to nearly every game that season and it was very special. The away following was fantastic with a lot of humour (there had to be going all that time without winning) If the season was based on the performances in the New Year wouldn't we have finished third, or something mad like that?

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

90-91 - what a season! Couldn't buy a win upto Christmas, then couldn't stop winning in the second half of the campaign.

Still remember running on the pitch at the final whistle against Forest, it was as if we'd won promotion.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Relive those days of yesteryear...

Two priceless (with hindsight) pieces of commentary from Elton Welsby:-

"Roy Keane looking more and more like a Steve Hodge replica" (Steady on there Elton, as good as the Hodgemeister?)

"Brian Deane, who I think Leeds have offered more than £1M for" (As much as that, snatch their arm off!)

 

[Kenilworth]

Crikey 22 years ago !
I feel sorry for young supporters now. The special atmosphere at games like that seems so few and far between these days - when we had many of them in the Bassett era. There were some shockers as well, mind, but the intensity just doesn't seem to be quite right anymore. In fact I think the last time I felt anything like that was under our old mate Warnock. It's been a bit shit since then (well, not just a bit).

 

[Darren]

Crikey 22 years ago !
I feel sorry for young supporters now. The special atmosphere at games like that seems so few and far between these days - when we had many of them in the Bassett era. There were some shockers as well, mind, but the intensity just doesn't seem to be quite right anymore. In fact I think the last time I felt anything like that was under our old mate Warnock. It's been a bit shit since then (well, not just a bit).

Posts like this always make me laugh. When I was in my early 20's going to games in 90-91, my dad used to say that football was spolt by having too much money in it and you didn't get the atmosphere that you got in the 50's and 60's...

Plus ca change...