Caprice was furious. As were Ian Botham and Barry Norman. There was anger, too, from Tamara Beckwith and Darren Day, with Simon Weston perhaps putting it best. “Have they forgotten football is a game for the people?” said a man who sustained severe burns during the Falklands war and was now ready for another battle.
It’s important to keep a sense of perspective and sadly that was in somewhat short supply during the summer of 1999 as England lost its collective mind over Manchester United’s decision not to compete in that season’s FA Cup, captured best in the Daily Mirror’s front page of 14 July as an eclectic and, quite frankly, bizarre collection of people had their say on the matter. “I was shocked when I heard. It’s so sad,” said Frances Lawrence, the widow of the murdered headteacher Philip Lawrence. Truly, the 90s were a different time.
