THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

A question my son asked me earlier this week and it really got me thinking. One of my first thoughts was our Utd game but whilst it was one of the best experiences I have had, the match itself was pretty one sided.

The 1995/96 Liverpool v Newcastle game is right up there for me, such an epic game of football and was very nearly the one I chose

The 2022 world cup final was really quite some match.

But for me the 1982 world cup match between Brazil and Italy is the one. I was only 10 but even today I can distinctly recall being totally captivated by the spectacle of it. Football at its highest level between two teams playing stuff I'd not really seen before, truly magical.

I am going to be boring and predictable but 1966 world cup final. I watched it in black and white on a tiny tv. I was under 10. I didn't really realise how significant it was , that we wouldn't host another world cup or win another one in over 50 years.

1966 also, but the semi-final between England and Portugal was fantastic. I was so emotionally drained and my legs so wobbly I could hardly walk out the ground.
Easily best game I've ever been to.

Best I've ever seen on the TV was Liverpool 3-3 AC Milan in the CL final 2005, with Liverpool winning on penalties. Closely followed by Motherwell 6-6 Hibs.

Live in a stadium, I reckon last year's NL playoff final was a classic, as well as our 1-0 win over Posh with 9 men.

1970 Brazil v Italy.

1996 England v Netherlands.

Manchester United v Arsenal FA Cup Semi Final 1999 (the one with the Ryan Giggs goal).

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

I was at the England v Netherlands game. I was lucky enough to go to all the euro96 games. It didnt enter my thoughts as one of the best matches Ive ever seen because England were so dominant and played such great stuff that Holland were never really in it. The best thing about it was that it was so unexpected. It get largely forgotten but we were awful against Switzerland, lucky against Scotland and then out of nowhere blitzed Holland.

Were were pretty much outplayed by Spain after that and scraped through on Pens.

I hadnt considered the Utd/Arsenal game but yes, that was also a fantastic game of football by both teams playing at such a high level on the night.

On the telly, they kept cutting to the Scotland bench. At 4-0 up, Scotland were going through and their bench were celebrating wildly iirc. They didn't look so happy when the Dutch got one back As an England fan, that just added to the joy. I was away on business so had to watch it in a skinhead pub in Leicester (don't ask - but very heavy BNP vibes). Once the game finished, me and my colleague had to scarper quickly. Happy days.

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

Yeah, that would be right up there as my choice as well. As would the CL Final v Bayern Munich, in the same season, for its incredible ending after United had been under the cosh most of the game.

None United match, I think I'd go for the Motherwell - Dundee United 1991 Scottish Cup Final. My dad and older brother have a soft spot for Motherwell (for some reason I've forgotten) and we went to that Final at Hampden when I was 12 or 13. Motherwell won the match 4-3 AET, and their keeper somehow played much of the game with broken ribs and a ruptured spleen! I remember reading about how the rest of the team went off in the coach celebrating, not realising they'd left him behind flat out not being able to move by then and he had to he driven to hospital when discovered! Although the keeper survived, sadly 4 more of that 1990/1 squad all later died in their 30's.

If talking purely about entertainment rather than quality: Dons v Lincoln at the NHS, January 2007. It was a Monday night game live on Sky, and I watched it at a work mate's house in Gravesend. That game had absolutely everything.

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"I sometimes buy the Big Issue out of social embarrassment. I don't buy a fucking bank!"

Except perhaps the aforementioned quality