by The 1980 and 2000 European championships were only 20 years apart. They also belonged, both literally and figuratively, to different millennia. Euro 80 was a more violent waste of negativity, apathy and hooliganism, Euro 2000 a joyful and divided celebration of 21st century football.
This shocking contrast was the spark of the last series of Nessun Dorma: An Odyssey through the history of football in the 1980s and 1990s. Our goal is to highlight, via a series of underground dives in each football season, how it went from a “slum sport played in the slum stadiums and more and more watched by slums” – Times on Sunday called it in 1985 – in a multi -milliards of books.
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There are several episodes per season, as well as deep dives in the main international tournaments and some diversions in the broader world of sport and pop culture. The guests include Pat Murphy, David Goldblatt, Dominic Sandbrook, Kieran Maguire, Tony Evans, Gordon Smith and Scott Murray.
There are also exclusives of Patreon: Q & AS and a regular weekly functionality called, Uh, this week, in which we hit seven dates from the football past. We will soon launch a Discord channel in which subscribers can spend time (okay, nerd out) with each other and the Nessun team Dorma. The more we have subscribers, the more we can all bathe in the past and claim that 2025 does not occur. Consider it as a charity.
The main series is underway – we are currently at the end of the business of one euro 84 fairly glorious – and we will probably finish in 2029. This is what we have covered so far.
1980-81
We start from below: the 1980 European championship, a miserable and violent tournament played largely in front of the empty stadiums in Italy. Then, we turned to the 1980-1981 season, memorable in this country for the exploits of Aston Villa, Ipswich, Tottenham Hotspur – and Liverpool, which made a fines of an unusually dismal league campaign by winning the European Cup for the third time.
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Euro 80 | Ipswich, Villa and Spurs (PT1) | Ipswich, villa and spurs (PT2) | Crystal Palace, 80s team | The European triumph of Liverpool | Man Utd Sack Dave Sexton | Cricket: The ashes of both?
1981-82
There were stories of oppressed in Gogo in 1981-1982, from the rise of Swansea through the divisions in Liverpool which rumbled inexorably through the field to win the title. Okay, it is hardly a story of oppressed but they were 12th at Christmas. We also examine the brief domination of the new Spanish company, Real Sociedad and Bilbao athletics, and how a young Sven-Göran Eriksson led Ifk Gothenburg to a triumph of the categorical UEFA Cup.
Liverpool, Swansea and more | Hooliganism and Falklands | Sven, Göteborg and the UEFA Cup | New Spanish company
España 1982
If you are between 44 and 54 years old – you are, isn’t it – there is a good chance that you will consider in 1982 as the best World Cup in your life. We devoted eight episodes to a football festival in Spain.
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England | Scotland | Northern Ireland | Algeria and Cameroon | Brazil | Italy 3-2 Brazil and Western Germany 3-3 France | Post mortem | The draft
1982-83
The shock of the new was a recurring theme of the 1982-1983 season. We discuss the other new company, that established in Scotland by Sir Alex Ferguson and Jim McLean, celebrates the rise of Watford and Luton in England, investigating the way Hamburg beat Juventus galacticos At the upper table of Europe and draw the often forgotten origin of fierce rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester United.
We also speak to Brighton striker Gordon Smith about one of the greatest What-IFS in the history of the FA Cup and recall the retirement of the unpretentious English football: Bob Paisley, who has quietly moved from Liverpool after winning his sixth title in nine years.
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‘And Smith must mark…’ | The new Scottish business | Original story: arsenal and man utd | The rise of Watford and Luton | Hamburg winning the European Cup | Bob Paisley’s retirement
1983-84
On the morning of April 25, 1984, there was a good chance that the three European finals this season would be British business. We cover dramatic events and putting the brain of this day in a bumper pod, while devoting episodes to European races in Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
The Spurs also made the headlines out of the field: we speak to Kieran Maguire of their revolutionary flotation and the impact he had on football in the next 20 to 30 years. The regulars of Nessun Dorma Gary Naylor (Everton) and Mac Maillings (Watford) do their best to remain impartial while recalling the FA Cup final of 1984 between the sides. And the Grand David Goldblatt remembers the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
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The division one season | April 25, 1984 | Kieran Maguire on Tottenham’s flotation | Triumph of the European Cup of Liverpool | Spurs’ UEFA CUP RUN | Final end | David Goldblatt at the Los An Olympic Games
Euro 84
It’s hard to believe now, but the European championship was an endangered species in the 1984 tournament in France. Sixteen days of pulsed and without hindrances have changed all this – although you have not necessarily known it in England, where only two of the 15 games were shown live. We put aside seven episodes to cover the tournament, two of which are only on qualifications. When you hear some of the stories – such as the sloppy attack with three against nothing that cost a place in Bulgaria in France – you will understand why.
Qualifying (PT1) | Qualifying (PT2) | Group 1 | Group 2 | Semi-final
The draft
We also direct a sports project for each year of our Odyssey from 1980 to 2000. Mike Gibbons, Mac Maillings and Gary Naylor are each trying to capture the sports year with their choices, while also trying discreet drive-bys on selections each other.
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1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984
We have also made a handful of other projects, including some 1990s’ world cups. Cricket World Cups.
Division Un 1984-85 | England in the 1990s | Premier League 1992-93 | Champions League 1999-2000 | 1992 Cricket World Cup | 1999 Cricket World Cup
USA 94
From our last sports network position – where these two years passed – we have resumed USA 94, from the shocking murder of Andres Escobar to the genius of Gheorghe Hagi, Romário, Roberto Baggio and Hristo Stoichkov.
Overview | A&B groups | C&D groups | E&F groups | Last 16 | Quarter -finals | Semi-finals | Final and post-mortem
Finally and above all, there are a number of unique episodes on a variety of subjects.
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When Italian football has ruled Europe | Elton Welsby interview | Gary Lineker | The English season 1994-1995 | Remember Sven
Nessun Dorma is available on iTunes, Spotify and Sublack. You can also find it on Bluesky and Patreon.
