Fear and anger of those on the pitch

BEFORE…

Jack Charlton: ‘My son Peter had travelled over on the boat from Liverpool for the game and I remember him telling me he’d had trouble with England fans who had found out who he was. It was an ugly incident and he’d been frightened.’ David Kelly: ‘The political situation wasn’t mentioned within the squad. Jack Charlton was purely all about the football. He won the World Cup with England, but was our national manager and wanted to win. The team bus was the usual jovial place.’

Gary Pallister: ‘We were aware of the environment that existed and the fact it was a powder keg. We didn’t expect anything to happen in the game. Everyone was desperate to be in the squad for Euro ’96.

DURING…

Charlton: ‘People were coming onto the pitch to get away from the trouble, some of them with bloodied heads. The scenes reminded me of the Hillsborough disaster at first, if I’m honest. I’d been at that game. It was mayhem and I feared the worst.’

Kelly: ‘The shot was a bit of a mishit, but fortunately the ball bounced along the side of the goal and went just across the top of David Seaman’s arm. As we were jogging back, we realised there were a few things going on.’

Pallister: ‘Security and police came in to inform us what was happening. They asked whether we would feel happy going back out into that kind of environment. The general consensus among the players was that it probably wasn’t the best thing to do.’

AFTER…

Char Charlton: ‘My feelings turned from concern to anger. I was furiousfuriou about what happened. It was a game of football and a few silly buggersbu turned it into this.’

Kelly: ‘When we got back to the hotel, we put the news on and saw exactly what was going on. We reacted with bewilderment, disbelief and sadness that these fools had caused the stoppage of the game. The goal still counts in my house, though.’

Pallister: ‘There was hardly time to get a sweat on, all because of a few idiots. I was disappointed and gutted a game of football could turn into that kind of environment. I felt more disappointed than frightened.’