This episode contains discussion of the Heysel Stadium disaster (1985, 39 deaths) and the Hillsborough disaster (1989, 97 deaths).

There are episodes in this series about glory, and episodes about failure. Episode Six is something harder than either: it is about joy and catastrophe arriving together, so closely intertwined that it becomes impossible to separate one from the other.

Joe Fagan's treble in his debut season. The night at Heysel in May 1985 when 39 people died before a European Cup final, and Liverpool were banned from Europe for five years. Kenny Dalglish as player-manager, winning the double in his first season. John Barnes arriving in 1987 and producing, in 1987-88, one of the most complete seasons any Liverpool player has ever had. The FA Cup final lost to Wimbledon. Sheffield, 15 April 1989, and everything it cost. The title lost on the last minute of the last day to Arsenal. One more championship in 1990 — the last for thirty years. And then, on 22 February 1991, a press conference and a resignation and the end of an era.

Player of the Era: John Barnes — Jamaican-born, from Watford; arrived just as the great storm was gathering; played, somehow, as if defying it.

Central question: How do you carry on after football stops feeling like the most important thing?

Research Sources

The Hillsborough Independent Panel Report (2012) — the definitive account of the disaster, its causes, and the subsequent cover-up; essential reading before recording this episode

Phil Scraton, Hillsborough: The Truth (Mainstream Publishing, 1999; updated 2016) — the academic study that underpinned the families' campaign; the most thorough single-volume account

Kenny Dalglish, My Liverpool Home (Hodder & Stoughton, 2010) — Dalglish's account of the aftermath of both Heysel and Hillsborough, and the toll they took; the most direct available source on his experience

John Barnes, The Autobiography (Headline, 1999) — Barnes's account of his career at Liverpool, including the racial abuse and his relationship with the supporters; direct and illuminating

Brian Pead, Liverpool: A Complete Record — for the specific match results, scorelines, and trophy details throughout this period

David Conn, The Fall of the House of FIFA and various Guardian investigations into Heysel — for the UEFA and administrative failures that made the Brussels stadium disaster possible