Tag Archives: 89 the film

Review: 89, the film

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26th May 1989, is a date firmly etched in the memory of every Arsenal fan, despite what Sky would have you believe, it’s the greatest conclusion to a football season ever witnessed. So great a night and achievement that the book and later the film Fever Pitch were written and released to critical acclaim, albeit, by an Arsenal fan Nick Hornby.

For the younger fans, the story behind what happened that evening and quite what The Arsenal achieved that night wouldn’t be realised until they were older. Those of you a few years older understood exactly the task we had that evening.

Every kid at school where I grew up (Essex), bar a couple, supported Liverpool. They were the team to beat in the 70’s and 80’s.

Leading up to the 1988-89 season Liverpool had won 5 of the last 7 championships and their 4th European cup just 4 years previous. They were an English and European powerhouse.

The Arsenal on the other hand had won just one league cup 2 years prior, back when teams fielded a strong line up and took it seriously. You had to go back 10 years for our last major trophy according to modern day football.

We were top at the end of the year and at one point in the new year held an eleven point lead over Liverpool with a game in hand, a first league title in 18 years seemed inevitable. However, a sticky period between the middle of February and April the 2nd saw us pick up just 10 points from 24.

We dropped points at QPR and Coventry, 2 draws against Millwall and Charlton, and a 3-1 defeat at Home by Forest. This meant the lead had been whittled down to 2 points by the time we drew at Home to Man U on April 2nd.

A run of 4 wins on the trot restored confidence until we pretty much chucked it away (or so we all thought) with a draw against Derby and a defeat to Wimbledon, both games at home.

Liverpool on the other hand had won 17 out of 18 in all competitions including the FA Cup final leading up to the title decider at Anfield and were undoubtably massive favourites despite the backlogged fixtures due to the Hillsborough tragedy.

That famous night has been created into a film titled 89. She wore were lucky enough to be invited to the world premiere attended by some of the players from that amazing team along with guests of Arsenal Football Club notably (in my opinion) our future captain, should he stay fit / sign a contract…..

Reflecting back on the evening it’s difficult to summarise in words as it was that memorable, but I’ll try.

It started off with a 10-15 minute Q&A with Alan Davies as the compere/host, Lee Dixon, Micky Thomas, George Graham, Amy Lawrence and Tony Adams taking questions. These ranged from emotions of that special night, the team bond to Tony Adams wanting to know what he did on the Saturday night, so if anyone can assist he’d be grateful…

The film, everything I’d hoped it would be but more. As I’ve said above it’s difficult to put into words. But there are plenty of stand out points for me.

The respect the players had for George and the confidence and belief he instilled in the team. This will no doubt be obvious to the older generation that grew up watching his teams but for the younger it will be an eye opener.

George, rightly or wrongly is often compared to Arsene Wenger.  The majority of the older generation still class him as Arsenal’s greatest manager in the modern era. You don’t have to agree with that but once you watch it you’ll realise how much of a part he played in making Arsenal great again, It might sound daft as he’s the manager and you’d expect it, but the respect the players had for him is huge. We won that title because the team believed in him and themselves and George knew…

It’s funny, very funny. It shows a side to some players not seen before, we know Merse and Perry are renown for their wit, but the so called quieter players shine too, Lukic, Smudge and Nige. The unity amongst this set of players, the camaraderie, it was a group, a real team which no one was bigger than and that’s reflected.

Tragedy, Hillsborough plays a big part as you’d imagine and there are some harrowing images, it shows the emotions of the players and expresses how difficult it was for them at the time. The film also notably pays its respects to the 96 fans that sadly lost their lives.

I could go into so much more detail on the above but I don’t want to spoil it, we all know the result and outcome but what Amy Lawrence, Lee Dixon and the rest of the production team have produced is excellent. It’s also dedicated to Rocky, whose family were present, a wonderful touch. A truly magical film. Congratulations to all that were involved.

89 will be released on November 20th 2017. Pre-order today.

Cros

89 The Film – An interview with the stars

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We were given an opportunity to interview Lee Dixon, Amy Lawrence, Alan Smith and David O’Leary before the world premiere of 89, the film documenting Arsenal’s victory over Liverpool at Anfield in 1989.

Andy, from our friends over at The Arsenal History went along, this is his blog.

If you’re an Arsenal fan you’ve probably seen plenty of publicity around the new film “89” that recounts the story of THAT night at Anfield 28 years ago. Today I was lucky enough to be involved in a roundtable Q&A session with some of the stars of the film, along with a number of other renowned Arsenal bloggers.

The session took place at the Renaissance Hotel in St Pancras. If you’re a Harry Potter fan you will recognise it as the hotel from which Harry & Ron drove their flying car from when they missed the Hogwarts Express. It’s a fantastic building, and I expect the rooms are a little out of my budget.

With everyone having arrived on time we were kept waiting for a while, looking expectantly at every movement further along the corridor. Then Michael Thomas just strolled by. We all looked on incredulously as he gave us a smile, leaving us wondering if it was really him.

We were split into two groups, and each group was ushered into a room – Lee Dixon and Amy Lawrence were already waiting for us. I don’t think any of us knew exactly what we were supposed to be doing but having been told we only had 15 minutes we quickly set about asking questions.

I asked Lee when, following a fairly inconsistent start to the season, the team started to believe that they had a chance of winning the league. Lee said that it wasn’t until around Christmas when they were top that they thought “we’re a long way into the season and still up there so we must be doing something right.” That was a culmination of what they had been practising on the training pitch over a number months starting to come to fruition. By then they had become somewhat fearless; this mixture of one group of talented young kids from London and another of “lower league reprobates” who were keen and hungry, and happy to be disciplined by George Graham because it meant that they were winning.

And as a follow up: did they think that they had cocked it up towards the end of the season as we faltered and Liverpool finished like a steam train? “Most days” was the answer. As they got closer to the prize, fear kicked in. The Derby defeat was big but not too bad as we had Wimbledon at home. However, that draw made them think, “uh-oh” especially as that was pretty much the reaction they felt from the crowd as well. It was at this point that they thought they had messed it up because it was inevitable that Liverpool would beat West Ham leaving them with an almost impossible task.

This led into Amy talking about her experience of going to the game. There was a degree of “maybe we can” amongst the travelling Gooners as they boarded the coaches to Anfield, being cheered off by local schoolchildren and people who may not have been to a game in years, if ever. It seemed strange that they were being wished “good luck” as if the fans were actually going to take part in the game itself.

With our 15 minutes up, Lee and Amy departed, and we were then joined by Alan Smith and David O’Leary. After a couple of questions about big names that had left, the number of centre backs that George Graham bought – possibly in an attempt to replace O’Leary – and the change in tactics towards the end of the season, I asked them if the Hillsborough tragedy had affected them in any way, either personally or professionally.

Smith said that, obviously, the events on the day had upset them and he felt for Kenny Dalglish and his team who attended funeral after funeral in the ensuing weeks. There was also a break of more than two weeks before the next game against Norwich which affected them mentally and physically as they were only ticking over in training. Those two weeks also proved beneficial to Smith as it gave him time to recover from a fractured cheekbone which had been sustained in the game against Manchester United.

As our time came to a close I asked O’Leary if it was worth the wait (it was his 14th season at Arsenal). I’m not sure anyone could ask a more rhetorical question, of course it was worth the wait but he thought that they had blown it after the Derby and Wimbledon games. The final whistle at Anfield was the greatest he had ever heard in his life. I have to say that one of my own recollections of that night was of how chuffed I felt for him as he had stayed loyal to the club despite being courted by the likes of Manchester United.

And then it was all over. I would like to express my thanks to Lee, Amy, Alan and David for a fantastic time and being so candid with their answers, and to She Wore for letting me represent them. An afternoon that I will remember for the rest of my life.

89 will be released on November 20th 2017. Pre-order today.

Andy
The Arsenal History