The film blames the league
as it was their inflexibility over the fixtures that forced them to fly. Is that true?
shareas it was their inflexibility over the fixtures that forced them to fly. Is that true?
shareYes. In England at the time all matches were played on Saturday. The head of the Football League, Alan Hardaker, didn't want English teams in the competition in the first place. The League had "strongly suggested" teams not accept invitations into European competition the year prior. He was pretty xenophobic and didn't want English teams sacrificing anything at the expense of the domestic league. United were only able to get around him by lodging their entry with the FA directly, something that would have surly pissed off Hardaker. So he would not have allowed the match to be postponed. Forcing United to forfeit the match as punishment and a warning to other clubs attempting to play in Europe.
PS: This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R didn't exist.share
I can buy that. I remember the ear when the English thought they had the best football in the world.
Its that man again!!