We lost players simply because at the time we had the best players in the league and naturally a lot of them were ambitious. Take a look at the England team at the time, Steven, Stevens, Reid, Bracewell, Lineker, in addition we also had Southall, Van Den Hauwe, Ratcliffe, Sheedy and Sharp who were big stars for their respective countries. Had we been in the European Cup then Kendall wouldn't have left and probably the others wouldn't either. When the ban came in many top stars went abroad because of ambition-greed and no amount of 'looking after' would keep them, that's why you lost Rush, and you only got him back cos he didn't settle in Italy whereas our emigrants all did well with their new clubs.
What's happened has happened, and yes, teams like Liverpool, Arsenal, & Man U hit the ground running when the ban ended, and yes, we went into decline, but wouldn't any club whose guts were ripped out by the break up of a successfull team and the loss of the best manager in the league?
Without the ban there would have been no break up of the team, European Cup football would have attracted more big name players and more money to the club and there would have been no decline.
After winning the FA Cup, the European Cup Winners Cup and the League our success was no flash in the pan, we were poised to dominate for quite some time but the ban halted it. I can't think of any other team who were affected as much by thre ban as us, and as our supporters had behaved impeccably in Rotterdam the week before, then yes, it's been a bitter pill to swallow, which is why you still get knobheads like True Blue giving out loads of Hysel poo.
Bernie The Bolt
