RIP the 39.
Regards the rightful ban of the English in ‘85, I would have banned them again from all international football (including Euro ‘96) when their hooligans threw chairs and metal bars at my countrymen and women in Dublin 15 minutes into an Ireland vs England ‘friendly’ game in February 1995.
Watching the Busby doc on Sky Documentay yesterday it was good to see they mentioned Man United getting banned from European football in the 1970s after their hooligans rioted in France, this following Leeds United who were banned in ‘74 for three years after their fans rioted in Paris after the Euro Cup final. With hooliganism (and racism) widespread in the English game by the 1980s a complete ban was long overdue.
One issue though is while the English had largely cleaned up their act by the early 2000s, with hooligan firms no longer as active as previous, the Italians did not. You still can’t go to certain grounds in Italy without a police escort, while they remain racist to the core. The recent booing at some grounds in England during players taking the knee for racial equality shows their are still some knuckle-draggers among the English crowds. To weed all of them out of society is the goal.