the traditions of the sport , had virtually ghettoized fans , promoting a scheme to have each supporter issued with an identity card . On the field , sides such as Liverpool , Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest were renowned for their attractive play but elsewhere a corrosive cult of long ball football pervaded the game . That trend seemed to find vindication when arch-exponents Wimbledon , who in the course of a decade had bullied and scrapped their way through four divisions to reach the top flight , defeated Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final , prompting match commentator John Motson to declare that `` the Crazy Gang have beaten the Culture Club . '' With its clubs banned from Europe , many top British players opted to leave England altogether -- Gary Lineker and Mark Hughes to Barcelona , Glenn Hoddle to Monaco , Chris Waddle to Marseille -- adding further to the sense of terminal malaise . Hillsborough had not been caused by hooliganism but the tragedy was a product of the environment that hooliganism had created ; stadiums resembling decrepit fortresses , the fans caged inside steel bars and heavy-handed policing which treated all supporters
LONDON , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- It was inevitable that a tragedy on the scale of Hillsborough , when 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death during an FA Cup semifinal with Nottingham Forest , would have a transformative effect on English football . A Liverpool supporter Wednesday , outside Anfield . Ninety-six fans died from the 1989 Hillsborough disaster . But there was little reason to believe 20 years ago that , rather than being pushed even further towards the margins of society , the sport was on the brink of a revolution that would give birth to a global sporting phenomenon . Even before Hillsborough , it had seemed as if there was something irredeemably rotten at the heart of English football . Hooliganism , a scourge synonymous with the English game , had receded from its peak in the 1970s but English clubs were outlawed from European competition after rampaging Liverpool fans caused a wall to collapse at Brussels ' Heysel Stadium before the 1985 European Cup final , causing the deaths of 39 people , mostly supporters of the Italian side Juventus . British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher , showing little understanding or patience for