Anders Limpar sheds light on Old Trafford brawl and explains how ‘weak’ George Graham was the reason behind his Arsenal exit

In the second part of an exclusive interview with Ladbrokes: Fanzone, Anders Limpar talked about his winner for Arsenal at Old Trafford in 1990 and his role in the brawl which sparked the rivalry with Manchester United, plus his relationship with Gunners manager George Graham and his move to Everton.

Click on the link for the first part in which he discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the current Arsenal squad and recalled his classic time-travel prank.

I’m proud I started Old Trafford brawl

My goal, on that day, to win the game for us at Old Trafford – it was absolutely intentional. I normally used to take corners, but for some reason  I think Paul Davis was already over there with the ball and he played it short to me. I looked up and saw Man United’s goalkeeper was out of position, so I had a go. My main asset was my ability to cross the ball, so I knew exactly what I was doing in that moment. The ball was clearly over the line and that was the end of that. What happened next is what that day is most remembered for, though…

I can honestly say I’m proud to have started that brawl, because it really started that rivalry between Arsenal and Man United. But I’m not proud of what I did in that brawl. I’m not proud of hitting Brian McClair with my fist – I regret it so much because you just shouldn’t do that.

I’m honoured to have started the rivalry, I’m proud of that. But you should never throw fists on the football pitch. I’d rather have taken him out with my studs, or something like that. You should never, ever, punch somebody in that environment. I’m ashamed of that.

If you go back and watch the scene, Nigel Winterburn flies into a tackle. Back in those days, you wouldn’t believe how brutal some of those challenges were – you never knew when someone was going to fly in on you. In that game, in that moment, the ball broke loose and Nigel went absolutely flying in to win it and while he was on the floor, I think it was Brian McClair who kicked him, three or four times in the back. On the street, it’s assault. I was trying to push him away, and in that moment I just hit him in the face with my fist, but I didn’t want to do it.

And then the brawl started. Twenty-one players were involved in it.. everyone except David Seaman. We’re lucky there was no VAR back in the day because it would have taken so long to figure out every single incident in that brawl. I’m not sure what the rulebook said at the time. I think you could maybe play with a minimum of six players or something like that? If VAR was around, there would have been 10 red cards in that fight, for sure.

I can remember hitting Brian McClair and then I can remember running away from the scene like a scared kid, because they were trying to get me. And then Paul Ince grabbed me round my throat and threw me into the crowd. And then the crowd were banging me, three or four guys in the crowd were just hammering me in my back and on my forehead… these are the supporters! So then I had to run back onto the pitch just to be safe!

It’s funny to watch back now, all these years later, but it wasn’t fun at the time. Not at all. They were hard guys and fists were flying around. And then we had to go on and finish the game! You don’t have brawls like that every day, but you had tackles like that every week, so we just tried to shake it off and carry on playing.

After the game, United were deducted a point, and we got two points taken off, so the only real winners in all of it were Liverpool, because they further extended their lead at the top of the table.

I’ve never, ever heard of a team being deducted points for fighting like that…I think, if anything, the game should have been played again.

I got fined two weeks’ wages for my part in it. The club made that decision, but the hardest part to take from all of it was losing those points, because it made our job so much harder for the rest of the season.

‘Weak’ George Graham was the reason I left Arsenal

This is the true story of my Arsenal exit. After my four-year contract was up, I went up to George Graham’s office with my agent, and we wanted to re-sign for another four years. I was happy at the club. I wanted to stay for life, so we asked if we could stay for another four years.

“Anders, I can’t guarantee you a place in the squad anymore.”

I said that wasn’t a problem, I wanted to fight for a place in the team, but he said no. He told me he’d had too good an offer from Manchester City. ‘What the f***? Why would I want to go to Manchester City?’

After another hour or so of me and my agent trying to persuade him, he just said no. And at the end of the conversation, I stood up and offered my hand to him, to shake. He just looked up and spun his chair round so he was no longer facing us. That, for me, was one of the saddest moments of my life.

George Graham didn’t even thank me for what I’d given him over the last four years, didn’t wish me the best, didn’t say anything. For me, that’s a weak person. He could have easily hugged me and wished me well, but he didn’t say anything. It was a sad moment.

I was heading to Manchester to at least speak with City, but on my way up there, my agent had a phone call from Kenny Dalglish, who was manager of Blackburn at the time. I turned them down, and then Mike Walker called from Everton and wanted to at least have a chat with me before I agreed anything with City. He stressed how much he wanted to sign me, and so after we went to Manchester, we headed over to Liverpool and before I knew it I was signing a three-year deal with Everton.

It was a good move for me, because I went on to win two titles with them, too. But, at the end of the day, I’d have loved to have played into the millennium with Arsenal, if I could. If I’d have signed another four-year deal, I’d have been there in the Arsene Wenger era, and would have likely signed another contract under him, but it wasn’t to be. For me, that was George Graham’s worst decision at Arsenal. If you remember, he got the sack after that terrible 1994-95 season, where Arsenal finished in 12th place. He probably wouldn’t say it, but the decision he made in the summer of 1994 is one he probably regrets.

It’s funny, because a lot has been made about mine and George’s relationship over the years, but I’d happily speak to him if I bumped into him today. After Arsenal’s last ever game at Highbury, against Wigan, we all did a lap of honour which took around 30 minutes, and I was chatting to him the whole time, like he was my best friend! I had no problems with him and he had none with me. It was just in that moment, at the end of my Arsenal career, I think he should have shook my hand and wished me the best. For all that’s been made of our relationship, at the end of the day I probably played the best football of my career under George.

George Graham allowed team bus to leave friendly without me

I was one of five foreign players regularly playing in the Premiership in 1990 and I felt no pressure whatsoever. I came from Italy. I’d had a good season over there, and I can assure you, absolutely no one at Arsenal had a clue who I was! There was no pressure on me whatsoever; I just went out there and enjoyed myself.

I came from a year in Italian football, where defensively, their style, and the emphasis that was placed on that side of the game, was unbelievable, but going forward, not so much! And then I came to England, where the game was 100 mph. I mean, the game was so quick, so hard, it was unreal. You only have to watch old clips on the internet now to see just how physical it was. But that was the English way, back in the day.

We weren’t allowed to pass the ball that much. George Graham would always tell us ‘the goal is up there – get to it as quickly as you can!’ If you were to take a game from 1990 and a game from 2023, we would have probably had 30 more shots at goal per 90 minutes than today, because the game was quicker. Nowadays, Pep Guardiola, and other managers like him, have changed that, and there’s so much emphasis on passing and possession. We weren’t allowed to have possession back in those days, and if you did keep the ball for too long, you’d get the s*** kicked out of you!

What helped me settle at the club, almost immediately, was that my first couple of days were in Sweden. When I joined, Arsenal were on tour in Sweden, so I just took my car from Stockholm to Gothenburg and was meeting up with everybody over lunch… I was shaking like you wouldn’t believe! Walking into a room with these guys: Tony Adams, Paul Merson, Kevin Campbell, Alan Smith…I was so nervous.

Then we went to Bergen to play a game against SK Brann. There’s a funny story from our time in Bergen, and how it was at Arsenal at that time under George Graham. I think we won the match against Brann 1-0 and I’d set up Kevin Campbell’s goal. After the game, we were signing autographs for around 50 kids or so…I looked over my shoulder and the team coach was leaving! I couldn’t believe it! I had to ask one of the guys we had around our team – a Norwegian guy – I asked him where we were staying. He told me the name of the hotel, downtown in Bergen, and drove me there.

I get to the hotel, up to my room where I see Alan Smith – who I ended up rooming with for four years. I asked Alan what the f*** was going on…

“Why did you guys leave?”

What he said in response was just classic and typical of George Graham. You have to remember I’ve been with the club for three days.

“George stood up on the coach and asked if everyone was on the coach. I told him you were still outside signing autographs for the kids and he just said ‘Anders knows the language, he can make his own way back’.

Thank you very much, boss! He made sure I knew he was in charge, that’s for sure. Three days in and he was happy for the coach to drive off and leave me behind.

In the summer of 1990, George Graham signed three players: myself, David Seaman and Andy Linighan. He wanted a solid goalkeeper, a winger, and a tough centre-half. Seaman went on to become the best goalkeeper in the league for the next 10 years, that back four was unbelievable. We had myself and Merse [Paul Merson] on the wings, then we had David Rocastle and Mickey Thomas, and so many options up front. I don’t think that team gets the credit it deserves, actually. Look at Alan Smith. He scored 115 goals for the club, Paul Merson scored nearly 100, Kevin Campbell must have been up there, and then in 1992 we signed Ian Wright! That’s an unbelievable amount of goals.

Then if you look at the back four, and how many clean sheets they managed, it’s unreal! We won five trophies in four years – it was an unbelievable era for Arsenal Football Club.

Kevin Campbell was so easy to play with. OK, he wasn’t like Ian Wright, a goalscoring machine, but he was so clever with everything he did. He knew when to make a run, he made my job so easy for me…he was probably one of the easiest players to play with. I looked good back in the day, but come on, let’s be honest, look at some of the guys playing in front of me – it was easy!

Cole would have been success at Arsenal – but not under Graham

Andy Cole, I have to say, was unbelievable in training. But he would have never, ever made it at Arsenal under George Graham. For some reason, Graham just didn’t like Cole. We couldn’t understand why, but he had to move. It was such a strange decision to allow Cole to leave for Bristol City, because he went on to show just how lethal he was in front of goal, and then of course he signed for Newcastle, and then Manchester United. All of the time we’re just thinking we’d lost an unbelievable player. But, again, I can tell you that Andy Cole would never, ever, ever have made it at Arsenal under George Graham. I have no doubt whatsoever that under any other manager, he’d have had a great career with Arsenal.

We were scratching our heads at that decision as players. If nothing else, he was a really nice person. We lost an unbelievable player but he was a great guy to have around the place. But, again, at that time, Arsenal already had Kevin Campbell, Paul Merson and Alan Smith around the place, it was hard to get in ahead of those guys. We missed him, but we didn’t miss him at the same time. Personally, I missed him, because he was very, very good to me and was a really fun person to be around. But he wouldn’t have made it at Arsenal under George Graham, I’m sure of it.

Relegation would be a disaster for Toffees

Everton have been in a bad state for a few years now. It’s so bad that the board can’t even attend games because of all the threats they’re getting from the supporters, a group who are among the best in the country, might I add. They’ve been fighting relegation for two years now, and I’m not sure if they’ll avoid the drop this season.

There are two huge games coming up, but both are going to be incredibly tough, because Wolves and Bournemouth both pose a threat at the moment.

I really hope – for the city of Liverpool – that Everton stay in the Premier League. That city needs both clubs in the top-flight. I’ve been there, in this exact situation, where we looked like we’d be going down with two games to go. We won away at Ipswich and stayed up as a result, so I’ve been there, and it’s a horrible, horrible feeling for a player in that position. There’s so much pressure and expectation on you, and nowadays it’s not easy to win these must-win games. Manchester City are probably the only exception. There are no easy games in this division anymore. It’s hard.

Those fans are so passionate. I look at it like this. In London, football, it’s a business, an interest, but in Liverpool, or anywhere up north, for that matter, it’s their passion, it’s their lives. It’s different, the passion is different. For a fan in London football means the world. For a fan in Liverpool, it means life.

It would be terrible if Everton went down, of course it would. It would be a disaster, especially when you think about the money the club has invested in this new stadium. Could you imagine that stadium in the Championship?

If you look at the history books, there aren’t actually many teams who go down and come straight back up. I’d predict it would probably take Everton at least five years to get back up again when you think of all of the top players who’d obviously leave. Then you’d have to rely on the academy players, because the club won’t want to spend any more money. It’s hard to get straight back into the Premier League. The Championship is such a difficult division to get out of. In fact, you’ll sometimes see sides drop down into League One before they return to the Premier League, because you don’t have the players, you don’t have the money. It would be absolutely devastating for a club like Everton if they go down.