Words by Tony Topping | Published 20.02.2026

Football eh? You can’t get enough of it, can you?

Well, that’s what I always thought until one event, held over the weekend of 16th & 17th of April 1988, almost put me off the game for good and even makes me feel ill if I think about it too much today.

The worst part is I was chuffed to bits when we qualified for “The Mercantile Credit Football Festival”, also known as the Football League Centenary Tournament.

Qualification for the festival, to be held at Wembley, was based on the number of points teams gained in 15 league fixtures between the beginning of November and the end of February. Tables were compiled from those results with the top eight clubs from the 1st Division qualifying, top four from the 2nd Division and top two from Divisions 3 and 4.

Still awake? Perhaps this next paragraph taken from the official programme will put paid to that: “Provision was made so that in the case of clubs not fulfilling 15 league fixtures during the specified period, points were to be allocated on a pro rata basis for any missing games, if necessary, to establish qualification” Makes the Rugby League Play Offs format look like child’s play.

I was obsessed with Wigan Athletic and their points total during this qualifying period, desperate for them to take part in this historic event. Oh, how misguided and gullible I was...

At the end of February1988 our place in the showpiece (sic) was confirmed and we were off to Wembley! What followed was the most boring day of my life and had me questioning my sanity.

The teams that made it through to the festival were Liverpool, Manchester United, Everton, Wimbledon, Luton Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest from Division 1. Division 2 was represented by Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa, Leeds United and Crystal Palace. Division 3 sides Sunderland and Wigan Athletic took part, while Division 4 was represented by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tranmere Rovers.

Worryingly, a lot of my friends didn’t fancy going and that should have set the alarm bells ringing in my muddled brain but at the time it didn’t. Instead my nephew asked me if he could go and was very keen to do so. Unfortunately he was only 8 years old and beyond rational thinking so my sister asked me what I thought with me being a fully-fledged responsible adult.

“Oh he’ll love it! Non-stop football all day, what’s not to like!”

Paul Gascoine in action for Newcastle United against Tranmere Rovers, April 1988.
Photo Credit: The Guardian

I booked us on the Luxury Coach - £11 per person and £4 cheaper than the Executive Coach. My reason was that Luxury conjured up images of plush white carpets, gold handles on the toilet door and all else that comes with the promise of luxury, whereas Executive brought to mind dark wood panelling, ornate desk calendars and pens on chains. In the end the difference was they had a free coffee machine.

The day arrived and we boarded the coach at 5:30am on a cold and grey morning which set the tone for the day. The first game at Wembley was scheduled for 10am hence our early start. After all, who would want to miss Tranmere v Wimbledon?

Anyway, we got to Wembley in time for the kick off and it was cold, wet and breezy. All the Wigan fans made for their allocated terraced sections at the back of the goals whereas this imbecile made for Entrance 2 and the seats at the side of the pitch.

I’d made another error (in an Argos-sized catalogue of errors) by thinking we would be better off close to the halfway line. We weren’t. We were miles away from our own supporters and the “seats” I had booked were the plastic bottom of a seat with no back, nailed to a plank of wood. My 8 year old companion looked at his seat, at the other Latics fans in the distance and sat down with a sigh.

The games themselves were 40 minutes long (20 minutes each way) and if the scores were level at the end of the game then sudden death penalties decided who got through to the next round.

Wigan Athletic v Sunderland was the penultimate game of the first round so we only had to sit here for another 7 hours before our lads kicked a ball in anger.

The results from the first round were as follows; Tranmere 1 v Wimbledon 0, Leeds 0 v Forest 3, Luton 0 v Man Utd 2, Villa 0 v Blackburn 0 (Villa won on penalties), Everton 1 v Wolves 1 (Everton won on penalties) Palace 0 v Sheff Wed 0 (Wednesday won on penalties) Wigan 0 v Sunderland 0 (Wigan won on penalties) Liverpool 0 v Newcastle 0 (Newcastle won on penalties), and Wembley Seat 1 v My Backside 0.

A father and son endure the weather during the Mercantile Credit Football Festival.
Photo Credit: Getty

So, we had seen 8 goals in 8 games in over 8 hours. A goal an hour in a damp, dismal, dreary dump. Festival? I had a bottom like a baboon and a walk to match it. I don’t know what the Football League expected from the fans but if your team got knocked out the fans of that club just buggered off out the stadium, never to return. At one point our seats were surrounded by a mass of Palace fans for 40 minutes then they withdrew like a red and blue tide and we were left alone once again.

The first two Quarter Finals were played after the first four games and the results were; Newcastle 0 v Tranmere 2, Forest 0 v Villa 0 (Forest won on penalties). The last two Quarter Finals took place at roughly 7pm with Manchester United beating Everton 1-0 and then finally, finally, at around 7:30pm Wigan Athletic came out to play Sheffield Wednesday in a deserted stadium. The game ended 1-1 and Wednesday won the penalty shoot-out.

And you know what? I couldn’t have cared less.

We trudged back to the deserted car park and alighted our lacking-in-luxury coach. My nephew never came to the football with me ever again.

Around 40,000 spectators attended the The Mercantile Credit Football Festival (to me, the Festival of Flipping Boredom) according to the official figures. I can’t even be bothered to tell you the results from the Sunday games but Nottingham Forest won the final beating Sheffield Wednesday on penalties after a fittingly tedious 0-0 draw. A total of 17,000 fans watched the Sunday games. 

Brian Clough, the Forest manager at the time, didn’t attend any of the matches.

A very wise man was Brian.

Players celebrate after a rare goal was scored in the tournament.
Photo Credit: Getty