And the full misery of the Dutch denouement was compelling, if heartbreaking, viewing:
Taylor: "Linesman, linesman, what sort of thing is happening here? You know it, you know it, don’t you? Absolutely disgraceful."
Linesman mutters something.
Taylor: "Linesman, linesman, that’s disgrace… Hells Bells!"
Koeman hasn’t even scored the free kick yet. In the gantry, Brian Moore is first to cotton on to what’s about to happen.
"He’s going to flip one. He’s going to flip one. HE’S GOING TO FLIP ONE."
Koeman has scored.
Taylor: "I’ll tell you, they don’t f**king deserve." "F**king. That is absolutely shocking."
Businesslike for a moment.
Taylor: "We’ll have to get Wrighty on shortly."
Phil Neal: "We’ll have to give Wrighty a go."
Taylor turns his attention once more to the beleaguered linesman.
"You know we’ve been cheated, don’t you."
Linesman motions him back to his technical area.
"I have a metre. I have a metre. You know. It’s alright."
Linesman is getting fed up. Goes to report Taylor, who pleads for mercy.
"I won’t say anything else. Come on, don’t. But I’m allowed to stay in the metre."
Linesman lets him off with a warning. However, the peace bond is soon broken:
"Even if he doesn’t see it as a penalty, he has to go. You know that. I know you know it, so… And then the fella scores the free kick."
A sudden outbreak of bonhomie from Taylor:
"You can’t say anything. I know you can’t say anything. I know that."
Again it’s short-lived:
"But, you see at the end of the day, I get the sack. Will you say to the fella, the referee has got me the sack."
"Thank him ever so much for that, won’t you?"
fucking comic genius that is.