If I Hadn’t Seen Such Riches by Daniel Williamson – Review
By Karl Hornsey
To many modern football fans, the European Cup Winners’ Cup is nothing but a relic from the past, yet another thing swallowed up by the behemoth that the sport has become in recent decades. Steven Scragg went a long way to documenting the history of the competition with his 2019 publication, also by Pitch, A Tournament Frozen in Time, and now Manchester United supporter Daniel Williamson has dived down further, documenting his club’s triumph in the 1990/91 season. This isn’t just one for United fans, though, as there’s a deeply significant historical context to that campaign, as English clubs took their tentative first steps back into European competition as the ban on their participation since 1985 was lifted.
While it seems that only the Champions League matters to the high and mighty these days, as far as European football goes, the Cup Winners’ Cup was a fascinating tournament, given the varied quality and history of the clubs involved. That fact is born out here, with the likes of United, Barcelona and Juventus rubbing shoulders with Swift Hesperange of Luxembourg, Cypriots Nea Salamis and Wrexham – then of the Fourth Division, and United’s path to glory was suitably eclectic. Williamson uses interviews with fans, players and officials to give an ‘I was there’ feeling to the story, delving behind the scenes to find the nuggets of information that bring the time and the season to life, rather than simply focusing on matters on the pitch.
“Seeds were being sown”
This was a very different era in the football landscape and also for Manchester United, with few at the club realising how much they would go on to dominate the next two decades and sweep all before them. This, and the FA Cup victory that qualified them for the tournament, were two huge stepping stones in giving them the belief that sticking with manager Alex Ferguson was going to pay off. Williamson gives a round-by-round account, interspersed with mini-profiles of some of the key players, how they fared at the club, and their thoughts on what the cup triumph meant to them and to all involved. It’s a great way of getting under the skin of what, in the history books, may look like just another part of a hefty United trophy haul.
The variety of the tournament can be gauged by United’s opponents. The journey, and return to European competition, started with a tie against Hungarian minnows Pecsi Munkas, followed by a memorable match-up against a pre-Hollywood Wrexham, and an excellent Montpellier side who have since fallen on tough times. All the while, United were plagued by the inconsistency that was preventing them from ending their lengthy league title drought, but the seeds were being sown, including in the Cup Winners’ Cup fixtures. Legia Warsaw in the semi-finals saw a second trip behind the old Iron Curtain, and a glamour final against Johan Cruyff’s star-studded Barcelona was a dream way to end the European exile. This is just the sort of seemingly niche book that Pitch excels at, with Williamson adding greater context to bring a fascinating story to life.
‘If I Hadn’t Seen Such Riches’ by Daniel Williamson is published by Pitch Publishing
Karl’s love of writing was piqued at the age of eight, when he won a Blue Peter badge in an essay-writing competition. The location of said badge might be a mystery now, but the memory never fades. Hours spent writing about sport as a teenager, in pre-internet years when you had to make your entertainment, honed his skills, and Karl has worked in TV and radio listings at PA Media for 28 years, and the age of hybrid working means 50% of that can be at home listening to Classic FM and thinking about his next visit to his beloved Yorkshire Dales.
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