Keith Hackett was the referee when all hell broke out in Manchester United's Old Trafford clash with Arsenal in 1990.
The bad blood had been simmering for a while. David Rocastle was sent off at Old Trafford in 1987, retaliating to a foul by Norman Whiteside, as the Gunners were riled at losing a 22-match unbeaten record.
When Brian McClair skied a last-minute penalty at Highbury, costing the Reds the chance of an 1988 FA Cup fifth-round replay, Nigel Winterburn's decision to taunt the crestfallen Scot was always going to stick in the mind of the striker and his team-mates.
So, in October 1990, a fractious Division One game boiled over when Winterburn launched into a bad tackle on fellow full-back Denis Irwin.
Irwin reacted by kicking out at Winterburn, as did McClair, who then appeared to take a punch from Anders Limpar. The Swede had scored the only goal of the game, against the run of play, when Hackett deemed his near-post shot had crossed the line before Les Sealey could scramble it away.
There were repercussions - United were docked a point and Arsenal two for their part in the 21-man fracas, with only David Seaman not involved in the brawl. In fairness, some players, including Sealey who restrained Rocastle, were attempting to calm things down.
Hackett only booked Winterburn and Limpar, although both sides were also fined £50,000 apiece at a disciplinary hearing. Arsenal's punishment also took into account the north Londoners' spat with Norwich City the previous year.
“I mean it happened out of nothing,”
recalled Hackett, the latest guest on UTD Podcast, which is released today [Monday]. “The game was going okay. I was staying out of it. I had this approach of let them play. That's what spectators want. They don't want to see me.
”It suddenly exploded and I'm in the middle of it. In that period of time, I'm thinking: which one do I send off? I was genuinely thinking someone has got to go. But who is it? I thought it's him, it's him, then it's him and it could be him. We didn't have a process then, we have one now.
“And I just thought it calmed down. I'm not going to lose my head if they lost a bit of theirs, and I went 'get on with the game'. So there were no red cards.
”Then, of course, The FA said what's gone off, they've seen it all. So I pushed through a report. So I'm sat there and The FA said: 'What do you think? Who are you going to blame?' It could be one, it could be all. I said for that one, someone said to me what about this incident, and I said: 'Yeah, that's a red card. No question. But how can I react when I've not seen it?'
“They said 'thank you Mr Hackett, you can go home.'”
Arsenal went on to win the league and the rivalry would persist, particularly when Arsene Wenger took charge and both clubs competed for the top honours.