45 years ago this September, teenage West Ham United supporter Frankie Sait was killed following the team he loved.
Just 18 at the time, the teenager was crushed by a coach while attempting to cross a road in circumstances that have never been fully explained.
John Sait was only 11 when his elder brother Frankie was killed
Frankie, who was in Madrid to watch West Ham United face Castilla in the first leg of a 1980/81 European Cup Winners' Cup match was one of two men hit by the large vehicle along with another supporter, 'Pete' (surname unknown) - who miraculously survived.
However Frankie was not so lucky - and the football fanatic's life was snuffed out before he had the opportunity to do the things the rest of us take for granted - getting married, having children, buying a house etc.
Eye witnesses in Madrid suggested the driver of the coach had deliberately targeted Hammers fans, who were standing on the pavement when the collision occurred. Moments earlier another vehicle, a car, also attempted to drive into the supporters, which had forced Frankie and others with him up against a barrier.
Other reports claim cheers were heard from passengers on the coach when Frankie and Pete were hit, while a policeman was witnessed physically attacking a colleague in order to "try and calm him down during indiscriminate attacks which included woman and older fans".
Both men were taken to hospital following the incident, having been carted off in a police van, but Frankie never left it - for he died later than evening as a result of his terrible injuries.
Sadly, an attempt by one of Frankie's friends, Martin Duggan, to lay a wreath on the Upton Park pitch at West Ham's next home game - against Watford, three days after the tragedy - resulted in the memorial being removed instantly by club stewards, who were presumably unaware of the reason for its placement.
The game also resulted in West Ham skipper Billy Bonds being roundly booed by fans in the stands after he had (regretfully, in hindsight) referred to fans who travelled to Spain to watch the match as "scum", following reports in the English media, most notably The Sun newspaper, that West Ham supporters had caused mayhem, including urinating on Spanish fans below them inside the stadium.
Bonds responded to the negative response by flicking a 'v' sign to the supporters; something he later apologised for profusely, upon learning the full story.
And for anyone else bar Frankie's friends and family, that was the end of the story. The return leg was famously played at a near empty Upton Park, in front of an official attendance of 262, after UEFA decreed that no supporters should be allowed to watch the match.
West Ham went on to win the tie 6-4 on aggregate, after extra time was required to split the teams, and the club were eventually knocked out of the competition by a brilliant Dynamo Tbilisi team in the quarter finals two rounds later.
1 October 1980: West Ham 5-1 Castilla, the "ghost game"
But of course, for Frankie's nearest and dearest, it was - and remains - impossible to just "move on". And while his younger brothers John - who was just 11 when his big brother was killed - and Joey, plus other members of the family still regularly attend West Ham's home games, thoughts of Frankie are never far away.
According to an interview John recently gave to journalist Nigel Tufnell, "there is a link and that brings a sense of belonging and connection for the family to Frankie; John feels he is there with them".
One wonders whether, nearly half a century after their beloved brother was tragically taken from them in what remain the most suspicious of circumstances it is perhaps time for West Ham United to finally pay tribute to a young fan who lost his life simply because he wanted to follow his team?
After all, no enquiry has ever been staged to examine the events which led to Frankie's death, in either Spain or England, nor any arrests made relating to the incident -although it has been suggested that, at the time, a local paramilitary group offered to exact their own unique kind of revenge on the coach driver - an offer "politely declined" - on behalf of Frankie's family.
An article on West Ham's website recalling the infamous "ghost match" fails to include any mention of Frankie's death - a passing reference to "crowd disturbances" is the only nod to the trouble which saw Hammers fans beaten, battered, and sadly in Frankie's case, killed that night, although former striker David Cross at least recalls "a bit of bother in the first game".
In some regard it is as if Frankie Sait never existed, his death a dirty secret the club have been happy to let slide into the history books. It shouldn't be that way.
Of course, were such an incident to happen now the reaction would almost certainly be different, in this age of social media and 24/7 news coverage. However in 1980, hooliganism both domestically and abroad was rife while football supporters were, on the whole, treated like second-class citizens - animals, even - an impression that still pervades in some quarters today.
As was the case nearly a decade later at Hillsborough, Frankie was an unfortunate victim of those policies and preconceptions, a young man who had his life cruelly ripped away from him. Yet unlike the 97 who are regularly honoured by Liverpool, no flags fly for him. No benefit concert has ever been staged and there are no memorials on the club's premises, no references in media.
He is, by and large, a forgotten footnote in the club's distant, murky past. So perhaps it is time the club's current custodians righted this historical wrong and provide a permanent memorial to the eternally young Frankie Sait, who will always be one of us.
* You may read Nigel Tufnell's original article here
Madrid 1980: an eye-witness account: KUMB member Pob!
A local newspaper refers to "2,000 police" being mobilised during the match in Madrid
"I was there that night in Madrid. I was 14 and with my dad (Sid). We'd travelled from the ground to the intercontinental hotel in Madrid with Lacey's coaches.
We arrived the night before the match. After a brief sleep the next day was fantastic, loads of West Ham in Sol drinking in the bars, singing. However at about 4pm, before the match, things got dark really quickly when the Spanish police arrived in the town square - like some sort of army at war.
Dressed all in black and wearing balaclavas, armed with guns and grenades, they began snatching West Ham supporters out of bars. It was awful and fortunately, my old man got me out of there quickly.
We made our way to the Bernabéu and were placed up in the gods at the top of the stadium where we were subjected to all sorts of abuse. Not only by the Madrid supporters, but by the police too.
When a policeman put a gun in my back and told me to move rather aggressively, my dad decided enough was enough and got us out of there. We managed to get back to our hotel by cab where there was absolute carnage in the lobby.
"We locked ourselves in the hotel room until our coach turned up - minus a few windows - the next day. That's when we found out one of our supporters had been seriously hurt, while people were saying one had passed away.
The journey back home was rather sombre, to say the least. Then the icing on the cake - the "Scum" headline, attributed to Billy Bonds in the Sun. If only he had known at the time what had really gone on.
During the late 1970s and 1980s our away support were notorious, however the heavy-handed way the Spanish police went in for absolutely no reason earlier that day changed the whole atmosphere. Rest in peace, Frankie."
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