Liverpool And Manchester United Revisited

When Manchester United won the English title in 1967, they equalled the record of 7 titles held jointly by Arsenal and Liverpool, ahead of Aston Villa, Everton and Sunderland on 6 each.

FA Cup Final: Chelsea v Everton

Chelsea meet Everton in the FA Cup Final on tomorrow.  This will be the 15th major domestic cup final for both Chelsea and Everton.

Chelsea have reached the FA Cup Final 8 times before (winning 4) and the League Cup Final 6 times (winning 4 as well).  Everton have reached the FA Cup Final 12 times before (winning 5) and the League Cup Final twice (without having won).

How The Game Has Changed

Alan Hansen is right when he says

Things have changed a lot in English football since I was playing for Liverpool and chasing several trophies in the way Manchester United are now.

On the other hand, he is not correct to say that “the biggest difference” is that “United have got more strength in depth than the others [Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea] put together.”

Doubles And Trebles By English Clubs

With still more than 2 months to go until the end of the 2008-09 season, there’s already talk of Manchester United and the quadruple of League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup, as early as more than a month ago, and even by Manchester United’s assistant manager, Mike Phelan.

Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester United will face Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup Final on 1 March 2009 after both clubs came through difficult semi-finals against Championship sides.

It will be the first meeting in a final between two of the more successful clubs in major domestic cup competitions.

Spurs

Below is a newspaper article from September 1963, as appeared in The Official Illustrated History Of The Football League 1888 to 1988.

Transnational European Leagues

Continuing from here, nations such as Scotland and Holland, being constrained by their size, end up with league formats that suffer from conceptual weaknesses.

Their size also constrains their top clubs from keeping up with the top clubs from England, Spain, Italy and France, despite past successes.

This appears to run counter to a basic principle that underlies many of the goals and structures of the European Union – achieving growth and progress for individuals and entities within Europe without the constraints and limitations of national boundaries.

Allowing the football pyramid in Europe to grow transnationally is the only viable solution.

League Attendances

I’ve updated the year on year average home attendances for clubs that have played in the Premier League since 1992.

For the first time, Aston Villa have topped 40,000.

I should add an average home attendance column here, so that it can be seen more clearly how the average home attendance fluctuates with league performance.

Oldham Athletic

“However, finishing third in the Championship equals Hull’s best ever finish in the league – 1909-10, when they finished third in the old Second Division, missing out on second place by mere goal difference (of 6), with only two clubs being promoted.”

Oldham were the side promoted after finishing second on goal difference, and they went on to finish 7th in the old First Division in 1910-11, 9th in 1912-13, 4th in 1913-14 and 2nd in 1914-15, before the 3-season interruption brought about by World War 1.

FA Cup Semis – First Time Since …

The draw for the FA Cup Semi-Finals leaves open the prospect of a repeat of the 1912 Final between Barnsley and WBA 96 years ago, Barnsley’s one and only FA Cup win.

The one time Portsmouth won the Cup was in 1939, 69 years ago, when they beat Wolves, another West Midlands side.

Cardiff’s only FA Cup win was in 1927, 81 years ago.