Years In The Fourth Tier

With the relegation of Hartlepool United from League One, three of the four clubs that have spent the most number of seasons in the fourth tier of English professional football are back there.

The club with the most number of seasons in the fourth tier, Rochdale, are also only recently returned, having been relegated from League One the season before.  Rochdale also hold the record for the longest continuous spell for any club in the fourth tier – 36 years from 1974 to 2010, which was brought to an end by their promotion in 2010 followed by two seasons in the third tier.

Below is a list of clubs that have spend 20 or more seasons in the fourth tier since it was formed in 1958:

FA Cup Final Scores

Manchester City’s 0-1 loss to Wigan Athletic in yesterday’s FA Cup Final means that of the 10 finals they have been in, 5 or 50% have ended 1-0.

That is a higher proportion of 1-0s than for any other club that has reached 9 or more FA Cup finals.

FA Cup Final 2013 – Manchester City v Wigan Athletic

Moving away from the distraction of David Moyes replacing Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, three weeks ago, I noted:

The cup finals in England, Spain and Italy this season all involve two clubs from the same city/metropolitan area – all Madrid final in Spain, all Rome final in Italy and all Greater Manchester final in England.

Double checked, and Wigan is part of the Greater Manchester metropolitan county, but not part of the Greater Manchester urban area.

Replacing Alex Ferguson

My first reaction, yesterday:

The press have appointed David Moyes as Ferguson’s successor. Will he follow in the footsteps of Wilf McGuinness or Frank O’Farrell?

Man Utd would be better off trying to coax Jupp Heynckes out of retirement, as least for 3 years. You need an experienced and successful interim between a legend and younger man for the long term (and Moyes isn’t it) – if nothing else, to the reduce the immediacy of the shadow that will be cast.

Changing Dominance In The Champions League

The Wikipedia article entitled “European Cup and UEFA Champions League history” addresses periods of dominance by countries or clubs.  What it doesn’t address is how the advent in 1997 of having more than one club qualify from certain countries has influenced which countries dominate the competition.  The dominant footballing nations of European club football, Italy, Spain, England and Germany, have benefitted.

Last Eight To Finals Of The League Cup, 2012-2013

The 2013 League Cup Final on 24 February 2013 between Swansea City and Bradford City has been notable for the following:

• Swansea City are the first Welsh club to win the League Cup.
• This is only the second occasion that a Welsh club has won either of the two major domestic cup competitions in England.  The previous occasion was in 1927, when Cardiff City defeated Arsenal in the FA Cup Final.   The only other occasions a Welsh club has reached the final of either cup competition were in 1925, 2008 and 2012, with Cardiff City losing on each occasion – 1925 FA Cup Final 0-1 to Sheffield United, 2008 FA Cup 0-1 to Portsmouth and 2012 League Cup Final on penalties to Liverpool after a 2-2 draw.
• Bradford City are only second fourth tier club to reach the final of either of the two major domestic cup competitions in England.  The first Rochdale, who also reached the League Cup Final, in 1962, losing over two legs to Norwich City 0-4 on aggregate.

Years In The Football League – Post-1987 Relegation Versus Pre-1987 Longevity

Of the 21 clubs that were in the Football League in 1987 when automatic promotion and relegation with non-league was introduced, and were subsequently relegated to non-league (ignoring that some of them have been re-formed):

• 11 clubs were not in the Football League when the Third Divisions North & South were formed in 1921, and first played in the Football League after 1921 – Aldershot, Cambridge United, Carlisle United, Chester City, Colchester United, Hereford United, Mansfield Town, Oxford United, Shrewsbury Town, Torquay United, York City.
• 6 clubs that were in the Football League as at or before 1921 lost and regained their place in the Football League prior to 1987 (whether before or after 1921) – Doncaster Rovers, Grimsby Town, Lincoln City, Luton Town, Newport County, Stockport County.

The Language Of Transfer Speculation

For Thursday:

FIFA – “The Family”

A summary of the voting at the FIFA Congress:

• The FA’s move at the Fifa Congress on Wednesday was defeated by 172 votes to 17. The Scottish FA was the only association to publicly back the FA. (It now appears that Vietnam voted for the FA motion by mistake – so it should have been 173 votes to 16).
• Blatter was re-elected after receiving 186 of the 203 votes cast to remain in charge until 2015.

Change FIFA? Change The World

In reply to:

So what happens now, FIFA is rotten to the core, ….

Andrew Jennings has been saying that for years. Unfortunately, it is only after England, Australia and the USA fail in their bids to host the World Cup that the English-speaking world has followed suit.