I was accused last week by a Liverpool fan at work of being overly statistical about things because I said that the main thing I was concerned about this season was the League Title. Ok, so we’d just been knocked out of the Champions League and Liverpool were in the final but here is my point.
Chelsea have a very very good team and two years ago they won the league. It is said that retaining the trophy is even harder (ask Arsenal about that) but blow me if they didn’t do that last season. Then in the close season they spent another 0.00001% of Roman’s pocket money (i.e. a fortune) whilst United made a net profit by selling Goal Machine Van Nistelrooy. So it was odds on that Chelsea would win the league for the third time in a row.
Now, there are certain records in English Football that are nearly impossible to achieve. One, of course, is the treble. That is a unique record for United and United only. Next up is the double. Winning the league and the FA Cup in the same season. Until the 90’s when United and Arsenal made it look quite easy, this was the impossible acheivement that even the 80’s Liverpool struggled to do (the fact that United were the cup team and Liverpool won the league is a whole separate post).
And finally, the really hard one is winning the title three times in a row. This is a sign of real dominance. You own the league. If you peer back into the dim and distant past, you’ll see the legend that was Hebert Chapman who managed this incredible feat with two different clubs. And one of them was Arsenal! Ok, the miracle was actually Huddersfield Town, but you get my point.
It look Liverpool nine years of dominance before the finally won the league three years in a row. And oddly, United repeated the exact same pattern of league wins (XXoXXoXXX). Four teams ever. That is legendary stuff. Hard. If money can just come in and give this legendary stuff on a plate to Chelsea, well, why bother?
And as this season has proved, money can’t buy you everything. United have won the league and there won’t be a double, or treble or quadruple for Chelsea. Nor will they win three in a row. It’s harder than that. Mourhino better be in it for the long haul if he wants to be actually considered the “special one”
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Why not take the Premiership in isolation?
Winning 9 times in 15 years is a pretty good statistic; and what are the consistent factors? Ferguson and Giggs… Often a player that has had to be “tamed” and one that has to be nutured.
I’ll try and add more later. I am at the crucial point in reading “The Secret of the Last Temple”.
Only the Manager should be involved in selecting which players should be bought. As good players as Ballack and Shevchenco are they just did not gell in the team.
[quote post="62"]I too like statistics – as you know.[/quote]