EPL 2018/19 - End Game
Manchester City
The season has ended. Congratulations to Manchester City, the best squad ever assembled in the history of the Premier League. They deserved the title. The scary part is that they could get even better and Pep Guardiola, a student of the great Johan Cruyff is a genius, a sort of Bruce Lee in the modern day art of soccer. Manchester City was once my adopted favourite second team and it was because of the soccer they play under Kevin Keegan (2001-2005). If you are a City fan then you ought to remember the names Eyal Berkovic and Ali Bernabia. City had just been relegated but Keegan brought them back as champions of the old Division One and became the first manager to win Division One titles with two different clubs. I was also like watching Keegan's Fulham team and especially Keegan's Newcastle with his signature style of swashbuckling and breathtaking soccer. It is unfortunate he did not become League Champions that year. They always say that people only remember the champions never the runners-up. While it is quite true it is not entirely true. Very true when the runners-up are ordinary runners-up. Not true when the runners-up or even those below gave you something so memorable. Remember Brazil 1982? Netherlands 1974 - Johan Cruyff and Total Football? France 1984 with Michel Platini, Jean Tigana and Alain Giresse? That Newcastle team of 1996/97 was so bloody good but never won the title. Do you remember those names - Philippe Albert, Rob Lee, Peter Beardsley, Les Ferdinand, David Ginola, Alan Shearer, Faustino Asprilla, Darren Huckerby, Chris Waddle, etc. They were my second favourite team and every soccer fan's neutral favourite team. I have always like Tottenham for the way they play even more so now. Arsene Wenger's Arsenal and the "Invincibles" for the way they move especially with Thiery Henry gliding through the turf. Barcelona with Messi, Xavi and Iniesta under Pep Guardiola were pure fantasy.
Soccer First
The season has ended. Congratulations to Manchester City, the best squad ever assembled in the history of the Premier League. They deserved the title. The scary part is that they could get even better and Pep Guardiola, a student of the great Johan Cruyff is a genius, a sort of Bruce Lee in the modern day art of soccer. Manchester City was once my adopted favourite second team and it was because of the soccer they play under Kevin Keegan (2001-2005). If you are a City fan then you ought to remember the names Eyal Berkovic and Ali Bernabia. City had just been relegated but Keegan brought them back as champions of the old Division One and became the first manager to win Division One titles with two different clubs. I was also like watching Keegan's Fulham team and especially Keegan's Newcastle with his signature style of swashbuckling and breathtaking soccer. It is unfortunate he did not become League Champions that year. They always say that people only remember the champions never the runners-up. While it is quite true it is not entirely true. Very true when the runners-up are ordinary runners-up. Not true when the runners-up or even those below gave you something so memorable. Remember Brazil 1982? Netherlands 1974 - Johan Cruyff and Total Football? France 1984 with Michel Platini, Jean Tigana and Alain Giresse? That Newcastle team of 1996/97 was so bloody good but never won the title. Do you remember those names - Philippe Albert, Rob Lee, Peter Beardsley, Les Ferdinand, David Ginola, Alan Shearer, Faustino Asprilla, Darren Huckerby, Chris Waddle, etc. They were my second favourite team and every soccer fan's neutral favourite team. I have always like Tottenham for the way they play even more so now. Arsene Wenger's Arsenal and the "Invincibles" for the way they move especially with Thiery Henry gliding through the turf. Barcelona with Messi, Xavi and Iniesta under Pep Guardiola were pure fantasy.
Soccer First
I mention this simply because first of all I am a soccer fan first and it need not necessary be partisan. It is simply the greatest game to play as well as to watch. I am attracted to positive, attacking soccer. Good defensive soccer can be a delight to watch for example watching De Ligt (Matthijs) and Virgil Van Dijk. I am not talking about parking the bus. I can understand if you are a much weaker team playing the bigger teams and could get thrashed 5-0 then you play a very defensive game but if you have the resources and a big team you must play positive soccer. So I love watching attacking teams that play the beautiful game regardless of affiliation, country or club. In particular, we love the underdogs. I like to watch Malaysia play South Korea in those days in the Merdeka Cup as the Malaysians were so good they could beat S. Korea. DO you remember Denmark winning the European Nations Championship in 1992 when at first they did not even qualified? Peter Schmeichel, Brian Laudrup, Henrik Larson. Before them were Morten Olsen, Michael Laudrup, Preben Elkjaer. Do you remember Singapore's soccer legends of the 70s? These are amazing stories!
How do I know? My passion was ignited in school. We kicked a soccer ball every minute we could find the chance to. When there were no balls we make do with anything. I would save some money and spent them on soccer magazines and n those days "Shoot!" was my favourite and I have a large collection which I kept till today and they are still in pristine condition. I would only picked the issues I like for example when they have Kevin Keegan in the centre spread with his signature. Sometimes, I would take it out and pasted them on my room walls. They would adorn my walls together with say the Eagles. They will also feature others like Ray Clemence, QPR's Gerry Francis and Stan Bowles. Stoke's Alan Hudson, Derby's Roger Davies, Frank Worthington of Leicester and so on. They would also feature player profile with their full name, birth date, height, weight, what was their favourite food, their favourite player and their most difficult opponent plus many other articles on the game. That was where I gleaned my knowledge from. From there I went on to international games and the World Cup. I could still sing you the theme and jingles of 70s "Star Soccer" a weekly hourly highlights of the previous week's league matches and "Match of the Day" highlights of the F.A. Cup.
We should enjoy soccer as in many other sports without the violence and other bad vibes. Just listen to this lady stand up comedian, Yumi Nagashima on soccer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LGLMNJU6BE
Liverpool
So what a season we have just had. City would now covet the Champions League and envy Liverpool who have not won it yet but have another shot at it since last season while the irony is Liverpool would love the League title. Perhaps leaving the champions league earlier was a blessing to City to focus all resources on the league. City are breaking records of all sorts and for most part without their best player Kevin De Bruyne and had Liverpool breathing down their neck. That was mental strength and resolve. Ideals of Rinus Michels to Cruyff to Guardiola plus his own ideas to build this team with money bags to build further as Vincent Kompany would be 34, Fernandhino 35 and Sergio Aguero 31. Raheem Sterling has been the standout player now with plenty of goals and assists. Incredible improvement under Pep. He also stood out against racism. Kudos to him! He is now his own man and star.
How do I know? My passion was ignited in school. We kicked a soccer ball every minute we could find the chance to. When there were no balls we make do with anything. I would save some money and spent them on soccer magazines and n those days "Shoot!" was my favourite and I have a large collection which I kept till today and they are still in pristine condition. I would only picked the issues I like for example when they have Kevin Keegan in the centre spread with his signature. Sometimes, I would take it out and pasted them on my room walls. They would adorn my walls together with say the Eagles. They will also feature others like Ray Clemence, QPR's Gerry Francis and Stan Bowles. Stoke's Alan Hudson, Derby's Roger Davies, Frank Worthington of Leicester and so on. They would also feature player profile with their full name, birth date, height, weight, what was their favourite food, their favourite player and their most difficult opponent plus many other articles on the game. That was where I gleaned my knowledge from. From there I went on to international games and the World Cup. I could still sing you the theme and jingles of 70s "Star Soccer" a weekly hourly highlights of the previous week's league matches and "Match of the Day" highlights of the F.A. Cup.
We should enjoy soccer as in many other sports without the violence and other bad vibes. Just listen to this lady stand up comedian, Yumi Nagashima on soccer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LGLMNJU6BE
Liverpool
So what a season we have just had. City would now covet the Champions League and envy Liverpool who have not won it yet but have another shot at it since last season while the irony is Liverpool would love the League title. Perhaps leaving the champions league earlier was a blessing to City to focus all resources on the league. City are breaking records of all sorts and for most part without their best player Kevin De Bruyne and had Liverpool breathing down their neck. That was mental strength and resolve. Ideals of Rinus Michels to Cruyff to Guardiola plus his own ideas to build this team with money bags to build further as Vincent Kompany would be 34, Fernandhino 35 and Sergio Aguero 31. Raheem Sterling has been the standout player now with plenty of goals and assists. Incredible improvement under Pep. He also stood out against racism. Kudos to him! He is now his own man and star.
Being second can be worse that third of fourth. Worse, if by a point. Liverpool is a little unfortunate to be competing with the best team in Premier League history. Much like Sven Pri meeting Rudy Hartono in badminton. Svend Pri was such a talented and great Danish player. But Liverpool are challenging and breaking records on their own too. Raising their level from 25 points behind City to just one. They have Alisson with the Golden Gloves, the best pair of fullbacks in Europe in Andrew Robertson (for just 7 million pounds) and Trent Alexander-Arnold with a total of 24 assists ( 11 and 13 respectively), Virgil Van Dijk PFA as Player of the Year and Player of the Season, Salah and Mane on 22 goals as top scorers with Aubameyang (Arsenal). 97 points from 30 wins, 7 draws and just one defeat. Every player has improved maybe except Salah for his unusually high standard in the previous season but he is still at a very high level. The entire team has improved. Whereas once the attacking trio were most feared in Europe they then had a defence that leaked like the Titanic but now they have the best defence that conceded only 22. Next thing they could improve is to have their midfielders scoring more which they did only late in the season from Henderson, Keita and Wijnaldum. This will add a new dimension and perhaps convert more draws into wins. Even Origi deserve a new lease of life for his heroics!
They have helped produce the most memorable season in premiere league history. Liverpool are not being praised by the media because of who they are in history in England and Europe but really for what they have done. First Micheal Edwards, their Sporting Director supported well and recruited superbly. The Jurgen Klopp personality, his front foot soccer with so much energy - heavy metal soccer, his man management and relations with the fans and press has been fantastic. It is not easy to draw even a slight praise from Jose Mourinho but Mourinho has said that Anfield is special where the impossible become possible, he praised the supporters, the players, the team and gave his highest regards to Jurgen. This is worth more than anything else. If Liverpool do not challenge City then City become Thanos. Liverpool now has stability, experience and belief. They have youngsters coming through like Rhian Brewster. They may carefully add a few more quality players to give more depth to the squad. The older players are at a peak age of 27/28 and all have long term contracts and are no longer a selling club. They way they are playing, getting so close to the title and twice in the Champions League Final in two years, a great manager in Klopp would attract top players and youngsters with potential who would love to play for them. Yes, they have yet to win the Champions League or any title and there have been teams that disappear from the radar after a few good seasons. These are not signs of one season wonder. You do not get lucky to reach 97 points, beaten PSG, Bayern Munich, Porto and Barcelona champions of their countries to the Final. 29 years of missing out on the title becoming 30. Of course there will be some who would say Liverpool have just missed thier greatest chance and may not do it again. You want to bet against it? Despite these, there will be haters but other teams have worse problems. The thing to note is well. not just for soccer but in life itself.There is a big difference between merely wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for anything but after you worked your socks off, there must be the faith, courage and belief. The statement of mind to believe is not merely a wish or hope.
Going forward, if you were to look at the league table at the end of the season, City had 98 points, Liverpool 97. Chelsea in third have 72, Tottenham in fourth with 71, Arsenal was fifth with 70 and Manchester United in sixth with only 66. Chelsea is 25-26 points behind and that is a huge gap to plug. United was 31-32 points behind. If this were to be a golf tournament and points were strokes, can you imagine how many will not make the cut and that is food for thought.
Chelsea
Sarri-ball has gone wrong at some point. Lost in translation perhaps. Got off to a great start but got wonky along the way. Will Sarri be still around. Will they lose Eden Hazard? They still have some young stars like Reuben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi, all two-named players with a hyphen with bright future ahead. They have also added the exciting American youngster Christian Pulisic. The team may break up and restart which means changes would be rung in and they will take some time to be their former great. It will be also down to whether they keep Sarri who has just won the the Europa. Eden Hazard has sung his swansong and hard to replace if they are ruled and not allowed to sign new players.
Tottenham Hotspurs
You have to respect and give it to Tottenham who made history by becoming the only team who did not add a single player in two transfer windows. Spurs had a stretch of five games without a win which hurt them. Mauricio Pocehttino has an answer to match Eric Cantona's seagull story : "Its like a cow that every day during ten years sees the train coming at the same time and if you ask the cow what time the train is coming, you will not get the right answer. It's the same in football" or something like that. Give it to this man. He will do great! Will Pochettino be tempted to leave and go to Juventus or some other big clubs? Will that lead to an exodus of players like Harry Kane leaving? They have been hampered by their stadium building and lack of signings but next season they could very well add-on and raise their level to challenge. Because of their stability, they are the likeliest to challenge City and Liverpool. If Pochettino stays and all the key players kept. Whether they win the Champions League or not will not make then a lesser team. They have been very good and will get better.
Arsenal
Arsenal got off to an uncertain and bad start but clawed back with some unbeatable stuffs but ran out of steam in the final third. The Gunners also became poor on the road but they have shown they could provide some serious stuffs on their day, attack-wise but need serious beefing up their defence. There will be additions and subtractions before they start again especially to improve their away form. They could beat almost everyone at home but also lose to anyone away. Just like their London neighbour Chelsea, Unai Emery may just have to tinker again. However, the manner in which they surrendered to Chelsea after being crushed 1-4 has shown a gulf.
Manchester United
Enough said. A lot has to change at Old Trafford as it was a complete meltdown. Ed Woodward has just been rearranging the furniture to look good for a moment. Mourinho said that "we have the opportunity to get more points in the second part of the season". No counting of chickens before they hatch. When I said a few years ago that the Red Devils are declining even when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge, I was scoffed at. Before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was appointed full time and the result was flowing in their favour, I said wait till he is full-time. It will be a different game. No one believed me. Yes, some players were a problem but United's problems are great than that. It has to start from the top. Fail to plan and plan to fail. With a three-year contract, what happens if OGS could not win from the beginning of next season and it becomes prolong? Sack him and appoint another new manager? Then let him bring in some new players and sack some old ones? What if the ideal results would not come? You will then still need new players to gel and get accustomed and acclimatized. You need a couple of years to get going to tip top. So I think United have been set back 3-5 years but if they get it right sooner maybe it would be 2-3 years before they could compete with the best again. Solskjaer has aged 5 years in his last half year. Jose Mourinho is the smart one. Money in the bank. It was certainly annus horribilis for United. Do not be mistaken, it does not mean horrible anus. I think they they will do their darndest to fight back. So it would be interesting.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Or Wolves were an eye catching team for me since the 70s. DO you know that Wolves were founded in 1877 (then known a St. Luke's FC) and have played at the Molineux since 1889 and were a founding member of the Football League in 1888. None of the current top six were founded earlier. Manchester United in 1878 (then known as Newton Heath), not Newton Circus (though last part of the season they were like a circus), Manchester City in 1880, Spurs 1882, Arsenal 1886 (then known as Woolwich), Liverpool in 1892 (broke away from Everton founded in 1878) and Chelsea in 1905. I still remember some names from the past probably from the 70s Wolves team - John Richards, Kenny Hibbitt, Willie Carr, Bob Hazell, Derek Dougan. Before that there was Billy Wright.
Did you know that at the time Wolves became the first club to have floodlights in the stadium. They hosted Budpest Honved, played under flood lights and was broadcast live by BBC. The defeated Honved and the Hungarian club that consisted most of the the great Hungary World Cup team dubbed the Might Magyars. In those days, Hungary had beaten all the top teams of the World - West Germany 8-3, Brazil 4-2, Uruguay 4-2, England 6-3. Wolves were then proclaimed champions of the world. in 1957, Wolves defeated Real Madrid 5-4 (3-2 at home and 2-2 away). That was why and how the creation of the European Cup came about which is of course now the UEFA Champions League. Their home strip of gold and black was a result of their motto: "Out of darkness cometh light" hence the colours.
Championship Promotion
Norwich (founded 1902) will be back to premier league action. The Canaries came in first as champions followed by second placed Sheffield United. Leeds United (founded 1919) were third. WBA (founded 1878) fourth, Aston Villa (founded 1874) fifth and Derby County (founded 1884) sixth. Leeds, Villa and Derby were once great teams and champions of my time in my younger days long ago. The strange things is that being third, Leeds should have earned automatic promotion as they were three points clear of WBA in fourth. Just like automatic relegation from the premier league or automatic qualification for champions league from first to fourth but Leeds have to do the play-offs against Derby and WBA versus Aston Villa as the rules are such.
WBA won 1-2 away and won 1-0 at home but lost on penalty kicks while Leeds won 1-0 away at Derby then crashed 2-4 at home to Derby in the play-off semi-finals. So its Aston Villa versus Derby in the play-off Final to seal the last spot for promotion. So instead of third placed Leeds going up it is now between Derby and Villa. Leeds and WBA will have to try again next year. Can yo imagine that - training and playing hard for a year and missing out promotion. It is the same as other working life.
We mostly do not know so much about these teams in the lower division but I do know that Derby is managed by former Chelsea/England legend Frank Lampard and they have a Liverpool loanee youngster Harry Wilson in their midst who has been quite a revelation and who is great with free-kicks. Liverpool should bring him back for next season. The other interesting prospect they have is another young talent - midfielder Mason Mount and I know Villa have own star in Jack Grealish. Wilson is Welsh while Mason and Jack are English. The English Football League was founded in 1888 in the UK. It was started by Aston Villa (director William McGregor). The twelve original founding members were Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, WBA, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Preston won the first league title without losing a game and also completed the first league and cup double when they won the F.A. Cup. So when you see the names of these clubs, they were legends.
Derby County and Aston Villa were founding members. One of them will be promoted to the Premier League.The match is scheduled for 27 May. Who will it be? The other will miss out and spend another year in the lower league. A heart breaker is on the card.
There will be another two matches when Arsenal take on Chelsea in Baku for the Europa title while Liverpool meet Tottenham in Madrid for the UCL aka UEFA Champions League crown. Brace yourselves. Chelsea won handsomely with a 4-1 thumping of Arsenal which means Sarri is in the driving seat to choose whether to stay at Chelsea or maybe go to Juventus. Unai Emery has the more difficult job of resuscitating the dismal Gunners. It was a lonely 2,500 miles trip from Baku back to London. Arsenal started quite brilliantly, faded mid-way and collapsed at the end. Will Liverpool or Tottenham be the one? Sometimes, some journeys in life can be lonely.
They have helped produce the most memorable season in premiere league history. Liverpool are not being praised by the media because of who they are in history in England and Europe but really for what they have done. First Micheal Edwards, their Sporting Director supported well and recruited superbly. The Jurgen Klopp personality, his front foot soccer with so much energy - heavy metal soccer, his man management and relations with the fans and press has been fantastic. It is not easy to draw even a slight praise from Jose Mourinho but Mourinho has said that Anfield is special where the impossible become possible, he praised the supporters, the players, the team and gave his highest regards to Jurgen. This is worth more than anything else. If Liverpool do not challenge City then City become Thanos. Liverpool now has stability, experience and belief. They have youngsters coming through like Rhian Brewster. They may carefully add a few more quality players to give more depth to the squad. The older players are at a peak age of 27/28 and all have long term contracts and are no longer a selling club. They way they are playing, getting so close to the title and twice in the Champions League Final in two years, a great manager in Klopp would attract top players and youngsters with potential who would love to play for them. Yes, they have yet to win the Champions League or any title and there have been teams that disappear from the radar after a few good seasons. These are not signs of one season wonder. You do not get lucky to reach 97 points, beaten PSG, Bayern Munich, Porto and Barcelona champions of their countries to the Final. 29 years of missing out on the title becoming 30. Of course there will be some who would say Liverpool have just missed thier greatest chance and may not do it again. You want to bet against it? Despite these, there will be haters but other teams have worse problems. The thing to note is well. not just for soccer but in life itself.There is a big difference between merely wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for anything but after you worked your socks off, there must be the faith, courage and belief. The statement of mind to believe is not merely a wish or hope.
Going forward, if you were to look at the league table at the end of the season, City had 98 points, Liverpool 97. Chelsea in third have 72, Tottenham in fourth with 71, Arsenal was fifth with 70 and Manchester United in sixth with only 66. Chelsea is 25-26 points behind and that is a huge gap to plug. United was 31-32 points behind. If this were to be a golf tournament and points were strokes, can you imagine how many will not make the cut and that is food for thought.
Chelsea
Sarri-ball has gone wrong at some point. Lost in translation perhaps. Got off to a great start but got wonky along the way. Will Sarri be still around. Will they lose Eden Hazard? They still have some young stars like Reuben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi, all two-named players with a hyphen with bright future ahead. They have also added the exciting American youngster Christian Pulisic. The team may break up and restart which means changes would be rung in and they will take some time to be their former great. It will be also down to whether they keep Sarri who has just won the the Europa. Eden Hazard has sung his swansong and hard to replace if they are ruled and not allowed to sign new players.
Tottenham Hotspurs
You have to respect and give it to Tottenham who made history by becoming the only team who did not add a single player in two transfer windows. Spurs had a stretch of five games without a win which hurt them. Mauricio Pocehttino has an answer to match Eric Cantona's seagull story : "Its like a cow that every day during ten years sees the train coming at the same time and if you ask the cow what time the train is coming, you will not get the right answer. It's the same in football" or something like that. Give it to this man. He will do great! Will Pochettino be tempted to leave and go to Juventus or some other big clubs? Will that lead to an exodus of players like Harry Kane leaving? They have been hampered by their stadium building and lack of signings but next season they could very well add-on and raise their level to challenge. Because of their stability, they are the likeliest to challenge City and Liverpool. If Pochettino stays and all the key players kept. Whether they win the Champions League or not will not make then a lesser team. They have been very good and will get better.
Arsenal
Arsenal got off to an uncertain and bad start but clawed back with some unbeatable stuffs but ran out of steam in the final third. The Gunners also became poor on the road but they have shown they could provide some serious stuffs on their day, attack-wise but need serious beefing up their defence. There will be additions and subtractions before they start again especially to improve their away form. They could beat almost everyone at home but also lose to anyone away. Just like their London neighbour Chelsea, Unai Emery may just have to tinker again. However, the manner in which they surrendered to Chelsea after being crushed 1-4 has shown a gulf.
Manchester United
Enough said. A lot has to change at Old Trafford as it was a complete meltdown. Ed Woodward has just been rearranging the furniture to look good for a moment. Mourinho said that "we have the opportunity to get more points in the second part of the season". No counting of chickens before they hatch. When I said a few years ago that the Red Devils are declining even when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge, I was scoffed at. Before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was appointed full time and the result was flowing in their favour, I said wait till he is full-time. It will be a different game. No one believed me. Yes, some players were a problem but United's problems are great than that. It has to start from the top. Fail to plan and plan to fail. With a three-year contract, what happens if OGS could not win from the beginning of next season and it becomes prolong? Sack him and appoint another new manager? Then let him bring in some new players and sack some old ones? What if the ideal results would not come? You will then still need new players to gel and get accustomed and acclimatized. You need a couple of years to get going to tip top. So I think United have been set back 3-5 years but if they get it right sooner maybe it would be 2-3 years before they could compete with the best again. Solskjaer has aged 5 years in his last half year. Jose Mourinho is the smart one. Money in the bank. It was certainly annus horribilis for United. Do not be mistaken, it does not mean horrible anus. I think they they will do their darndest to fight back. So it would be interesting.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Or Wolves were an eye catching team for me since the 70s. DO you know that Wolves were founded in 1877 (then known a St. Luke's FC) and have played at the Molineux since 1889 and were a founding member of the Football League in 1888. None of the current top six were founded earlier. Manchester United in 1878 (then known as Newton Heath), not Newton Circus (though last part of the season they were like a circus), Manchester City in 1880, Spurs 1882, Arsenal 1886 (then known as Woolwich), Liverpool in 1892 (broke away from Everton founded in 1878) and Chelsea in 1905. I still remember some names from the past probably from the 70s Wolves team - John Richards, Kenny Hibbitt, Willie Carr, Bob Hazell, Derek Dougan. Before that there was Billy Wright.
Did you know that at the time Wolves became the first club to have floodlights in the stadium. They hosted Budpest Honved, played under flood lights and was broadcast live by BBC. The defeated Honved and the Hungarian club that consisted most of the the great Hungary World Cup team dubbed the Might Magyars. In those days, Hungary had beaten all the top teams of the World - West Germany 8-3, Brazil 4-2, Uruguay 4-2, England 6-3. Wolves were then proclaimed champions of the world. in 1957, Wolves defeated Real Madrid 5-4 (3-2 at home and 2-2 away). That was why and how the creation of the European Cup came about which is of course now the UEFA Champions League. Their home strip of gold and black was a result of their motto: "Out of darkness cometh light" hence the colours.
Championship Promotion
Norwich (founded 1902) will be back to premier league action. The Canaries came in first as champions followed by second placed Sheffield United. Leeds United (founded 1919) were third. WBA (founded 1878) fourth, Aston Villa (founded 1874) fifth and Derby County (founded 1884) sixth. Leeds, Villa and Derby were once great teams and champions of my time in my younger days long ago. The strange things is that being third, Leeds should have earned automatic promotion as they were three points clear of WBA in fourth. Just like automatic relegation from the premier league or automatic qualification for champions league from first to fourth but Leeds have to do the play-offs against Derby and WBA versus Aston Villa as the rules are such.
WBA won 1-2 away and won 1-0 at home but lost on penalty kicks while Leeds won 1-0 away at Derby then crashed 2-4 at home to Derby in the play-off semi-finals. So its Aston Villa versus Derby in the play-off Final to seal the last spot for promotion. So instead of third placed Leeds going up it is now between Derby and Villa. Leeds and WBA will have to try again next year. Can yo imagine that - training and playing hard for a year and missing out promotion. It is the same as other working life.
We mostly do not know so much about these teams in the lower division but I do know that Derby is managed by former Chelsea/England legend Frank Lampard and they have a Liverpool loanee youngster Harry Wilson in their midst who has been quite a revelation and who is great with free-kicks. Liverpool should bring him back for next season. The other interesting prospect they have is another young talent - midfielder Mason Mount and I know Villa have own star in Jack Grealish. Wilson is Welsh while Mason and Jack are English. The English Football League was founded in 1888 in the UK. It was started by Aston Villa (director William McGregor). The twelve original founding members were Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, WBA, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Preston won the first league title without losing a game and also completed the first league and cup double when they won the F.A. Cup. So when you see the names of these clubs, they were legends.
Derby County and Aston Villa were founding members. One of them will be promoted to the Premier League.The match is scheduled for 27 May. Who will it be? The other will miss out and spend another year in the lower league. A heart breaker is on the card.
There will be another two matches when Arsenal take on Chelsea in Baku for the Europa title while Liverpool meet Tottenham in Madrid for the UCL aka UEFA Champions League crown. Brace yourselves. Chelsea won handsomely with a 4-1 thumping of Arsenal which means Sarri is in the driving seat to choose whether to stay at Chelsea or maybe go to Juventus. Unai Emery has the more difficult job of resuscitating the dismal Gunners. It was a lonely 2,500 miles trip from Baku back to London. Arsenal started quite brilliantly, faded mid-way and collapsed at the end. Will Liverpool or Tottenham be the one? Sometimes, some journeys in life can be lonely.
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