Top Five: Title Races that went down to the wire
Edward Bolton
Posted on: 09 April 2010 - 11:55
Football
With Manchester United losing to Chelsea and Arsenal beating Wolves with a late goal the title race is hotting up. The three teams are now separated by only three points and each have some potential slip ups to come. Each face Champions League place chasing Tottenham, Chelsea have a trip to Anfield, Manchester United face a difficult local derby at Eastlands, while Arsenal have the same Manchester City side travelling to the Emirates. This title race looks like it is going to go all the way. Sport.co.uk looks at five other title races that have gone down to the wire.
Everton, 1914-15
There are few (if any!) men alive who can can remember the classic 1914-15 season, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t special. The world may have been at war but Everton didn’t care. The Toffees fought off tight challenges from Blackburn, Burnley, Manchester City and both Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United. All finishing only three point behind. The real challenge however came from Oldham Athletic, these were the days when real quality came from Lancashire.
Only two points were awarded for a win and Oldham secured an excellent 45 points from their 38 games. However, the Everton of the 1914-1915 were no joke and William C. Cuff had organised them into a phenomenal outfit. The managerial know how of Cuff provided the foundation but the real difference between Everton and Oldham was the goals of Bobby Parker, the season’s top scorer with 36 in 35 games. His final goal came in the 2-2 draw with struggling Chelsea that won Everton an historic championship.
Derby County, 1971-72
The 1971-72 season was a four horse race throughout with Derby, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester City all in contention. In those days the final games of the season were not always syncretised. Derby finished the season first and in pole position but Leeds and Liverpool were still to play, with Leeds only needing a draw. Leeds has already won the FA Cup and their final game was against a Wolves side languishing in mid table, therefore looked favourites for the title. The Derby players saw little point in hanging around and went on holiday to Mallorca while their manager, a 37 year old Brian Clough, took his family to the Sicily Isles.
As it turned out neither Leeds nor Liverpool could get the required results with Leeds losing 2 – 1 to Wolves. The Sun newspaper cried corruption but the authorities never investigated. No doubt the Derby players and their manager had a few beers on their holidays to celebrate. It was the first major trophy of Brian Clough’s career.
Arsenal, 1988-89
Arguably the most well known of close title fights, this race had it all. The season was one of two halves. Arsenal started well and were top at the end of the December but then gradually as the months progressed the lead began to wane as Liverpool built up an unbeaten run. However, Arsenal still looked in poll position with four games to go then they only picked up one point from their final two homes games against Derby and Wimbledon. In Liverpool’s penultimate game they thrashed West Ham 5 – 1 knowing the more they scored the more difficult it would be for Arsenal.
So Arsenal having not won the league in 18 years needed to go away to the home of holders and win by two clear goals. The Arsenal manager George Graham’s plan was simple – keep in 0-0 at half time, get an early goal in the second half then push on for a second. Smith scored that header just after half time but as the half progressed, it looked like Arsenal had left it too late, then in the last minute of injury time as the commentary goes "Thomas, charging through the midfield... it's up for grabs now! Thomas! Right at the end!" It was indeed an unbelievable climax to the league season.
Blackburn, 1994-95
The crown for most unfashionable winners of the league in recent years has to go to Blackburn Rovers, and other than Jack Walker pumping in endless cash they didn’t do it the easy way. Blackburn led Manchester United for most of the season and looked set to comfortably win their first title since 1914. Manchester United United’s form had been iffy throughout the season and in January, on receiving abuse from a Crystal Palace fan, Eric Cantona taught the world an early lesson of what happens when you insult a Frenchman’s mother and was subsequently banned for nine months.
Blackburn’s poor run in the final few games with defeats to West Ham and Manchester City indicated they might be ready to throw their lead away. Then in their penultimate game Tim Flowers showed he had “bottle” and they sneaked a 1-0 win over Newcastle to go into the final of the season top of the league. Blackburn had a difficult trip to Anfield while Manchester had to travel to West Ham. It started well for Blackburn with Shearer opening the scoring and Manchester United going behind. Then it all changed, United equalised and Liverpool scored twice. All Manchester United needed was a winner against West Ham and the title was theirs. West Ham goalkeeper Ludek Miklosko had other ideas. So Blackburn ended up winning the league despite losing their final game.
Manchester United, 1998-1999
The season prior a man who had come from Japan and had no experience of English football had won the Premier League title for Arsenal in his first full season. Alex Ferguson was then forced to acknowledge a new challenger to the dominance of Manchester United. Arsenal were on course for a back-to-back double when they faced United in the FA Cup semi-final replay. It was to be the last semi-final replay and it certainly lived up to billing. United went down to ten men, Peter Schmeichel saved a last minute penalty then a Ryan Giggs scored wonder goal to knock Arsenal out.
So the focus turned to the league. Both teams were neck and neck with two games to go. Arsenal travelled to Leeds in their penultimate game and despite dominating were beaten by a late Jimmy Flloyd Hasselbaink header. United followed with an away game at now relegation threatened Blackburn. Blackburn fought hard and stopped Manchester United playing but couldn’t find the goal that would have taken their battle to the last game of the season. So into the final day, Arsenal were at home to Aston Villa, Manchester United at home to Tottenham. For one of the few times in their history Arsenal fans cheered a Tottenham goal as they took an early lead against United. However, it wasn’t to be. Arsenal beat Aston Villa 1-0 but Manchester United came from behind against Tottenham to clinch a 2-1 win and to regain the Premier League title.