From Don Revie's unfancied 1964-65 Leeds to Newcastle in 2001-02, we recall unexpected tilts at the title
NB: we have focused on unlikely English challenges for the sake of consistency, but there are many more in other countries, such as Perugia in 1978-79 and Kaiserslautern in 1997-98.
1) Leeds United (1964-65)
Norwich and Swansea have probably been the teams of the Premier League season so far, yet they lie ninth and 10th in the table. In the past, before football decided to spray yellow fluid in our pocket and tell us it's raining, promoted sides could achieve something grander: a shot at the title. Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest won it in 1977-78, and a number of other promoted teams finished second or third, including Manchester United (see below), Watford (1982-83), Sheffield Wednesday (1991-92), Newcastle (1993-94) and Forest again (1994-95, the last instance, and it's not going to happen again in a hurry). Then there's the subject of this entry that we're going to get to any minute now, Don Revie's Leeds, who missed out on the title only on goal average.
Leeds started the season as unfancied 33-1 shots (although it's a terrifying reflection of how miserably uncompetitive football has become that Norwich and Swansea were 5000-1 to win the league at the start of this season). "Of the promoted sides, Sunderland may make a greater impact than the young men of Leeds," said Eric Todd in this paper. In fact their impact was instant. They won their first three games, including a 4-2 hammering of the champions Liverpool in their first home game. A mixed month followed, after which Leeds went on a stunning run, losing only once between the end of September and the middle of April.
Inevitably with Revie's Leeds, this is not just a story of exhilarating and slightly underappreciated football. The reputation of Dirty Leeds (we don't really have time to discuss the harshness or otherwise of that reputation here, but it is discussed at length in this definitive book on the Revie years) flowered that season, particularly after the notorious Battle of Goodison Park in November, a match so grisly that it should have been directed by Wes Craven. We would guiltily give our right arm to see it appear on YouTube or ESPN Classic. Everton's Sandy Brown was sent off early on for a left-hander on Johnny Giles; the game was suspended at one stage after Everton fans bombarded Leeds players with coins (and apples and oranges); and there were all manner of gruesome tackles. As befits a war, plenty of people were going over the top. (Which was very unusual for that era, in which there was a delicious, warped nobility when it came to football ultraviolence.)
Leeds carried on mirthlessly, hated by most of the country even though they were playing some superb football. They took control of the title race, booked a place in the FA Cup final against Liverpool, and were tantalisingly close to becoming only the second English side to do the Double that century. In April, they were six games from greatness. But in a reversal of the 1991-92 season, Manchester United stole the title from them over Easter. Leeds, unbeaten in 18 league games, knew that if they won four of their last five games they would be champions ahead of United and Chelsea. Injuries, suspensions and fatigue were catching up with them, however, and they had an arthritis-inducing schedule: those five matches would be played over just 10 days.
The two sides met at Elland Road on Easter Saturday - "the most important game Leeds had ever played", according to the excellent Mighty Mighty Whites website review of the season ? and a goal from John Connelly gave Manchester United a fairly comfortable 1-0 win. It was a big blow, although the title was still in Leeds's hands. Until, two days later, they were absolutely trounced 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday. A performance that the Guardian described as "pitiful" was summed up by Norman Hunter's slapstick own goal. Leeds recovered with two wins but, with Manchester United on a run of seven victories in a row, Revie's side had to win their last game at Birmingham to keep the title race alive. They drew 3-3, so Manchester United went into their last game two days later knowing that they only had to avoid a 19-goal defeat at Aston Villa to be champions. They scraped home with a 2-1 defeat, and Leeds ended up as runners up, a position they would finish in five of their 10 top-flight seasons under Revie. Bridesmaids don't come any more masculine than that Leeds team. They lost the FA Cup final that season as well. RS
2) Queens Park Rangers and Manchester United (1975-76)
This was a season of unexpected tilts at the title. Manchester United had come up from the Second Division, and were being roundly ignored by the pre-season pundits, who expected more of another newly-promoted team. Aston Villa, after seven seasons out of the limelight, were back in the big time, their team was young, and their boss Ron Saunders had picked up the manager of the year title the season before. Villa ended the season in a safe but unspectacular 16th place; a swashbuckling United finished third, despite having the title in their own hands at the end of March, defeats at Ipswich and at home to Stoke taking the wind out of their sails.
They were left floundering in the slipstream of another team who could, and possibly should have, won the title. Dave Sexton's Queens Park Rangers were built round the talents of England captain Gerry Francis and William Hill's Stan Bowles, and were nobody's idea of mugs, but nobody expected them to make a grab for the big prize. They were, according to the Guardian season preview, no more than "the best-looking team in London", which wasn't much in the way of praise seeing Arsenal and Spurs had both nearly got themselves relegated the season before, and West Ham United weren't in much better nick (although in fairness they'd just counterbalanced their dodgy league form by winning the FA Cup).
QPR started off like a train. They blitzed Liverpool 2-0 at Loftus Road, Francis scoring the goal of the season, finishing off a delightful team move ? a pitch-length series of pretty flicks up the middle of the park ? with a low drive from the edge of the box. After a draw with the much-heralded Villa, they then went to the new champions Derby County ? and won 5-1, Bowles registering a hat-trick.
Having served notice of their intent, QPR kept it up pretty much all season. And then some: they won 13 of their last 15 matches, drawing one, and losing the other. Sadly, that defeat ? an inexplicable 3-2 reverse at Norwich in the antepenultimate match of the season ? would prove crucial. Rangers ended their campaign on top of the table, a point ahead of Liverpool ? but Bob Paisley's side had, thanks to their involvement in the Uefa Cup final, one match left to play. After an interminable wait of 11 days, Liverpool went to Wolves and won 3-1, all three of their goals turning the game around in the last 15 minutes of the season. SM
3) West Ham United and Chelsea (1985-86)
English football was in absolute tatters after the tragic summer of 1985, so it's hardly surprising that the tipsters were all over the shop at the beginning of the 1985-86 season. "It will be surprising if Lawrie McMenemy fails to strike the right revivalist note at Roker Park," chirruped the Guardian. Oh dear. And in the First Division? "Realistically London's hopes rest with Arsenal and Tottenham," we opined. Ah well.
In fact, the capital turns from the capital turned out to be the less-heralded duo of Chelsea ? who we admittedly described as "unwise to disregard" while raising the caveat of their poor away form ? and West Ham United, who had flirted with relegation the season before and would "be lucky if they escaped again".
By the turn of the year, Chelsea were fourth and West Ham fifth, both a smattering of points behind stuttering leaders Manchester United and with games in hand. Upton Park goalscoring machine Frank McAvennie had appeared alongside Denis Law on Wogan; over at Stamford Bridge, David Speedie and Kerry Dixon were enjoying fruitful seasons, though the latter would pick up a stomach injury that would rule him out for the majority of the second half of the campaign.
Towards the end of March, Chelsea won 1-0 at Southampton to keep themselves in the title race. A day later ? a day later ? they beat Manchester City 5-4 in the final of the Full Members Cup. "If football is dying," said boss John Hollins, picking up Chelsea's first cup for 15 years, "I hope it's dying like that." His team's fans sang of winning the league ? they were four points behind leaders Everton, but had two games in their pocket ? but the team eased off the gas, claiming only nine more points from their final 11 matches and ending up in sixth place.
West Ham meantime were back in seventh, but with four games on Everton, enough to haul them level. They would win six of their last seven ? including a ludicrous 8-1 victory over Newcastle United in which Alvin Martin scored a hat-trick past three different goalkeepers ? but the loss, 3-1 at eventual runners-up Everton, came with the jig already up, and Liverpool champions. The Hammers, who finished third, could hardly be accused of capitulating: the Reds had won 10 of their final 11 matches to snatch an improbable title from the pack. SM
4) Norwich City (1988-89)
Many people remember Norwich's heroic attempt to win the inaugural Premier League; fewer recall their equally intrepid challenge four years earlier. For much of the Michael Thomas title race, doubting Thomases were wondering when Norwich would collapse: not only did they lead the league for much of the season, they also reached the FA Cup semi-finals, walloping giantkillers Sutton 8-0 en route.
Dave Stringer's side, who had finished 14th the previous season, got off to a flying start, winning the first four games and eight of the first 11. With the exception of one weekend in October, they led the table from mid-September to New Year's Eve. That run took in a dramatic late win at Old Trafford - when Mike Phelan scored a sensational half-volley ? and their first win at Anfield for 13 years.
Robert Fleck's outrageous last-minute winner settled a televised thriller at Millwall in January, and Norwich took a staggering 29 points from 13 away games up to the end of March. On 1 April they hosted an in-form Liverpool. Norwich were two points ahead of them and three behind the leaders Arsenal, on whom they had a game in hand. Liverpool won 1-0, and Norwich's challenge for the double collapsed: they lost six of the last 10, including an inevitably forgotten FA Cup semi-final against Everton (on the same day as Hillsborough) and a May Day hammering by Arsenal on live TV. They finished the season in fourth, 14 points behind Arsenal and Liverpool. It's said that the table never lies but, in suggesting that Norwich weren't really part of the 1988-89 title race, it is certainly being economical with the truth. RS
5) Aston Villa (1989-90)
In 1988-89, Aston Villa finished 17th. In 1990-91, they finished 17th. If this were a maths puzzle, they would have finished 17th in 1989-90 and that would be the end of the most boring Joy of Six entry ever. They didn't, they finished second (you might want to reserve judgement on the 'most boring' bit). It is another reminder that, of his generation of British club managers, Graham Taylor had very few peers.
Taylor is often written off as a dinosaur because of his preference for direct football. It's a risibly shallow view, not least because his mind was so open and inquisitive. At a time when pretty much everyone in England played with a back four, Taylor found great success with a kind of 5-2-3 formation and a motley crue of geriatricos (Paul McGrath, Gordon Cowans, Nigel Spink, Derek Mountfield) and England Under-21 stars (David Platt, who started the 1989-90 season as a nobody and the 1990-91 season as a nationwide celebrity, Ian Olney, Tony Daley). They also had the gangling Ian Ormondroyd on the left wing, an aesthetically preposterous move (imagine Peter Crouch hugging the touchline) that actually worked very well.
After a dodgy start to the season left them in their apparently preordained position of 17th after seven games, Villa went on a stonking run in the league: P18 W15 D1 L2. It included a staggering 6-2 demolition of Everton on live TV*, a good draw at Anfield, and an emphatic 2-1 defeat of the champions Arsenal, in which Platt scored the most charming goal after a thrilling piece of deception ? very similar, oddly, to a goal scored for another claret-and-blue-side against Arsenal 10 years later. The last of that run of 18 games was an ominous 2-0 victory away to a fine Spurs side, who would finish third. It took Villa top for the first time. They were undeniably the best team in the country.
Three days later, their burgeoning party was pooped devastatingly by Wimbledon, who took great pleasure in winning 3-0 at Villa Park. From there, it all went wrong: Villa lost five of the next 10 and Liverpool, though not quite at their best, won the title with two games to spare. Much was made of the March signing of Tony Cascarino, who didn't score in his first eight games and joined Rodney Marsh on the list of players who supposedly nixed what wasn't broke. To ascribe Villa's failure to him seems more than a little unfair, an oversimplification of cause and effect. More likely is that, as so often happens with unlikely title challengers, the gravity of what they were about to achieve overwhelmed them.
*Younger readers may wonder why we keep prattling on about live TV games. In those days the weekly televised match was a major social event. You haven't known joy until you've had a weekly fix of The Match theme tune and Elton Welsby. RS
6) Newcastle United (2001-02)
The list of great title races is comprised almost entirely of those that go to the last day. It's a peculiar thing, not unlike having a list of great films comprised almost entirely of those with a twist ending. The 2001-02 Premier League title race did not go to the final day, but it was the most compelling since the turn of the century, largely for two reasons: the unprecedented excellence of the top three ? Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United - in the last four months of the season (their combined record was P52 W40 D8 L4, and many of those dropped points were against each other) and the fact that, for much of the campaign, the title race was polygonal. Only three points separated five teams at the turn of the year and, after Leeds faded, only four points separated the top four at the start of March (to put that in context, it's the only Premier League title race since 1996-97 in which fewer than 10 points have separated the top four at the start of March. On four occasions the gap has been greater than 20 points).
The other team? Sir Bobby Robson's Newcastle, whose role in the race is rarely mentioned. Yet had they beaten Arsenal on 2 March ? the game in which Dennis Bergkamp decided to score the umpteenth career-defining goal of his career ? they would have gone top of the table. For most of the season they were brilliantly inconsistent, capable of beating the champions Manchester United 4-3 one week and getting thrashed 3-0 at West Ham the next. At first they were not taken seriously, but their burgeoning title challenge could not be ignored after they won at Highbury and Elland Road in four glorious days just before Christmas. They come from behind both times, to win 3-1 in a fractious match against Arsenal, and from 3-1 down to win beat Leeds 4-3 in an immense match.
Nolberto Solano's last-minute winner that day came after an exquisite pass from Kieron Dyer, playing perhaps the best football of his career. He and the new signing Craig Bellamy added a devastating electricity to the side, while Alan Shearer was as merciless as ever in front of goal. Dyer was playing so well that Bellamy said he was the best player he had ever played with, a list that included Ryan Giggs. "He will be at the World Cup and he will be a superstar," said Bellamy. "Real Madrid and all the top Italian clubs must all want him." You'll laugh now, but it didn't seem especially ridiculous at the time. Dyer had just turned 23 and had the world at his twinkling feet. "A will-o-the-wisp," cooed Robson. "A little genius." Those comments came in the second week of January after Newcastle humiliated the league leaders Leeds. Dyer and Bellamy combined wonderfully for the last two goals, and Leeds were so frazzled that Danny Mills was sent off for a nasty kick at Bellamy.
The defence wasn't great but, with Newcastle an endearingly quixotic side who made a habit of coming from behind to win high-scoring thrillers, everyone was having far too much fun to care. Robson preached caution in a different sense, however: he maintained that the title was beyond them, setting the Champions League as his target. He was an increasingly lone voice. Gary Speed said he thought they could win it. Almost everyone wanted them to win it, mainly because of Robson. As Jeremy Alexander wrote in the Guardian in mid-February, "neutrals have a club to cherish in the championship race". At the start of March they were the only ones without European football to worry about, which seemed a big advantage. In this paper, the great David Lacey outlined the reasons why he wanted Newcastle to win the league (imagine the foam coming out of keyboard heroes' mouths if that was written today).
Newcastle did not have a big squad ? invariably another bane of the unlikely challenger ? and that told when Dyer and Bellamy both suffered injuries. Without their electricity, the lights went out on Newcastle's title challenge. They lost that game to Arsenal at the start of March and were hammered at Anfield four days later; with the top three victorious in almost every game, there was no way back. Newcastle slipped away, winning four of the last 11 and finishing 16 points behind the champions Arsenal. This was no 1995-96-style unhappy ending, however: Newcastle achieved their target of Champions League football, and a whale of a time in Europe the following season. RS
Rob Smyth is co-author of Jumpers For Goalposts: How Football Sold Its Soul
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/jan/20/joy-of-six-unlikely-title-challengers
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