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Who would have won Premier League-era titles without the ‘big six’? | The Knowledge

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“If the ‘big six’ left the Premier League permanently and all their league titles were stripped, then handed to the highest finishing non-‘big six’ club, who would have the most league wins?” tweets Stewarts Gloves.

Simon Tyers has done some spectacularly thorough research here and it makes very happy reading for those on the blue half of Merseyside. Ipswich Town fans might want to get a two-decade old bottle of champagne at the ready too, while there’s mid-noughties heartbreak for the Royals. “I used a league management program with all the Premier League tables included to not just take out the ‘big six’ but every match involving them to see what the leagues would look like entirely without their results. This is what would have happened:

1992-93: Norwich City
1993-94: Newcastle United
1994-95: Blackburn Rovers
1995-96: Newcastle United
1996-97: Aston Villa
1997-98: Blackburn Rovers. Five teams had a chance of finishing top going into the last week of the season – Derby led after playing their last fixture but were overtaken first by Leeds on goal difference and then both lost out to Blackburn, whose 1-0 last-day win over Newcastle (Sutton 88) took them to the ‘title’.
1998-99: Leeds United
1999-2000: Leeds United
2000-01: Ipswich Town
2001-02: Newcastle United

Alan Shearer would have won that elusive title with Newcastle in 2001-02
Alan Shearer would have won that elusive title with Newcastle in 2001-02. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

2002-03: Everton. Newcastle needed to win at West Brom on the last day to overtake them but drew 2-2.
2003-04: Aston Villa
2004-05: Everton
2005-06: Newcastle United. The top three were separated by two points on the last day and Newcastle only drew at Birmingham but Blackburn and Wigan both lost, Rovers losing out on goal difference.
2006-07: Everton. Reading could have won the title at Blackburn but drew 3-3.
2007-08: Everton
2008-09: Everton
2009-10: Aston Villa
2010-11: Fulham
2011-12: Newcastle United
2012-13: Everton
2013-14: Everton
2014-15: Southampton
2015-16: Leicester City (by 21 points in a 26-game season)
2016-17: Everton
2017-18: Burnley
2018-19: Watford
2019-20: Leicester City

“In summary, Everton would have the most Premier League titles thanks to that run of eight in 15 years, which on the all-time list would give them 17 championships in total, still second on the list behind their neighbours, Liverpool. As for this season, West Ham are looking good for their first Premier League-era title, leading by three points with three games in hand over nearest challengers Leicester (who are seven points ahead of the Hammers having played the same number of games in reality but an IRL fixture list that ends with Manchester United, Chelsea and Spurs has cost them badly).”

And a tip of the hat to Stephen Mackie, who emailed in the same findings and included a table, to boot.

Alternative Premier League champions
Alternative Premier League champions. Photograph: Stephen Mackie

Hey Jude

“Jude Bellingham just scored his first goal in the Bundesliga at 17. Is he the youngest Englishman to score in a foreign league?” asks Joe.

“Impressive though his achievements are, Jude isn’t even the youngest Englishman to score in the Bundesliga this season,” writes Dara O’Reilly. “When Jamal Musiala scored for Bayern in their 8-0 victory against Schalke, he became their youngest ever goalscorer at 17 years and 205 days, the fifth youngest Bundesliga goalscorer ever, and although he has since declared for the German national team and received two senior caps, at the time of his goal he was a part of the England youth setup, and made his debut for the U-21s a month later.”

Similarly-named men’s and women’s squad players

“With the rise of both women’s football and gender neutral names, has a team ever had players with the same first name in both men’s and women’s squads at the same time?” tweets fuzzybluerain.

“From 2015 to 2018, Arsenal’s women’s squad had Alex Scott and the men’s squad had Alex Iwobi,” writes Rit Nanda. “From 2012-17, Arsenal’s women’s squad had Scott and the men’s squad had Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. This means that all three played at the same club from 2015-17. “Similarly, in 2019, Chelsea’s women’s squad had Jamie-Lee Napier and Chelsea’s men’s squad had Jamie Cumming. They both are still part of Chelsea presently, though out on loan.”

Alex Scott in action for Arsenal against Chelsea at the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley in 2016.
Alex Scott in action for Arsenal against Chelsea at the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley in 2016. Photograph: Ben Hoskins/Getty Images

Alex turns out to be the key. David Reiss writes: “In 2008, the USA’s Alex Morgan scored the winning goal in the final of the 2008 U-20 Women’s World Cup, while Alex Nimo was a regular on the U-20 USMNT.” There are more, though. “Jordans Henderson and Nobbs were both at Sunderland from 2008-11,” tweets Steven Hyde. “Going back further, Pat Earles and Davies played for Southampton men’s and women’s teams for most of the 1970s. And Jo Potter’s spell for Everton Ladies briefly overlapped with that of Jô in 2009.”

Vítor Oliveira: lower-league master

Following up on last week’s archive about the greatest lower-league managers, it’s only right to mention an old favourite, Vítor Oliveira, who had won 10 promotions when this piece was published in 2017. Alan Gomes (among a wide correspondence) takes the tale on:

“After your article, Oliveira got an 11th promotion from Portugal’s second tier to the first with FC Paços de Ferreira. He took another job later in Portugal’s top flight with Gil Vicente, reaching a comfortable 10th place before moving on. Everyone was eagerly looking forward to see which team he would be promoting next – but sadly Oliveira died suddenly in late 2020, aged 67.

“He never got any high-profile jobs, was never even rumoured for one of Portugal’s three ‘bigs’ and never coached abroad. However, for two decades, he was the absolute master of Portugal’s second league.”

Knowledge archive

“99% of clubs have their badge on the right side of the shirt,” wrote Ed Ginzler in October 2009. “Apart from a few teams I seem to recall having their badge in the middle, has there ever been a club with the badge on the left?”

While it’s true that most teams have their badges on the left of their shirt (or the right as you look at it), there are a few that have gone against the grain. Vincent Ramirez put in a shift on this one. He suggested the Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Cardiff kits of the 1975-76 season all of whom have moved their badges across the chest to make room for fetching go-faster stripes. He also mentioned Lyon’s 1993-94 kit, Cameroon – who usually wear the federation badge on the right, with their emblem of a lion being on the other – Togo and South Africa. “The original late 70s (or was it early 80s?) Manchester City white shirt with red and black sash had the badge on the ‘wrong’ side,” wrote Mark Alden. And so it did.

Can you help?

“I think three of Sunday’s Spurs starting XI are interim manager Ryan Mason’s seniors (Hugo Lloris, Toby Alderweireld and Gareth Bale),” notes Nathan Woods. “Has there ever been a top-flight game where more players than this were older than their manager?”

“It’s been reported that Poland will have to travel 9,000km just to complete the group stage of Euro 2020,” writes Boris Cule. “What is the current record travel distance for a team during a major international tournament?”

“I was looking at the Zambian Super League table and noticed Green Eagles in 11th are only one place and two points above Young Green Eagles in 12th. Has there ever been a season where a youth/reserve side has finished above their first team?” asks Kevin Harris.

Email your questions and answers to [email protected] or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.

source: theguardian.com