When and where trophies are won

PRIOR to the 2018-19 season, the most successful Premier League team, in terms of domestic trophies won over the past decade, was Chelsea with eight wins. Just behind the Blues were the Manchester duo, City and United, with seven apiece. City have since drawn level with their League Cup victory earlier this season and in all probability, they will move ahead of Chelsea very soon.

Look at the winners of the three domestic prizes from 2008-09 to 2017-18 and the polarisation of English football becomes very clear – 26 of the 30 trophies were won by the top five of Chelsea (8), City (7), United (7), Arsenal (3) and Liverpool (1). The four “outsiders” were Wigan, Swansea, Birmingham and Leicester, all of whom won one trophy each. A notable absentee in the winners’ enclosure is Tottenham, whose last trophy was the Football League Cup in 2008.

Tottenham’s 10-year barren spell could become 11 in 2018-19 and that would be the worst post-WW2 run by Spurs, although since 1990, picking up major prizes has been a tough call for the north Londoners. Spurs have won 15 trophies since 1946, an average of a tin pot every 4.8 years, underlining the poor current sequence, despite all the plaudits the club receives. Spurs have, traditionally, won honours in clusters: the period between 1960-61 and 1962-63 when they won the Football League, two FA Cups and a European prize; the early 70s flourish of two FL Cups and the inaugural UEFA Cup; and the early 1980s when they won two FA Cups and another UEFA Cup.

Similarly, the past 10 years have not been too kind to Liverpool, although they’ve reached a number of cup finals, including the Champions League and Europa League. Liverpool had a glorious and unprecedented spell of success between 1972-73 and 1989-90 when they finished the season with a trophy in 15 of 18 campaigns. In the period from 1946-47, Liverpool have won 37 major trophies, an average of one every 1.95 years. However, it has been 28 years since the club won the league title and they are currently in their seventh season without a trophy. Their only major honour in the past decade was the Football League Cup, won in 2012.

Liverpool fans claim that the most successful clubs over the past 10 years, Chelsea and Manchester City, have no history, but they’ve been busy creating their heritage, winning 17 cups between them. There’s a certain irony that these two clubs were relative under-achievers before money from Russia and the Middle East was injected into them. Prior to Roman Abramovich arriving at Chelsea, they had won one league title, three FA Cups, two League Cups and the European Cup-Winners’ Cup twice. Chelsea’s overall total of major honours, including Europe, now totals 23 but, importantly, the past 10 years has seen them win 10, including three Premier titles, the Champions League and the Europa League. It’s a remarkable record considering that between 1971 and 1997, Chelsea did not lift a single prize.

Manchester City, prior to their current golden era, which could yet yield an incredible quadruple, was in the late 1960s/early 70s, when they won the Football League (1968), FA Cup (1969), Football League Cup (1970) and European Cup-Winners’ Cup (1970). Since 2010-11, City have won three league titles, four Football League Cups (including this season) and the FA Cup. In post-war football, City’s haul equates to a trophy every 5.53 years, but this figure should start to come down significantly if the club continues its current trajectory.

The rise of Chelsea and Manchester City has aso been resented by their local rivals and notably by clubs that previously formed part of the elite of English football – Arsenal and Manchester United. Chelsea’s rise certainly put Arsenal in the shade and it was no coincidence that as Abramovich’s Chelsea started to win trophies, Arsenal, under Arsene Wenger, discovered that the secret ingredient that had given the Gunners such an advantage was quickly eroded by the financial clout provided by Russian money.

In an eight-year period between 1997-98 and 2004-05, Arsenal won three Premier titles and four FA Cups. They won the “double” twice, in 1998 and 2002. This sequence also included the 2003-04 title win that saw the team go a whole season unbeaten in the league and earn the nickname, “the invincibles”. Since then, Arsenal endured a frustrating period of falling short of major honours, although UEFA Champions League qualification was achieved on a consistent basis. Wenger came under heavy criticism at the back end of his long reign, but Arsenal fans seemingly forgot that the club went through an even more difficult period between 1953 and 1970 when success constantly eluded the Gunners.

Manchester United were equally bent out of shape over the ascendancy of “new money” clubs like Chelsea and City. Their post-war haul of trophies amounts to 39, a prize every 1.85 years. Just as Liverpool dominated the mid-1970s through to 1990, United finally regained their winning ways under Sir Alex Ferguson and won 13 league titles between 1992-93 and 2012-13. But it is now overlooked that the club went from 1967 to 1993 without a league success.

Throughout football history, there have always been teams that have risen to the top and dominated for a given period. In the 1930s, it was Arsenal, in the 1950s, it was Busby’s ill-fated “Babes”, in the mid-1960s it was United and Liverpool and in the 1970s, Leeds United were the team everyone wanted to beat. Liverpool’s reign in the mid-1970s to late-1980s preceded another golden period for United, with interruptions from Arsenal and latterly Chelsea. The next era is, arguably, the time of Manchester City – heavily resourced, wealthy, in possession of top professionals on and off the pitch. If they do win four prizes, they will be the first British side to achieve that feat since Celtic scooped everything in 1967. Don’t bet against it.

Current Premier League 2018-19 and post-war domestic success (up to end of 2017-18)

*Newcastle last trophy the Inter-Cities Fairs’ Cup, won in 1968-69

Photo: PA