Hello, this is HappyDude. I will blogging on entertainment issues, sporting moments and stories that makes the news. Check out my other pages for music, YouTube videos and much much more!! Have fun everyone!
Hello, this is Siwri88, better known to some as Simon. Currently work as a picture researcher and product editor with a leading publishing company that works with trading cards and sticker albums on a variety of licenses in sport and entertainment. Freelance Journalist and writing a book in my spare time. Achieved a 2:1 studying BA Hons Journalism at the University of Northampton (2009-2012).
Enjoy reading!
THE gun goes off twice to indicate a false start and shock sweeps through the world. The commentators scream in disbelief, millions of television viewers around the globe are left stunned into silence and over 60,000 spectators in the Daegu stadium in South Korea can’t quite believe what they have just seen. The unflappable, likeable, cool Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt has just false started by miles. The men’s 100m, expected to be a case of how fast Bolt will run has just been blown wide open. Under the new, tight IAAF regulations, Bolt is disqualified. He rips his Jamaican shirt off his torso, probably thinking why did I do that? This incident alone yesterday just shows the point that everyone makes mistakes.
Some people in life will claim that they’ve done nothing wrong, have no regrets in life and think they are absolutely perfect. Hello, wake up and smell the coffee!! Everyone has made an error of judgement before, no matter how big or small it is. It’s life, ‘Pobody’s Nerfect!’
Mistakes can vary in sizes and form. Here is a list of several potential examples;
Someone making a bad career choice. For example, thinking you can be a top chef and wreck Jamie Olivier’s career, only to realise that you can’t even cook microwave pizza and would never succeed in running a top London restaurant. Oops!
A drunken one-night stand, which many have probably done over the years. Yes, it probably feels great when you have consumed gallons of tasty alcohol, but the next morning, it is bound to be a massive regret. Plus, if you are in a secure relationship, the consequences are likely to be far more severe. What were you thinking!
Deciding to install a popular computer programme to continue competing with the technological times. Hours later, your laptop simply won’t load up and nothing is backed up either. Oh why oh why did I do that, I’m an idiot!
As a football manager, making a bold tactical gamble to win a game, which you end up losing. Don’t rub your hair furiously like Arsene Wenger! Be a man and own up to your mistakes via the press. Real-life or on Football Manager. Yes, I totally lost the plot there!
Getting home from the supermarket, unpack your shopping and think, oh nuts, I forgot to buy the crucial ingredient for dinner tonight. With no money left, that chicken curry isn’t going to taste right now. Don’t bother with Come Dine with me then, unless you want to be embarrassed.
Getting out of your car, and putting the wrong type of petrol in! Ah damn it; I knew it should have been unleaded fuel, not stupid diesel! Oh no, that Mercedes car is going to pay for my clumsiness.
Okay, it’s time to open up my closet of some of the daft errors/mistakes I’ve made down the years. Those who know me must think I’m just an accident waiting to happen.
Live streaming on illegal websites. I know it’s dodgy, but when you begin, you think; ‘Ah, no problem, life’s all good.’ Then, when you check your latest anti-virus scan (like I did in April this year) and locate 272 potential deadly viruses, you realise, I made things far too critical. I’ve learnt my lesson from that, but unfortunately – my current laptop probably will never recover from its previous healthy state.
Aged 11 on my first foreign holiday in Lanzarote. It’s December 30 and I see a Virtual Striker football machine. Time to see if I can play for Brazil haha! I start walking towards the games room, without realising there are a pair of glass doors in the way. Ouch! That hurt and it did! I tried brandy to cure the pain moments later. Well, it eased the pain but then, I threw up at breakfast the next morning. One alcoholic drink I must stay away from in future.
I got mediocre AS level results, and saw the opportunity to go on a BTEC National Diploma Media Production course at Milton Keynes College. Rather than go for it, I dither about it and by the time I want to go there, all places on the year’s course has gone. I had to stick it out for another year at Radcliffe Secondary School, in the sixth form! Wasn’t my smartest move, but luckily, it all turned out good and if I had gone a year earlier, I won’t have met my amazing friends on my journalism course at the University of Northampton. Remember to put your career choices first before friend preference everybody!
Saying things in the heat of the moment, when you think; ‘I’m right and you’re wrong, shut the #### up, I’m talking sense!’ Moments later, you think; ‘Why did I say that?’ and are forced to make a grovelling apology to the friend/colleague you just insulted. It has happened to me time and again and is probably the one mistake I constantly make. Fortunately, after another unsavoury incident earlier this year, I have managed to control this issue far greater.
Of course, when you make a mistake, you must learn from the error of your ways and not do it again. Like I said, no-one is perfect, we’ve all slipped up and we just have to accept the mistakes we’ve made and learn from them. If you do, we become better people. As we’ve seen from Usain Bolt in the last 24 hours and my own collection, hold your hands up and come back stronger. It makes you stronger people.
PREMIERSHIP titleno.10 arrived for Manchester United on the final day of the season and in fitting fashion too.Ryan Giggs, who had featured and scored in every Premier League campaign, came off the bench to score the second goal in a 2-0 success at Wigan Athletic.They held off Chelsea’s challenge, as the Blues drew 1-1 at home to Bolton Wanderers.More agony faced the West Londoners in the Champions League final; beaten by United on penalties in the Moscow showpiece, which led to Avram Grant’s sacking.Both established frontrunners had sluggish starts to the season.The Red Devils failed to win any of their first three matches, while Jose Mourinho resigned from Chelsea in mid-September following some dodgy results and more pressure on transfers from the interfering Roman Abramovich.For a long while, it looked like the youngsters from Arsenal were going to get over the finish line.Despite losing Thierry Henry in the summer to Barcelona, the Gunners strolled into an advantage as big as seven points at one stage.However, a horrific double leg fracture for Croatian striker Eduardo seconds into the match with Birmingham City on February 22 totally derailed their challenge.Arsene Wenger made some poisonous comments about Birmingham centre-back Martin Taylor, who made the accidental challenge on Eduardo and William Gallas furious reaction to a late penalty for the home side didn’t go down well either.Arsenal fell away in the final two months, and ultimately slipped to third, but only four points behind the champions.Chelsea kept piling on the pressure, helped by a crucial 2-1 win over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on April 26, but the form of Cristiano Ronaldo was pivotal to Man Utd’s success.Ronaldo scored a remarkable 42 goals in all competitions, 31 of these in the Premiership.They kept their noses infront all the way to the final day win at the JJB Stadium.Liverpool finished fourth, but had a new hero in Fernando Torres to cheer on.‘El Nino,’ scored 24 Premiership goals in his debut season.At the bottom of the league, Derby County became the first side to be relegated at the end of March and ended up with the worst points tally ever.They won just one game all season; 1-0 at home to Newcastle United in September.Under Roy Hodgson, Fulham managed the great escape, with four wins in their last five matches.Danny Murphy headed a dramatic late winner at Portsmouth on the final weekend, with his winner sending both Reading and Birmingham City down to the Championship, despite both relegated clubs winning big on the final day.
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Chelsea 3rd: Arsenal, 4th: Liverpool 5th: Everton, 6th: Aston Villa, 7th: Blackburn Rovers, 8th; Portsmouth, 9th: Manchester City, 10th: West Ham United
RELEGATED: Reading, Birmingham City, Derby County
BIGGEST WIN: Middlesbrough 8-1 Manchester City (11 May 2008)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Portsmouth 7-4 Reading (30 September 2007), Tottenham Hotspur 6-4 Reading (29 December 2007), Middlesbrough 8-1 Manchester City (11 May 2008)
FOR the second time in Premiership history, Manchester United managed to win three successive league titles.A 0-0 draw at home to Arsenal on the final Saturday of the season was enough to see them over the finishing line.They were pushed all the way by a much-improved Liverpool side, who recorded their highest ever Premiership points tally on the way to second spot.Rafa Benitez would lookback on some silly home draws against the likes of Stoke City, Hull City and Fulham which ultimately cost them the title.Liverpool lost only two games all season (away at Tottenham and Middlesbrough), and held a five point lead at the turn of the year, but a succession of draws in January gave Manchester United the chance to overhaul the lead the Reds had built-up.Benitez ranted about United’s record of arguing with referees, which made the battle between the two clubs even more personal.The deciding results were three games in April.After losing 1-4 at home to Liverpool at Old Trafford, then 2-0 at Fulham the following week, United needed a stoppage time winner from teenager Federico Macheda to beat a fading Aston Villa side 3-2 at the beginning of the month.A fortnight later, Liverpool dropped points in a pulsating 4-4 draw with Arsenal, in which Andrei Arshavin scored all four goals for the visitors in a stunning individual performance.Four days later, inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez, Manchester United stormed back from 2-0 down to beat Tottenham 5-2 at Old Trafford.Later results didn’t matter and it was a special title for United, as they equalled Liverpool’s record of 18 league championships.Chelsea struggled for most of the season and sacked the unpopular Luis Felipe Scolari in February, following a dismal draw at home to Hull City.Guus Hiddink took temporary charge and improved results helped the men from West London finish third and win the FA Cup.On transfer deadline day, Manchester City got bought by the Abu Dhabi United group, turning them into one of the richest football clubs in the world.Although they only finished mid-table this campaign, they showed the flexible wealth by persuading temperamental Robinho to join from Real Madrid in a new British transfer record deal; £32.5million.It was a terrible season on Tyneside, as Sunderland only just survived, while both Newcastle United and Middlesbrough were relegated.Newcastle’s demise came under four managers, and not even club legend Alan Shearer could save the club from the drop.Newcastle’s final day relegation meant despite winning only one of their last 17 matches, Hull City survived.Cue Phil Brown’s horrific singing!Tottenham sacked Juande Ramos after only managing two points in their first eight games, but Harry Redknapp left Portsmouth to steer the club to eighth, behind Fulham, who managed seventh and their best ever finish in the top flight.
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Liverpool 3rd: Chelsea, 4th: Arsenal 5th: Everton, 6th: Aston Villa, 7th: Fulham, 8th; Tottenham, 9th: West Ham United, 10th: Manchester City
RELEGATED: Newcastle United, Middlesbrough, West Brom
BIGGEST WIN: Manchester City 6-0 Portsmouth (21 September 2008)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Arsenal 4-4 Tottenham Hotspur (29 October 2008), Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal (21 April 2009), Manchester United 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur (25 April 2009)
THE world of football was rocked by Cristiano Ronaldo’s record transfer fee departure from Manchester United to Real Madrid for £80million before the start of the season.The game also lost the great Sir Bobby Robson, who passed away after a long, brave fight with cancer in July.Manchester City continued to flex their muscles in the transfer market, bringing in Gareth Barry, Joleon Lescott, Emmanuel Adebayor and controversially, Carlos Tevez in the summer.Mark Hughes was sacked in December, after a run of eight successive Premiership draws, a new record.Roberto Mancini was installed as new boss, but City lost out on a Champions League spot, following a 0-1 loss at home to rivals Tottenham in the final week of the season.Tottenham finished in the lucrative position ahead of City, Aston Villa and Liverpool, who finished in their worst position in the league since 1999.Rafa Benitez parted company with the club the following summer.Once again, Arsenal’s title challenge faded in the closing stages of the season, which included a dramatic collapse away to Wigan Athletic in mid-April.2-0 up with ten minutes to go at the DW Stadium, the Gunners somehow lost 3-2; a result which kept Wigan in the Premiership.Burnley, Hull City and Portsmouth were the three clubs who were relegated at the end of the season.Despite beating Manchester United in their first home Premiership match at Turf Moor, the Clarets lost manager Owen Coyle to Bolton Wanderers in the New Year in acrimonious circumstances.With it was a loss of form, which saw them, condemned to the drop at the end of April.It was even worse for Portsmouth, as their financial mess unravelled during the season.In February, Pompey became the first club in the history of this era to enter administration and hence earn themselves a nine point deduction. For Avram Grant, it was mission impossible and he went to West Ham United at the end of the season; once the Hammers board decided to crush Gianfranco Zola’s morale and dismiss him.Another side that impressed in the season were Birmingham City.Under Alex McLeish, the side went on the longest unbeaten run of the season, which stood at 12 games between late October and the end of January.The Blues finished a commendable ninth.At the top of the table, it was Chelsea and Manchester United who once again took the title battle down to the final day of the season.Carlo Ancelotti’s side were one point clear at the start of play and ultimately didn’t have to worry about matters.The Blues crushed Wigan 8-0 at Stamford Bridge, with Didier Drogba hitting a hat-trick to secure himself the Golden Boot.It meant Manchester United had to settle for runners-up spot, despite a 4-0 trouncing of Stoke City at Old Trafford.For the third time in Premiership history, in Ancelotti’s first season and with over 100 goals too, Chelsea became Premiership champions.
CHAMPIONS: Chelsea, 2nd: Manchester United 3rd: Arsenal, 4th: Tottenham 5th: Manchester City, 6th: Aston Villa, 7th: Liverpool, 8th; Everton, 9th: Birmingham City, 10th: Blackburn Rovers
RELEGATED: Burnley, Hull City, Portsmouth
BIGGEST WIN: Tottenham Hotspur 9-1 Wigan Athletic (22 November 2009)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Tottenham Hotspur 9-1 Wigan Athletic (22 November 2009), Chelsea 7-2 Sunderland (18 January 2010), Chelsea 8-0 Wigan Athletic (9 May 2010)
WAYNE Rooney had a largely troubled season, but his 76th minute penalty on May 14 earnt Manchester United a 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers; good enough for United’s 19th league title, overtaking Liverpool’s long-standing record.They did it, despite only winning five games away from home all season, with the lowest points tally to win the league since 1997/98.However, only newly promoted West Brom managed to take a point from Old Trafford all season in the league.Despite finishing second, Chelsea sacked Carlo Ancelotti at the end of the season, after a fairly unconvincing campaign.For long periods, it was Arsenal who became Manchester United’s closest challengers, but once again, they screwed up dramatically in the run-in.Wenger’s side were knocked out of three cup competitions in 11 days, threw away a 4-0 lead to draw 4-4 at Newcastle in February and only two wins in their last ten league matches saw them drop to fourth and out of the automatic Champions League qualifying spots.This meant that despite uncertainty about the future of Carlos Tevez, Manchester City stole third place, their best ever Premiership finish.Tevez ended joint top scorer with Dimitar Berbatov for the season, and to cap things off for Roberto Mancini’s side, they won the FA Cup too.It was a miserable season for Liverpool, who looked like they were going to be in a relegation battle in mid-season.Roy Hodgson was sacked after an unhappy six months in the job, Fernando Torres was sold to Chelsea on deadline day for a record £50million and unpopular owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks had to sell the club in October despite numerous attempts to stop the process.Kenny Dalglish returned to the dugout and guided the Reds to sixth place, including memorable late season wins over both Manchester clubs.He also signed Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez, but ultimately, the Reds missed out on Europe for the first time since 2000.Hodgson eventually turned up at West Brom in February and proved that his management skills still were up to scratch, by easing the Baggies comfortably away from a relegation scrap into a solid 11th place finish.Respected Sky Sports presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray were shamed in a sexism row over women in football.They made off-air sexist comments about West Ham chief executive Karen Brady and female line assistant Sian Massey before the televised Wolves v Liverpool game in January.Further damming video revelations in the week forthcoming saw Gray sacked and Keys resigning in disgrace.Also having a disgraceful season were West Ham United, who treated Avram Grant badly all season.They looked a liability throughout and despite Scott Parker’s heroic efforts, a 3-2 defeat at Wigan Athletic on the penultimate weekend sent the Hammers down.Grant’s humiliation was complete when he sacked just an hour after the match.On ‘Survival Sunday,’ five clubs still might end up being relegated.Blackburn Rovers new Indian owners had made a catastrophic mistake by sacking Sam Allardyce in December, with the club in comfortable mid-table security!Although they were in the race for the drop, a wonderful first half at Wolves saw them 3-0 up at half-time and secure of any relegation threat.It put Wolves right in the mire, despite Mick McCarthy’s team winning at Anfield and beating Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United at Molineux during the campaign.Blackpool had entertained all neutrals throughout the season, with their flowing attack or nothing football.They did take a surprising 2-1 lead at Manchester United on the last day, but their poor defensive record cost them and a 4-2 loss meant Ian Holloway’s brave Tangerines joined West Ham in relegation misery.For a long duration of the campaign, Wigan Athletic looked destined for the drop, but put together a strong end to the season which saw them unbeaten in their last five matches.A Hugo Rodallega header beat Stoke City at the Britannia to keep Roberto Martinez’s side up against the odds. This left Birmingham City in huge peril.Although they won the Carling Cup, two wins in their last eleven matches had seen Alex McLeish’s side slip into the relegation battle.Ultimately, a late Stephen Hunt goal, which pulled Wolves back to a 2-3 defeat against Blackburn, combined with an even later Roman Pavyluchenko strike for Tottenham against Birmingham sent McLeish’s men down and kept Wolves in the league, on the most incredible final day in the league’s history.However, despite being unconvincing at times, it was Manchester United’s season once again and a fitting way for Paul Scholes and Edwin van der Sar to bow out of the game, as both retired after the Champions League final defeat to Barcelona at Wembley.
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Chelsea 3rd: Manchester City, 4th: Arsenal 5th: Tottenham, 6th: Liverpool, 7th: Everton, 8th; Fulham, 9th: Aston Villa, 10th: Sunderland
RELEGATED: Birmingham City, Blackpool, West Ham United
BIGGEST WIN: Manchester United 7-1 Blackburn Rovers (27 November 2010)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Manchester United 7-1 Blackburn Rovers (27 November 2010), Newcastle United 4-4 Arsenal (5 February 2011), Everton 5-3 Blackpool (5 February 2011)
SCORERS: Berbatov (Manchester United) 20, Tevez (Manchester City) 20, Van Persie (Arsenal) 18, Bent (Sunderland & Aston Villa) 17, Odemwingie (West Brom) 15, Hernandez (Manchester United) 13, Kuyt (Liverpool) 13, Van der Vaart (Tottenham) 13, Carroll (Newcastle & Liverpool) 13, Malouda (Chelsea) 13, Campbell (Blackpool) 13, Drogba (Chelsea) 12, Dempsey (Fulham) 12
2011/12 (Table & scorers after three matches)
THE 20th season has begun with the two Manchester clubs looking unstoppable.Manchester United handed Arsenal their biggest defeat in Premiership history, with an 8-2 mauling at Old Trafford.Only hours earlier, Manchester City thumped Tottenham 5-1 at White Hart Lane, with Edin Dzeko scoring four goals.Under Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool spent big to acquire Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing to the club in the summer.The good times seem to be coming back to Anfield, with two wins in three games, including an impressive success away at Arsenal, with Luis Suarez looking like the natural replacement for Fernando Torres.Torres’s new club Chelsea have a new gaffer, as Andre Vilas-Boas arrived in the summer.They have looked unconvincing so far, but have signed youngster Romelu Lukaku and Valencia playmaker Juan Manuel Mata and kept pace with the leading contenders.Wolves, Stoke City, Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic have all made solid starts too, remaining unbeaten but with Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri gone, plus numerous suspensions and injuries, Arsenal are contemplating life in the bottom four.However, there is plenty of time to go in what is turning out to be a special season already.
1st: Manchester United, 2nd: Manchester City 3rd: Liverpool, 4th: Chelsea 5th: Wolves 6th: Newcastle United, 7th: Aston Villa, 8th; Wigan Athletic, 9th: Stoke City, 10th: Bolton Wanderers
IN BOTTOM THREE: West Brom, Blackburn Rovers, Tottenham Hotspur
BIGGEST WIN: Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal (28 August 2011)
SCORERS: Dzeko (Manchester City) 6, Rooney (Manchester United) 5, Aguero (Manchester City) 3, Young (Manchester United) 3, Klasnic (Bolton) 3, Best (Newcastle) 2, Long (West Brom) 2, Suarez (Liverpool) 2, Silva (Manchester City) 2
DESPITE concerns with blistering tyres, Sebastian Vettel took a giant step closer towards a successful defence of his world championship title today.The young German won the Belgian Grand Prix at the daunting Spa-Francorchamps circuit to record his first win since success in Valencia over two months ago.It was a drive full of control and confidence, on a day where his rivals made mistakes and failed to take opportunities of a rare Red Bull weakness.
Formula One made a welcome return from its summer break with a dramatic qualifying session on a damp track.Before the race had begun, the paddock was still talking about the incident at the end of Q2 yesterday between Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado, when the Williams driver seemed to make a deliberate attempt to take Hamilton out of qualifying altogether.Dangerous it certainly was and Maldonado was given a five place grid penalty for his actions.However, Red Bull had more pressing concerns, when tyre manufacturer Pirelli came to them at around 5pm yesterday, claiming that the super soft tyres their cars had qualified on were close to structural failure.After rival teams rejected a request from the constructor leaders to change their tyres, the concern on the faces of Adrian Newey and Christian Horner could be evident before the start of the race.
It got worse for Red Bull when Mark Webber made his customary shocking start.Just like last year, the Australian’s anti-stall mode kicked in and he was swallowed up by the front pack.Vettel led into the first corner, but was overhauled by the time the cars got to Les Combes by the fast-starting Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes.Behind them, chaos ensured at one of the trickiest first corners in Grand Prix racing.In his first start for nearly a year, Bruno Senna misjudged his braking capacity and smashed into Jaime Alguesuari’s Toro Rosso.The contact rebounded Alguesuari into Fernando Alonso and whilst the senior Spaniard got away with the impact, his compatriot was out with broken front suspension.Further back, Timo Glock’s ambition got the better of him, as he slid into the side of Paul di Resta’s Force India.The resultant concertina saw di Resta take a bite out of Jenson Button’s rear wing, whilst the two Lotus cars of Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen also got into an unfortunate tangle.Button was lucky to escape injury as debris from Senna’s damaged front wing removed his right-hand mirror and lodged into his front wing.After McLaren messed up his qualifying effort yesterday, it looked like he had another major fightback on his hands.
Vettel drove back past Rosberg as soon as the DRS was activated, but soon pitted, as did his team-mate to get rid of the iffy tyres.Button soon followed, though that was for the cosmetic repairs that he needed from the first corner skirmish.Rosberg regained the lead, but was soon passed by the recovering Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.On lap 8, Alonso and Webber showed their massive respect for one another, as the 35-year old Aussie produced great bravery to pass Alonso on the inside of the 185mph flat-out Eau Rouge kink.This sort of stuff is why he has re-signed with Red Bull Racing for the 2012 season.
MESSY: Hamilton's crash ended another disappointing day
Five laps later, Hamilton’s dramatic weekend took a turn for the worse when he was pitched into the barriers by the Sauber of Kamur Kobayashi.Hamilton had just passed Kobayashi and went to defend the Japanese driver from an immediate attack.However, he moved across too soon before he was a car length infront of the Sauber.The inevitable contact had Hamilton heading straight for the barriers.He sounded rather dejected in interviews afterwards following another trying weekend which ended in grave disappointment.
The safety car was deployed to clear away the wrecked McLaren and Vettel pitted for another stop, whilst Alonso and Webber elected to take track position, rather than pit.Felipe Massa had moved upto fourth ahead of Rosberg, but was passed immediately on the restart by the fired up German.Within two laps of the restart, Vettel was back infront and took command of the race from there.Alonso looked good for second, but struggled for pace on the medium compound tyre and he was no match for Webber, who stormed past again with ten laps to go, far more comfortable on the same rubber.Meanwhile, Button had produced an ultimate masterclass in how to overtake and with only three laps to go, passed Alonso with ease to take the final podium place.Having been as low as 19th, it was another great fightback.However, no-one could stop Vettel, who cruised home to his first victory at Spa, on a circuit which was meant to be one of Red Bull’s weaker circuits in the final races.
Behind Webber, Button and Alonso, Michael Schumacher produced one of his best races of the season to finish fifth.It was a remarkable feat, having started last after a wheel fell off in the early stages of qualifying yesterday.This is a special result on a special weekend for the great German, who was celebrating his 20th anniversary of his F1 debut in a Jordan.After a promising start, Rosberg had to settle for sixth, as he was hobbled by fuel consumption concerns like he was in China.Adrian Sutil earnt some more strong points for Force India in seventh, whilst Massa could only manage eighth, as he had to make an extra unscheduled stop to replace a punctured tyre.Vitaly Petrov and Maldonado completed the points scorers, with the latter scoring his first ever championship point and probably adding insult to injury on Hamilton’s dark mood following his hooligan antics 24 hours earlier.After his delay, Senna had to settle for 13th in his first drive for Renault, while di Resta narrowly missed out on points in 11th.
With a 95 point lead, Sebastian Vettel has ended his summer drought and it is now not a question of if, but when he seals his second world championship.He could take a massive step forward at Monza; the final European event of the season in a fortnight’s time.
HAVING ended the previous season empty-handed, Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United were determined for revenge in 2002/03 and they hunted Arsenal down successfully to regain the Premiership title.It was their eighth success in 11 years.Despite having broken the British transfer record to sign Rio Ferdinand from Leeds United for £30million; old frailties seemed to be around Ferguson’s team early in the season.Bolton beat them at Old Trafford for the second successive season, with Leeds and Manchester City (in the last Manchester derby at Maine Road) also inflicting early season defeats.Meanwhile, Arsenal and Liverpool both started the season in sensational fashion.Liverpool went 12 games unbeaten at the start of the season, but then endured a miserable run in wintertime.Gerard Houiller’s side went 11 games without a win, dropped to 7th and saw their title challenge melt away.However, Arsenal continued to fly, with Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord and Robert Pires all in great form.On March 2, they beat Charlton Athletic at Highbury 2-0 to extend their points advantage over Manchester United to eight points.Gradually, United took bites out of the deficit, until they overhauled them before a Highbury face-off in mid-April.Ruud Van Nistlerooy swung the Premiership pendulum United’s way with an early goal, but two Henry strikes in the opening moments of the second half turned the game around.A free header from Ryan Giggs drew the sides level, before Sol Campbell was sent off controversially for an accidental elbow into the face of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.The game finished 2-2, and injuries and suspensions took their toll on Wenger’s side.Ten days later, they threw away a 2-0 lead to draw at Bolton and a week later, it was all over.Marc Viduka’s 87th minute winner was not only enough for Leeds to win 3-2 at Highbury and ensure Premiership football at Elland Road for another season, but give the title to one of their bitter rivals.Newcastle United launched a brief title assault, with Sir Bobby Robson’s exciting young side finishing a creditable third.Chelsea took the final Champions League spot on offer, as Claudio Ranieri penniless side won the £25million showdown with Liverpool on the final day of the season.Little did we know of the drama and the new investment to enter West London that summer!The stress of management was also shown as Glenn Roeder collapsed and was taken to hospital after West Ham beat Middlesbrough 1-0 on April 21.Trevor Brooking took over the reins, but he couldn’t save his beloved club from shock relegation on the final day of the season.
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Arsenal 3rd: Newcastle United, 4th: Chelsea 5th: Liverpool, 6th: Blackburn Rovers, 7th: Everton, 8th; Southampton, 9th: Manchester City, 10th: Tottenham
RELEGATED: West Ham United, West Brom, Sunderland
BIGGEST WIN: West Brom 0-6 Liverpool (26 April 2003)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Manchester United 5-3 Newcastle United (23 November 2002), Newcastle United 2-6 Manchester United (12 April 2003), West Ham United 3-4 Leeds United (10 November 2002)
ONE team dominated the 2003/04 season and totally rewrote the football history books.On Saturday May 15 2004, Arsenal beat Leicester City 2-1 to complete a truly remarkable feat.Not since Preston North End in 1888 had this happened.A team had gone unbeaten for an entire league season.The Gunners record was; P38, W26, D12, L0.Arsene Wenger had completed total football perfection.The turning point of their season was an early showdown with Manchester United at Old Trafford.The match was disappointing, finishing 0-0.However, it exploded into life in the closing stages.Already angered by Patrick Vieira’s dismissal, Arsenal were even more incensed when Diego Forlan went down in stoppage time under a Martin Keown challenge.Ruud Van Nistlerooy, involved in the Vieira scuffle, hit the crossbar from the penalty, and then, all hell broke loose.Eight players were charged, with six Gunners players getting up to 18 games in total of suspensions.After that, Arsenal let their football do the talking, rather than the aggression they showed on that awful day.Whilst the Gunners were achieving record after record, Chelsea began spending money almost as lavishly at Harrods.Roman Abramovich bought the club from Ken Bates in June and gave the club fortunes to spend in the transfer market.In came the likes of Wayne Bridge, Claude Makelele, Damien Duff, Glen Johnson and Adrian Mutu and in also came a new force in the Premiership reckoning.Chelsea topped the table on merit at the end of November and finished second, their best finish in the league since winning in 1955.Claudio Ranieri’s reward was the sack.Manchester United finished a distant third in the table, hobbled by Rio Ferdinand’s eight month suspension he received before Christmas for missing a drugs test.Amongst their shock defeats was a 1-0 loss away to newly promoted Wolves in January.Both Liverpool and Newcastle United had very inconsistent seasons, although they just about managed to scrap it out for the final Champions League spot.A run of four wins in a row towards the season’s end meant Liverpool finished in the coveted fourth position, but Gerard Houiller lost his job after an abject campaign which saw his side finish a mammoth 30 points behind the champions.Many other established clubs had dismal seasons too.Tottenham sacked Glenn Hoddle in September, were in the bottom three at the turn of the year and only finished 14th, whilst Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City and Everton finished in the bottom six after dreadful seasons.Worse befall Leeds United however.Champions League semi-finalists three years earlier, Leeds were relegated as their financial mess imploded with more star players being sold and total disarray in the boardroom.Leicester City and Wolves went straight back down too, but Portsmouth finished a very creditable 13th in their first season back in the top flight.
CHAMPIONS: Arsenal, 2nd: Chelsea 3rd: Manchester United, 4th: Liverpool 5th: Newcastle United, 6th: Aston Villa, 7th: Charlton Athletic, 8th; Bolton Wanderers, 9th: Fulham, 10th: Birmingham City
RELEGATED: Leicester City, Leeds United, Wolves
BIGGEST WIN: Portsmouth 6-1 Leeds United (8 November 2003)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Manchester City 6-2 Bolton Wanderers (18 October 2003), Tottenham Hotspur 4-4 Leicester City (22 February 2004), Middlesbrough 5-3 Birmingham City (21 March 2004)
SCORERS: Henry (Arsenal) 30, Shearer (Newcastle) 22, Saha (Fulham & Manchester United) 20, Van Nistlerooy (Manchester United) 20, Forssell (Birmingham) 17, Owen (Liverpool) 16, Angel (Aston Villa) 16, Yakubu (Portsmouth) 16, Anelka (Manchester City) 16, Pires (Arsenal) 14, Beattie (Southampton) 14, Keane (Tottenham) 14, Hasselbaink (Chelsea) 12, Ferdinand (Leicester) 12
2004/05
JOSE Mourinho was welcomed into the Premiership and his mission was simple; to deliver Chelsea their first championship in 50 years.Along the way, he not only mastered the English game, but revolutionised Chelsea’s fortunes.On Saturday April 30, the inspirational Frank Lampard scored twice to seal a 2-0 win at Bolton and complete Chelsea’s dream.They became Premiership champions for the first time.Not only that, but they rewrote the Premiership history books.Mourinho’s men only conceded 18 goals all season, whilst new goalkeeper Petr Cech broke the record for the number of minutes he kept goal without conceding.The Blues managed 95 points, won 27 games, which was the most ever in a 38-game season and lost only once (1-0 at Manchester City on October 16).Blue really was the colour in 2004/05.Established contenders Arsenal and Manchester United were forced to play second fiddle.The Red Devils did manage to end Arsenal’s incredible unbeaten run at 49 games, after another bruising encounter between the two teams at Old Trafford ended 2-0 in United’s favour on October 24.However, it was Arsenal who had the last laugh and finished second, ensuring automatic qualification for the Champions League.Having sold star striker Wayne Rooney to Manchester United and been relegation favourites in pre-season, Everton defied all the critics to finish an outstanding fourth in the league, despite a humiliating 7-0 defeat at Arsenal towards the season’s end.It meant that Everton beat Liverpool in the league table for the first time since 1987, although Rafa Benitez did mastermind an incredible Champions League triumph in his first season at the club.A new manager became the new fashion this season too with Paul Sturrock (Southampton), Sir Bobby Robson (Newcastle), Gary Megson (West Brom) and Jacques Santini (Tottenham) among those to lose their jobs in the first three months of the season.Graeme Souness was given the task of managing Newcastle, but he couldn’t stop an amazing incident in April, when two of his midfielders, Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer started fighting during a match at home to Aston Villa.Both were sent off and banned and 14th place was the final outcome.At the bottom of the table, Norwich City, Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Brom got locked in an intense dogfight all season.On ‘Survival Sunday,’ Norwich had their fate in their own hands, but lost 6-0 at Fulham and went straight back down.Harry Redknapp failed to mastermind Southampton’s sorry season and their 27 year stay in the top flight was ended by a 1-2 loss at home to Manchester United.West Brom beat Portsmouth 2-0 and a late Charlton equaliser from Jonathan Fortune at home to Crystal Palace was enough for the Baggies to stay up.In doing so, West Brom became the first team ever to stay up in the Premiership, having been bottom of the table on Christmas Day.
CHAMPIONS: Chelsea, 2nd: Arsenal 3rd: Manchester United, 4th: Everton 5th: Liverpool, 6th: Bolton Wanderers, 7th: Middlesbrough, 8th; Manchester City, 9th: Tottenham, 10th: Aston Villa
RELEGATED: Crystal Palace, Norwich City, Southampton
BIGGEST WIN: Arsenal 7-0 Everton (11 May 2005)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Tottenham Hotspur 4-5 Arsenal (13 November 2004), Arsenal 5-3 Middlesbrough (22 August 2004), Tottenham Hotspur 5-2 Everton (1 January 2005)
FOR the second successive season, Chelsea totally dominated the Premiership, winning the league by eight points from nearest rivals, Manchester United.At times, Chelsea had leads in the table as big as 15 points.They were top of the league from the third week onwards, kept clean sheets in their first six Premiership games and never looked threatened.They won the league in crowning style, on the penultimate weekend of the season.Goals from William Gallas, Joe Cole and Ricardo Carvalho spearheaded Chelsea to a 3-0 win over Manchester United, which highlighted the gulfing class between the two sides.Liverpool had a much better domestic campaign this time around, winning ten games in a row between October and December and achieving a similar run from March to May.The Anfield club also gave Robbie Fowler an emotional return in January, when he signed from Manchester City.Four goals in the season run-in earnt him an extra season on Merseyside.Whilst Fowler continued, Alan Shearer retired at the end of the season.Sadly, injury forced the decision prematurely three weeks earlier than anticipated, but his final involvement was scoring a penalty at the Stadium of Light against Tyneside rivals Sunderland.Whilst Newcastle finished seventh in the table, Sunderland had a horrific campaign.They wound up with 13 points, which for two seasons, was the worst total ever in Premiership history.The Black Cats only managed three wins all season and sacked Mick McCarthy in March.After walking out on Portsmouth a year earlier to manage bitter South Coast rivals Southampton, Harry Redknapp returned to Fratton Park, and ‘Harry Houdini’ inspired the club to an incredible run of form that kept them in the Premiership.They were eight points adrift of safety in March, but two Pedro Mendes strikes against Manchester City were the catalyst for the dramatic upturn in fortunes.Portsmouth’s revival meant Birmingham City were relegated, just two years after finishing in the top half of the league and West Brom also couldn’t hold onto their Premier League status.After 93 years at Highbury, time ran out on the glorious stadium as Arsenal got prepared for life at their new home.Plus, the new 60,000 capacity Emirates Stadium could welcome Champions League football after a dramatic final day.For much of the season, a disastrous away record meant Arsenal trailed the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and newcomers Wigan Athletic in the table.They went into the final day a single point behind Tottenham and fell 1-2 behind at home to Wigan on Highbury’s final day.However, the King of Highbury, Thierry Henry, said farewell in the grand manner.He scored a hat-trick to complete a 4-2 victory.Dodgy food chef or not, Tottenham folded at Upton Park, losing 2-1 at West Ham, which meant they were pipped to the final Champions League spot right at the end of the campaign.
CHAMPIONS: Chelsea, 2nd: Manchester United 3rd: Liverpool, 4th: Arsenal 5th: Tottenham, 6th: Blackburn Rovers, 7th: Newcastle United, 8th; Bolton Wanderers, 9th: West Ham United, 10th: Wigan
RELEGATED: West Brom, Birmingham City, Sunderland
BIGGEST WIN: Arsenal 7-0 Middlesbrough (14 January 2006)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Blackburn Rovers 4-3 Manchester United (2 February 2006), Charlton Athletic 2-5 Manchester City (4 December 2005), Fulham 6-1 West Brom (12 February 2006)
SCORERS: Henry (Arsenal) 27, Van Nistlerooy (Manchester United) 21, Bent (Charlton) 18, Lampard (Chelsea) 16, Rooney (Manchester United) 16, Keane (Tottenham) 16, Harewood (West Ham) 14, Bellamy (Blackburn) 13, Yakubu (Middlesbrough) 13, Drogba (Chelsea) 12, Camara (Wigan) 12, Mido (Tottenham) 11, John (Fulham) 11, Gerrard (Liverpool) 10, Shearer (Newcastle) 10
2006/07
CHELSEA’s two year domination of the Premiership crown ended in 2006/07, as Manchester United became champions once again.United secured the league title at the beginning of May, with a 1-0 win at Eastlands against goal shy Manchester City.24 hours later, Khalid Boulahrouz was sent off and Chelsea failed to beat Arsenal at the Emirates, drawing 1-1.This meant that Jose Mourinho’s team had to gracefully give up the title.Manchester United were inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo, who finally began to show some consistent form at club level, which would make him one of the world’s best footballers in years to come.Late winners away from home at Fulham and Liverpool on two successive Saturdays in springtime turned out to be very decisive for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, despite a late slip-up against Portsmouth and a frustrating home draw with Middlesbrough.Chelsea ended up drawing their last five matches, and tensions clearly were beginning to rise between owner and manager.Jose Mourinho didn’t seem impressed with Roman Abramovich’s interference in purchasing both Michael Ballack and Andrei Shevchenko.Neither player made a significant impact at Stamford Bridge.Key injuries to the likes of John Terry and Petr Cech also had their effects on Chelsea’s season.Liverpool edged out Arsenal by a single point, but both clubs had inconsistent campaigns.There seemed to be positive news from Anfield in February, when George Gillett and Tom Hicks completed a deal to buy the club.Sadly, the promises made by the pair of success and a new stadium were broken and dark days in the long-term faced the Anfield side.The other big story of the season was West Ham’s controversial signings of Argentine pair Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.The club had broken Premier League third-party ownership regulations and the clubs fighting around them such as Sheffield United and Wigan Athletic were incensed when the Premier League decided on giving the Hammers a fine rather than a points deduction.Alan Pardew was sacked in December by the new owners and Mascherano moved away from the controversy to sign for Liverpool.However, Tevez scored a flurry of late season goals, which ultimately kept the Hammers, now managed by Alan Curbishley, up.The great escape was completed by a last day victory at Old Trafford, with Tevez scoring the deciding goal again.Wigan beat Sheffield United 2-1 at Bramwall Lane, which meant their Premiership adventure cruelly ended after one season back in the top flight.Not only that, the deciding goal came from a David Unsworth penalty.Unsworth had started the season as a Sheffield United player!A similar fate of one season in the top flight befell Watford, whilst Charlton Athletic paid the price for sacking two managers and also were relegated.
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Chelsea 3rd: Liverpool, 4th: Arsenal 5th: Tottenham, 6th: Everton, 7th: Bolton Wanderers, 8th; Reading, 9th: Portsmouth, 10th: Blackburn Rovers
RELEGATED: Sheffield United, Charlton Athletic, Watford
BIGGEST WIN: Reading 6-0 West Ham United (1 January 2007)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Arsenal 6-2 Blackburn Rovers (23 December 2006), West Ham United 3-4 Tottenham Hotspur (4 March 2007), Blackburn Rovers 4-2 Manchester City (17 September 2006)
SCORERS: Drogba (Chelsea) 20, McCarthy (Blackburn) 18, Ronaldo (Manchester United) 17, Rooney (Manchester United) 14, Viduka (Middlesbrough) 14, Doyle (Reading) 13, Bent (Charlton) 13, Kuyt (Liverpool) 12, Berbatov (Tottenham) 12, Yakubu (Middlesbrough) 12, Lampard (Chelsea) 11, Van Persie (Arsenal) 11, Anelka (Bolton) 11, Zamora (West Ham) 11, Johnson (Everton) 11
ARSENE Wenger’s first full season in English football ended with a fantastic league and cup double.His acquisitions of pacy winger Marc Overmars and the dynamic Emmanuel Petit, combined with the brilliance of Dennis Bergkamp were the main reasons why Arsenal managed to break Manchester United’s stranglehold on the Premiership.In fact, it looked like Manchester United could only throw the title away when Phil Neville struck his first senior goal to beat Chelsea 1-0 on February 28 at Stamford Bridge.Some bookmakers began paying out after that result, but Arsenal had other ideas.They overhauled the 11-point deficit, with the big breaker being Overmars sole goal to see off United at Old Trafford on March 14.As Liverpool and Newcastle nicked draws at Old Trafford over the Easter period, Arsenal continued to fly, steamrolling both Blackburn Rovers and Wimbledon with consummate ease.On May 3, another awesome display was enough.The Gunners thrashed Everton at Highbury 4-0 to seal the title, with the icing on the cake coming from a magnificent Tony Adams volley in stoppage time.The formidable backline and football flair meant that the ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’ chant was consigned to the history books.Wenger leading them to their first championship in eight years and becoming the first foreign manager to achieve his dream of managing a Premiership side to title glory.At times, Blackburn showed some of their old spark, beating Sheffield Wednesday 7-2 and Aston Villa 4-0 early in the season.Chris Sutton ended the season as joint top scorer with 18 goals, but Roy Hodgson’s side faded badly in the finishing straight to sixth place.Chelsea sensationally sacked Ruud Gullit in February whilst in second position, claiming they couldn’t meet the Dutchman’s demands over a new contract.Gianluca Vialli was thrown into the job and although he guided the Blues to success in the League Cup and Cup Winners Cup, their league season capitulated, only losing one less game than relegated Bolton Wanderers.Michael Owen joined Sutton and Coventry’s Dion Dublin at the top of the scorer’s charts and was a shining figure in another inconsistent season for Liverpool.They finished 12 points behind the champions and it led to some major changes in the Anfield management for the following season.Merseyside neighbours Everton had a nightmare campaign and going into the final games, were in the bottom three.A nervy 1-1 draw at home to Coventry City was good enough for a last ditch survival, as Bolton lost 2-0 at Chelsea.For the first and only time in Premiership history, all three promoted clubs (Bolton, Barnsley and Crystal Palace) went straight back down to Division One.
CHAMPIONS: Arsenal, 2nd: Manchester United, 3rd: Liverpool, 4th: Chelsea, 5th: Leeds United, 6th: Blackburn Rovers, 7th: Aston Villa, 8th; West Ham United, 9th: Derby County, 10th: Leicester City
THIS will be the season that will always be remembered for Manchester United’s historic treble.In the Premiership, they were taken to the wire by Arsenal and were also pushed most of the way by the multi-millionaires from Chelsea.It was gripping stuff on the last day, as Arsenal relied on a positive result from Old Trafford, which involved their deadly North London rivals, Tottenham.For a while, it seemed positive for the defending champions, especially after Les Ferdinand put Tottenham in the lead midway through the first half.However, his goal was cancelled out by David Beckham, before Andy Cole lobbed Ian Walker and finally silenced those critics who had portrayed him as the enemy for all those missed chances at West Ham on the final day of the 94/95 season.Kanu’s winner at home to Aston Villa was not enough for Arsenal, with Arsene Wenger’s side falling one point short and ending gallant runners-up.The deciding result was Arsenal conceding a late winner five days earlier to Leeds United and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at Elland Road.If they’d held on for a draw in that game, it would have been back-to-back titles for the North Londoners.After last season’s disappointment, Alex Ferguson had spent big in the summer, acquiring Jaap Stam and Dwight Yorke.With Yorke and Cole in perfect harmony upfront and scoring goals almost at freewill, the Red Devils remained unbeaten in the league after a 2-3 reverse at home to Middlesbrough before Christmas.Chelsea came close, but fell away in the final hurdle.The death knell for Gianluca Vialli’s team was a match against Leicester City in mid-April, where his side threw away a 2-0 lead and were eventually pegged back by a brilliant curling effort from Steve Guppy in stoppage time.For a while, it looked like Aston Villa could maintain a sustained challenge under John Gregory.Top at Christmas, things looked good, despite Stan Collymore being sidelined by stress!However, they collapsed in the second half of the year, ending sixth and failing to even qualify for Europe.They were pipped in the table by an ever improving Leeds United and West Ham United.During the season, Leeds managed to win seven matches in a row in the top flight, equalling a record set by Don Revie’s great side of the 1970s.It was a great effort from David O’Leary in his first season in charge, after George Graham moved to Tottenham in October, where he guided them to Worthington Cup glory, but little else.There was a changing of the guard at Liverpool, as Gerard Houillier was appointed joint manager with Roy Evans in the summer.It had ‘disaster’ written all over it and Evans quit in November.Seventh place was their worst finish in five years, but Michael Owen was joint top scorer again.It was worse for Blackburn Rovers, who slipped out of the FA Premier League.Jack Walker could only watch on, as his beloved club were relegated along with Charlton Athletic and Nottingham Forest, just four years after being champions.
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Arsenal, 3rd: Chelsea, 4th: Leeds United, 5th: West Ham United, 6th: Aston Villa, 7th: Liverpool, 8th; Derby County, 9th: Middlesbrough, 10th: Leicester City
BIGGEST WIN: Nottingham Forest 1-8 Manchester United (6 February 1999)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Nottingham Forest 1-8 Manchester United (6 February 1999), Liverpool 7-1 Southampton (16 January 1999), Leicester City 2-6 Manchester United (16 January 1999)
MANCHESTER United’s grip on the Premiership title continued in season 1999/2000 – coasting to the title, a mammoth 18 points clear of their nearest challengers.Although Real Madrid were too strong in their Champions League defence and there was an embarrassing early exit from the FIFA World Club Championship in Brazil, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side swept all amongst them in this campaign, as their strength in depth showed throughout.The champions only lost three games all season; one of those was a 5-0 battering at Stamford Bridge by Chelsea.Chelsea, who had ran the established challengers close the previous campaign never recovered from a 2-3 defeat at the hands of Arsenal in October, when Kanu scored an incredible 17 minute hat-trick.Fifth place was a poor finish and put Gianluca Vialli under pressure, although an FA Cup final victory at Wembley (a trophy Manchester United forfeited to play, due to their Brazil commitments) softened the blow.If there was one team that pushed Manchester United the hardest, it was David O’Leary’s young guns, Leeds United.Leeds topped the table at Christmas and gave Ferguson’s team some early season headaches, before a crucial defeat to United at home in February.Tragedy would later befall the club in April, when two Leeds supporters were stabbed to death in Istanbul before their UEFA Cup semi-final with Galatasaray.After the grief and shock, Leeds got over the finishing line and claimed the final Champions League place, ahead of Liverpool, who made a right old mess of their final matches and ended fourth, when second was theirs for the taking.Once again, Arsenal finished runners-up, but lacked the consistency to mount any serious threat to their great rivals.Daft away defeats to the likes of West Ham, Tottenham and Bradford exposed the Gunners frailties.12 wins at home made Highfield Road a very formidable ground for Coventry City.This meant that despite not winning a single match away from home all season, relegation never looked a significant problem for the Sky Blues.It did for Newcastle early on, as Ruud Gullit was dismissed after losing out in a battle for supremacy with skipper Alan Shearer.Bobby Robson returned home, reignited Shearer’s goalscoring form and guided them to comfortable mid-table security.Among their highlights was an 8-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Robson’s home debut, with Shearer scoring five times.At the bottom of the table, Watford went straight back down, although they did record memorable wins over Liverpool and Chelsea in the early weeks of the season.Sheffield Wednesday sacked Danny Wilson in March and caretaker boss Peter Shreeves couldn’t keep them afloat.The final relegation spot went down to the final day of the season.David Wetherall’s fantastic header was enough for Bradford City to beat Liverpool 1-0 and keep them up.Wimbledon lost 2-0 to Southampton.They went down, ending their 14-year stay in the top flight, promoting unbridled joy at Valley Parade.
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Arsenal, 3rd: Leeds United, 4th: Liverpool 5th: Chelsea, 6th: Aston Villa, 7th: Sunderland, 8th; Leicester City, 9th: West Ham United, 10th: Tottenham
BIGGEST WIN: Newcastle United 8-0 Sheffield Wednesday (19 September 1999)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: West Ham United 5-4 Bradford City (12 February 2000), Tottenham Hotspur 7-2 Southampton (11 March 2000), Bradford City 4-4 Derby County (19 April 2000)
ONCE again, Manchester United’s supreme class shone through, as they took their third successive Premiership title.Their final margin of victory by ten points over Arsenal flattered the Gunners, as Sir Alex Ferguson side were miles ahead of the competition again.This was no more evident when they played Arsenal on 25 February.They were 5-1 up inside half an hour, eventually winning 6-1.The crushing result took them 16 points clear of Arsene Wenger’s side.They secured the title on Easter Saturday, with a 4-2 victory over Coventry City in a lunchtime kick-off.Hours later, any mathematical hope Arsenal had of launching a sensational comeback were ended in a shock 3-0 loss at home to Middlesbrough, not helped by two own goals in the match.It was a great season for Liverpool, who began to blossom under Gerard Houiller’s stewardship.They won an incredible treble of cup competitions (UEFA Cup, Worthington Cup and FA Cup).Not only that, but an impressive 4-0 demolition of Charlton Athletic on the final day of the season ensured Champions League qualification for the first time since the Heysel stadium disaster of 1985; a fitting reward for the club.The season will also be remembered for a fantastic league double over the league champions Manchester United for the first time in 11 years.Chelsea won the Charity Shield, but made a depressingly slow start to the season and dispensed with the services of Gianluca Vialli at the beginning of September.The relatively unheard Claudio Ranieri came into the hotseat.Ranieri got the tag of ‘The Tinkerman,’ but he managed to bring the team upto sixth position in the final standings, with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink returning to the Premiership after an unhappy season in Spain, and ending as the league’s top scorer.Manager of the season however was George Burley.The Scotsman, on a limited budget took his Ipswich Town side to a hugely impressive fifth position in their first season back in the top flight.Marcus Stewart scored 19 league goals as the Tractor Boys came within a whisker of Champions League qualification.Another side that impressed were Sunderland, with Peter Reid’s side holding down a genuine second position in January, before coming seventh for the second successive season.Southampton bid an emotional farewell to The Dell at the end of the season after 103 years.Despite manager Glenn Hoddle walking out on them for the Tottenham job in March, the Saints finished life at the old ground on a high, with Matt Le Tissier scoring an 89th minute winner on the final day against Arsenal.Another Premiership stalwart lost their status, as Coventry City finally got consigned to relegation after 34 years in the top flight.They went down after a 3-2 defeat at Aston Villa in May with Manchester City and Bradford City also going down.
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Arsenal, 3rd: Liverpool, 4th: Leeds United 5th: Ipswich Town, 6th: Chelsea, 7th: Sunderland, 8th; Aston Villa, 9th: Charlton Athletic, 10th: Southampton
RELEGATED: Manchester City, Coventry City, Bradford City
BIGGEST WIN: Manchester United 6-0 Bradford City (5 September 2000)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Arsenal 5-3 Charlton Athletic (26 August 2000), Chelsea 6-1 Coventry City (22 October 2000), Leeds United 4-3 Liverpool (4 November 2000)
AFTER eight loyal seasons, brewery giant Carling was replaced as title sponsors by Barclaycard.With the change came a gripping scrap for the title between Manchester United, Newcastle United, Leeds United, Liverpool and Arsenal.Leeds and Newcastle set the pace in the early weeks, with Manchester United struggling to integrate Juan Sebastian Veron and Ruud van Nistlerooy into their squad.They did produce an epic comeback, from 3-0 down at half-time in September to Tottenham, storming back to win 5-3 but after a 0-1 reverse at home to West Ham in December, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team were 9th in the table, 11 points off the pace.Cue a historic scoring run from Van Nistlerooy, with the Dutchman becoming the first player to score in eight successive Premiership matches, as the champions charged to the top of the table.However, Arsenal looked in even better form, staying unbeaten away from home all season and scoring in every single FA Barclaycard Premiership game.The crunch match came on May 8, where Sylvain Wiltord’s second half winner sealed Arsenal’s second Premiership title at Old Trafford.To take the championship away in the backyard of their main rivals just made the success all the sweeter for Arsene Wenger.On top of that, they achieved the league and cup double and Thierry Henry edged out Van Nistlerooy and Alan Shearer to win the Golden Boot for the first time.Worse was to come for Manchester United, as they finished out of the top two for the first time in Premiership history.Liverpool’s 5-0 final day victory over Ipswich Town sealed runners-up spot for the Reds, despite losing manager Gerard Houillier to a serious heart scare at half-time of a match with Leeds United on October 13.Phil Thompson did a brilliant job in caretaker charge, including inspiring the men from Merseyside to another league double over Manchester United.Liverpool’s final day victory also meant Ipswich had to deal with relegation, just a season after finishing fifth and earning UEFA Cup qualification.It was a terrible year for the East Midlands, with both Derby County and Leicester City changing managers as many times as hot dinners and both ended up being relegated.This meant that for the first time in Premiership history, the three promoted clubs all managed to stay up.Fulham were welcomed into the Barclaycard Premiership family and comfortably stayed up, as did Bolton Wanderers.Bolton even topped the table after three matches, which included a shock win against Liverpool.After two seasons away, Blackburn returned too and finished a creditable tenth.Graeme Souness bought Andy Cole from Manchester United at Christmas, inspired his team to a 7-1 demolition of West Ham along the way and also earnt European football, via their triumph in the Worthington Cup final.
CHAMPIONS: Arsenal, 2nd: Liverpool 3rd: Manchester United, 4th: Newcastle United 5th: Leeds United, 6th: Chelsea, 7th: West Ham United, 8th; Aston Villa, 9th: Tottenham, 10th: Blackburn Rovers
RELEGATED: Ipswich Town, Derby County, Leicester City
BIGGEST WIN: Blackburn Rovers 7-1 West Ham United (14 October 2001)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Tottenham Hotspur 3-5 Manchester United (29 September 2001), Charlton Athletic 4-4 West Ham United (19 November 2001), West Ham United 3-5 Manchester United (17 March 2002)
THE new football revolution began in August 1992, when the 22 leading clubs in England broke away from the Football league to create the FA Premier League.With a massive new live television deal with BSKYB, bigger sponsors and higher transfer fees, the English game changed forever.The honour of scoring the first ever Premiership goal fell to Sheffield United’s Brian Deane.Deane scored after five minutes in his side’s 2-1 win over Manchester United.Title favourites Arsenal threw away a 2-0 lead at home to Norwich City on the opening weekend, losing 4-2 and only ending a disappointing 10th in the final table.Under Jack Walker’s millions, Blackburn Rovers were a fine 4th in their first season in the top flight, with new English record signing Alan Shearer scoring 15 goals before a serious knee injury on Boxing Day 1992 ended his season prematurely.Top scorer was Teddy Sheringham, who netted Sky’s first live televised goal in Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 opening weekend success over Liverpool.A week later, Sheringham moved to Tottenham and scored another 21 goals and with it, Forest lost all direction and form.The late, great Brian Clough decided to retire from football management, but his legacy was clouded by relegation, after an emotional final home game at the City Ground; Forest beaten 2-0 by Sheffield United on May 1.Afterwards, Clough admitted his side hadn’t been good enough to stay up.Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace also went down, as unfancied Oldham Athletic pulled off a remarkable run of three wins at the end of the season.Joe Royle’s team beat Southampton 4-3 on a dramatic final day to stay afloat.Palace lost 3-0 on the final day at Highbury to drop out of the league, relegated by an Ian Wright hat-trick.Despite their league failings, Arsenal did manage a cup double, beating Sheffield Wednesday in both FA Cup and League Cup finals.It was QPR who ended up as London’s top finishers, winding up a creditable fifth.Fellow London side Chelsea sacked Ian Porterfield in February, after failing to win in 12 matches between December and February.Unfortunately for Porterfield, he became the first manager to lose their job at this level.Another club who struggled were defending champions Leeds United.They sold Eric Cantona to Manchester United in November for £1.2million and proceeded to finish a dire 18th; failing to win an away match all season.At the top, Manchester United held off stiff challenges from Aston Villa and Norwich City to win their first title in 26 years.The title was secured by Villa’s shock 1-0 home loss to Oldham on May 2.One evening later, Old Trafford partied in style with a 3-1 triumph over Blackburn the crowning glory.Alex Ferguson’s men eventually finished ten points clear at the end of the season.
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Aston Villa, 3rd: Norwich City, 4th: Blackburn Rovers, 5th: QPR, 6th: Liverpool, 7th: Sheffield Wednesday, 8th; Tottenham, 9th: Manchester City, 10th: Arsenal
BIGGEST WIN: Blackburn Rovers 7-1 Norwich City (3 October 1992)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Oldham Athletic 5-3 Nottingham Forest (22 August 1992), Oldham Athletic 6-2 Wimbledon (3 April 1993), Liverpool 6-2 Tottenham (8 May 1993)
TOP SCORERS: Sheringham (Tottenham) 22, Ferdinand (QPR) 20, Holdsworth (Wimbledon) 19, Quinn (Coventry) 17, Shearer (Blackburn) 16, White (Manchester City) 16, Cantona (Manchester United) 15, Wright (Arsenal) 15, Le Tissier (Southampton) 15, Robins (Norwich City) 15
1993/94
AFTER their success in 1992/93, Manchester United went onto dominate the following season, although a mid-season wobble did almost throw away the title.Having signed Roy Keane from Nottingham Forest in the close season, United looked awesome in the first half of the season.Keane’s gritty determination, combined with the pace of Ryan Giggs and Andrei Kanchelskis and the natural finishing from Mark Hughes and Eric Cantona meant they established a 15 point lead at the turn of the year.Norwich City, Leeds United and Arsenal made sporadic challenges, but the only sustained threat came from Kenny Dalglish’s Blackburn Rovers.With Alan Shearer back to full fitness, Blackburn closed United down and capitalised on a dip in form from Ferguson’s side.A 2-0 win at Ewood Park against the champions in April put Blackburn within striking distance.However, a draw at home to QPR and defeats at Southampton and Coventry City ultimately meant the late surge didn’t happen.The defeat at Highfield Road on May 2 ensured back-to-back titles for United, without kicking a ball to do it.They beat Chelsea 4-0 in a one-sided FA Cup final to complete the double.Newcastle United joined the Premiership fold and Kevin Keegan’s entertainers finished an excellent third in the table.Andy Cole was in red hot form all season, finishing top scorer with a stunning 34 league goals.One of Cole’s former sides, Arsenal had a better finish, with Ian Wright once again showing his predator striking class.The Gunners ended the campaign 4th and with the best defence in the league, only shipping 28 goals to opposition teams.Graeme Souness’s miserable reign at Anfield came to an end in January, when he was sacked after a dismal FA Cup defeat at home to lowly Bristol City.Liverpool finished a poor 8th in the table, but did produce the comeback of the season on January 4, recovering from 3-0 down inside 21 minutes at home to Manchester United and rescuing a 3-3 draw.Souness wasn’t the only manager to lose his job this season, with similar fates befalling Peter Reid (Manchester City), Bobby Gould (Coventry City) and Ian Branfoot (Southampton).Swindon Town went straight back down after just one season, conceding a record 100 league goals in the process.Relegation also befell Oldham before the final games, but the final day turned into a relegation dogfight between Everton, Southampton, Ipswich and Sheffield United.Everton stormed back from 2-0 down to beat Wimbledon 3-2 and survive by the skin of their teeth.Ultimately, Mark Stein’s last minute winner for Chelsea against Sheffield United sealed a 3-2 win and sent Dave Bassett’s team down, despite having been as high as 15th, two weeks before the season’s end.However, 93/94 belonged to one team only; Manchester United.
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Blackburn Rovers, 3rd: Newcastle United, 4th: Arsenal, 5th: Leeds United, 6th: Wimbledon, 7th: Sheffield Wednesday, 8th; Liverpool, 9th: QPR, 10th: Aston Villa
RELEGATED: Sheffield United, Oldham Athletic, Swindon Town
BIGGEST WIN: Newcastle United 7-1 Swindon Town (11 March 1994)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Norwich City 4-5 Southampton (9 April 1994), Everton 6-2 Swindon Town (15 January 1994), Oldham Athletic 2-5 Manchester United (29 December 1993)
HAVING come close the previous season, Blackburn stated their intentions in pre-season by breaking the English transfer record to sign Chris Sutton from Norwich City.Together with Alan Shearer, the pair formed the deadly SAS partnership which would eventually spearhead Blackburn to their first championship in 81 years and in dramatic circumstances too.Going into the final day, Rovers were two points clear of Manchester United, but were beaten 2-1 by Liverpool at Anfield.A win at Upton Park against West Ham would have been enough for the Red Devils, but some inspired Ludek Miklosko goalkeeping and wasteful finishing meant a 1-1 draw was not enough.So, despite conceding to Jamie Redknapp’s injury time free-kick, Blackburn fans celebrated losing a match!Shearer’s goal tally left him as top scorer and Tim Sherwood lifted the trophy afloat on a glorious May afternoon.The season was to be dogged by many bad headlines which dragged football’s publicity down the gutter.Dennis Wise was jailed for assaulting a taxi driver, Chris Armstrong failed a drugs test, Paul Merson had time off the game after admitting to excessive gambling and cocaine addiction and Eric Cantona was suspended for eight months after his famous kung-fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan at Selhurst Park.The temperament of the fantastic Frenchman had always been questioned and this time, it cost Manchester United.Despite scoring five goals in one match against Ipswich, Andy Cole’s shock £7million move from Newcastle in January turned into an expensive flop for many Manchester United supporters.A match-fixing scandal also gripped the game this season, with Bruce Grobbelaar, Hans Segers and John Fashanu all accused of taking money to fix matches.All three would end up being acquitted.Arsenal manager George Graham was sacked in disgrace in February and banned from the game for a year, after taking illegal transfer bungs for the signature of hopeless Danish midfielder John Jensen.With the Premier League being reduced to 20 clubs from the following season onwards, there was increased pressure on managers throughout the season.Phil Neal (Coventry), Ron Atkinson (Aston Villa) and Mike Walker (Everton) all lost their jobs during the season, due to the intense relegation scrap.Ultimately, it was a miserable season for East Anglia with both Ipswich and Norwich City being relegated.Norwich had started 1995 in 7th position, but only one win in the second half of the season sealed their fate.Crystal Palace and Leicester made instant returns to the Football League, but the other club that came up, Nottingham Forest, finished a brilliant 3rd, having gone 12 games unbeaten at the start of the season.Tottenham fans also had Jurgen Klinsmann to cheer on this season, as he scored on his debut, with a famous celebratory dive against Sheffield Wednesday.Klinsmann guided Tottenham to 7th and won the Football Writers award before returning home to Germany at the end of the season.
CHAMPIONS: Blackburn Rovers, 2nd: Manchester United, 3rd: Nottingham Forest, 4th: Liverpool, 5th: Leeds United, 6th: Newcastle United, 7th: Tottenham, 8th; QPR, 9th: Wimbledon, 10th: Southampton
RELEGATED: Crystal Palace, Norwich City, Leicester City, Ipswich Town
BIGGEST WIN: Manchester United 9-0 Ipswich Town (4 March 1995)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Manchester United 9-0 Ipswich Town (4 March 1995), Aston Villa 7-1 Wimbledon (11 February 1995), Sheffield Wednesday 1-7 Nottingham Forest (1 April 1995)
TOP SCORERS: Shearer (Blackburn) 34, Fowler (Liverpool) 25, Ferdinand (QPR) 24, Collymore (Nottingham Forest) 22, Cole (Newcastle & Manchester United) 21, Klinsmann (Tottenham) 20, Le Tissier (Southampton) 19, Sheringham (Tottenham) 18, Wright (Arsenal) 18, Sutton (Blackburn) 15
1995/96
THE primary title contenders in 1995/96 were Manchester United and Newcastle United.Newcastle topped the table from day one and after beating Bolton Wanderers 2-1 on January 19, established a staggering 12 point lead over the men from Manchester United.United started the season poorly, having sold Paul Ince and Andrei Kanchelskis and still missing Eric Cantona through suspension.They lost 3-1 at Aston Villa on the opening day, giving Alan Hansen the chance to say ‘you can’t win anything with kids.’Defeats at Liverpool, Leeds and 4-1 at Tottenham on New Year’s Day left United with a mountain to climb, but Cantona quickly turned the title battle into a one man crusade.He inspired his team to an amazing run of results in the spring, which saw Newcastle’s lead disappear.On March 4, the Frenchman scored the only goal of the game at St. James Park to make Manchester United title favourites.A month later and Newcastle lost the greatest game in FA Premier League history; 4-3 at Liverpool, thanks to a stoppage time winner from Stan Collymore.Despite a 3-1 loss at Southampton a week later, which was blamed on hideous grey away shirts, Ferguson’s side turned on the screw.He started playing mind games, questioning Leeds outstanding performance at Old Trafford in mid-April and the scheduling of a Nottingham Forest v Newcastle fixture near a Stuart Pearce testimonial at the end of the season.Kevin Keegan responded live on Sky Sports, losing his rag after an away win at Leeds on April 29.The ‘I will love it if we beat them!’ rant has gone down in folklore, but no more.Ian Woan scored a brilliant late goal to earn Nottingham Forest a point against Newcastle three days later and Manchester United completed the job with a comfortable 3-0 away win on the last day at Middlesbrough.Four points was the difference at the end of the season and with the prominence of youngsters coming through at Old Trafford, such as Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Paul Scholes, a new generation of dominance began to blossom.Whilst United were rejoicing, it was misery for their Manchester rivals, Manchester City.A 2-2 draw at home to Liverpool on the final day of the season was not enough to keep them in the Premiership.It was heartbreak for Alan Ball in his first season in charge at Maine Road; his side not recovering from a dismal start.QPR and Bolton Wanderers also lost their fight against the drop.Defending champions Blackburn never looked a factor all season, but Alan Shearer still ended top scorer again as they finished a poor 7th, not helped by Kenny Dalglish’s decision to step aside after the title glory of the previous May.Meanwhile, Liverpool broke the British transfer record to lure Stan Collymore to Anfield from Nottingham Forest.He and Robbie Fowler began a formidable partnership which shot Liverpool to third place.Chelsea had another unspectacular season, but an 11th place finish was enough to convince England to appoint Glenn Hoddle as Terry Venables successor after Euro 96!
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Newcastle United, 3rd: Liverpool, 4th: Aston Villa, 5th: Arsenal, 6th: Everton, 7th: Blackburn Rovers, 8th; Tottenham, 9th: Nottingham Forest, 10th: West Ham United
RELEGATED: Manchester City, QPR, Bolton Wanderers
BIGGEST WIN: Blackburn Rovers 7-0 Nottingham Forest (18 November 1995)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Sheffield Wednesday 6-2 Leeds United (16 December 1995), Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle United (3 April 1996), Southampton 3-4 Nottingham Forest (19 August 1995)
MANCHESTER United achieved their fourth title in five years, but struggled to show any superiority throughout the season.Luckily, all their nearest challengers had stuttering campaigns, which meant Alex Ferguson’s side got over the line, once again by not playing.Despite 17-year old sensation Michael Owen coming off the bench to score at Wimbledon, Liverpool’s 2-1 loss at Selhurst Park, combined with Newcastle’s 0-0 stalemate at West Ham was enough for Ferguson’s side to be crowned the best in the land again.This was despite a horrifying six days in October, which saw his champions lose 5-0 at Newcastle and then, 6-3 to Southampton.Liverpool established a five point lead at the turn of the year, but threw the advantage away, with costly defeats at Aston Villa (1-0) in March and Coventry (1-2) in April.Roy Evans side had only themselves to blame, with David James guilty of several high profile blunders in the run-in.In the end, they finished only fourth, when title glory could have been theirs.Newcastle suffered a huge shock when Kevin Keegan resigned at the beginning of January; the previous season’s toil had taken his stress levels to new extremes.Kenny Dalglish took up the reins and despite a leaky defence, qualified for the Champions League with a 5-0 battering of Nottingham Forest on the final day.Newcastle also managed to persuade Alan Shearer home to Tyneside, in a record £15million move from Blackburn Rovers at the start of the season.However, his partnership with Les Ferdinand didn’t quite blossom as many expected, due to injuries.Arsene Wenger took over at Arsenal in September and guided his ageing Gunners side to third place, with Ian Wright once again scoring goals for fun.Chelsea went global, by signing Gianfranco Zola.Zola’s impact was instant when he moved from Parma in November, walking away with the Football Writers award at the end of the season.Ruud Gullit’s side finished sixth and won the FA Cup, lifting the gloom over the Bridge, as they had to deal with the tragic death of club director Matthew Harding in a helicopter crash on the way back from a Coca Cola Cup tie at Bolton in late October.Another side who spent the money were Middlesbrough, with Emerson and Fabrizio Ravanelli arriving at a colourful Riverside Stadium.The season turned into a nightmare for Boro, as they lost in both domestic cup finals and were docked three points for failing to fulfil a fixture at Blackburn on December 20, claiming they had 21 players out through illness and injury!!Consequently, they were also relegated, despite Juninho’s heroics at Leeds on the final day of the season.Incredibly, Coventry City beat Tottenham 2-1 at White Hart Lane to stay up against the odds, with Sunderland going straight back down after a 1-0 defeat at Wimbledon.Wimbledon themselves finished a creditable 8th, having strung together a 20-game unbeaten run at one stage in all competitions.
CHAMPIONS: Manchester United, 2nd: Newcastle United, 3rd: Arsenal, 4th: Liverpool, 5th: Aston Villa, 6th: Chelsea, 7th: Sheffield Wednesday, 8th; Wimbledon, 9th: Leicester City, 10th: Tottenham
BIGGEST WIN: Newcastle United 7-1 Tottenham Hotspur (28 December 1996)
HIGHEST SCORING GAMES: Southampton 6-3 Manchester United (26 October 1996), Everton 7-1 Southampton (16 November 1996), Chelsea 6-2 Sunderland (16 March 1997)
