First Division. Hillsborough tragedy marked this season, overshadowing thrilling battle for the title and tremendously dramatic ending. Football this season was perhaps not great and many teams seemed rather pedestrian if compared to some earlier vintages, but English football was still entertaining and the final drama was unprecedented. Noticeable also was the very small number of foreign players – looked like English teams were going back to their old ways and it was more likely a good British player to go abroad than a foreigner to join English team. Perhaps not playing in the European tournaments had a lot to do with that. Fans’ violence was pretty much on everybody’s mind, including the British government. As for the end of the season…
Newcastle United had a miserable season – last with 31 points and out.
West Ham United was only slightly better – 19th with 38 points and relegated.
Middlesbrough was the third unfortunate – they finished 18th with 39 points and were relegated.
Aston Villa barely survived – 17th with 40 points.
Luton Town – 16th with 41 points. Difficult season in the league, but overall – one of their best.
Sheffield Wednesday – 15th with 42 points.
Charlton Athletic – 14th with 42 points.
Southampton – 13th with 45 points. Slowly sinking down and quite predictably so: the idea to carry on a season on the backs of few aging stars could not last forever: inevitably, there were fewer and less classier players coming – this season they had Chris Nicholl and Russell Osman which was the same as having Kevin Keegan and Peter Shilton.
Wimbledon – 12th with 51 points.
Manchester United – 11th with 51 points. Another disappointing season… Mark Hughes was back from Spain, Jesper Olsen was sold during the season. Gordon Strachan too. Alex Ferguson still had to do a lot of buying…
Millwall – 10th with 53 points. What was terrible for Manchester United, was wonderful for Millwall – all depends on size… Tony Cascarino was the most recognizable name in the team, but he was helped by young talent Teddy Sheringham.
Queens Park Rangers – 9th with 53 points. Trevor Francis still playing and David Seaman debuted for England.
Everton – 8th with 54 points. Sky was the limit, they claimed only months back…
Coventry City – 7th with 55 points.
Tottenham Hotspur – 6th with 57 points.
Derby County – 5th with 58 points. A comeback?
Norwich City – 4th with 62 points. The pleasant surprise this season.
Nottingham Forest – 3rd with 64 points. Brian Clough was keeping the team up – but they were not a title contenders.
It did not look that way at the beginning of the season, but gradually Arsenal and Liverpool not only took hold of the top positions, but built a big gap between themselves and the rest of the league. The leaders also engaged into historic race for the title, kept to the last second of the championship and ending in unprecedented equality – both finished with exactly the same records, including the goal-difference of +37. Dramatic ending… the championship went to the team scoring more goals! The thrill was fantastic – in the last round Arsenal visited Liverpool, trailing them by 3 points and had slightly inferior goal-difference (+35). Beating Liverpool at Anfield? Mission impossible… But miracles happen sometimes – Arsenal not only won the match, but with the exact result – 2-0 – giving them the edge! Coming from the back in situation entirely against them.
One can imagine the grief of Liverpool… But, on the other hand, many were so tired from seeing them winning all the time, so a change of guard was welcome. Kenny Dalglish was doing great job, indeed, but the current squad compared to earlier vintages was somewhat bland. One can argue to the end of time which Liverpool was greater – the one with Keegan, or the one with Dalglish… the one with John Aldridge would not come to mind at all, although Ian Rush came back from Italy. Liverpool had unfortunate season – first, Jan Molby was in jail for awhile, serving a sentence for driving violation. Then the Hillsborough disaster blackened the hearts – and also postponed the finish of the season. The last bitter drop was losing the title at home… 22 wins, 10 ties, 6 losses, 65-28 goal-difference, 76 points. Liverpool lost the title only on scored goals – Arsenal managed 73 and placed mighty Liverpool second.
What is a disaster for one is a triumph for another… Arsenal clinched the title in the last minute. Michael Thomas was instant hero – he scored the goal on the hostile Liverpool ground which preserved the goal-difference of the rivals equal and gave the title to Arsenal on more scored goals. Such a dramatic ending: Arsenal and Liverpool were entirely equal not just on points. Both had 76 points from 22 wins, 10 ties, 6 losses, and +37 goal-difference. But the scoring record of Liverpool was 65-28 and Arsenal’s was 73-36. That did it, thanks to Thomas – the rules stipulated that in such case goals scored are the tie-break and Arsenal got the upper hand. It was almost two decades long wait, but Arsenal was champion again. Naturally, manager George Graham got legendary status and rightly so, for he managed to win the title with somewhat inferior squad – at least, if compared to Liverpool’s. Kenny Sansom was sold to Newcastle (and what an irony… the great veteran was relegated with his new team at the time when his old one became champion). A good team, but great? Certainly, Arsenal needed some classier reinforcements – goalkeeping was point in case: John Lukic, although well known, was hardly top-class keeper. But getting Seaman was still in the future – presently, it was only joy.
No matter Arsenal had to play without Tony Adams, suspended for offensive television interview, against Liverpool. No matter they had to pose in reserve yellow kit – they won the title!
A Football Blog