50
Half of last season’s 16 FA Cup fourth-round ties and half of the eight
fifth-round ties were played in London or its outskirts (ie, including Luton
and Watford).
49
There were two Luton relegations last season: Luton Town from the
Championship and Luton Shelton, of Sheffield United, from the Premier
League.
48
Since June 1984, England have played 268 matches but none in South
America.
47
When Iain Dowie became Coventry City manager in February, it was his third
club beginning with a “C” in nine months. The others were Crystal Palace and
Charlton Athletic.
46
The Champions League featured the following scorelines this year:
Manchester United 7, AS Roma 1; Arsenal 7, Slavia Prague 0; Liverpool 8,
Besiktas 0. Yet in the three reverse fixtures, Arsenal drew and United and
Liverpool lost.
45
Leicester City, Nottingham Forest and Notts County all lasted only one
season on their most recent top-flight stay, and Derby County, their East
Midlands' rivals, are likely to follow suit this season.
44
Excluding when Aston Villa beat their reserves-packed side in the League
Cup in 1999, Manchester United are undefeated in 17 games at Villa Park – 13
away to Villa and four FA Cup semi-finals.
43
Of the 22 teams promoted to the Premier League (since its formation in
1992) who have survived beyond the first season, only four have done better
in their second year. One finished in the same position and 17 were worse
off.
42
Trevor Benjamin has played for 16 clubs since the turn of the Millennium:
Cambridge United, Leicester City, Crystal Palace, Norwich City, West
Bromwich Albion, Gillingham, Rushden & Diamonds, Brighton & Hove
Albion, Northampton Town, Coventry City, Peterborough United, Watford,
Swindon Town, Boston United, Walsall and Hereford United.
41
When England lost to Croatia at Wembley last month, it was the first England
side (including substitutes) not to feature a Manchester United player in
115 games since they met Morocco in a friendly in May 1998.
40
In the past 35 seasons, Tottenham Hotspur have never finished closer than 13
points from the top of the table, even though there were only two points for
a win in the first nine of those seasons (when gaps in the table, naturally,
tended to be smaller).
39
Gary Speed, of Bolton Wanderers, is still playing in the Premier League at 38
and the other three members of Leeds United’s 1992 title-winning midfield
also appeared in the top flight at an advanced age. Gordon Strachan played
until 40 for Coventry City, Gary McAllister until 37 for Liverpool, and
David Batty until 35 for Leeds.
38
There were 944 Premier League goals scored in 2006-07 – exactly the same as
in the previous season. The rate of 2.48 goals per game was lower than every
season in the top flight since 1973-74 – aside from 2.47 in 1987-88.
37
Aston Villa have conceded goals to Villa and Park – Ricky Villa, of Tottenham
Hotspur, in 1981 and Park Ji-Sung, of Manchester United, in 2007.
36
Reading’s 6-0 win over West Ham United in January was the first time a
newly promoted team had recorded a six-goal win in the Premier League since
October 2001, when Blackburn Rovers won 7-1 against . . . West Ham.
35
There was a bigger crowd for Nottingham Forest v Cheltenham Town in
Coca-Cola League One (22,640) on March 24 than at 13 of the 20 European
Championship qualifying matches that day. All seven Conference attendances
were bigger than for Faroe Isles v Ukraine (717).
34
In Reading’s first 11 league games this season, two of their players scored
within eight seconds of emerging as a substitute and another was sent off 37
seconds after his arrival. Andre Bikey scored against Chelsea, Shane Long
against Newcastle United and Dave Kitson was sent off against Manchester
United.
33
Manchester United scored three goals in nine games in all competitions
between May 2 to August 19. It was the first time they had scored fewer than
eight goals in a nine-match stretch since 1992.
32
Last season was a good one to be docked points in Italy. In Serie A, Lazio
(docked three points) and AC Milan (eight points) qualified for the
Champions League, Fiorentina (15 points) made it to the Uefa Cup and Reggina
(11 points) and Siena (one point) escaped relegation. In Serie B, Juventus
(nine points) won the title.
31
Leeds United’s relegation from the Championship means that three of the eight
stadiums to host matches at the 1996 European Championship have since staged
third-tier football: Elland Road (Leeds), Hillsborough (Sheffield Wednesday)
and the City Ground (Nottingham Forest).
30
Shaun Wright-Phillips became the fourth 5ft 6in Chelsea forward to play in an
FA Cup Final in the past 13 years after Gianfranco Zola, John Spencer and
Mark Stein.
29
Manchester United scored three times in eight minutes against AS Roma in
the Champions League in April but they had produced faster trebles than that
in three other competitions over the previous 14 months. They scored three
in six minutes in the Carling Cup final against Wigan Athletic in 2006,
three in four minutes against Fulham in the opening league game of last
season and three in three minutes and 20 seconds against Reading in an FA
Cup replay in February.
28
Danny Murphy’s move from Tottenham Hotspur to Fulham in the summer means
six midfield players have played for both teams in the past four years. The
others are Simon Davies, Michael Brown, Wayne Routledge, Steed Malbranque
and Sean Davis.
27
March 15: Andres Palop, the Seville goalkeeper, scores against Shakhtar
Donetsk in the Uefa Cup. March 16: Seville are drawn to play Tottenham
Hotspur in the Uefa Cup. March 17: Paul Robinson, the Tottenham goalkeeper,
scores against Watford.
26
Stuart Pearce’s last match as Manchester City manager produced the same
outcome as his first. Pearce’s first game: Tottenham Hotspur 2, Manchester
City 1, Premier League (March 19, 2005); last game: Tottenham Hotspur 2,
Manchester City 1, Premier League (May 13, 2007).
25
Milton Keynes Dons (formerly Wimbledon) have met Bradford City in all four
divisions since the turn of the Millennium.
24
The 26 goals scored at Stamford Bridge between late in the first half of
Chelsea’s match against Macclesfield Town on January 6 and the end of the
game against Norwich City on February 17 were all scored by Jose Mourinho’s
side.
23
Sam Allardyce, the Newcastle United manager, and Sammy Lee, who replaced
Allardyce at Bolton Wanderers, are the only Sams to have managed a
top-flight club since Sammy Chung left Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1978.
22
Stephen and Alan Quinn, brothers and midfield colleagues at Sheffield United,
spent only seven minutes together on the pitch in the Premier League last
season despite totalling 35 league appearances. Stephen made 15 starts and
Alan 11 starts and nine substitute appearances, yet only twice did they play
in the same game. Alan came on for Stephen against Middlesbrough; and Alan
played the final seven minutes, while Stephen stayed on, against Everton.
21
Derby County became only the second team in top-flight history to fail to
score in their first eight away games, equalling the mark set by Everton in
1948-49.
20
Premier League clubs seem to have given up on wing back systems. In the
2001-02 season there were 132 instances of a team starting with three
central defenders. Last season the figure was down to 15.
19
Are players demob happy on the last day of the season? The 15 completed
seasons of the Premier League have produced an average of 2.61 goals per
game, yet there have been 2.95 goals per game on the 15 final days of the
season.
18
In the first seven days in October (a week taken at random), 93 hours of
live football were televised on Sky Digital (counting the whole running time
of programmes showing live matches) as were 297.5 hours of separate recorded
football, or highlights, features or chat (repeats or full re-runs of
matches already shown live are not included). To watch the total output of
390.5 hours of football, you would need two televisions running all day and
all night throughout the week and a third to run for 54.5 hours. All this is
not including Sky Sports News or football in news bulletins (eg on BBC, Sky
News or CNN) or football accessed with a large dish that is intended for
viewers in other countries.
17
Manchester City’s tally of ten home league goals last season was the smallest
in league history in any division. The previous worst was by Woolwich
Arsenal (1912-13 top division) and Sunderland (2002-03 top division), who
both scored 11 home goals in a 38-game season. Even allowing for the fact
that many divisions have featured 42 or 46-game seasons, City (who played in
a 38-game season) still had the worst ever rate of home goals. The previous
worst rate was Huddersfield Town’s 12 home goals scored in a 42-game season
in the top division in 1971-72.
16
Alan Smith, 27, of Newcastle United, has received nine red and 78 yellow
cards in his career. Alan Smith, the former Arsenal forward, was never sent
off and booked once in his 13-year career.
15
Which team spent several months at the top of their league in the 2005-06
season only to finish bottom, and then, having been bottom of the table for
the first few weeks of last season, they finished top? Answer: Juventus.
They finished first in Serie A in 2005-06 but were subsequently placed last
because of match-fixing and were thus relegated. Having also been given a
nine-point penalty in Serie B for their crime, they began last season bottom
of the table but proceeded to surge past all 21 divisional rivals.
14
Has Manchester United’s successful era come to an end? Liverpool have not
been champions since winning the title ten times in 15 seasons between
1975-76 and 1989-90, a pattern that United have just matched almost exactly.
In that 15-year period, Liverpool won the league in years 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8,
9, 11, 13 and 15. United have done so in years 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11 and
15 (they missed out in year 13).
13
Paul Konchesky’s four-club career has taken him to North, South, East and
West London. He moved from West Ham United (east) to Fulham (west) in the
summer having previously played for Charlton Athletic (south) and Tottenham
Hotspur (north).
12
When Manchester City sacked Stuart Peace as manager in May on the same day
that Paul Jewell resigned from Wigan Athletic, it was the third time in six
months that two neighbouring clubs had parted company with their manager on
the same day. In November Brian Laws resigned as Scunthorpe United manager
and Grimsby Town dismissed Graham Rodger. In April, Brentford sacked Scott
Fitzgerald and Fulham dismissed Chris Coleman.
11
Seven players have appeared for Blackburn Rovers since 2000 having
previously played in defence for Liverpool: Stephane Henchoz, Dominic
Matteo, Markus Babbel, Stig-Inge Bjornebye, Steve Harkness, Jason McAteer (a
wing back) and Stephen Warnock.
10
Three players scored a league hat-trick on March 31: Marek Saganowski for
Southampton, Peter Crouch for Liverpool and Dean Windass for Hull City.
That’s a Pole, a beanpole and (according to his critics) a roly-poly.
9
When Fulham met Portsmouth in October, the midfield featured an S Davis
and S Davies for Fulham (Steven and Simon) and an S Davis who once played
for Fulham but is now at Portsmouth (Sean).
8
Florent Malouda became the third midfield player to force a move to
Chelsea by going on strike at his previous club. Malouda did so at Lyons,
following the example of Michael Essien, also at Lyons, and Claude Makelele,
at Real Madrid.
7
During the combined past 225 home games of the big four teams (Manchester
United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal) against other Premier League clubs
(ie, excluding matches between the big four) they have lost just four times
– including league and cup matches. Of those four home defeats, three have
been inflicted by West Ham United, two against Arsenal and one against
United.
6
By finishing top of the Championship, Sunderland became the first league team
since the war to win a division after losing their opening four league
games. The previous highest was three defeats to start the season by
Shrewsbury Town before winning the fourth tier in 1994 and by Ipswich Town
before winning the third tier in 1957.
5
Between 1896 and 1996, only 12 teenagers played for England. Since then,
13 teenagers have done so: Micah Richards, Theo Walcott, Aaron Lennon, Glen
Johnson, Jermaine Jenas, Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Gareth
Barry, Jonathan Woodgate, Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand and Phil Neville.
4
Once a big club, forever a big club, it seems. Of the nine clubs whose
average league attendance was higher than 35,000 last season, eight were
also in the top nine for attendances in the first season after the First
World War (Manchester City were the exceptions, and they had the
tenth-highest attendances that year) and eight were also in the top nine for
attendances in the first season after the Second World War (Tottenham
Hotspur were the exceptions, and they finished eleventh that year).
Top nine last season: 1 Manchester United, 2 Arsenal, 3 Newcastle United, 4
Liverpool, 5 Chelsea, 6 Manchester City, 7 Everton, 8 Tottenham Hotspur, 9
Aston Villa.
Top nine in 1919-20: 1 Chelsea, 2 Newcastle United, 3 Arsenal, 4 Tottenham
Hotspur, 5 Aston Villa, 6 Everton, 7 Liverpool, 8 West Bromwich Albion, 9
Manchester United.
Top nine in 1946-47: 1 Newcastle United, 2 Liverpool, 3 Chelsea, 4 Manchester
United, 5 Wolverhampton Wanderers, 6 Arsenal, 7 Everton, 8 Manchester City,
9 Aston Villa.
3
The meeting between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur last month was the
first top-flight match to feature a Lennon against a McCartney. Aaron Lennon
(Tottenham right winger) and George McCartney (West Ham left back) were in
direct opposition.
2
As of last April, Dario Gradi, then the manager of Crewe Alexandra, had spent
longer in charge of the club (23 years, 11 months) than the combined tenures
of the other 23 managers in League One (23 years, six months).
1
It was no surprise when Scott Parker moved to West Ham United in the summer,
given the similar paths he has taken to Lee Bowyer, his new team-mate. Both
are London-born midfield players who have gained only brief recognition by
England; both began their careers at Charlton Athletic and later played for
Newcastle United before joining West Ham. And both played keepy-uppy in
McDonald’s as teenagers: Parker with a football in an advert and Bowyer with
some chairs, for which he was fined £4,500.
