Champions of London
0This season had the potential to be the most Spursy season of them all. After a strong run from Christmas they looked set for Champions League football. But a grim last three weeks (hammered by City, away draw at Brighton and a loss at West Brom brought back all those end of season memories.
But, despite being cringingly timid against Newcastle this morning they ensured Champions League qualification again with a stumble over the line that’s not even the main line that was deprived of the feeling of triumph. And, bizarrely, the title of Champions of London for the first time since… 1995.
Old football tables are second only to old test cricket scorecards in how they provide a time capsule view into how things used to be.
That was the table in 1995, but it could have been 1975 or 1955. A totally different era that reminds us of how things were. Incidentally, it was the last year of the 22 team Premier League; hence the four sides going down.
Blackburn Rovers the champions. In those days they had a wealthy benefactor who was said to have put in up to 10 million pounds into the club. A whole 10 million.
Long-time English football fans will get a little lump in the throat seeing Nottingham Forest in 3rd place.
The extraordinary thing about Spurs being Champions of London was that they finished 7th. 3 London clubs finished in the top 6 this season in a season when Chelsea and Arsenal were below their usual standards.
Even stranger was that QPR were the second London side.
But wait there’s more; the third London side was Wimbledon; before it all got ugly.
Milton Keynes lied, cheated and STOLE the league position we EARNED via promotion and relegation over 113 years.
We reformed.
We gave them an EIGHT division head start.
Just 16 years on we are League 1, they’re League 2.
We should be magnanimous but that feels GOOD. #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/aJYvusn2IY— Wimbledon (@FCWimbledon) May 1, 2018
And look there in 16th; there’s Coventry City. Remember them?
And look who they finished one place above.