There have been scenes of sheer jaw-dropping skill like Dennis Bergkamp’s pirouette to score against Newcastle or Tony Yeboah’s near-launching of the Liverpool net into orbit; from Matt Le Tissier routinely kidnapping the Goal of the Month competition for his own personal highlight reel to the predatory talents of Robbie Fowler, the league has not been short of great goal scorers nor scorers of great goals.
We’ve borne witness to the origins of world class players as they took their first steps onto the big stage: A raw Cristiano Ronaldo performing multiple step-over’s to dazzle a bemused Bolton defence, a 16 year old Wayne Rooney who was not yet old enough to put pen to a professional contract but who, evidently, was old enough to end Arsenal’s 30 game unbeaten run.
There have been moments of head-scratching madness; teammates Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer trading punches. Paolo Di Canio floored us with unapologetic sportsmanship by refusing to score against Everton while their keeper lay injured on the deck, whilst equally flooring referee Paul Alcock by shoving him to the ground (even if the referee did fall with the grace of a baby horse taking its first steps). Also who could ever forget Eric Cantona launching himself into the crowd to confront an abusive fan, certainly not the Frenchman who memorably commented that the incident was the highpoint of his Old Trafford career.
The good however has certainly outweighed the bad and the ugly. For all its tribalism, football fans can appreciate the audacious moments of brilliance like Beckham’s halfway-line goal. Whomever’s team-crest adorned your chest, it’s is hard not to get swept up in the excitement of moments like Middlesbrough bringing the samba vibe to Tyneside with the signings of Ravanelli, Juninho and Emerson, the sight of Jurgen Klinsmann diving towards the Spurs fans in celebration, Newcastle launching a 4 goal second-half comeback against Arsenal or even Alan Hansen’s famous comment “You can’t win anything with Kids”. Excluding “They think it’s all over,” has a piece of commentary been seeped into the collective conscious?
Now into its 21st year, mighty teams have been knocked from their perches, or had those perches taken from them entirely, as clubs have gone from Champions to Championship. With both ends of the table getting tighter all the time, it’s not hard to believe that the league’s best days are still ahead of both itself and us. For now at least, the league’s legacy has given us more than enough exquisite moments for us to share. Choosing only five is as horrifically difficult as it is inspiring. Enjoy.
5. Abramovich Arrives
On Wednesday 2 July 2003, Henmania was in full swing rolling towards the Wimbledon quarter-final and the world’s most famous footballer David Beckham had signed for Real Madrid, both stories were to fall under the shadow of an unknown Russian billionaire. Roman Abramovich had purchased the club from Chairman Ken Bates for £60 million which was a significant step up from the single pound that Bates had purchased the club for. The club had qualified for the Champions League which was revealed to be the reason he chose to purchase the club ahead of Liverpool and Spurs after his initial enquires at Manchester United were rebuffed. Abramovich’s arrival was greeted with skepticism with many fans shocked that Bates who was considered to be “Mr. Chelsea” would part with the club; sports minister Tony Banks was also sceptical commenting that “I want to know whether this individual is a fit and proper person to be taking over a club like Chelsea. Until that question is answered, then I’m afraid the jury is out.” Chelsea fans were worried there would be a repeat of the infamous Micheal Knighton incident (Knighton had a takeover bid of Manchester United accepted and had even gone as far as appearing on the pitch at Old Trafford before a game dressed in a full Manchester United football kit to publicize the takeover before the bid was revealed to be bogus)
The Russian would soon put fans minds to rest as he quickly began spending money like someone who’d just found the unlimited money cheat on the Football Manager video game. Arjen Robben, Peter Cech, Claude Makelele, Juan Veron, Damien Duff and Hernan Crespo were just some of the player purchased in what would be a spending spree in excess of £150 million. Abramovich would also attempt to prize Alex Ferguson away from Manchester United and would offer Arsenal a blank cheque in order to try and secure Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry. The Premier League had seen big spending Chairmen before. Blackburn owner Jack Walker was accused of buying them the title and Arsene Wegner had long lamented Manchester United’s transfer prowess, but there was nothing on this scale. The enigmatic owner was not one for press statements or interviews which only added to the air of mystery and excitement that was building around the club.
Chelsea finished their first season after the takeover in second place in the Premiership, up from fourth the previous year. They also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, which was eventually won by the surprise package of Porto, managed by Jose Mourinho. Mourinho was brought in for Abramovich’s second season and the self proclaimed “Special one” would have an immediate impact finishing his first season in charge as champions with a record point’s haul and having been defeated just once all season. They would retain the title the following year but cracks were beginning to show in the relationship between owner and manager as Abramovich voiced his displeasure at not making progress towards his holy grail of winning the Champions League. The owner had reportedly fallen in love with the competition after watching the Manchester United/Real Madrid match featuring a memorable Ronaldo (the one you haven’t seen in his pants) hat trick. Chelsea would finish 2nd in the 2006 season and again would fall short in the Champions League. At the start of the 2007 season after spending £30 million obtaining Andriy Shevchenko from Milan against his managers wishes, Mourinho (who would ironically go on the win the Champions League the following season with Inter) would leave the club to be replaced with the little-known Avram Grant.
Grants arrival and subsequent dismissal would start the managerial merry go round at Chelsea which is currently still in full flow with Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti, André Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo and Rafael BenÃtez all taking turns with varying degrees of success. This season Abramovich seemed to finally run out of coaches he could hire and fire and has ended up back at the start with Jose Mourinho returning to the Chelsea hot seat.
Abramovich has changed the face of football forever by ushering in a new era of so-called “financial doping” with Manchester City and PSG also enjoying the rewards that a sugar daddy owner can bring. Whatever your opinion of the Russian loading the deck, his intentions seemed to be powered by establishing the club as a force both home and abroad rather than looking to use the club as his own personal piggy bank which is in stark contrast to the situation Liverpool and Manchester United now find themselves in. The implementation of Financial Fair play has tempered Chelsea’s more extravagant spending with the onus being placed on establishing players as opposed to purchasing them, much to Mourinho’s chagrin and owner and manger look set to be headed for another collision course. If there is one thing we have learned from Abramovich’s 10 years in Chelsea it’s that if you go up against him both on and off the pitch, you tend to come off second best.
4. Arsenal Invincible’s
“It’s not impossible as AC Milan once did it but I can’t see why it’s so shocking to say it. Do you think Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea don’t dream that as well? They’re exactly the same. They just don’t say it because they’re scared to look ridiculous, but nobody is ridiculous in this job as we know anything can happen.” Arsene Wenger, May 2002
As Manchester United celebrated beating Arsenal to the title at the end of the 02/03 season, a large number of United fans were seen sporting t-shirts adorned with an image of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger face with the quote “Comical Wenger: “We Won’t Lose A Game”. Wenger’s words were from the start of the season when he stated his belief that Arsenal could go the entire season unbeaten. The bold statement was considered to be as fanciful as something conjured up by Iraqi spin-doctor ‘Comical Ali’, who famously announced that American troops were not in Baghdad when US tanks could be seen behind him, then a realistic statement of intent.
Before the start of the season local rivals Chelsea had been purchased by Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich and had reportedly offered Arsenal a black cheque in order to secure the services of Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira leading Arsenal chairman David Dein to comment that Abramovich had “parked his Russian tanks on our lawn and is firing £50 notes at us”
Arsenal began their season defeated via penalties in the Charity Shield to Manchester United. Many speculated that, due to the recent Confederations Cup the large French contingent at the club did not look match-fit and predicted a difficult start to Arsenals season. With 25 minutes gone in their opening fixture against Everton the Gunners found themselves reduced to 10 men as Sol Campbell was given a straight red for a professional foul. Despite the numerical disadvantage Arsenal would finish the game 2-1 winners. They would follow this up with 3 straight victories before facing Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth at home. Teddy Sheringham put the visitors into a deserved lead but before half time Robert Pires flung himself to the ground in the box, Henry equalized with the retaken spot kick after the initial attempt had been ruled out for encroachment. Arsenal were criticized after the game for “looking like a team stuck in 2nd gear”.
Next up would be a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United, meetings between the two had often been bad-tempered affairs with the infamous 1990 clash erupting into a 20 man brawl resulting in both teams having points deducted. On a day that would become known as “The Battle Of Old Trafford” both teams seemed more interested in kicking each other than the ball. In the 80th minute Patrick Vieira was given a second yellow for attempting to kick out at Ruud van Nistelrooy, the Dutchman was to play another major part in the game as United were awarded a penalty in injury time. With the score at 0-0 Van Nistelrooy (who had missed his previous two penalties) stepped up looking to end Arsenals unbeaten start with the last kick of the game. Instead he smashed the ball against the bar and as the final whistle blew he suddenly found himself surrounded by several Arsenal players with Keown taking particular delight in the striker’s misery. Six of Arsenal’s players (Ashley Cole, Lauren, Keown, Parlour, Lehmann, Vieira) were charged with improper conduct; the club were later fined £175,000, the largest ever handed down to a club by the FA. Lauren received a four-game ban, whereas Vieira and Parlour were given a one match suspension.
Rather than derail their season, the incident at Old Trafford seemed to galvanize the team. The new reassuring sense of cohesion demonstrated itself against Liverpool at Anfield two weeks later when the gunners went behind after 11 minutes. An iron-backbone emerged, one that had been missing the previous season. Arsenal were now not only playing great football they were matching and bettering their opponents physically. The fight back was complete when Pires scored to give Arsenal a 2-1 victory. The following week they would defeat league leaders Chelsea who would then surrender their position at the summit to Arsene Wenger’s men the following week after an Henry equalizer gave them a 1-1 draw with Charlton.
With the fearsome frontline of Henry, Piries, Bergkamp and Ljungberg, Aresnal would find themselves top of the league when they visited Chelsea in February. This was seen as one of the biggest clashes of the season with the blues trying the peg the Gunners lead back to a single point. This looked a likely outcome when Eidur Gudjohnsen put Chelsea ahead after just 27 seconds But Arsenal’s new found steel remained and they drew level through a superbly-worked Vieira strike in the 15th minute. Edu hooked in the winner just six minutes later as the Gunners claimed another from-behind win against their title rivals to send them 7 points clear at the top of the Premiership.
After exits from both the FA Cup and the Champions League in the space of but a week, Arsenal faced Liverpool on Good Friday at Highbury. At half time, Liverpool led 2-1 and nervous minds around Highbury began to fill with memories of last season’s slump which ruined Arsenal’s title defence. But cometh the hour cometh the man. Arsenals talisman Henry fired in a simply magnificent hat trick, his second goal especially was a moment of pure genius with Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier calling the performance “stunning”.
33 years prior Arsenal were crowned champions at the home of their great London rivals Tottenham, and on the 25th of April they travelled to White Hart Lane with the opportunity to repeat history. Having taken a two goal lead Arsenal were cruising but Spurs spurred themselves (It’s late here okay. Lay off…) to draw themselves level but no matter how hard they pressed they were unable to stop themselves from becoming unwilling hosts of Arsenals victory party.
With four games left to play, Arsenal drew uneventful games with Portsmouth and Birmingham and defeated Fulham. On the final day of the season Arsenal hosted Leicester City who took a surprise lead and it looked like Preston North End’s record of over 100 years was going to be kept intact. Arsenal steadied themselves in the second half and an Henry penalty followed by a Vieira winner ensured that Wenger’s troops would not fall at the last but would instead march into immortality. During the celebrations at the end of the match a fan threw Wegner one of the T-Shirts which read ‘Comical Wenger says we can go the whole season unbeaten.’ Wegner had again been proved ahead of his time.
3. Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle
There have been both higher scoring and more important matches in the Premiership but none come close to the sheer action-packed rollercoaster ride that took place in Anfield on the 3rd of April 1996. Whilst Manchester United may have been the biggest success since the Premierships inception, no team is remembered as fondly by fans of all teams than the great entertainers who comprised what seemed to be everyone’s “second team” pick: Keegan’s Newcastle team. The flair of marquee names like Ginola and Asprilla were complimented by the British contingent of Sir Les of Ferdinand, Peter Beardsley, Steve “Howey the Lad” and Rob Lee, who might just be be the most underrated player of the premiership era. Liverpool, Jason McAteer aside, boasted a side comprised of all England internationals. In fact, between the 22 starters 17 were English a statistic that would be an anomaly in the current Premier League era. The Spice Boys had shot Liverpool to 3rd in the table. They had proven themselves as the league’s highest scorers and the week previous had just secured them an F.A Cup final date.
In the run up to the game, Newcastle had thrown away a 12 point lead over Manchester United and now trailed by 3 points, though they had two games in hand. Their recent form had seen them lose 3 of their previous 5 matches. Liverpool by contrast had just seen a 21 game unbeaten streak ended the by Nottingham Forrest which derailed their own title challenge and now left them 8 points from the top.
The tone for the match was set early as Robbie Fowler put Liverpool into the lead with just 2 minutes of the match gone. Liverpool were then hit with a one-two sucker punch: first Les Ferdinand equalized before then turning provider, setting up Ginola to give the Toon Army a 2-1 lead going into half time. Liverpool started the brighter in the second half and with 55mins gone they equalized, Fowler again getting the goal. Liverpool would only be on level pegging for 2 minutes as Asprilla put Newcastle again in front and back atop the league.
Newcastle were now in the ascendancy and there was a feeling that this would be the moment they got their season back on track, Ginola just failing to reach Ferdinand with a simple pass which would have put the game out of Liverpool’s reach. The let off seemed to kick Liverpool back to life and a teasing McAteer cross caught the Newcastle rear guard out and record-signing Stan Collymore was able to score, again drawing Liverpool level. With the 90 minutes up and the referee readying his whistle (this, in the days before the 4th official would announce any time added on) the tension and excitement was palpable. The two icons of the Kop, John Barnes and Ian Rush, played a number of one-twos outside the Newcastle box before Barnes spotted Collymores run, played him in; he shot mercilessly past Pavel Srnicek into the Newcastle goal. Anfield erupted as Collymore reeled away in celebration. Keegan could only bring himself to slump dejectedly over the advertising hoarding. Some say that if you pause it and watch it in slow motion, you can see the actual moment Keegan’s heart breaks.
Newcastle’s season would only continue to unravel. Losing to Blackburn and then after a victory at Leeds, Keegan (seemingly channelling his WWE side) gave his now infamous “I will love it if we beat them” interview. The sound byte is memorable to most, but was made particularly so to me: I was watching it whilst sat right next to Newcastle fan who leapt to his feet, waving his arms proclaiming “That’s exactly how I feel!” As his words still rang in my ears, he almost immediately dropped the TV remote. It crashed right through the glass coffee-table. I couldn’t think then, nor can I now, of a more perfect way to sum up Newcastle’s season: passion, excitement and shameless drive… quickly followed by self-destruction.
David Ginola commented in a recent interview; he believed that had the match stayed 3-2 Newcastle “would have won the league. Definitely”. Amazingly the following meeting between the two would also end 4-3 with Fowler this time providing the injury-time winner. Keegan would resign at the end of the season. He, having being asked to take a less kamikaze approach, remarked “If we stop playing this way, I go”. He would perhaps have done better to pay heed to his opposite number. Roy Evans advised: “Managers would be dead within six months if every game was like that”. Who could have argued with Roy? but 6 months of games like this would be a hell of a way to go.
2. Manchester United’s Win Their First Premier League Title
The Premier League kicked off for the first time on 15 August 1992; The 22-team league had taken the radical step of breaking away from the football league to form the “FA Premier League”. This would effectively end the 104 year reign of the football league and would mean that the Premier League would operate separately to the now 3 divisions of the football league. This was facilitated by the 5-year, £300 million plus deal that BSkyB had signed to broadcast live matches. The fee was called “vulgar” by Sebastian Coe who questioned the wisdom of essentially making some of sports largest events unavailable to the majority of non-satellite viewers (I wonder what he would make of the current £1.7 billion TV deal). This was seen as the dawning of a new age. Now instead of live games being shown sporadically and relying on Match of The Day in order to see any football, this deal would ensure weekly live games. ITV, who had long been considered the front runner to take the rights, ended up with nothing as BBC partnered with Sky in order to revive their Match of the Day programme. A deal with a brewer was rejected and so the prospect of the “Bass Premier League” never fully fermented (Sorry) and instead the inaugural campaign would be called the ‘F.A Premier League’.
Arsenal under George Graham would begin the season as favourites whilst Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester United and defending champions Leeds were also expected to feature in the running. The league’s first goal would be scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United who recorded a 2-1 win over Manchester United. United themselves would start their campaign with two defeats and a draw before earning their first win in the Premier League with a 1-0 victory over Southampton, new signing Dion Dublin getting the winner. The reds would go on to win the next four games. But then, disaster struck: First Lee Sharpe was ruled out for several months with meningitis and then Dublin broke his leg in a game against Crystal Palace. United would endure a gauntlet of 5 draws and two defeats, followed by exits in both the UEFA and League Cups, firstly to Wimbledon and then to Aston Villa who were themselves establishing a position as serious title contenders.
With his team now languishing in 10th, manager Alex Ferguson was under pressure to turn the season around. Having had a £3 million bid for Sheffield Wednesday striker David Hirst rejected, through sheer happenstance Ferguson happened to be in Chairmen Martin Edwards office when Leeds United called, offering a bid for Dennis Irwin. Ferguson would reject the Irwin bid but inquired about the availability of Eric Cantona. When Leeds manager Howard Wilkinson asked for 5 minutes to think about it the United manager told his chairman: “We’ve got him. You don’t decide in 5 minutes if you are going to sell Eric Cantona”.
With the arrival of the Frenchman, United would go undefeated in the next 10 games, rocketing up the table. Leaders Arsenal fell to 8th and Norwich took the lead in the title race. United visited Liverpool who were only 3 points above the relegation zone. With a 2-1 win United finally found themselves with a view from the top of league. Liverpool eventually recovered to earn 6th. United’s joy was short lived though as a four game winless streak saw them hand the initiative to Norwich and Aston Villa as the reds fell to third.
United would bounce back from this slump to effectively end Norwich’s title hopes by defeating the Canaries 3-1 at Carrow Rd. The Red Devils then hosted Sheffield Wednesday, the stakes: a chance to return to the top. Things did not go to plan. Waddle was hewn down by Ince, giving Wednesday a penalty which was coolly dispatched by John Sheridan. It looked like United were doomed to repeat history, visions of their previous season collapse came calling.
With 85 minutes gone, Dennis Irwin’s corner was met staunchly by Steve Bruce. Running away from the ball at the edge of the box, he was somehow able to turn his head to launch the ball into the top corner to draw the sides level. With 96 minutes on the clock United pressed forward in search of a crucial winner. It was then, in what may be the very origins of “Fergie Time” that Gary Pallister took up the ball and swung a cross into the box which the Wednesday defence didn’t manage to clear. The ball found itself teed up for the onrushing Bruce to beat Chris Woods with a bullet header and send Old Trafford into a joyous, deafening cacophony.
Ferguson and his assistant Brian Kidd rushed the pitch, jumping for joy. Although United would not secure the title (and those ridiculous mini trophies) for almost another month, with Villa being beaten by Oldham, this match was seen as the genesis of an honest belief that a 26 year wait was coming to an end. United would receive the trophy at Old Trafford after a 3-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers with Garry Pallister (who had himself been the only United outfield player not to score that season) memorably blasting home a free kick. United and Alex Ferguson would go on to dominate the landscape of English football for the next 20 years with unprecedented success. This first trophy ensured that the new generation of United fans would have a whole lot more to celebrate than the previous one.
1. City Seal It With A Kick
It couldn’t be anything else, as a United fan I wish to god there was. There have been last day dramas before; Blackburn doing everything they could to lose the league while Andy Cole was forgot how his feet worked. Still, nothing can ever compare to seeing the league decided by the last kick of the season. A deceptively-firm grip on the title had been traded back and forth all season between the two Manchester clubs. Both had seemingly sewn it up before letting the other back in to the race. United looked as though they had secured the title with a 8 point lead going into the final weeks with even Roberto Mancini conceding that the title was heading for United. However, just as they’d witnessed so many of their opponents do before, United would buckle under the pressure: defeats to City and Wigan in addition to the heartbreaking loss of a two-goal lead to Everton in that game’s final moments had gifted control right back to their blue “noisy neighbours”.
Going into the last day, all that was asked of City was to beat relegation-threatened QPR and a league title, their first in 44 years, was theirs. With their FA Cup triumph the season before they had torn down the banner at Old Trafford, pointing out their 35 years without a major trophy now they were ready to rip the title from United’s grasp. Having spent only 20 mins at the Stadium of Light, United took the lead through Wayne Rooney, taking the top of the table by two points. A nervy looking City at an eerily silent Eithad stadium were struggling to break down QPR, who themselves were seeking a win in order to secure their premier league survival. Just before half time Pablo Zabaleta put City ahead to send them top on goal difference and it looked as though the script would be followed as expected.
Just after the break United would find help in an unlikely ally: former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse equalised to see United back atop the Premier League summit. With just over 20 minutes left, Joey Barton had evidently decided that the evenings events were not dramatic enough and so, with no one around to google ‘Nietzsche peace quotes’ for him, he reverted to type in a series of chaotic exchange: Firstly by clashing with Tevez, secondly by kicking Augero, thirdly by head-butting Kompany (who, rather brilliantly, said the reason he didn’t go down was because it “didn’t hurt”. Note to self: don’t ever mess with Kompany) and then fourthly by collecting a red-card but not before wisely backing down from the monstrous Belgian.
With QPR down to 10 men and City laying siege to their goal, it looked like it was only a matter of time before they broke through. Amazingly, it would in fact be QPR who struck next with Jamie Mackie putting the Londoners ahead. As it reached the 90th minute at Sunderland, United fans and players were starting to get excited that the impossible might come to pass. Meanwhile: Stoke had drawn with Bolton meaning that regardless of the result QPR would stay up. In the 92nd minute, substitute Edin Dzeko equalised, throwing City a lifeline. With 95 minutes gone the mercurial Mario Balotelli played in the Argentine. To the now iconic sound of Martin Tyler screaming “Agueroooo”, he rifled the ball past Paddy Kenny to send City fans hearts soaring, whilst breaking United’s.
By now, over in Tyneside, word has mistakenly reached the players that the game has ended 2-2 with Phil Jones starting to celebrate only to have his happiness snatched away in a matter of seconds. City failed to build on their championship-breaking hoodoo by finishing well behind United the following season and being dumped from the Champions League in the group stages, ultimately costing Mancini his job. With Sheikh Mansour pouring close to a billion pounds into the club, City fans will no doubt argue that the moment they saw the ball ripple the net, giving them their first league title in 44 years whilst simultaneously crushing their bitterest rivals, was one of their most priceless.
