Who do we think would win the title of Greatest Team of the 20th Century in England? Trophies apart, I thought maybe it would be different to count the Premiership and Football League divisions as one continuous table and to base it on each clubs final League positions from 1900-1999. For example, First Division Champions are counted as 21st and so on. Below is a table using all the following: 1) Top Division: First Division up to 1992, Premiership thereafter. 2) Second Division: Second Division up to 1992, First Division thereafter. 3) Third Division: Third Division (1920-21 season only), Third Division South or North (1921-1958), Third Division (1958-1992), Second Division (from 1992). 4) Fourth Division: Fourth Division (1958-1992), Third Division thereafter. So who would win? you may be surprised........... 1st Arsenal 89 83 6 0 0 11 8.5 2nd Liverpool 89 80 9 0 0 18 8.7 3rd Everton 89 85 4 0 0 8 10.6 4th Man Utd 89 73 16 0 0 12 10.9 Key:1) Seasons in League; 2-5)Years in each Division; 6)Finished Highest; 7)Average Position I would be interested in hearing what you think of my first posting? Boring? Interesting? Too much? Shall I leave now?
SX2OCGooner, First of all, welcome to the boards. Please also check out www.arsenalamerica.com , the official supporters' club here in the states. It's free to join. Ok, got that out of the way, now about your post. I like the idea you have here, very interesting. It's a little confusing (to me at least). You said you were measuring 1900-99 but I think you only show 89 seasons. I'd like to know where other teams finished as well (Spurs?). I'm surprised to see that despite finishing first 7 more times than us, we still have a better average than 'Pool. Overall, a very strong first post. If you'd like to expand this research I would love to post it on arsenalamerica.com
442 - eleven seasons in the 20th century were sadly lost due to off-field unpleasantness over on the continent and in the Far East. A similar "Team of the Century" article originally appeared in The Independent. Basically, of all the English clubs, Arsenal have had the highest average league position in the 20th century. So we win the entire century - so there. Article, top ten tables by decade, and full table for all league clubs (living and dead) is reproduced for your enjoyment here.
Pretty interesting list there, but I'm sure the manUre contingent would claim that it doesn't mean much, and they would have a good argument as they are the only club to lose their team to an air diasaster, something not many clubs could come back from, ever. Even though I despise the very soil they trod upon, I do admit that coming back from the Munich Air Diasaster is a stunning accomplishment.
This just in from Arseweb.com: See the full story here at: http://arseweb.com/99-00/century.html Rein mais le Quad! OPArsenal
I don't know if this post worked, but if someone could let me know if it did, I'd apprecate it. Rein mais le Quad! OPArsenal
You may also argue that the Arsenal team of the thirties was cut short by the war. Who knows how much longer they may have dominated the league?