- How this season compares with previous campaign starts
- 74 charges against Chelsea. 115 against ManC. Arsenal playing Forest
By Tony Attwood
The answer to both of those questions above (concerning success in a club or competence in a commentator) is generally simple: by trophies for a club, and predictions and relevant insights of the commentator.
Now, of course, there can still be a debate over such things, such as, do you say that a club that has appeared in finals a lot, but has then lost most of them, has been more successful than a club that has not appeared in finals at all? Or more successful than a club that has won the league a lot? In short, you can just count absolute success, or near misses – there are arguments for both and its up to you.
Indeed you could even perhaps count the time spent in the top division (which is a measure that I like, given that we are now celebrating 100 successive seasons of Arsenal in the top division this season, while Everton in second place, are only on their 72nd consecutive season. If you have missed it, the series about Arsenal’s 100 years in the top division is currently running on the AISA Arsenal History Site.
Of course, some people only see winning trophies regularly as success, thus discounting Arteta’s period in charge, but I tend to include runners-up places too, since they all add to the understanding of whether a club is going somewhere, or not.
With Tottenham, however, all of that is a bit more difficult since they don’t have too many successes or even runners-up positions to celebrate. True, they were the first British club to win two different major European trophies, but that really was quite a while ago. And being the first to do something isn’t quite equal to regularly donig something.
So when you have Alan Sugar (of whom it has been said) saying that Jamie Redknapp will be hearing from Sugar’s lawyers over comments he made about Tottenham Hots, well, it all seems a bit silly. I mean, in response, we might note that Blackburn Rovers, Huddersfield Town, Leeds United, Wolverhampton Wands, Sheffield Weds, Newcastle, Chelsea, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Everton, ManC, Arsenal, ManU and Liverpool have all won the league more often than Tottenham. In fact, Tottenham’s high profile both nationally and internationally has largely been achieved through their PR division. They tell people they are BIG and IMPORTANT and for some reason people believe them.
True, in the FA Cup, Tottenham (last final appearance, 1987) are nearer the top of the tree in terms of the number of wins than they are in terms of League titles, but even there, they have only won the pot just over half the number of times Arsenal have won it.
The notion of Sugar suing anyone over issues of Tottenham’s success is about as bonkers as Richard Keys’ claim that Mikel Arteta “will cost Arsenal the title” this season, following his decision to rest Declan Rice for their 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest. I mean, Rice got a break after playing in the ludicrous internationals, and Arsenal won without him for most of the game.
As for when the dodo impressionist asked, “How many games has Declan Rice played?” I think everyone realised that was the wrong question. The point is that this coming week Arsenal play Athletic Club, so we’ll need Rice for that, and given that Arsenal got 35% more serious injuries than any other club last season, playing him yesterday could have been a disaster (given that refs are still not cracking down on the “kick Arsenal” approach that lesser clubs so successfully adopted last season).
And all that is before we even remember the distasteful comments that Keys and Grey made about female football officials and executives. These guys are so prehistoric, they really should be commentating on Arabian football, not issues in England.
Buit the main measure of success of course, is still the league table. It will obviously change through the season, but for now it is looking rather pleasing.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| 2 | Tottenham Hotspur | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 9 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| 4 | AFC Bournemouth | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
Should you be interested in our series celebrating 100 Seasons in the Top Division, the articles published so far are…
- 100 seasons in the top division. 1: The Election
- 100 Seasons in the top Divison. Part 2: The opening season
- 100 seasons in the top division: Part 3 – the first north London league derby
- 100 seasons in the top division: part 4 – oh no it’s all going wrong
- 100 Seasons in the top division part 5: slippling down the league 1921/2
- 100 seasons in the top division 6: 1921/2 (part two)
- Arsenal 100 seasons in the top divison: 1922/3- 1924/5 par t 7: why Knighton goes why Chapman comes
- 100 seasons part 8: Removing Knighton, the arrival of Chapman, and changing reality
- 100 seasons 9: in the top division: Chapman’s first season
- 100 seasons part 10:Arsenal’s first cup final; Chapman’s second season
