- How can Premier League clubs keep going if they keep losing money?
- How many years since they won the league?
by Nitram
What follows started out as a comment to the How many years since they won the league? article. But it got too big to be a comment, so here it is as an article…
Following said article it got me thinking, that despite all the big teams having what for want of a better term we might call “Barren Years” when nothing is won, none of them have acquired the label ‘Bottle Jobs’, and I wondered why. So I took a look back at these Barren Spells, to see if there was anything specific about them that invited that particular label.
So here we go with my attempt to answer the question, “Are Arsenal teams “Bottle Jobs” or is that just another stick with which to beat us?”
Following on from Tony’s recent article How many years since they won the league? it got me thinking about why Arsenal and their players have at times been labeled ‘Bottle Jobs’, when clearly all the top teams have these ‘Barren Spells’ where they may come close, but don’t quite get over the line. Yet none of them get called ‘Bottle Jobs,’ do they?
So, I thought I’d delve a little deeper into these “Barren Spells” to see if it shed any light on the subject. And to do this I’ve used some of Tony’s research as well as some of my own. I’ve just counted the years without a title.
LIVERPOOL
Of late, they have the shortest gap with just the one season, but prior to Klopp’s title they went 30 years without a title.
MANCHESTER CITY
They only have a gap of two years in which they have come second and third. But of course prior to the arrival of the doping money they went a ridiculous 44 years before titles. During that time they fell as low as the old division 2. Over that period I think they went through over 20 managers.
Now of course we know none of that was their fault. Oh no, it was all the fault of the red cartel. But that’s a whole different story.
CHELSEA
They have had nine seasons without a trophy. But again, like Manchester City before the oil money arrived, they had gone 50 years without a title.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Of late, they have gone 13 years without a title. But they too went 25 years without a title prior to the era of Sir Alex.
Sir Alex joined Manchester United in November 1986 and indeed in the first four years of his reign his side came 13th once, and 11th twice. Did Manchester United bottle out of sacking him?
So the point is, as I said, do we call these events “Big gaps between titles”, or “Barren Spells” as I shall call them from now on, are not unique to Arsenal. ( Although the way the media banged on about it you’ might have thought they were).
Now to the interesting bit, or at least the bit I found interesting: what happened during the Barren Years to get Arsenal labelled Bottle Jobs, and nobody else?
ARSENAL’s 22 years Barren Spell.
During that time we finished: 2nd X 5, 3rd X 4, 4th X 6, 5th X 3, 6th X 1, 8th X 2
We finished in the top 4, 15 out of 22 seasons. That’s an incredible 68% of the time, never once finishing lower than 8th. We finished outside the top 6 just twice. TWICE. I think that is incredible.
LIVERPOOL’s 30 year Barren Spell.
During that time they finished: 2nd X 5, 3rd X 5, 4th X 7, 5th X 2, 6th X 4, 7th X 3, 8th X 3.
They finished in the top 4, 17 out of 30 seasons. That’s 57% of the time, again never once finishing lower than 8th. They finished outside the top six, six times.
So during our “Barren Spells” we had quite similar fortunes, although with Liverpool’s six excursions outside the top six compared to our two, it is arguable that we were the more consistent. Not only that, but during our Barren Spell we had the massive financial handicap of building and settling into a brand new stadium, which as we all know took up a considerable lump of our transfer budget.
Yet despite this it is Arsenal who have been labelled Bottle Jobs. Why not Liverpool? They have chased the winners in second spot as often as we did. Did Liverpool never bottle it?
And here’s another couple of comparisons to show just how well we actually did during our Barren Spell.
CHELSEA
During their current nine season Barren Spell they have finished in the top four, five times, that’s 55% of time. They’ve had three excursions outside the top eight with a 10th and a 12th.
MAN UTD
During their current 13 season “Baren Spell” they have finished in the top four, six times, that’s 46% of the time. They have also had an excursion outside the top eight with a 15th place finish.
Yet again, neither of those two clubs been labelled as perennial “Bottle Jobs” either.
So why is it just Arsenal have been saddled with the “Bottle Jobs” label?
Maybe it’s because even when we are bad, we are actually still pretty good. Or, at least extraordinarily consistent. And perhaps it is that, that works against us. We are, often as not, still there or there abouts.
But no, I don’t think it’s that at all. It’s because we are Arsenal, it’s as simple as that. As I say, just another media stick with which to beat us, along with:
Lucky Lucky Arsenal Boring Boring Arsenal Same old Arsenal, always cheating.
