English Premier League: Difference between revisions

* ''Wolverhampton Wanderers'' (2003-2004; 2009-2012)

 

 

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* [[Diabolus Ex Machina]]: On the last day of the 05/06 season. Arsenal needed a win in their last game at Highbury to ensure Champions League qualification for the next season at the expense of fierce local rivals Tottenham, who were one point ahead and needed to win as well. On the morning of the game Tottenham come down big witha mass bout of food poisoning; attempts to get the game postponed were unsuccessful as the Premier League chief was a friend of Arsenal chairman David Dein and while Arsenal cruised to a 4-2 victory, Tottenham lost and failed to qualify. The latter's fans have never forgotten this. Cue tons of jokes about Wenger being Tottenham's chef the night before.

* [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]]: Sir Alex Ferguson, whose habit of shouting at players from a range of inches has earned the nickname "the hairdryer treatment".

* [[Epic Fail]]: Massimo Taibi's entire Manchester United career; he played in two Premier League matches, the first of which featured the aforementioned incident where he allowed a shot by Matt Le Tissier to squeeze through his legs, allowing Southampton to snatch a 1-1 draw. The second match was a 5-0 defeat by Chelsea, which still stands as United's worst-ever Premier League result -- and bear in mind that this was during the 1999-2000 season, in which they won the Premier League by what remains the biggest margin in English football history. For some reason, Taibi never played again for United after the Chelsea match.

** Derby County's 2007/08 season, in which they earned a grand total of one win and 11 points from 38 games. Sunderland had two seasons that were almost as bad, getting just 19 points in the 2002/03 season and then somehow doing even worse in the 2005/06 season and getting 15 points. (Portsmouth also finished on 19 points in the 2009/10 season, but their record looked worse than it actually was due to a points deduction for their financial problems)

** Averted in the 2009/10 season as in a close fought battle for 4th place between Tottenham, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Liverpool it was Tottenham who finished 4th. Liverpool slumped down to 7th thanks to poor form.

** Every single year the Liverpool fans seem to mark it as being "their year." They are to this date always wrong.

* [[George Jetson Job Security]]: The position of Newcastle manager is turning into this.

** Also the Chelsea manager's job. For perspective, Manchester United and Arsenal are still managed by the men who have won them Premier League titles, while Kenny Dalglish voluntarily stood down from Blackburn after their title win because he wanted a break from management. Chelsea, on the other hand, have gotten shot of both of their Premier League-winning managers within a year of them winning a title. Since Jose Mourinho left in 2007, Chelsea have burned their way through ''six'' managers.

** Arsenal beating Chelsea 5-3 at Stamford Bridge counts. Losing at half time 2-1 they scored twice early on in the second half to make it 3-2. Only for Chelsea to equalize thanks to a stunning Mata goal with 10 minutes to go. Only for van Persie to pop up to score twice inside 5 minutes to result in a second miracle rally! Considering most people had written Arsenal off due to a weakened team and after that 8-2 defeat to Man Utd, it was a sign that they had managed to develop a side capable of pushing for a top spot in the table. Highlights included that Mata goal, Terry falling over and gifting van Persie his second and Walcott falling over surrounded by 4 Chelsea players, then getting up and running through them to score.

** Arsenal then pulled it off again when Tottenham came to visit in February. After going 2-0 down in the first half thanks to a deflected goal and a controversial penalty they were able to score twice in 5 minutes to level the match before half time, then proceeded to score a further 3 more after the break! Spurs had no response, once again most people had written Arsenal off before the start.

* [[Opposing Sports Team]]: Every club has rivals. Arsenal have Tottenham, Manchester United have Manchester City, Liverpool have Everton, etc. Expect those matches to be pretty tense and hot.

* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: Between 1998 and 2002, Leeds United were regarded as having one of the finest young teams in the country, and being the club most likely to break Manchester United and Arsenal's stranglehold on the title. They ended up winning ''nothing'' despite runs to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and Champions League, got into more debt than any club before or since (barring Manchester United and Portsmouth), got relegated in 2004, and then came within a hair's breadth of being expelled from the Football League altogether in 2007 after being relegated again and starting the new season with a fifteen point deduction. They recently started a comeback of sorts, getting promoted back to the Championship in 2010, though have yet to finish above mid-table in that division. The real kicker was that the key members of their 1998--2002 squad ended up winning trophies at their deadly rivals, Manchester United and Liverpool.

** To a lesser extent, Newcastle United, whose big-spending and good league finishes also failed to translate into any actual honours (apart from an Intertoto Cup win in 2006... and that's stretching it, to say the least). For the moment though, it looks as if their decline and relegation was only a temporary setback.

* [[Team Spirit]]: Averted when one player has a falling out with his team or manager and tells all in a tabloid. the fallout can be immense. At the time of writing, the most recent spectacular example is of John Terry and Wayne Bridge, former Chelsea team-mates still playing together in the England team. It emerged that Terry had had an affair with Bridge's ex-girlfriend. Terry was demoted from England captain, while Bridge declined to play for England at all...

** Hell, ''the entire league'' with the exception of one team supported Bridge after this came out. The one team that didn't, was Chelsea - the side John Terry is captain of.

** Tottenham in 2009/10.

** Manchester City in 2010/11

** And Rafa Benitez's "facts" rant in 2008/09.

** Eric Cantona jumped into the crowd to ''try & karate kick a Crystal Palace fan''.