The annual exercise is due here of drawing a line under the football season, with that relishable table of comparative positions between certain top (er, and now middling) teams. Here it is for the last 22 seasons.
Manchester United: 2/1/1/2/1/1/2/1/1/1/3/1/3/3/2/1/1/1/2/1/2/1 (= 1.5)
Arsenal: 4/10/4/12/5/3/1/2/2/2/1/2/1/2/4/4/3/4/3/4/3/4 (= 3.6)
Liverpool: 6/6/8/4/3/4/3/7/4/3/2/5/4/5/3/3/4/2/7/6/8/7 (= 4.7)
Chelsea: 14/11/14/11/11/6/4/3/5/6/6/4/2/1/1/2/2/3/1/2/6/3 (= 5.4)
In last year’s posting of the table, when there’d been a lot of anticipatory chat about this possibly being the end of an era, since City had pipped United to the title, I thought we should wait and see. We waited and we’ve seen. This year, however, an era truly has come to an end with the departure of Sir Alex as manager. I think the above table shows as well as anything could what a titan he has been. No, stats don’t tell you everything, but this particular record is unanswerable. For what it’s worth, a special normblog accolade to him.