Interesting point about the ban and format in the 80s.
Speaking of being unfortunate and being good at the right/wrong time, when Chelsea won the league in 55, English football still thought it was the toast of Europe and therefore did not believe in the value of the European cup. They forbid us from accepting the invite and we ended up sinking back into mediocrity for the next decade until the late 60's/early 70's. Who knows what trajectory our history could have taken had we been allowed to compete in Europe. I think the FA tried to stop United too but Sir Busby (I think it was him) and United defied the order and competed anyway.
I'm a bit bemused by including the ban years to be honest. 1985-90 United were particularly dreadful.
TBF, the ban probably hurt Liverpool more than anyone else in the second half of the 80s. The word dominant doesn't even begin to describe them back then. Just before the Heysel disaster, they were going through a nine-year period (from 1975-76 to 1983-84) in which not a single season passed without them being either champions of England (7) or the European champions (4). They were such a well-oiled machine that even Joe Fagan could manage them, without any previous experience, and still win the EC in his first season.
Good point about Liverpool in the 80s.
You are right, of course. Everton are the biggest "what if" caused by the English ban. I wonder how many people remember that they finished 1984/85 as the English champions, 13 points clear off Liverpool, they won the Cup Winners Cup and they were denied a minor treble by that famous (for us) Whiteside goal in the FA Cup final. And then, they went on to sign Gary Lineker. And let's not forget that the man who had been building that side since the early 80s, Howard Kendall, left the club at the end of 86/87 (after landing another PL title) because of the ban. I believe we were actually lucky that Ferguson's first peak coincided with the lift of the ban and with a new era in English football.
40/1 seems quite low back then. Was City not further ahead?
538 has them at 38% likely to win the league.
I would have been more confident if the fixtures were more kind but we play Watford, Man city ×2, Benefica ×2, Man united, Everton and Newcastle within 28 days. If we are playing for a quadriple we can't afford to rest players so they will get fatigued and start drawing/losing while city can just bring their subs which aren't really a downgrade as Liverpool's.
Yeah think it was 100/1 before the league cup final.
A year earlier he took a similarly nonchalant penalty (and scored) at Wembley for Tottenham against Chelsea in the League Cup final right, so it’s safe to say that Howard would have been well prepared there.Berbatov's penalty
Thanks for the reminder
1984-1987. Everton were the best team in Europe.
I don't mean we would've won it in those years. English football fell behind the rest of Europe then factor in the foreigner rule and that's a big reason why we didn't win more in the 90s.
I think you're too obsessed and perversely want the quadruple to happen. Relax, we aren't winning the PL. Maybe not anything else as City are very good. And they're in the fricking way.
Not to be a zealous dickhead or anything but there's no guarantee Liverpool will beat Chelsea in an FA Cup final - the league cup certainly wasn't a walkover for them.
Eh? I think they might do it too, but lets not pretend that they've already wrapped up anything other than the league cup.
Exactly. A Chelsea team who seem to be playing themselves into form too with nothing else to play for and their final chance at a trophy this season. Lets say it comes to it and Liverpool are still challenging on all fronts, you'd back Chelsea to be fresher. Would be a close game, as was the LC final.
I said FA cup final done (playing a depleted city team on Saturday)
That silly bet I had a few weeks ago, £100 at 100-1 is playing at the back of my mind. So perversely I may do!
Wording is a bit odd in my defense but that also seems premature. Sure they'll have the rest advantage and I understand that that can be meaningful when both teams are evenly matched but suggesting that's guaranteed is overstating it significantly. If you ask me it's gone from a 50/50 proposition to something like 60/40 in Liverpool's favour - important but far from nailed on.
Oh man at least some good can come from the nightmare.
If it stops City from winning anything, I'm all for it buddy
I’m very confident crystal palace is winning the FA cup this season.
How can you possibly be?
