adminLONDON. — English football has had its fair share of empires that have risen and later fallen. In a period spanning more than 40 years some great teams have risen, dominated English football, but inevitably met their fate as their empire crumbled.1. Manchester United, 1968
By 1974, the winners of the 1968 European Cup had been relegated to the second division. United won the 1977 FA Cup but the 1967 champions would have to wait another 26 years before they could again claim to be the best team in England. The decline was swift; the rebuilding painfully slow.
In January 1969 United manager Sir Matt Busby announced his retirement but, like Sir Alex Ferguson, remained omnipresent at Old Trafford. He served as a director for another 11 years and retook the managerial reins briefly in 1970.
Busby’s continued close links with United, however, brought not positive continuity but demise as his successor, Wilf McGuinness, was undermined by the great man upstairs.
There was decline on the pitch, too, as players who had served United so brilliantly reached the twilight of their careers. Two of the survivors of the Munich air crash, Bill Folkes and Bobby Charlton, were 36 and 30 by the time they tasted European glory in 1968. Folkes had to be persuaded to stay on for a few more years before retiring officially, in 1970, while Charlton, then 35, left at the end of the 1973 season.
Denis Law had also missed the second leg of the European Cup semi-final against Real Madrid, and the final against Benfica, with knee injuries. He stayed at United until 1973, but his latter years were greatly disrupted by injury.
And then there was George Best. Without Busby’s direct influence, this immense talent became uncontrollable. There were well-documented away days with Miss Great Britain and much-publicised partying and drinking sprees in London. Best last played for United in January 1974, but his contribution had ceased years earlier.
2. Liverpool, 1980s
Liverpool won six of the 10 League titles the 1980s had to offer, as well as two FA Cups, four League Cups – in a row, and two European Cups. Bob Paisley was replaced by Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish followed and the trophies kept on coming: the house that Shankly built was certainly in good order.
Liverpool’s last League victory, however, came in 1990. Dalglish left, for the first time, in 1991 after leading Liverpool through the tragedy of the Hillsborough disaster and the club’s dominance ended, too.
Graeme Souness argued he inherited a team whose players, with the exception of John Barnes, were in their 30s. Teacups were thrown and the former Liverpool midfielder spent big, but success could not be bought.
Until the emergence of Robbie Fowler, Liverpool also struggled to replace the goal-scoring prowess of Ian Rush. With the exception of the 1981-82 season, Liverpool’s top scorer in the 1980s also contributed at least 25 goals. Rush scored 26 in 1990-91 but for the following three years 23, 22 and 19 goals got top marks. It was no coincidence.
3. Nottingham Forest, 1980
Forest won back-to-back European Cups in 1979 and 1980, having won the First Division in 1978 and finished second the following year. There were also two League Cup triumphs in 1978 and ‘79. It seemed their manager, Brian Clough, really could walk on water.
There were two more League Cup victories in 1989 and 1990, and a 1991 FA Cup final appearance, but Forest were relegated from the inaugural Premier League in 1993 as Clough announced his retirement. That Old Big ‘Ead’s legacy has scarcely been tainted by the sad end to his career says as much about the scale of Forest’s achievement as it does his own remarkable character.
Clough’s control and longevity, however, made him an impossible act to follow, and even harder to dislodge. His battle against alcohol made his powers wane more quickly, while his unique style of management felt completely at odds with the bright new dawn of the Premier League.
Peter Taylor’s retirement should not be under-estimated, either. Football’s great double act came to an end in 1982 and, although there was still later Cup final success for Forest, so too did the truly glorious days of Brian Clough’s side.
4. Leeds United, 1968-74
Don Revie led Leeds to two First Division titles, two European Fairs Cups, the 1972 FA Cup and the 1968 League Cup. After Revie moved on to manage England his successor, Brian Clough, lasted just 44 days before Jimmy Armfield took over and guided Leeds to the 1975 European Cup final.
The club would not be relegated until 1982 but, by then, the glories of the Revie era seemed a distant memory. The story is all-too-familiar. Clough, an avowed critic of Revie’s Leeds, was the wrong man to take over, while Armfield inherited an ageing squad schooled in the Revie way.
Gordon McQueen joined Leeds in 1972 aged just 20, but Billy Bremner was 32 when Revie left Leeds; Norman Hunter 31 and Johnny Giles 33. Jack Charlton had retired in 1973.
5. Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’, 2004
Arsene Wenger claimed his third English championship in 2004 as his team swept to the title without losing a game.
It might seem strange to talk of the decline of a club who won the FA Cup the following year and reached the 2006 Champions League final, but Arsenal have now gone more than eight years without winning a trophy.
This season may yet prove to be different, but success in recent years has been measured in terms of qualifying for the Champions League and finishing above Tottenham rather than celebrating winning trophies.
Wenger showed how to regenerate a winning team between his league titles of 1998 and 2002 as the Arsenal bandwagon rolled on after the loss of Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars. But there was a mass exodus after 2004. Patrick Vieira left in 2005; Ashley Cole, Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp followed in 2006 and Thierry Henry moved on in 2007.
This was also the time of Arsenal’s move from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium, in which they played their first game in 2006.
Mindful of the need to pay off around £15 million of debt each year to pay for the new arena, Wenger has been prudent in the transfer market in the last 10 years, largely opting for youth over marquee signings.
The likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, meanwhile, have consistently splashed the cash. The kids are not kids any more, however,while Arsenal finally spent big by signing £42m Mesut Ozil last summer.
Is it just a coincidence Arsenal are now back at the top of the Premier League? — Mailonline.
Online Reporter