European Span of Success

[Gary James]

Each year I update my table showing the gap between a club's first major trophy success and their most recent. City, of course, are highly placed in the table so feel free to use this when talking with anyone who doesn't seem to understand European football history:

European Span of Success 2024

Each year, following the end of the UEFA football season I update the UEFA European Span of Success table. What is this? It’s a list of those clubs who have won two or more major UEFA tournam…

gjfootballarchive.com

Last year some (mostly Arsenal fans!) were upset that their team's Fairs Cup (not a UEFA competition & it had some odd rules!) were excluded, so I also have a table there including that competition. I also explain some of the odd rules too - again, well worth remembering or referring to when talking with a fan who goes on about that competition success as if somehow it equates to winning the UEFA Cup. It doesn't!
Earlier I also updated the span of success for English clubs, including major domestic trophies and European ones. City are second on this table:

The Span of Success: Updated for 2024

As usual, once the domestic season ends I update the table showing the English clubs’ span of success – i.e. the number of years between a club’s first major success (FA Cup, Leag…

gjfootballarchive.com

Obviously, neither table talks about how many successes a club has had but they both gave an indication of trophy-winning history. Some still wrongly claim that City have 'no history' and they support teams that didn't win a major trophy until decades (in some cases) after City's first. Ah well! Use however you see fit.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Things that figures do, fancy spursy doing so well in the second table.

 

[jimharri]

Things that figures do, fancy spursy doing so well in the second table.

I always find that Spurs stat (about their last league title being nearer to Victorian times than to the present day) hilarious.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

No history for me is just banter, tribalism. They know its bollocks but they know it triggers fans. So I don't engage with it. Nice to know though and some surprising names in there.

 

[Gary James]

No history for me is just banter, tribalism. They know its bollocks but they know it triggers fans. So I don't engage with it. Nice to know though and some surprising names in there.

I used to think 'no history' was simply banter but I attend a lot of academic conferences where even some supposedly knowledgeable academics who study sport and teach on it trot out the same old inaccuracies. I was recently told by someone in an influential footballing position - trot out the same myths and they soon become facts. Important to challenge before these myths become perceived as facts - like the Emptyhad nonsense too.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

Very true tbf

 

[GortonBlue62]

No history for me is just banter, tribalism. They know its bollocks but they know it triggers fans. So I don't engage with it. Nice to know though and some surprising names in there.

They don't know it's bollocks, they believe it.

I love telling Liverpool fans that we won a European trophy before they did. The look on their faces is priceless.

 

[Gary James]

They don't know it's bollocks, they believe it.

I love telling Liverpool fans that we won a European trophy before they did. The look on their faces is priceless.

The reaction when Arsenal fans boast about history & tradition and then you say 'but your first major trophy was decades after City's!'

 

[remember arthur mann]

The reaction when Arsenal fans boast about history & tradition and then you say 'but your first major trophy was decades after City's!'

 

[JGL07]

Regarding the Fairs Cup, it was a weird tournament. In the early years it two up to three seasons to complete and had a ‘combined’ London team. There was also a combined Barcelona team with one player from Espanyol.There was a limit of one club per City.

Initially it had the whiff of a Mickey Mouse tournament but became more conventional before it was replaced by the UEFA Cup.

I am unsure if United, or for that matter Nottingham Forest, would have been eligible to enter.

 

[Gary James]

Regarding the Fairs Cup, it was a weird tournament. In the early years it two up to three seasons to complete and had a ‘combined’ London team. There was also a combined Barcelona team with one player from Espanyol.There was a limit of one club per City.

Initially it had the whiff of a Mickey Mouse tournament but became more conventional before it was replaced by the UEFA Cup.

I am unsure if United, or for that matter Nottingham Forest, would have been eligible to enter.

Yes. I explain some of that here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2024/06/02/european-span-of-success-2024/ Even qualification for the Watney Cup took priority!

 

[Gazza]

So, if Old Carthusians get back together and win the FA cup they'll immediately go to the top of the domestic table?

 

[Lavinda Past]

So, if Old Carthusians get back together and win the FA cup they'll immediately go to the top of the domestic table?

I can already imagine dozens of American and Middle Eastern investors searching for details of the owners of 'Old Carthusians'

 

[Gary James]

So, if Old Carthusians get back together and win the FA cup they'll immediately go to the top of the domestic table?

They do still exist so yes if they win the FA Cup they'll be top. To be fair Blackburn Rovers won it only 3 years after them, so not much different to how the table looked a few years back when Blackburn headed it but both City and Liverpool have passed them since. It's never been about how many times, it's earliest and most recent and simply there to give an indication of which teams have always been around - and which major clubs only started winning trophies in more recent times.

 

[Gazza]

They do still exist so yes if they win the FA Cup they'll be top. To be fair Blackburn Rovers won it only 3 years after them, so not much different to how the table looked a few years back when Blackburn headed it but both City and Liverpool have passed them since. It's never been about how many times, it's earliest and most recent and simply there to give an indication of which teams have always been around - and which major clubs only started winning trophies in more recent times.

Them Old Carthusians they've got no 'istry.

 

[GortonBlue62]

The reaction when Arsenal fans boast about history & tradition and then you say 'but your first major trophy was decades after City's!'

One of my favourites that.

I tell them "You bought the 1930s. Twenty six years, over a quarter of a century, after City won the FA Cup in 1904, you won your first trophy".

I have so many put downs and facts for fans of all the other clubs who doubt our heritage. We've played our part in the history of English football and it kills me to have to listen to their ignorant crap.

Keep up the good work Gary, all City fans appreciate your efforts..