AlthamBlue said:
SWP's back said:
tolmie's hairdoo said:
Means fuck all this thread in the real world.
Tell you what, let's guess how many points we finish behind United if we go the rest of the season unbeaten and draw every game between now and May.
Do we get a trophy for remaining undefeated?
Has any unbeaten team ever not won their league?
Yeah. Here's a link. Sorry, on my phone so trying to copy the full article is a nightmare.
<a class="postlink" href="http://m.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/10/football-trivia-liverpool-undefeated-seasons" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://m.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/j ... ed-seasons</a>
Have an undefeated team ever failed to win the title?
Galatasaray's fans saw their team go undefeated in 1985-86 but fail to win the Turkish league
"Liverpool have gone through this season losing only two league games yet still finished second," asked Graeme Kennedy. "In the 1995-96 SPL Celtic lost only one game but still finished runners-up. Has a team ever gone a whole season undefeated but failed to win the league?"
"Perugia went undefeated all season in 1978-79 and still finished second in Serie A to Milan," writes Dan Seppings, among myriad others. "They drew 19 games out of 30 that season. The conclusion? Serie A was very boring for a number of years." What they'd give for excitement like that now, though, eh?
This dubious achievement can also be claimed by four other teams in major European leagues. In 1951 Spartak Sofia finished a point behind CDNV Sofia, despite winning 14 and drawing eight of their 22-game programme. Benfica were the next unfortunates, losing out on goal difference to Porto in 1977-78. After Perugia's antics of 1978-79 in Italy Galatasaray were next to experience this singular type of frustration, trailing Besiktas on goal difference in 1985-86 after a 36-game unbeaten streak. And only last year Red Star Belgrade finished a whopping five points behind their rivals Partizan Belgrade after 33 games of mellow fruitlessness.
The best example Britain can offer is Rangers' doomed domestic campaign in 1967-68. "Going into their last game of the season, Rangers were unbeaten and level on points with Celtic," writes Warren Lyons. "However, Rangers lost their last game at home 2-3 to Aberdeen on Saturday 27 April. Three days later Celtic won their last game 2-1 away to Dunfermline to win the title by two points. Though it looks as if Rangers blew their title chances, it is not quite as bad as it seems as (in a time when goal average separated teams level on points) Rangers would have had to beat Aberdeen by about 40 goals to win the title."
It is worth sparing a thought for the then Rangers manager Davie White, who had taken over from Scot Symon at the tail end of 1967. Having come so close to wresting the title from Jock Stein's reigning European champions, he reached a Fairs Cup semi-final and a quarter-final, and a Scottish Cup final, only to lose them all and be turfed out on his ear in November 1969, the first Rangers manager never to win a trophy. It was an unwanted record he held until the arrival of Paul Le Guen.
