The Worst Sporting Champions of All Time ! - Part One

The World Cup is over, Spain were victorious and they are the World Champions. At the end of the day whilst watching it from my humble abode here in the UK it is in my opinion that Spain were indeed worthy winners, although it was generally a disappointing tournament all-round in terms of the quality of the football played, and the embarrassment and humiliation the England players and management team bestowed upon our nation!

This article is part one of several to come celebrating those undeserved 'Sporting Champions' - those teams and/or individuals that were actually top of their field, yet were still pretty rubbish.

For this reason I shall call them 'Sport's Greatest Ever Pretenders,' starting with:
Blackburn Rovers - Premiership Champions 1995.

How did a team based around the workmanlike talents of Tim Sherwood and Jeff Kenna become champions of England?

Stick nine men behind the ball, hoof it up to Alan Shearer and hope he's not too busy flapping his pointy elbows into some poor old defender's eye socket, and in the interim point in time he whacks the ball into the back of the onion bag. That is how!

Ole, ole ole!.............free-flowing, aesthetically pleasing, champagne football!

That season Manchester United had been handicapped by the loss of the mercurial Eric 'the karate kid' Cantona, following a now well documented altercation with a Crystal Palace fan at Selhurst Park one January evening in 1995. Without the suspended Frenchman it immediately became advantage Rovers, but they still failed to claim their prize with any assumed authority.

They stumbled over the finishing line, losing three of their final five games, the last of which gave Manchester United the chance to snatch the title with the very last kick of the season, if they could win at West Ham. Luckily for Rovers, that final kick fell to United's Achilles heel, Andy Cole's club foot - and Kenny Dalglish's men topped the table by a single point.

They danced and they sang without a hint of ignominy, as this small Lancashire club lifted the Premier League trophy, just four years after the arrival and the aid of the late Jack Walker's dynasty and his millions.

Such end-of-season shamelessness would never be seen again............that was until Chelsea insisted that it 'wasn't all about Roman's f***ing money,' when in June 2003 Ken Bates sold Chelski to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for £140 million, completing what was then the biggest-ever sale of an English football club.

He subsequently spent over £100 million on new players, as they went onto become the fifth English team to win (buy) back-to-back league championships since the Second World War in 2004/05 and 2005/06.

'Premiers**t - You're Having a Laugh'

Don't talk to me about the 'magnificent' spectacle of the Premiership! The tremendous ding-dong battle to win the title etc etc.
The Premiership is great for mainly one thing - plenty of revenue in the form of TV money for all the clubs involved and not a lot else!

There's a two horse race at each end of the table, Man U versus Chelski and Watford versus Charlton, and then 16 other mediocre teams battling it out for mid-table respectability.....I think is the well overused media pundits terminology.

Look at the likes of Spurs, Pompey, Everton and Blackburn. All battling it out for what?
A UEFA Cup spot, which is basically an overrated cup tournament for Champions League rejects, teams finishing 5th or worse in the Premiership, along with the domestic cup winners that cold potentially could come from anywhere in the Football League.
I'm sure the opportunity to start the season in July, and the prospect of visiting the respective pastures new of the Champions of such historical football nations as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia and Slovakia must be huge!
The lure of a few bob to line the the pockets of the already overpaid players, board and management alike is the only odour I can smell!
Two words springs to mind.......Dull and Greed!

It is self-defeating in it's very nature.
Remember the fans! They are the ones who have to pay for this potential 11 month season.
Jet-setting abroad, hotel accommodation where necessary, match tickets and beer all add up to a more than average priced midweek non-adventure, such as a meal with the opposition, namely her indoors or a trip to the local pub with the lads, equally unpopular with the Missus. (But she knows where you are, and in her eyes at least that beats blowing the family budget on gallivanting around The Balkans).
Not to mention the time taken off from work, whether as holiday or sick.
Do the Clubs care? Is the Pope a Jew?

Dare I say it, but maybe the likes of Pompey and Reading could even step up to the UEFA Cup mark this year.....which would in itself be an incredible and more than likely one-off achievement for both Coppell's and Redknapp's sides this season. But not something their fans will have experienced previously or are likely too again for sometime after.
Pity all the magnificent fans of all the above mentioned clubs, and shame on the clubs themselves for providing such mediocre 'entertainment' for most of the season whatever the final outcome, at extortionate entry prices!

Now drop down a division to the Championship and you can watch a terrific example of weekly unpredictability all season, due to a much more level playing field. High octane passion fuelled local derbies, particularly in The Midlands this season and the possibility of about 4 or 5 teams fighting it out for automatic promotion and a further 6 or more in with a chance of making the play-offs. At the wrong end their are probably still any of 6 or 7 sides that might drop down a division. All this will undoubtedly still be unfolding come mid-April.
That's what I would endeavour to call entertainment, fierce competition, and value for money.... all season round.

A couple of months ago Brucie was a goner, now he's Singing the Blues.
Cardiff under Dave Jones got off to a magnificent start, now they are rocking badly, Preston are up there again despite a change in stewardship, and Southampton look really dangerous.
WBA, Wolves and Palace were all expected to make the top 6 if not automatic promotion pre-season, but all are finding the going tough!
There may be no Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Ronaldo, or Henry in the Championship but there are some quality players on view including the likes of Upson and McShefferey at Birmingham, Nugent at Preston, Vine at Luton, Rasiak and Bale at Southampton, Halford at Colchester and Eastwood at Southend to name but a few, along with some excellent coaches and managers doing the rounds.
Look at Burley at Southampton, Mowbray at WBA, Laws at Wednesday, Davies at Derby, Pullis at Stoke and of course Williams at Colchester.

A Championship XI to match much of the Premiership mediocrity:
Hoult/Upson/Halford/Alexander/Bale/McShefferey/Cook/Skachel/Vine/Nugent/Eastwood, and there are many more good enough to make up a squad.

All good news for fans' of Championship Clubs.