by “Without points deductions, what is the biggest points gap between the two positions in the top European top flight?” Daniel Storey’s tweets. “I ask because this second third in Turkey, as it is.”
Galatasaray are now on top of the Super Lig, although Besiktas remain 24 points behind the team in second place, Fenerbahce now with 64 points. As Eoghan Kelly points out, there was an even wider gap between second and third place in the Premier League in 2018-19, when Liverpool were second to Manchester City, with 97 points. Best of the rest were Chelsea, who finished 25 points behind Liverpool.
A year later, with the Premier League on hiatus before Covid, it was City who were 25 points behind Liverpool who were elected champions. Jürgen Klopp’s side eased up slightly after winning the club’s first title since 1990 and finished the season 18 points clear of City.
Chris Roe reminds us that poor Derby County finished bottom of the Premier League with 11 points in 2007-08, 24 behind Birmingham City in 19th place. But, as Chris points out, there was an even more isolated team in the old Division Three in 1984-85. Cambridge United, whose squad included David Moyes and young Andy Sinton, finished bottom with 21 points from 46 games, 25 behind fellow relegated teams Preston, Orient and Burnley.
It’s no surprise, given the Old Firm’s recent dichotomy, that even better answers are to be found north of the border. Derek Brosnan was the first to mention the Scottish Premiership last season, particularly the chasm between Rangers, who finished second with 92 points, and Aberdeen (57).
Dirk Maas has researched Europe’s top five leagues, as well as the Netherlands, Portugal and Scotland, and reckons a 35-point gap is a record for the end-of-season table. It was not, as he points out, the first 30-plus point gap in the Scottish Privates.
2002-03: 34 points Celtic (2nd, 97) Hearts (3rd, 63)
2004-05: 31 points Celtic (2nd, 93pts) Hibernian (3rd, 62pts)
2016-17: 30 points Celtic (1st, 106), Aberdeen (2nd, 76)
It also posted the biggest gap in the other seven leagues we surveyed:
League 1
2015-16: 31 points PSG (1st, 96), Lyon (2nd, 65)
La Liga
2011-12: 30 points Barcelona (2nd, 91), Valencia (3rd, 61)
“Also worth mentioning,” says Dirk, “is the 26-point gap between Merida and bottom team Sporting Gijon, who finished with just 13 points, in 1997-98.”
Clothes
2002-03: 28 points Feyenoord (3rd, 80), NAC Breda (4th, 52)
Bundesliga
2012-13: 25 points Bayern Munich (1st, 91), Borussia Dortmund (2nd, 66)
Premier League
2018-19: 25 points Liverpool (2nd, 97), Chelsea (3rd, 72)
Primeira Liga
2017-18: 24 points Braga (4th, 75), Rio Ave (5th, 51)
Series A
2006-07: 22 points Inter (1st, 97), Lazio (2nd, 75)
International muted celebration
“Nene Dorgeles refused to celebrate her goal for Mali in dramatic Afcon loss to Ivory Coast, the country of her parents’ birth,” Notes by Eddie Eyers. “Are there other examples of muted celebrations in the international game?”
“How could you forget Breel Embolo’s score for Switzerland against Cameroon (the country of his birth) at the 2022 World Cup?” says Charles Brukner, assuming we’ve forgotten rather than lazily cutting and pasting the question in the hope that someone will remind us.
Embolo, who was born in Yaoundé, grew up in Basel and only got Swiss citizenship in 2014, scored the only goal of the game. As Louise Taylor reported:
That explains why the Monaco forward refrained from celebrating one of the simplest, but potentially most impressive, goals he has ever scored. It wasn’t Embolo’s fault that his six-yard finish drove a stake through Cameroonian hearts as their side had the chance to progress beyond the group stage for the first time since Italia 90’s dramatic collapse.
“Football writes these stories,” said Switzerland coach Murat Yakin. “I told Breel: ‘Cameroon are friends but they are also your opponents.’ I’m happy with his performance.”
More short multi-section tours to get a view of a stadium
A few weeks ago we dived underground into the fastest routes that take at least one stadium in each of the top five divisions. But you can always go lower and deeper…
“In Copenhagen we can complete the shortest distance between stadiums in the top five divisions, with and without ground shares and excluding B teams,” Thomas Christiansen boldly opens. “The tour starts at Tingbjerg Idrætspark, the home of Brønshøj in the Danmarksserien, which is on the fifth tier. Next stop is Gladsaxe Stadion, where AB are in the 2nd Division (third tier). From here the journey goes to Østerbro Stadion, home of B 93 in the 1st Division (second tier), and right next door is Parken, home of FC Copenhagen of the Superliga (first tier).
“The last stop is Vanløse Idrætspark, where Vanløse IF is in the 3rd Division (fourth tier). The whole trip is 18km or 11.2 miles, and can be done in 46 minutes by car or one hour and two minutes by bike … If land sharing is allowed, the first leg can be dismissed as BK Skjold in Danmarksserien also play at Østerbro Stadion. This reduces the journey to 15.9km or 9.9 miles.”
The biggest win from the contest host: star edition
In last week’s Eolas, inspired by Ivory Coast’s ultimately meaningless 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea, we looked at the hosts who took one hell of a ride.. Among the list of victories was 7-1, or rather the 7-1, 9-0 and 14-0. But maybe it was Kári Tulinius who was the best.
“The earliest international games are shrouded in fog and myth, and few are as definitive as the final of the 1896 Olympic competition in Greece,” Kári writes. “For various reasons, the organizers of the modern Olympic Games decided not to include the sport, but since some Danish footballers had come forward, a match was scheduled between Denmark and Greece on April 12, considered by George, Prince of Denmark, who was keenly impartial. and Greece. All reports agree that the Danes defeated the Greeks, but the score is given as 0-9 or 0-15. So it’s possible that Greece suffered the worst loss ever by a host nation, but it’s basically unknown. The Greeks took this batting very seriously and awarded the Danes with Olympic bronze medals, although it was an unofficial event.”
The great rsssf.com commented on the historical fog surrounding the game: “The reason there is different information about the result of the football game and why it was more or less ignored is because of a recommendation from Crown Prince Constantine , who publicly said that sports, such as football, which were not part of the official Olympic programme, should not be mentioned.”
Information archive
“On April 21st, at Sunderland v Burton, there was a chance that both sides could start with a mathematical chance of survival but, at full-time, each could be relegated. Are there any examples of two non-cast teams playing each other and both going down to full time?” Mark Stephenson posted in 2018.
Christopher Vaughan got the ball rolling with an example from behind when Manchester City were a comic shambles instead of today’s Pep-elite Premier League champions [if only everything in this column aged so well – Knowledge Ed]. “On the final day of the 1997-98 season, Manchester City beat Stoke City 5-2 to condemn them to the third flight. However, results elsewhere meant that victory was not enough for the Laser Blues (as they were then known, to secure their deal with Kappa) and they joined the Potters in Division Two as at that time. The Stoke faithful’s away fans chanted: “Going down, going down, going down … so we are, so are we, so are weeee-eeee!”
And Ben Lander took us to the Madejski Stadium on 28th April 2013 when two teams, both needing to stay up, did anything to help their cause. “Reading and QPR started their Premier League match knowing mathematically they could survive. Both needed a win, a draw would put both down. It ended 0-0.”
Can you help?
“Conor Gallagher has scored more goals against Crystal Palace than any other opponent. He has also scored more goals for Palace or any of his other clubs. How many players are real?” asks Jesse Pajwani.
Has a manager won an international trophy (or even a major trophy?) earlier than five games into their managerial career as Emerse Faé did with the Ivory Coast at the recent AFCON?
— Ralph Neville (@RNvofficial) February 13, 2024
“All four goals in Liverpool v Burnley were headers,” Alan Whitehill’s tweets. “I don’t remember a game with so many goals when they were all leaders. Can anyone do this better?” Except for Eddie Reynolds…
“The three clubs that were relegated from the Premier League last year (Leicester, Leeds and Southampton) may exchange with the promoted teams (Burnley, Sheffied United and Luton). Has this ever happened before?” wonders Mike Carter.
“Today I read about Horst Blankenburg, who won the European Cup three times with Ajax, but did not play for his country, West Germany. Has any other uncapped player won as many (or more) European Cup/Champions League medals?”? asks Robbie Paterson.
@TheKnowledge_GU
It’s not uncommon to see a manager watching from the stands after being banned from the touchline, but who was the first non-playing manager, coach or team member to be sent off?— Nathan Eaton (@nate_1983) February 13, 2024
The four clubs currently in the relegation places at the bottom of the Spanish second division start with the letter A-Alcorcon, Albacete, Andorra and Amorebieta.
If all four clubs were relegated would it be the first time four teams sharing the first letter went down?— james mcarthur (@jamesmcarthur15) February 11, 2024
