Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Chances of Survival for Clubs Promoted to the Premier League

by Paul Yarden on 08/03/10
Blackpool were promoted to the Premier League for season 2010-11
What are the chances of survival for clubs newly promoted to the Premier League?
If past performances are anything to go by, slightly more than half the newly promoted clubs will survive their first season in the Premier League. Of the 50 clubs promoted since the advent of the Premier League in season 1992-93, 26 of them have lived to fight another season in the Top Flight of English football.
There has been only once instance of all three promoted clubs being relegated the next season. That was in season 1997-98 when Bolton Wanderers, Barnsley and Crystal Palace finished in the bottom three places after having been promoted the previous season.
By contrast, there has also only been one season when the three promoted clubs all survived their first season in the Premier League. Season 2001-02 saw Blackburn Rovers finish in 10th place, Fulham finish in 13th place and Bolton Wanderers finish in 16th place.
The best performance from a newly promoted club was in season 1993-94 when Newcastle United finished in third place and also in 1994-95 when Nottingham Forest finished third. Ipswich Town managed a fifth place finish in 2000-01.
There have been a total of 12 Top Ten finishes for newly promoted clubs to the Premier League, the most recent being Birmingham City's 9th place finish in season 2009-10.
Here are the finishing positions of every newly promoted club in the Premier League from season 1993-94 to 2009-10. Teams in red were relegated:

1993-1994 Pos
NEWCASTLE UTD 3
WEST HAM UTD 13
SWINDON TOWN 22

1994-1995 Pos
CRYSTAL PAL 19
NOTTM FOREST 3
LEICESTER CITY 21

1995-1996 Pos
BOLTON WAND 20
MIDDLESBROUGH 12

1996-1997 Pos
DERBY COUNTY 12
SUNDERLAND 18
LEICESTER CITY 9

1997-1998 Pos
BOLTON WAND 18
BARNSLEY 19
CRYSTAL PAL 20

1998-1999 Pos
NOTTM FOREST 20
MIDDLESBROUGH 9
CHARLTON ATH 18

1999-2000 Pos
SUNDERLAND 7
BRADFORD CITY 17
WATFORD 20

2000-2001 Pos
CHARLTON ATH 9
IPSWICH TOWN 5
MAN CITY 18

2001-2002 Pos
FULHAM 13
BLACKBURN ROV  10
BOLTON WAND 16

2002-2003 Pos
MAN CITY 9
BIRMINGHAM C 13
WEST BROM ALB 19

2003-2004 Pos
PORTSMOUTH 13
LEICESTER CITY 18
WOLVES 20

2004-2005 Pos
NORWICH CITY 19
WEST BROM ALB 17
CRYSTAL PAL 18

2005-2006 Pos
SUNDERLAND 20
WIGAN ATHLETIC 10
WEST HAM UTD 9

2006-2007 Pos
READING 8
SHEFF UNITED 18
WATFORD 20

2007-2008 Pos
SUNDERLAND 15
BIRMINGHAM C 19
DERBY COUNTY 20

2008-2009 Pos
WEST BROM ALB 20
STOKE CITY 12
HULL CITY 17

2009-2010 Pos
WOLVES 15
BIRMINGHAM C 9
BURNLEY 18

2010-2011
NEWCASTLE UTD
WEST BROM ALB
BLACKPOOL
Full details of the finishing positions in the Premier League from season 1992-93 to 2009-10 available here:
http://www.myfootballfacts.com/PREMIER-LEAGUE-LADDERS-1992-2010.html

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Mexico 1970 - The Greatest FIFA World Cup of Them All?

Every football fan has their own particular favourite FIFA World Cup Finals competition but the consensus is that the tournament held in Mexico in 1970 was the greatest of them all.

What was it about Mexico that made it so special? Perhaps it was a combination of factors which included an England squad defending their trophy widely regarded as even better than the team which won the World Cup at Wembley in 1966. Then there was the exotic location and for many the first chance to see the matches live on TV in colour. Add to the mix some very good teams from Italy, West Germany, Uruguay, Peru, the Soviet Union and the host Nation, Mexico. Then there was the fact that as the competition had just 16 qualifiers, there was none of the meaningless matches we have today for the first two weeks where the dross is eliminated.

But above all there was Brazil. A Brazil who played the game with such flair and style that they are quite rightly regarded as the greatest football team the game has ever seen. There was Pelé & Rivelino, Jairzinho & Gerson, Tostao & Everaldo and if Brazil’s defence wasn’t quite up to the standards of their midfield and attack they also had one of football’s best ever full-backs in team captain Carlos Alberto.

The first phase saw the elimination of Belgium and El Salvador from Group A, Sweden and Israel from Group B, Romania and Czechoslovakia from Group C and Bulgaria and Morocco from Group D. The four Quarter-Finals then offered-up a mouthwatering feast of football.

Uruguay and the Soviet Union had a closely fought match which was resolved three minutes before the end of extra time when Espárrago put the South Americans into the Semi-Final, despite Soviet protests about the cross which led to the goal going out of play. Italy, who only managed to score once against Israel & Sweden in the group stage, had a comfortable win over their Mexican hosts 4-1.

Brazil beat Peru in the all South American Quarter Final 4-2 and the last match was between the old enemies England and West Germany. Alan Mullery and Martin Peters put England two goals up and most people watching on TV thought that was pretty much that. Alf Ramsey decided to substitute Bobby Charlton and bring-on Colin Bell instead and while many consider this to have been a blunder the truth was that Charlton was exhausted and there was little option. In any case, the Germans could do nothing but attack and they got a goal back through Beckenbauer and their equaliser came with 8 minutes remaining through Seeler. Extra time was played and striker Gerd Muller won the game for the Germans and England were on their way home.

The Semi-Finals saw one of the most astounding matches in World Cup history as Italy and West Germany played a thriller which went to extra time with the Italians winning 4-3 in a match dubbed “The Game of the Century”. Brazil booked their passage to the Final with a solid 3-1 win over Uruguay.

The Final itself was probably one of the most talked-about and analyzed games in football history as the skill, artistry and rhythm of the Brazilians overcame the tactics and flair of the Italians 4-1. Brazil’s goals came from Pelé, Gerson’s thunderbolt from outside the box, Jairzinho’s close range effort and the icing on the cake from Carlos Alberto at the end of a move in which no less than 9 Brazilians had been involved.

FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualification Competition

The first Nation to qualify for the 2010 World Cup was South Africa, once their bid to host the competition was accepted by FIFA on 15th May 2004 in Switzerland. Traditionally, the World Cup holders also used to get a free ride to the next tournament but this has changed in recent years and Italy entered the European qualification rounds, along with 52 other Nations. A total of 203 nations from around the world entered the qualification competition chasing the 31 available places.

All seven previous FIFA World Cup winners (Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England, Argentina & France) will be present in South Africa, so any football betting will be bound to feature one of those teams as favourites. Of the teams that have so far failed to win the World Cup, Spain and the Netherlands must rank among the teams most fancied.

The 53 European (UEFA) countries were split into eight groups of six teams and one group of five with the winners automatically booking their berth to South Africa. The best eight runners-up from the nine groups played-off against each other to give a final quota of 13 qualifiers. Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy and the Netherlands all went through as group winners. France, Portugal, Greece and Slovenia all won their play-offs.

There were also 53 African (CAF) countries and with South Africa already confirmed as hosts, the other 52 teams battled for the 5 more spots available. After a complex series of qualification groups, the eventual successful nations of Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) emerged.

South American (CONMEBOL) qualification took the form of the now traditional single group with all 10 countries playing each other twice for the four automatic berths and one play-off place. Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Argentina finished as the top four teams. The play-off place went to Uruguay, who would later beat Central America’s Costa Rica and join the other four South American teams in the Finals.

35 countries from North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) competed for the three automatic places and one play-off spot for South Africa. After a complex series of eliminators, six nations emerged to play in the final group decider. The United States, Mexico and Honduras all gained automatic qualification with Costa Rica finishing fourth and later losing the play-off to South America’s Uruguay. El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago finished at the bottom of the group decider.

The 43 entrants from Asia (AFC) had to first negotiate their preliminary rounds before the 10 top nations formed two groups of five for the final group stage. The top two from each group were rewarded with automatic entries to the World Cup Finals while the third placed teams in each group held a play-off to determine the fifth Asian qualifier.
Australia won the first group with Japan second and Bahrain third. The second group was won by South Korea with North Korea second and Saudi Arabia third. Bahrain won the play-off and had to face the winners of the Oceania zone for a place in South Africa.

The 10 nations which made-up the Oceania (OFC) zone had been weakened by Australia’s decision to play their football as part of Asia, so there was no guaranteed place for the winner, as there had been in previous FIFA World Cup competitions. New Zealand won the group stage and then faced Bahrain in a final play-off, which they won.