The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 293 Dark Horse and Relegation Battle

"The main color of the Premier League is red, which is another interpretation of the fierce competition in the Premier League. There are also many new stories in this season. There are dark horses in the long league, and the new styles are shocking. At the same time, there are also traditional giants that perform bleakly and can only struggle to be relegated."

--Inscription

Manchester United successfully defended their title this season, but that doesn't mean the competition in the league isn't fierce.

Compared with giants like Arsenal and Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers is a rising star, full of vigor and a greater threat to the Red Devils. With the strong support of the owner Jack Walker, this unknown team not only made it from the second-tier league to the top league, but also managed to stay in the league in the first season of the promotion. After several seasons of strong reinforcements and hard training and careful polishing under the coaching of Dalglish, the team commanded by Dalglish has a strong fighting force.

Before the season started, Blackburn was considered by the media to be one of the favorites to win the title, and they were considered to be as strong as Manchester United. In the eyes of the media, this upstart team was even the best in England on paper, with famous names such as Alan Shearer, David Batty, Wachters, Kevin Gallagher, Tim Flores, and the coach Dalglish was even more famous than Ferguson - after all, Ferguson did not have the blessing of the Champions League at that time.

Blackburn's problem was that they didn't grasp the start well and lacked resilience in the final stages. Although they experienced a short setback in the middle of the season and won a stunning streak, they once caught up with Manchester United's points by 38 points in the 15th round, putting tremendous pressure on the Red Devils.

For Dalglish, everything was ruined in the last six league games. When Ferguson's team was in a slump, his team did not seize the opportunity to win all the remaining games in one go. While Manchester United regrouped and won again, and snatched victory from many derby opponents, Blackburn lost its mind and lost to Southampton and Coventry in a row, which directly destroyed the strong momentum of chasing Manchester United and directly gave away the championship two rounds in advance.

It was a pity that they didn't win the championship, but even if they didn't overtake Manchester United, Blackburn was already very good overall. Among them, their star player Shearer became the most dazzling star in the entire league. At the end of the season, Alan Shearer scored 3 goals less than Newcastle's new star Andy Cole in the scorer list, but in addition to 31 league goals, his comprehensive performance on the offensive end was enough to prove his superb ability and Blackburn's strong offensive power. In the second round of the league against the Red Devils, Shearer scored twice to help the team win 2-0. The strong offensive power made the Red Devils' championship-level defense helpless.

In addition to Blackburn's money-driven football, the Premier League has seen more capital pouring in, making it a luxurious place for the super-rich to show off their power. Liverpool and Arsenal's lack of competitiveness is also related to this, and the sudden rise of the newly promoted Newcastle United is entirely driven by money. After spending tens of millions of pounds, the Magpies invited English football legend Kevin Keegan to take office and brought a large number of practical and powerful players. Keegan, who has traveled through the European continent, has transformed the entire team and re-emerged as a strong team. They eventually ranked third in the Premier League, suppressing giants such as Arsenal and Liverpool. Newcastle United's head coach Keegan has an aggressive style and directed the team to play pleasing offensive football. He scored a total of 82 goals in the season, ranking first in the Premier League. Magpies' rookie striker Andy Cole shone brightly after joining from Bristol City. Thanks to the tactical support of the entire Magpies team, he did perform well and scored a wave of goals.

Compared with the Red Devils leading the standings, this season's relegation battle is thrilling.

At the beginning of the relegation battle, there were more than just these four teams. Ipswich and Southampton were also trapped in the relegation quagmire. In the last round, Everton and Ipswich were still in danger of relegation.

The last round of the Premier League was a fierce battle, and the relegation battle was a life-and-death struggle. Only after all the games were over did the final outcome of who would be relegated and who would be relegated be revealed. Everton's final match against Wimbledon will determine the Toffees' future, while Sheffield United's match against Chelsea will determine their fate and that of Ipswich.

Everton was not supposed to feel the danger of relegation early, but in fact, this team was the first to have problems. The Toffees had a very bad start to the season, and then there were conflicts between the coach and the management, and conflicts within the locker room. The club was in constant conflict, and the whole team was in turmoil. Naturally, it was impossible to maintain sufficient competitiveness. They suffered consecutive defeats since the start of the league, and then fell into a continuous cycle of no wins, and continued to slide into the abyss of relegation. Halfway through the winter league, Everton found a relegation expert in time - Walker, the head coach who led Norwich City to great results the previous year.

Although Walker was fired in January 1994 due to the poor performance of the Norwich team, his strength was still very strong. After taking over Everton temporarily, he made drastic changes to many players, and then led the team to fight hard all the way, and gradually recovered the decline. In the last round, they won 1-3 at home against Wimbledon, successfully avoided relegation, and enjoyed the taste of "victorious escape".

The last three teams to be relegated were Sheffield United, Oldham Athletic and Swindon Town. Oldham Athletic and Sheffield United are considered traditional British powerhouses. Nicknamed "The Owls", Oldham Athletic and the Red Devils are both in the Manchester region and were originally competing in the top league, but they were left behind step by step in the fierce competition and gradually left the top competition of British football. Later, they were never able to return to the Premier League. After this relegation, Oldham Athletic never had the hope of rising again. They were relegated after staying in the top league for 3 seasons, and then they continued to decline and relegated. At their worst, they fell to the English League Two (the fourth level) and never returned to the top league.

Sheffield United is a typical example of a good hand that went badly. Founded in 1889, this historic team is one of the earliest football clubs in the world and received a special honor award from FIFA in 2004. Sheffield United had enough opportunities to escape relegation this season, and the team's strength should not be in the relegation range, but they made mistakes repeatedly, especially against opponents who were also in the middle and lower levels or even relegated, and they lost one after another, unable to escape relegation.

The historic Sheffield United has many fans and the team has always been strong. They have been fighting in the top league for a long time. They had a good start this season and were outside the relegation zone. They had a good situation in the final stage, but they lost the ball in the last minute of the game against Chelsea and eventually lost 1-2. This also led to the team failing to squeeze out Ipswich. Although they got 3 points, they were only 42 point behind Southampton and Ipswich, and finally had to fall into the sea of ​​suffering.

After being relegated, Sheffield United ended their four-season top-flight campaign and fell into a tough second-tier campaign. It took them 4 seasons to return to the top flight, and they entered the Premier League again in the summer of 12. However, the Premier League was no longer what it used to be, and Sheffield United was unfortunately relegated again after just one season.

Swindon, the new team in the league, is weak and was not favored from the beginning. They were just promoted from the Championship last season. Before the start of the season, they did not make extensive reinforcements. They thought they could fight in the Premier League with the original team. As a result, they were beaten continuously at the beginning of the season and finally had to be relegated. They only got 30 points throughout the season, won only 5 games, but lost 22 games. Swindon not only created the team's most losses, but also set a record of 100 goals conceded in a season. They lost 3 goals in 4 games, 3 goals in 5 games, 1 goals in 6 game, and an astonishing 1 goals in 7 game. They only achieved zero seals in 3 games throughout the season (1-0 win over QPR, 0-0 draw with West Ham and Norwich), and only won 5 games. During the season, they were severely criticized by the media, believing that Swindon was the weakest promoted team since the establishment of the top league. "The top league is no longer a glory for them, but a burden of humiliation for them."

In the end, Swindon was relegated early this season, and after this short one-season in the Premier League they never returned and are currently just hanging around in English League Two.

Swindon's horrible number of goals conceded also shows from another perspective that the Premier League focuses on offense and advocates offensive football. In the past two seasons of the Premier League, strengthening offense has become a consensus among all teams, and they have all taken this as a common goal. This season, the league teams have scored a total of 1195 goals, an average of 2.58 goals per game. The Red Devils are not the most powerful, but Newcastle is. The Magpies have scored a total of 82 goals, an average of 1.95 goals per game, the best in the game; Ipswich is the silver gun candle end, the weakest in the league, only scored 35 goals, an average of 0.83 goals per game. On the defensive end, Arsenal is still the most stable defense. The Gunners have conceded only 28 goals throughout the season, an average of 0.66 goals per game; compared with Swindon, which conceded 100 goals and conceded 2.38 goals per game, it is really a world of difference. The Red Devils, Newcastle and Blackburn Rovers have all played aggressively, and this season, the teams have played a lot of big-score games, with the Red Devils even playing many exciting comebacks. Throughout the season, although both Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers often staged massacres in the goal battle, the game with the most goals was Norwich's 4-5 loss to Southampton.

Southampton had a god-level striker killer at the time, who shocked the entire English football world, and he was Letischer.

Outside the stadium, the Premier League has had a series of good news. The attendance rate of the audience increased by 9% compared with the previous season, and the total number of people attending the stadium increased by nearly 200 million, which is a great achievement. The Premier League's television broadcasting and related advertising revenues have also exceeded investors' expectations. Everything is thriving and everything is joyous. The operation of the Premier League is also constantly changing. The league stipulates that the names of players must be printed on jerseys and players must register an exclusive number for a season. This is of epoch-making significance. With the development of the Premier League, the number of fans attending the stadium on match days has soared, the sales of jerseys and related souvenirs have increased, and the broadcasting revenue has soared, which also makes the owners of various clubs smile from ear to ear.

Another big news this season is the death of the Manchester United coach Matt Busby. This not only plunged the Manchester United into grief, but also shocked the entire English football. Manchester United and the Premier League Organizing Committee held a number of memorial and mourning activities to pay tribute to this coach who made great contributions to English football. In March 1994, the Premier League All-Star team, led by Graham, played a charity match with West Ham United to commemorate the deceased Bobby Moore, which was also a major event that shocked the UK. Bobby Moore was the captain of both England and West Ham United. He led the England team to win the 3 World Cup and made great contributions to English football.

The Premier League is moving forward, yet still maintaining their traditions.