Football didn’t start in either 1992 or 1888, but you can draw arbitrary lines at any point if you’re looking to bolster or supress a club’s cachet.
As New Year’s Day 1900 dawned, the most successful league sides were Aston Villa (four title wins), Sunderland (three) and Preston North End (two). Villa added a fifth later in 1900 and a sixth in 1910 but have been champions of England only once since, in 1981, although that did allow them the opportunity to become European champions in 1982.
Other midlands sides of note include Nottingham Forest, who parlayed their single league title in 1978 to a pair of European Cup wins in 1979 and 1980, and Leicester City, who began the 2010s without having ever been champions of England or FA Cup winners, an issue they sorted out in 2016 and 2021, respectively.
But if we’re going to draw a dividing point, why not use the Second World War, which saw league football suspended for seven seasons, and, contrary to what a lot of 1992 deniers claim, was often used as a neat football history dividing point prior to the foundation of the Premier League.
The ‘Before The War’ table has Villa well clear on 12 honours, four ahead of Blackburn Rovers and then five sides on seven. Arsenal are in there, and can lay claim to being the most historically consistent side, given they are the only club in this list to regularly challenge for honours in the 21st century.
The decline of north-east football always deserves some considered thought, with all of Sunderland and Newcastle’s league titles coming before the war.
Sunderland, in 1936, remain the last champions of England to play in stripes, which contrasts England significantly with Italy, among other nations.
Gleaming Modernity
Manchester United fans may be interested to learn that if we start football from 1945 (the FA Cup was played in 1945-46 but league football didn’t resume until 1946-47), then they are still behind Liverpool for major trophies won (43 vs 41), because the Anfield side lose out on four league titles won before the war, while United only lose two leagues and the 1909 FA Cup.
Liverpool famously had to wait a long time before winning their first FA Cup in 1965, losing finals in 1914 – the last one held at Crystal Palace – and 1950. In 2022 at Wembley, Liverpool won their first FA Cup since the ‘Gerrard Final’ of 2006, and in doing so, they went joint-third with Chelsea and Spurs (eight) in the list, with only Arsenal (14) and United (13) ahead of them.
The truth is that no side has been able to permanently dominate English football, although Liverpool and Man Utd stand above all other clubs. The honours table since 1945 contains the same top five as the all-time one, albeit with Chelsea and Man City ahead of Arsenal, with Guardiola’s men moving above the Gunners thanks to their 2023-24 glory.
The only instruction to supporters is to make the most of every trophy and every big day out, because you never know when the ride is going to stop. Go back and tell a Preston fan in 1890, or a Sheffield United fan in 1898, or a West Brom fan in 1920, or a Huddersfield fan in 1926, or a Newcastle fan in 1927, or a Sheffield Wednesday fan in 1930, or a Sunderland fan in 1936, or a Wolves fan in 1959, or an Everton fan in 1987 or an Arsenal fan in 2004 that, guess what, it was the last top-flight league title your club is going to win for a long time, perhaps forever.
They simply won’t believe you because their team are the champions of England, and that’s not how it works.
