The varying fortunes of the Football League Founder Members

Football has changed hugely over the years, today if you asked people to name a well known football team you might get answers such as Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.  Fair enough you may say since they are all currently sat in the top half of the Premier League, however, none of these teams were founder members when the football league as we know it was first formed.  This honour went to 12 teams from the North West and the Midlands; they were Aston Villa, Accrington Stanley (of "who are they?" fame), Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

So where are they all now?  Well seven are currently plying their trade in the Premiership (Aston Villa, Blackburn, Bolton, Everton, Stoke, West Brom and Wolves), whilst Burnley and Derby are one below in the Championship, Notts County and Preston are playing in League 1 and Accrington are in League 2.  It is fair to say that despite the apparent success in having over half of the founder members in the top flight of football that each team has had its fair share of ups and downs over the years.  Let's take a look at the varying fortunes of each team over the last 10 years.


How the Founder Members have faired

Only 4 of the teams haven't been involved in promotion or relegation over the last 10 years: Aston Villa, Blackburn, Bolton and Everton (though at the time of writing, both Blackburn and Bolton are sitting in the relegation places in the Premier League) and all four have had good cup fortunes, either winning or being runners up in a competition.

West Brom win the yoyo team tag with no less than 3 relegations and 4 promotions over the last 10 years - plenty of bitten finger nails in the black country there then!

Yet a lot of credit should go out to two teams that many would consider unfashionable - Stoke City and, yes, the much maligned Accrington Stanley.  Both have been promoted twice in the last ten years and have thrown in a cup win for good measure.  Neither of them have endured relegation during this time, whereas all the other clubs mentioned in the table above that have been promoted in the last 10 years have also been relegated at some point too.

It just goes to show that success isn't always about being in the top half of the premiership, there's plenty going on in and around and outside of it and that's what makes football so interesting and unpredictable!  It would be nice to have all of the founder members back in the big league together, let's see what the next 10 years bring - you never know!


The rollercoaster that is sport

Sports fans up and down the Country will be familiar with the ups and downs of following any sporting event, team or person or indeed of taking part in a sport.  Things are great when you're winning and not so good if you can't see where the next win is coming from.  One minute you're at at the top of the rollercoaster track with great views all around you and the next it all comes tumbling down leaving you feeling a bit sick in the stomach.

I am currently in a position where my netball team is in a promotion chase (cue fall from grace!) and my football team is battling against relegation.  At one point it seemed like because we were winning netball matches my football team were doomed to failure in theirs such is my supersticious state of mind!  This thought has very quickly gone out of the window after a couple of poor results in the netball not coninciding with an upturn in footballing fortunes!

So why do we put ourselves through it?  I think the appropriate word here is "hope".  At the start of a game, match or race everyone still has a chance.  Even if the competition is stronger it doesn't always mean they will be victorious.  There are countless examples of the underdog winning the day and I think it is this that keeps people believing.  There's always "hope" that you will win.

I bet the Wimbledon team of 1988 didn't expect to win the FA Cup (or perhaps they did since they were called the "crazy gang" at the time), yet they beat Liverpool 1-0 in the final.  Massive underdogs and with all the experts saying they didn't have a chance and yet they lifted the famous cup for the first and only time in their history.

Another great underdog win came via Wimbledon too, though this time in the tennis.  The summer of 2001 will be remembered (at least by tennis fans) as the year Goran Ivanisevic finally won the Wimbledon Mens' Singles Championship.  After losing in the finals in 1992, 1994 and 1998 and slipping down the rankings so much that he was only able to enter Wimbledon via a Wildcard, most people would be forgiven for thinking that the Croat didn't have a chance of advancing very far in the competition.  In reality, he went on to beat some very notable players and lift the trophy.

This is what makes sport so facinating, so great to participate in and watch.  It's not always clearcut what's going to happen.  Overcoming the odds is great and moments like that stay with you and give you hope.  Afterall it would be boring to win all the time even if we would like to!