Thoughts on United's 19th title

This morning on the Score, Kristian Jack wrote a great article about Manchester United winning their 19th title, and it got me thinking. Here in the land where hockey rules, the mark of quality is the performance in the playoffs and the winning of the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup. However, what would it look like if we re-examined the NHL standings and forgot about the cups and focused on the league crowns. There have been 93 NHL league titles awarded and 112 league titles in England. In the NHL 20 different teams have won the title, in England there have been 23 different winners. Only one of the NHL champions no longer exists, which are the 1925 Champions the Hamilton Tigers. All 23 English Champions are still playing football, with most at the highest level. Of the 20 Hockey Champs 13 have won more than once, with the 23 English Champs 19 have won multiple times. I think we have waited about long enough, lets have a look at the combined list of champions, (number of times won in brackets) and the year of the last league title.

1. Montreal Canadiens (23) - 1978

2. Manchester United (19) - 2011

3. Liverpool (18) - 1990

3. Detroit Red Wings (18) - 2008

5. Arsenal (13) - 2004

6. Boston Bruins (12) - 1990

7. Everton (9) - 1987

8. Ottawa Senators (8) - 2003

9. Aston Villa (7) - 1981

10. Sunderland (6) - 1936

11. Toronto Maple Leafs (5) - 1963

12. Newcastle United (4) - 1927

12. Sheffield Wednesday (4) - 1930

12. Chelsea (4) - 2010

15. Huddersfield Town (3) - 1926

15. Wolverhampton Wanderers (3) - 1959

15. New York Islanders (3) - 1982

15. Edmonton Oilers (3) - 1987

15. Chicago Blackhawks (3) - 1991

15. Leeds United (3) - 1992

15. New York Rangers (3) - 1994

15. Blackburn Rovers (3) - 1995

23. Preston North End (2) - 1890

23. Portsmouth (2) - 1950

23. Burnley (2) - 1960

23. Tottenham Hotspur (2) - 1961

23. Manchester City (2) - 1968

23. Derby County (2) - 1975

23. Philadelphia Flyers (2) - 1985

23. Calgary Flames (2) - 1989

23. Dallas Stars (2) - 1999

23. Colorado Avalanche (2) - 2001

33. Sheffield United (1) - 1898

33. West Bromwich Albion (1) - 1920

33. Hamilton Tigers (1) - 1925

33. Ipswich Town (1) - 1962

33. Nottingham Forest - 1978

33. Pittsburgh Penguins (1) - 1993

33. St. Louis Blues (1) - 2000

33. Buffalo Sabres (1) - 2007

33. San Jose Sharks (1) - 2009

33. Washington Capitals (1) - 2010

33. Vancouver Canucks (1) - 2011

There are a number of interesting stats that I noticed while looking at the lists of champions. First the NHL has had 4 first time champs in the last 5 years, that is remarkable. To give you an idea the last 4 first time champs in England were Nottingham Forest (1978), Derby County (1972), Leeds United (1969) and Ipswich Town (1962). Something else that amazed me were that the great teams of Gretzky & Lemieux won so few titles. Another thing that I noticed when looking at England is that 3 sides won all of their titles in back to back seasons. Portsmouth winning in 1949 & 1950. Huddersfield town winning in 1924, 1925, and 1926. Far away the most painful would be Preston North End winning in 1889 & 1890. The first ever seasons of league football. So North End fans who celebrated back to back titles have endured a wait of 121 seasons for their next title. When you factor in the fact that PNE were just relegated to League One it will be at least 2014 before they can even have a chance to compete for the title again, where they will look to erase a 123 year drought. So Leafs fans who have wondered how bad can things get, you can thank your lucky stars you don't support Preston. Speaking of Leafs fans, the league crowns have done you no favours either with your last title now coming in 1963.

What I found interesting as well was that of the 23 English Champions 13 played this season in the Premier League. 8 Champions were playing in the Championship and 2 were playing in League One. Of course former champions Preston North End & Sheffield were both relegated to League One. Huddersfield are competing in the League One playoffs and could be promoted, while Nottingham Forest are in the Championship playoffs and could be promoted as well. That said it could be former champions Blackburn Rovers or Wolverhampton Wanderers that make room for them in the Premier League. Also if you are curious and think that the Premier League should be for the 20 biggest clubs and do away with relegation. Then using league titles as the criteria those 20 are the 19 teams with more than one title and depending on your tie breaker of choice one of Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, Ipswich Town, or Nottingham Forest.

In the NHL some of the more hapless franchises are the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks both of which have played in most of the 93 NHL seasons but have only 3 titles each. Another interesting stat is that all 6 current Canadian NHL teams have one at least one title.

I hope that you found this interesting. Especially as I have another post coming up looking at football in Europe since the 1954 campaign (the first one where you qualified for European competition) to determine what the most successful football club in Europe is. That article will be posted on The Subs Bench.