21 Sep 2017 12:04:52
Credits to the author
The best English Club sides over the years!
Arsenal 1930's
Actually there were two great Arsenal sides from this era, but I'm opting for the earlier side from the early to mid 30's. Herbert Chapman's team of Bastin, Hulme and Alex James - in my heavily biased opinion the greatest British club side of all time
Arsenal 'Invincibles' 2003-04
D'uh. the clue is in the name isn't it? Going a whole league campaign unbeaten in the modern era was truly exceptional.
Spurs 1960-61
Bill Nicholson's double winning team of Blanchflower, Mackay et al. Simply one of the best footballing sides ever.
Liverpool late 80's
The last great dominant Liverpool team of Rush, Barnes, Dalglish etc. Wonderful going forward and gave you nothing at the back.
Man Utd late 60's
Best, Law, Charlton - enough said really.
Man Utd 1999
The Treble team. Brilliant attacking side, rock solid defence with arrogance and sh*thousery to spare when needed.
Leeds Utd late 60's - early 70's
Speaking of sh*thousery - Don Revie's dirty b*st*rds featuring Giles, Bremner and co. were surely the greatest exponents of the dark arts, but never forget they could play you off the park as well any time they chose to.
Chelsea 2004-6
I feel all dirty including these guys, but the first Mourinho era unquestionably produced one of the all-time great teams.
Nottingham Forest 1978-1980
The ultimate punch-above-your-weight team. Robertson and Francis were genuine talents, but how the hell did Cloughie coach the likes of Kenny Burns to two European Cups?
Huddersfield Town late 1920's
The first English side to win three consecutive league titles. Definitely not in any way an attempt to curry favour with your editorial team, oh no - actually it's more a tribute to Herbert Chapman the only manager to feature in this list twice.
You wanna add anything Ed01?
{Ed001's Note - yes, he clearly never saw Paisley's Liverpool if he thinks the late 80s side was a better team. More exciting to watch, but the late 70s and early 80s teams under Sir Bob were better teams and would beat any of those teams mentioned. They were just incredible, which is why the Nottm Forest team he mentioned were below them, rather than better than them.}
21 Sep 2017 12:14:28
Far play Ed01. Are rest in order. Do you wanna add any more?
{Ed001's Note - Wolves had a great side from the 50s if I remember correctly the dates. Seems harsh to leave that one out.}
21 Sep 2017 12:21:34
Did you go down to watch them Ed.? ;)
{Ed001's Note - funny you should say that but no.}
21 Sep 2017 12:23:43
Actually shocked Paisley's team was missing.
Was scrolling down enjoying the read and waiting for it, then suddenly it was finished.
Notts Forrest had 2 to 3 years of great dominance, Paisley's Liverpool had close to a decade.
Good read other than that though.
21 Sep 2017 12:26:01
Did Dalglish ever even play with Barnes lol? I thought he finished playing in 86 (even by that pointhe was a player manager) when Rush left for Italy, and signed Beardo, Barnes and Aldridge to replace himself and Rush. Apologies if I'm wrong but I'm sure they never played.
But yeah I'd have say it would be the 9 year Paisley era. 6 league titles and 3 European cups! If he'd managed for as long as Fergie and maintained that ratio he'd have finished on 18 league titles and 9 European cups. What a legend. Left way too early. Some say he was just too humble to bask in the spotlight for any longer.
{Ed001's Note - he did play with them for a bit, but phased himself out gradually until his retirement, becoming more and more of a sub.}
21 Sep 2017 12:38:30
I remember Kenny's last game against Derby at home I think it was.
One of the worst days of my life.
I think he had a decent career though :)
21 Sep 2017 12:57:34
I'm not quite old enough Kev 😂 at 23 years old i barely remember Michael Owen!
Fair play Ed. Still don't see how that team gets close to the one which boasted Rush, Dalglish, Whelan, Sounness, Hansen, Lawrenson, Kennedy, Thompson, Neal, Nicol, Fairclough, Lee, Grobelaar, McDermot etc. I only saw them on LFC TV re-runs but my god. Unbelievable.
Just for a young Ian Rush/ Kenny Dalglish alone it must rank as the best team of English football history. They won more European cups in that one era than any other English club has managed in history. And if anyone gets close to scoring 347 goals for one English club ever again, I'll eat my hat.
21 Sep 2017 13:39:40
I am starting to get worried about your tendency to eat items of clothinh MK.
21 Sep 2017 13:50:14
It's mad how Paisley didn't get a mention, himself and Ancelloti are the only managers to have won the European cup 3 times ( I think lol )
83 league cup final was my first taste of the old Wembley, beat United 2-1, Whalen scored the winner in extra time, a curler from the edge of the 18 yd box, I will never forget that goal, especially as it was against United.
21 Sep 2017 14:32:01
23?
Missed the best era so like myself.
I only came on board at the tail end of it.
They were incredible!
They just jelled!
The 3 - 2 cup final in 89 was my favourite game along with the 5 - 0 over Notts Forrest.
That 5 nil win was one of the best team performances I've ever seen.
Barnes and Beardsley were electric.
If you haven't seen it, you should take a look, probably on YouTube.
Then came the genius that was Souness as manager lol.
Still, I wouldn't change much if anything.
{Ed001's Note - me ma sent away for a video for me of that 5-0 and one of the 9-0 win over Palace. She had to collect tokens out of a newspaper to get them! The tapes wore out as I watched them so much.}
21 Sep 2017 15:12:08
I sat and watched the 5-0 when i was about 16 and my dad said to me "you can't even begin to appreciate how good a team it takes to beat that Forrest team 5-0". He wasn't even into football from about 1985-2005 either. But he still knew that game was special. He's right though, I probably don't fully appreciate just how good it was.
21 Sep 2017 15:38:22
Yeah Forrest were decent then.
My favourite was Houghton I have to say. Covered nearly every blade of grass.
He was a special player.
I liked Aldo too but that all changed when I met him a few years ago.
He was a moody so n so that day at least.
You know what they say; you should never meet your idols.