Ferguson Makes It Three Spin-Off TL: English League Football

[jmmcb94]

2019-20: An Uninvited Guest​

At Christmas 2019, there were only two things everyone was certain about that season’s Premier League: that Liverpool were, finally, going to win it, and Derby would be going down.

Both would turn out to be correct, but no-one at all foresaw how they’d happen.

With Frank Lampard having bailed out on them after their against-the-odds promotion to take the Chelsea job, and taken his Chelsea loanees with him, Derby were already at a big disadvantage on their return to the top flight. A returning Nigel Pearson would end up replacing him, which, despite his failure there three seasons prior, seemed like a sensible, risk-free appointment.

He and his team would give it a good go, but, by the team they welcomed the unbeaten champions elect to Pride Park on February 29th, they were already all but relegated. They then proceded to thump Jurgen Klopp’s team 3-0 in one of the most bonkers matches and results of all time!

Less than two weeks after that game, however, all football would come to an unexpected halt…

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and everything that came with it are all well documented, and need not be repeated here. Much speculation ultimately ensured as to whether the league would be able to resume, with many non-Liverpool fans only half-jokingly suggesting the season be abandoned and declared void.

In the end, common sense prevailed: after three months on hold, the Premier League finally resumed in mid-June. Less than a fortnight later, Liverpool were officially champions, while Derby’s relegation was confirmed not long afterwards.

Going down alongside them would be fellow promotees Norwich, for whom a decent enough start had quickly gone wrong, and Bournemouth, the end of who’s time in the Prem was swiftly followed by Eddie Howe departing as manager. Though he wouldn’t be out of work for long…

Further up the table, Manchester United’s appointment of Erik ten Hag, fresh from his Champions League success with Ajax, was seen by many as their best hiring since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, though there were also some naysayers who’d have preferred the man who beat him in said CL run, Mauricio Pochettino (who, ironically, would be fired as Spurs manager just months later).

Ten Hag’s first season at Old Trafford would be a successful one, with the summer signing of his old Ajax charge Matthias de Ligt shoring up the previously hap-hazard defence somewhat, and Bruno Fernandes’ arrival in midfield providing greater support to Marcus Rashford and the rejuvenated Romelu Lukaku up front.

While the Red Devils would ultimately finish a distant third behind Liverpool and City in the Prem, they would end their three-year trophy drought with victory in the delayed FA Cup final, beating Arsenal 2-1 in front of an empty Wembley.

Arsenal would also change manager during the season, Unai Emery being replaced by Mikel Arteta, though he would be unable to rescue their season, and ultimately an eighth-place finish meant they had failed to qualify for Europe for the first time in a long time.

Sheffield United were the big surprises of the season as, back in the Prem after 12 years, they looked like they could possibly reach Europe, before a loss of form after the restart saw them fall away, but they still finished a very solid ninth, one place ahead of Newcastle, who would part company with Quique Sanchez Flores at the end of the season (a departure that, everyone agrees, would’ve happened sooner had you-know-what not happened), with his replacement coming in from further down the table…

In the Championship, Leeds and Ipswich were already miles ahead of the pack when the season was halted, and, like Liverpool, there was never any real chance of them getting caught when the season resumed, especially when Brentford, the one team who might’ve caught them, fell away after the restart.

Brentford would ultimately lose the play-offs to London rivals Fulham, who won a tempestuous two-legged semi-final over Burnley, whose fifth-place finish was nonetheless a decent first effort for new manager Neil Lennon, before beating the Bees 2-1 in the final at, again, an empty Wembley.

Matters in League 1 (and League 2) were more controversial, as it was ultimately decided that it wouldn’t resume after the restart and would be decided on a points per game basis similar to that used in Scotland. This meant that Wycombe Wanderers, who’d started the season very well, but fallen away in the New Year, leapt up from ninth to third and reached the play-offs, much to the fury of Fleetwood, who missed out as a result (not that anyone really took much notice!).

However, Gareth Ainsworth’s side were denied a fairytale end to the season as they were defeated on penalties by Huddersfield in the play-off final after an exciting 2-2 all draw.

Final Tables
Premier League
1 Liverpool
2 Manchester City
3 Manchester United
4 Chelsea
5 Leicester
6 Tottenham Hotspur
7 Wolves
8 Arsenal
9 Sheffield United
10 Newcastle
11 Southampton
12 Everton
13 Sunderland
14 Aston Villa
15 Crystal Palace
16 Brighton
17 West Ham
18 Bournemouth
19 Norwich
20 Derby

Championship
1 Leeds
2 Ipswich
3 Brentford
4 Fulham
5 Burnley
6 West Brom
7 Cardiff
8 Swansea
9 Nottingham Forest
10 Watford
11 Millwall
12 Preston
13 Blackburn
14 Bristol City
15 QPR
16 Reading
17 Stoke
18 Sheffield Wednesday
19 Middlesbrough
20 Luton
21 Barnsley
22 Charlton
23 Wigan
24 Hull

League One
1 Coventry
2 Rotherham
3 Wycombe
4 Huddersfield
5 Oxford United
6 Portsmouth
7 Fleetwood
8 Peterborough
9 Birmingham
10 Doncaster
11 Gillingham
(rest of EFL same as OTL)

to be continued...

----------

OK, another season with plenty of changes in it from OTL, but, of course, there's no getting away from you-know-what; anyone interested in how football might've gone without that IOTL are advised to go to What If Football's quadrilogy from earlier this year. Main changes here, though, are Manchester United's current manager arriving sooner than OTL, and, if you read between the lines, you may have worked out we'll be saying the same about another club next season.

Anyway, onto the season of the empty stadiums next week, with some very big changes from OTL in the offing, which you may already be familiar with if you've read the original post in the main TL. So, see you again next week I guess...

 

[jmmcb94]

2020-21: Wish You Were Here (or Do We?)​

Barely weeks after the previous season had belatedly wrapped up, the new one began, once again behind closed doors, a matter than has been discussed so many times before, and need not be done so in great detail here. But, suffice to say, everyone was in agreement that it just wasn’t the same, and the sooner fans were finally able to return, the better.

After a successful first season in charge, Erik ten Hag would add further to his Manchester United rankings by bringing in another of his Ajax Champions League heroes of 2019, Donny van de Beek, brought in to replace Paul Pogba, who was off-loaded back to Juventus in a sad end to his second Old Trafford stint.

Unlike Matthis de Ligt before him, though, van de Beek didn’t seem to settle well into his new club, with new captain Bruno Fernandes occupying his preferred role and his excellent linkings up with Rashford and Lukaku up front rendering him nigh on undroppable.

After a slow start to the season consisting of home defeats to Crystal Palace and Spurs, the Red Devils quickly hit their stride and, with champions Liverpool stuttering (with the season long loss to injury of Virgil van Dijk impacting them badly), and neighbours City in transition as several veterans were phased out and newbies in, United saw their chance and grabbed it with both hands.

Come May, the Premier League title had returned to Old Trafford for the first time in eight seasons, as United narrowly edged out City by just two points, a draw at Old Trafford and a win at the Etihad making all the difference.

City would be similarly disappointed in the Champions League, which they finally reached the final of, only to lose 1-0 to Chelsea, of all teams. Victory for Thomas Tuchel’s team more than made up for a disappointing loss to neutral’s favourites Leicester in the FA Cup final. For the fourth season in a row, City would take the League Cup.

But the big surprises of the season were West Ham, who, after only narrowly staying up in 17th place the previous season and having only added a couple of players in the interim, were tipped by many for relegation. Instead, David Moyes’ side exceeded all expectations to finish sixth and qualify for the Europa League, and they only just missed out on a shock Top 4 place. (There were many naysayers who claimed the Hammers only did so well due to there being no fans there moaning about the owners, thus removing the often-negative atmosphere of previous seasons)

For Arsenal, a second successive eighth place finish and season of no Europe as a result would see Mikel Arteta sacked after less than two years in the job, with the club's former captain Patrick Vieira a very popular choice to replace him.

In his first season of Premier League management, Steven Gerrard would lead Ipswich to a very respectable twelfth place finish, leading many to wonder what he could do with a ‘bigger’ club. Fellows promotees Leeds would also take the league by storm and do even better, finishing ninth.

Fulham weren’t so lucky, finishing second bottom and going down alongside Sheffield United, for whom second season syndrome hit very badly as they finished rock bottom, though they did pull off a famous win over the eventual champions at Old Trafford.

Newcastle would make a move at the start of the season to bring Eddie Howe to St James' Park to replace the departed Quique Sanchez Flores, but he would ultimately turn down the offer, for now at least, deciding instead to take a year out from management after leaving Bournemouth and then maybe take on the job next season. Steve Bruce was thus appointed 'caretaker' manager for the entire season, which the fans weren't that fussed about provided he kept them up so that Howe could replace him and, despite a slight scare towards the end of March, keep them up he would, and comfortably too in the end. And, sure enough, he departed with dignity at the end of the season, with Howe agreeing to come in and replace him...

The race to avoid finishing 18th would go down to the final day, with Sunderland just staying up at the expense of Brighton, a relegation that was most unexpected (though a certain scarf wearing YouTuber took great delight in it!), not least because, according to expected goals, the Seagulls should have finished fifth!

In the Championship, Norwich would bounce straight back up as champions with a campaign near identical to that of two years prior, while Watford would go up in second after four season in the Championship. Brentford would put the play-off final defeat of the previous season behind them to finally take their place in the top flight after 74 years.

At the bottom, a points deduction ended up making no difference for Sheffield Wednesday as they fell into League One just two seasons after being in the Premier League. But it could’ve been worse, as Derby would suffer a second successive relegation, becoming the first team go from the Premier League to League One in just two seasons since Swindon in 1995.

Final Tables
Premier League
1 Manchester United
2 Manchester City
3 Liverpool
4 Chelsea
5 Leicester
6 West Ham
7 Tottenham Hotspur
8 Arsenal
9 Leeds
10 Everton
11 Aston Villa
12 Ipswich
13 Newcastle
14 Wolves
15 Crystal Palace
16 Southampton
17 Sunderland
18 Brighton
19 Fulham
20 Sheffield United

Championship
1 Norwich
2 Watford
3 Brentford
4 Swansea
5 Barnsley
6 Bournemouth
7 Reading
8 Cardiff
9 QPR
10 West Brom
11 Middlesbrough
12 Millwall
13 Luton
14 Preston
15 Burnley
16 Stoke
17 Blackburn
18 Coventry
19 Nottingham Forest
20 Bristol City
21 Huddersfield
22 Derby
23 Rotherham
24 Sheffield Wednesday

League One
1 Hull
2 Peterborough
3 Blackpool
4 Birmingham
5 Lincoln
6 Oxford United
7 Charlton
8 Portsmouth
9 Wycombe
(rest of EFL same as OTL)

to be continued...

----------

So, that's the lockdown season in the bag, with Man Utd winning the league as per the original TL, which they certainly had the chance to do given that City weren't all that convincing this season, so, with a stronger Utd side than OTL, they could certainly do it. As for Brighton, nothing to do with the Irish Guy's hatred of Graham Potter really, just the consequence of there being two fewer teams below them than OTL.

Anyway, only two more seasons to cover, and the big changes from OTL are only going to continue; some you might see coming, others maybe not. What will happen next? Tune back in next Wednesday to find out in the penultimate chapter of this mini TL...

 

[HesitatedEye]

Nice to see United win a title and that was probably the best time in recent memory they could do it. Odd thought for Arsenal for a manager instead of going for the whole club legend bring in an unknown as much as it pains me. Big Ange Postecoglou I mean look at the success Arsenal had the last time they brought in a manager from Japan.

 

[jmmcb94]

Nice to see United win a title and that was probably the best time in recent memory they could do it. Odd thought for Arsenal for a manager instead of going for the whole club legend bring in an unknown as much as it pains me. Big Ange Postecoglou I mean look at the success Arsenal had the last time they brought in a manager from Japan.

Not a bad idea, but I don't see it happening given that, as TIG pointed out a few months back, managers from leagues outside Europe are largely untrusted in Europe for no real reason other than pure snobbery. If a panicking Celtic hadn't given Postecoglou a shot, he'd probably still be in Japan and almost a complete unknown in Europe.

Besides, with Howe already pencilled in at Newcastle, Celtic would thus not waste all that time they spent trying to get him IOTL, so would likely hire Postecoglou straight away instead.

 

[HesitatedEye]

Not a bad idea, but I don't see it happening given that, as TIG pointed out a few months back, managers from leagues outside Europe are largely untrusted in Europe for no real reason other than pure snobbery. If a panicking Celtic hadn't given Postecoglou a shot, he'd probably still be in Japan and almost a complete unknown in Europe.

Besides, with Howe already pencilled in at Newcastle, Celtic would thus not waste all that time they spent trying to get him IOTL, so would likely hire Postecoglou straight away instead.

I have zero issues with that I'm trying to imagine how good a Celtic squad would be if he actually had more time to bring in people.

 

[jmmcb94]

2021-22: The Transfer of the Century​

As the fans flocked back to the stadiums, there was a sense of fresh optimism in the air for all clubs as the new season began, though it’d have to go to some distance to top the superb Euros that had preceded it, which was very much still on the minds of everyone when the season resumed just under a month later.

After two successive second place finishes, Manchester City knew they’d need to make a big statement to wrest the initiative back from their red rivals, both local and along the M62. And what a statement they ended up making as, for a British record £150m, Tottenham were, finally, persuaded to part company with their talisman…

Harry Kane’s arrival at the Etihad was seen by many as exactly what City needed, given it had been a slight goal shortage that had allowed United to pip them the previous season. And all the talk among the pundit world was that, finally, the England captain was going to get the trophy his career deserved…

Nine months later, with City having been knocked out the League Cup by West Ham, been soundly thumped in the FA Cup semi-final by Liverpool, thrown away a seemingly unassailable lead against Real Madrid in the same stage of the Champions League, and now facing a make-or-break final day of the season, with Liverpool right on their heels, many were joking that Kane had taken his ‘jinx’ with him from Tottenham!

And when Aston Villa, managed by Steven Gerrard no less, went 2-0 up at the Etihad on that final day, it seemed this would indeed be the case…

…until three quickfire goals in a matter of minutes turned the game on its head! City hung on to this sudden lead and, after a three-year absence, the title had returned to Eastlands. Many (mainly United fans!) were queueing up to call this better than “Aguerooooo”!

Liverpool’s agony would continue, as they would lose the Champions League final to Real a week later and, coupled with an FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United, of all teams, it meant what had looked at one point like a possible quadruple season would end up instead with just a League Cup to show for it.

United themselves had begun the season full of optimism too following the summer arrivals of Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane. A sensational return for Cristiano Ronaldo was also mooted late on in the window, but, ultimately, never came to pass, with the Portuguese superstar instead heading to Inter Miami in the MLS.

CR7’s return soon became a bit of an “If Only” moment for the Red Devils who, with Lukaku beginning to fade and Rashford out of form, plus the return of fans bringing with it the return of the intimidating atmosphere that had been missing the previous season, quickly lost pace with City and Liverpool and their title defence was as good as over by Christmas.

The January signing of Julian Alvarez from River Plate solved the problem somewhat, and the second half of the season went much better for Erik ten Hag’s team. They didn’t manage to catch up with their two rivals, but did at least finish a very comfortable third, and claimed the afore-mentioned FA Cup win.

Further down the table, a sixth place finish was a disappointing on the face of it, but actually pretty reasonable first season in charge at Arsenal for Patrick Vieira, while West Ham exceeded pre-season expectations (that the previous season was a one-off caused by a lack of moaning fans) to finish seventh.

Another new manager, Frank Lampard at Crystal Palace, had a rather less successful first season at Selhurst Park, spent almost entirely around the bottom of the table, before a late spurt, capped off by a 3-2 comeback win over Everton late on in the season, saw the Eagles just about stay up. That defeat was a rare home loss for Sean Dyche in his first season as Everton boss after joining from Rangers in the summer.

Eddie Howe’s first season at Newcastle was one of two halves: a disappointingly lacklustre first half, before the controversial Saudi takeover in October allowed for an explosive January transfer window, headline signings being Bruno Guimares from Lyon, Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Tottenham and, much to a certain Irish YouTuber’s disgust, Jack Grealish from Villa, after which the Magpies rocketed up the table and ended up in the top half.

Ipswich’s season was almost the exact reverse: a decent first few months, before manager Gerrard jumped ship for Villa Park. Xisco Munoz came in to replace him, but was unable to prevent a slump in form that ultimately saw the Tractor Boys go down on the final day of the season, alongside rivals Norwich and Munoz’s former club Watford.

Down in the Championship, Brighton began the season as red hot favourites for promotion, with the Seagulls board standing by Graham Potter after, what was widely considered, a most unlucky relegation the previous season.

Five games into the season, Brighton had dominated possession, shots and chances created in all five games, with an xG of circa 3 in all of them, but had also lost every single one!

The statsmen were baffled, while others, such as The Irish Guy, were stating the utter obvious: the only stats that matter are goals scored and games won, everything else is academic.

Evidently, the Brighton PTB seemed to have cottoned on to this too, as, come the September international break, Potter would be shown the door (prompting a 20 minute long celebration video from the afore-mentioned YouTuber!) and replaced with a manager who knew what he was doing in the English second tier: Rafa Benitez.

Brighton wouldn’t lose again all season, and would finish top of the table to secure an immediate return to the Premier League, as would fellow relegatees Fulham.

No-one ever talks about xG anymore.

But while Brighton’s rise from the bottom of the table in September to promotion in May was expected, Nottingham Forest’s most certainly was not, as Steve Cooper’s exciting side completed a miraculous turnaround to finish fifth in the table before play-off wins over Huddersfield and Sheffield United (themselves shock winners over favourites Bournemouth) secured a return to the Prem after an eleven year absence…

Final Tables
Premier League
1 Manchester City
2 Liverpool
3 Manchester United
4 Chelsea
5 Tottenham Hotspur
6 Arsenal
7 West Ham
8 Leicester
9 Wolves
10 Newcastle
11 Everton
12 Brentford
13 Aston Villa
14 Southampton
15 Sunderland
16 Crystal Palace
17 Leeds
18 Ipswich
19 Watford
20 Norwich

Championship
1 Brighton
2 Fulham
3 Bournemouth
4 Huddersfield
5 Nottingham Forest
6 Sheffield United
7 Luton
8 Middlesbrough
9 Blackburn
10 Millwall
11 West Brom
12 Burnley
13 QPR
14 Coventry
15 Preston
16 Stoke
17 Swansea
18 Blackpool
19 Bristol City
20 Cardiff
21 Hull
22 Reading
23 Peterborough
24 Barnsley

League One
1 Wigan
2 Rotherham
3 MK Dons
4 Sheffield Wednesday
5 Birmingham
6 Plymouth
7 Oxford United
8 Bolton
9 Portsmouth
10 Accrington Stanley
11 Charlton
12 Wycombe
13 Cambridge
14 Cheltenham
15 Burton
16 Lincoln
17 Shrewsbury
18 Derby

(rest of EFL same as OTL)

to be continued...

----------

OK, so, the penultimate chapter of this mini TL (for now), and quite a lot to get through. Firstly, the big change of the chapter, Harry Kane's arrival at City. Which, in turn, means Ronaldo to City is never mooted, meaning United never seriously consider the prospect of bringing him back. It also means, as you might have guessed, a certain Norwegian won't be gracing with his presence next season; where he will end up, I haven't quite decided yet.

As for United themselves, the success they're having under ETH ITTL might maybe sound a bit ASB given the mess they're in at the moment IOTL (just look at tonight for example!), but remember this is a much better United team than OTL, with a much more positive, and a lot less petulant, state of mind too. So the fans' attitude towards the Glazers would probably be about the same as Liverpool's towards their owners: not happy with them, but at least the team's doing well for now.

And then there's Brighton, whose early season struggles are, unlike their relegation last season, sort of inspired by The Irish Guy's regular polemics against him, and also kinda based on his with Chelsea next season IOTL; plus, they also set the scene for his failure with Aberdeen next season ITTL. And speaking of Potter, given that TIG has been mentioned quite a lot in this chapter, and a lot of what I've written on this site was sort of inspired by stuff he's said, I'm starting to think I should see if I can get in touch with him and send this to him; seems only right that he knows what's being said of him.

Anyway, final chapter, for the time being, next week, and then I have an announcement to make about the future of the main TL; so, see you then...

 

[HesitatedEye]

Haaland at Liverpool with Salah would be interesting but if Spurs have the money to spend and Levy isn't being as much of a tit as usual then I could see him there. The question is would he like it?

 

[GeorgeUK]

Or maybe Todd Boehly decides to make a mega-statement?

 

[jmmcb94]

2022-23: The Footballing Capital of Europe​

After the manic end to the previous season, no-one really knew what to expect as the Premier League returned for this most unusual of seasons (or so we thought! “rolling eyes emoji”) which would be taking a mid-season break for the World Cup. Most expected it would be between Liverpool and Manchester City for the title again, with United having an outside chance, and no-one else close to those two.

Indeed, both Manchester clubs actually had a pretty quiet summer all in all, with Christian Eriksen being the only major arrival at Old Trafford, though Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia also joined to provide depth in defence and Casemiro unexpectedly came in a couple of weeks into the season, while City’s only real addition was that of Kalvin Phillips.

In contrast, Chelsea had a pretty busy transfer window under new owner Todd Boehly, signing numerous new players, including Raheem Sterling from City, but missed out on their main striker target, as Erling Haaland’s insistence on a release clause in his contract caused a summer long gridlock which, ultimately, ended in the Norwegian doing the standard Dortmund thing and going to Bayern instead, with the Blues ultimately signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Deadline Day instead.

All these new signings didn’t make for a settled team, but, even so, Thomas Tuchel’s sacking just over a month into the season was pretty harsh and unexpected. That said, Mauricio Pochettino seemed a sensible choice to take over and most expected he’d get them into the Top 4 at least.

He didn’t. Chelsea would end up fifth, missing out to, of all teams, newly monied Newcastle and a rejuvenated Arsenal, who had finally hit their stride under Patrick Vieira.

None of them came close to catching the Manchester teams at the top of the table though, with a title race between the two going all the way to the penultimate week of the season. Ultimately, a few late slips to Brighton and West Ham saw United surrender the title to their rivals, who clinched the title for a second season in a row.

That was Chapter 1 of the great duel between the two. Chapter 2 would come a week later when the sides met again in the first ever all-Manchester FA Cup final, which would prove to be one of the all-time greatest, with City taking the lead less than a minute in through soon-to-be departing captain Ilkay Gundogan, before a Bruno Fernandes penalty meant it was 1-all at the break.

A second goal from Gundogan early in the second half looked, for so long, to be the winner for City, whose fans were already celebrating the victory, and looking forward to potentially completed the Treble over their neighbours a week later, when a sudden quickfire double from Julian Alvarez deep in extra time turned the game on its head!

The final whistle blew, and Wembley was awash with a chorus, from the red half of the crowd, of “Where’s your treble gone?”!

Chapter 3 would come a week later, as the two sides met once again, this time in the Champions League final. As the teams walked out, commentator Darren Fletcher would utter words that have gone down in commentary infamy:

“Well, we may be in Istanbul, but the footballing capital of Europe is, unquestionably, Manchester!”

On the other hand, given that, between them, the two had won all three English domestic honours between them (United having beaten Newcastle 2-0 to win the League Cup), it wasn’t that hard to argue!

Sadly, the final itself was a pretty poor affair, with both teams clearly exhausted after such a long season and neither, thus, anywhere near their best. A single second half goal from Rodri meant it was City who reclaimed bragging rights and, finally, claimed the one trophy they really wanted.

Further down the Premier League table, it was a season of contrasts. For Liverpool and Tottenham, finishes of 6th and 8th were both seen as miserable failures, but for Aston Villa, 7th was seen as an epic triumph! The replacing of a badly misfiring Steven Gerrard with Unai Emery had undoubtedly worked for the Villans, and, some would say, for Gerrard too, as he had arguably fallen upwards in landing the Rangers job so soon after leaving Villa Park.

Same couldn’t be said for his former England ‘teammate’ Frank Lampard, who, after being sacked by Crystal Palace, and replaced by the man he’d replaced Roy Hodgson, of all people, had also quickly returned to work, at Sunderland. While he did manage to keep the Black Cats up, surviving a three-way relegation scrap on the final day at the expense of Leicester and Leeds, he would be gone before the summer was out, to be replaced by, in a bit of a coup for the Wearsiders, Andoni Iraola from Rayo Vallecano.

Unusually, the three newly promoted teams all stayed up, with Marco Silva's Fulham and Rafa Benitez's Brighton both easily staying in mid table, while a couple of decent late results for Nottingham Forest ensured their return to the Prem was a 'successful' one.

West Ham also spent a great deal of the season in the Drop Zone, but a sprint in the final weeks of the season ultimately saw the Hammers finish comfortably safe. The real celebrations came a couple of weeks later, however, as the Hammers defeated Fiorentina in the European Conference League final to claim their first trophy in 43 years!

Down in the Championship, Ipswich Town, under the new management of Vincent Kompany, would romp away with the title to secure an instant return to the Prem. QPR, under Michael Beale, would surprise many by finishing second ahead of the more fancied Bournemouth and Sheffield United teams, both of whom were expected to then compete in the play-off final. Neither would make it, losing to Middlesbrough and Luton respectively. And it would be the latter who completed their fairy tale rise from non-league to Premier League by beating Boro on penalties at Wembley.

Final Tables
Premier League
1 Manchester City
2 Manchester United
3 Arsenal
4 Newcastle
5 Chelsea
6 Liverpool
7 Aston Villa
8 Tottenham Hotspur
9 Brentford
10 Fulham
11 Brighton
12 Wolves
13 West Ham
14 Crystal Palace
15 Nottingham Forest
16 Everton
17 Sunderland
18 Leicester
19 Leeds
20 Southampton

Championship
1 Ipswich
2 QPR
3 Bournemouth
4 Sheffield United
5 Luton
6 Middlesbrough
7 Coventry
8 Blackburn
9 Millwall
10 West Brom
11 Swansea
12 Watford
13 Preston
14 Norwich
15 Bristol City
16 Hull
17 Stoke
18 Burnley
19 Birmingham
20 Huddersfield
21 Rotherham
22 Cardiff
23 Blackpool
24 Wigan

League One
1 Plymouth
2 Sheffield Wednesday
3 Barnsley
4 Bolton
5 Peterborough
6 Wycombe
7 Derby
8 Portsmouth
9 Charlton
10 Reading

(rest of EFL same as OTL)

----------

And that's it; we're up to date! A slight retcon from the version I posted on the main TL a few months back as, with Pochettino having not done as well with Chelsea as we all expected, I'm demoting them from third to fifth, meaning Newcastle do qualify for the CL now (if only to keep The Irish Guy happy if I ever decide to send this to him!).

As for Man Utd's continued greater success than OTL, I repeat what I said last week: this is a much stronger, less petulant, United team than OTL, so, given how relatively easy Tottenham's/Inter's side of the CL draw was, every chance they'd make it all the way to the final though. Not win the whole thing though; we have to keep it at least half realistic! I'm sure denying City the treble would be more than enough for them though.

Anyway, that's it; the mini TL is finished! Thanks to all who've read it over the past few weeks; your support is as appreciated as ever!

I have an announcement to make now about the future of the main TL, but it's getting late now and I've written a lot already tonight, so I'll save it for tomorrow night. So, tune back into the main TL for that tomorrow night at about the same time...