Measuring Football Success: Silverware Means More Than Money
- Details
- Created: Friday, 19 October 2018 14:52
- Written by Darren Douglas
Every football club has aspirations, from the non-league to the top tier. Some are realistic, whilst others are not so much. Regardless of this, football clubs will use these aspirations to determine the success and failure of their season. This article is about what should constitute success at the top level of football, and how the argument has evolved over the last decade, particularly in the Premier League.
Question: What's more important to a football club and their fans. Is it finishing high enough in the league to qualify for the Champions League, or is it winning trophies?
Answer: Silverware is what really matters.
Let me explain...
On August 5th 2018, Pep Guardiola added another new trophy to his personal honours list. Yes it was 'only' the Community Shield, and yes it is dismissed every season as a 'glorified friendly', but then again it is a piece of silverware, and one that takes a lot of effort to be eligible to compete for. It was also, memorably, a competition that José Mourinho described as being the 1st instalment in the Manchester United 'treble-winning' season of 2016/17...
After all the build up and anticipation, the 2018 World Cup is well and truly underway and has already provided some surprise results. The first 4 days of the World Cup were a great spectacle for England fans, they witnessed the holders (Germany) lose to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina having unconvincing draws with Switzerland and Iceland respectively, plus France getting a little lucky to defeat Australia 2-1. Spain and Portugal did produce the most spectacular game we've had up to this point, but neither team could land the killer blow in another draw.
Celtic win the league with plenty to spare.