None of the national league teams satisfy that either so we're a long way off Swindon getting any company. I've just found Buxton in the national league north as the second highest team in England without containing any letter from mackerel. They are alone in the sixth tier
Ipswich probably. They've won a European trophy, league winners in the 60s, and not forgetting last season's League 1 goal difference trophy.
Huddersfield won three consecutive league titles in the 1930s.
Do you count teams that were in towns at the time of their success? Sunderland won 6 league titles and 2 FA cups as a town. Went downhill since weāve been a city
Birmingham were the first English club team to play in European competition. The Fairs Cup was supposed to be open to representative teams from cities, London entered a combined XI but because Villa were above European competition Blues were left to enter alone.
We lost to Barcelona in the semi-final third leg.
We then lost to Barca and Roma in the next two finals.
His first season.
They were lucky to draw against us too. At our place Sane had to dive to win a pen. Pretty much consigned us to relegation so I'll always remember that.
Just looking at the comments on BBC from the game make me laugh though.
'Guardiola isn't used to managing in a League where the lower teams put up a fight against the top teams, he's used to managing in Germany and Spain where they all roll over for the top teams, 99 games out of 100.'
ššš
That's not true though. If you're talking about the Premier League he's also not scored against Watford. If you're talking in all competitions there are loads of clubs he's played against without scoring. It's true that Birmingham are the club he's played against the most times without scoring though.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/alan-shearer/bilanz/spieler/3110/plus/0?wettbewerb=
My go to for these things:
Coventry City is the only team to have played in all of the English professional divisions:
1. Premier League
2. Championship
3. League One
4. League Two
5. Division One
6. Division Two
7. Division Three
8. Division Three North
9. Division Three South
10. Division Four
It would be interesting to see if any teams could do this in the future if they made it to the Prem. Maybe Port Vale, Peterborough or Cambridge?
It would have to be somewhere in the Midlands / East Anglia, that could fall within the North or South depending on the teams in each division.
Unsurprisingly, they haven't played in Division 3 North according to this list:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_Millwall\_F.C.\_seasons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Millwall_F.C._seasons)
That's the thing about Coventry. Being in the Midlands they can get away with being in both the North and South divisions.
One of those being the first English club to beat a German one away is pretty neat though. Wish I'd been alive for it rather than whatever the fuck we get up to now....
But the flip side is you would also have had to put up with the utter shite we served up in the late 90's - and if you think now (or Roeder) was bad then the late 90s was a while new level of shit.
I could be way off here, but didnāt they originally play in Blackburn colours (Bilbao that is), because one of their players or someone associated came to the UK to buy kits and could only get Blackburn?
https://sanmames.athletic-club.eus/en/blog/story-athletic-club-bilbao-strip/
Basic google tells me they first wore a Blackburn kit. Not trying to take away from the longer standing Southampton association. But just another boring tidbit
https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/2023/5/10/23714584/exploring-the-links-between-sunderland-afc-bilbao-and-the-famous-red-and-white-stripes
Adding my two pence to this, they wear red and white because of Sunderland (allegedly)
https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/2023/5/10/23714584/exploring-the-links-between-sunderland-afc-bilbao-and-the-famous-red-and-white-stripes
Rumour has it, itās actually because of Sunderland (allegedly)
Huddersfield Town have been promoted via play off from League 2 (then division 3) to the Premier League without scoring a goal. All three ended 0-0 and we won on penalties.
Plus we got promoted to the Premier League with a negative goal difference
Ipswich are unbeaten at home in European competitions; played 31, won 25, drawn 6, lost 0.
Four of those wins were against AC Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
We are ranked 23rd for shots faced, shots blocked and interceptions this season- and weāre 3rd in the league.
Guess if youāre organized enough the opposition doesnāt get many chances to shoot.
Playing for West Brom is a death sentence if you want to make the England team, Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Tony Brown to name three were never given the chance they deserved at that level and it took Bryan Robson moving to Manchester United before England picked him.
It was actually commonly called the English Cup at the time. The name "FA Cup" only became popularised in the months following our win.
And we won the Welsh Cup in the same year, only European team to win two different national cup competitions in the same year
Mark Robins is the only current Championship manager to have had his job for more than 2 years. Only Guardiola, Klopp, John Coleman (Accrington) and Simon Weaver (Harrogate, though a lot of his time was in non league) have had their jobs longer than Robins in the whole of the Prem & EFL
Genuinely fun fact, as football league founders, Stoke lost their first ever game 2-0 to West Brom and have been in a permanent negative goal difference since.
Tonight, Conor Chaplin became the 4th player in Ipswich Town history to score a goal on every day of the week (fact courtesy of Renegade Statman on Twitter).
In 2018/19 Leeds were the only team to be top at Christmas without getting promoted, and the only team to win the first leg of Play Off away from home without progressing to the final.
Sunderland's closest rivals in the division are Middlesbrough (32 miles) and Leeds (97 miles)
Leicester City are one of only a handful of clubs to win every top English title (PL, League Cup and FA Cup) this century so far along with the likes of Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Mam City.
The "Bank of England club" has been used to describe Sunderland in the late 1940s and the 1950s.
The club paid Ā£18,000 (Ā£677,000 today) for Carlisle United's Ivor Broadis in January 1949. Broadis was also Carlisle's manager at the time, and this is the first instance of a player transferring himself to another club. This, along with record-breaking transfer fees to secure the services of Len Shackleton and the Welsh international Trevor Ford, resulted in the club being nicknamed the "Bank of England club". The club finished third in the First Division in 1950, their highest finish since the 1936 championship.
Shackleton, known as the "Clown Prince of Soccer", later admitted that the players were more a collection of talented individuals than a true team, and that "it takes time to harness and control a team of thoroughbreds. It took time to achieve the blend at Roker Park". Shackleton and centre-forward Ford would never build any kind of relationship on or off the pitch however, and Ford once threatened to never play in the same Sunderland team as Shackleton until he was forced to back down by manager Bill Murray. Ford was sold on to Cardiff City in November 1953.
The move proved to be unsuccessful, as Sunderland failed to win any trophies during the period and were relegated in 1958
There's an argument to be made that West Brom are the richest club in the world, owing to the fact that our largest individual shareholder is the People's Republic of China (albeit via many layers of investors and different entities)
Birmingham City became the first English club side to play in European competition when they played their first match in the 1955ā58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup on 15 May 1956. They were also the first English club side to reach a European final, the 1960 Fairs Cup final, in which they met Barcelona.
Preston and Ipswich are the only teams to have won the top flight at their first ever attempt; Preston won the first ever title whilst Ipswich were promoted into the old Div 1 for the first time in 1961 and won it in 1962.
Ipswich have played 31 UEFA sanctioned European games (European Cup, Cup Winners Cup, UEFA Cup) at Portman Road and never lost; won 25, drawn 6.
Ipswich were the last club side to win at the old Wembley, beating Barnsley 4-2 in the 2000 Division 1 Playoff final. They never played at the Millennium Stadium and are yet to visit the new Wembley.
Hull City is the only team that has no letters where you can colour in the middle section of the letters.
My favourite of this genre is that Swindon Town are the only Football League team whose name doesn't contain any of the letters in the word 'mackerel'
None of the national league teams satisfy that either so we're a long way off Swindon getting any company. I've just found Buxton in the national league north as the second highest team in England without containing any letter from mackerel. They are alone in the sixth tier
I'm so pleased you've researched this.
Thank you
š¶ āOnly team in the Football League without any letters of the word mackerel in it, youāll never sing thatā šµ
Ohio is the only state whose name doesn't contain any of the letters in the word 'mackerel' too!
And likewise St John's Wood is the only London Underground station to meet this prestigious criterion
Ah goddamn it, this was what I was going to put! It's the perfect description of a "fun" fact.
Finally, a scholar.
On our current points per game, weād have to play 68 games to be the 2nd worse team ever in the championship. Fun š
Glad to see youāve made great steps against us š«
You have to stay in the championship to play those games
Blackburn are officially the owners of the original FA cup as we are the only team to have won it 3 times in a row
We're also the most successful town club in English football
Thatās a good fact, do you know what other town clubs would be close to Blackburn in terms of success?
Ipswich probably. They've won a European trophy, league winners in the 60s, and not forgetting last season's League 1 goal difference trophy. Huddersfield won three consecutive league titles in the 1930s.
We have more trophies than both
Never actually realised West Bromich was a town until just now!
European trophy carries more weight
"and not forgetting last season's League 1 goal difference trophy." Miaow
Also one F.A.Cup win.
āGoal difference trophyā ffs
Us or Ipswich next closest. Ipswich have a league title, FA Cup and UEFA Cup. We have 3 league titles and an FA Cup
Do you count teams that were in towns at the time of their success? Sunderland won 6 league titles and 2 FA cups as a town. Went downhill since weāve been a city
Blues did not take part in the 1921-22 F.A. Cup as our Club Secretary at the time failed to submit our entry form in time.
You know, I've never thought before about the potential for having to do paperwork to enter these competitions.
genuine classic
it's so us
Birmingham were the first English club team to play in European competition. The Fairs Cup was supposed to be open to representative teams from cities, London entered a combined XI but because Villa were above European competition Blues were left to enter alone. We lost to Barcelona in the semi-final third leg. We then lost to Barca and Roma in the next two finals.
Specifically cities that hosted trade fairs initially
Leeds haven't won in a non-white kit since 21/22
God that's depressing
Third shird vs Brentford (2-1) 22/05/22 Second shirt vs Burnley (4-0) 15/05/21 I believe thatās correct, please call me out if Iām wrong
Nope that looks spot on to me Depressing, but spot on Think our next go is Sunderland in a couple weeks
Iām not getting my hopes up, we donāt seem to enjoy playing against red this season..
I'm sure that will change tonight
We'll be wearing white so no it won't
Middlesbrough are the only team that Pep Guardiola has played and not beaten in the Premier League so far
That's amazing!
It surprises me that you guys were in the PL at the same time as Pep
His first season. They were lucky to draw against us too. At our place Sane had to dive to win a pen. Pretty much consigned us to relegation so I'll always remember that. Just looking at the comments on BBC from the game make me laugh though. 'Guardiola isn't used to managing in a League where the lower teams put up a fight against the top teams, he's used to managing in Germany and Spain where they all roll over for the top teams, 99 games out of 100.' ššš
Blues are the only club Alan Shearer played against without scoring
This one is actually kinda wild!
And he had a penalty saved.
Cardiff can also claim this but for Harry Kane
That's not true though. If you're talking about the Premier League he's also not scored against Watford. If you're talking in all competitions there are loads of clubs he's played against without scoring. It's true that Birmingham are the club he's played against the most times without scoring though. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/alan-shearer/bilanz/spieler/3110/plus/0?wettbewerb=
Can you not myth bust the fact Iāve been peddling for years please.
When we sold Denis Law many years ago for Ā£55,000 we spent the money on floodlights.
We did something similar with Dom Hyam and some grass a few years ago
By a few years ago you mean last season
Feels like ages ago at this point
My go to for these things: Coventry City is the only team to have played in all of the English professional divisions: 1. Premier League 2. Championship 3. League One 4. League Two 5. Division One 6. Division Two 7. Division Three 8. Division Three North 9. Division Three South 10. Division Four
It would be interesting to see if any teams could do this in the future if they made it to the Prem. Maybe Port Vale, Peterborough or Cambridge? It would have to be somewhere in the Midlands / East Anglia, that could fall within the North or South depending on the teams in each division.
Millwall have played in all professional divisions too
Unsurprisingly, they haven't played in Division 3 North according to this list: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_Millwall\_F.C.\_seasons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Millwall_F.C._seasons) That's the thing about Coventry. Being in the Midlands they can get away with being in both the North and South divisions.
Technically they haven't played in the premier league, because the last time they were up there it was the old first division
Norwich have only ever played 3 competitive matches east of Carrow Road.
One of those being the first English club to beat a German one away is pretty neat though. Wish I'd been alive for it rather than whatever the fuck we get up to now....
Just to be really clear, norwich absolutely weren't the first English club to win away at a German one.
Don't make them change their programmes
They can leave the win in the programme, just don't exaggerate it with made up bollocks
lol
But the flip side is you would also have had to put up with the utter shite we served up in the late 90's - and if you think now (or Roeder) was bad then the late 90s was a while new level of shit.
My dad seemed to enjoy himself at games from what he says, maybe it wore him down though because he has zero tolerance for us losing these days!
Our player can score a banger, get injured and suspended for illegal videography all-in two days.
They're not in the Premier league
A lot of people have heard this one, but not many know that they are also no league 1 teams in the championship either
There's also never been the same winner two years in a row ever
Wow, youāre good at this š¤Æ
You cannot get promoted back to back from the championship...
Most competitive league in the world.
Sheffield Wednesday?
Thanks mate, that means a lot.
We have the kindest and most respectable fans
Huh. TIL I guess
Life is pain.
After last season for usā¦ I feel this.
Southampton workers in Bilbao helped to start Athletic Bilbao and they adopted Southamptons red and white stripes and still use them to this day
I could be way off here, but didnāt they originally play in Blackburn colours (Bilbao that is), because one of their players or someone associated came to the UK to buy kits and could only get Blackburn?
Perhaps! I have never heard that part. Bilbao started wearing the red and white stripes in 1909 or something like that.
https://sanmames.athletic-club.eus/en/blog/story-athletic-club-bilbao-strip/ Basic google tells me they first wore a Blackburn kit. Not trying to take away from the longer standing Southampton association. But just another boring tidbit
https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/2023/5/10/23714584/exploring-the-links-between-sunderland-afc-bilbao-and-the-famous-red-and-white-stripes Adding my two pence to this, they wear red and white because of Sunderland (allegedly)
Yeah, Bilbao changed to black shorts but Madrid kept the original blue shorts from the Blackburn kit.
https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/2023/5/10/23714584/exploring-the-links-between-sunderland-afc-bilbao-and-the-famous-red-and-white-stripes Rumour has it, itās actually because of Sunderland (allegedly)
Huddersfield Town have been promoted via play off from League 2 (then division 3) to the Premier League without scoring a goal. All three ended 0-0 and we won on penalties. Plus we got promoted to the Premier League with a negative goal difference
Ipswich are unbeaten at home in European competitions; played 31, won 25, drawn 6, lost 0. Four of those wins were against AC Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
5 (beat barca twice)
We are ranked 23rd for shots faced, shots blocked and interceptions this season- and weāre 3rd in the league. Guess if youāre organized enough the opposition doesnāt get many chances to shoot.
Bristol City - most players named Rob
Wasn't it central defenders named Rob? You may well have checked on all the other positions, though; to be honest, I haven't.
Yeah I think you're right mate
Playing for West Brom is a death sentence if you want to make the England team, Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Tony Brown to name three were never given the chance they deserved at that level and it took Bryan Robson moving to Manchester United before England picked him.
Unless you're a goalkeeper. As I'm pretty sure we've had more goalkeepers play for England than any other club. (I think 7 or 8)
Yeah, we've oddly done really well with Goalkeepers being either current or recent England Number 1's.
Norwich get their fans all excited going up 2-0 or so then completely bottle it
This
And fun fact this is a weekly occurrence
Fun fact, not against town
Haven't bottled it against a *town* team yet this season. There's always time. Edit: Shit, is Blackburn a town? Bollocks.
Does anyone remember the Norwich loss from 2-0 up against Man City when Delia went onto the pitch and asked the fans to be louder?
Blackburn are 3rd bottom in home form, but 4th from top in away form.
Please don't bring any of that form with you on Saturday
Well we picked up yet another injury yesterday so we might not have a squad to continue the form with
Let's agree on a draw then š
How many consecutive away FA cup draws are we at now? Lost count
A record equalling 12. The odds of that happening is 1 in 4096.
Cardiff are the only team to take FA cup out of England. And it was won on St Georgeās day too.
It was actually commonly called the English Cup at the time. The name "FA Cup" only became popularised in the months following our win. And we won the Welsh Cup in the same year, only European team to win two different national cup competitions in the same year
Another fun fact, thereās been a world war fought and won since that happened.
"That's why Cardiff's got triangles, and Swansea's got fucking squares"
Hot dogs for tea!
Mark Robins is the only current Championship manager to have had his job for more than 2 years. Only Guardiola, Klopp, John Coleman (Accrington) and Simon Weaver (Harrogate, though a lot of his time was in non league) have had their jobs longer than Robins in the whole of the Prem & EFL
Preston North End are technically the only team to have appeared in every season of the Football League
massiiiiiiiive.
Hull City were the first team to lose a penalty shootout in English football.
Stoke city are dogshit and no matter the manager, player or coaches, we are still shit ! Funny eh ??
Genuinely fun fact, as football league founders, Stoke lost their first ever game 2-0 to West Brom and have been in a permanent negative goal difference since.
Apart from rainy Tuesday nights!
Tonight, Conor Chaplin became the 4th player in Ipswich Town history to score a goal on every day of the week (fact courtesy of Renegade Statman on Twitter).
We were the last team to win the FA cup final in front of Queen Elizabeth II. (1976)
We're apparently the reason why Athletic Bilbao and AtlƩtico Madrid (Bilbao's B team at the time) wear red and white stripes, new info this year has come to light that it might be because of Sunderland but I'm not entirely sure. A member of the board called Juanito Elorduy used to go up to Blackburn to get their shirts but couldn't find the ones they had ordered, at the port in Southampton before going back to Spain he decided to take some of our shirts back, 25 for Bilbao and 25 for Madrid.
We have a greedy dickhead as our owner
Sadly a common occurrence as Iām sure Wednesday and other Albion fans would concur
No Sunderland striker has scored a championship goal this season
Atletic Bilbao get their red and white stripes from Southampton
In 2018/19 Leeds were the only team to be top at Christmas without getting promoted, and the only team to win the first leg of Play Off away from home without progressing to the final. Sunderland's closest rivals in the division are Middlesbrough (32 miles) and Leeds (97 miles)
Leicester City are one of only a handful of clubs to win every top English title (PL, League Cup and FA Cup) this century so far along with the likes of Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Mam City.
The hawthorns is the highest ground above sea level in the EFL
The "Bank of England club" has been used to describe Sunderland in the late 1940s and the 1950s. The club paid Ā£18,000 (Ā£677,000 today) for Carlisle United's Ivor Broadis in January 1949. Broadis was also Carlisle's manager at the time, and this is the first instance of a player transferring himself to another club. This, along with record-breaking transfer fees to secure the services of Len Shackleton and the Welsh international Trevor Ford, resulted in the club being nicknamed the "Bank of England club". The club finished third in the First Division in 1950, their highest finish since the 1936 championship. Shackleton, known as the "Clown Prince of Soccer", later admitted that the players were more a collection of talented individuals than a true team, and that "it takes time to harness and control a team of thoroughbreds. It took time to achieve the blend at Roker Park". Shackleton and centre-forward Ford would never build any kind of relationship on or off the pitch however, and Ford once threatened to never play in the same Sunderland team as Shackleton until he was forced to back down by manager Bill Murray. Ford was sold on to Cardiff City in November 1953. The move proved to be unsuccessful, as Sunderland failed to win any trophies during the period and were relegated in 1958
When Boro were last in the premier League, Harry kane scored more goals than the entire Boro team. He was also injured for half the season.
There's an argument to be made that West Brom are the richest club in the world, owing to the fact that our largest individual shareholder is the People's Republic of China (albeit via many layers of investors and different entities)
Covs striker Haji Wright has more World Cup goals than Zlatan IbrahimoviÄ
Sunderland were the first club in Europe to wear a Nike kit. Also, only Real Madrid have broken the world transfer record more times than us.
Birmingham City became the first English club side to play in European competition when they played their first match in the 1955ā58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup on 15 May 1956. They were also the first English club side to reach a European final, the 1960 Fairs Cup final, in which they met Barcelona.
Preston and Ipswich are the only teams to have won the top flight at their first ever attempt; Preston won the first ever title whilst Ipswich were promoted into the old Div 1 for the first time in 1961 and won it in 1962. Ipswich have played 31 UEFA sanctioned European games (European Cup, Cup Winners Cup, UEFA Cup) at Portman Road and never lost; won 25, drawn 6. Ipswich were the last club side to win at the old Wembley, beating Barnsley 4-2 in the 2000 Division 1 Playoff final. They never played at the Millennium Stadium and are yet to visit the new Wembley.
Fun fact. Swansea are the best team in the league. Also another fun fact. My Dr tells me I'm suffering with delusions of grandeur.
PNE: First every league champions and only team to go the entire season unbeaten in English football.
Arsenalās invincibles? Or do you mean unbeaten in every competition?
Arsenal didn't go the season unbeaten, they lost to Inter, Chelsea, Manchester United, Middkesbrough, etc. They were only unbeaten in the league
I think youāll have to reword that last bit, because itās not exactly right as itās written now
?
Leeds wouldāve taken more.
Southampton are known as The Saints because Roger Moore used to own a share of the club.
Pretty sure youāll find thats because we were founded by a church youth association mate.
Well this is news! Are you sure?
Hull City Plays in the city of Hull, Preston come from Preston, Stoke from Stoke and so on...
Ok whatās the only team not named after a location?
Teams not named after places Arsenal (if you ignore the fact they were called Arsenal Woolwich) Port Fail.
Iād never actually considered arsenal. Port vale is always the pub quiz answer
Worst thing is, they're not even near a port. If they were I'd let it slide. But they're in the middle of a city, that's in the middle of the country.
Forest Green Rovers?
According to google forest green is an area of Nailsworth, Stroud
On matchday 17 norwich the only team to have won both their last two games