As we sit on the cusp of the 2018/19 football season, I started to wonder what we could learn from previous Man City title defences.
City have won the title on five previous occasions so there are four previous title defences we can look at to see if there are lessons and omens for Pep to consider.
Man City stormed to the 1936/37 League Title in what could have been considered a perfect season as Man Utd finished in the relegation places. But Man City’s 1937/38 League Title defence has gone down in history as the worst title defence of all time.
In the following season (1937/38), City were relegated becoming the first team ever to be relegated in the season after winning the title. They also became the first team to be relegated as top scorers for the division. City scored an impressive 80 goals but unfortunately conceded 77 goals in what became a disastrous campaign.
I guess in partial explanation there were just 16 points separating top spot from bottom in the final table. Anyway before any rival fans get too salty, City may have been relegated but still finished above Manchester United who finished 2nd in the division below!
Of more ominous importance for us all though is that City actually won the Charity Shield in 1937 before going on to mount the worst title defence of all time and get relegated. So let’s not get carried away with our Wembley win last week! Please someone get a message to Pep.
City won the league in 1967/68 and won the Charity Shield in 1968 (which we know may be a sign of impending doom) but then went on to make a spirited defence, finishing 13th with 40 points. We won the FA Cup in 1969 so all in all we’d consider two trophies a good season!
In more recent times, City won the Premier League in 2011/12 with the classic last minute Aguero goal, bringing to an end a long fallow period for the club. In 2012 we won the Charity Shield (It’s becoming a pattern) and made a great title defence eventually finishing 2nd. At least Pablo Zabaleta got in the team of the year!
2013/14 brought City another league title but this time under Pellegrini. Playing a freestyling attacking game made us all excited for the season which followed. Sadly the heights of the previous year were not reached and City finished 2nd in 2014/15. Aguero was the top scorer in the Division and Joe Hart got the Golden Glove.
So history tells us our four title defences so far have yielded one relegation, two 2nd places and a 13th. The defences have included four Charity Shields so far and one FA Cup.
There has been a lot of talk about how the Premier League has not had a team retain the title for ten years. But our history tells us Pep’s task this new season may be even harder.
City have seemingly mounted four fairly flimsy title defences over the years. In fact Guardiola’s job is even more difficult because Man City have never ever retained a single trophy they have won! So the task for the Spanish manager is to do what City have never managed before and really break our records!
After all, records are there to be broken!