Make Mine A Double

It's within collective memory that winning the League and FA Cup 'double' in England was the preserve of a select few. Preston North End achieved it in 1889 and Aston Villa repeated the feat eight years later, there was then a sixty four year wait until Tottenham managed it in the 1960-61 season, a year after Wolves had managed to win the FA Cup and finish as League runners-up.

Ten years after Tottenham it was Arsenal who managed the second double of modern times when they won the title at White Hart Lane and then Charlie George's erection confirmed the second part of the double. Kenny Dalglish player-managed Liverpool to the double in his first season as boss in 1986 and then the Premiership era ushered in the domination of the top tier of English football by four clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.

In the first hundred years of the Football League's existence the holy grail of domestic club football was achieved just five times, in the eighteen years since the formation of the Premiership the double has been successfully completed on six occasions: Manchester United in 1994, 1996 and 1999, Arsenal in 1998 and 2002 and this year by Chelsea, whilst on four other occasions one club has won either the F.A Cup or League and finished runner-up in the other and twice (Arsenal in 2001 and Manchester United in 1995) the same team finished as runners-up in both competitions. Whilst there have been some breakthroughs in the F.A Cup during the Premiership era it is obvious that the ability to win two or more competitions in one season or at the very least be competitive in one or more competitions has come down to a case of follow the money.

Of course it's not just in England that the double has become relatively more common. Whilst Chelsea were beating Portsmouth, Bayern Munich were beating Werder Bremen 4-0 to claim their fourth domestic double in six years. On Saturday Bayern meet Inter Milan in Madrid to decide this years Champions League final, Inter should by then have wrapped up their second double in four years. Both teams will then try and emulate Ajax (1995), Manchester United (1999), Barcelona (2009) by completing a domestic double and becoming Champions League winners in the same season. Both PSV and Celtic won domestic doubles and European Cup wins under the old format, in fact Celtic's record in 1967 of winning all three domestic trophies plus the European Cup with a team of players all born within 10 miles of Parkhead will probably stand forever.

There is of course a horrible irony that Chelsea should 'do the double' on the same day that the first club to manage that feat, Preston North End, have been served a winding-up order ny HMRC for failing to meet their PAYE obligations. The gap between those who have and those who have not continues to grow ever wider in a sport which began its professional incarnation with the aim of finding an outlet for young men to prevent them from over indulging in self abuse (I kid you not). You can add your own punchline!