Que Sera, Sera by Wayne Barton

Author:Wayne Barton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2020-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Challenges

IF THE triumphant League Cup semi-final performance at Arsenal had been a watershed moment in terms of identity, style and performance, and if Ron Atkinson felt that fate had played a part in his first trip to Wembley, the conversation he had with Sir Matt Busby, and then winning the FA Cup on Busby’s birthday, then the manager might well have been entitled to sit back and wonder how winning the grandest domestic trophy in the world might affect his standing in both present and historical terms.

The jury might still have been out on whether or not Atkinson’s side were as fluid or entertaining as Tommy Docherty’s team, but one thing was almost certain – ‘Big Ron’ would not be sacked that summer, and so he would have time to build his team and help them realise their potential, and hopefully not have it consigned to mystery in the same way Docherty did. Atkinson had matched Dave Sexton’s effort of reaching the FA Cup final in his second season and had surpassed him by winning it. Everything was in his hands to become the most successful manager the club had employed since Sir Matt Busby retired.

Let us provide some context to the challenge facing Atkinson at the time, considering how people have perceived the bare facts and how that judgement has affected how people define or refer to his reign. It is perceived as an era of underachievement; of glorious failure, almost. Historically, the two most successful clubs in England aside from United are Liverpool and Arsenal. Atkinson was under pressure to win something from the off and the six years between FA Cups was deemed a long time. In fairness, it was. But take a second to compare that to the trophy droughts of Arsenal and Liverpool at the turn of the century; Arsenal went nine years between winning FA Cups in 2005 and 2014, while Liverpool went six years between 2006’s FA Cup Final win and their 2012 success over Cardiff City 0n penalties in the League Cup, before then waiting another seven years before their Champions League win over Tottenham Hotspur. In terms of league titles, Liverpool haven’t won one since 1990, and Arsenal haven’t since 2004.

The way the Premier League has changed since more teams were allowed into the Champions League in 1997 has affected the strength of the competition as a whole, for a while making a quadropoly until the emergence of Tottenham Hotspur, and the takeover of Manchester City (the earlier takeover of Chelsea in 2003 affecting their own position). For a period between 2007 and 2012 English football was the strongest it has been in the 21st century, and some might say that at the time of writing and print there is possibly another such cycle beginning to take shape, but in the late 70s and early 80s it had arguably been even stronger. Ron Atkinson’s team were not just competing with the greatest Liverpool generation of all time, but also teams like

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