ASK a group of football fans to name the best league champions of the past 30 years and the response is interesting.
Click here to read Howard Wilkinson's memories of his move to Leeds United 20 years ago.Click here to read Howard Wilkinson's fears for the future of English managers.Inevitably, the three great sides built by Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford will feature heavily amid fierce debate as to whether the Treble winners of 1999 would beat their predecessors of five years earlier or if the current crop are, in fact, the best.
Arsenal's 'Invincibles' will also warrant an early mention along with the Special One's back-to-back champions and the club that Jack built in Blackburn.
Delve a little further back into time and talk will turn to Liverpool's dominance in the late Seventies and Eighties plus the May night in 1989 when Arsenal claimed the most dramatic title win in history at Anfield.
A nod will also be made towards Everton's two successes under Howard Kendall together with Brian Clough's Forest and the Aston Villa side best remembered for lifting the European Cup 12 months after their domestic success in 1981.
There is one side, however, who, unless the debate takes place within the LS postcode, are likely to be overlooked completely and that is Howard Wilkinson's Leeds United.
Sgt Wilko believes "prejudice against the club" has been a factor in that 1991-92 title winning team having largely become the forgotten men.
Even allowing for this bias, however, it does seem strange that a team whose midfield four were Gordon Strachan, Gary McAllister, Gary Speed and David Batty should be so criminally overlooked. Maybe it is to do with Leeds's defence of the title when they finished 17th in the first year of the Premier League and crashed out of the European Cup against Glasgow Rangers. Or maybe it is the notion that, even now, leads some to suggest United did not so much win the title in 1991-92 as Ferguson's men threw it away.
Much is made of how fixture congestion was the real reason for the Old Trafford club floundering during April when they lost three games in a row against Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Liverpool.
Never mind that Forest were playing their 59th game of a long season when winning at Old Trafford on Easter Monday or that Liverpool had just come through a draining four hours of FA Cup semi-final football against Portsmouth to reach Wembley. West Ham, meanwhile, were destined to finish bottom and therefore the sort of opposition any title-chasing team would wish to face.
Leeds also stuttered during the final three months but, crucially, held their nerve when it mattered most – the sign of a true champion.
Some critics may point to United's style of play, but again the memory seems to be selective with live transmission by ITV that season of the 4-1 win at Aston Villa and 6-1 triumph at Sheffield Wednesday showing just how free-flowing their football could be. The bare statistics of that season also make compelling evidence as to the worthy nature of the title win with Leeds winning more games (22) than any other team, losing the fewest games (four), scoring more goals (74) than everyone but an Ian Wright-inspired Arsenal and also boasting the healthiest goal difference of plus 37.
Despite all this, Leeds's success continues to be either belittled or overlooked completely. Maybe, however, the opinion that counts the most is that of the manager who still remains the last Englishman to win the league title.
"We might not necessarily have been the best team in terms of individuals, but we were a very good team that made the most of what it had. Every member of that Leeds team should be very proud."
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