English Club of the Century
A new survey by the Independent newspaper has revealed that Arsenal are the 'Team of the Century.

The newspaper looked at 99 clubs with a minimum of 20 seasons in the Football League and averaged out their finishing position. For example, looking at last season, Manchester United were allocated one point, Arsenal two and so on all the way down to Scarborough, bottom of Division Three, with 92 points.

The results made for some interesting reading.

Arsenal came out on top with an average finishing position of 8.5, followed by Liverpool (8.7), Everton (10.6) and Manchester United (10.9). Also in the top ten, in the correct order, were Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Sunderland.

The Gunners' lofty status is surprising considering the club were a resolutely Division Two side at the turn of the century.

one word i guess - consistency. Isn't it true Arsenal haven't been out of the top flight for ages or something?

I noticed Leeds aren't in there. The Leeds 70s team was as good as any team has been this century, but the 80s were very poor as were other times.

I'm surprised to see no Notts Forest, tho i'm only 14 and can't remember back far http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/smile.gif

Arsenal were never relegated from first division(one of only three teams, and oldest one by far).

I think that poll only determined who's the most consistent team of the century in England, not the best.
The best in my opinion is:

Liverpool: 18 league titles, 5 FA cups, 4 European Cups

2nd Man Utd: 12 league titles, 11 cups, 2 European cups.

3rd Arsenal:11 league titles, 7 cups, 0 European cups.

Everton by the way has 9 titles, Aston Villa 7,(although 5 titles before 20th century began!)

I agree that this poll does show concistency and agree that in ranks of what really matters, Silverware that it goes:
Liverpool
ManU
Arsenal
Everton
teams without a doubt anyone would agree are the best ever in england.

Arsenal have now been in englands top division for something like 85 years which is an incredible feat. And is easilly Unrivaled with Everton a distant 2nd at around 50 years.