Arsenal bring Double curtain down on English season
Trevor Huggins
Arsenal's celebratory 4-3 win over Everton on Saturday wrapped up a season in which Arsene Wenger's Double-winners shifted the balance of power in English football from Old Trafford to Highbury.
Just how long that shift will last is a moot point as Arsenal's last Double in 1998 was followed a year later by a Manchester United treble as they added a European Cup triumph to league and FA Cup honours and then went on to win the next two league titles for good measure.
But the manner of Arsenal's FA Cup triumph over Chelsea in Cardiff on May 4 and their midweek victory over United at Old Trafford to seal the league title showed a degree of mettle the club has often lacked in the past.
Arsenal's emergence from the shadow cast by Alex Ferguson was the dominant theme on the pitch in a season where matters off the pitch, and in particular on the small screen, also played a leading role.
While premier league clubs had been enjoying the riches of a staggering 1.65 billion pound ($2.41 billion) three-year television deal, chaos nearly ensued when the Professional Footballers' Association -- the player's representatives -- threatened strike action in support of their percentage.
A compromise was eventually found that more or less pleased everyone -- a sharp contrast to the acrimony which has followed the collapse of ITV Digital.
HUGE CONTRACT
The company owned by Granada and Carlton Communications agreed a massive 315-million-pound contract for the privilege of broadcasting the spectacle offered by first, second and third division football.
Their gamble on an unlimited market for football singularly failed and has left many of the 72 clubs who had been relying on ITV Digital money in a parlous financial state with an uncertain future.
Even if a buyer is found for the remaining two years of the three-year contract, the money will be nothing like the relative riches due from the Football League's original contract.
As some say the over-inflated football bubble has burst, the failure could also have a knock-on effect on BSkyB's next contract with the premier league -- due next year.
With wages representing the biggest item on a club's balance sheet, the celebrity lifestyles of many players -- some of whose drinking habits made a few unwanted headlines at the end of last year -- could be in for a few changes.
On the pitch, there was no shortage of entertainment in one of the closest and most enthralling championships in many years.
At one stage, no fewer than five clubs -- Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle and Leeds -- were entitled to consider themselves as serious title contenders.
With Arsenal on a record 13-match winning run, the wheels came off United's bid for the title in March, with a defeat to Middlesbrough and a draw with relegation-bound Derby County.
HOPES DASHED
Despite manager Alex Ferguson's decision not to retire at the end of the season, hopes of a trip to his native Glasgow for the European Cup final were dashed by the away goals rule in the semifinals after a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen followed a 2-2 stalemate in Manchester.
Though pegged back by broken bones in the feet of both David Beckham and Gary Neville, United's undoing in Europe was the defensive lapses which had also consigned them to nine defeats in the premier league.
While Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was on fire, with 36 goals for the club, United's other big signing, Argentine midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron, struggled to find his best form.
Liverpool, who had won the FA, League and UEFA cups the previous season, finished up empty-handed.
But at least they had the satisfaction of beating United to second place in the table and qualifying automatically for next season's group phase of the Champions League.
They could also celebrate the survival of manager Gerard Houllier after the Frenchman needed emergency surgery for a life-threatening heart condition, his return in March after a five-month absence drawing a hero's welcome at Anfield.
LEEDS PLUNGE
Leeds, top on New Year's Day before plunging down to a fifth-placed finish, will want to put 2001-2002 behind them for reasons other than football, though.
The case at Hull Crown Court, following an attack on a student in Leeds city centre in January 2000, gave the club lots of unwelcome publicity.
Defender Jonathan Woodgate was sentenced to 100 hours of community service for affray, while midfielder Lee Bowyer was cleared of assault when the verdict was delivered in December.
Newcastle, top for a while, benefited from the sparkling late-career form of captain Alan Shearer, whose 23 league goals made him the joint toast of Tyneside with manager Bobby Robson.
Chelsea, as ever, flattered to deceive -- finishing a respectable sixth but losing the FA Cup final, while London neighbours and runaway favourites Tottenham Hotspur lost the League Cup final to relegation strugglers Blackburn Rovers.
Ipswich Town, who finished fifth last season and earned the right to play Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup this term, failed to maintain their progress and were relegated along with Derby and Leicester City.
It was certainly a season full of entertainment and, with Kevin Keegan's goal-happy Manchester City coming up, next season should not be any different.
