Football League Centenary Tournament

Last updated

1988 Football League Centenary Tournament
Tournament details
CountryUK
Dates16–17 April
Teams16
Final positions
Champions Nottingham Forest
Runner-up Sheffield Wednesday
Tournament statistics
Matches played15

The Football League Centenary Tournament (also known as the Mercantile Credit Football Festival) was a friendly tournament [1] held from 16 to 17 April 1988 at Wembley Stadium to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Football League.

Contents

Despite the hopes of the Football League, the attendances of 41,500 on the first day and 17,000 for the finals meant there was plenty of open spaces to be found around Wembley. The attendance situation was not helped by leading London clubs such as Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Chelsea not qualifying for the tournament.

The tournament was won by First Division Nottingham Forest, who beat Sheffield Wednesday in the final on penalties. Their success was achieved despite manager Brian Clough not attending the Saturday. [2] [3] Arguably the biggest success story was Division Four side Tranmere Rovers, who a year earlier had almost been relegated out of the Football League. They defeated top-flight sides Wimbledon and Newcastle United, before taking Forest to a penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals.

Background

The centenary of the Football League was marked by a number of events between mid-1987 and 1988, including a match at Wembley between a Football League XI and a Rest of the World XI (featuring Diego Maradona and Gary Lineker) in August 1987, [4] Football League champions Everton facing Bayern Munich in a mid-season challenge match (at a time when English clubs were banned from UEFA competitions) with Everton winning 3–1, and the Football League Centenary Trophy between leading teams held at the start of the 1988–89 season (the final was won by Arsenal against Manchester United in October 1988). Other announced events, however, including a nationwide series of fun runs, a gala classical music concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and a pop music event at Wembley Arena, [5] never took place. The celebrations, which were sponsored by Mercantile Credit, were criticised for being overly drawn-out and uninspiring. [6] [7]

The competition

The Football League Centenary Tournament was originally announced as a six-a-side tournament involving all 92 League teams, affording many the opportunity to play at the national stadium for the first time. [5] It was subsequently changed to an 11-a-side competition featuring only 16 teams, who qualified based on points accrued from League games during a specified time window. [8]

Qualifiers

The following teams participated in the tournament:

DivisionTeams
First Everton
Liverpool
Luton Town
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Sheffield Wednesday
Wimbledon
Second Aston Villa
Blackburn Rovers
Crystal Palace
Leeds United
Third Sunderland
Wigan Athletic
Fourth Tranmere Rovers
Wolverhampton Wanderers

Saturday 16 April 1988

The first day of competition consisted of the opening round and quarter-finals; matches were 40 minutes in duration. [9] Seven of the twelve matches ended up drawn (five of them goalless) and required a sudden-death penalty shootout. Teams winning on penalties are indicated by a .

Opening round

Team 1ResultTeam 2
Tranmere Rovers 10 Wimbledon
Leeds United 03 Nottingham Forest
Luton Town 02 Manchester United
Aston Villa 00 Blackburn Rovers
Everton 11 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Crystal Palace 00 Sheffield Wednesday
Wigan Athletic 00 Sunderland
Liverpool 00 Newcastle United

Quarter finals

Team 1ResultTeam 2
Newcastle United 02 Tranmere Rovers
Nottingham Forest 00 Aston Villa
Everton 01 Manchester United
Sheffield Wednesday 11 Wigan Athletic

Sunday 17 April 1988

The semi-finals and final were played on the Sunday. Matches were 60 minutes long.

Semi-finals

Team 1ResultTeam 2
Tranmere Rovers 22 Nottingham Forest
Sheffield Wednesday 21 Manchester United

Final

Team 1ResultTeam 2
Nottingham Forest 00 Sheffield Wednesday

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References

General

Isherwood, Glen (18 September 2006). Wembley: The Complete Record 1923-2000. Sportsbooks. p. 512. ISBN   978-1-899807-42-0.

Specific

  1. Scott, Kenneth H. "Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy". toon1892.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  2. "Manager Brian Clough misses team's big win". Toronto Star. 18 April 1988. Retrieved 29 July 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. What on earth was the Mercantile Credit Football Festival?, The Guardian, 10 June 2015
  4. When the Football League took on the world… Archived 5 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine , England Memories, 7 August 2015
  5. 1 2 Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 198788. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 960. ISBN   978-0-35614-354-5.
  6. "How Arsenal won the Centenary Trophy, the least celebrated title in their history". The Guardian . 4 January 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  7. "100 years bore: the arduous and elongated Football League centenary celebrations in 1988". These Football Times . 8 May 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  8. Rollin, Jack, ed. (1988). Rothmans Football Yearbook 198889. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 429. ISBN   978-0-35615-880-8.
  9. "Crowning delayed by League bash". The New Straits Times. 15 April 1988. Retrieved 29 July 2013.