“Everyone is aware of the fact that in the National League, both Wrexham and Notts County have more than 100 points,” tweets Bernard Carthy, “but what’s the highest points total of the top two teams in a fully professional league?”
We’ve looked at this through a different lens in the past, with a question about the best runners-up, but most of the answers are from the semi-professional leagues. (It’s still well worth a look, especially if you’re not familiar with the Combined Counties Football League 2002-03 title race). For the record, if Wrexham and Notts County win their remaining four games, they will finish with a combined total Richie Benaud would have loved: 222.
As for the actual question, the answers – which have one recurring theme, a bar-raising perfectionist called Josep Guardiola – broadly split into two categories. Title races that were both a marathon and a sprint, where the top two were (break) neck and neck from the start; and seasons in which one team ran away with it and another just about stayed in their slipstream.
A famous example of the first was the Premier League in 2018-19, when Manchester City (98 points) had to win their last 14 league games to finish above Liverpool (97). Their combined total of 195 is a record for the English top flight, though they had a decent stab at it last season with 185 between them: City 93, Liverpool 92.
A good example of the second type is Serie A in 2013-14. Antonio Conte’s Juventus romped to the title, picking up 102 points in 38 games. Roma finished a noble if fairly distant second with 85, which meant a combined points total of 187.
Here’s a list of the professional leagues we (and you, dear readers) have found with a combined total between 185-199. All are 38-game seasons unless stated; the lower divisions in England usually involve 46 matches, though those leagues tend to be more competitive anyway so it all evens itself out in the end. Possibly.
185: La Liga 2012-13 (Barcelona 100, Real Madrid 85)
186 :Serie A 2017-18 (Juventus 95, Napoli 91)
187: Serie A 2013-14 (Juventus 102, Roma 85)
188: La Liga 2010-11 (Barcelona 96, Real Madrid 92)
188: Scottish Premier League 2001-02 (Celtic 103, Rangers 85)
191: La Liga 2011-12 (Real Madrid 100, Barcelona 91)
192: Championship 1998-99 (Sunderland 105, Bradford 87) 46-game season
193: Championship 2009-19 (Newcastle 102, West Brom 91) 46-game season
194: Scottish Premier League 2002-03 (Rangers 97, Celtic 97)
195: Championship 2013-14 (Leicester 102, Burnley 93) 46-game season
195: La Liga 2009-10 (Barcelona 99, Real Madrid 96)
195: Premier League 2018-19 (Man City 98, Liverpool 97)
196: Championship 2005-06 (Reading 106, Sheff Utd 90) 46-game season
197: League One 2013-14 (Wolves 103, Brentford 94) 46-game season
199: Primeira Divisão, 1990-91 (Benfica 101, Porto 98) Adjusted from 2pts for a win
That last entry is one of the great lesser-known title races. Benfica won 32 of their 38 games to Porto’s 31, ultimately clinching the title because of a 2-0 win at Porto at the end of April. But Ben Janeson has a more recent tale, one in which two teams in a fully professional league broke the 200 points barrier.
203 in the 2020-21 Serbian Superliga, with Crvena zvezda reaching 108 points (35W 3D 0L) and Partizan runners-up with 95 points (31W 2D 5L).
— Ben (@BenJaneson) April 11, 2023
Can anyone top that? If so, you know what to do.
Most clean sheets in a season
@TheKnowledge_GU Sheffield Wednesday already
— Zxcvbnm (@qaxplm098) March 11, 2023
have 21 clean sheets, with 12 games still to play in League One. What team in England has had the most clean sheets in one season?
Let’s start with a few examples from the English top flight. Arsenal, with David Seaman in goal and one of the all-time great defences in front of him, kept 24 clean sheets when they won the title in 1990-91 and 23 when they didn’t in 1998-99. Both were 38-game seasons, as were the next two: Manchester United (24, mostly Edwin van der Sar) in 2008-09, and Chelsea (25) in 2004-05. Petr Cech was in goal for 24 of those games, with Carlo Cudicini taking over for a 1-0 win against Charlton after the title had been won.
The best we can find for the English top flight, however, is the 28 clean sheets that were kept by Liverpool (and specifically goalkeeper Ray Clemence) in the 1978-79 season. It was a 42-game season, but they are still top on a pro rata basis.
The numbers are even higher in the Football League. First up, an early demonstration of Tony Pulis’s ability to organise a defence. No surprise that the goalkeeper Jim Stannard, who played every game, was Gillingham’s player of the season.
Gillingham's 1995-6 season saw them keep 29 clean sheets in 46 games, conceding only 20 in total all (league) season - the club only scored 49 in what was a successful, if not particularly entertaining, promotion year! https://t.co/LcF5azQDQk
— James (@jamesv_t) March 15, 2023
Pulis’s Gillingham are one short of the best answer we have received so far. “Wednesday still have a way to go to beat the Port Vale ‘Iron Curtain’ defence of 1953-54,” writes Rob Fielding. “A team consisting almost entirely of local players set multiple records as they were crowned champions of Division Three and reached the FA Cup semi-finals.
“The defence was undoubtedly the Vale’s strongest asset and were responsible for the club’s three Football League records set during that season. They were: least number of goals conceded in a 46-match season (21), least goals conceded at home (just five in 23 games) and 30 clean sheets. The Owls will have to go some in their remaining games to better that record.” They’ll need a time machine, too, because since we received the original question Wednesday have kept one only clean sheet in eight games, which means they are on 22 with three matches to play.
Top in December, relegated in May
“QPR were top of the Championship on 24 October. At the time of writing, they are 20th. What’s the latest point in a season that a relegated team has topped the table?” asks Andrew Tracey.
Time to dust off an old Knowledge favourite: Millwall’s tragifarcical 1995-96 season. On the morning of 9 December 1995, despite three consecutive defeats, Mick McCarthy’s Millwall were top of the Endsleigh League First Division, now the Championship. They were above Sunderland on goals scored (this, rather than goal difference, was the tiebreaker). And then it all went wrong, big time. Sunderland addressed their goals-scored issue by plugging Millwall 6-0 at Roker Park, and in the space of 90 minutes, Millwall fell to seventh.
Their freefall continued even before McCarthy left to replace Jack Charlton as Ireland manager in February 1996. They signed Sergei Yuran and Vasili Kulkov from Spartak Moscow – a remarkable coup, not least because Spartak had just battered the English champions Blackburn in Europe – but it made no difference. Having picked up 32 points from the first 16 games, Millwall collected 20 from the last 30. They dropped into the relegation zone for the first time on the final day of the season, when they drew 0-0 at Ipswich and were relegated on, yep, goals scored.
Knowledge archive
“After seeing Celtic loanee Patrick Roberts score against his parent club, Manchester City, in the Champions League, it got me thinking: what are other examples of loanees doing the same against their own employers? And what were the consequences, if any, for the goalscorers?” asked Andy McGrath in 2016.
We let Derek Robertson take it away with some considerable consequence for parent club, Real Madrid, in the Champions League. “I can answer this,” he wrote. “While living in Madrid in 2004, I was able to annoy many of my Real-supporting students when they crashed out of the Champions League at the hands of Monaco. This was prime Galáctico era, with Raúl, Zidane, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and David Beckham all turning out for Los Blancos.
“Partly because of Florentino Pérez’s insistence that all the Galácticos play if fit, and his championing of a young Javier Portillo, Fernando Morientes found himself fourth-choice striker and so decided to leave on a season-long loan to Monaco. Karma intervened to ensure he would face his old side in the quarter-finals, though, and was to have the last laugh. Read more…
Can you help?
“I wonder if any other long-suffering supporters have endured a worse drought at their home end as QPR fans have this season?” mails Sean Bell. “Just four goals when attacking The Loft, with two matches to go. Including two penalties.”
@TheKnowledge_GU what’s the earliest instance of a player not celebrating against a former club? It must be a relatively new phenomenon?
— Stuart Willsher (@packersuk80) April 15, 2023
“Frank Lampard hasn’t got off to the best of starts at Chelsea,” understates Dave Rutter. “Have there been any instances where an interim manager has been sacked before a new manager has been appointed?”
What’s the biggest step up / step down between consecutive league games played by a transferred player? Has anyone ever played midweek in the fourth tier and then in the First Div / Prem League the following weekend (or vice versa)?
— agatiefan (@AgaTieFan) April 18, 2023
“After 50 minutes of their Championship match against Norwich, Middlesbrough had taken five shots and scored them all. Is this a record and if not, what’s the highest number of goals scored in a game without the keeper making a single save? Would be interested in a single team or across both in a match,” writes Padraig Pêcheur.
@TheKnowledge_GU Kolo Toure being on TV has sparked the question: have any other players been in an invincible team for more than one season, if so, what's the record number?
— Hugh Dickinson (@Hugh_Dickinson) April 15, 2023
“Skelmersdale United, in the Northern Premier League North West Division, are one game away from going the whole season without a draw,” notes Hannes Read. “Their record is P37 W16 D0 L21 Pts 48. When was the last time a team went an entire season without a draw?”
Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.
