Book reviews

London's big clubs promised much, but only Arsenal have won regular league championships. Mike Ticher wonders why

There is no particular reason why a capital city should produce successful or popular football clubs. In fact in Europe the opposite seems the case. The records of the main clubs in Berlin and Paris are woeful. Roma and Lazio have won just four Italian titles between them. London’s part in English football history is also one of potential only partly fulfilled, char­acterised by lots of cup triumphs but few league titles (Arsenal ex­cepted), by huge spectator support, a proliferation of middle-ranking clubs – far more than any other city in Europe – and a patchwork of interesting but rarely mutual rivalries.

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The fortunes of the capital's clubs over the years

Glory years Success has come in many guises. The Thirties saw the most trophies won, but all by one club, Arsenal. Four teams, though not Arsenal, won things in the Sixties, from the League Cup (Chelsea and QPR) to the World Cup (West Ham). In the Eighties cup glory was shared even more liberally, with Wimbledon, Crystal Palace (1990), QPR, West Ham, Tottenham and Arsenal reaching Wembley. And in 1989-90, no fewer than eight London teams were in the First Division. But if you want to know the last time two London sides fought out the title between them, the answer is – never.

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The three smaller west London clubs have more in common than antipathy towards Chelsea. They even share some fans, says Anthony Hobbs

In footballing terms, the citizens of west London have had plenty to moan about over the years. A good number of them have become pretty adept at it, to the point of weary cynicism. With my own club, Queens Park Rangers, currently bouncing around at the bottom of the First Division and playing some staggeringly uninspiring football, this latent negativity does not need much persuading to come out into the open.

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Leyton Orient and West Ham have grown even further apart since the Eighties, as Tom Davies reports

Football fans in London have always been more promiscuous than elsewhere, as one would expect with 13 clubs to choose from. If you couldn’t make your team’s away game you could always go elsewhere. A Chelsea fan could pop down to Fulham, a Leyton Orient fan might be tempted by a trip to Upton Park or Highbury (usually, to silently support the opposition), or a Spurs fan could pop up to Barnet.

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Football has a longer history and bigger support in a rugby-infatuated region than most people give it credit for. Grahame Lloyd reports

Welsh rugby fans might not like it – some probably won’t believe it – but Wales are currently the best-supported team in European football. Even though they lie 108th in the FIFA rankings, an average attendance of 63,000 for the last three internationals at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff has put the Welsh ahead of Italy, Germany, Spain and co-Euro 2000 hosts Holland. Cheap tickets – £10 for adults and a fiver for children – and a magnificent setting have combined to satisfy the huge appetite for football and given the lie to the longstanding but often overstated claim that the national sport of Wales is rugby.

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