ANNIVERSARIES, BULBS AND PIES

February 20th marks the 25th Anniversary of the founding of arguably the most influential Football League in the World – The English Premier League which was formed in 1992 by the First Division clubs resigning from the Football League en masse creating the new independent league. Throughout those 25 years we’ve seen 51 different clubs competing in Premier League history since its inception in 1992: 49 from England and two from Wales. Seven of them have won the title: Manchester Utd (13), Manchester City(7), Chelsea (5), Arsenal (3), Blackburn Rovers (1), Leicester City (1) and Liverpool (1); the two Manchester clubs hold the distinction of having won three titles in a row, while six clubs have avoided relegation: Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. 

Most appearances	Gareth Barry (653)
Top goalscorer	Alan Shearer (260)

Most championships	Manchester United (13 titles)

We watched first time winners Manchester United on a big and somewhat bulky box that had more back than screen, in this time lighting was similarly in its early stages of efficiency with many of us still accommodating the incandescent 40, 60 and 100 watt light bulb. Aside from the odd incandescent here and there, compact fluorescent bulbs were the main source of lighting.

Not quite the spotlight for any deserved champion, the compact fluorescent bulb, although far more energy efficient, took its time to get to full brightness and the vast majority of which were non-dimmable. Standard Lamps and Single Pendants or semi-flush ceiling lights often illuminated the stands which were our living rooms.

Back then we accommodated a television in our house, giving it its necessary corner space in a chosen room, nowadays we dedicate entire walls to the big screen!  By the time we saw new champions in Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal, not much had changed except for the design of our television sets and lighting. A slight increase in screen size and interior decor changes may have been the only major alterations. Though for a few of us during Blackburn Rovers’ victory we were still housing the dralon sofa and occasional fringe tassels! It wasn’t until we saw Chelsea lift the trophy that major differences were showing, interior decor had modernised and a sense of office style practicality had emerged.

20th February 2017
After non-leaguers Sutton United played Arsenal in the 5th Round of the season's FA Cup, amazingly the main talking point was about a photograph, taken on the day of the match,….of a bloke eating a pie! The gentleman in question, the 46-year-old, 23-stone Wayne Shaw, was probably no stranger to the eating of pies but the photograph was  while he sat on the subs bench – he was the Sutton substitute goalkeeper! The story soon became less humorous when it was claimed that it was a publicity stunt for a bookmaker and that bets had been made that he would be photographed eating a pie during the match. The FA launched an investigation, Shaw resigned from Sutton the day after the match and was offered a pie-tasting job as Morrison’s supermarket and Sutton United put up a good display in a 2-0 defeat with the Gunners going on to win the FA Cup for a record 13th time.

and who was born today back in history? Jimmy Greaves 1940, Peter Marinello 1950, Phil Neal 1951, Jari Litmanen 1971, Ciro Immobile 1990.