The Football Pantheon

June 13, 2011 7:34 AM

The Football Pantheon is a new website by football journalist Miguel Delaney. The aim of the website is to "present objective lists of the greatest clubs, players, countries, managers and so much more." The first entry is a very impressive list of The 50 Greatest European Club Sides, which breaks down the various legendary teams, from the late 19th Century until today, and ranks them according to their achievements.
posted by Kattullus (17 comments total)

Awesome article.

However (there's always a however), I'd have put Clough's Nottingham Forest higher. And no showing for Don Revie's Leeds United makes me think that there's something a bit off with the way this is calculated. Maybe I've watched The Damned United too many times.
posted by veedubya at 8:14 AM on June 13, 2011

They give the reason for why Revie's Leeds isn't there in his list of teams that missed out. Also mentioned is the one that I'm surprised didn't make the cut, Lobanovskyi's Dynamo Kyiv.
posted by Kattullus at 8:19 AM on June 13, 2011

The '85 Bears are not on the list ?
What kind of crazy football list is this ?
posted by Flood at 8:19 AM on June 13, 2011 [3 favorites]

I think in order to do right by Clough's legacy, you need to aggrieve it by underrating it.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:20 AM on June 13, 2011 [4 favorites]

Yeah, Kattullus, I saw that. But Leeds were *the* team back in the day. They were the team that every other team in the league compared themselves and every other team to. A tweak or two to reflect that would have been good.
posted by veedubya at 8:24 AM on June 13, 2011

I also object, on principle, to a team, with Jimmy Greaves in it being rated lower than any Arsenal team. That's not right.
posted by veedubya at 8:26 AM on June 13, 2011

How would you tweak the formula, veedubya? The one thing I can think of is that it could give bonus points for consistently ending up in the top 3 year in, year out in the domestic league, though I suppose that would benefit most every other team on the list too.
posted by Kattullus at 8:31 AM on June 13, 2011

I don't know how I'd tweak it, to be honest. My first thought would be to have points for teams that were the incubators for talent so that, for example, if a player went on to a high points team, the team they went from would get a few points. But, thinking about that, that probably wouldn't help Leeds much either.

I'm going to be thinking about this all night.
posted by veedubya at 8:37 AM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Revie's Leeds were sort of the Guts Man of English Football. A reliable and recurring threat, to be sure, but nowhere near as memorable as Ajax's Snake Man.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:48 AM on June 13, 2011

Actually, the more I think about it, the more impressed I am with that list. I have some questions regarding its methodology, but it's the best argued list of great football club sides I've ever come across.
posted by Kattullus at 9:18 AM on June 13, 2011

Woohoo! Hup Ajax hup!
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 9:39 AM on June 13, 2011

That list was wonderful. When Barcelona won the CL last month, I remember thinking that they're obviously one of the best teams of all time, but how does one quantify such things and where to start? This list provides a good answer.
posted by ob at 10:08 AM on June 13, 2011

What, no 1986 Oxford United? Had there not been a blanket ban on English clubs in Europe (thanks Liverpool) I am in absolutely no doubt that they would have used their Milk Cup victory to go on and win the league and then the Champions league. No doubt what so ever.
posted by ciderwoman at 11:15 AM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

The 'minor' leagues feel under weighted. I calculated 680 points from their methodology for the 1982-1986 Aberdeen side. That's without any of the bonuses for domestic league performance, which looks like it's based on number of teams being > 16. Although the Scottish league was 10 teams at that time, from 1983 the Scottish UEFA country ranking was between 4th and 7th until 1989. Giving that side the defensive record, top scorers and points average bonuses pushes them onto the list.
posted by IanMorr at 12:32 PM on June 13, 2011

What, no Pro Vercelli 2018-2022 with 4 CL and a Europa League?
posted by ersatz at 5:39 PM on June 13, 2011

Revie's magnificent Leeds team of the early 1970s doesn't get its fair due because they often fell at the last hurdle, not least because they tended to be in competition for everything and were exhausted by late April or early May when the final vital couple of league games or big cup final had to be played. The team was just over the hill by the time they reached their European Cup Final in 1975 but their defeat there pretty much summed up the accomplishments of the team. Given that it's still nonsense that they're not in this list though, whatever the explanation on the blog, it was a truly great team which ranks with any British team ever.

You can search on youtube for the famous 7 - 0 victory over Southampton at Elland Road in 1971/72 but more memorable than any of the goals is the long long sequence where Leeds knock the ball around the pitch without a Southampton player getting anywhere near it. Southampton were a decent team then - if not Manchester United faced with Barcelona - and it speaks of a domination rarely seen in English football before or since. I'm as big a fan of Ajax's total football as anyone, but Leeds could be just as dominant on their day. People forget their skill and artistry because of their strong physical core - something impossible in today's referring environment. I really can't see modern strikers lasting ten minutes against Norman Hunter and Jack Charlton - though those two would probably get sent off in the first five seconds these days.
posted by joannemullen at 7:57 PM on June 13, 2011

They just posted a new list: The 30 greatest international teams of all time.
posted by Kattullus at 8:47 PM on June 17, 2011