1) English First Division (1985-86)

Hooliganism, Heysel and the Bradford fire had left English football on the brink of oblivion in 1985. On-field action desperately needed to take centre stage again and Ron Atkinson’s Manchester United came waltzing out from behind the curtain to hog the spotlight, winning 10 on the bounce and opening up a 13-point lead over runaway reigning champions, Everton. “It’s all yours, Ron!” screamed one headline in November. It was a leap to imagine that by April “Atkinson Out” banners would be on display at Old Trafford after a side light on physicality crumbled, losing 10 games.

Football: Scott Murray on the absorbing 1985-86 season Read more

With Gary Lineker on his way to scoring 40 goals in a season, Everton found their groove and by the end of February they were three clear of United and eight ahead of transitional Liverpool, who they beat 2-0 at Anfield. But Liverpool went berserk after that loss, winning 10 from 11 in a full-tilt title charge before the finale. Everton, meanwhile, were left cursing the mysterious disappearance of their striker’s footwear in a 1-0 defeat at Oxford on 30 April. “I had a pair of lucky boots … they weren’t in the skip that night,” Lineker said in 2008. “I don’t know why. I wore a new pair and had one or two half-chances which went begging.” West Ham and Everton both stayed in contention until the last day, when they played each other at Goodison, but Kenny Dalglish’s solitary goal at Chelsea made Everton’s 3-1 win meaningless. To add salt to the Toffees’ wounds, Liverpool sealed the Double against them in the FA Cup.

Quick guide English Division One 85-86 final standings Show Hide 1 Liverpool P 42 W 26 D 10 L 6 Pts 88

2 Everton P 42 W 26 D 8 L 8 Pts 86

3 West Ham P 42 W 26 D 6 L 10 Pts 84

4 Man Utd P 42 W 22 D 10 L 10 Pts 76

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson celebrates with Bruce Grobbelaar after winning the First Division title at Stamford Bridge on 3 May 1986. Photograph: David Cannon/Getty Images

2) Scottish Premier Division (1985-86)

The 85-86 season in Scotland wasn’t half bad either with Celtic, Hearts, Dundee United and Aberdeen involved in a rollicking finish. Hearts were surprise guests in the lead group, mind, having been 200-1 outsiders and losing five of their first eight. But with Craig Levein a rock at the back and John Robertson firing up front, Alex MacDonald’s side set off on an astonishing seven-month unbeaten run. Tynecastle was buzzing. Hearts hadn’t won the league since 1960. Like Leicester in 2015, they were the neutrals’ favourite and passed each test along the way too, beating all three title rivals in their backyards.

The Joy of Six: Title-race turning points | Scott Murray Read more

With rotation still years away, Hearts were blowing bubbles as they rounded the final bend with a 1-0 home win over bottom-of-the-table Clydebank. But despite Celtic having gone on a seven-match winning run, a draw at Dundee would end Hearts’ 26-year wait for the title. The problem was, the squad had been hit by a virus, Levein was missing, and they had little left in the tank. It was 0-0 at half-time and Hearts still had a loose grip on the pot. But news filtered through on the radio that Celtic were 4-0 up against St Mirren, meaning that if Hearts conceded, the title would go to Parkhead on goal difference. Hearts held their nerve at Dens Park until the 83rd minute. Then up popped Albert Kidd, the substitute striker who had not scored all season, with a stab of the boot that was a dagger to the Hearts. The cruel Kidd did it again six minutes later too. Hearts are still broken to this day.

Quick guide Scottish Premier League 85-86 final standings Show Hide 1 Celtic P 36 W 20 D 10 L 6 GD +29 Pts 50

2 Hearts P 36 W 20 D 10 L 6 GD +26 Pts 50

3 Dundee Utd P 36 W 18 D 11 L 7 GD +28 Pts 47





3) La Liga (2011-12)

When José Mourinho guided Real Madrid to 92 points in his first season only to finish second, he must have wondered what he had gotten himself into. With Inter he had proven he had the beating of Barcelona on the one-off occasion, but staying the distance with Pep Guardiola’s relentlessly brilliant side was another thing altogether. So, while the Treble with Inter is understandably held up as his crowning achievement, the solitary league title he won at Madrid should be right up there alongside it. Madrid had won 15 games on the spin and were top going into the first clásico at the Bernabéu. They were played off the park in a 3-1 defeat. Brilliant Barça were now level on points. Did Mourinho’s players still feel inferior? Perhaps, but he didn’t. Where others saw his team as being tactically and technically lacking against one of the greatest ever club sides, he saw only misfortune. “No one can see it was anything other than luck,” he mused.

Madrid went off on a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired dazzling run, setting a new standard for relentless excellence in Spain. They did not lose again in La Liga before the second clásico 18 games later. And they did not lose there either, the king of the stepover, Ronaldo, stepping around Victor Valdés to seal a 2-1 victory. Four wins later Mourinho’s side were crowned champions on a record 100 points, having scored a record 121 goals, 71 of which came in their last 23 games.

Quick guide La Liga 2011-12 final standings Show Hide 1 Real Madrid P 38 W 32 D 4 L 2 GF 121 GA 32 GD +89 Pts 100

2 Barcelona P 38 W 28 D 7 L 3 GF 114 GA 29 GD +85 Pts 86

3 Valencia P 38 W 17 D 10 L 11 GF 59 GA 44 GD +15 Pts 61



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring against Barcelona during the April 2012 clásico. Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

4) Premier League (1995-96)

Alan Hansen’s “you won’t win anything with kids” line and Kevin Keegan’s “I will love it if we beat them!” rant are two enduring memories from this pulsating season. Keegan’s tirade is still viewed millions of times over as a meme to signify a meltdown. But Eric Cantona’s solitary goals in 1-0 wins for Manchester United just as accurately explain why the momentum in the title race so thrillingly switched from Tyneside to Manchester. On 20 January 1996 Peter Beardsley lashed home a volley to secure a 2-1 win over Bolton and take Newcastle 12 points clear of United. A day later Cantona, who had recently returned from his nine-month ban for impersonating Bruce Lee, lashed the ball past West Ham’s Ludek Miklosko to kickstart United’s chase. Solitary goals by Cantona won five games during the season; by the beginning of April previously swashbuckling Newcastle were ragged and rattled after Cantona did the 1-0 trick three times in little over a month, including an incredibly damaging result at St James’s Park on 4 March that closed the gap to one point.

The race now resembled the T-1000 chasing the Anthill mob. That 4-3 defeat at Anfield left Newcastle psychologically jiggered and five days later they lost at champions Blackburn, who had been rubbish for most of the season. And even though United suffered a grey shirt-inspired wobble in a 3-1 defeat at Southampton, Cantona’s economical brilliance ensured Newcastle were shot by the time Keegan started yelping into the microphone at Elland Road. The “Entertainers” finished the season unable to entertain, drawing their final two games 1-1 while ruthlessly efficient United walloped Nottingham Forest 5-0 and Middlesbrough 3-0. Cantona did his 1-0 act once more to good effect, securing the Double against Liverpool at Wembley.

Quick guide Premier League 1995-96 final standings Show Hide 1 Man Utd P 38 W 25 D 7 L 6 GD +38 Pts 82

2 Newcastle P 38 W 24 D 6 L 8 GD +29 Pts 78

3 Liverpool P 38 W 20 D 11 L 7 GD +36 Pts 71

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Eric Cantona fires home to secure a 1-0 win over Newcastle as Manchester United hauled the league-leaders in. Photograph: Getty Images

5) Serie A (1987-88)

Napoli’s extraordinary meltdown to hand the title they won the previous season to Milan is still the source of much debate. Did dark forces have a hand in it? Diego Maradona’s having none of it and sums it up succinctly – and entertainingly – in his autobiography:

It was said that Napoli sold out. That we’d given the title away under pressure from the bookies. I will never understand why we fell the way we did at the end … we got 87% of the points on offer in the first 19 fixtures, an historical record. We didn’t have many fixtures left and we were five points ahead [in an era of two points for a win]. Then on 17 April we lost 3-1 against Juventus in Turin. We didn’t win a single match after that: week after week it was the same, each result worse than the last … We picked up just one point in five games. We lost a championship that we couldn’t lose and that’s when people started talking crap … [Ottavio] Bianchi, the wanker, had started experimenting and had left Giordano out. Everything went to shit.

Quick guide Serie A 87-88 final standings Show Hide 1 Milan P 30 W 17 D 11 L 2 GD +29 Pts 45

2 Napoli P 30 W 18 D 6 L 6 GD +28 Pts 42

3 Roma P 30 W 15 D 8 L 7 GD +13 Pts 38

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6) Norway’s Eliteserien (2004)

Michael Thomas at Anfield in 1989; Andy Cole’s miss at West Ham in 1995; Bayern-Schalke and those four minutes in May 2001; Agüeroooooooooo for Manchester City in 2012; all wonderful examples of last-day drama but here’s a frantic finish you might not know about. Fifteen years ago, in Norway, fingernails were chewed in their thousands. Rosenborg had won the title 12 seasons in a row but Valerenga had got themselves back in the race with a 4-1 away win against the champions and kept pace until the final day. With both teams on 45 points and +15 goal difference, Rosenborg faced Lyn and Valerenga played Stabæk, both winnable home matches.

A game of nerve-shredding title-tennis ensued as Valerenga led 1-0 before Rosenborg scored twice and then conceded. But Frode Johnsen popped up for the champions to give them a 3-1 lead – and the virtual title again – in the 70th minute before Valerenga’s Erik Hagen and Daniel Fredheim Holm scored in the 81st and 83rd minutes. They led 3-0. The bunting was being readied in Oslo … until Johnsen struck in the 89th minute to level the goal difference at +18. Crucially, though, Rosenborg had scored 12 more than the pretenders to their throne. The game ended in Trondheim but Rosenberg’s players could not yet toast another success – they had to huddle around a pitch-side screen to watch events in Oslo, where there were six minutes to play. They stared, mouths agape, as Valerenga’s Morten Berre went clean through, but the winger fluffed his lines and sidefooted the ball straight at Stabæk keeper Jon Knudsen. Cue bedlam at Rosenberg, who were champions again.