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Traditionally, Sunderland's two main rivals have been the Tyneside club Newcastle United and Teeside club Middlesbrough. Although both are generally geographically close, Newcastle are considered their main rivals.
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Twice in the late 1980s Gillingham came close to winning promotion to the second tier of English football, but a decline then set in and in 1993 the club narrowly avoided relegation to the Football Conference. In 2000, the "Gills" reached the second tier of the English league for the first time in the club's history and went on to spend five seasons at this level, achieving a club record highest league finish of eleventh place in 2002–03. The only honour the club has won at a professional level was the Football League Fourth Division championship in 1963–64.
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However, the two most known managers at Manchester United were two Scots; those two were Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby. Ferguson is recognized as the most successful and longest-serving manager that Manchester United had ever had, winning all bar the last one above during his 26 and a half year reign. Busby is also heralded given that he had assembled the team that was so synonymous to his legacy, the "Busby Babes". Busby was also involved in that fateful night when the Munich air disaster occurred, and with half of his squad been wiped out, he felt that he wanted to quit the manager's job through the guilt of that disaster, but continued on and a decade later, after winning two more league titles and a FA Cup, he and United won the European Cup for the first time at Wembley. Busby decided to retire the following season, remaining at the club as a director, but when Wilf McGuinness was sacked in December 1970, he stepped into the manager's seat on an interim basis until United decided on their next permanent manager, which he returned to his role as Director at the end of the 1970-71 season.
For United, they do compete against their neighbors, Manchester City in the Manchester derby, but there are other big rivalries with Leeds United (the Roses rivalry), and Liverpool, with the latter being the biggest nemesis.
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In 2005, Chelsea's centenary year, the club became Premiership champions in a record-breaking season, League Cup winners with a 3–2 win over Liverpool and reached the Champions League semi-finals. The following year, they were again League Champions, equalling their own Premiership record of 29 wins set the previous season. They also became the fifth team to win back-to-back championships since the Second World War and the first London club to do so since Arsenal in 1933–34.
Chelsea's home is the Stamford Bridge football stadium in Fulham, west London, where they have played since their foundation. Chelsea are one of the best-supported clubs in the United Kingdom, with an estimated four million fans.
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Formed under the name of "Small Heath" in 1875, they were founder members and the first ever champions of the Football League Second Division, the level they have been at for most of their history. As Birmingham City, the most successful period in their history was in the 1950s and early 1960s. They achieved their highest finishing position of sixth in the First Division and reached the FA Cup Final in 1956, reached the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960 and 1961, and won their only major trophy, the League Cup, in 1963, beating Aston Villa 3–1 on aggregate. They also won a second League Cup 48 years later in 2011, this time defeating Arsenal at Wembley.
St Andrew's has been their home ground since 1906. They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with Aston Villa, their nearest neighbours, with whom they play the Birmingham derby.
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Arsenal were founded in 1886, though they won their first major trophies in the 1930s, with five League Championship titles and two FA Cups. After a lean period in the post-war years they became only the second club of the 20th century to win the Double in 1970–71, and during the past twenty years they have been one of the most successful clubs in English football — in this time Arsenal won two further Doubles, the Premier League in 2003–04 unbeaten, and in 2005–06 became the first London club to reach the UEFA Champions League final.
The club have appeared in a number of media "firsts" including being part of the first ever English League match to be broadcast live on radio in 1927 and contesting the first ever game to be televised live in 1937.
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They are one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in England, having won the First Division Championship seven times and the FA Cup seven times. Villa are also one of only five English clubs to win the European Cup, which they did in 1982. Aston Villa is the fourth most successful club in English football history, having won over 20 major honours, although most of these were won before the Second World War.
They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with local rivals Birmingham City and the Birmingham Derby between the two teams has been contested since 1879. Less heated rivalries exist with the other West Midlands clubs.
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After the Games, it was converted for use as a football ground. This conversion involved removing the running track and installing it elsewhere and also adding 12,000 more seats. The operation cost over £35 million and took a year to complete before it became the home of Manchester City, who moved there from Maine Road in 2003 signing a 250-year lease.
The stadium is bowl-shaped, with two tiers all the way around the ground and a third tier along the two side stands. Currently, it is the 6th largest stadium in England and tenth largest in the United Kingdom with a seating capacity of 55,017. Since being converted into a football stadium, it has hosted the 2008 UEFA Cup (Now Europa League) final, a couple of England football internationals, rugby league matches, a boxing world title fight, the England rugby union team's final group match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and summer music concerts during the football off-season.
A 7,000 seat third tier on the South Stand was completed on August 2015, and a £300 million redevelopment programme of the existing North Stand entailing the construction of a new hotel with 400 rooms, covered fan park for 6,000 people and increased net capacity to 61,474 is expected to commence in 2023 and be completed by the end of 2026.
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Everton have a notable rivalry with Liverpool F.C., who were formed after a dispute over the rent at Anfield, Everton's old ground, in 1892; since then Everton have been based at Goodison Park as a result of the split. The club have a large fanbase and regularly attract large crowds.
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The club was founded in 1893 and joined the Football League in 1920. They were voted out of the league in favour of Ipswich Town at the end of the 1937–38 season, but returned to it 12 years later after it was expanded from 88 to 92 clubs. Twice in the late 1980s they came close to winning promotion to the second tier of English football, but a decline then set in and in 1993 they narrowly avoided relegation to the Football Conference. In 2000, the Gills made the second tier for the first and only time by defeating Wigan Athletic in the playoff final, and spent 5 seasons there, with them achieving a club record highest league finish of 11th place in 2002–03. The only honour the club has won at a professional level was the Football League Fourth Division championship in 1963-64.
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Leek Town reached the final of the FA Trophy in 1990, having progressed all the way from the First Qualifying Round, but lost in the final at Wembley Stadium to Barrow. In 1997 they were Northern Premier League champions and gained promotion to the Football Conference, the highest level of English non-league football, although they only spent two seasons at that level before being relegated.
Harrison Park has been the club's home ground since 1948 after paying £1,250 for the land, no other facilities were added until the 1950s and players had to change in the toilets of a nearby pub. Expanded and upgraded in the 1990s, the ground is named after former chairman Geoff Harrison.
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The club has won the League Championship eight times, the FA Cup five times, the League Cup eight times, and the European Cup Winners Cup once. After gaining significant financial investment both in playing staff and facilities following its takeover by Sheikh Mansour through the Abu Dhabi Group in 2008, City began to obtain unprecedented success. Currently managed by Pep Guardiola, they have won four of the past five league titles, breaking multiple records during that time, as well as being the first team to achieve 100 points in a top flight season in 2018. The club's most successful period before that though was during the late 1960s and early 1970s, when they won several major trophies under the management team of Joe Mercer and his assistant Malcolm Allison, and with players such as Colin Bell and Francis Lee.
Manchester City's biggest rivalry is with neighbours Manchester United, against whom they contest the Manchester derby.
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Founded in 1896, the club joined the Southern Football League in 1933 and remained there until 2001 when they gained promotion to the Football Conference, the highest level of English non-league football.
Their tenure in the Conference saw the team forced to groundshare with other clubs due to drawn-out and problematic redevelopment work at their Hartsdown Park stadium, and during the three years spent away from their own ground they were expelled from the Conference National and subsequently relegated to the Isthmian League.
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Founded in 1902, Norwich have played their home games at Carrow Road since 1935, a ground that was constructed in just 82 days. Its record attendance of 43,984 was achieved in 1963 for an FA Cup game against Leicester City. Following new legislation and redevelopment into an all-seated stadium, its current capacity is 26,034.
The club have a long-standing rivalry with East Anglian neighbours Ipswich Town, with whom they contest the East Anglian derby. Other teams in the area also compete with Norwich for the informal Pride of Anglia award.
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Preston were one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888, and have appeared in the top flight on 46 occasions, but they have not played at this level since 1961, the year after Tom Finney retired. Finney was revered around Preston, and they had a couple of near misses, whether it be finishing runners-up to Arsenal in 1953 or losing in the 1954 FA Cup final to West Brom. However, what they are mostly known for is that they were the first Double winners and not only did they won the inaugural league championship, they did it without losing a single game, giving them the nickname "The Invincibles", a feat that would be replicated by Arsenal 115 years later, and they won the FA Cup without conceding one goal. The Lilywhites won the title again in 1890 but their only major success since then has been their 1938 FA Cup final victory over Huddersfield Town. Other notable players include Tommy Docherty, Graham Alexander, Paul Gallagher, Alan Kelly Sr., and Bill Shankly, with the latter two commemorated at Deepdale by stands named after them. Finney also has a stand named after him, but also a statute outside the ground.
Traditionally, Preston's main rivalry is with Blackpool, given that the two clubs are 17 miles apart, but there have been other local rivals in the league over the years including Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic.
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Nicknamed the "Owls", the club has won four league titles, three FA Cups and one League Cup, but their League Cup triumph in 1991 is their only major trophy since World War II. They did reach both domestic cup finals in 1993, but lost 2-1 to Arsenal each time.
Their main rivals are neighbours Sheffield United. Matches between Wednesday and United are nicknamed Steel City derbies and are usually the highlight of the season for both sets of fans. Famous matches include The Boxing Day Massacre, a Football League Third Division match which took place at Hillsborough on 26 December 1979. A record Third Division crowd of 49,309 fans watched Wednesday beat United 4-0 and the game has become part of Sheffield Wednesday folklore, even inspiring a song.
Whilst they have some successes, there has been a few bleak moments for the Owls. After relegation from the First Division in 1970, Wednesday did not reappear at this level until 14 years later after a grim 70s. Currently, they have played in the top tier 66 times, but have not returned since 2000.
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Henry was born and brought up in the tough neighbourhood of Les Ulis, Essonne—a suburb of Paris—where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and signed instantly, making his professional debut in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up in 1998, after which, he signed for the Italian defending champions Juventus. He had a disappointing season playing on the wing, before joining Arsenal for £10.5 million in 1999.
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The club briefly rose as high as the second tier of English football, spending two seasons in the Second Division in the 1970s. At the end of the 2003–04 season the club lost their League status when they were relegated from the Third Division, and have since remained in the Conference.
York have enjoyed more success in cup competitions than in the league, with highlights including an FA Cup semi-final appearance in 1955. In the 1995–96 League Cup, York beat Manchester United 3–0 at Old Trafford.
Traditionally, York City's two main rivalries have been with Scarborough and Hull City with the rivalry between Hull and York being represented as a battle between a lion (York City's mascot) and a tiger (Hull City's mascot).
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He is now better known for his success as both a club and international manager, having won league championships in both the Netherlands and Portugal, earning trophies in England and Spain, and taking England to the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup. His last management role was as a mentor to the manager of the Republic of Ireland national team, while his final official club job was at boyhood club Newcastle United, whom he left in 2004. He held several managerial positions outside of England, most notably one year at Barcelona in 1996–97, as well as stints at PSV, Sporting CP and Porto.
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When he was first appointed on 22 September 1996, much of the English press and his own players weren't that excited, but on his first full season, 1997-98, he became the first foreign manager to win the league title in England, giving Arsenal their first title for seven years. They would also complete the double, defeating Newcastle Utd 2-0 in the 1998 FA Cup Final.
After that first successful full season, Wenger and Arsenal would go on to win another double in 2002, and win their third league championship under his management in 2004, but this was also the first season since the inaugural season of the Football League where a team went through the entire season unbeaten, nicknaming the 2004 team as The Invincibles. Arsenal would also later eclipsed Nottingham Forest's record of 42 league matches unbeaten and went seven more matches before finally losing, albeit in controversial circumstances, in 24 October 2004.
In 2006, Wenger guided Arsenal to their first ever European Cup Final, though they lost to Barcelona 3-1, despite scoring first. This season also marked the final season at Highbury, as they moved to Ashburton Grove, officially named the Emirates Stadium in the summer. For the rest of his tenure, Wenger prioritized the club's finances in order to meet costs, but this resulted in a nine-year spell without winning a trophy, before Wenger guided the Gunners to three FA Cups in four seasons (2014-2017), making him the most winningest manager in the FA Cup.
In the league however, by 2017-18, Arsenal were going sideways, likely to miss out on the top 4 yet again, he announced he would step down as Arsenal manager after the season concluded. His final home game was a 5–0 win against Burnley on 6 May, where he received a standing ovation before the game and was gifted the gold mini-replica Premier League trophy he won during the 2003–04 Invincibles season as a departing gift from Arsenal, and he officially concluded his tenure with a 1–0 away win against Huddersfield.
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Gilberto was raised in a poor family and as a child he balanced playing football with various labour jobs. He began his football career in 1997 with América Mineiro, where good form earned him a move to Atlético Mineiro in 2000. He became a star player for Atlético, playing for three years in the Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. He came to particular prominence when he helped the Brazilian national team win the 2002 FIFA World Cup, playing in all seven of Brazil's matches.
In August 2002, for a fee of £4.5 million, he joined Arsenal with whom he won the 2004 FA Premier League, and two FA Cup trophies. In his first five seasons with the club he played 208 games and scored 23 goals. On 19 August 2006 he scored Arsenal's first competitive goal at the newly built Emirates Stadium. He was made vice-captain of Arsenal in 2006 and is contracted to the club until June 2009. In 2007 he was selected as Brazil captain for the Copa América tournament, which Brazil went on to win.
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Chelsea have never gone to this stage of the competition until 2008, but United have appeared in two European Cup finals before in 1968 and 1999, both ending in victory, with the latter capping off a treble. The two started off in the group stages and both finished top spot, but Chelsea decided to change their manager, with Jose Mourinho being dismissed and Avram Grant was named as his replacement. United had gotten past the defending French champions Lyon, Italian club Roma, and a two-time European Cup winner at the time, Barcelona. Chelsea, on the other hand, have had a more bumpier ride, having only drawn 0-0 at Greek club Olympiakos in the last 16 and trailed 2-1 to Turkish champions Fenerbahçe in the quarter-final first legs. However, they won both second legs at home and set up a semi-final against Liverpool, the team that beat them at this stage twice in three years. Ultimately, Chelsea made it third time lucky against the then five-time winners, defeating them 4-3 on aggregate to make their first ever European Cup final.
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The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professional until 1936, and were subsequently elected to join the Football League in 1938. They play their home games at Portman Road in Ipswich. The only fully professional football club in Suffolk, they have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with Norwich City in Norfolk, with whom they have contested the East Anglian Derby 134 times since 1902.
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From 1878 to 1914, the team was selected by a committee whose secretary had the same powers and role as a manager has today. There were four secretaries during this period, A. H. Albut, James West, J. Ernest Mangnall and John Bentley.
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Albion were one of the founding members of The Football League in 1888 but have won the league title only once, in 1919–20. They have had more success in the FA Cup, with five wins. The first came in 1888, the year the league was founded, and the most recent in 1968, their last major trophy. They also won the Football League Cup at the first attempt in 1966. Since the early 1980s the club has been less successful and they spent their longest ever period out of the top division from 1986 to 2002. During their exile from the top tier, in 1991, the Baggies fell to the third tier for the first time. However, Albion won promotion over their Black Country Neighbours, Wolves, in 2002, despite being 10 points ahead of them. For most of the 2000s, Albion yo-yoed between the Premiership and the second tier, before they were a mainstay in the top flight for the majority of the following decade. After relegation in 2018, Albion returned to the Premiership two years later, but went down the following year.
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Greaves began his professional career at Chelsea in 1957 and played in the following year's FA Youth Cup final. He scored 124 First Division goals in just four seasons before being sold to Italian club A.C. Milan for £80,000 in April 1961. His stay in Italy was unsuccessful, and he returned to England with Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £99,999 in December 1961. Whilst with Spurs, he won the FA Cup in 1961–62 and 1966–67, the Charity Shield in 1962 and 1967, and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1962–63; he never won a league title but did help Spurs to a second-place finish in 1962–63. He moved to West Ham United in a player exchange in March 1970 and retired the following year. After a four-year absence, he returned to football at the non-league level despite suffering from alcoholism. In five years, he played for Brentwood, Chelmsford City, Barnet, and Woodford Town before retiring for good in 1980.
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