Review of the decade 2010-2019
A lot has changed in football over the course of the decade. From the emergence of Manchester City as the dominant club in English football to the introduction of VAR at the 2018 World Cup before being brought in to the top-tier of English football, this decade has seen a lot of changes.
Two managerial giants in Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger left their posts as managers at Manchester United and Arsenal respectively. The two of them had managed for a total of 49 years between them!
Football stadiums have changed over the course of the decade, the most notable Premier League changes have been at Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Brighton and Hove Albion.
Tottenham knocked down their White Hart Lane stadium and built a huge super stadium in its place!
In 2016, West Ham moved out of Upton Park, their home for 112 years and into the London Stadium (what was the Olympic Stadium for London 2012).
Brighton finally got their own stadium after waiting for 14 long years and moved into a new stadium in Falmer. They had played in various different grounds since leaving the Goldstone Ground back in 1997.
Manchester City had a takeover in 2008 and won their first title in 44 years in 2012, a last-gasp goal from Sergio Aguero in their final game against QPR to steal the league title from arch-rivals Manchester United.
City became the dominant force of English football, winning five league titles since 2010 and only finished outside the top three once in this time.
They even broke Chelsea’s points total of 95 points in a season by getting 100 in the 2017/18 season.
Despite their dominance in the domestic game, they have been unable to win a European trophy. This is something that coach Pep Guardiola is desperate to change as soon as possible.
The fairytale of the decade has to be Leicester City’s Premier League winning season.
2015/16 will always be remembered as the season that rank outsiders Leicester City shocked the footballing world and won the English Premier League. With players Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante, City stormed to the league title.
Arsenal won their first competition since 2005, coming back from 2-0 down to beat Hull City in the 2014 FA Cup Final. They followed this up with Cup wins in 2015 and 2017, but Arsenal Wenger left after results had gone downhill and fans started to call from his resignation.
Liverpool end the decade as red-hot favourites to win their first league title in 30 years, having won all but one of their league games to date. Manchester United are the only team that they have dropped points to, with their match at Old Trafford ending 1-1. The Reds are 13 points clear at the top with a game in hand.
England have had mixed fortunes over the decade in the three World Cups. They were knocked out 4-1 by Germany in the Second Round of the 2010 World Cup with Fabio Cappello in charge. It was Roy Hodgson who took England to the next World Cup in Brazil and they didn’t even get out of the group stages, their worst performance in years.
Things were much better in the 2018 World Cup when they reached the Semi Finals, the furthest that an England side had got in the competition since 1990. They even won a penalty shootout, beating Colombia in the Second Round!
Wales qualified for the 2016 European Championships, the first time that they had reached a major tournament since 1958. They performed extremely well, reaching the semi-finals before losing to eventual champions Portugal.
Northern Ireland also reached the 2016 European Championships in France, their first major tournament since the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
2016 was the first time that 24 teams would compete in the European Championships. This has been the only change to a major international tournament this decade. Because of the extra spaces, teams like Iceland and Albania were able to reach their first major tournament.
Scotland have yet to reach a major tournament since 1998 and haven’t looked like they are going to either.
They have reached the play-offs for next summer’s European Championships but have a couple of difficult fixtures to win if they are to get through.
The European Nations League has also been introduced in the last couple of years and is still in its infancy. Time will tell whether it is a success or not.
Other news that has had quite a big impact on the game of football has been the sacking of Sepp Blatter as head of FIFA and Michel Platini resigning from his role as UEFA President.
Both were banned from football for eight years after a scandal in 2015.
This will be the decade most remembered for the one when Sir Alex Ferguson finally left Manchester United after 27 years at the helm. Arsene Wenger also left Arsenal after being in charge for 22 years. Manchester City would take over as the dominant team in Manchester.
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