“What fourth place really needs is its own medal - something symbolic, something that reflects the feeling you get the rest of your life as it hangs around your neck. Is lead taken?" - Rick Reilly, US journalist
Get ready for a summer of slogans.
‘Just do it’.
If you don’t jet off with the ‘world’s favourite airline this
summer’, and the other half – who apparently ‘loves Milk Tray’ – allows you to
govern the remote, Euro 2012 viewing will precede “a showcase of sporting excellence”.
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| Fourth place offered no reward for Dathan Ritzenhein |
That is what the London 2012 slogan says we can expect, and expect
we will.
Two summer events, both with worldwide audiences, but with
differing views of what represents success.
How would football’s slogan read?
It would seem achieving mediocrity has never been more highly
thought of in the sport.
American journalist and broadcaster Rick Reilly once summed up finishing fourth at the Olympics: “What fourth place really needs is its own medal - something symbolic, something that reflects the feeling you get the rest of your life as it hangs around your neck. Is lead taken?"
There are no adjustments to the Olympic podium. The standard
demanded is the standard demanded.
Miss third spot and weigh up if a lifetime of training was worth a
lifetime of looking back at what if?
Fourth place - bland, unexceptional, vanilla.
Conversely, in football, we crave it. To Chairmen, fans and
managers, ‘it’s finger lickin good’.
Clubs long to be average Joe, striding the European cat walk.
Wash away your shortcomings with a fourth place finish, mask your
frailty.
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| An average win percentage of 50.8% has secured fourth spot |
In the 17 years since the Premier League moved to a 20 team
structure, fourth placed teams have been just that. Frail.
Over the time frame, finishing fourth has required, on average, a
51% win rate.
Hardly a feat worth salivating over. Glory, with a measly one in
two.
I thought good sides were consistent.
Not quite it would seem, but we still regard their inconsistent
offerings as success and heap reward on fourth place sides who spend half the
season offering drab fare.
Flat performances represent merely a speed bump en route to
foreign roads.
Fans have celebrated a place on the adaptable Premier League
podium with their team showing the ruthlessness of Mickey Mouse or Bambi.
Liverpool in 2003/04 with a whopping 42% win rate, Everton (47%) a
year later, Leeds United (47%) in 1999 and even Aston Villa (47%) way back when
in 1996.
Surely rewarding such indifferent performance goes against the
sporting grain?
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| Sides have been frozen out of the top four frame |
US marathoner Dathan Ritzenhein recently finished fourth in his
country’s Olympic trials. He missed third and an Olympic spot by eight seconds.
He had no manager to sack and no chairman to blame.
Fourth was a place so lonely, his retort was to say he may not run
a marathon again.
Brutality’s place in sport is needed.
Football’s all too forgiving nature has played its part in
re-shaping what is even achievable.
‘Impossible is nothing.’
Try telling that to the likes of Aston Villa and West Ham United.
During ten seasons in the eighties, they were two of the 13 sides
to secure a top four berth.
Fast forward to the last ten years and only eight sides have felt
what a top four finish feels like.
Ironically, achieving mediocrity and the financial rewards that go
with it has allowed a group of teams to cut others away from the mainland.
Rewarding mediocrity, finishing fourth really is football’s answer
to the banker’s bonus.
Ipswich Town remain the only side to miss the top four in the last
17 years with 20 wins in a season.
"The 40 point barrier" is a phrase reserved for the not so cool kids dipping their toe in murky waters at the wrong end of the league, but keep an eye out for "the 20 win marker" in coming years. It's coming. As is more celebration of glowing mediocrity.
The demands of securing the holy, if unspectacular grail, are
minuscule when compared to the hype which surrounds the achievement.
Some solid investment, a bit of spring cleaning and a leg up onto the otherwise restrictive podium is yours. ‘Every little helps’.
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| Malaga's investment made ease of a jump to fourth |
Just ask Malaga. A side who tasted two top eight finishes in 12
years, Manuel Pellegrini’s outfit took just two seasons to make the top four
when foreign money arrived on their shore.
It’s not rocket science and coming fourth is hardly something to
be proud of, yet it now seems to be the yardstick for success. Just ask Kenny Dalglish.
'It does exactly what it says on the tin.' Or not quite in the
case of the Champions League.
The competitions willingness to open its doors to the average
seemingly creates leagues within leagues, devalues cup competitions and creates
a medal for mediocrity cop-out.
Tottenham’s 52% win rate this year represented job done until
London rivals Chelsea signalled a false start.
Fourth place heartache. A scenario which will litter the lives of countless
athletes this summer.
That’s the way it should be. ‘Simples.’
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