Hope. It is the word that makes most sense of the beautiful game, of why we spend hours and days and weeks of our existence obsessing over something that, for the vast majority of us, if we’re being really honest with ourselves, has little impact on our lives. And the beginning of a new season is where the hope is at it’s highest. Old heroes have moved on, the failures and successes of last year are in the past, and now we look forward. New players to deify, new trophies to be chased, new records to be set. Each and every one of us knows, right up until kick off on the opening weekend of the season, that this is going to be our year. And, depending on whom you support, that knowledge can last anywhere from 60 seconds to 60 matches into the campaign. But, however it goes, every summer we reset, we get excited, and we believe again. There’s comfort in that.
So now we come to the beginning of a new Premier League season, and we want to sustain that feeling, feed the hope, for as long as possible, before the nights close in and the points are dropped and the rain hammers down. It won’t take long for most of us to be brought back down to earth, but we all know the importance of maintaining the hope for at least one more week, with a good opening day performance.
Leeds certainly know a thing or two about opening day performances, having put together a run of twenty consecutive opening day wins, from the heady days of Howard Wilkinson’s return to the top flight in 1991, to the depths (by their standards at least) of League One in 2009, where Simon Grayson oversaw a victorious start to a season that would end with promotion. That run lasted through thirteen different managers, a league title, a Champions League semi-final, two relegations and the real threat of the club going out of business, the longest in the Football League. And yet, throughout all that turmoil, they kept the opening day a safe haven where, however disastrous it had been, fans could go home believing they were on the road to recovery.
For longer runs than that, we have to look to more consistently successful teams, and we have to look beyond England. Few are more consistently successful throughout Europe than Celtic.
The Glaswegians put together a run of 23 opening day victories, beginning with a 5-0 demolition of Dunfermline in 1998, a Craig Burley hat trick doing most of the damage, and ending only last season with a last minute John Souttar winner for Hearts. For their part, Celtic went through twelve different managers on their run, securing 15 league titles and ten Scottish Cups, as well as losing the UEFA Cup final in 2003. Certainly, opening day victory augurs more success in Scotland than it does in England.
But even a run of 23 opening day victories isn’t the longest. For that we need to head to the Mediterranean, and the Old Lady, where Juventus reign supreme.
On the opening day of 1982, Juventus, complete with Dino Zoff and Michel Platini, travelled to relative upstarts Sampdoria. The home side were bolstered by a forward line of Roberto Mancini and Trevor Francis, fed by Arsenal legend Liam Brady, but it was fullback Mauro Ferroni who scored the only goal of the game in the 67th minute. That would be the last opening day that Juventus failed to win for nearly three decades, finally falling to defeat in 2010 to Bari, the single goal coming, ironically, from former Celtic player Massimo Donati. He was just 18 months old the previous time Juventus had failed to win in the first match of the season.
The Old Lady got through thirteen managers in that time, counting both Giovanni Trapattoni and Marcello Lippi twice, and ‘only’ won seven league titles in that time, with two Italian Cups. But they also counted two European Cups, a Cup Winners Cup, three UEFA Cups and an Intertoto Cup in that time, so it’s not all bad.
So here’s hoping for an opening day victory to kick on to success. It might not lead to Champions League glory, but we can dream.
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