the times | Tuesday May 24 2022 61
Sport
lethal Son – fans’ review of Premier League season
West Ham United
Graeme Howlett, editor KUMB.com
Player of season Jarrod Bowen.
Eighteen goals in all competitions.
Overall verdict A top-seven finish
and a European semi-final; it was
out of the ordinary. 9/10
Leicester City
Leicester fan Iain Wright.
Player of season James
Maddison. Excellent from
November onwards.
Overall verdict Injuries
and late goals leave us
wondering what might
have been. 6.5/10
Brighton
Scott McCarthy,
WeAreBrighton.com
Player of season
Marc Cucurella. Can
become one of the world’s best full
backs. Overall verdict Watching on
the road was a joy, at the Amex a
chore. 8/10
Wolves
Richard Hobbs, Wolves Fancast
Player of season José Sá. League’s
best goalkeeper by most metrics.
Overall verdict Improved on
last season but the form
since March is a cause for
concern. 7/ 1 0
Newcastle United
Alex Hurst
Player of season Joelinton.
From worst player in the
league to one of the best.
Overall verdict The
fourth best team in
the country since
January 1. 10/10Crystal Palace
Ray Wright, Crystal Palace Supporters’
Trust
Player of season Conor Gallagher. We
all hope he returns next term.
Overall verdict Fans are
overwhelmed by a more
exciting style. 8/10
Brentford
Rob Jex, Supporter of the
Year 1990
Player of season
Christian Eriksen. I’ve
never seen one player make
such a positive impact.
Overall verdict A glorious start, a
very dodgy middle, and an enjoyable
Eriksen-inspired conclusion. 9/10
Aston Villa
Ty Bracey, host of The Villa View
Player of season Matty Cash.
Consistently brilliant.
Overall verdict Stagnant. 5/10season which ended in achieving the
objective of staying up. 6/10
Burnley
Paul Matey Machel
Player of season Nick Pope’s world-
class saves kept us in so many games.
Overall verdict Too many players
haven’t been at the races. 5/10
Watford
Steve Temple, chairman of Watford
Supporters Trust
Player of season Hassane Kamara. He
was effective at left back.
Overall verdict Defensively fragile,
suffered from individual errors and
lacked confidence. 1/10
Norwich City
Nick Hayhoe, Along Come Norwich
Player of season Teemu Pukki. To
score 11 goals in such an awful season
is a huge achievement.
Overall verdict New signings
disappointed. 0/10Southampton
Martin Starke, Total Saints Podcast
Player of season James Ward-Prowse.
There’s a lot more to his game than
headline-grabbing free kicks.
Overall verdict At the start
we had hopes of a top-ten
finish but we ended in the
bottom half. 5/10
Everton
Tony Scott, All Together
Now podcast
Player of season Jordan
Pickford. Everton would
have been down and out
without him.
Overall verdict Painful. Draining. 3/10
Leeds United
Peter Emmerson, season ticket holder
Player of season Raphinha. Made the
difference when it mattered, showing
drive, creativity and fearlessness.
Overall verdict A tense and emotionalMB.com
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here will be many Manchester
City fans who have enjoyed
each of their side’s six Premier
League titles, and plenty who can
remember the 1967-68 league
champions.
Then there is Geoffrey Rothband,
who, at the age of 101, after the
dramatic final-day victory over
Aston Villa, has witnessed all eight of
the club’s First Division and Premier
League titles.
And for all the silky skills of the
players who have graced the Etihad
in the past decade or so, in the eyes
of Rothband not one of them can
match the 1937 title-winning hero
Peter Doherty.
“Even after all this time and all the
great players that City have had, he
will say Doherty is the top,”
Rothband’s son Nigel said. “Sergio
Agüero, Kevin De Bruyne, David
Silva, he likes them all but Doherty
will always be No 1.”
Even a visit by Agüero to his house
in Bowdon, Greater Manchester,
in 2015, when the pair
chatted for 90 minutes
about City, couldn’t
make him change his
mind about his
favourite player.
“It was Doherty’s
enthusiasm that he
liked the most,”
Nigel said. “He
would watch him
lining up and he would
rub his hands in
anticipation — and my dad
loved that because you could
see he loved his football. He was a
fantastic footballer.”
Rothband Sr’s City journey began
when he was a teenager. His dad was
a keen golfer so never had an interest
in taking him to games, but with the
family being born and bred in
Manchester there was City interest
from elsewhere. It was his uncle who
took him to Maine Road for the first
time in 1932 and he was hooked.
As he got a little older he would
ride his bike to the ground, pay a
penny to park it up at a house nearby
and stand on the Kippax with his
friend Morris, whom he travelled up
and down the country with watching
his beloved City.
Since then he has seen them win
four FA Cups, eight league cups, a
European Cup Winners’ Cup and
eight top-tier league titles. WhileCity supporter, 101, who has
seen all eight of their titles
Charlotte Dunckereveryone talks about City’s recent
success it is their title win in 1936-37
that stands out most.
“His favourite times were standing
in the Popular Side [what the Kippax
used to be called], that’s really what
he loved,” Nigel said. “When he talks
about City now it’s the older days he
gets more excited about. Obviously
he recognises the amazing football
they play now, and the talent, but
finds all the new stadiums a bit
clinical. It’s not quite the same as
the old days and he really
harks back to the ’36-37
team because that was
the greatest City team
there ever was.”
It’s not only the
glory days that have
shaped Rothband
Sr’s journey. He was
there for the days in
Division Two, which
resulted in him having
a pessimistic outlook on
City’s chances of future
success. It was therefore no
surprise that he, like many others,
thought City’s hopes of a fourth title
in five years had gone when Philippe
Coutinho put Aston Villa 2-0 up on
Sunday.
“He’s always pessimistic every time
we play a game, he’s the perfect
example of a typical City fan. We
both thought that was it, there’s no
way we’re coming back,” Nigel said.
Rothband Sr’s age and health
means he has watched the past three
Premier League trophy lifts on
television. On Sunday he watched it
in a care home but his emotion was
still the same as it was ten years ago
when he stood in the stands
watching Agüero win it against QPR.
“He’s absolutely thrilled and can’t
quite believe it,” Nigel said. “He was
shaking his head in disbelief with a
massive grin on his face.”Rothband with his grandson Harry,
above, and at the 1955 cup final, belowr
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