Isn't This Supposed to be Fun?

Is it Still Possible to Enjoy a Title Race?

“Strap yourselves in. It’s going to be nerve-shredding…”

Not so long ago, The Athletic ran a piece about how title races have become too stressful to be enjoyable. If that is so, and it’s hard to say otherwise, the question is, why? And was it ever thus?

I got to comparing how title races feel nowadays with the halcyon days of the ‘70s and ‘80s. There are numerous differences between then ad now, not least that I am older and supposedly more aware of the potential for things to go wrong. Maybe you feel tension less when you're younger and less concerned with context and the fear of what can go wrong, just taking it all in your stride. But two decisive factors emerged in determining whether a title race is agony or ecstasy.

The first, most obvious one is, is football-related: how easy was it? Our most recent title win was in fact a stroll, a procession, as we were in the very unpressured situation of being 25 points clear of second-placed Manchester City (albeit the latter had two games in hand), and we only had nine games left, one of them at City - when the league suddenly stopped. Worst case scenario, if City won their two games in hand and beat us at the Etihad, we’d still have a 16 point lead with eight games left - in other words they had to gain two points on us every single match! You won't ever get much less pressure than that in a title race.

But the pressure that did arrive came not from the competition but from a global pandemic. Very quickly, it then spread to self-interested voiders, and from the uncertainty of knowing when or even whether the season would resume. But eventually, it did resume, and we made it comfortably, even if there was nobody in the stadia to see it. And, just a note to any asteriskers still out there, Liverpool had already amassed enough points to win the title even before the season was interrupted by coronavirus …

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