Michael Thomas, Sergio Agüero, Josh Stones: football’s latest title-winning goals | Soccer

“York City won the National League, and achieved promotion to the EFL, thanks to a goal from Josh Stones in the 103rd minute of their final game,” writes Eddie Giles. “Which players have scored the latest title-winning goals?”

In case you’ve been at a digital detox retreat for the past few days, York’s Josh Stones scored a 103rd-minute equaliser at Rochdale on Saturday to win the title and secure promotion to League Two. Had Stones not scored, Emmanuel Dieseruvwe’s 95th-minute strike would have won the title for Rochdale.

There are a remarkable amount of title races which were decided in the final 10 minutes (plus stoppage time) of the final game. Two of them will spring straight to everyone’s mind: Michael Thomas for Arsenal in 1988-89 (92nd minute) and Sergio Agüero for Manchester City in 2011-12 (94th minute).

A decade on from Agüero’s goal against QPR, City went to the well again to beat Aston Villa at the Etihad and pip Liverpool to the title. In a match they had to win, City were 2-0 down after 75 minutes before Ilkay Gundogan (twice) and Rodri scored in the space of six delirious minutes. Gündogan’s winner came in the 81st.

Ray Kennedy’s title-winning goal in 1971 is part of Arsenal folklore. Not only because it came so late (87th minute), but because it was at White Hart Lane against their greatest rivals. In 1981, Jesus Maria Zamora’s equaliser at Sporting Gijón, scored with 10 seconds of normal time left, gave Real Sociedad the first league title in their history.

It’s not always the creative players who have the final word, though. Defender Guido Buchwald won the 1991-92 Bundesliga for Stuttgart in the 86th minute of their final game at Leverkusen, as VfB won a three-way last-day title battle with Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt.

In 2000-01, Bayern Munich had to draw at Hamburg to be sure of finishing above Schalke. Bayern conceded in the 90th minute, only for defender Patrik Andersson to equalise in the 94th. It was the only goal he ever scored for Bayern, and denied Schalke a first Bundesliga title they’re still waiting for.

Oldham were already heading to the top flight when they played the last game of the 1990-91 season at home to also-promoted Sheffield Wednesday. But Neil Redfearn’s injury-time penalty moved them above West Ham, securing the Division Two title and making Boundary Park shake.

Not all title-winning goals are scored by title-winning players – take Motherwell’s Scott McDonald. In 2005, he scored twice in the closing minutes against Celtic to give the title to Rangers. His first goal, scored in the 88th minute, made the game 1-1, enough for Rangers to take first place.

Newcastle topped the Championship in 2016-17 because their title rivals, Brighton, conceded an 89th-minute goal by Jack Grealish at Villa Park in their final game. And don’t talk to Hearts fans about Albert Kiddthe St Mirren substitute whose two late goals denied them the title in 1985-86.

We haven’t been able to find a title-winning goal as late as York’s on Saturday, not even close. Below is the list we have at the moment sorted by the minute in which the goals were scored.

Falling from a great height

“What’s the highest a team has been in the table going into the final day, only to be relegated?” wonders Dom Miller.

“It’ll surely be beaten but I’m still bitter,” begins Mike Morris. “Huddersfield Town were 20th in the second tier going into the last day of the 2000-01 season – two points ahead of both Portsmouth and Crystal Palace, with a better goal difference. Pompey eased past mid-table Barnsley 3-0, Palace grabbed a controversial late winner at Stockport, and Town went down after losing 2-1 at home to Birmingham. But it was quarter of a century ago and I’m fine about it.”

The Terriers fell two places in the standings, a mark matched by another Yorkshire side in the 1993-94 Premier League. Sheffield United were 18th in the 22-team table going into the final day. Everton kicked off in the bottom three and went 2-0 down at home to Wimbledon before fighting back to win 3-2.

That left the Blades battling the drop with Ipswich (who drew 0-0 at Blackburn) and Southampton, who took a point from a six-goal thriller at West Ham. Sheffield United led twice at Stamford Bridge but lost 3-2, Mark Stein’s injury-time winner condemning them to the drop by a single point.

Looking further back, things become murkier as not all teams played their final games on the same date. Take the 1927-28 First Divisiona nip-and-tuck affair where the bottom 10 teams were separated by just two points going into the last day. Tottenham were 18th of 22 teams – three places above the two-team drop zone – having already played their final game, losing 2-0 at Anfield.

“In the final round of games, Sunderland, Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday all won to climb above Spurs,” writes Chris Roe. United were bottom but thrashed Liverpool 6-1, while Sunderland won 3-0 at Middlesbrough and Wednesday beat Aston Villa 2-0.

Tottenham went down along with Boro, with seven teams beating the drop by a point. Sheffield Wednesday made the most of their reprieve, winning back-to-back titles in their next two top-flight campaigns. But back to the question: are there any falls from a greater height? Mike Slattery reminds us of a tale told in a previous Knowledge.

“On 29 April 1978, Blackpool went into their final Division Two game in 14th place – six spots above the relegation zone. They lost 2-1 at Brighton, dropping to 16th with their campaign at a close.” The bottom two (Mansfield and Hull) could not catch Blackpool, but the four teams from 17th to 20th still had games to play.

Remarkably, all four teams – Charlton, Millwall, Cardiff and Orient – did enough in their remaining games to overhaul Blackpool. Their relegation was sealed 10 days after the Brighton fixture, when Orient won at Ninian Park in the very last game of the season.

As Mike notes, it took the Seasiders some time to recover. “Blackpool had never previously dropped outside the top two divisions in their Football League history, but it would take 29 years for them to get back there.”

Greats who never played in England (II)

A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the best footballers never to play a match in England. There are a few more to add, and one to cross off. Roger Milla may have declined to play at Wembley in February 1991 but, as Mykola Kozlenko points out, he did turn out at White Hart Lane a couple of months earlier.

The match, a testimonial for Peter Shiltonwas between England and an Italia 90 XI, selected by Franz Beckenbauer. In what may have felt like a fever dream to those attending, England won 4-0 with Paul Gascoigne, Matt Le Tissier and a 39-year-old Kevin Keegan all scoring. Milla played alongside the likes of Gheorghe Hagi, Michel Platini, Carlos Valderrama and, yes, Steve Staunton.

Now to a big name we missed. James Dixon nominates the legendary Fritz Walterwho captained West Germany to glory at the 1954 World Cup before promptly ending his international career.

Knowledge archive

“I noticed in the League Cup final, Southampton were taking part in their fourth major cup final without playing in their first-choice colours,” noted Jez Orbell back in 2017. “They did play in stripes in the 1976 Charity Shield but if we stick to major competitions, what’s the record?”

Here’s Ben McNamee. “I doubt it’s a record but in six of their 12 major cup finals in the 20th century, Manchester City wore a change of strip,” he writes.

“City more a maroon kit in the 1933, 1934 and 1956 FA Cup finals and then red-and-black stripes in the 1969 FA Cup final, 1970 League Cup final and 1970 European Cup Winners’ Cup final. They only lost one of those finals (1933) but lost four of the six where they played in sky blue. City’s home kit has, however, proved more fortunate in recent years, with City wearing their preferred colours in all four of their recent finals, winning three of them.”

Since 2017, Pep Guardiola’s side have played in plenty more showpiece games, wearing their home kit for two Champions League finals (won in 2023, lost in 2021), one Club World Cup final (won), four FA Cup finals (won two, lost two), four League Cup finals (won all four). City wore their black away kit against Aston Villa in the 2020 League Cup final, which they won 2-1.

Dirk Maas adds: “Milan played six of their last seven European Cup finals in a white kit, instead of the red-and-black striped home shirts.” Milan have played in 11 European Cup or Champions League finals, wearing white for wins in 1963, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003 and 2007, plus defeats to Ajax (1995) and Liverpool (2005). The Rossoneri wore their home kit for their 1969 final triumph, plus defeats in 1958 and 1993.

Can you help?

“Burnley have been relegated and have just 20 points,” writes Alex. “Could this be the lowest points tally in Premier League history where a team has kept faith with the same manager for the whole season?”

“Daniel Farke has managed Leeds against three different Chelsea managers three times this season: Enzo Maresca, Liam Rosenior and caretaker Calum McFarlane (in the FA Cup). Has this ever happened before?” asks Leigh Cartwright.

“When Southampton played Bristol City last week, the managers were Tonda Eckert (33 years old) and Roy Hodgson (78) – an age gap of 45 years. Is this a record?” wonders GD Wolkovic.

“Stevenage are sixth in League One with 20 victories, none of which were by more than two goals,” notes Mark Edwards. “Have any teams performed even better in the league without a three-goal victory?”

“Nottingham Forest have scored nine of their 41 league goals this season (22%) in their past two games,” says Jim Hearson. “Which team has the highest concentration of their total season goals within a short space of time?”

“In the recent La Liga game between Barcelona and Celta Vigo, Lamine Yamal’s injury meant the first half ran to 67 minutes. What is the longest first half on record?” asks Chris Whearty.