5 players who didn’t get a Premier League medal despite ending up on the winning team
Winning the Premier League is the biggest achievement available in English football. It is essentially the domination of English football. Manchester City today are the strongest club in England. They've won the Premier League three times in the past half-decade, picking up back-to-back titles, and most recently picking up the trophy last season too.
In the nearly three decades since its inception, the Premier League has produced only seven champions, with Manchester United winning a record 13 times. However, these seven clubs who have won the coveted trophy have had players who never received a winner's medal.
While the rules have changed, the only medal-eligible players in a title-winning team were those who had made at least 10 Premier League appearances. In 2012, the rules were lightened, and the minimum number of appearances a person had to make became five.
Commemorative medals were also another rule tweak. Today, the Premier League gives 40 such medals to the winning club, who can then give said medals to staff or players of their preference.
Because of this, it has become easier for players to receive a medal even though they did not reach the minimum number of appearances required.
It was certainly tough on many such players who might have failed the 10-appearance requirement, helped the team through injury crises and did not receive a medal for their efforts. Let's take a look at five such players who didn't receive a medal in a league-winning season with their club.
5. Wes Brown (Manchester United)
The former centre-back has won five Premier League titles, even helping the Red Devils pick up three back-to-back titles in an era of great dominance under Sir Alex Ferguson.
However, before his move to Sunderland in 2011, Wes Brown missed out on two Premier League title-winning medals. Due to injury, he missed out on the majority of the 2008-09 season, picking up only eight appearances. Two years later, Brown was struggling with injury again and had to watch many of the games from the sidelines. With only seven appearances under his belt that season, he was ineligible for a medal as Manchester United powered on to Premier League glory.
4. Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United)
Like former teammate Wes Brown, Hargreaves had great success with Manchester United, even picking up a medal after the Red Devils won the Premier League in the 2007-08 season.
Injury problems, however, ensured poor performances and hardly any playing time for the defensive midfielder when United won again in 2009 and 2011. Hargreaves managed a shocking four games across three seasons, effectively making him ineligible for a medal.
Hargreaves' difficult career followed him down the road to the Etihad Stadium in 2011. When Manchester City won the league, he was yet again ineligible for a medal after playing only one game for the club.