Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy

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Officially entitled "The Football League Centenary Trophy" this competition was more commonly known as "The Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy" or simply the "Mercantile Cup" for reasons of sponsorship. It was a ’one-off’ tournament held to celebrate the 100th birthday of The Football League.

The top eight sides from the First Division (from the previous season) were invited to join the competition and it was eventually won by Arsenal who defeated Manchester United in the final held at Villa Park. That venue (Villa Park) being chosen as it was recognised as the "birthplace" of League football.

The score was 2-1 to Arsenal, their scorers being Paul Davis and Michael Thomas with Clayton Blackmore getting Manchester's goal.

NB: This was the second of two competitions held to celebrate the League's 100th birthday, the first being the "Football League Centenary Tournament", this was also sponsored by the Mercantile so was more commonly referred to as the "Mercantile Festival". This however was a "friendly" tournament held on 16th and 17th of April 1988 at Wembley Stadium.

With the ’Mercantile Cup’ being a fully sanctioned competitition the stats are included in this site, however, with the ’Festival’ being a "friendly" tournament those stats are not included in this site.

Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy : 1988-89
V	Date	F	A	R	Opposition	Notes	Venue
H	29/08/1988	1	0	W	Wimbledon	Quarter-Finals	St James‘s Park
A	21/09/1988	0	2	L	Manchester United	Semi-Final (aet)	Old Trafford