The graphic covers the achievement that qualified each side for the tournament, such as league position or a cup win, and the round they reached. Teams participated in the Fairs Cup by invitation. Being reigning champions or having finished in a decent position in the Football League presumably played some part in determining who was invited but a lack of consistent information has lead me to term all Fairs Cup appearances ‘by invitation’. Occasions when a run was ended by an English opponent are noted.

The Fairs Cup had a limit of one team per city and sometimes featured city representative teams such as the London XI that lost the first final.

 
 
 
Sheffield Wednesday’s badge first featured the stylised owl pictured right in 1973. I’ve made a version based very closely on its head, altered slightly to spell the letters S and W.

You can see Sheffield Wednesday’s current crest on Wikipedia.
You can read about Sheffield Wednesday’s crests over the years on Historical Kits.

Here are the same again but smaller so you can see the whole picture at once:

Ba scored 15 goals in the first half of 2011-12, his first season as a Newcastle player. Cissé was signed in January 2012 with the pair seeing out Senegal’s brief Africa Cup of Nations campaign before returning to Tyneside in February. They both scored in their first club match as team mates before their scoring form diverged. Cissé found the net 12 more times to finish the season with 13 goals but Ba didn’t register again and ended with no more than the 16 he had registered in the season’s first six months.

So far in 2012-13, the form has switched back to Newcastle’s original Senegalese hero as Ba has been scoring regularly and Cissé has not. Cissé does however have a decent 4 goals (to Ba’s 10) so the narrative isn’t quite as clear cut as it was last season.

The phenomenon is hardly one of football’s great unsolved mysteries since one player will often be given a less central role to accommodate the other. Ba was moved wide to make way for Cissé as the focal point of Newcastle’s attack in the second half of 2011-12 and so scored fewer goals. This campaign they have operated together more as a front two so the goals have been more evenly shared.

Anyway, the graphic’s there and you can draw your own conclusions from it at your leisure. I’ll update it at the end of the season, I promise.

Three hoops spelling QPR.

You can see QPR’s current crest on Wikipedia.
You can read about QPR’s crests over the years on Historical Kits.

The badge that Hartlepool United wear on their shirts today focuses on the town’s maritime history with a large ship’s wheel. In the past they placed emphasis on a ‘hart’ (a stag), the animal from which the town took its name. I’ve restored the hart, taking a lead from their 1985 crest (pictured) in particular, and formed a football with its antlers.

This badge could also serve Mansfield Town or Ross County in a pinch.

You can see Hartlepool’s current crest on Wikipedia.
You can read about Hartlepool’s crests over the years on Historical Kits.

When I carry something over from a clubs actual badge it would usually be an important object or creature but for Barcelona’s I see its unusual shape, a bulging shield with pointed sides, as the most memorable element.

You can see Barcelona’s current crest on Wikipedia.

The Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge / goalposts.

You can see Middlesbrough’s current crest on Wikipedia.
You can read about Middlesbrough’s crests over the years on Historical Kits.