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Just wondering if anyone can think of any examples of the Ewing Theory in football at any reasonable level.  I cant think of any big examples at all.

You might be wondering what the Ewing Theory is.  It is a theory developed by ESPN Sportswriter Bill Simmons that a team will, in the short term, perform better without their star player.  Two elements need to be in place for it to qualify as a Ewing Theory
1. A star athlete receives an inordinate amount of media attention and fan interest, and yet his teams never win anything substantial with him. 
2. That same athlete leaves his team (either by injury, trade/sold, graduation, free agency/out of contract or retirement) -- and both the media and fans immediately write off the team for the rest of the season/following season.

The biggest example of the Ewing Theory is, surprisingly, Patrick Ewing of the NY Knicks in the NBA.  People thought the Knicks played better when Ewing was on the bench despite him being by fair their best player.  In 1999 Ewing lead the 8th seeded Knicks to an upset 1st round playoff win against the #1 Seeded Miami Heat, the Knicks then won the next round to go to the Eastern Conference finals and faced the #2 seed Indiana Pacers.  He lead them to a game 1 win and then went down for the season in a Game 2 loss.  The Knicks were immediately written off by media and fans as they lost their best player and didnt have anyone else capable of defending the Pacers Centre Rik Smits, however they won 3 of the next 4 games and made the finals without Ewing.  Ewing in his career had only made the finals once before in 93 where they got hammered by Houston.

Other examples of the Ewing Theory, Miami Dolphins win a playoff series the year after Dan Marino retires, Seattle Mariners have best record in baseball the season after trading 3 of the top 20 players in Baseball, Brett Hart leaves the WWE for WCW, WWE enters the attitude era, the most successful period of their history.

So can anyone think of similar examples in football?

The broadfoot theory? ;)

lol, doesnt meet either of the 2 criteria. 

The office has been pretty good since Steve carrell left last season

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is one of the best Bond Films, despite no Sean Connery.

Don't know if this qualifies but Newcastle sold a couple of star players and have been flying ever since.

Dolphins were certainly not any better after losing Marino and while we never won the Superbowl, we won plenty of playoff games with him.

Tbh i am struggling to think of any examples in football.

I think that a football team plays too much as a unit

What about man u loosing Hughes ince and kanchelskis and still winning? About as close as I can think of but not 1 player

I think it has some relevance and it is an interesting point.

There are plenty of examples in football but mainly at lower levels coz at the top end the squads are so big that when one international goes down injured he is replaced by another.

I remember Rotherham selling off their main goal scorer one season, I went o watch them 2 weeks later and they were a better team, because instead of just hoofing the ball into the box where the now gone striker was a real handful they played more football and had the same level of success as before.

I know it's not mind blowing but its an example I can think of that fits.

Houston are a good example in this years NFL season, best WR missed most of the season, and they lost 2 QB's yet still made the play offs. They lost narrowly in their play off game having had their chances supposedly halted in their tracks by those injuries.

Dallas improved when Ewing came back so I guess that kind of disproves the theory.

On the other hand, wrestling was much better when Big Daddy retired

jimmy greaves 1966

Beckham?

Kind of reverse Ewing thing (good team signs star player to improve but it all goes to shit) - Rodney Marsh signing for Man City in March 72. They were 4 points clear at the top of the table at the time and finished fourth.

Asprilla and Newcastle, springs to mind.

Batty and Newcastle too

Was my first thought too, but then you look at what they won with him in the team it doesn't work.

There are quite a few examples in the NFL when a 'star' QB has gone down and a relatively unexposed backup has come in and played so well the star has never got his place back.  trent Green getting injured for the Rams years ago when Kurt warner came in as a replacement is the obvious example but also when in 2003 Warner himself got injured he was considered to be one of the best QB's in the laegue and their games moved like 7 points when he got injured but Marc Bulger came in and went like 5 or 6 games unbeaten.

Aiden McGeady springs to mind.  I watch out for Celtic but don't see any games not on television and he was hailed as a great player by many but when i wathed him I often felt it was to the detriment of the team. 

Celtic have done worse in terms of medals since he left though.

Carroll/Newcastle are a great example I didnt think of.

Jelavic/Rangers might be a potential Ewing Theory if they can win the league this season.  Similar to the Rotherham example from earlier, without him in the team Rangers have stopped punting long balls into the box hoping Jelevic can knock them down to someone.  Rangers played better in a couple games without him this season but now without him for the whole season  itll be a huge test, especially since we didnt replace him with anyone.  Its hard to find anyone that think Rangers have a chance of winning the league now so it could be the biggest Ewing theory example in football.

In general agree with Outragous, most teams that lose a star player either have others in the team or can replace him.  The best example I could think of was Spain not taking Raul to Euro 2008, which seemed ridiculous at the time, and they won the tournament.  Seemed a little thin though