Haaland v Dean

[kushiro]

Our title win is the greatest story in the 30 year history of the Premier League, and it's difficult to think of anything that could ever rival it. But if Erling Haaland keeps scoring at the current rate and challenges Dixie Dean's record of 60 goals in the top flight, it would certainly be the greatest individual feat. 

 

As you probably know, his main targets include:

 

32    Salah's record for goals in a 38 game PL season.

 

34    Cole and Shearer's record for any PL season.

 

49    Pongo Waring for Aston Villa in 1930/31, which is the second highest top flight total behind - 

 

60    Dixie's all time top flight record in 1927/28.

 

There's also the one nobody ever mentions:

 

66    Jim Smith's all time British record of 66 for Ayr United   (in the same season as Dean's 60).

 

Of course, it's still incredibly unlikely that he will surpass Dixie. Any number of factors could slow him down. But if you had to design the perfect set of circumstances, you'd build a footballer like Haaland and place him in this Man City team.  

 

This thread will track the Haaland - Dean comparison. We are nine League games into the season, and Haaland has 15 goals. At the same stage, Dean had just 'gone ahead', with five goals in the win against Man United taking him to 17. Back then there were 42 games, not 38, though Dean missed three games that season so the comparison is valid.

 

It was at this point, nine games into the season, that Dean's progress was interrupted in a surprising way. With those five goals against Man U he had scored in every game so far.  But just after that game Dean was called up for England's international in Belfast. This was scheduled for the same day as a full Football League programme - including Everton v Portsmouth, their 11th game of the season.

 

Yes, the 11th. imagine if Jamie Vardy's record run had been interrupted like that, and instead of turning out for Leicester against Man U on that famous night, he was playing for his country. That's the way it was back then. Internationals had priority over League games, which was one reason the FA Cup was considered the greatest prize. 

 

If Haaland hits a dry spell this thread could die a quick death - though maybe I'll just move the goalposts and change the title - like the '1000 likes and Brendan goes' thread.     I hope it continues, as there would be a bonus - a chance to look at Leicester City in 1927/28. We entered the Dixie Dean story at crucial moments, and it was also a historic season for the club. We challenged for the title for the first time, Fillbert Street was chosen to host an FA Cup semi-final, and the new Double Decker stand opened. In these opening weeks of the season before the stand's completion, fans would climb on to the kop 'roof' and watch the game from the scaffolding. 

 

Here's a great graphic of the First Division clubs in 1927/28  (there's only 21 - Cardiff City are missing for some reason):

 

 

 

And here's the story so far. The running total in yellow is the key column:

 

 

 

 

Edited 15 October 2022 by kushiro

[Fox92]

Suarez was incredible, missed the first 5 games of one season and still ended up scoring 31 league goals in 33 games.

[The Blur]

Absolutely great write up Kushiro.   Like you, I do not hope this thread will die a quick death!

[kushiro]

So, in the 10th game, Dean and Haaland both came up against a barrier called Liverpool. In 1927/28, the Merseyside derby was a 1-1 draw, with Dean not scoring. And of course yesterday Haaland had two chances but couldn't add to his total in the defeat at Anfield. So in this 'race', Dean stays two ahead - 17 to 15.

 

Dean 'missed goaling', as a contemporary report put it, for the first time that season. His sequence came to an end at nine games, a week before that England call-up would have stopped it anyway. Haaland's run stops at seven in a row. Jamie Vardy's PL record is safe - for now.

 

The media coverage of that Merseyside derby included an extraordinary feature. Live BBC radio coverage of matches had begun that year, and this was such a fascinating novelty that the Liverpool Echo printed the commentary verbatim in its match report - in the present tense!  

 

Here's a sample:

 

 

Tom Bromilow mentioned there is the Liverpool half back who later became Leicester manager.

 

Speaking of which, we were playing at Highbury that weekend, and got a 2-2 draw, which 'many voted the best game in London this season'. That left us in 10th place. 'On this showing, Leicester are going to trouble some of the higher clubs before long' said one reporter. He was right about that. And pretty soon the paths of Leicester and Everton would intersect.

Edited 17 October 2022 by kushiro

[AKCJ]

On 15/10/2022 at 08:01, Fox92 said:

Suarez was incredible, missed the first 5 games of one season and still ended up scoring 31 league goals in 33 games.

12 assists as well. Wasn't on penalties either, Gerrard scored 10 and missed 1.

 

Comfortably the best season a Premier League player has ever had.

Edited 17 October 2022 by AKCJ

[Stadt]

On 17/10/2022 at 09:08, AKCJ said:

12 assists as well. Wasn't on penalties either, Gerrard scored 10 and missed 1.

 

Comfortably the best season a Premier League player has ever had.

Henry got 24 goals and 20 assists in 02-03, one of the few seasons from a player that runs him close.

[sm1]

On 17/10/2022 at 09:08, AKCJ said:

12 assists as well. Wasn't on penalties either, Gerrard scored 10 and missed 1.

 

Comfortably the best season a Premier League player has ever had.

Didn't realise that, Suarez could've scored a potential 42 goals if he took penalties. Amazing and not really spoken of.

[MPH]

Haaland. meh. All he does is score goals.

 

 

 

 

 

[tom27111]

21 hours ago, MPH said:

Haaland. meh. All he does is score goals.

 

 

 

 

 

Like when we had Yakubu.

 

Offered literally nothing apart from goals.

 

How dare he? 

[kushiro]

So - with Dixie Dean playing for England today (95 years ago), Haaland takes the chance to pull level with two goals against Brighton. They've both got 17 after 11 games! 

 

Dixie drew a blank for England in Belfast - they lost 2-0. Everton hardly missed him - they beat West Ham 7-0. Dean's replacement Tommy White scored twice - but that was his only game of the season.  Pretty tough being Dean's deputy - White eventually gave up trying to displace him and became a centre-half, which was the position he played in the 1933 Cup Final, which Everton won 3-0 - against Man City.

 

You might have noticed that two historical threads this month both take the year 1927 as a starting point. The 'Leicester and the England World Cup Squad' thread mentions how Arthur Chandler never played for his country, and this thread tells you why. At England level, Chandler was the equivalent of Tommy White. It was just after Chandler was watched by the England selectors for the first time that Dixie Dean won his first cap. 

 

Here's Haaland drawing level:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 22 October 2022 by kushiro

[kushiro]

With Haaland missing the Leicester game due to a foot injury, Dixie moved three ahead in this imaginary race with a hattrick at Portsmouth. 

 

It was Everton's first ever game at Fratton Park, and their 3-1 put them top of the League, with former leaders Newcastle losing at Villa Park.

 

Newcastle were reigning champions, and this was the year that Steve Charlton saw his first match. Who's he? The Newcastle fan who you might remember the TV cameras always picked out in the crowd in that famous 1995/96 season.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile at Filbert Steet Leicester beat Cardiff 4-1, with the Double Decker almost ready for its official opening. The following week we were due to play at - Goodison Park. Don't go checking the score - wait till next week!

 

Latest totals after 12 games:   Dean 20,  Haaland 17.

 

 

Edited 29 October 2022 by kushiro

[kushiro]

Haaland gets a late penalty to take his total to 18. How about Dixie?

 

On November 5th 1927, Everton played Leicester City at Goodison Park. Yep - same date, same fixture.

 

A year earlier had been that historic occasion when Everton were three up but we came back to win 4-3, taking us top of the League for the first time ever.

 

This year was different. 'There were fireworks on the field and in the stand' said the Mercury report. Everton were 5-0 up at half time, and 'each goal was a signaled by an explosion'. 

 

Chandler got one back in the second half, but then Dean scored twice to complete his hattrick, though by then 'Everton fans had exhausted their supply of fireworks'.   Dean had taken his total to 23. 

 

This was how the Mercury portrayed him:

 

 

Everton stayed top, and Erling now has some catching up to do.

[kushiro]

If it goes on like this much longer the bookies are going to stop taking bets.

 

Haaland draws another blank, and Dean extends his lead with two more as Everton win 3-0 at Derby to stay top of the League.

 

Leicester recovered from their 7-1 drubbing at Goodison to beat Bolton 4-2 at home, and are up to 8th in the table. This was the first match in which the famous five all played - Reg Osborne, Sid Bishop, Ernie Hine, Hugh Adcock and Len Barry. They were our first five England internationals, all winning caps in the late 20s. 

 

 

Our next home game would be a historic occasion - the official opening of the Double Decker.

[kushiro]

Long overdue update. 

 

Haaland's hatrick v Wolves puts him on 25 from 19 games - five behind Dean at the same stage. Here's a cute chart from the BBC site this week:

 

 

Once again, this theme gives us a chance to catch up on our historic 1927/28 season.

 

On this day back in 1928, as Dean prepared to add to his total in Everton's top of the table clash at Huddersfield, Leicester was going football crazy.  We were sitting just behind those two in third place, and we'd just won a tricky fourth round FA cup tie 1-0 at Reading to set up a home game v Spurs that the press were calling the tie of the round. This is how the Mercury saw the clamour for tickets:

 

 

In midweek, the Leicester players had all been to the City Ground to see whether Forest or Derby would join them in round five. Their first match was 0-0, and Forest won the replay 2-0 amid extraordinary scenes reminiscent of the 1923 Final. A record crowd led to turnstiles being closed, but hundreds then got in free when gates were forced (some reports said thousands). Fans spilled on to the touchlines all round the ground and police horses had to clear a way every time a corner kick was taken.

 

Here's the scoreboard completely engulfed:

 

 

Those watching Leicester players would soon get to witness very similar scenes at Filbert Street when Spurs arrived for that Cup tie.

Edited 3 February 2023 by kushiro