Best Second Tier Season - Ever!

[kushiro]

Many thanks to those who've been doing a fine job providing updates on our progress towards a possible points record - especially @Les-TA-Jon and @FOXSE.

 

It really would be the icing on the cake if we managed it. But I'm here to muddy the waters a little. If we got 107 points, could we really call it the best ever?

 

The second tier has had 46 games since 1988, and it's Reading's record of 106 points from 2005/06 that is usually cited as our target. But before that, the Football League Second Division had been in existence for almost 100 years. There were fewer games, but if we're talking about the 'best ever', is it OK to ignore all that history?

 

First, to get our bearings, let's look at Leicester City history and rank our twelve promotion seasons in order of points per game:

 

 

* The seasons before 1981 are adjusted to three points for a win.

** In those two seasons with the lowest points per game we went up via the play-offs..

 

That column on the right is a pretty remarkable list of names - and it underlines the importance of taking the long view. A conversation about our greatest promotion season wouldn't be very interesting if we left out all reference to Milne / Wallace / Halliday / Hodge and the rest.

 

Nigel Pearson's sitting pretty at the top of that list, but now let's see how his team compares to other sides in the modern era: 

 

 

So he's in third place.

 

 

Now we come to what I think is the most interesting table. Let's add the period which covers most of the twentieth century - 1919 to 1988 - when there were four fewer games. The ones added are in yellow:

 

 

 

That Spurs season was the perfect response to Henry Norris, the Arsenal director who somehow convinced the Football League that when competition resumed after the war the Gunners, not Spurs, should be in Division One.  

 

To overhaul that Spurs record in terms of points per game this season we'd need to get to 112 .

 

But what about pre-1919?  Between 1905 and 1915 there were 38 games, and there were two outstanding Second Division teams in that period. Add those and the table looks like this:

 

 

To overhaul Bristol City we'd need 117 points.

 

And if we go right back to the start, there's another season we need to mention. In 1893/94, Liverpool went through the whole season unbeaten - won 22, drew 6 and lost 0 - a total of only 28 games, but invincible is what they were. If we include that in the all-time ranking it goes straight in at number one - 2,571 points per game. 

 

To overhaul that we'd need 119 points (at the moment our maximum possible is 125).

 

So which target is the most relevant?

 

Reading's 106 points will continue to be highlighted in the media and on here, and there are many reasons why that's a good thing:

 

 *  It's easy to understand, and it is indeed the highest ever points total, not just in the second tier, but in all professional football in England.

 *  The number of games per season has changed. It's obviously more impressive to keep winning game after game over a longer period.

 *  The thirty-five year time frame is a pretty substantial chunk of football history  - it's just as valid a stat as the Jamie Vardy eleven game scoring streak. 

 

But the purpose of this thread is to place this season in the context of the whole span of Football League history.  We know that Vardy's run isn't the all time top flight record (that's Jimmy Dunne of Sheffield United in 1931/32).  And if we keep this amazing run going, let's be aware of the great teams of the past in whose footsteps we would be following.

 

To help us do that, let's round this off with a short story about that Liverpool team in 1893/94. 

 

In their final match of the season, needing to avoid defeat to earn that 'invincibles' tag, it looked like they might blow it. Burslem Port Vale went one up (just like we did against Arsenal's Invincibles in the last game of 2003/04) . Then this happened:

 

Liverpool got their equaliser after the most extraordinary scrimmage seen on an Association field – bar-none. Mackay, the visiting custodian, was just in the act of clearing a long shot when all the home forwards closed upon him. In a twinkling there was no less than twenty one men engaged in a “scrum” that would have put the average Rugby park in the cool shade. McOwen in the home goal was the only man who did not take any part in it. This terrible struggle which was threatening serious injury to the players lasted over two minutes, and finally, Liverpool rushed it through.  The most surprising thing about it was that there was only one man injured. This was poor Mackay, the goalkeeper, who had lost several teeth, while his nose will probably never assume its original shape again.

 

I seem to recall Arsenal's equaliser in 2004 coming in similar fashion. 

 

Liverpool won 2-1 (ditto Arsenal v Leicester)  but amazingly, going through the season unbeaten didn't earn them the right to promotion. To do that they first had to win a 'Test match' - a play-off against the team who finished bottom of Divisin One - Newton Heath (forerunners of Man United). Liverpool won 2-0 and went up, while on the same day Leicester Fosse won 3-2 at Grantham Rovers in the Midland League.

 

That was quite a momentous occasion for us, too. Our last ever game as a non-League club. 

 

At the Football League AGM we were voted in, and so on September 1st 1894 we proudly walked out at Abbey Park, Grimsby for our first game in the promised land - Football League Division Two.

Edited 31 December 2023 by kushiro

[LinekersLugs]

I hope we don’t have a collapse in the 2nd half of season 

[davieG]

Thanks.

 

It's always good to remember where football started and how it has progressed or as some would suggest regressed certainly in some respects.

[shailen]

I think if we were to be the most successful second tier side statistically the feat is even more incredible considering the level of competition in the league this season with the championship arguably being the strongest it has ever been 

[ftfagos]

Much more relaxed about the record now. As we all know automatic promotion is what matters.

[Aus Fox]

1 hour ago, kushiro said:

Many thanks to those who've been doing a fine job providing updates on our progress towards a possible points record - especially @Les-TA-Jon and @FOXSE.

 

It really would be the icing on the cake if we managed it. But I'm here to muddy the waters a little. If we got 107 points, could we really call it the best ever?

 

The second tier has had 46 games since 1992, and it's Reading's record of 106 points from 2005/06 that is usually cited as our target. But before that, the Football League Second Division had been in existence for 100 years. There were fewer games, but if we're talking about the 'best ever', is it OK to ignore all that history?

 

First, to get our bearings, let's look at Leicester City history and rank our twelve promotion seasons in order of points per game:

 

 

* The seasons before 1981 are adjusted to three points for a win.

** In those two seasons with the lowest points per game we went up via the play-offs..

 

That column on the right is a pretty remarkable list of names - and it underlines the importance of taking the long view. A conversation about our greatest promotion season wouldn't be very interesting if we left out all reference to Milne / Wallace / Halliday / Hodge and the rest.

 

Nigel Pearson's sitting pretty at the top of that list, but now let's see how his team compares to other sides in the modern era: 

 

 

So he's in third place.

 

 

Now we come to what I think is the most interesting table. Let's add the period which covers most of the twentieth century - 1919 to 1992 - when there were four fewer games. The ones added are in yellow:

 

 

 

That Spurs season was the perfect response to Henry Norris, the Arsenal director who somehow convinced the Football League that when competition resumed after the war the Gunners, not Spurs, should be in Division One.  

 

To overhaul that Spurs record in terms of points per game this season we'd need to get to 112 .

 

But what about pre-1919?  Between 1905 and 1915 there were 38 games, and there were two outstanding Second Division teams in that period. Add those and the table looks like this:

 

 

To overhaul Bristol City we'd need 117 points.

 

And if we go right back to the start, there's another season we need to mention. In 1893/94, Liverpool went through the whole season unbeaten - won 22, drew 6 and lost 0 - a total of only 28 games, but invincible is what they were. If we include that in the all-time ranking it goes straight in at number one - 2,571 points per game. 

 

To overhaul that we'd need 119 points (at the moment our maximum possible is 125).

 

So which target is the most relevant?

 

Reading's 106 points will continue to be highlighted in the media and on here, and there are many reasons why that's a good thing:

 

 *  It's easy to understand, and it is indeed the highest ever points total, not just in the second tier, but in all professional football in England.

 *  The number of games per season has changed. It's obviously more impressive to keep winning game after game over a longer period.

 *  The thirty year time frame is a pretty substantial chunk of football history  - it's just as valid a stat as the Jamie Vardy eleven game scoring streak. 

 

But the purpose of this thread is to place this season in the context of the whole span of Football League history.  We know that Vardy's run isn't the all time top flight record (that's Jimmy Dunne of Sheffield United in 1931/32).  And if we keep this amazing run going, let's be aware of the great teams of the past in whose footsteps we would be following.

 

To help us do that, let's round this off with a short story about that Liverpool team in 1893/94. 

 

In their final match of the season, needing to avoid defeat to earn that 'invincibles' tag, it looked like they might blow it. Burslem Port Vale went one up (just like we did against Arsenal's Invincibles in the last game of 2003/04) . Then this happened:

 

Liverpool got their equaliser after the most extraordinary scrimmage seen on an Association field – bar-none. Mackay, the visiting custodian, was just in the act of clearing a long shot when all the home forwards closed upon him. In a twinkling there was no less than twenty one men engaged in a “scrum” that would have put the average Rugby park in the cool shade. McOwen in the home goal was the only man who did not take any part in it. This terrible struggle which was threatening serious injury to the players lasted over two minutes, and finally, Liverpool rushed it through.  The most surprising thing about it was that there was only one man injured. This was poor Mackay, the goalkeeper, who had lost several teeth, while his nose will probably never assume its original shape again.

 

I seem to recall Arsenal's equaliser in 2004 coming in similar fashion. 

 

Liverpool won 2-1 (ditto Arsenal v Leicester)  but amazingly, going through the season unbeaten didn't earn Liverpool the right to promotion. To do that they first had to win a 'Test match' - a play-off against the team who finished bottom of Divisin One - Newton Heath (forerunners of Man United). Liverpool won 2-0 and went up, while on the same day Leicester Fosse won 3-2 at Grantham Rovers in the Midland League.

 

That was quite a momentous occasion for us, too. Our last ever game as a non-League club. 

 

At the Football League AGM we were voted in, and so on September 1st 1894 we proudly walked out at Abbey Park, Grimsby for our first game in the promised land - Football League Division Two.

Amazing research as always and a fascinating read, but what if we turned this data around a little. We all know it’s much harder to prolong exceptional form over longer periods of time.

So what if we adjusted our points total to match the number of games the other teams had.

By my calculations Liverpool had 50 points from 28 games (2 points for a win). We are currently on 42 points - so our maximum in a 28 game season is now 48 points and we are unable to surpass Liverpool’s invincible season.

Bristol City finished on 66 points from 38 games, to equal this we need 24 points from 13 games - 12 wins and a defeat or 11 wins and two draws.

Spurs had 70 points from 42 games to equal this we need 28 points from 17 games or 14 wins from our next 17.

 

Just another way of looking at h the numbers, also I wonder how many of their best players each of those great teams lost to the African Nations Cup mid season 😂 

[kushiro]

27 minutes ago, Aus Fox said:

Amazing research as always and a fascinating read, but what if we turned this data around a little. We all know it’s much harder to prolong exceptional form over longer periods of time.

So what if we adjusted our points total to match the number of games the other teams had.

By my calculations Liverpool had 50 points from 28 games (2 points for a win). We are currently on 42 points - so our maximum in a 28 game season is now 48 points and we are unable to surpass Liverpool’s invincible season.

Bristol City finished on 66 points from 38 games, to equal this we need 24 points from 13 games - 12 wins and a defeat or 11 wins and two draws.

Spurs had 70 points from 42 games to equal this we need 28 points from 17 games or 14 wins from our next 17.

 

Just another way of looking at h the numbers, also I wonder how many of their best players each of those great teams lost to the African Nations Cup mid season 😂 

 

Yeah - I was thinking something very similar - seeing how our record matches Liverpool's after 28 games. The fact that it was no longer possible to equal their total, as you say, meant I left it out. But as you mention, the Bristol City comparison could be interesting.

Edited 30 December 2023 by kushiro

[kushiro]

Some of you might already know this but one record we do hold is:

 

In the second tier, we have the lowest points total of any side that has made the play-offs

 

In 2012/13, we got 68 points - an average of less than 1.5 per game. Of all the teams that have made the play-offs since they were introduced in 1986, that is the fewest.

 

If it hadn't been for Deeney we might even have gone up. But of course it was all part of the masterplan. Had we been promoted then, the following three years would have been very different.

[kushiro]

It was great to see this table in John Percy's interview with Maresca - looking back over the whole history of the second tier and not just the modern era. 

 

 

 

 

That 1905 Bolton team only had two more games to play at that stage - and they lost one of them, which knocked them down the list a little.

 

I would rank that 1906 Bristol City season as the best ever.  How good was it? Well, even if we win our next six, we will still only equal their record after 38 games (which is where their season came to an end). To beat their points per game record across the whole season we need to total 117 points - which means 39 points from the remaining 14 games - winning all but one, basically.

[Mickyblueeyes]

Surprised that Micky Adams team got (only) 92. Thought they were closer to 100. Felt they alongside Pompey walked the league as well.