Our progress over the last thirty years

[SpaceCruiser]

I've just wasted a fine Sunday afternoon doing up a graph thingy. I know this probably is not news to you about our progress over the last thirty years, that in 30 years we went from the Fourth Division to the top tier. But I thought a graphical representation of our progress would illustrate how well we've done. I know the picture is a thumbnail, just click on it and you'll get a bigger image of the graph. The hotlinking of this graph doesn't fit on here, the last 4 years get chopped off, so I've done it this way - sorry if you have to click on it....



I guess that the trend of going up one year and then struggling before being successful might carry on over the next five years, I don't know.

Otherwise, ignore this and carry on with your fine Sunday.

[Gordons Cumming]

You know how to have fun.

[Ian Royal]

Well done boredcruiser.

Interesting to see we tend to do very well the season post promotion and then slowly fall away to build anew and go higher next time. But then I knew that from the 2 promotions and 3 aftermaths I've seen.

[strap]

See I'm going to have update the graph I did in Elm Park Echoes ..... was that really 10 years ago!?

[Royalshow]

As someone else has already mentioned,a true sign of progress will become apparent when the total number of season ticket holders next year is revealed.10,000 would show little progress,with an abnormal blip for a small/medium sized championship club with brief success.However 14,000 plus would indicated that many of the new fans are here to stick around.In this case possibly the credit crunch has swayed a few people who decided not to renew purely down to financial reasons,which would make the figure smaller then normal.

What do we have now the we didn't have 15 years ago?

Better ground- 25,000,with gradual increase in ST sales ( Excluding the 'glory years in the PL)Detailed plans for future expansion.
Upgraded training facilities including the dome at the ground.
Developments in the size of the hotel plus the new media block which will only help with long term growth.
Larger fan base,although some won't stick around but a healthy number of younger fans who are the future.

Future looks pretty fine to me!

[SpaceCruiser]

See I'm going to have update the graph I did in Elm Park Echoes ..... was that really 10 years ago!?

Ah, yes, I've just found that fanzine and located the graph you mention. Looks interesting but the bar graph for attendances is in the way!

I see that the lowest position we ever suffered was six years prior to the start of my graph, 16th in Division 4!

Your graph started in 1939 though. Doesn't show the positions before that as we were in Division 2....

The attendances look interesting, a decline from the post war boom and then a rise back to the 10K. Wonder what the bar chart for attendances would look like now!

[Arnie_Pie]

So it looks like we can expect a big fall

[Sarah Star]

So it looks like we can expect a big fall

But not quite down to league 1.

Let's look on the bright side.

[Forbury Lion]

I would be interested in seeing similar graphs for the FA and League Cups seeing how far we got before being knocked out.

[Pseud O'Nym]

So it looks like we can expect a big fall

I'm not so sure. I tried overlaying managers on a portion of the graph, to see if there were obvious blips following changes of manager:



The Pardew/Coppell/Mad Stad era has not, so far, shown the huge troughs of previous times.

[SpaceCruiser]

So it looks like we can expect a big fall

I'm not so sure. I tried overlaying managers on a portion of the graph, to see if there were obvious blips following changes of manager:



The Pardew/Coppell/Mad Stad era has not, so far, shown the huge troughs of previous times.

I like what you did there, but jeez, you missed out Porterfield!! And another thing, I see you've attributed the 4th place finish in the second tier to Coppell, that's Pardew's, really. And the two 18th place finishes to Bullivant - they're Quinn/Gooding's positions!

As for expecting a big fall, I don't think so, I'd expect a similar trend - we've already had a fall, I'd then expect maybe a stabilising period before a return to glory days. Or something like that - it depends on a few factors such as the chairman still being around...

[rfcjoe]

So it looks like we can expect a big fall

I'm not so sure. I tried overlaying managers on a portion of the graph, to see if there were obvious blips following changes of manager:



The Pardew/Coppell/Mad Stad era has not, so far, shown the huge troughs of previous times.

Very good work mate!

[Pseud O'Nym]

I like what you did there, but jeez, you missed out Porterfield!!

I had a nasty feeling that there was an elephant in the room somewhere as I was doing it!

And another thing, I see you've attributed the 4th place finish in the second tier to Coppell, that's Pardew's, really. And the two 18th place finishes to Bullivant - they're Quinn/Gooding's positions!

I've simply tried to position the start/end points of the manager overlays chronologically, apologies if I got the dates wrong. There is always a lag between a new managers appointment and their effect on a team though, Bullivant inherited Quinn & Goodings' team and Coppell inherited Pardew's. I can't see any objective way to quantify the influence of previous managers for the purpose of making a chart. Bullivant was rubbish though, innit?

[SpaceCruiser]

I would be interested in seeing similar graphs for the FA and League Cups seeing how far we got before being knocked out.

I had a quick go at that one, God bless soccerbase.com!

[papereyes]

I like what you did there, but jeez, you missed out Porterfield!!

I had a nasty feeling that there was an elephant in the room somewhere as I was doing it!

And another thing, I see you've attributed the 4th place finish in the second tier to Coppell, that's Pardew's, really. And the two 18th place finishes to Bullivant - they're Quinn/Gooding's positions!

I've simply tried to position the start/end points of the manager overlays chronologically, apologies if I got the dates wrong. There is always a lag between a new managers appointment and their effect on a team though, Bullivant inherited Quinn & Goodings' team and Coppell inherited Pardew's. I can't see any objective way to quantify the influence of previous managers for the purpose of making a chart. Bullivant was rubbish though, innit?

02-03 was completely and utterly Pardew
Coppell took over, after a 7 game Dillon spell in the following season

[Wycombe Royal]

It needs a trendline added to it.

[SpaceCruiser]

It needs a trendline added to it.

Trendline? Do you mean predicting what will happen over the next 5 years? I'm not sure about doing one.

[brendywendy]

It needs a trendline added to it.

Trendline? Do you mean predicting what will happen over the next 5 years? I'm not sure about doing one.

our progression has been so good that it would predict us being premiere league champs within 10.

youd have to expect a bit of plateauing from now on really

[Barry the bird boggler]

Looks like next season could well be a bit dodgy if the season following our last two relegations is repeated....

[SpaceCruiser]

Looks like next season could well be a bit dodgy if the season following our last two relegations is repeated....

That probably depends on the players who leave and come in. When we were relegated in 1988 and 1998, the teams were very different from those that came up. Our team this season is largely the same as the one that won the Championship at a canter, but with the possibility of Shorey and one or two others, this could be different.

As for Brendy's comment, yes, we've had high peaks achieved, so I'd expect a repeat, maybe achieving a higher placing in the next ten years. Possibly a 2nd best in between now and then. Maybe.