Why was 26th March 1927 a big day for Welsh football?

26th March 1927 was an important day in Cardiff City’s history, it was the day they beat Reading at Molineux in the FA Cup semi final in a competition they would go on to win for the only time in their history. A big moment for the club, but also a very good day for Welsh football. Amazing as it seems now, at the time there were six Welsh clubs in the Football League. They were Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea (then Town), Aberdare Athletic and Merthyr Town. And on the 26th Match 1927 every single one of the sides won!

Results: 26/3/1927

• Cardiff City 3 Reading 0 (FA Cup Semi Final)
• Swansea 2 Gateshead 0 (Division 2)
• Wrexham 3 Durham City 1 (Division 3 North)
• Aberdare Athletic 3 Exeter City 1 (Division 3 South)
• Gillingham 0 Merthyr Town 1 (Division 3 South)
• Newport County 5 Swindon Town 3 (Division 3 South)

Six wins out of a possible six! Despite this excellent record it was a mixed year for the Welsh clubs. As previously mentioned Cardiff City went on to win the FA Cup. Swansea Town finished the season midtable in Division Two, with Wrexham finishing in a similar position in Division Three North.Of the three Welsh clubs in Division Three South Newport County finished highest in eighth place, Aberdare Athetic finished the season rock bottom of the division and ultimately failed to be re-elected, being replaced by Torquay United. It was the last season that six Welsh clubs competed in the Football League.

The last time Welsh clubs won three matches on the same day was the 11th November 2006. Sadly Wrexham lost their football league status recently so only two sides remain in the Football League (Cardiff City and Swansea City)

Full Results (of each occassion where Welsh clubs won three or more matches one the same day (in FA Cup, League or League Cup)

09/10/1920	3	Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Newport County
23/10/1920	3	Merthyr Town, Cardiff City, Newport County
06/11/1920	3	Swansea City, Merthyr Town, Newport County
13/11/1920	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Cardiff City
28/03/1921	3	Newport County, Cardiff City, Swansea City
03/09/1921	4	Swansea City, Wrexham, Merthyr Town, Newport County
24/09/1921	3	Aberdare Athletic, Wrexham, Cardiff City
15/10/1921	3	Merthyr Town, Newport County, Cardiff City
29/10/1921	3	Cardiff City, Aberdare Athletic, Wrexham
05/11/1921	4	Aberdare Athletic, Wrexham, Merthyr Town, Swansea City
24/12/1921	3	Aberdare Athletic, Merthyr Town, Cardiff City
27/12/1921	4	Swansea City, Aberdare Athletic, Cardiff City, Newport County
21/01/1922	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Newport County
04/02/1922	3	Merthyr Town, Swansea City, Cardiff City
11/03/1922	4	Cardiff City, Aberdare Athletic, Swansea City, Merthyr Town
29/04/1922	3	Aberdare Athletic, Merthyr Town, Swansea City
28/10/1922	3	Merthyr Town, Cardiff City, Wrexham
25/11/1922	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Aberdare Athletic
26/12/1922	4	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Aberdare Athletic, Swansea City
27/01/1923	3	Aberdare Athletic, Cardiff City, Swansea City
03/02/1923	4	Newport County, Swansea City, Wrexham, Cardiff City
10/02/1923	3	Swansea City, Aberdare Athletic, Cardiff City
24/02/1923	4	Swansea City, Wrexham, Merthyr Town, Aberdare Athletic
10/03/1923	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
02/04/1923	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
28/04/1923	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Merthyr Town
25/08/1923	5	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Newport County
01/09/1923	3	Wrexham, Aberdare Athletic, Swansea City
15/09/1923	3	Merthyr Town, Cardiff City, Wrexham
29/09/1923	3	Swansea City, Aberdare Athletic, Cardiff City
06/10/1923	3	Aberdare Athletic, Cardiff City, Swansea City
27/10/1923	3	Swansea City, Merthyr Town, Newport County
10/11/1923	4	Swansea City, Aberdare Athletic, Wrexham, Cardiff City
01/12/1923	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Cardiff City
22/12/1923	3	Swansea City, Merthyr Town, Cardiff City
02/02/1924	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Merthyr Town
01/03/1924	3	Newport County, Merthyr Town, Swansea City
22/03/1924	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham
19/04/1924	5	Wrexham, Merthyr Town, Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County
13/09/1924	4	Aberdare Athletic, Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
20/09/1924	3	Aberdare Athletic, Newport County, Wrexham
11/10/1924	3	Merthyr Town, Swansea City, Newport County
18/10/1924	4	Newport County, Cardiff City, Wrexham, Aberdare Athletic
22/11/1924	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Merthyr Town
26/12/1924	3	Merthyr Town, Cardiff City, Newport County
17/01/1925	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Cardiff City
31/01/1925	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
07/03/1925	4	Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Wrexham, Swansea City
14/03/1925	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Aberdare Athletic
28/03/1925	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Aberdare Athletic
11/04/1925	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
13/04/1925	4	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City, Aberdare Athletic
29/08/1925	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Merthyr Town
12/09/1925	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Aberdare Athletic
31/10/1925	3	Merthyr Town, Cardiff City, Swansea City
14/11/1925	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
28/11/1925	4	Swansea City, Newport County, Aberdare Athletic, Cardiff City
12/12/1925	4	Merthyr Town, Cardiff City, Aberdare Athletic, Swansea City
16/01/1926	3	Merthyr Town, Newport County, Swansea City
06/02/1926	4	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City, Aberdare Athletic
13/02/1926	4	Aberdare Athletic, Swansea City, Newport County, Merthyr Town
20/02/1926	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Aberdare Athletic
25/02/1926	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Aberdare Athletic
27/02/1926	3	Aberdare Athletic, Wrexham, Swansea City
13/03/1926	3	Wrexham, Aberdare Athletic, Cardiff City
20/03/1926	3	Aberdare Athletic, Cardiff City, Swansea City
17/04/1926	3	Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Swansea City
28/08/1926	4	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County, Aberdare Athletic
02/10/1926	3	Aberdare Athletic, Newport County, Swansea City
16/10/1926	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham
23/10/1926	3	Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Swansea City
30/10/1926	4	Newport County, Merthyr Town, Swansea City, Cardiff City
06/11/1926	3	Swansea City, Merthyr Town, Cardiff City
04/12/1926	4	Merthyr Town, Newport County, Wrexham, Aberdare Athletic
08/01/1927	4	Newport County, Aberdare Athletic, Cardiff City, Swansea City
29/01/1927	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County
05/02/1927	3	Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Aberdare Athletic
26/03/1927	6	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City, Merthyr Town, Aberdare Athletic, Newport County
16/04/1927	3	Merthyr Town, Cardiff City, Wrexham
17/09/1927	4	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham
08/10/1927	3	Newport County, Cardiff City, Merthyr Town
29/10/1927	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham
10/12/1927	4	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Wrexham
17/12/1927	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
21/01/1928	4	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County
04/02/1928	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Merthyr Town
18/02/1928	3	Newport County, Merthyr Town, Wrexham
25/02/1928	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham
01/09/1928	3	Swansea City, Merthyr Town, Cardiff City
13/10/1928	3	Merthyr Town, Swansea City, Wrexham
10/11/1928	4	Newport County, Wrexham, Merthyr Town, Swansea City
24/11/1928	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Merthyr Town
08/12/1928	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
26/12/1928	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
12/01/1929	3	Swansea City, Merthyr Town, Wrexham
09/02/1929	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham
02/03/1929	3	Merthyr Town, Swansea City, Wrexham
09/03/1929	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
16/03/1929	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Merthyr Town
30/03/1929	4	Wrexham, Newport County, Merthyr Town, Swansea City
30/11/1929	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Newport County
28/12/1929	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Cardiff City
04/01/1930	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Wrexham
01/03/1930	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
08/03/1930	3	Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Newport County
19/04/1930	3	Merthyr Town, Wrexham, Newport County
26/04/1930	4	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham, Cardiff City
01/11/1930	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
03/10/1931	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
17/10/1931	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
06/02/1932	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
20/02/1932	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
28/03/1932	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
26/11/1932	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
26/12/1932	4	Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
11/02/1933	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Wrexham
18/02/1933	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
01/04/1933	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
17/04/1933	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
23/09/1933	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Cardiff City
20/01/1934	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
21/04/1934	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Cardiff City
05/05/1934	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham
25/08/1934	3	Newport County, Cardiff City, Swansea City
27/08/1934	3	Newport County, Cardiff City, Swansea City
20/10/1934	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
05/01/1935	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham
12/10/1935	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
16/11/1935	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
21/03/1936	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
24/10/1936	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Wrexham
07/11/1936	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
28/11/1936	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
19/12/1936	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
09/01/1937	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
30/10/1937	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
05/03/1938	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
17/12/1938	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
24/12/1938	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
14/01/1939	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
10/04/1939	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
15/04/1939	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
22/04/1939	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
14/09/1946	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
12/10/1946	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
26/10/1946	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
23/11/1946	4	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham, Cardiff City
10/05/1947	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County
30/08/1947	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Newport County
11/10/1947	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
29/11/1947	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Cardiff City
20/12/1947	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
21/02/1948	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
06/03/1948	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Swansea City
13/03/1948	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
25/09/1948	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
02/10/1948	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Swansea City
13/11/1948	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
27/12/1948	4	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
01/01/1949	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Wrexham
08/01/1949	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
29/01/1949	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Cardiff City
05/02/1949	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Newport County
19/02/1949	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
05/03/1949	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County
19/03/1949	4	Swansea City, Newport County, Cardiff City, Wrexham
09/04/1949	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Swansea City
23/04/1949	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Cardiff City
26/11/1949	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
18/02/1950	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham
25/11/1950	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
23/12/1950	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Cardiff City
13/01/1951	4	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
03/02/1951	3	Newport County, Cardiff City, Swansea City
24/02/1951	3	Newport County, Cardiff City, Wrexham
26/03/1951	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
14/04/1951	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County
22/09/1951	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
03/11/1951	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
26/01/1952	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
09/02/1952	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
14/04/1952	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Cardiff City
22/11/1952	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
07/03/1953	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County
14/03/1953	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
21/03/1953	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
06/04/1953	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Cardiff City
29/08/1953	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
24/10/1953	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
19/12/1953	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
06/02/1954	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
06/03/1954	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
03/04/1954	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham
16/04/1954	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
17/04/1954	4	Newport County, Swansea City, Wrexham, Cardiff City
27/08/1955	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Wrexham
24/09/1955	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
08/10/1955	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Cardiff City
05/11/1955	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
31/12/1955	3	Newport County, Cardiff City, Wrexham
15/09/1956	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
17/11/1956	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Cardiff City
09/02/1957	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Swansea City
13/04/1957	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
19/04/1957	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham
28/09/1957	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
21/12/1957	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
11/01/1958	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
19/04/1958	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
26/04/1958	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Cardiff City
04/10/1958	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County
01/11/1958	4	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Newport County, Swansea City
13/12/1958	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Cardiff City
12/09/1959	3	Newport County, Cardiff City, Swansea City
26/09/1959	4	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
28/11/1959	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
05/12/1959	4	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
12/12/1959	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
09/04/1960	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
03/09/1960	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
11/02/1961	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County
04/03/1961	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
04/11/1961	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham
29/09/1962	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Cardiff City
17/11/1962	4	Newport County, Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham
01/05/1963	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Cardiff City
16/11/1963	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
04/01/1964	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
28/03/1964	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
19/04/1965	4	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County
11/09/1965	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
08/01/1966	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Wrexham
10/12/1966	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
31/12/1966	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
06/05/1967	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
13/05/1967	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham
25/11/1967	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
26/12/1967	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Cardiff City
10/02/1968	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Cardiff City
16/04/1968	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
31/08/1968	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
21/09/1968	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County
28/09/1968	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
23/11/1968	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
21/12/1968	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
23/08/1969	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Newport County
06/09/1969	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
20/09/1969	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
04/10/1969	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
11/10/1969	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
01/11/1969	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
08/11/1969	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
22/11/1969	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
04/04/1970	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
10/10/1970	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
13/02/1971	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham
20/03/1971	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
27/03/1971	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
24/04/1971	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
02/10/1971	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
23/10/1971	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
30/10/1971	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
19/08/1972	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham
10/02/1973	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
01/12/1973	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County
26/12/1973	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Cardiff City
13/04/1974	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County
26/10/1974	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
21/12/1974	3	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham
29/03/1975	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Cardiff City
30/08/1975	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
13/09/1975	4	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City, Swansea City
27/09/1975	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
08/11/1975	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
06/12/1975	4	Newport County, Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
14/02/1976	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
10/04/1976	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
21/08/1976	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
16/04/1977	4	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
23/04/1977	4	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
24/09/1977	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
01/10/1977	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
05/11/1977	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
12/11/1977	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
19/11/1977	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
31/12/1977	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Cardiff City
24/03/1978	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
14/10/1978	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Wrexham
14/04/1979	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
18/08/1979	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Wrexham
01/09/1979	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County
06/10/1979	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Cardiff City
13/10/1979	4	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City, Cardiff City
27/10/1979	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
01/12/1979	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
01/01/1980	3	Newport County, Wrexham, Swansea City
29/03/1980	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
12/04/1980	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Cardiff City
30/08/1980	3	Newport County, Cardiff City, Wrexham
20/09/1980	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham
28/02/1981	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County
04/04/1981	3	Newport County, Cardiff City, Swansea City
25/04/1981	4	Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham, Cardiff City
26/09/1981	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
07/11/1981	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
27/02/1982	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Swansea City
20/03/1982	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Cardiff City
15/05/1982	3	Wrexham, Newport County, Cardiff City
18/09/1982	3	Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham
02/10/1982	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
01/01/1983	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
26/02/1983	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Newport County
12/03/1983	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
26/03/1983	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County
27/12/1983	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Newport County
25/02/1984	3	Newport County, Swansea City, Wrexham
16/11/1985	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County
19/04/1986	4	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County
02/09/1986	3	Newport County, Cardiff City, Swansea City
15/11/1986	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Newport County
12/09/1987	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County
21/11/1987	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham
04/04/1988	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
02/05/1988	4	Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County, Cardiff City
18/11/1989	3	Cardiff City, Merthyr Tydfil, Swansea City
12/01/1991	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
22/08/1992	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
19/03/1994	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
05/11/1994	3	Swansea City, Wrexham, Cardiff City
21/02/1995	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
28/11/1998	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City
05/12/1998	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
14/08/1999	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
22/04/2000	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
24/08/2002	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
04/02/2003	3	Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham
18/03/2003	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
27/09/2003	3	Swansea City, Cardiff City, Wrexham
20/03/2004	3	Wrexham, Cardiff City, Swansea City
10/08/2004	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
22/01/2005	3	Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City
11/11/2006	3	Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City

End of a Decade

NOTE: I have updated this post on the 6th Jan 2010 – there were some issues with the original data set I used, I believe these have now been ironed out.

As we reach the end of the decade I thought it would be interesting to see which sides had a good decade. Obviously you’d expect the “Big Four” of the Premier League to do well (though interestingly both Chelsea and Arsenal lost fewer games in the decade than Manchester United) but there are some clubs who’ve had a great decade all in all.

Out of the top flight The Biscuitmen of Reading have probably had the best decade. Winning promotion from both the third and the second tiers during the decade. They also racked up a record number of points whilst gaining promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history.

The draw specialists of the decade are QPR and Wycombe Wanderers. Both sides have drawn (147) matches during the decade. Another club having an average decade are the Bees, they won the same amount of games as they lost during the ten years (166), making Brentford the most “unpredictable” team to watch in the Football League!

Stockport County played the most league matches during the decade (464) but that didn’t really help them, only three sides were less successful during the decade. They also lost the most matches of any league side during the decade (208). The worst side of all award goes to Halifax Town, who are currently rebuilding in the non league.

Team	Played	Won	Draw	Loss	Pts	Pts Av.
Manchester United	381	255	67	59	832	2.183
Chelsea	382	232	92	58	788	2.062
Arsenal	379	226	95	58	773	2.039
Liverpool	380	204	94	82	706	1.857
Reading	447	207	109	131	730	1.633
Bristol City	462	199	134	129	731	1.582
Leeds United	423	185	99	139	654	1.546
Doncaster Rovers	299	126	80	93	458	1.531
Preston North End	460	194	122	144	704	1.530
Wolverhampton Wanderers	448	181	134	133	677	1.511
Sheffield United	451	184	127	140	679	1.505
Millwall	462	192	114	156	690	1.493
Cardiff City	460	182	139	139	685	1.489
Hartlepool United	461	187	119	155	680	1.475
Birmingham City	417	168	109	140	613	1.470
Wigan Athletic	424	167	121	136	622	1.466
Ipswich Town	442	176	120	146	648	1.466
Stoke City	448	178	120	150	654	1.459
Rochdale	461	176	142	143	670	1.453
Plymouth Argyle	461	177	130	154	661	1.433
Nottingham Forest	459	171	144	144	657	1.431
Newcastle United	384	148	105	131	549	1.429
Swansea City	460	173	138	149	657	1.428
Huddersfield Town	460	175	129	156	654	1.421
Oldham Athletic	460	171	141	148	654	1.421
Yeovil Town	300	118	69	113	423	1.41
Scunthorpe United	460	172	132	156	648	1.408
Aston Villa	380	136	125	119	533	1.402
Hull City	449	165	131	153	626	1.394
West Bromwich Albion	425	162	106	157	592	1.392
Blackburn Rovers	392	145	109	138	544	1.387
Manchester City	390	149	93	148	540	1.384
Tottenham Hotspur	381	145	92	144	527	1.383
Everton	379	141	101	137	524	1.382
Tranmere Rovers	460	169	126	165	633	1.376
Burnley	458	169	123	166	630	1.375
Bolton Wanderers	390	141	111	138	534	1.369
Southend United	461	173	112	176	631	1.368
Peterborough United	462	169	125	168	632	1.367
Luton Town	438	162	112	164	598	1.365
Brentford	461	166	129	166	627	1.360
Queens Park Rangers	459	159	147	153	624	1.359
Norwich City	451	169	106	176	613	1.359
Bournemouth	460	166	127	167	625	1.358
Lincoln City	459	161	140	158	623	1.357
Brighton & Hove Albion	462	167	126	169	627	1.357
Morecambe	116	39	40	37	157	1.353
Dagenham & Redbridge	116	43	28	45	157	1.353
Northampton Town	461	168	118	175	622	1.349
Walsall	457	164	124	169	616	1.347
Colchester United	461	164	129	168	621	1.347
Crystal Palace	451	160	127	164	607	1.345
Fulham	390	139	106	145	523	1.341
Swindon Town	458	161	130	167	613	1.338
Rotherham United	456	159	133	164	610	1.337
Wycombe Wanderers	463	157	147	159	618	1.334
Leicester City	434	145	144	145	579	1.334
Darlington	457	159	129	169	606	1.326
West Ham United	397	142	100	155	526	1.324
Aldershot Town	68	24	18	26	90	1.323
Blackpool	459	157	136	166	607	1.322
Burton Albion	22	8	5	9	29	1.318
Leyton Orient	462	156	135	171	603	1.305
Rushden & Diamonds	230	78	63	89	297	1.291
Charlton Athletic	403	136	112	155	520	1.290
Watford	448	151	123	174	576	1.285
Chesterfield	460	155	126	179	591	1.284
Gillingham	462	158	118	186	592	1.281
Cheltenham Town	460	151	135	174	588	1.278
Bury	460	152	132	176	588	1.278
Carlisle United	411	138	109	164	523	1.272
Portsmouth	407	136	108	163	516	1.267
Hereford United	160	55	37	68	202	1.262
Sunderland	404	141	87	176	510	1.262
Wrexham	391	132	97	162	493	1.260
Mansfield Town	396	135	94	167	499	1.260
Southampton	417	132	129	156	525	1.258
Shrewsbury Town	413	130	129	154	519	1.256
Bristol Rovers	461	148	134	179	578	1.253
Barnsley	458	146	135	177	573	1.251
Boston United	230	72	66	92	282	1.226
Sheffield Wednesday	456	142	128	186	554	1.214
Coventry City	449	142	115	192	541	1.204
Port Vale	458	148	106	204	550	1.200
Torquay United	367	109	113	145	440	1.198
Middlesbrough	385	117	110	158	461	1.197
Kidderminster Harriers	230	72	59	99	275	1.195
Macclesfield Town	459	139	131	189	548	1.193
Exeter City	232	69	69	94	276	1.189
Crewe Alexandra	459	144	114	201	546	1.189
York City	207	62	60	85	246	1.188
Notts County	460	135	139	186	544	1.182
Barnet	275	82	78	115	324	1.178
Bradford City	447	133	120	194	519	1.161
Derby County	432	130	109	193	499	1.155
Accrington Stanley	161	52	29	80	185	1.149
Oxford United	300	88	80	132	344	1.146
Grimsby Town	459	134	123	202	525	1.143
Stockport County	464	128	128	208	512	1.103
Cambridge United	253	68	72	113	276	1.090
Chester City	252	65	71	116	266	1.055
Halifax Town	114	24	28	62	100	0.877

Swindon Town	458	161	130	167	613	1.338
Bournemouth	460	166	127	167	625	1.358

FA Cup Round 3

After all the second round replays we now have the full draw for the third round of the FA Cup. This is where everyone looks for an upset, form books are flying out of the window from Carlisle to Cardiff, a chance to see one of the big boys fall at the first hurdle. I felt it might be interesting to take a look at the statistical likelihood of the Premier League sides being knocked out. (I realise how dreadful this is, the romance of the cup being destroyed by percentages, but I couldn’t resist it, sorry!)

The Draw (focussing on top flight sides only)

All Premier League ties

• West Ham United v Arsenal
• Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers
• Wigan Athletic v Hull City

Top Flight vs Second Flight

• Tottenham v Peterborough United
• Chelsea v Watford
• Middlesbrough v Manchester City
• Nottingham Forest v Birmingham City
• Portsmouth v Coventry City
• Reading v Liverpool

Top Flight vs Third Flight

• Fulham v Swindon Town
• Everton v Carlisle United
• Manchester United v Leeds United
• MK Dons v Burnley
• Tranmere Rovers v Wolves

Top Flight vs Fourth Flight/Non League¹

• Bolton Wanderers v Lincoln City
• Stoke City v York City
• Sunderland v Barrow

The Stats

In order to estimate the amount of Premier League clubs that will fall at the first hurdle the following statistics are useful:

Top Flight sides records versus other divisions:

• vs Top Flight: W1298 D810 W1298
• vs Second Flight: W998² D455 L415
• vs Third Flight: W175 D85 L47
• vs Fourth Flight: W110 D16 L14

or in % terms (figures rounded)

• vs Top Flight: W38% D24& L38%
• vs Second Flight: W54% D24% L22%
• vs Third Flight: W57%  D28% L15%
• vs Fourth Flight: W78% D12% L10%

Possible Results

So, to take each set of matches using the above figures we’d expect the following (I’m having to take best guesses at these figures)

1st vs 1st: Three matches, two will end in victories and one will go to a replay.

1st vs 2nd: Six matches, three will end in victories for the top flight, two will go to replays and one second flight team will knock out a top flight side.

1st vs 3rd: Five matches, three will end in victories for the top flight sides, the other two matches will go to replays.

1st vs 4th/Non League: Three matches, all three will end in victories for the top flight (almost certainly)

That’ll leave us with:

• 11 top flight sides going through at the first time of asking, 5 replays and 4 top flight sides going out (one to a Championship side).

What way the replays will go is down to the magic of the FA Cup, after all, isn’t the form book supposed to go out of the window?

Notes

1 – I had to lump together Division Four and Non League stats together. Top Flight vs Non League is very difficult to work out from a historical basis because Non League in the late 1800s includes some very famous (and decent) clubs. It should also be mentioned that the matches against Division Three North and South sides have been removed totally from the data set (they just complicate things!)

2 – The 2010 FA Cup 3rd Round will almost certainly see the 1000th victory for a top flight side over a second flight side in the FA Cup – even Motty won’t mention that on his commentary come January!

3 – There are obviously no guarantees. Division Four sides have beaten top flight sides on ten different occasions, there’s no reason why this can’t become 11 in January. It’s just unlikely.

Is a 9-1 win any good?

I’m sure most Spurs fans were delighted to see their club put nine goals past Wigan Athletic. It’s an event that hasn’t occurred in league football since the early days of free scoring Barnet in the Football League. It’s also the first 9-1 result this century! I feel that an interesting way of looking at it, is how did the club get on in their next match? Does a 9-1 win lead onto a good performance in the next match? The results are intriguing..

As you glance through the results below you may notice an interesting trend, rather than 9-1 leading onto bigger things, it (quite bizarrely) actually makes a club less likely to win their next game! Throughout all time the record of the next match that clubs play in after winning 9-1 stands as follows.

Won: 13, Drew 4, Lost 16

Tottenham face Aston Villa next Saturday (28th November). I suggest you plough your life savings on a Villa win.

The results are as follows [result of next league match follows immediately after].

29/09/1888 – Aston Villa 9 Notts County 1
06/10/1888 – Everton 2 Aston Villa 0

16/11/1889 – Blackburn Rovers 9 Notts County 1
23/11/1889 – Blackburn Rovers 3 Accrington (old) 2

07/12/1889 – Wolverhampton Wanderers 9 Burnley 1
14/12/1889 – Notts County 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2

17/02/1894 – Notts County 9 Crewe Alexandra 1
12/03/1894 – Walsall 2 Notts County 1

05/01/1895 – Blackburn Rovers 9 Birmingham City 1
12/01/1895 – Burnley 2 Blackburn Rovers 1

05/01/1895 – Leicester City 9 Walsall 1
07/01/1895 – Leicester City 3 Arsenal 1

03/09/1906 – Everton 9 Manchester City 1
08/09/1906 – Everton 1 Preston North End 0

05/12/1908 – Newcastle United 1 Sunderland 9
12/12/1908 – Sunderland 0 Bristol City 2

27/12/1909 – Leicester City 9 Gainsborough Trinity 1
28/12/1909 – Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 Leicester City 1

28/08/1920 – Swindon Town 9 Luton Town 1
30/08/1920 – Southampton 4 Swindon Town 0

03/03/1923 – Wigan Borough 9 Lincoln City 1
10/03/1923 – Lincoln City 2 Wigan Borough 1

06/11/1926 – Wolverhampton Wanderers 9 Barnsley 1
13/11/1926 – Manchester City 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1

09/04/1927 – Portsmouth 9 Notts County 1
15/04/1927 – Portsmouth 1 Barnsley 2

29/08/1927 – Millwall 9 Torquay United 1
03/09/1927 – Millwall 5 Southend United 1

12/11/1927 – Bradford City 9 Nelson 1
19/11/1927 – Rochdale 3 Bradford City 3

19/11/1927 – Millwall 9 Coventry City 1
03/12/1927 – Millwall 7 Walsall 1

13/12/1930 – Sheffield Wednesday 9 Birmingham City 1
20/12/1930 – Blackburn Rovers 5 Sheffield Wednesday 2

27/12/1930 – Everton 9 Plymouth Argyle 1
01/01/1931 – Everton 3 Bury 2

28/01/1931 – Arsenal 9 Grimsby Town 1
31/01/1931 – Arsenal 1 Birmingham City 1

25/12/1931 – Tranmere Rovers 9 Rochdale 1
26/12/1931 – Rochdale 3 Tranmere Rovers 6

02/01/1932 – Bradford City 9 Barnsley 1
16/01/1932 – Notts County 1 Bradford City 1

16/01/1932 – Lincoln City 9 Halifax Town 1
23/01/1932 – Walsall 0 Lincoln City 3

24/09/1932 – Port Vale 9 Chesterfield 1
01/10/1932 – Bradford City 7 Port Vale 0

10/04/1937 – Blackburn Rovers 9 Nottingham Forest 1
17/04/1937 – Plymouth Argyle 2 Blackburn Rovers 0

03/03/1951 – Lincoln City 9 Accrington Stanley 1
10/03/1951 – Bradford Park Avenue 2 Lincoln City 1

18/04/1951 – Brighton & Hove Albion 9 Newport County (old) 1
21/04/1951 – Leyton Orient 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 1

11/12/1954 – Birmingham City 9 Liverpool 1
18/12/1954 – Birmingham City 2 Stoke City 0

03/09/1955 – Cardiff City 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 9
10/09/1955 – Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 Huddersfield Town 0

02/02/1957 – York City 9 Southport 1
09/02/1957 – Chesterfield 3 York City 4

30/12/1961 – Colchester United 9 Bradford City 1
15/01/1962 – Mansfield Town 4 Colchester United 0

21/03/1964 – Stoke City 9 Ipswich Town 1
27/03/1964 – West Ham United 4 Stoke City 1

27/11/1965 – Brighton & Hove Albion 9 Southend United 1
11/12/1965 – Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Shrewsbury Town 1

05/09/1998 – Barnet 1 Peterborough United 9
08/09/1998 – Peterborough United 3 Chester City 0

5-5

I forgot to post about this last week. Marseille and Lyon fought out an entertaining 5-5 draw (I know, the ‘entertaining’ suffix is not really required is it). Leafing through the history books here are some other 5-5 draws from history:

12/11/2008 – FC United of Manchester 5 Cammel Laird 5
04/10/2008 – FC Kosice 5 Tatran Presov 5
05/04/2003 – De Graafschap 5 Feyenoord 5
14/12/2002 – Marine 5 Whitby 5
13/04/2002 – Chesham United 5 Hitchin Town 5
13/09/1997 – Rushden & Diamonds 5 Farnborough Town 5
07/01/1996 – Racing Santander 5 Albacete 5
03/11/1992 – Oxford United 5 Portsmouth 5
20/08/1991 – Barnet 5 Brentford 5
04/05/1982 – Southampton 5 Coventry City 5
18/11/1978 – Bristol Rovers 5 Charlton Athletic 5
16/11/1974 – Eintracht Frankfurt 5 VfB Stuttgart 5
08/09/1973 – Schalke 04 5 B. Munich 5
17/12/1966 – Chelsea 5 West Ham United 5
09/04/1966 – Birmingham City 5 Derby County 5
19/03/1966 – Tottenham Hotspur 5 Aston Villa 5
24/04/1965 – Birmingham City 5 Blackburn Rovers 5
03/11/1962 – Blackburn Rovers 5 Arsenal 5
10/12/1960 – Newcastle United 5 West Ham United 5
20/10/1956 – Nairn County 5 Berwick Rangers 5
09/01/1954 – Grimsby Town 5 Fulham 5
21/02/1953 – Aberdeen 5 Motherwell 5
03/11/1951 – Leicester City 5 Sheffield United 5
18/08/1951 – St Mirren 5 Hearts 5
12/02/1949 – Luton Town 5 Leicester City 5
21/01/1939 – Kings Park 5 Babcock & Wilcox 5
21/01/1939 – Nithsdale Wanderers 5 Buckie Thistle 5
30/10/1937 – Bolton Wanderers 5 Chelsea 5
21/11/1936 – Darlington 5 Hartlepool United 5
17/10/1936 – Middlesbrough 5 Sunderland 5
10/11/1934 – Bristol Rovers 5 Exeter City 5
27/01/1934 – Barrow 5 Walsall 5
01/02/1933 – Luton Town 5 Brentford 5
07/01/1933 – Grimsby Town 5 Charlton Athletic 5
15/10/1932 – Grimsby Town 5 Preston North End 5
02/04/1932 – Walsall 5 Accrington Stanley 5
02/01/1932 – Coventry City 5 Fulham 5
03/01/1931 – West Ham United 5 Aston Villa 5
27/08/1928 – Swansea City 5 Blackpool 5
28/11/1925 – Crystal Palace 5 Plymouth Argyle 5
19/09/1925 – Tottenham Hotspur 5 Huddersfield Town 5
29/04/1922 – Halifax Town 5 Crewe Alexandra 5
10/01/1914 – Leicester City 5 Tottenham Hotspur 5
19/01/1907 – Sunderland 5 Liverpool 5
12/11/1904 – Sheffield Wednesday 5 Everton 5
15/10/1898 – Derby County 5 Everton 5
16/11/1895 – Manchester United 5 Lincoln City 5
26/10/1889 – Queen of the South Wand 5 Moffat 5
15/09/1888 – Blackburn Rovers 5 Accrington (old) 5
22/10/1881 – Bolton Wanderers 5 Eagley 5
02/10/1880 – Campsie Central 5 Campsie 5
13/02/1879 – Old Etonians 5 Darwen 5

We *never* beat them

An often used phrase amongst fans is “we never beat them”, it certainly can feel like that sometimes. However, when Chesterfield fans say it about Stoke City they are right. In twenty matches between the sides Chesterfield are yet to win. To be clear, I’m not 100% all of these figures are correct, so feel free to offer suggestions as to which ones aren’t quite right , and which are. Manchester United are in there, they have never beaten Southend United (in their one attempt)

A full list of sides who haven’t beaten each other follow. [Team - Team they haven't beat - number of attempts]

Chesterfield	Stoke City	20
Hull City	Liverpool	15
Swansea City	Everton	13
Barnet	Brentford	13
Rochdale	Swindon Town	11
Scunthorpe United	Liverpool	11
Rochdale	Fulham	11
Crewe Alexandra	Leicester City	11
Northampton Town	Derby County	10
Wigan Athletic	Liverpool	10
Wigan Athletic	Manchester United	10
Northampton Town	Sheffield United	9
Bournemouth	Leeds United	9
Chester City	Luton Town	9
Rotherham United	Manchester City	8
Crewe Alexandra	Fulham	8
Rochdale	Wolverhampton Wanderers	8
Tranmere Rovers	Tottenham Hotspur	8
Crewe Alexandra	Liverpool	8
Rochdale	Norwich City	8
Shrewsbury Town	Sunderland	8
Darlington	Bristol City	8
Reading	Arsenal	8
Brentford	Aston Villa	8
Darlington	Middlesbrough	8
Barnet	Bristol Rovers	8
Peterborough United	Stoke City	8
Walsall	Liverpool	7
Millwall	Liverpool	7
Cheltenham Town	Stockport County	7
Yeovil Town	Stockport County	7
Doncaster Rovers	Newcastle United	7
Gillingham	Birmingham City	7
Gillingham	Yeovil Town	7
Hereford United	Nottingham Forest	7
Hereford United	Portsmouth	7
Gillingham	Manchester City	7
Exeter City	Cheltenham Town	6
Chesterfield	Morecambe	6
Colchester United	Leicester City	6
Rotherham United	Manchester United	6
Scunthorpe United	Wolverhampton Wanderers	6
Accrington Stanley	Colchester United	6
Hartlepool United	Wolverhampton Wanderers	6
Macclesfield Town	Bradford City	6
Cheltenham Town	Walsall	6
Scunthorpe United	Leicester City	6
Cheltenham Town	Chesterfield	6
Bournemouth	Sunderland	6
Crewe Alexandra	Manchester United	6
Bournemouth	Manchester City	6
Crewe Alexandra	Arsenal	6
Plymouth Argyle	Arsenal	5
Accrington Stanley	Queens Park Rangers	5
Bristol Rovers	Everton	5
Crewe Alexandra	Tottenham Hotspur	5
Brentford	Cheltenham Town	5
Barnet	Burnley	5
Peterborough United	Aston Villa	5
Wycombe Wanderers	Hartlepool United	5
Southend United	Manchester City	5
Exeter City	Wolverhampton Wanderers	5
Barnet	Queens Park Rangers	5
Exeter City	Manchester United	5
Darlington	Manchester City	5
Darlington	Leeds United	5
Chesterfield	Liverpool	5
Bournemouth	West Ham United	5
Hartlepool United	Leeds United	5
Yeovil Town	Leeds United	5
Stockport County	Everton	5
Stockport County	Liverpool	5
Hartlepool United	Sheffield United	5
Northampton Town	Leicester City	5
Exeter City	Aston Villa	5
Hereford United	Leicester City	5
Wycombe Wanderers	Watford	5
Cheltenham Town	Watford	5
Dagenham & Redbridge	Rotherham United	4
Exeter City	Nottingham Forest	4
Exeter City	West Bromwich Albion	4
Wycombe Wanderers	West Bromwich Albion	4
Hereford United	Sheffield United	4
Hereford United	Bolton Wanderers	4
Hereford United	Watford	4
Hereford United	Barnsley	4
Wycombe Wanderers	Barnsley	4
Crewe Alexandra	Charlton Athletic	4
Chester City	West Bromwich Albion	4
Chester City	Blackburn Rovers	4
Wycombe Wanderers	Hull City	4
Scunthorpe United	Manchester City	4
Aldershot Town	Sheffield Wednesday	4
Exeter City	Sunderland	4
Morecambe	Carlisle United	4
Morecambe	Port Vale	4
Morecambe	Wycombe Wanderers	4
Stockport County	Aston Villa	4
Grimsby Town	Dagenham & Redbridge	4
Hartlepool United	Arsenal	4
Hartlepool United	Portsmouth	4
Cheltenham Town	Nottingham Forest	4
Barnet	Charlton Athletic	4
Cheltenham Town	Reading	4
Sheffield United	Hereford United	4
Barnet	Port Vale	4
Morecambe	Rochdale	4
Carlisle United	West Ham United	4
Carlisle United	West Bromwich Albion	4
Carlisle United	Morecambe	4
Bristol Rovers	Tottenham Hotspur	4
Ipswich Town	Peterborough United	4
Wigan Athletic	Nottingham Forest	4
Bristol Rovers	Manchester City	4
Accrington Stanley	Southampton	4
Rochdale	Portsmouth	4
Crewe Alexandra	Southampton	4
Northampton Town	Tottenham Hotspur	4
Northampton Town	West Bromwich Albion	4
Accrington Stanley	Millwall	4
Northampton Town	Manchester United	4
Darlington	Birmingham City	3
Chester City	Manchester City	3
Darlington	Ipswich Town	3
Darlington	West Bromwich Albion	3
Port Vale	Dagenham & Redbridge	3
Southend United	Chelsea	3
Southend United	Everton	3
Hartlepool United	Leicester City	3
Scunthorpe United	Birmingham City	3
Chester City	Leeds United	3
Scunthorpe United	Aston Villa	3
Chester City	Wolverhampton Wanderers	3
Hartlepool United	Ipswich Town	3
Macclesfield Town	Crewe Alexandra	3
Hartlepool United	Queens Park Rangers	3
Chester City	Ipswich Town	3
Hartlepool United	Norwich City	3
Carlisle United	Liverpool	3
Exeter City	Everton	3
Cheltenham Town	Queens Park Rangers	3
Aldershot Town	Stoke City	3
Tottenham Hotspur	Swindon Town	3
Yeovil Town	Luton Town	3
Colchester United	Birmingham City	3
Accrington Stanley	Crystal Palace	3
Lincoln City	Norwich City	3
Stockport County	Newcastle United	3
Yeovil Town	Aldershot Town	3
Northampton Town	Liverpool	3
Bristol Rovers	Arsenal	3
Accrington Stanley	Portsmouth	3
Northampton Town	Chelsea	3
Doncaster Rovers	Wycombe Wanderers	3
Bournemouth	Everton	3
Gillingham	Chelsea	3
Rotherham United	Tottenham Hotspur	3
Shrewsbury Town	Arsenal	3
Cheltenham Town	Bradford City	3
Bournemouth	Derby County	3
Peterborough United	Sheffield United	3
Gillingham	Aston Villa	3
Gillingham	Everton	3
Luton Town	Accrington Stanley	2
Lincoln City	Aston Villa	2
Crystal Palace	Yeovil Town	2
Walsall	Everton	2
Cheltenham Town	Leicester City	2
Tranmere Rovers	Liverpool	2
Cheltenham Town	Aldershot Town	2
Cheltenham Town	West Bromwich Albion	2
Cheltenham Town	Wigan Athletic	2
Peterborough United	Chelsea	2
Peterborough United	Tottenham Hotspur	2
Hartlepool United	Middlesbrough	2
Peterborough United	West Ham United	2
Cheltenham Town	Barnsley	2
Peterborough United	Norwich City	2
Peterborough United	Morecambe	2
Hartlepool United	Tottenham Hotspur	2
Scunthorpe United	West Bromwich Albion	2
Scunthorpe United	Tottenham Hotspur	2
Scunthorpe United	Blackburn Rovers	2
Aldershot Town	West Ham United	2
Aldershot Town	Macclesfield Town	2
Scunthorpe United	Everton	2
Doncaster Rovers	Chelsea	2
Leicester City	Wigan Athletic	2
Hereford United	Middlesbrough	2
Hereford United	Chelsea	2
Hereford United	Luton Town	2
Hereford United	Tottenham Hotspur	2
Hereford United	Arsenal	2
Accrington Stanley	Charlton Athletic	2
Accrington Stanley	Stoke City	2
Crewe Alexandra	Everton	2
Hartlepool United	Charlton Athletic	2
Crewe Alexandra	Aston Villa	2
Accrington Stanley	Bristol City	2
Accrington Stanley	Preston North End	2
Dagenham & Redbridge	Southend United	2
Dagenham & Redbridge	Stockport County	2
Dagenham & Redbridge	Bournemouth	2
Accrington Stanley	Manchester United	2
Dagenham & Redbridge	Charlton Athletic	2
Dagenham & Redbridge	Cheltenham Town	2
Oldham Athletic	Macclesfield Town	2
Colchester United	Manchester City	2
Barnet	Luton Town	2
Macclesfield Town	Fulham	2
Carlisle United	Manchester United	2
Yeovil Town	Hull City	2
Macclesfield Town	Wigan Athletic	2
Plymouth Argyle	Accrington Stanley	2
Plymouth Argyle	Dagenham & Redbridge	2
Macclesfield Town	Birmingham City	2
Colchester United	Arsenal	2
Chester City	Aston Villa	2
Chester City	Arsenal	2
Chester City	Chelsea	2
Barnet	West Ham United	2
Macclesfield Town	Leicester City	2
Macclesfield Town	Manchester City	2
Macclesfield Town	Tranmere Rovers	2
Macclesfield Town	West Ham United	2
Yeovil Town	Manchester United	2
Wycombe Wanderers	Yeovil Town	2
Yeovil Town	Arsenal	2
Wycombe Wanderers	Sheffield Wednesday	2
Yeovil Town	Norwich City	2
Wycombe Wanderers	Middlesbrough	2
Gillingham	Arsenal	2
Tottenham Hotspur	Peterborough United	2
Wycombe Wanderers	Aston Villa	2
Yeovil Town	Southampton	2
Yeovil Town	Sheffield Wednesday	2
Yeovil Town	Liverpool	2
Yeovil Town	Cardiff City	2
Macclesfield Town	Millwall	2
Macclesfield Town	Middlesbrough	2
Yeovil Town	Bolton Wanderers	2
Wycombe Wanderers	Norwich City	2
Yeovil Town	Leicester City	2
Wycombe Wanderers	Chelsea	2
Wycombe Wanderers	Nottingham Forest	2
Darlington	Coventry City	2
Crystal Palace	Wigan Athletic	2
Morecambe	Ipswich Town	2
Morecambe	Bournemouth	2
Rochdale	Sheffield United	2
Colchester United	Middlesbrough	2
Morecambe	Hull City	2
Exeter City	Yeovil Town	2
Exeter City	Chelsea	2
Morecambe	Gillingham	2
Barnet	Middlesbrough	2
Morecambe	Luton Town	2
Bournemouth	Liverpool	2
Chester City	Liverpool	2
Rochdale	Sheffield Wednesday	2
Rochdale	Queens Park Rangers	2
West Bromwich Albion	Hereford United	2
Chester City	Tottenham Hotspur	2
Ipswich Town	Yeovil Town	2
Aston Villa	Aldershot Town	2
Northampton Town	Everton	2
Aston Villa	Lincoln City	2
Rochdale	Leicester City	2
Barnet	Watford	2
Barnet	Chelsea	2
Nottingham Forest	Macclesfield Town	1
Accrington Stanley	Watford	1
Accrington Stanley	Everton	1
Wigan Athletic	Southampton	1
Accrington Stanley	Manchester City	1
Sunderland	Yeovil Town	1
Accrington Stanley	Leicester City	1
Coventry City	Hereford United	1
Accrington Stanley	Liverpool	1
Norwich City	Darlington	1
Accrington Stanley	Chelsea	1
West Ham United	Darlington	1
Queens Park Rangers	Hereford United	1
Watford	Accrington Stanley	1
Peterborough United	Everton	1
Barnet	Leeds United	1
Barnet	Manchester United	1
Cheltenham Town	Sheffield United	1
Cheltenham Town	Crystal Palace	1
Peterborough United	Manchester United	1
Bournemouth	Arsenal	1
Blackpool	Accrington Stanley	1
Shrewsbury Town	Liverpool	1
Morecambe	Swindon Town	1
Barnsley	Macclesfield Town	1
Manchester United	Southend United	1
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Morecambe	1
Cheltenham Town	Sunderland	1
Millwall	Barnet	1
Cheltenham Town	Fulham	1
Yeovil Town	Reading	1
Cheltenham Town	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1
Yeovil Town	Middlesbrough	1
Oldham Athletic	Morecambe	1
Barnet	Portsmouth	1
Cheltenham Town	Accrington Stanley	1
Cheltenham Town	Stoke City	1
Cheltenham Town	Birmingham City	1
Barnet	Southampton	1
Cheltenham Town	Newcastle United	1
Accrington Stanley	Bolton Wanderers	1
Rochdale	Leeds United	1
Rochdale	Manchester United	1
Chester City	Southampton	1
Rochdale	Chelsea	1
Hartlepool United	West Ham United	1
Rochdale	Liverpool	1
Rochdale	Arsenal	1
Crewe Alexandra	Dagenham & Redbridge	1
Leicester City	Exeter City	1
Leicester City	Wycombe Wanderers	1
Hereford United	Manchester United	1
Macclesfield Town	Watford	1
Chester City	Manchester United	1
Macclesfield Town	Sheffield United	1
Macclesfield Town	Chelsea	1
Hartlepool United	Newcastle United	1
Darlington	Aston Villa	1
Morecambe	Sheffield United	1
Morecambe	Huddersfield Town	1
Chesterfield	Everton	1
Darlington	Liverpool	1
Darlington	Sunderland	1
Chesterfield	Ipswich Town	1
Morecambe	Hartlepool United	1
Hartlepool United	Chelsea	1
Morecambe	Oldham Athletic	1
Hartlepool United	Morecambe	1
Hartlepool United	Sunderland	1
Hartlepool United	Manchester United	1
Morecambe	Northampton Town	1
Morecambe	Nottingham Forest	1
Macclesfield Town	Everton	1
Dagenham & Redbridge	Queens Park Rangers	1
Dagenham & Redbridge	Norwich City	1
Dagenham & Redbridge	Bristol Rovers	1
Dagenham & Redbridge	Ipswich Town	1
Darlington	Arsenal	1
Colchester United	Chelsea	1
Dagenham & Redbridge	Cardiff City	1
Dagenham & Redbridge	Reading	1
Accrington Stanley	Blackpool	1
Arsenal	Peterborough United	1
Nottingham Forest	Accrington Stanley	1
Exeter City	Liverpool	1
Colchester United	Manchester United	1
Dagenham & Redbridge	Hartlepool United	1
Dagenham & Redbridge	Leicester City	1
Aldershot Town	Liverpool	1
Wycombe Wanderers	Liverpool	1
Hereford United	Birmingham City	1
Newcastle United	Colchester United	1
Wycombe Wanderers	West Ham United	1
Macclesfield Town	Coventry City	1
Macclesfield Town	Leeds United	1
Wycombe Wanderers	Sheffield United	1
Liverpool	Peterborough United	1
Aldershot Town	Everton	1
Tottenham Hotspur	Bournemouth	1
Aldershot Town	Leicester City	1
Aldershot Town	Derby County	1
Wycombe Wanderers	Leeds United	1
Burnley	Cheltenham Town	1
Gillingham	Liverpool	1

Days of the Week

OK, an odd one this one, does it matter? Well, it matters to geeks with a little too much time on their hands, so here we go. The question is: What football league side is best on each day of the week [statistics use Football League matches only - I've only included sides that have played a decent amount of games on a particular day - approx 12]

• Sunday: Bristol City
• Monday: Boston United
• Tuesday: Liverpool
• Wednesday: Wigan Athletic
• Thursday: Swansea City
• Friday: Ipswich Town
• Saturday: Liverpool
  

  What football clubs are most successful on each day of the week?

So, Liverpool take both Saturday and Tuesday. The juggernaught that normally steams through all these statistics doesn’t put Manchester United on top of any day of the week. Whilst this may seem odd, I feel it can be easily explained in that Sky often move matches, so Manchester United are now spreading themselves quite thinly across the week.

SUNDAY (1.5% of matches)

1. Bristol City – 1.86
2. Bury – 1.86
3. Arsenal – 1.82
4. Northampton Town 1.81
5. Manchester United – 1.79

Lincoln City have lost 17 of the 26 matches they have played on Sunday, Exeter City have lost 8 of the 11 they have played on the Sabbath. Manchester United have played more games than anyone on a Sunday (156)

MONDAY (7% of matches)

1. Boston United – 1.85
2. Manchester United – 1.68
3. Arsenal – 1.63
4. Wigan Athletic – 1.60
5. Wolverhampton Wanderers – 1.60

Workington played over 100 matches on a Monday, winning only 22. Port Vale have played 493 matches on Mondays, more than any other club.

TUESDAY (8% of matches)

1. Liverpool – 1.87
2. Arseal – 1.66
3. Manchester United – 1.63
4. Bristol City – 1.62
5. Rushden and Diamonds – 1.61

Hereford United have played 134 matches on a Tuesday, only winning 31. Grimsby Town are the club to have played most football league matches on a Tuesday (453)

WEDNESDAY (6% of matches)

1. Wigan Athletic – 1.88
2. Maidestone United – 1.80
3. Scarborough – 1.74
4. Reading – 1.68
5. Manchester United – 1.66

Newport County and Swansea City have had torrid times on Wednesdays throughout their history. They have both played over 100 matches on Wdnesday, Swansea winning 19 and Newport only 24. Both clubs have picked up less than a point a game on average on Wednesdays. Must be a Welsh thing. Newcastle United have played 421 matches on a Wednesday, more than any other club.

THURSDAY (1% of matches)

1. Swansea City – 1.93
2. Luton Town – 1.85
3. Tottenham Hotspur – 1.85
4. Sunderland – 1.84
5. Chelsea – 1.75

I can only assume that Swansea played a lot of home games on Thursday, this is why their ranking is so good, and probably why their points average on a Wednesday is so poor. Birmingham City have suffered a torrid time on Thursdays, only ever winning five of their twenty-nine matches on the day.

Notts County have played almost 150 matches on Thursdays, the only other clubs to have played over 100 Football League fixtures on this day are Newport County and Leyton Orient.

FRIDAY (4% of matches)

1. Ipswich Town – 1.86
2. Arsenal – 1.74
3. Tranmere Rovers – 1.72
4. Millwall – 1.72
5. Colchester United – 1.70

Accrington Stanley have picked up an average of 0.87 points per game on Fridays. Tranmere Rovers, who played many matches at home on Friday evenings to entice followings from Everton and Liverpool have an unsurprisingly high points per game ratio.

Despite Tranmere Rovers being the most famous club to partake in Friday evening matches it is Stockport County who have played most on Fridays having played in 525 matches, Tranmere have played 507, Southend United have played 420 matches.

SATURDAY (72.5% of matches)

1. Liverpool – 1.67
2. Manchester United – 1.64
3. Arsenal – 1.60
4. Yeovil Town – 1.53
5. Leeds United – 1.53

This is a little more simple than most of the stats. The best clubs come out top, Yeovil Town, who have had a few good seasons since joining the Football League also feature.

Bogey Sides

SOUTH WALES DERBY

Last weekend Cardiff City lost against Swansea, it’s now been eight matches since Cardiff City earned a victory against their South Wales rivals. Therefore, I thought it may be worth seeing who the bogey sides are of clubs in the Football League. The way I define bogey side is quite simple, it’s the team that the club has played the most times without recording a victory.

Swansea City have gone eight games unbeaten against Cardiff. But are they their true "bogey side"?

Thankfully for Cardiff City they do not face the ignominy of having their bogey side being Swansea City as they have gone eleven matches without beating either Millwall or Arsenal. It’s interesting to see both Millwall and Swansea being sides that Cardiff rarely win against, does the threat of trouble somehow cause Cardiff City players to play badly?

Oddly, Wrexham are Swansea City’s bogey club, so there is a Welsh factor to the bogey side debate!

MANCHESTER UNITED

Unsurprisingly Manchester United feature heavily on the list, most notably with Aston Villa. The Villains have now gone twenty-four matches without beating the Champions, and even that was only a League Cup victory against a youthful Manchester United side. For the record the game finished 3-0, Ian Taylor, Steve Stone and Julian Joachim scored for Villa. The likes of Michael Twiss, Danny Higginbotham and Ronnie Wallwork played for United.

Other clubs that feature Manchester United as their bogey club are the following. [Team followed by number of matches without a win]

• Birmingham City (22)
• Tottenham Hotspur (20)
• Charlton Athletic (18)
• Newcastle United (16)
• Sunderland (12)
• Reading (11)
• QPR (11)
• Middlesbrough (10)
• Luton Town (10)
• Millwall (1o) – have also gone 10 matches without beating Spurs.
• Sheffield United (6)
• Arsenal (4)

It does seem to be an odd anomaly that Arsenal & Spurs, the three major North East clubs and Villa & Brum all have the same side as their bogey side. I suppose it underlines the dominance of Manchester United more than anything else!

TWENTY SIX MATCHES

South coast club Portsmouth have gone an unbelievable twenty-six matches without beating Chelsea, the last time they recorded a victory over the London club was almost fifty years ago (1-0 in a League Cup tie) in December 1960. Everton are another club who have a dreadful record against Chelsea, going twenty-three matches without winning. However, unlike Pompey their win is relatively recently, coming  as recent as November 2000 when Danny Cadamateri and Kevin Campbell handed Everton a 2-1 victory. For the record Samuel Dalla Bona scored Chelsea’s goal in hte match.

THE REST

What is perhaps more interesting than clubs not being able to beat superpowers such as Chelsea and Manchester United are the stories from the Football League where (for example) Bristol City have failed to beat Nottingham Forest in twenty-two attempts. Rotherham United are another club who have failed to beat Forest – now running at no wins in their last fourteen matches.

Bradford City have gone sixteen matches since they had the bragging rights in their Yorkshire “derby” against Sheffield United, whilst Bournemouth have failed to beat another Yorkshire side Huddersfield in fifteen attempts. Blackpool have struggled in their orange/old gold clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers, they haven’t won the fixture in thirteen attempts (last win came in the late 60s).

Statistics follow… I hope they are correct, but there’s a lot of data to get through so there could well be mistakes.. If there are, please let me know.

Alec Forbes

I’m sure most of us are aware that many footballers in the early part of the 20th century played other sports other than football. Many of them played that very English pastime: cricket and did so at a very high level. In the late 19th century it was almost expected, the remarkable story of CB Fry (World record holder in the long jump, footballer, cricketer and even acrobat) gives a fantastic insight into the sport of that era. It wasn’t uncommon for players to play football in the winter and cricket in the winter. Denis Compton is a famous example, a man who represented Arsenal and England, at the same time played for Middlesex and earned 76 test caps in that time.

There are many more recent examples including Ian Botham playing for Scunthorpe United during the early 80s (and becoming the subject of a slightly cheeky “England captains who have played for Scunthorpe?) question. Geoff Hurst played at a decent level for Essex, whilst Steve Ogrizovic bowled at minor counties level before becoming the subject of a bizarre internet rumour in his retirement.

Arsenal's 1950 FA Cup Winning side

But, more interesting (I think) than those who have played the two most popular sports in the UK there’s the case of Alec Forbes who won an FA Cup winners medal for Arsenal in 1950 and played over 200 matches for the London club. From the age of 14-18 Alec Forbes did not play football, he instead worked at his local ice rink in Dundee. He was so good at the sport that he soon became a member of the local side (The Tigers) who were mainly made up of Canadians. During his time playing the sport he broke his collar-bone, his ankle and his leg. So it’s perhaps a blessing that he took up football at the age of 18 with Dundee North End, moves to Sheffield United and then Arsenal followed along with 14 caps for Scotland. However, the red-headed Forbes maintained even whilst playing professionally that ice hockey was his favourite sport.

It is very unlikely that a footballer will ever play at a high level in any other sport, football at the top end is so highly competitive and the training so vigorous for youngsters that it’s not particularly likely they’ll get to play any other sports than football – especially not one as violent as ice hockey.

1000 Football League goals in each division

Bury hold a couple of unique distinctions, they are the team who recorded the largest winning margin in the FA Cup Final of 1903 and they are the only club who have scored over 1000 goals in each of the four divisions of the Football League. In a time where clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea dominate the football landscape it’s important to remember the clubs who are the glue of the football league.

The clubs who have scored more than 1000 in three different divisions are Notts County, Blackpool, Chesterfield, Bradford City, Huddersfield Town and Swansea City.

The full results do not include Division 3N or Division 3S, the figures are up to date to approximately the start of 2009

Team Name	Div 1	Div 2	Div 3	Div 4
Preston North End	2701	2497	1120	341
Burnley	3163	2317	643	416
Stoke City	2651	2428	465	0
West Bromwich Albion	4188	2396	152	0
Bolton Wanderers	3997	1821	598	66
Derby County	3766	2615	80	0
Everton	6367	348	0	0
Accrington (old)	226	0	0	0
Wolverhampton Wanderers	3912	2857	153	151
Aston Villa	6246	617	139	0
Blackburn Rovers	4153	2195	299	0
Notts County	1403	2179	1273	838
Sunderland	4762	1897	92	0
Darwen	75	326	0	0
Walsall	0	785	2089	633
Sheffield Wednesday	3918	2038	422	0
Sheffield United	3531	2633	366	94
Lincoln City	0	1740	527	2264
Birmingham City	2974	2921	260	0
Port Vale	0	2208	1682	765
Burton United	0	657	0	0
Crewe Alexandra	0	572	646	1840
Grimsby Town	756	2914	1135	766
Northwich Victoria	0	72	0	0
Manchester United	5694	1433	0	0
Manchester City	4840	1847	69	0
Bootle	0	49	0	0
Nottingham Forest	3013	2783	196	0
Middlesbrough Iron	0	37	0	0
Liverpool	6053	977	0	0
Rotherham Town	0	133	0	0
Arsenal	6040	824	0	0
Newcastle United	4770	1798	0	0
Leicester City	2731	3477	43	0
Bury	1176	2396	1426	1103
Burton Wanderers	0	167	0	0
Loughborough	0	170	0	0
Gainsborough Trinity	0	718	0	0
Blackpool	1733	2545	1319	413
Luton Town	807	2116	888	362
Barnsley	37	3820	972	628
Glossop North End	31	798	0	0
New Brighton Tower	0	194	0	0
Middlesbrough	3388	2421	154	0
Chesterfield	0	1070	1720	1154
Stockport County	0	1221	852	1736
Bristol City	428	2358	1548	129
Doncaster Rovers	0	741	695	1858
Bradford City	584	1620	1107	1275
Leyton Orient	37	1970	808	930
Hull City	28	2983	1152	576
Leeds City	0	592	0	0
Chelsea	4393	1323	0	0
Fulham	1047	2986	877	189
Oldham Athletic	601	2111	1304	499
Tottenham Hotspur	4593	1253	0	0
Bradford Park Avenue	172	1448	159	647
Huddersfield Town	1874	1886	1143	405
West Ham United	2993	2091	0	0
Gateshead	0	489	0	114
Coventry City	1557	1473	403	84
Rotherham United	0	1637	1444	584
Newport County (old)	0	61	672	1167
Reading	93	931	2019	513
Portsmouth	1970	2238	412	153
Swansea City	109	2190	1200	1080
Plymouth Argyle	0	2308	1536	306
Norwich City	966	1950	215	0
Gillingham	0	274	1720	1022
Southampton	1812	2425	258	0
Leeds United	3079	1817	111	0
Exeter City	0	0	798	1822
Brentford	330	588	2129	961
Northampton Town	55	171	986	1915
Cardiff City	865	2118	593	600
Millwall	86	1970	1060	422
Bristol Rovers	0	1162	2044	308
Merthyr Town (old)	0	0	60	0
Crystal Palace	548	1820	489	284
Queens Park Rangers	974	1326	1052	0
Watford	369	1276	1057	387
Swindon Town	47	1039	1824	259
Southend United	0	375	1528	1187
Brighton & Hove Albion	182	953	1371	450
Charlton Athletic	1424	2511	274	0
Darlington	0	151	209	2603
Halifax Town	0	0	697	1387
Barrow	0	0	167	685
Wrexham	0	168	1528	1402
Hartlepool United	0	1	471	2332
Rochdale	0	0	310	2486
Accrington Stanley	0	0	128	220
Tranmere Rovers	0	648	1436	1096
Southport	0	0	219	931
Nelson	0	40	0	0
Bournemouth	0	168	2179	527
Torquay United	0	0	592	2186
Carlisle United	43	787	734	1210
York City	0	90	850	1727
Mansfield Town	0	49	1344	1730
Chester City	0	0	737	1852
Aldershot Town	0	0	289	1806
Ipswich Town	1396	1863	0	0
Colchester United	0	132	1367	1540
Scunthorpe United	0	422	569	2025
Shrewsbury Town	0	415	1611	894
Workington	0	0	180	873
Peterborough United	0	103	1397	1644
Oxford United	150	852	921	474
Cambridge United	0	389	498	1125
Hereford United	0	57	254	1122
Wigan Athletic	140	139	1014	520
Scarborough	0	0	0	697
Maidstone United	0	0	0	188
Barnet	0	0	41	736
Wycombe Wanderers	0	0	546	338
Chester	0	0	0	1
Macclesfield Town	0	0	44	583
Cheltenham Town	0	0	170	348
Kidderminster Harriers	0	0	0	249
Rushden & Diamonds	0	0	60	228
Boston United	0	0	0	268
Yeovil Town	0	0	169	160
Dagenham & Redbridge	0	0	0	96
Morecambe	0	0	0	84