As any supporter knows, the football season runs from summer to summer, however I felt as we approach the end of 2010 that it would be interesting to take a look at how well clubs have done over the calendar year. This stuff is obviously totally irrelevant when it comes to handing out trophies or deciding promotion or relegation but it may give an indication as to which sides have had a good 2010.
I’ve set out a few lists below, clubs in bold are those that have played in two different divisions during 2010.
Points gained (top ten)
- Norwich City 89
- Millwall 81
- Manchester United 80
- Cardiff City 79
- Notts County 79
- Southampton 76
- Port Vale 75
- Chelsea 75
- Reading 74
- Huddersfield Town 74
Norwich City sit atop of the top ten for 2010 with an impressive 89 points. They gained many of the points during their League One promotion run-in, and have started their Championship season very well, currently sitting in a playoff place. The Canaries have only bettered this tally of 89 points once in their history, when they scored 91 in 1959.
Manchester United have accrued the most Premier League points in 2010 (80), the honour for the Championship goes to Cardiff City (79), League One’s most prolific side are Southampton (76) whilst Port Vale accrued an impressive 75 in League Two during 2010.
Points gained (bottom ten)
- West Ham United 34
- Stockport County 34
- Wolverhampton Wanderers 37
- Birmingham City 37
- Wigan Athletic 37
- Southend United 37
- Fulham 38
- Barnet 39
- Yeovil Town 41
- Burnley 42
For West Ham United 2010 can’t come to an end too soon, they only picked up 34 points in 2010. It isn’t too surprising to see a few other Premier League clubs in the top ten due to the disparity between top and bottom in that division. Five of the top ten are current Premier League sides whilst Burnley spent the first half of 2010 as a Premier League club.
Most Improved Sides (Points difference between first half of 2010 to second half of 2010)
- Queens Park Rangers +23
- Burnley +22
- Hull City +18
- Portsmouth +16
- Peterborough United +14
- Stockport County +12
- Watford +11
- Leeds United +10
- Southend United +9
It’s unsurprising to followers of Championship football that QPR score so highly on this list. They have picked up 47 points in the second half of 2010, 7 more than any other club in the country. In the first half of 2010 they only picked up 24.
Interestingly seven of the above list of nine have played Championship football at some time during 2010. This can probably be put down to the unpredictable nature of the division as well as the fact that positions 2, 3 and 4 are held by ex-Premier League sides who find the second flight a far more tolerable level of football to operate in.
A lot of praise needs to be handed to Simon Grayson’s Leeds United who have managed to pick up more points in the second half of 2010 (in the Championship) than they managed in the first half of 2010 (in League One).
Top Ten “Most Degraded” sides (Points difference between first half of 2010 to second half of 2010)
- Notts County -33
- Newcastle United -29
- West Bromwich Albion -24
- Swindon Town – 19
- Hereford United -19
- Morecambe -18
- Millwall -17
- Northampton Town -17
- Everton -17
- Dagenham & Redbridge -17
As you’d expect it’s the promoted sides that find it the toughest. There appears to be some sort of 2010 curse with black & white stripes as both Notts County have found the latter half of 2010 harder going than the first half.
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Ultimately it’s where you finish in May 2010 that determines which sides are deemed successful or not and the above stats are mere trivialities.
I wish you all a very Happy New Year.
Mirko Bolesan 