League One 2012/2013: Players who started the first and last game of the season for their club

The following list shows the players who started the first and last league games for their League clubs in the 2012/2013 season.

• Stevenage (8) – James Dunne, Luke Freeman, Marcus Haber, Darius Charles, Chris Day, Mark Roberts, David Gray and Bondz N’Gala.
• Carlisle United (7) – Liam Noble, Brad Potts, Lee Miller, James Trevor Berrett, Danny Livesey, Matthew James Robson and Paul Thirlwell.
• Crawley Town (7) – Nicky Adams, Josh Simpson, Billy Clarke, Matthew Sadler, Paul Jones, Dannie Bulman and Mark Connolly. 
• Hartlepool United (7) – Andy Monkhouse, Jonathan Franks, Simon Walton, Sam Collins, Scott Flinders, Neil Jeffrey Austin and Peter Hartley.
• Leyton Orient (7) – Dean Cox, Lloyd James, Kevin Lisbie, Jimmy Dean Smith, Gary Sawyer, Jamie Jones and Nathan Clarke. 
• Tranmere Rovers (7) – Jean-Louis Akpro, Andy Robinson, Liam Palmer, Danny Holmes, Zoumana Bakayogo, Ash Taylor and Ben Gibson. 
• Brentford (6) – Harlee Dean, Clayton Donaldson, Shaleum Logan, Simon Moore, Toumani Diagouraga and Jonathan Douglas. 
• Doncaster Rovers (6) – Chris Brown, David Cotterill, Robert Jones, Paul Quinn, Jamie Paul McCombe and Tommy Spurr. 
• Notts County (6) – Alan Judge, Jeff Hughes, Yoann Arquin, Gary Liddle, Bartosz Bialkowski and Dean Leacock. 
• Preston North End (6) – Nicky Wroe, Keith Keane, Jack King, John Mousinho, Paul Huntington and David Buchanan. 
• Yeovil Town (6) – James Hayter, Edward Upson, Marek Stech, Luke Ayling, Sam Foley and Dominic Blizzard.
• AFC Bournemouth (5) – Charlie Daniels, Marc Pugh, Shaun MacDonald, Tommy Elphick and Simon Francis.
• MK Dons* (5) – Antony Kay, Dean Peter Bowditch, Daniel Powell, Luke Chadwick and Darren Potter. 
• Scunthorpe United (5) – Jimmy Ryan, Mark Duffy, Sam Slocombe, David Mirfin and Tom Newey. 
• Walsall (5) – Adam Craig Chambers, Jamie Paterson, William Grigg, Nicky Featherstone and Dean Holden. 
• Crewe Alexandra (4) – Byron Moore, Max Clayton, Ajay Leitch-Smith and Harry Davis.
• Sheffield United (4) – Harry Maguire, Kevin McDonald, Michael Doyle and Neill Collins.
• Swindon Town (4) – Raffaele De Vita, Alan McCormack, Wesley Foderingham and Joe Devera. 
• Colchester United (3) – Magnus Okuonghae, Marcus Bean and Brian Wilson.
• Coventry City (3) – Adam Barton, John Fleck and Richard Wood.
• Oldham Athletic (3) – Lee Croft, Christian Alexis Montaño Castillo and Jean-Yves Mvoto.
• Bury (2) – Mark Hughes and David Worrall.
• Shrewsbury Town (2) – Luke Summerfield and Chris Weale. 
• Portsmouth (0)

Not one player who started Portsmouth’s first game of the season also started the last game of the league season. This perhaps demonstrates what a turbulent season the club has had. The club didn’t even have the same manager for their first and last games of the season.

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Alliterative Footballers in the Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two

A list of footballers who have played in the Premier League, Championship, League One or League Two this season with their first name beginning with the same letter as their surname. Please let me know if you are aware of any others.

• Adebayo Akinfenwa (Northampton Town)
• Adebayo Azeez (Wycombe Wanderers & Leyton Orient)
• Ahmed Abdulla (Barnet)
• Akwasi Asante (Shrewsbury Town)
• Ali Al Habsi (Wigan Athletic)
• Almen Abdi (Watford)
• Andreas Arestidou (Morecambe)
• Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal)
• Antolín Alcáraz (Wigan Athletic)
• Barry Bannan (Aston Villa)
• Bartosz Bialkowski (Notts County)
• Billy Bodin (Torquay United)
• Brian Barry-Murphy (Rochdale)
• Chris Cohen (Nottingham Forest)
• Christopher Chantler (Carlisle United)
• Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa)
• Clarke Carlisle (York City & Northampton Town)
• Conor Clifford (Portsmouth & Crawley Town)
• Courtney Cameron (Rotherham United)
• Craig Cathcart (Blackpool)
• Craig Clay (Chesterfield)
• Craig Conway (Cardiff Dragons)
• Craig Curran (Rochdale)
• Cyrus Christie (Coventry Dragons)
• Damien Delaney (Crystal Palace & Ipswich Town)
• Danny Drinkwater (Leicester City)
• Darryl Duffy (Cheltenham Town)
• David Davis (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
• David De Gea (Manchester United)
• David Dunn (Blackburn Rovers)
• Diego De Girolamo (Sheffield United)
• Donervon Daniels (Tranmere Rovers)
• Dorian Dervite (Charlton Athletic)
• Ethan Ebanks-Landell (Bury)
• Frank Fielding (Derby County)
• Gábor Gyepes (Portsmouth)
• Gaël Givet (Blackburn Rovers)
• Gary Gardner (Aston Villa)
• Gianluca Gracco (Dagenham & Redbridge)
• Gordon Greer (Brighton & Hove Albion)
• Harry Hooman (Cheltenham Town)
• Heidar Helguson (Cardiff Dragons)
• Jake Jervis (Portsmouth, Tranmere Rovers, Carlisle United & Birmingham City)
• Jake Jones (Walsall)
• Jamie Jones (Leyton Orient)
• Jermaine Jenas (Nottingham Forest & Queens Park Rangers)
• Jermaine Johnson (Sheffield Wednesday)
• Joe Jacobson (Shrewsbury Town)
• Johnnie Jackson (Charlton Athletic)
• Jussi Jääskeläinen (West Ham United)
• Kei Kamara (Norwich City)
• Keith Keane (Preston North End)
• Leon Legge (Gillingham & Brentford)
• Leroy Lita (Sheffield Wednesday & Birmingham City)
• Marcus Marshall (Bury)
• Mark Molesley (Exeter City & Plymouth Argyle)
• Marko Marin (Chelsea)
• Marvin Morgan (Shrewsbury Town)
• Mathieu Manset (Carlisle United)
• Matt Mitchel-King (AFC Wimbledon)
• Matthew McClure (Wycombe Wanderers)
• Matthew Mills (Bolton Wanderers)
• Michael Morrison (Charlton Athletic)
• Modibo Maïga (West Ham United)
• Nyron Nosworthy (Watford)
• Olanrewaju Oyebanjo (York City)
• Osayamen Osawe (Accrington Stanley)
• Oulwasanmi Odelusi (Bolton Wanderers)
• Paul Parry (Shrewsbury Town)
• Pavel Pogrebnyak (Reading)
• Phil Picken (Bury)
• Richard Ravenhill (Bradford City)
• Robbie Rogers (Stevenage)
• Sam Saunders (Brentford)
• Sam Slocombe (Scunthorpe United)
• Sam Sodje (Portsmouth)
• Scott Shearer (Rotherham United)
• Scott Sinclair (Manchester City)
• Sean Scannell (Huddersfield Town)
• Sean St. Ledger (Leicester City & Millwall)
• Stéphane Sessègnon (Sunderland)
• Steve Sidwell (Fulham)
• Steve Simonsen (Preston North End)
• Steven Schumacher (Bury)

 

Doubling up

As a follow on from my post earlier this week regarding the South Wales derby never producing a double for either side I thought I’d take a look at “the double” (the double being one side winning both home and away legs during a league season) in a slightly wider context. The statistics used in the following do not include games in the 2010/2011 season.

Most Doubles

The most played games in English football are between those clubs who have spent a long period in the top tier of English football. Everton and Aston Villa have spent ninety-five seasons together in the top flight, Manchester United and Arsenal have met each other home and away ninety-one times and the Liverpool derby has also been a fixture in the English calendar on ninety-one ocassions.

However, it is the fixture between Arsenal and Manchester City (eighty-two seasons) that has provided the largest number of doubles (33) – Arsenal (24) and Manchester City (9). In fact, Arsenal‘s 24 doubles over Manchester City is the highest number of doubles any club has won over another in the history of English league football.

Top doubles over other sides

• Arsenal over Manchester City – 24
• Liverpool over Newcastle United – 20
• Everton over Bolton Wanderers – 20
• Liverpool over Derby County – 18
• Liverpool over Aston Villa – 17
• Liverpool over Sunderland – 17
• Aston Villa over Blackburn Rovers – 17
• Wolverhampton Wanderers over Burnley – 17
• Derby County over Bolton Wanderers – 17
• Arsenal over Everton – 16
• Manchester United over Aston Villa – 16
• Manchester United over Everton – 16
• Everton vs Derby County – 16
• Arsenal vs Middlesbrough – 16
• Liverpool vs West Bromwich Albion – 16

Highest Percentage of Doubles

Wigan Athletic have played five seasons in the Premier League, and in each of those seasons Manchester United have secured a league double over the Latics.

A more interesting case is that of Carlisle United‘s relationship with doubles and Wigan Athletic. The two clubs have been in the same division on five separate occasions. And in each of those seasons one club has done the double over the other. Carlisle have done the double three times, whilst Wigan have managed it twice.

Top % of doubles in fixtures

(Only includes fixtures played in four or more seasons)

Manchester United vs Wigan Athletic – 5/5 – 100%
Carlisle United vs Wigan Athletic – 5/5 – 100%
Birmingham City vs Burton United – 7/8 – 87.5%
Burton United vs Birmingham City – 7/8 – 87.5%
Stoke City vs Wrexham – 5/6 – 83%
Stoke City vs Crewe Alexandra – 5/6 – 83%
Southend United vs Derby County – 5/6 – 83%
Leicester City vs Loughborough – 4/5 – 80%
Swansea City vs Barnet – 4/5 – 80%
Leeds United vs Scunthorpe United – 4/5 – 80%
Lincoln City vs Loughborough – 4/5 – 80%
Loughborough vs Lincoln City – 4/5 – 80%
Hull City vs Cambridge United – 6/8 – 75%
Fulham vs Leeds City – 6/8 – 75%