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)

 

The Football League journey of the founding members

In 1888 twelve clubs from the Midlands and the North West of England took part in the first ever Football League season. Preston North End, Aston Villa, Wolves, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, West Brom, Accrington, Everton, Burnley, Derby County, Notts County and Stoke City will forever be remembered as founding members of the Football League. It’s interesting to note that Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool are nowhere to be seen, many of these clubs didn’t enter the Football League until much later.

The geographical location of the founding members is also interesting. West Bromwich Albion were the southern-most side in the division whilst Burnley were the northern-most. The longest journey any side would have to make is 109 miles (from West Brom to Burnley). Compare that to the 409 miles between Plymouth and Newcastle and you can soon see just how geographically localised the first Football League was.

Historical league positions of the founding members of the Football League

The above chart shows the progression of the twelve founding members of the Football League. This season (2010/2011) there were seven founding members in the Premier Division (Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers,  Everton, Stoke City, West Brom and Wolves). This is the highest number since the 79/80 season when seven clubs were part of the  It means that around one third of the current top flight clubs were also members of the first ever top flight Football League season.

The all time low for the founding members came in the 1986/1987 season when only two clubs (Everton and Aston Villa) were in the top flight. That season Everton won the title. Aston Villa weren’t so lucky and finished rock bottom of Division One. They were replaced by Derby County for the 1987/1988, thus keeping the number of founding members at an all time low of two for another season.

 

Winners and Losers of the calendar year (2010)

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.