The 2015/16 Championship campaign: some facts and figures
Tue May 10, 2016 5:25 am
The 2015/16 Championship campaign: some facts and figures
By David Sugarman aka TLG
All of the top four sides in this season's Championship (Burnley, Middlesbrough, Brighton and Hull) occupied either an automatic promotion position or a play-off place from the first week of September until the end of the campaign.
Derby entered the top six in mid-October and remained there for the rest of the season.
Sheffield Wednesday broke into the play-off positions in mid-January and, apart from one week towards the end of that month when they slipped to 7th, they also stayed in the top six for the remainder of the campaign.
From mid-October onward, only three teams other than the eventual top six ever occupied a play-off place. They were Birmingham, Ipswich and Cardiff, who made it into the top six for just one week in early-December following a 3-2 victory at bottom club Bolton.
The last team other than the top six to occupy a play-off place was Birmingham, who spent one week in 6th position at the end of January.
The gap between 6th and 7th place in this year's final Championship table was five points. Only once in the last twenty years has the gap been larger. That was back in 2005/06, when eight points separated the teams in the 6th and 7th positions.
At the other end of the table, a huge gap of nine points between the team occupying the final relegation slot (Charlton) and the team above them (Rotherham) was the largest at Championship level since the introduction of the three points for a win system in 1981.
Cardiff's final tally of 56 goals scored was their lowest in the Championship since the 2004/05.
By David Sugarman aka TLG
All of the top four sides in this season's Championship (Burnley, Middlesbrough, Brighton and Hull) occupied either an automatic promotion position or a play-off place from the first week of September until the end of the campaign.
Derby entered the top six in mid-October and remained there for the rest of the season.
Sheffield Wednesday broke into the play-off positions in mid-January and, apart from one week towards the end of that month when they slipped to 7th, they also stayed in the top six for the remainder of the campaign.
From mid-October onward, only three teams other than the eventual top six ever occupied a play-off place. They were Birmingham, Ipswich and Cardiff, who made it into the top six for just one week in early-December following a 3-2 victory at bottom club Bolton.
The last team other than the top six to occupy a play-off place was Birmingham, who spent one week in 6th position at the end of January.
The gap between 6th and 7th place in this year's final Championship table was five points. Only once in the last twenty years has the gap been larger. That was back in 2005/06, when eight points separated the teams in the 6th and 7th positions.
At the other end of the table, a huge gap of nine points between the team occupying the final relegation slot (Charlton) and the team above them (Rotherham) was the largest at Championship level since the introduction of the three points for a win system in 1981.
Cardiff's final tally of 56 goals scored was their lowest in the Championship since the 2004/05.
Re: The 2015/16 Championship campaign: some facts and figure
Tue May 10, 2016 9:14 am
Only once since our return to this level have we conceded fewer goals over a season - 51 against 45 when we won the Championship in 12/13. We also conceded more than 3 goals in a game on 2 occasions, Middlesbrough & Sheffield Wednesday away which again is the lowest number since our return to this level back in 03/04.
Add all of that to the telling stat of the 2nd fewest number of goals scored tells you exactly what our problem was last season. In my opinion just a goalscorer shy of reaching the playoffs.
After the "Business" decision to offload both our first choice forwards in January I wonder if on reflection our owners now wish they had held their nerve because a single goal in 3 of the 6 drawn matches after the January transfer window closed and we would have finished level with Sheffield Wednesday. I know you then have the goal difference situation but at the end of the day the margins against success and failure were very fine.
Add all of that to the telling stat of the 2nd fewest number of goals scored tells you exactly what our problem was last season. In my opinion just a goalscorer shy of reaching the playoffs.
After the "Business" decision to offload both our first choice forwards in January I wonder if on reflection our owners now wish they had held their nerve because a single goal in 3 of the 6 drawn matches after the January transfer window closed and we would have finished level with Sheffield Wednesday. I know you then have the goal difference situation but at the end of the day the margins against success and failure were very fine.