Start to the season - a comparison - 10 games in

[Vision]

We had finished the season before in 4th place and had started well in 03/04 (we were undefeated). Then Pardew left and a bad run started which stopped again with the appointment of Coppell. So I think I am justified in saying that we had a winning settled team that had suffered the disruption of Pardews departure which affected results.

It's a fair point and as I said it was certainly a side with a strong spine (albeit with an ageing injury prone centre-half partnership in Williams and Brown) but the actual squad was threadbare. As the play-offs the previous season showed, an injury or 2 (Forster in particular) and the cupboard was bare. Without a fit and in-form Forster even Pardew's team the previous season was probably mid-table at best.

We were 12th with a quarter of the season gone and had won 1 in 6. I take your point about Pardew's leaving being disruptive but for me it is still "stretching the point" to say he walked into a winning team. The fact that Forster subsequently played bearly half of the remaining games and we finished 9th kind of underlines the point about the thinness of the squad to me.

i don't entirely disagree with you but I guess we just interprete that situation differently.

Stop being so bloody diplomatic - it makes it hard to argue with......

LOL.
The key to Hobnob harmony.
There are posters you discuss things with and there are posters you argue with.

[Sun Tzu]

**** Just updated the chart to show the number of different line ups used for each season start.

BR has used 10 different starting lineups in the first 10 games, a feat equalled by FSB in 91/2 and Joe Edelston on 46/47. In all 3 cases the manager is starting with a fresh team, so probably explains the chopping and changing.

My attention was drawn to Andrew Wylie in 1929/30. He used exactly the same starting lineupo in all 10 games at the start of the season. With a record of W4 D4 L2, i wonder if the fans of the day were calling for him to make team changes after a start that had them in the top half of the table! ****

Would the transfer window have a bearing on this ? I must admit to not having much idea about how the August cut off date has changed over the years but it obvioulsy has a significant impact if there is an artifical cut off date for bringing in players and where there sits in terms of the start of the season.

[strap]

**** Just updated the chart to show the number of different line ups used for each season start.

BR has used 10 different starting lineups in the first 10 games, a feat equalled by FSB in 91/2 and Joe Edelston on 46/47. In all 3 cases the manager is starting with a fresh team, so probably explains the chopping and changing.

My attention was drawn to Andrew Wylie in 1929/30. He used exactly the same starting lineupo in all 10 games at the start of the season. With a record of W4 D4 L2, i wonder if the fans of the day were calling for him to make team changes after a start that had them in the top half of the table! ****

[strap]

Would the transfer window have a bearing on this ? I must admit to not having much idea about how the August cut off date has changed over the years but it obvioulsy has a significant impact if there is an artifical cut off date for bringing in players and where there sits in terms of the start of the season.

I'd say intuitively yes, although SSC of course had a habit of signing players and then not playing them for a while, (or quite a while in some cases!), so his record might be a bit skewed.

[westendgirl]

Would the transfer window have a bearing on this ? I must admit to not having much idea about how the August cut off date has changed over the years but it obvioulsy has a significant impact if there is an artifical cut off date for bringing in players and where there sits in terms of the start of the season.

I'd say intuitively yes, although SSC of course had a habit of signing players and then not playing them for a while, (or quite a while in some cases!), so his record might be a bit skewed.

the transfer window didn't matter out of the premiership until now did it?