by P!ssed Off »
29 Apr 2014 00:48
TBM How the fcuk are they still 9th though
Because for the first 23 games of the season Pards was actually doing a pretty good job.
So good a job that Ashley was able to sell their best player, and not have to worry about buying a replacement. The squad they had was probably not good enough to
break into the European places, and they'd amassed too many points to worry about relegation so he cashed in and allowed Newcastle's season to peter out to the max.
After 23 games they had 37 points.
Sold Cabaye.
Last 13 games. 9 points.
40 points is often touted as enough to just about survive relegation so we might expect 8th, 9th, 10th to have way more than that but in recent years:
2012-13: 8th = 49 points
2011-12: 10th = 47 points
2010-11: 8th = 49 points
It's the transition from a Top 4 to a Top 6/7 imo.
Between 1995/6 (change to 20 team league) and 2009/10 the minimum benchmark for a top 10 spot was usually 50 points. (Exceptions: 2007-8 WHU got 49, 2004-5 AV got 47, 2001-2 Blackburn got 46 and 1998-9 Leicester got 49)
For the first 15 years of the 20 team PL 11/15 times you needed 50 points to get in the top half. The last 4 seasons (including this one) have firmly put to bed this previous trend.