' Our Season So Far '

' Our Season So Far '


After the completion of the game yesterday we currently stand 8th in the Championship table with 20pts out of the 36 available, this is the lowest league position we have held in the last 10 seasons at this level having gained 20 points at this stage. In season 2009/10 20 points was good enough to see us in 3rd position so our currently position tells you just how close things are this season at the top of the championship.

At the start of this season expectation levels were not exactly high amongst our fans, despite that ALL talk at the club has been about reaching the top 6 after 46 games, so how has our start placed us against that target? The answer is simple we are right in the mix to achieve a top 6 finish, indeed only once in the last 10 seasons have we failed to reach the top 6 having won 20 points or more at this stage of the season. Given another summer of cost cutting at the club I believe Russell Slade, his backroom team and of course the players deserve a HUGE well done for getting us in this great position.

To put greater perspective on our start, during the past 10 seasons 5 clubs have gone on to be Champions having won 20 points or less after 12 games.

So after the completion of 25% of our games and to fully appreciate our current position it is worth looking at the official league statistics covering the areas which not only identify performance, but how effective the team is against key performance criteria. The following is a comparison of our season against the average performance of the team since the club returned to the Championship. The comparison is I think very interesting;


Wins %: 42% - 43%
Draw %: 42% - 43%
Loss %: 17% - 28%

Average Goals Scored: 1.25 – 1.51
Goal For Conversion Rate: 9.77 – 7.92
Failed To Score%: 15% - 11%

Average Goals Conceded: 1.35 – 0.97
Goals Against Conversion Rate: 15 – 10
Clean Sheets %: 33% - 29%

Possession 48% - 51%

Points Won: 20 - 19

Currently we have the 13th ranked attack in the Championship with only 15 goals scored (exactly the same as last season), with an average of 1.25 goals per game, averaging 11 attempts at goal per game and scoring on average every 9 attempts, (again exactly the same as last season). Indeed 15 goals in the first 12 games is the equal lowest total in the last 10 seasons.
However our defensive performance so far this season has been the biggest area of improvement over previous seasons. Currently we have the 6th ranked defensive record in the championship with 11 goals conceded, which has been beaten only once in the last 10 seasons (9 in 2006-07). Although our opponents are having on average 14 attempts at our goal each game they, again on average, are taking 15 attempts to score which is the highest average required to score against us in any of the last 10 seasons.

So few surprises for anyone there because I think we all know we are not a free scoring team but we are very organised, difficult to score against and as a result grinding out results where for instance last season we probably would have lost.

One interesting stat is the number of bookings we have had this season, 25, which is the highest total over any of the last 10 seasons, and 9 more than our average of 16. With Fabio already having served a suspension will this be a concern as the season moves on?

All of this, in my opinion, are clear indications of the togetherness within the team and great credit goes to Russell Slade, his backroom team and of course the players

So we are right in the mix to achieve the target of a top 6 finish and to stay there history tells us we need to have more than 37 points after 23 games. The organisation and determination the team are displaying makes that achievable, in my opinion, indeed even automatic promotion is on the cards. That may surprise some but at this stage last season Bournemouth had 18 points so anything is possible.

So far the only disappointment for me has been the attendances at home matches and I believe Russell Slade, his backroom team and of course the players deserve better. As Delia Smith would say to the missing thousands “Where are you”.

Great post you are by far one of the best posters on here very detailed and informative.

Brilliant read Gary and your right, Crowds are far to low and Slade and the team deserve better Support

I'm worried about you.

All of your posts are somehow always spot on

Great read as usual

What a great post, thoroughly enjoyed it. Appreciate the effort

Thank you Gary, as always I enjoy reading your insightful posts.

I agree that Slade deserves praise for what he has achieved so far this season.

Brilliant post.

To add to the great post above ..... here is list of our rivals spending and player movements

Birmingham City
Incomings: 6
Key signings: Nicolai Brock-Madsen, Tomasz Kuszczak, Jacques Maghoma.
Cash spent: £680,000
Outgoings: 15
Key departures: Darren Randolph, Nikola Zigic, Callum Reilly
Cash recouped: £0

Blackburn Rovers
Incomings: 7
Key signings: Fode Koita, Hope Akpan, Danny Guthrie, Tom Lawrence, Modou Barrow
Cash spent: £0
Outgoings: 11
Key departures: Rudy Gestede, Tom Cairney, Josh King
Cash recouped: £10.5million

Bolton Wanderers
Incomings: 11
Key signings: Ben Amos, Wellington Silva, Gary Madine
Cash spent: £0
Outgoings: 13
Key departures: Tim Ream, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Matt Mills,,
Cash recouped: £1.8million

Brentford
Incomings: 12
Key signings: Andreas Bjelland, Lasse Vibe, Maxime Colin
Cash spent: £5.3m
Outgoings: 11
Key departures: Will Grigg, Andre Gray, Moses Odubajo
Cash recouped: £14.6m

Brighton
Incomings: 9
Key signings: Bobby Zamora, Elvis Manu, Uew Huenemeir
Cash spent: £6m
Outgoings: 8
Key departures: Craig Mackail-Smith, Aaron Hughes
Approximate cash brought in: £0

Bristol City
Incomings: 6
Key signings: Liam Moore, Nathan Baker, Jonathan Jodija
Cash spent: £3.25m
Outgoings: 5
Key departures: Ryan Fredericks, Jay Emanuel Thomas
Cash recouped: £250,000

Burnley
Incomings: 7
Key signings: Andre Gray, Rouwen Hennings, Joseph Barton
Cash spent: £8m
Outgoings: 9
Key departures: Jason Shackell, Danny Ings, Kieran Trippier
Cash recouped: £7.5m

Cardiff City
Incomings: 5
Key signings: Sammy Ameobi, Gabriel Tamas, Idriss Saadi, Semi Ajayi.
Approximate cash spent: N/A
Outgoings: 9
Key departures: Javi Guerra, Adam Le Fondre, Etien Velikonja.
Approximate cash brought in: N/A

Charlton
Incomings: 8
Key signings: Simon Makienok, Naby Sarr, Zak Bergdich
Cash spent: £2.5m
Outgoings: 17
Key departures: Tal Ben Haim, Joe Gomez, Lawrie Wilson
Cash recouped: £3.5m

Derby County
Incomings: 9
Key signings: Darren Bent, Bradley Johnson, Tom Ince
Cash spent: £24m
Outgoings: 12
Key departures: Jamie Ward, Conor Sammon, Kelle Roos
Cash recouped: £0

Fulham
Incomings: 12
Key signings: Tom Cairney, Jamie O'Hara, Tim Ream
Cash spent: £7m
Outgoings: 23
Key departures: Bryan Ruiz, Patrick Roberts.
Cash recouped: £12m

Huddersfield Town
Incomings: 8
Key signings: Kyle Dempsey, Emyr Huws, Mustapha Carayol
Cash spent: £700,000
Outgoings: 16
Key departures: Jacob Butterfield, Alex Smithies, Conor Coady
Cash recouped: £10.4m

Hull City
Incomings: 7
Key signings: Chuba Akpom, Shaun Maloney, Moses Odubajo
Cash spent: £7m
Outgoings: 13
Key departures: James Chester, Robbie Brady, Nikica Jelavic
Cash recouped: £25m

Ipswich Town
Incomings: 11
Key signings: Ryan Fraser, Brett Pitman, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Tommy Oar
Cash spent: £300k
Outgoings: 10
Key departures: Tyrone Mings, Paul Anderson
Cash recouped: £8m

Leeds United
Incomings: 8
Key signings: Chris Wood, Sol Bamba, Stuart Dallas, Tom Adeyemi.
Cash spent: £5m
Outgoings: 9
Key departures: Billy Sharp, Rodolph Austin, Steve Morison.
Cash recouped: £500,000

Middlesbrough
Incomings: 10
Key signings: Stewart Downing, David Nugent, Cristhian Stuani, Carlos de Pena
Cash spent: £15.7m
Outgoings: 7
Key departures: Lee Tomlin, Emmanuel Ledesma, Mustapha Carayol
Cash recouped: £3.5m

MK Dons
Incomings: 10
Key signings: Cristian Benavente, Dale Jennings, Simon Church.
Cash spent: £0
Outgoings: 5
Key departure: Danny Green
Cash recouped: £0

Nottingham Forest
Incomings: 8
Key signings: Matt Mills, Jamie Ward, Chris O'Grady, Jonny Williams
Cash spent: £0.
Outgoings: 11
Key departures: Michail Antonio, Jamie Mackie, Danny Collins, Djamel Abdoun, Radi Majewski, Jamie Paterson.
Cash recouped: £7m

Preston North End
Incomings: 9
Key signings: Stevie May, Eoin Doyle, Will Keane, Jermaine Beckford
Cash spent: £1m
Outgoings: 9
Key departures: Kevin Davies, Scott Laird, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Scott Wiseman
Cash recouped: £0

QPR
Incomings: 13
Key signings: Tjaronn Chery, Mass Luongo, Jamie Mackie, not to mention the fact they retained Charlie Austin against all odds.
Cash spent: £5.75m
Outgoings: 16
Key departures: Charlie Austin, Rob Green, Nedum Onuoha
Cash recouped: £0

Reading
Incomings: 6
Key signings: Matej Vydra, Paul McShane, Stephen Quinn, Orlando Sa
Cash spent: £4.5m
Outgoings: 15
Key departures: Adam Federici, Alex Pearce, Jem Karacan
Cash recouped: £0

Rotherham United
Incomings: 14
Key signings: Lewis Buxton, Chris Maguire, Aidy White
Cash spent: £0
Outgoings: 11
Key departures: Ben Pringle, Craig Morgan
Cash recouped: £0

Sheffield Wednesday
Incomings: 20
Key signings: Fernando Forestieri, Marco Matias, Lucas Joao.
Cash spent: £9m
Outgoings: 15
Key departures: Stevie May, Chris Kirkland, Jacques Maghoma.
Cash recouped: £1m

Wolves
Incomings: 7
Key signings: Conor Coady, Sheyi Ojo, Adam Le Fondre
Cash spent: £3.2m
Outgoings: 13
Key departures: Richard Stearman, Bakary Sako, Leon Clarke
Cash recouped: £1.5m

good post though im not really a stats man personally

good post though im not really a stats man personally

Me neither, in fact I positively dislike them most of the time, however, whenever I read Castleblue's posts I enjoy them immensely!
Probably the best poster on here.

Should apply for wales online if that cretin chris wathen can get a job your going to the top! Great post