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Seasonal Comparisons for Everton Matches, 2003-04

Steve Flanagan revives an old Everton Tradition from
the Matchday Programme of the 1960s, comparing
this season's points and attendances with last season, by opponent

 

I have received a request from a ToffeeWeb reader who recalls that, in the Sixties, Everton used to provide a table showing the Club's performance against our opponents compared to the previous season, and wondered if we could do the same.  Well, yes we can.

Following the dismal run-in over the final league games this season, we can provide a full analysis - which shows how the decline in aggregate points was steady for most of the season, despite gates that were generally up on last season.

 

 

 

Current Season

Last Season

Comparison

 

Opponents

 

Pts

Att

Agg Pts

Agg Att

Pts

Att

Agg Pts

Agg Att

Pts Diff

Att Diff

1

Arsenal

A

0

38,042

0

38,042

0

38,014

0

38,014

-

-28

2

Fulham

H

3

34,371

3

72,413

3

37,604

3

75,618

-

+3,205

3

Charlton Athletic

A

0

26,623

3

99,036

1

26,336

4

101,954

+1

+2,918

4

Liverpool

H

0

40,162

3

139,198

0

42,200

4

144,154

+1

+4,956

5

Newcastle United

H

3

40,031

6

179,229

1

40,228

5

184,382

-1

+5,153

6

Middlesbrough

A

1

32,473

7

211,702

0

28,113

5

212,495

-2

+793

7

Leeds United

H

3

40,153

10

251,855

3

39,151

8

251,646

-2

-209

8

Tottenham Hotspur

A

0

36,070

10

287,925

0

36,137

8

287,783

-2

-142

9

Southampton

H

3

36,569

13

324,494

1

35,775

9

323,558

-4

-936

10

Aston Villa

A

0

30,023

13

354,517

1

36,146

10

359,704

-3

+5,187

11

Chelsea

H

0

39,396

13

393,913

0

40,189

10

399,893

-3

+5,980

12

Blackburn Rovers

A

3

26,496

16

420,409

0

22,179

10

422,072

-6

+1,663

13

Wolverhampton Wanderers

H

3

37,409

19

457,818

3

40,190

13

462,262

-6

+4,444

14

Bolton Wanderers

A

3

25,119

22

482,937

0

27,350

13

489,612

-9

+6,675

15

Manchester City

H

1

40,163

23

523,100

1

37,871

14

527,483

-9

+4,383

16

Portsmouth

A

3

34,117

26

557,217

3

20,101

17

547,584

-9

-9,633

17

Leicester City

H

3

40,113

29

597,330

3

37,007

20

584,591

-9

-12,739

18

Manchester United

A

0

67,629

29

664,959

0

67,642

20

652,233

-9

-12,726

19

Birmingham City

H

1

37,197

30

702,156

3

39,631

23

691,864

-7

-10,292

20

Arsenal

H

3

39,038

33

741,194

1

38,726

24

730,590

-9

-10,604

21

Fulham

A

0

18,385

33

759,579

0

17,103

24

747,693

-9

-11,886

22

Charlton Athletic

H

3

37,621

36

797,200

0

36,322

24

784,015

-12

-13,185

23

Liverpool

A

1

44,025

37

841,225

1

44,056

25

828,071

-12

-13,154

24

Manchester United

H

0

40,168

37

881,393

0

40,190

25

868,261

-12

-13,132

25

Birmingham City

A

1

29,505

38

910,898

0

29,004

25

897,265

-13

-13,633

26

Southampton

A

0

29,190

38

940,088

1

31,875

26

929,140

-12

-10,948

27

Aston Villa

H

3

40,167

41

980,255

3

39,353

29

968,493

-12

-11,762

28

Portsmouth

H

1

40,158

42

1,020,413

3

40,105

32

1,008,598

-10

-11,815

29

Leicester City

A

3

27,039

45

1,047,452

1

31,650

33

1,040,248

-12

-7,204

30

Middlesbrough

H

3

32,240

48

1,079,692

1

38,210

34

1,078,458

-14

-1,234

31

Newcastle United

A

0

51,607

48

1,131,299

0

52,155

34

1,130,613

-14

-686

32

Tottenham Hotspur

H

1

40,120

49

1,171,419

3

38,086

37

1,168,699

-12

-2,720

33

Leeds United

A

3

40,168

52

1,211,587

1

39,835

38

1,208,534

-14

-3,053

34

Chelsea

A

0

40,875

52

1,252,462

1

41,169

39

1,249,703

-13

-2,759

35

Blackburn Rovers

H

3

36,578

55

1,289,040

0

38,884

39

1,288,587

-16

-453

36

Wolverhampton Wanderers

A

3

37,698

58

1,326,738

0

29,395

39

1,317,982

-19

-8,756

37

Bolton Wanderers

H

1

39,480

59

1,366,218

0

40,190

39

1,358,172

-20

-8,046

38

Manchester City

A

0

34,835

59

1,401,053

0

47,284

39

1,405,456

-20

+4,403

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H

29

731,134

 

 

38

739,912

 

 

-9

+8,778

 

 

A

10

669,919

 

 

21

665,544

 

 

-11

-4,375

The way the table works is as follows: 

1.       Points and attendances are compared between the Premiership fixtures for this season and the corresponding fixtures last season, irrespective of when they were played.  For example, our first match this season was away to Arsenal.  When we played Arsenal away last season, we got no points (in other words, we got beat again!) and the attendance was just over 38,000.  This season, we lost again, so there is no points difference and the attendance, compared to the same fixture last season, was down by 28 spectators.

2.       For clubs that have been promoted, they have taken the place of the corresponding clubs that have been relegated in accordance with the position they finished.  So, for example, the winners of Division One replace the team that finished top of the relegation positions, with the runners-up replacing the team that finished in the next to last place in the Premiership, and the play-off winners replaced the bottom team.   Attendance figures at away matches against the teams that have been promoted are not strictly comparable since there can be some large fluctuations in capacity of the respective grounds, which may unintentionally skew the figures.  Also, there should strictly be no comparison made between the attendances away to Manchester City due to their move to a new stadium.

In the table below, this season’s matches against Portsmouth are compared to last season’s matches against West Ham United;  Leicester City are compared to West Bromwich Albion; and Wolves are compared against Sunderland.

So, what do the figures tell us?.  Out of Everton's 59 points last season, approximately two-thirds were won at home; however, this season, approximately three-quarters of Everton's paltry 39 points have been won at Goodison this season.

Also, despite winning 9 points less than last season, the crowd at Goodison is up by nearly 9,000 supporters.   How many of these are due to teams like Wolves and Portsmouth being in the Premiership for the first time is not really a factor as the attendances for home matches against these teams is, more or less, in line with the comparative attendances from last season against the relegated teams.  So we can safely say that the number of extra Everton supporters this season in the ground is up by about 9,000.  Away from home, the attendances are, more or less, in line with last season, but the number of points won away from home has halved which has also caused us problems. 

Looking at it this way, if we had scored the same number of points at Goodison as we did last season and, if we had won just two thirds of the points away from home that we did last season, our points total would stand at 52 which would have us in eighth place!  If we had actually matched our results from last season, then we would be vying for a Champions League spot!  This just goes to show how far we have actually fallen within one season.

Looking at were things have gone wrong, we can see that the final run of 6 games without a win have lost us a total of eight points compared to last season.  An extra eight points would have put us on 47 points in total and into 12th place.

Also the run of seven games without a win between the victories over Birmingham City and Aston Villa cost us a further five points compared to last season, and these extra 5 points would put us on 44 points and in 13th place.

We can also analyze the figures further and see what has happened results-wise as well:

 

Result This season

Comparative result from

Last season

 

Occurrences this season

 

Points won/lost

 

 
Win

Win
Draw
Loss

6
3
0

-
+6
-

 
Draw

Win
Draw
Loss

6
2
4

-12
-
+4

 
Loss

Win
Draw
Loss

5
3
9

-15
-3

-

So, what does this tell us?  Well, first the positive.  We have won three games this season against teams that we only drew with last season.   Well, so much for that; now the negative.  11 of the 17 wins last season were either draws or defeats this season and resulted in a total loss of 27 points.  So, this table points to the fact that for many of the games we were winning last season, this season all we could get was a draw or a loss depending on how well the defence was been playing.

Steve Flanagan
30 May 2004

OK

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