ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

7th Best Season Ever?

Well done to the blues for a great season, no we didn't win a trophy, yes we missed out on that 4th spot, and I suppose most of us Evertonian's are feeling a little down and disappointed with the way the season finished, but I have been looking back at the stats for Everton's past 120 or so seasons and can tell you statistacally at least, that the 30 wins we have had this season is the 7th most wins we have ever achieved in one single campaign.:

1st  1984-85  Played 63  Won 43
2nd 1985-86  Played 61  Won 39
3rd  1986-87  Played 55  Won 33
4th   1930-31  Played 47  Won 32
5th   1969-70  Played 47  Won 31
6th   1938-39  Played 47  Won 30
7th   2007-08  Played 54  Won 30

Here's hoping we can beat that next Season, If we do I'm sure we will be very close to winning something.

ps: Best blues site bar none. I have enjoyed all the banter even the negative one's see and hear from you all next Season.
David Lawless, Liverpool/Merseyside Posted 13/05/2008 at 00:45:30

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Michael Kenrick

That's a pretty good stat, Dave. Thanks for doing all the trawling.... I feel a new webpage coming on...

Stian Husemoen
1 Posted 13/05/2008 at 07:10:39

What?s also interesting, is that according to this (the win precentage), our best season *ever* wouldn?t even get us close to winning the Premier League title.. It would barely tip our lovely neighbours off the champion league spot.. Makes you think doesn?t it?

Steven May
2 Posted 13/05/2008 at 09:53:10

Add to that the League cup semi and the long run in the UEFA cup and you might say it’s even better than seventh.....

Dave Edwards
3 Posted 13/05/2008 at 09:37:09

Stian - I think you need to take into account the number of draws in these season before coming to that conclusion - in which case I think you’d find that in our better seasons we would be well up there.

Interesting stats though, David. Do you know if any analysis has been done on League-only results in past seasons, taking into account the change from 2 pts for a win, and the slight reduction in league games compared to the good old days? I fear this season would drop much further down from 7th (although I appreciate your analysis is highlighting the effect of our UEFA Cup run etc).

Will Leaf
4 Posted 13/05/2008 at 10:09:09

Stian, in 84-85 we wrapped up the league weeks before the last match. The team decidedly took its foot off the accelerator, losing 3 of the last 4 league matches, preparing for the FA Cup and CWC Finals.

If we’d have been pressed, the record would be even more impressive. Still won it by 13 points, and that last run in included a victory against Liverpool.

Tony Horne
5 Posted 13/05/2008 at 10:30:48

Dave Edwards is right, you do need to take into account the number of draws. To see the result of this improved analysis is very easy though. You just need to look at the league table.

We came 5th.

There are far more than 7 times we have managed better than that.........

Brian Donnelly
6 Posted 13/05/2008 at 11:10:51

Stephen May, it?s because of the UEFA cup (8 wins) that the wins are so high. Talk about double counting ? you could have a place in Government!

David Lawless
7 Posted 13/05/2008 at 11:42:53

My stats of 30 wins in a season does take in the UEFA Cup & League wins, but if we base it on League wins only in a season then this season with 19 wins would place 2007-08 in joint 21st, which is not too bad, obvisously this does not take into account that before the 20s, we had far less league fixtures, but therafter we mostly played 42 for about 70 seasons or so.
Basically I was not pulling down Evertons pround and long history, I am well aware like many other Evertonians of that, but just thought the 30 wins deserved a mention. As for the 84-85 season, yes we did ease off at the end and could easily have had a massive 46 wins, but with 43 this still keeps us level top of all teams with the most wins in a single season, I think Chelsea matched that a couple years ago.

Dave Edwards
8 Posted 13/05/2008 at 13:12:36

Thanks for the info, David. Interesting posting. It’s given me the urge to look through the stats myself - well, it’s one way to spend a football-less summer! Here’s to 2008-09 being the record-breaker!

Lee Penswick
9 Posted 13/05/2008 at 14:45:43

Interesting stat. Although I think the reason behind this is the immense gulf in quality between top and bottom of the prem. The top division used to be much more competitive.

Steven May
10 Posted 13/05/2008 at 13:50:01

To Brian and David L,

Yes I noticed that after I’d posted the comment. My apologies for being so dim.

Steve Flanagan
11 Posted 13/05/2008 at 15:57:34

I’ve done a similar thing to David but have taken into account the percentage of wins and draws in terms of League matches played as well as goals scored per game and goal difference per game to break any ties.

According to my figures, this was our 26th best season ever and the best Premier League season ever.

The last time we had a season better than this was in 1987/88 which ranked as 17th in the list.

The top 10 are (in order):
1. 1969/70 - Champions
2. 1984/85 - Champions
3. 1930/31 - Division 2 Champions
4. 1962/63 - Champions
5. 1985/86 - League runners-up
6. 1986/87 - Champions
7. 1889/90 - League runners-up
8. 1938/39 - Champions
9. 1894/95 - League runners-up
10. 1904/05 - League runners-up

Interestingly, only 5 of our Championship winning seasons are int he top 10. The other four are:

1931/32 - ranked 12th
1890/91 - ranked 14th
1927/28 - ranked 19th
1914/15 - ranked 24th

Looking at the average points per game (with 3pts for a win) - Manchester United won the title this season with an average of 2.289 points per game. Our best is 2.682 points per game in 1969/70 - equating to 86 points and 2nd place this season.

Liverpool’s average of exactly 2 points per game is only bettered by our top 10 ranked seasons mentioned above.

So much for the League getting closer!

Dave Edwards
12 Posted 13/05/2008 at 16:45:40

Excellent contribution, Steve. Very informative. That’s saved me a job! I’ll put my calculator away now and find something else to get on with this summer!

Trudy Boston
13 Posted 13/05/2008 at 16:56:03

The season of 1984/85 for me will never be bettered, I think Everton reached the pinnacle of their efforts, or success or however you view it, that year. So near to a Treble, but the sending of Kevin Moran by referee Peter Willis made no difference in the end, as the boys were out on their feet by the time Whiteside got the only goal in extra-time to leave any Treble dream we may of had in tatters.

Mind you, it was a very good goal and I cannot recount the number of times I have seen it replayed hoping that the shot goes wide, instead of hitting Southall’s glove box as it went in.

Some comfort could be taken from the Charity Shield win against the same opposition in August that year, and by May of ’86 it looked like we would keep hold of the League Championship only to be outdone by a superhuman effort from the excrement across the park. Worse was to come in the FA cup final soon after, the least said about that the better.

I saw today on Ceefax that Moyes and Kenwright are scheduled for talks later this week, possibly Thursday, about the manager’s future, and to sign that new contract. Do it now David!

Nineteen wins out of 38, that’s half the games we have played in the league this season represents a good showing, but let’s not forget how many more it could have been without elementary referee’s and other bad decisions. With a bit of good fortune, and some "impartial" officiating how knows what the final statistics could have been.

Anj Stam
14 Posted 14/05/2008 at 01:01:07

Trudy,we all share your pain of that Cup final against the Mancs in 84/85,and if my memory serves me correctly,didnt we play that game only 2 days after our CWC triumph? Even back then the FA has had it in for us ; ).
Also in relation to your question of where we’d be if not for some ’impartial’ ref decisions check this site out

http://www.rightresult.net/index.php

Derek Thomas
15 Posted 14/05/2008 at 08:00:52

84-85.... 63 games

07-08.... 54 games

Is this physical burnout thing a none blue herring.

Not only did we taper off with the League won, we only won the Derby, lost the other 4. Does that mean it’s a mental thing??

We also,if you remember, lost the 1st 2 games and gave them all a start.