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 Diff
Att Diff
1
Arsenal
A
0
38,042
38,014
-
-28
2
Fulham
H
3
34,371
72,413
37,604
75,618
+3,205
Charlton Athletic
26,623
99,036
26,336
4
101,954
+1
+2,918
Liverpool
40,162
139,198
42,200
144,154
+4,956
5
Newcastle United
40,031
6
179,229
40,228
184,382
-1
+5,153
Middlesbrough
32,473
7
211,702
28,113
212,495
-2
+793
Leeds United
40,153
10
251,855
39,151
8
251,646
-209
Tottenham Hotspur
36,070
287,925
36,137
287,783
-142
9
Southampton
36,569
13
324,494
35,775
323,558
-4
-936
Aston Villa
30,023
354,517
36,146
359,704
-3
+5,187
11
Chelsea
39,396
393,913
40,189
399,893
+5,980
12
Blackburn Rovers
26,496
16
420,409
22,179
422,072
-6
+1,663
Wolverhampton Wanderers
37,409
19
457,818
40,190
462,262
+4,444
14
Bolton Wanderers
25,119
22
482,937
27,350
489,612
-9
+6,675
15
Manchester City
40,163
23
523,100
37,871
527,483
+4,383
Portsmouth
34,117
26
557,217
20,101
17
547,584
-9,633
Leicester City
40,113
29
597,330
37,007
20
584,591
-12,739
18
Manchester United
67,629
664,959
67,642
652,233
-12,726
Birmingham City
37,197
30
702,156
39,631
691,864
-7
-10,292
39,038
33
741,194
38,726
24
730,590
-10,604
21
18,385
759,579
17,103
747,693
-11,886
37,621
36
797,200
36,322
784,015
-12
-13,185
44,025
37
841,225
44,056
25
828,071
-13,154
40,168
881,393
868,261
-13,132
29,505
38
910,898
29,004
897,265
-13
-13,633
29,190
940,088
31,875
929,140
-10,948
27
40,167
41
980,255
39,353
968,493
-11,762
28
40,158
42
1,020,413
40,105
32
1,008,598
-10
-11,815
27,039
45
1,047,452
31,650
1,040,248
-7,204
32,240
48
1,079,692
38,210
34
1,078,458
-14
-1,234
31
51,607
1,131,299
52,155
1,130,613
-686
40,120
49
1,171,419
38,086
1,168,699
-2,720
52
1,211,587
39,835
1,208,534
-3,053
40,875
1,252,462
41,169
39
1,249,703
-2,759
35
36,578
55
1,289,040
38,884
1,288,587
-16
-453
37,698
58
1,326,738
29,395
1,317,982
-19
-8,756
39,480
59
1,366,218
1,358,172
-20
-8,046
34,835
1,401,053
47,284
1,405,456
+4,403
731,134
739,912
+8,778
669,919
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
6 2 4
-12 - +4
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.
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