A Question for Stattos

[martino]

As it is the end of the season I thought I would try and find out the following:

1. The earliest a team in the football league has been confirmed as promoted i.e after how many matches and what percentage was that of the total number of matches they played that season?

2. The earliest a team in the football league has been confirmed as relegated i.e. after how many matches and what percentage was that of the total number of matches they played that season?

I have trawled the internet but with no luck. Plenty of statistics for the Premier league but I am talking about since 1888.

Anyone know the answers - I don't!

Thanks, Martin

[Dorking]

Don't know the official answer but two that spring to mind are -

Northampton Town, Div 4 1986-87

Reading 2005/06

[colchestersid]

The Guardian poses (and gets answers) for questions like these. Might be worth trying there

https://www.theguardian.com/football/series/theknowledge

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

Derby Co must have pushed the top flight relegation record close, that season they got 11 points.

[County75]

Notts County got promoted and were crowned champions of the 4th Division on March 28th 1998 with 6 games to go .At the time we were the 1st team to win a championship before the end of March.
https://prideofnottingham.co.uk/articles/features/1997-98-the-season-that-was-r1312/

[ndg1860]

Pete’s Picture Palace wrote:

Derby Co must have pushed the top flight relegation record close, that season they got 11 points.

Unsure which season you mean here Pete, but I can set a bar.

QPR were relegated from the 1st Division on 29 March 1969. At that time, they had only four games to go (they had played a few of the last rounds much earlier) and were 12 points behind 3rd from bottom (only two relegated). The previous weekend 22 March, they were ostensibly relegated as although they could make up the ten points over 3rd last, the difference in goal difference was -52 to -13 of Coventry.

[martino]

colchestersid wrote:

The Guardian poses (and gets answers) for questions like these. Might be worth trying there https://www.theguardian.com/football/series/theknowledge

Thanks for the reply. I have sent them the question.

I assume the answer appears in The Guardian. I am not a reader of that news paper so if anyone sees a reply can they post in on here. Thanks.

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

ndg1860 wrote:

Pete’s Picture Palace wrote: Derby Co must have pushed the top flight relegation record close, that season they got 11 points. Unsure which season you mean here Pete, but I can set a bar. QPR were relegated from the 1st Division on 29 March 1969. At that time, they had only four games to go (they had played a few of the last rounds much earlier) and were 12 points behind 3rd from bottom (only two relegated). The previous weekend 22 March, they were ostensibly relegated as although they could make up the ten points over 3rd last, the difference in goal difference was -52 to -13 of Coventry.

It was the 2007/8 season, 1 win and 8 draws. I would imagine they'd have been relegated with about 8 games to go.

[Rocky]

Pete’s Picture Palace wrote:

It was the 2007/8 season, 1 win and 8 draws. I would imagine they'd have been relegated with about 8 games to go.

Derby still had 6 games to play when relegated in 2007/08.

In the 2pts for a win era, Middlesbrough were promoted to the 1st Division on 23/03/74 with seven games still to play. They won the championship a week later. I’m not sure if that is close to a record.

Perhaps looking for lowest points totals could indicate that a team may have been relegated early. Loughborough and Doncaster were relegated from Division 2 with just 8 points in 1899/00 & 1904/05.

Hopefully an answer to the question will surface.
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[grantham]

Cambridge United finished 26 points short of safety at the end of the 1984/85 Division three season, meaning they were effectively relegated with 9 games to go.

Mathematically it was 8 games to go, but if you take into account that the 4 teams immediately above them, met each other in at least 3 fixtures, it meant at least 3 of them would have had at minimum 1 more point to add, which would guarantee Cambridge couldn't catch all 4 of them above them, it makes it 9 games.

So 19.5% of the season still left to play and Cambridge were down
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[slightfold]

I thought Sheffield United were relegated from the Premiership before the season had started !!