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DoDTS

The PL League Boss⭐⭐
Joined
Apr 28, 2006
Messages
10,841
Location
PL Headquarters Hullbridge
I am as thrilled as anyone about our present unbeaten run but there does seem to be an attitude of “promotion certainty” amongst some for which I would advise a little caution to some of our more over enthusiastic fans.

League success is down to successful sequences, and our present run of 12 wins and a draw is truly amazing, however you don’t get promotion before Christmas however good your run is. The crunch for us is January in seeing who we can keep/sign and then how we perform in February, March and April which will determine promotion or not, and to empathise this I quote season 1967-68.

We started the season seven games unbeaten (5 wins and 2 draws), November to February was another successful period (6 wins 3 draws and 1 defeat). In January we made the significant signing of Billy Best, and in March a big money signing of Eddie Clayton from Spurs was made which seemed to be the final piece of the jigsaw and by the end of March we were in another 8 match unbeaten run of 5 wins and 3 draws, the last two matches being a 3-1 win at Aldershot and a 7-0 home win over Workington and the League table read:

1..Luton Town.........played...37.....points..54
2..Southend United..played...37.....points..50
3..Crewe Alexandra..played...37.....points..48
4..Barnsley.............played...38.....points..48
5..Bradford City......played...38......points 46
6..Chesterfield........played...37......points 45
(two points for a win top four promoted no play-offs)

At this stage with nine games to go Promotion looked a certainty and the only questions being would we win the championship and how would we fare in the Third Division next season, but then fate stepped in:

6th April 1968 Away to Lincoln fourth from bottom Blues went 0-4 down and only two late goals by Billy Best gave a more respectable final score of 2-4, Southend dropped to third.

8th April 1968 home to tenth place Doncaster lost 1-2 Southend stayed in third place

13th April 1968 at home to seventh placed Chesterfield drew 1-1 Blues maintained third place.

16th April 1968 away to Doncaster still in tenth place lost 1-2 dropped to fourth.

20th April 1968 lost away to fifth place Bradford City Blues dropped out of the top four and were now in sixth place.

22nd April 1968 Lost 0-1 at home to 18th place Notts County but kept sixth place

26th April 1968 drew 0-0 with third place Crewe, still sixth but promotion barely a possibility.

4th May 1968 lost 3-4 at Notts County, promotion now mathematically impossible (even a win would have made no difference.

10th May 1968 finally gained a win although of little consequence 3-1 at home to Rochdale and a final finish of sixth four points (two wins) short of the last promotion place.

Nine games 1 win 2 draws and 6 defeats, success so can so quickly turn into failure.

I saw all nine of those games and the memory has haunted me ever since. Enjoy the present run while you can but just keep your feet on the ground as well.
 
04/05 is a decent example of how quickly things can change as well. We went from Title favourites to outside the promotion spots in a month.

I don't think promotion is a guarantee at all. I do, though, think that the Play-Offs are as close to a certainty as they'll ever be for any side. Sturrock knows how to keep teams going until the end and how to get his team to recover from set backs. I doubt anything can happen in the second half of the season that he hasn't seen, and overcome, before.

If Brady & Martin can keep the bills being paid I think we'll be fine.
 
05/06 is a better one to look at.. average start, great run, then toilet, then another great run to set us up to fall over the finsh line .. the longer this run carrys on the less work requried to turn around the inevitable wobble up
 
I saw all nine of those games and the memory has haunted me ever since. Enjoy the present run while you can but just keep your feet on the ground as well.

Yes, me too. It was all Norman Corner's fault ! (incidentally he passed away earlier this year.)
 
Good post, but if play-off were around in those days, we would of been in them. I think nobody is counting on automatic, but as mentioned in another thread, if we win a couple more games, then relegation form from then until the end of the season will get us into the play-offs.
 
Good post, but if play-off were around in those days, we would of been in them. I think nobody is counting on automatic, but as mentioned in another thread, if we win a couple more games, then relegation form from then until the end of the season will get us into the play-offs.

Not sure we'd have got too far in the play-offs given our form though!

DoDtS - why did we collapse?

Was it nerves? Key players injured? We weren't good enough? Players/club didn't want us to go up?
 
It's not guatanteed, but we are looking good. We now only need 1.6 points per game to (most probably) make automatic promotion. We are currently scoring 2.3 points per game...
 
Not sure we'd have got too far in the play-offs given our form though!

DoDtS - why did we collapse?

Was it nerves? Key players injured? We weren't good enough? Players/club didn't want us to go up?


Kevin Mayher got injured
 
Success leads to expectation of continued success which I think is why there were so many people moaning about Tilly and his team in 7/8 and 8/9 (I know officially everyone backed Tilly 100% to the day he was sacked but the reality was that from about mid-point of Championship season to when RM became public enemy number one during the financial debacles of 9/10 Tilly was often the target of completely unjustfiied whinging)
At start of 5/6 season in L1 after a promotion I think most of us would have been happy if we had stayed up.
Yet two years later back in L1 after relegation there was an expectation by many that we should win promotion
If we do go up how long before we have a return to people moaning because we are outside of top 2 or top 6 in L1. May sound crazy now but it could very easily happen.
 
Amazing this article. Not that I disagree with it as it is my philosophy not to take things for granted.

But had I prepared this thread I would have been crucified for acts of betrayal and for pessimism by the rose tinted die hards.

I'll end on a positive : Good thread and one we should bear in mind.
 
I remember the 67-68 season all too well and after the 7 - 0 win over Workington promotion was just a formality - surely. That season and so many others after, are why I would never now assume anything till seasons end. I am however allowing myself the luxury of believing relegation is most unlikely.:unsure:
 
Yes, me too. It was all Norman Corner's fault ! (incidentally he passed away earlier this year.)

Yes Mick big Norman Corner the Lincoln centre forward was a lump that we struggled to hold, I wasn't aware he had died. I note that actually his first name was James and he only scored 12 for Lincoln.
 
Not sure we'd have got too far in the play-offs given our form though!

DoDtS - why did we collapse?

Was it nerves? Key players injured? We weren't good enough? Players/club didn't want us to go up?

I don't know, we just fell apart, not injuries that I can remember, Mick any thoughts?

DoDtS
 
I never thought i would read and agree with something DTS as posted, as he is normally the epitome of doom and gloom
and can be daming of players.
But he is right in saying January is a big month, and any decisions on letting players go could have a major impact on the promotion chase.
Its that balancing act Ron and Tara have to make.
But from what i have seen so far this year,we have every chance of making it, despite what history tells us
 
I don't care, I am enjoying it while I can, If you cant 'dream' now I don't see the point of being a supporter, yes it may all go tits up , I realise that as does everyone if they are honest with themselves, But while things are the way they are I will continue to dream of automatic promotion. If we don't get it and I come down to earth with a thud, so what ,I will make sure that I take as much enjoyment from this and every season as I possibly can :smile:
 
I don't know, we just fell apart, not injuries that I can remember, Mick any thoughts?

DoDtS

Not really, we'd won the previous game 7-0 and I suspect a bit of complacency at Lincoln. After that it became a confidence thing. The following season, with largely the same personnel, was of course one of the best ever (even though we finished a place lower in 7th). I think that both seasons our defence was not our strongest suit.
 
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