DoDTS
The PL League Boss⭐⭐
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.
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.