Some opening day stats

This will be our 95th season in the football league and our 49th season in the second tier. Saturday sees us play our 43rd opening game at home, with 52 having been played away. In total we have won 26, drawn 34 and lost 34. It might be interesting to note that on the last two occasions where we've won our opening game, we've won automatic promotion.

Opening home games:

At home on the opening day we've won 14, drawn 15 and lost 13. We last won at home in 2012 against Huddersfield. Between 1993 and 2012 we won 4 out of 8 home openers, yet between 1972 and 1992, we failed to win at home in 12 attempts. Our biggest home win was against Leicester in 1951 and Scunthorpe in 2009. Our heaviest defeat was to Palace in 1968. Probably the most extraordinary game was in 1962 with a 4-4 home draw against Newcastle.

We have played 36 different teams at home. Bolton have been the most frequent opening day visitors, playing here in 1923, 1927 and 1989. We last played Barnsley at home on the opening day in 1958, losing 1-0. In total we have scored 53 at home and conceded 51.

Opening away games:

Away from home on the opening day we've won 12, drawn 19 and lost 21. We last won away in 2017, beating Burton. Our standout win is 5-2 at Stockport County in our first ever football league match. We would return there in 1994 and lose 4-1! We have also lost by 3 goals to Charlton, Bradford Park Avenue and Notts County. We didn't win an away opener between 1934 and 1968.

We have played 38 different teams away from home, visiting Burnley, Blackburn and Charlton most often.

Overall:

Charlton have been our most regular opening day fixture, playing them 5 times, winning twice and losing 3 times. Next come Blackburn, Burnley and Leyton Orient, who we've met 4 times. We've never beaten Blackburn or Burnley on the opening day.

In total we've played 59 different teams on the opening day of the season, 8 of which are no longer in the football league. From the Premier League and Championship we've never faced the following:

Aston Villa
Brentford
Brighton & Hove Albion
Bristol City
Chelsea
Coventry City
Derby County
Everton
Leeds United
Manchester United
Nottingham Forest
Queens Park Rangers
West Bromwich Albion

Does the opening day result mean anything for the rest of the season? Well, our average finishing position when we've won on the opening day is 10th; when we've drawn is 12.6; when we've lost is 13th. 8 of our 13 promotion seasons have started with an opening day win (with 2 draws and 3 defeats), while only 2 of our 13 relegation seasons started with a win (with 5 draws and 6 defeats). While this obviously doesn't suggest that win and we go up, or lose and we go down, getting off to a good start does help the season.

Fascinating stuff Eric. I was going to ask the question, when did we last win our first game. You’ve answered it for me.
On balance, an opening day won augurs well for the rest of the season, but we know that the first game does throw up funny results.
I am a pessimistic about our chances Saturday, with our injuries etc, against a surprisingly decent, last year, Barnsley side. Hope I’m wrong, and a good win, with a crowd watching at long last, beckons.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Former Labour leader

Fascinating stuff Eric. I was going to ask the question, when did we last win our first game. You’ve answered it for me.
On balance, an opening day won augurs well for the rest of the season, but we know that the first game does throw up funny results.
I am a pessimistic about our chances Saturday, with our injuries etc, against a surprisingly decent, last year, Barnsley side. Hope I’m wrong, and a good win, with a crowd watching at long last, beckons.

---

I think we'll beat them comfortably.

I was surprised at how poor our home record is on the opening day of the season. I notice that 6 of our 14 home wins have seen us promoted or in the playoffs at the end of the season, plus one other where we finished 7th in 2009 after a ridiculous end of season collapse. We've never been relegated when we've won the opening game of the season at home.

Great stats Eric.
On the opening day of 85/86, we battered Notts County 4-1 away. Think everyone thought after that result we’d end up getting promoted to Division 2. Ended up in Division 4 for the first time in our history. Goes to show a good opening day win can be very misleading.

Great information Eric.

I was at the 0-4 v Crystal Palace in 1968, my third Cardiff City game. I should have seen the signs and had more sense and stopped then. 53 years later and I'm still watching them, with hope as always. There we were, a mid table 2nd tier team and all these years later we still are! 9 promotions and 9 relegations later.

I thought the same after thumping Notts County on the opening day of the season. I also remember beating Lincoln on the last day of the season on a very warm day and everyone celebrating as Lincoln were relegated along with us.

The opening game always sticks in the mind in any season as well.
To me it seems every player gets a fresh start and sets a benchmark for their performance for the season.

Sometimes new players can always look amazing on this day.

I was at the 4-4 draw with Newcastle, I believe Ivor Allchurch made his debut and scored 2. Excellent game.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cleve van Leef

I was at the 4-4 draw with Newcastle, I believe Ivor Allchurch made his debut and scored 2. Excellent game.

---

My first first team game, having been to Combination games the season before, 3-1 down at half time too.