Good start to the season?

[Dutch Uncle]

I reckon so, and some stats to back this up:

After two games we have progressed to round 2 of the League Cup and won our opening league game. Since the inaugural season of the League Cup in 1960-61 we have achieved these two feats in the same season only 7 times, namely in 1965-6, 1974-5, 1979-80, 1983-4, 1987-8, 2003-4 and 2004-5.  This is in no small part due to our pretty dismal history in the League cup.  Of course in many of these seasons the league cup first round was later than the first or second match of the season.

A few extra stats (and good omens?):

- In these seasons the only time the opening league match victory was away from  home was in 2003-4 (Leyton Orient) and of course we went on to be champions. 

- The only time in those 7 seasons we went on to round 3 of the League Cup was in 2004-5 when  we beat Ipswich in Round 2 and lost to Nottm Forest in Round 3.

- The only times in those 7 seasons that we actually won our first two league games were in 1965-6 (ended up as champions), 1983-4 (ended up second) and 2003-4 (as mentioned above - ended up champions). Here's hoping for a result tomorrow night..........

- In 2003-4 and 2004-5, in the 4 games concerned (opening league match and round 1 of league Cup) - a certain Rovers player scored in all 4 games. Very easy quiz question for any Rovers follower of more than 7 years .........

- Dave Penney was the Rovers manager in 2003-4 and 2004-5, and like Deano he also had the extremely unusual distinction of playing for both Swansea and Cardiff.

Well done Deano, here's hoping for some more history repeating itself........

       

[MachoMadness]

Great stuff, some real interesting stats there, hopefully the good omens ring true!

Just one thing though, you're missing the most important stat of all...

What was our ball possession like in those games?

[DonnyBazR0ver]

In 2003-4 and 2004-5, in the 4 games concerned (opening league match and round 1 of league Cup) - a certain Rovers player scored in all 4 games. Very easy quiz question for any Rovers follower of more than 7 years

Is he currently a manager round these parts?

Good info there. Nice to be able to get back to times when football seemed such a simple pleasure!!

[Dutch Uncle]

Indeed he is DBR, and still carrying the weight of that hyphen

[Grant]

Stats from years ago have no influence on what this season may bring.

[ArmthorpeRover]

Stats from years ago have no influence on what this season may bring.

No shit Sherlock, but it'll be interesting to find out if we can emulate it.

[DonnyNoel]

Stats from years ago have no influence on what this season may bring.

No but history is fascinating. As someone who didn't see Rovers pre-89 I've found I've learnt more from the, er, mature posters on here than from the history books.

[PDX_Rover]

Ahhh LFW

Just watched the highlights on Rovers Player and one thing I did notice is the number of players getting forwards.  When Bennett scored the third, there were three players in the box to run onto a cross.  I think with Cotterill and Leo Syers we might have a couple of lads with bloody good engines.  We've missed that since Greeny left IMO.

Anyway, great start.  Hope we can keep the momentum going.

[Alonzo Drake]

Great post as usual DU. As one of the 'er, mature posters' who loves Rovers history and stats as much as DU, I note that if we are looking for trends in those seven seasons, all but one were relatively successful campaigns -- so maybe that is an omen indeed.

Also, I can't help making comparisons with 65/66, because we won our first two D4 games 4-0, and went on to win the league, and beat Barnsley in the LC, which set us up for a glamour home tie with Burnley in R2.

In those days Burnley were a D1 powerhouse, and they bladdered us 4-0 at BV, but the gate of 24,000 plus stands as the highest BV gate I had been in. The place was packed to the rafters, and at the time many pundits thought the true gate was closer to 30,000.

So, if we beat Bury tomorrow by a good score, we might go on to take the title, and then the signs suggest that Hull will do us in R2 of the LC. Indeed, they owe us one, because my fellow mature posters will well recall when D4 Rovers played D2 Hull in the LC in 1975/76 in front of 20,000. Hull bladdered us that night but we stole it 2-1 and went on to play Spurs in the QF.

The signs, the signs! The signs are out there brethren!

[BillyStubbsTears]

Dutch.

Excellent as ever in your historical rambling.

I'm not old enough to remember the pre-Bremner days in much detail, but a thought did occur to me about the later successful seasons.

In both the 83-84 and 03-04 promotion seasons, we had some pretty rocky periods early on in the season.

I remember coming home from the 1-0 defeats away at Hartelpool in Sept 83 and at home to Yeovil in Sept 03 thinking that we weould be lucky to be mid-table fodder.

In both cases, we were just a few weeks away from the side being perfected and the results going our way like a Donny Tsunami.

A lesson for the bairns on here. If we have the odd dodgy result in the next few weeks, do not lose hope.

[RobTheRover]

Wise words, Billy.  Its a marathon not a snickers, or summat.

[MachoMadness]

Very true indeed BST. I remember after our promising start in 03-04 was derailed by Northampton and then by Darlington, I came away from those games feeling like we had a lot to do in that league. Then we played Oxford at home, who were near the top of the league at that time, and absolutely battered them and never looked back. Funnily enough they dropped like a stone after that.

Funny owd game, as they say.

[neil grainger]

Fascinating stuff Dutch Uncle.

Thanks for taking the time to put that together.

[Dutch Uncle]

Great post as usual DU. As one of the 'er, mature posters' who loves Rovers history and stats as much as DU, I note that if we are looking for trends in those seven seasons, all but one were relatively successful campaigns -- so maybe that is an omen indeed.

Also, I can't help making comparisons with 65/66, because we won our first two D4 games 4-0, and went on to win the league, and beat Barnsley in the LC, which set us up for a glamour home tie with Burnley in R2.

In those days Burnley were a D1 powerhouse, and they bladdered us 4-0 at BV, but the gate of 24,000 plus stands as the highest BV gate I had been in. The place was packed to the rafters, and at the time many pundits thought the true gate was closer to 30,000.

So, if we beat Bury tomorrow by a good score, we might go on to take the title, and then the signs suggest that Hull will do us in R2 of the LC. Indeed, they owe us one, because my fellow mature posters will well recall when D4 Rovers played D2 Hull in the LC in 1975/76 in front of 20,000. Hull bladdered us that night but we stole it 2-1 and went on to play Spurs in the QF.

The signs, the signs! The signs are out there brethren!

First of all many thanks for many excellent comments in this thread

Alonzo - as I guess more or less contemporaries - I have the same vivid memories of the 1965-6 season as you. I also am sure the official attendance of 24998 versus Burnley was being economical with the truth and I clearly recall Andy Lochhead' s stunning hat-trick for the visitors.

But another abiding memory was from the League Cup first round replay at Oakwell - a real blood and thunder cup-tie. I remember Albert Yogi Broadbent scoring a penalty by hitting the ball down the middle of the goal before that became a common occurrence - it was the first time I had ever seen that and I am still not convinced it was intended 

Then of course the rematch at Oakwell a few weeks later when we won 5-1 in the League after being roundly outplayed and that being the turning point of our whole season.

A fraction of the highlights of 1965-66 would be a good return this year 

[drfc1951]

Also in 65-66 Brian Kelly scored from about 40yards out against Darlington.We won 6-3,the attendance was 15,572.

[graingrover]

I think DU, who retired recently from a secret job in Brussels, is a spy and all this is just an infinitessimal selection from his data base. Wait till he show's you his projections into the future using boson science. !

[RobTheRover]

He is from the future, Brian.  Told me 6 months ago to get my ST early for this season because it's a corker.  Now he's just drip feeding the info through......

Let's just hope The Decorator hasn't been sent back to sort him out. If you get a knock on the door and a strangely Austrian/Benelux drawl asks,  "Dutch Uncle?", run like bloody hell.

[Dutch Uncle]

The only Higgs I remember used to play cricket for England..................

Actually Brian, although 'Head Office' was in Brussels, I was always based in The Hague. Actually they have just changed the name of my old organisation to N-CIA - make of that what you will

I can't believe it is nearly two years - official secrets act must be expiring soon.........

Edit: (For Rob) Actually funnily enough a lot of my work was on predictions (genuinely) - but the experience has made me more of a sympathiser of Heisenberg, not being really certain about anything. As the famous Danish wit (not one of many) Storm Pedersen said - 'Predictions are very difficult - especially for the future'