Monday, 9 April 2012

Does Fleetwood's impending records undermine ours?


There are a few other more important Reading FC-related things going on right now what with the promotion push, going top of the Championship for the first time in six years on Friday, away games at Brighton and Southampton this week, the continued fallout from the Leeds battle and the ongoing takeover of the club.
However, something a little lighter to alter the mood somewhat concerning our one remaining record in English football*; the most points accrued in a single season in any English professional league with the 106 points gained in the incredible 2005/06 season.
One of the common threads on internet messageboards since that season has been “106 watch” where the possible challengers to this record are ticked off one by one has the current season unfolds, leaving our record untouched once again.
This year, all of the contenders in the Football League have faded away and Premier League teams can never compete as they play eight games less in their season.
However, there remains an interesting challenger in the form of Fleetwood Town in the Blue Square Premier division who have racked up 101 points so far this season with four games remaining.
Despite games against second-placed Wrexham (second-placed but 11 points behind albeit with a game in hand) and play-off chasing Luton to come, Fleetwood should still manage to get at least two wins to go past our 106 point benchmark.
Fleetwood’s record this year is quite amazing, particularly away from home where they have picked up 56 points from a possible 66 so far and averaged nearly two and a half goals a game. Amazingly, they still haven’t guaranteed promotion as of yet due to the equally relentless form of chasing Wrexham who could also break the 100 point barrier and not even get promoted.
The wording of Reading’s record is “the most points in a single season in any English professional league” which eliminates the challenge of Fleetwood as, despite going full-time for the2010/11 season, play in a division in which all of the participants are not professional and largely semi-pro.
Furthermore, in recent seasons, there have been huge points totals accrued in the lower leagues as clubs like AFC Wimbledon and FC United of Manchester distort the playing field at the levels they operated, despite their good intentions as institutions. I also seem to recall seeing on the Sky Sports News sidebar a few seasons ago a team with a huge points to game ratio but cannot remember for the life of me what league it was or who the team were.
Clearly, the records of these teams and Fleetwood should they break the 106 barrier does not invalidate the Reading record due to the wording but does it put an asterix next to it due to the increasingly professionalization of the Blue Square Premier division and the fact that no club (not even Crawley last season with 105 points) broke our record since the division went to 24 teams in 2006/07.
It shouldn’t do but as it is the first time a team from a league recognisable to most football fans has broken the 106 barrier since the 2005/06 season and the record has been in the conscious of Reading fans, it might feel a little bit undermined.


*Edwin van der Sar broke Steve Death’s record for the longest time without conceding a league goal a few years ago. Death retains the Football League record in this field but that does not mean he holds the record in English football

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