14 – Merry Christmas – Post 8

One thing I’ve learnt watching football, and its something that annoys me immensely, is that everybody thinks their team is the worst – the worst at holding onto leads, at winning on the opening day, at scoring four goals… anything. I’ve always had the feeling that Town were the worst at playing between Christmas and New Year.

Every season, I ask for one thing for Christmas above all others – I ask for three points on Boxing Day. Always have. Did this season. The last time I got my wish was 2004, against Port Vale, and the last time I saw it (Darlington away in 2003) would be Boxing Day 2001. That’s a fair old bit of time.

Having not won any of the three Christmas games this season, my melancholy led me to think that Town have, since I started watching, traditionally been quite poor at this time of year. So I had a quick look.

In the league games since 1994/95, when first I held a season ticket, that fell between Christmas and the end of the first week of the New Year, Town have the following record.

P42 W13 D14 L15

That’s not a disaster at all. I fell into my own trap, I think. Beating Sheffield Wednesday would make it a whole lot better.

Boxing Day itself, just to prove my point, is, similarly, on the slightly worse than average level.

P14 W4 D4 L6.

Happy New Year.

I may have a look at ALL Boxing Day fixtures at some point.