Top With a Negative Goal Difference

[Keith]

Top of the league with a negative goal difference. Is this unique?

It is mathematically impossible to be top on minus GD in the first two games. It is probably mathematically possible after three games but incredibly unlikely but in reality, it would require multiple weird results.

In reality, I'd guess that four or five games are the only time it can happen? And to do that, we need a side that gets absolutely walloped in one game, but wins all the rest narrowly... That would be us then!

Any stattos able to find another example?

[Gone_Shrimping]

Still top of the table after Cheltenham unexpectedly lost 1-3 at home to Grimsby tonight in a 7pm kick off.
A win would have put them top on goal difference.

The other game was a 2-1 home win for Walsall against Leyton Orient.

Incidentally a player called Jorome Slew has just scored for Wealdstone! Wealdstone were leading Stockport 2-1 with about 10 minutes left but County are now leading 5-2 and one of the scorers was a certain Richie Bennett.

[marky No.1]

Huddersfield got promoted to the Premier league with a negative goal difference

[RedRedWine]

Norwich City finished the inaugural 1992/93 Premier League season in third place with a negative goal difference (-4). They won plenty of games by the odd goal and tasted some heavy defeats along the way (losing 7-1 at Blackburn, and 5-1 at Spurs).

The Canaries topped the table outright over the Christmas period with a 0 GD, and were joint-top with Manchester United (eventually winners) and Aston Villa on 41 points after 23 games with a -1 GD.

[Little Shrimp]

Just need to win by one in most games and then occasionally lose by five or six!

Further to the Huddersfield bit - they won the play-offs without scoring a single goal themselves, as the one goal they did get was an own goal. They won both the semi-final and final on penalties.

[shrimp in cyprus]

Let's take this a stage further and imagine this:-

The current league positions, goal differences and points differences are just like this coming up to the last Saturday of the season (well I did use the word IMAGINE!!)

If the matches scheduled for this Saturday were the ones for the last day of the season (none of the top 8 are due to play each other), then Morecambe would simply (??) need to avoid defeat on Saturday to be assured of promotion directly (no play offs needed).
However if they lost at Crawley and the next 7 clubs below them all won, then Morecambe would not even make the play offs.

Mmmm. Until this season I might say that the latter scenario would be the most likely (and that is NOT a criticism of JB, who I believe to be a person of great integrity and for whom I have nothing but admiration), but somehow this season the players and (I think) the fans have much greater belief. So obviously we would walk it. Are the Hairy Bikers at Crawley on Saturday incidentally? A 6-0 win would go down a treat.

Right, I must go and put the cork back in the whisky bottle now.

[RedRedWine]

Norwich City finished the inaugural 1992/93 Premier League season in third place with a negative goal difference (-4). They won plenty of games by the odd goal and tasted some heavy defeats along the way (losing 7-1 at Blackburn, and 5-1 at Spurs).

The Canaries topped the table outright over the Christmas period with a 0 GD, and were joint-top with Manchester United (eventually winners) and Aston Villa on 41 points after 23 games with a -1 GD.

I saw that @OptaJoe posted about the above stats on twitter yesterday afternoon, which was subsequently picked up by Match of the Day..... If I hadn't posted the same info on a platform with such limited reach, I'd be demanding accreditation!

[HALMA 1983]

Are the Hairy Bikers at Crawley on Saturday incidentally? A 6-0 win would go down a treat.

That was some day and they only came to taste the pies