City have made a steady start to the current league campaign. 8 matches
played no losses. How does that compare to City teams of the past. City fans John Heyda
from Ohio, USA has produced the following statistics.
"City's 2-0 win at Scunthorpe on Saturday
gives the Bluebirds an eight-game league match unbeaten streak to start the season.
This string of results represents the longest season-opening unbeaten streak in league
play since the 1923-24 side opened with an unbeaten run of 11 in a row. The 1923-24
squad's 11-game run is the club's only season-opening unbeaten streak longer than the
current eight-game string.
This season is only the sixth in club history to start off with an unbeaten run longer
than five games. Here are details of the six starts and how each campaign turned
out:
* 1923-24. Began with an unbeaten run of 11 games, still the best in club history.
Won six and drew five of their first 11 before losing to Preston North End at
Deepdale 3-1. This legendary side went on to a second-place finish, losing the
Division One title by the slightest margin ever. As we all know this gruesome tale
by heart, I won't rehearse the gory details here.
* 1927-28. The defending FA Cup champions kicked off the season of their cup defense
by getting through their first seven matches undefeated (three wins and four draws).
This season-opening unbeaten streak was halted by Huddersfield in City's eighth
league match, the Town pounding the Bluebirds 8-2 at Leeds Road. This squad
regrouped nicely, however, finishing their Division One campaign in sixth place.
* 1973-74. This side drew their first three, then won (at home, 5-0 vs. Oxford),
then drew two more before losing their seventh league game at home to Hull by a 3-1
margin. After that, it got ugly as City wound up 17th in Division Two.
* 1990-91. City managed a draw in the opener, then won 2-0 at Hartlepool, then drew
four in a row, then won again (2-0 at Scunthorpe) before losing their eighth league match
of the season at home, 1-0 to Rochdale. This side wound up 13th in Division Four.
* 1997-98. City won their first two, then drew three straight, then won again before
losing their seventh game 2-0, at home to Chester City. It was Chester City's first
ever win at Ninian Park. City disintegrated after their promising start, finishing
off this dungeon campaign in 21st place.
* 2000-2001. City edged Exeter to win an away opener, then reasserted their renowned
mastery of the draw, sharing the points in five successive matches. The Bluebirds
then won their next two to bring us to this weekend's encounter with the Kiddy Korps at
Ninian Park. We don't know how this season will turn out, of course, but if the
postwar pattern continues City's good start will only produce a bottom-half-of-the-table
finish. Let's hope the pre-WWII model asserts itself instead and City manages at
least a top-six finish."
