Grachan 7,364 Posted July 6, 2003 With so much emphasis on averages these days when building teams I was interested to see the combined team averages at the start of the 1976 season printed in an old programme. There was more than 10 points between the highest - Exeter - and the lowest - Birmingham. Exeter - 50.31 Wolves - 49.54 Belle Vue - 48.62 Sheffield - 47.73 Reading - 47.30 Hull - 46.81 Ipswich - 46.68 White City - 46.68 Leicester - 46.53 Halifax - 46.11 Cradley United - 45.53 Newport - 45.23 Kings Lynn - 44.33 Poole - 44.43 Wimbledon - 43.41 Coventry - 43.37 Hackney - 42.87 Swindon - 42.46 Birmingham - 39.87 Eventual champions Ipswich were 7th in the averages at the start of the season. Swindon finished 5th but were 2nd from bottom average wise and Sheffield, who had the fourth highest average, finished 3rd from bottom. It does make you wonder if too much is made of averages these days. The final league table, according to the Hackney website, was: 1. Ipswich 55 2. Belle Vue 48 3. Exeter 48 4. Coventry 44 5. Swindon 42 6. Reading 41 7. Hackney 40 8. Newport 39 9. Cradley 39 10.Poole 37 11. Wolverhampton 37 12. Hull 36 13. White City 35 14. Kings Lynn 35 15. Halifax 29 16. Wimbledon 27 17. Sheffield 27 18. Birmingham 14 19. Leicester 11 If you take the average strength for all the teams together you get an average of 45.67, which I suppose makes 45 a fairly reasonable figure for team averages if you're going to have one. Of course, the table doesn't take into account any team changes that may have been made. I know, for a start, that Swindon signed Jan Andersson during the season. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
847084 99 Posted July 6, 2003 As a Wolves fan I remember this season with a mixture of perverse pleasure and embarrassment. Our combined averages as posted were slightly misleading! This was our first season after Olsen left for Coventry (never as good as he was for us) and we were allocated Hasse Holmquist, Tommy Johansson, Guiseppe Marzotto and Jimmy Mcmillan. The first two never showed, Marzotto rode for two months and Jimmy Mac became our number one. We got through the season by hiring loads of guests, my particularly ridiculous memory was our demolition of Eastbourne away in the inter league cup. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
