What’s the “worst” poor start on record?

Yesterday’s (26/08/2023) draw (0-0 vs Brackley) means that 2023/24 doesn’t set a new record for consecutive opening defeats, but it is however still tied with 1968/69 and 2018/19, which also opened the season with 4 negative results.

This season’s record now mirrors 1968/69 with a draw in the fifth game, and in that season the sixth game brought the first win of the campaign, 1-0 v Barrow. All hopes are on Monday’s (28/08/2023) game with Chorley to provide the same return.

2018/19, which also had four consecutive defeats, returned a win in the fifth, 4-1 v Nuneaton.

In terms of records for how long it took to get the first league win, there is a LONG way to go before we get anywhere near that record….

In 1975/76 it took 19 games to register the first league win of the season, eventually coming on 6th December(!), 2-1 v Scunthorpe. There were only 3 draws in those first 18 games, and it was during that run that the previous record of consecutive league defeats was set, at 11. Sadly the poor tail end of 2022/23 combined with the opening of 2023/24 has seen that record now surpassed with 12. It took 48 years to break the last record, let’s hope it takes longer still to break this one.

Behind 1975/76, which is a strong contender for being the worst season ever for the club, 1905/06 is the nearest contender for the “poor start” title, where it took 15 games. There were however 7 draws from the first 14 and with only 2 points for a win in those days they were far from being cut adrift from the pack.

In 1976/77, fresh off the back of the previous horrific season, lessons still hadn’t been learned and it took 11 games to register a win, with 4 draws in the first 10.

Next up are 59/60 (4 draws), 49/50 (5 draws) and 33/34 (4 draws) all with 9 games until a win.

The most recent “poor start” is 2021/22 with 8 games until the first win.