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We were formed in 1895, we first took part in the Football League in 1907/08. If you remove the war years 1915-1919 and 1940-1946, we have competed in 103 seasons of the Football League or F.A. Premier League, including the present season.
If we rank every one of those 103 seasons from best to worst, using the Tier we were in (1-4), where Division 3 North is considered equal to Division 4 & the points per game (PPG) we achieved, adjusting for seasons where only 2 points were awarded for a win, you can assess how Abdallah's reign has compared.
Our best ever season was in 1914-15, managed by Herbert Bamlett, when we narrowly lost out to Everton in the race to be English league champions. In fact, the period 1909-1915, largely under the stewardship of David Ashworth, was arguably our most successful. Promotion from the 2nd division in 1910 finishing 2nd behind Man City, with an equivalent of 2 PPG, which is still to this date the most PPG we've amassed in any season, with Jimmy Fay scoring 26 goals in the process.
In 1911 we finished 7th in Division 1, Man United won the league that year before narrowly avoiding relegation in 1912, finishing 18th out of 20, with 2 being relegated who were PNE and Bury. Blackburn Rovers won the league that season demonstrating just how much the North West dominated the game during this era.
in 1912-13 however we finished 9th in Division 1 and reached the F.A. Cup Semi-Final for the first time losing to eventual winners and league runners up Aston Villa 1-0 at Ewood Park, which still seems an odd choice of neutral ground to me.
In 1914 we achieved our 2nd best ever league season, finishing 4th behind only Middlesbrough, runners up Aston Villa and champions Blackburn Rovers, after which David Ashworth curiously left to manage Stockport County, before our aforementioned success in 1914-15. In fact, we didn't win any of our final 3 games that season, drawing 0-0 at Aston Villa and losing at home to Burnley 2-1 and Liverpool 2-0 on the final day. In contrast to the 1 point we picked up over the last 3 games, Everton won 2 and drew 1, pipping us to the title by a single point.
There will be many, like me, who will remember vividly the 5 year period between 1989-1994 when Joe Royle and Willie Donachie inspired us not only to rub shoulders with the country's elite once again, but defeat them all at least once during this time, however what you might not know is how this period compares to other seasons.
The pinch me season of 1989-90, which included our 2nd F.A. Cup Semi-Final and a League Cup Final, which saw Andy Ritchie notch 28 goals, was only our 19th best in the League and the 1990-91 2nd Division championship season, with Ian Marshall scoring 18, our 14th with less PPG than 1909-10 when we finished runner up.
1991-92, our best league finish in the modern era with Graeme Sharp top scoring with 16, ranks only 6th. 1992-93 'The Great Escape' was 9th and 1993-94 which included our 3rd and most recent F.A. Cup Semi Final, was 12th.
Other notable seasons;
1952-53 (82nd of 103) we won Division 3 North with Eric Gemmill scoring 23 goals, he'd been top scorer for 4 out of 5 seasons between 1948-1953 scoring 20+ goals in each of them, Ray Haddington beating him in 1949-50 with 24.
1962-63 (80th of 103) we finished runner up in Division 4 with Bert Lister scoring 33 goals, a fate only beaten by Tom Davie who scored 35 in a 7th place finished in Division 3 North.
1970-71 (81st of 103) & 1973-74 (49th of 103) under the stewardship of the late great Jimmy Frizzell saw us win promotion from Division 4 by finishing 3rd, and win Division 3 in the space of 4 years, with Jim Fryatt & Colin Garwood scoring 26 and 17 goals respectively.
Since the turn of the century, we have witnessed some of our leanest times. The 2002-03 (David Eyres 16 goals) and 2006-07 (Chris Porter 22 goals) 3rd Tier play off seasons under Iain Dowie and Lord John Sheridan are the only stand outs, and rank as 50th and 51st out of 103. By some measure this should also demonstrate how our 103 league season PAR is at the top end of the 3rd Tier/bottom end of the 2nd. Anything less is an underachievement.
Since Mr. Lemsagam took charge of our beloved club & oversaw an immediate relegation back to the 4th tier for the 1st time since Jimmy Frizzell took us out of it nearly 50 years earlier, we have finished 14th, 19th and presently (at the time of writing) sit 17th (obviously), which rank as 92nd, 100th and 96th out of 103 seasons.
It's not working Abdallah. Your time us up. Please move over before you do more damage.
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