Saints/Pompey Stats

[spyinthesky]

At the end of this season, Saints average League attendance, since both teams entered the Football league in 1920/1, will exceed Pompey's making us the best supported club south of London in historical as well as well as current terms.

 

Saints average home attendance will have been higher than Pompey's in 50 of the 86 seasons in league football,despite Saints having a smaller capacity stadium for all but 12 years of this time.

 

For those who don't know, Pompey could only average 37,000 for home league games in their two League winning seasons in 1948/9 and 1949/50 when Fratton Park had a capacity of over 50,000.

 

This was at a time when most League clubs, in all four divisions, were filling their grounds to capacity after WW2.

 

Saints supremacy is most marked in the 53 seasons since Pompey were relegated from the old Division 1 in1958/9.

 

Saints have been in the top tier for 36 seasons since then (compared to Pompey at and, of course never in Division 4 or League 2 (whatever you like to call it)

 

Saints average home attendance will be close to 20,000 per season at the end of this campaign whilst Pompey's will be around the 13,800 mark

 

Pompey will only have been better supported in terms of average home crowds in only 3 of these 53 years!!!!!!!!!!.

 

In terms of League and Cup meetings since 1920/1, there have been 38 of which Saints have won 19 and lost 9.

 

This includes a 5-2 win at 'Fortress Fratton' in 1965/6.

 

In some respects the comparative records since the early 60's, which basically covers the lifetime of most current supporters, probably explains why Pompey fans have such a downer on Saints.

 

In every respect Pompey have been in the shadow of Saints for all bar 7 seasons from 2004/5 until 2009/10 (even during this time Saints had more people through the turnstiles as a lower league club than Pompey did in the Premiership)

 

Of course Pompey can rely on their boast that they have won more trophies and this is a fact.

 

However I wonder if there may be some around who claim to be Wanderers fans, a team which won the FA Cup 5 times in the late 19th century and are now playing in the Surrey South Eastern Combination!!!

 

For most of up long tern supporters the dominance along this end of the M27 has been a given, apart from the small blip a few years back.

 

it is comforting to know that the Saints reign of supremacy along the South Coast is likely to return to normal over the forseeable future and the main challenge may actually come from Brighton who have the infrastructure in place to challenge from further along the coast.

[ant]

Didn't think it was possible to feel much better today but this'll do it. Forever in our shadow.

[Golden Balls]

I do enjoy when they bring up the 4-1s forgetting we beat them 5-1...... three times.

[trousers]

I do enjoy when they bring up the 4-1s forgetting we beat them 5-1...... three times.

 

Also not forgetting that their 4-1 "victory" was only achievable by fielding players they couldn't afford, and were funding the team through avoidance of tax and cheating companies and charities out of tens of millions of pounds....other than that: "bravo Pompey....well played chaps"

Edited 22 April, 2013 by trousers

[The9]

Now now, can we stop picking on the small kid ?

[spyinthesky]

I do enjoy when they bring up the 4-1s forgetting we beat them 5-1...... three times.

 

To be fair we have only beaten them 5-1 twice in Ist Class games ie Season 1960/1 in Div 2 and by the same score in 1905/6 in the FA Cup

 

We did also win 5-2 at Fratton in season 1965/6

[spyinthesky]

Looking back at the overall Saints v Pompey games, it may explain their fans hostility towards Saints.

From the Saints/Pompey joint entry into the Football League in 1920/1 all was generally well until Pompey's relegation from Div 1 in season 1960/1 which coincided with our promotion from Div 3 the same year.

In the 7 subsequent meetings between the two sides between 1960/1 and 1975/6 Saints won 8, drew 4 and lost 2, scoring 34 and conceding 18.

Of these games Saints won 4 out of 4 at Fratton Park by 3-0 (1964/5), 5-2 (1965/6), 2-1 (1974/5) and 1-0 (1975/6)

In fact Pompey have only won once in the last 9 meetings on their home turf.

Pompey's win at the Dell in 1987/8 was so important to some Pompey fans that a Fanzine was named in its honour.

It was in the 70's that the SCUM Myth was started (ironically during the time when Pompey Dockers had taken work from Plymouth Docks against a Trade Union agreement they had signed up to thereby leading Soton Dockers to picket Pompey Commercial Docks)

Prior to 1960 it appears that many Saints fans used to go and watch Pompey play and when Jimmy Dickinson played his last derby game at the Dell, he was given a warm and supportive appreciation.

Pompey may have more trophies but Saints have the historically higher League average attendance, higher League position, better stadium, better reputation for developing young talent, less admins, more European campaigns and, of course, a higher current position