Friday, 23 May 2014

Bit of fun - The results are in…

At the end of the 'season-before-last' I totted up the empty seats at both the Etihad Stadium and Scaffold Trafford. I’ve done the same again for last season.


The season before...


Well they’re always bleating on about how many empty seats there appears to be when we’re on the telly so I thought...what the ‘eck; lets get it right and see just how many. And while I’m at it…let’s see how many ‘empties’ they get too.

Etihad Stadium official capacity:
47,805 for domestic / 45,500 for European

Number of empty seats for ALL competitions during 2012/2013:
45,797

Cold Trafford official capacity:
75,765

Number of empty seats for ALL competitions during 2012/2013:
51,892

So…hello? Potkettle…black anyone?

Last season...


Etihad Stadium official capacity:
47,805 for domestic / 45,500 for European

Number of empty seats for ALL competitions in 2013/2014:
82,786

Cold Trafford official capacity:
75,765

Number of empty seats for ALL competitions in 2013/2014:
51,097

Arr…right……okay then. What’s gone on there then?

THEY win the league by a good distance in 2012/2013 and they get more empty seats in their (admittedly larger) stadium than we got in ours; WE win the league in 2013/2014 and we get more ‘empties’ than they do. Mmmm…go figure that one out.

Some details of the season just gone…


Manchester City

Highest attendance:
47,726 (79 empty seats) v Barcelona in the Champions League
(and City would appear to have broken the European capacity rule here)

Lowest attendance:
25,519 (22,286 empty seats) v Wigan Athletic in the League Cup


Highest attendance:
75,368 (397 empty seats) v Aston Villa in the Premier League

Lowest attendance:
58,663 (17,102 empty seats) v Norwich City in the League Cup

Future plans?


At the start of the 2015/2016 season the approximate capacity of the Etihad will rise to 54,000, due to the expansion of the South Stand. By the start of the 2017/2018 that will rise to approximately 60,000, due to the same expansion of the North / Family Stand.

Huh…you’d better keep improving on the pitch Blues and as for the Sales/Marketing Departments; keep working overtime, keep those ideas flowing and keep those prices realistic…

How did I fare?


It was a bold move…but I was feeling brave at the time. To predict all of our season’s results AND the entire Premier League finishing table on the 4th August was, you’ve gotta admit, audacious…or should that be downright stupid?

Seriously, as I type these words I haven’t yet looked back to see what I predicted…the ACTUAL result are in the brackets on the right.

Gulp…

League fixture list for 2013/2014

August                               Start of season prediction (actual results)
Newcastle United (H)                            W (W)
Cardiff City (A)                                      W (L)

Hull City (H)                                          W (W)
September
Stoke City (A)                                       W (D)


Manyoo (H)                                           D (W)
Aston Villa (A)                                      W (L)

October
Everton (H)                                           W (W)

West Ham United (A)                            D (W)

Chelsea (A)                                           L (L)

November
Norwich City
(H)                                   W (W)

Sunderland (A)                                     D (L)

Tottenham Hotspur (H)                      W (W)

Swansea City (H)                                  W (W)

December
West Bromwich Albion (A)                   W (W)

Southampton (A)                                  D (D)

Arsenal (H)                                           W (W)

Fulham (A)                                           W (W)

Liverpool (H)                                        W (W)

Crystal Palace (H)                                 W (W)

January
Swansea City
(H)                                  W (W)

Newcastle United (A)                            D (W)

Cardiff City (H)                                      W (W)

Tottenham Hotspur (A)                        L (W)

February
Chelsea (H)                                           W (L)

Norwich City (A)                                   W (D)

Stoke City (H)                                       W (W)

March
Hull City (A)                                          W (W)

Fulham (H)                                           W (W)

Manyoo (A)                                           D (W)

Arsenal (A)                                           D (D)

April
Southampton (H)                                  W (W)

Liverpool (A)                                        D (L)

Sunderland (H)                                     W (D)
 
West Bromwich Albion (H)                   W (W)

Crystal Palace (A)                                 W (W)

May

Everton (A)                                           L (W)

Aston Villa (H)                                      W (W)

West Ham United (H)                            W (W)

 
W / L / D (actual):

Won – 27 (27)
Drawn – 8 (5)
Lost – 3 (6)

 
2013/2014 predicted league finishing places (actual):


  1st Manchester City (1st)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2nd Chelsea (3rd)
3rd Manyoo (7th)
4th Tottenham Hotspur (6th)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5th Arsenal (4th)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6th Liverpool (2nd)
7th  Swansea City (12th)
8th Sunderland (14th)
9th Southampton (8th)
10th West Bromwich Albion (17th)
11th West ham United (13th)
12th Everton (5th)
13th Norwich City (18th)
14th Newcastle United (10th)
15th Aston Villa (15th)
16th Cardiff City (20th)
17th Fulham (19th)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18th Stoke City (9th)
19th Crystal Palace (11th)
20th Hull City (16th)

Well I got…

  • 24 out of 38 Manchester City results right (you can work the percentage out);
  • The number of Manchester City, over all wins spot on,
  • 2 of the team’s exact finishing positions correct,
  • 6 teams just-within 2 places off their final position and
  • Predicted the league champions.
Can we call it a 6.5/10 – not a bad effort?

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