Laithwaite Independent Financial Advisers

Vanarama Stat Attack: some facts behind the first quarter of National League season

8:52am, Thu 19th Sep 2019
League sponsors Vanarama offer some answers about the actual importance of the first seven weeks.

If you’re a fan of stats, and like us enjoying reading probably too much into teams’ starts, you’re very much in the right place.

We’ve been dusting off the history books to get a gauge on this ever unpredictable Vanarama National League season - so the big question is are the Cards here to stay?

We’re going to pass the quarter point in the campaign this weekend and the season has flown by, so we’ve been studying the trends of the past five years to see if the club have a habit of hanging around.

Last year they did. Second at the 11-match mark, and second at the end of April - but the season before of course saw a slide. At this point in 2017-18 the team were tenth but come the final day they found themselves in the bottom four.

There was a slight improvement the year before, 19th at this stage before ending the season in 18th position but both 2015-16 and 2014-15 saw great starts fade.


But forget all that! Let’s focus on something most certainly going up.

Attendances have rocketed from a first five game average of 1,706 last season to 2,297 this - that’s 591 more people coming through the doors each week.

So what exactly can we read into a start to the season? More often than not a team near the top at this point is the one who walks away the winner.

Eventual champions Leyton Orient were third, just a few points off leaders Harrogate a year ago.

At the 11-game stage Salford City, who would go on to take the second promotion slot, sat just behind them.

Only one team not in touch at the top in the past ten years have been crowned champions, Macclesfield Town coming from nowhere in 2017 to take the title.

Like that year, it is very much shaping up to be an anyone-can-win-it type season. Strap yourselves in, it’s going to be some ride!


Sponsors Vanarama have recently launched the Club Reward scheme to help fans back their club’s budget. Every time a fan takes out a brand new van lease with Vanarama or a brand new car lease with Motorama their club will earn £100 and you will receive £30 cashback!

For the latest van leasing deals head to Vanarama.
For the latest car leasing deals head to Motorama.

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