Fixture Computer

Folev the red

How on earth do they fix this thing?

We're at the start of November, and suprisingly we only have 2 home games left in 2011 in Hudders and Oldham.

This means that in the league we'll have played 10 home games and 13 away games going into the new year.

Is this an advantage going into the second half of the season, or unfair on us?

 

Numbers

As we have had a good away record so far it shouldn't matter.

Looking at our last 12 games we have 7 home 5 away so,on paper, a good run in to secure promotion

Indigo Joe

We were talking about this after the game yesterday. Definite advantage in my opinion. Especially if we're on a roll and putting sides to bed by half time as we have done recently. Teams will be thinking that whatever they can get at The Valley will be a bonus point and maybe thinking about damage limitation. If we're still top at New Year with a nice gap between us and 2nd/3rd having a large chunk of fixtures still to come at home should mean no end of season jitters.

Lewis Coaches

Just take alook at the last two times we won promotion from Division3,sometimes things are not so stright forward as you think.

Season 74-75 with 9 games remaining Charlton take 7 points out of 18 ,to gain promotion with the last game of season at home to P.N.E.

Last four home games Grimsby 1-1

                                 Bournemouth 2-3

                                 Bury 0-1

                                Preston 3-1

Charlton missed two penalties in the last two home games.

Season 80-81 Before gaining promotion at Carlise 25th April with a 2-1 win Charlton had failed to win a home game since the 21st February drawing with

Barnsley 1-1,Millwall 0-0,Swindon 0-0 and Oxford 0-0.Both Huddersfield and Portsmouth leaving The Valley with all 3points 1-2 victory.

However we did win promotion both times and thats what counts.Sometimes the journey is a little harder than it first appears.

MuttleyCAFC

claiming the points now allows you some slips later - not that we will this season

Scratchingvalleycat

Normally the fixture programme which is run for the football league and premier league by an IT company, Athos Origin, is fairly balanced in the way it allocated fixtures and  the output is reviewed to make sure that some of the pre requisites of the system design (two halves to the season  so you dont play the same team home one week and away the next; christmas fixtures are not 300 mile hikes down a motorway on boxing day etc.) are met. However, something seems to have gone wrong this year  and we have an unbalanced first half to the season  as outlined above, our two fixtures in christmas week are both away games and one is a trip to Yeovil (fine for Exeter or  maybe another team to the west of London). I guess that since Athos have been running the system from their Wilmslow office for more than 20 years they have become blaze and only bother about the  clubs in the North West.

EastTerrace

is toss, we always play Rochdale away when it's postponed or I can't go.

golfaddick

I think the fixture computer is a bit more sophisticated and complicated than that, Scratchy !

I remember seeing a TV programme about all the different things they have to factor in, before setting the computer to work..........such as making sure local teams are not at home on the same day (Everton/Liverpool, Man C / ManU, Arsenal/Spurs,Fulham/Chelsea,Sheff U/Sheff Wed etc etc.Then games have to fit in around the FIFA calender (Euro/World Cup qualifiers & Champs League etc) and police advice is also sought too.

When taking all this into account I'm surprised they ever get the fixtures to work out !!

MrOneLung

Am sure I read that the police did not want us versus Orient  on Boxing Day for some reason

MuttleyCAFC

That sounds so ridiculous it must be true!

Sussex_Addick

Remembered a really interesting article I read on this a  couple of years ago so I dug it out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2009/06/secrets_of_the_fixture_compute.html

As GolfAddick says, it's a bit more complicated than you might think!

Scratchingvalleycat

I think the fixture computer is a bit more sophisticated and complicated than that, Scratchy !

I remember seeing a TV programme about all the different things they have to factor in, before setting the computer to work..........such as making sure local teams are not at home on the same day (Everton/Liverpool, Man C / ManU, Arsenal/Spurs,Fulham/Chelsea,Sheff U/Sheff Wed etc etc.Then games have to fit in around the FIFA calender (Euro/World Cup qualifiers & Champs League etc) and police advice is also sought too.

When taking all this into account I'm surprised they ever get the fixtures to work out !!

To be fair when I gave example of the problems they have to deal with, I did  add the magic word "etc."  I used to work for the company before they became Athos Origin and know the complexities of the system quite well and the fact that in the early days we used to get quite a bit of "manual change" because of objections.

It may that this is what occurred this season with the Met feeling that they would be swamped with  london home fixtures on days  when they want not to have to pay overtime. Sending Charlton to ciderland might be one way of reducing manpower costs when they have Spuds- chelsea on 22nd Dec, Chelsea Fulham on Boxing Day,Arsenal- QPR, us and Orient   and Millwall Crippled Alice on NYE followed by Fulham Arsenal on 2nd Jan along with Us and Brentford.

I guess they have  scheduled so that  Arsenal Chlesea and Fulham both have two London matches over the period. Even though we have good crowds  being league 1 they feel they can rightfully be shunted to  Yeovil on Boxing day since we have been given two London fixtures over the festive period.

Guess the long hand of the law had a fair old hand in this one, even so they will have a lot of manpower problems on NYE.

JollyRobin

If you hadn't noticed we're crushing everything in our path like some kind of footballing Godzilla. If we carry on on this tyrannical rampage it shouldn't matter.