Unlucky 13?

The Silkmen have now made it into their 13th season in the Football League, and whist some supporters are unhappy with a lack of improvement over the past few years at the club.

But can you measure survival as success?

You only need to have a look at the list of names on the Conference trophy to see that survival in the League is far from an easy job.

Whilst 13 is unlucky for some, it seems that for the majority of people achieving promotion to the League have been given a bunch of fives.

Since the turn of the millenium, five has been the unlucky number for the Conference champions.

In fact of the seven clubs to have won the Conference directly after the Silkmen, more than half of them have been relegated in the fifth season.

In fact only two of the clubs promoted as champions between 1998 and 2004 remain in the Football League.

2000 Kidderminster champions – relegated 2005
2001 Rushden champions – relegated 2006
2002 Boston champions – relegated 2007
2003 Yeovil champions – Survived
2004 Chester champions – relegated 2009

Halifax, promoted the season after the Silkmen, lasted four years in the League whilst Cheltenham join Yeovil, Cheltenham and Macc as long-term League clubs. (With Wycombe coming up before all of them)

So it seems that staying in the League alone does constitute a modicum of success.

But that`s not to say that the club should be resting on their laurels. The comparison between the other clubs in the ‘more than five years` bracket shows that you can achieve more, as all three have had longer spells in a higher division. But that`s not to decry our own Second Division season, which came, not unlike Wycombe and Yeovil`s, in the early days of League membership.

Can the Silkmen re-ignite the glory days?