Statistics Second Season Syndrome

[Cassius Kray]

I bet we're all heard at least a few people recently (often fans of a club just north of ours) grudgingly recognising our excellent performances last season but also quick to declare that we'll suffer from 'Second Season Syndrome' - the idea that after a good first season in the Premier League clubs tend to do worse in their second. I was interested to see whether that was true, so I had a look at the data and ended up creating this infographic.

If you can't be bothered to read the whole thing the short answer is: it used to be the case, but isn't any more.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

First season syndrome was a breeze so who gives a fuck about 2nd season syndrome? Let Villa fans brown their pants on this one.

 

[Cassius Kray]

If it's difficult to see the whole thing on your phone, here is is split into two:

 

[madeinsheffield]

They said our second season in the championship would be harder, wouldn’t have the momentum, get found out, teams would know how to play against us, how did that pan out?