Burr-Fect Scenario For Kiddy

TECHNOLOGY was just cutting through the edge of our consciences in 1983.

I was five that summer and the launch in the UK of breakfast television with TV-AM, Roland Rat and would be Luton  chairman Nick Owen, lives long in the memory.

The fact it was the year in which ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) officially changed to use the Internet Protocol, thus creating the world wide web on which we run our day-today lives, was lost on me. As was the first release of Microsoft Word.

Also – I’ve got to hold my hands up – was the Football Conference’s introduction of a new points system for the clubs in Non-League‘s top-flight to play by. I only discovered it this week when researching John Still’s record from his spell as Dartford boss in the mid-1980s for the manager stats special you’ll read elsewhere in today’s paper.

For a side that finished third in the Gola League in 1984-85, I thought the Darts’ haul of 57 points from 42 games quite  low.

I knew English football had switched from two points for a win to three for the 1981-82 campaign, but only when I noticed a footnote to the table did it click; the Conference adopted a system in which, to encourage teams to be more attacking on their travels, home wins were rewarded with TWO points while away victories earned THREE.

This started 30 years ago, in time for the 1983-84 season, and ran until the end of 1985-86 when Enfield beat Frickley Athletic and Kidderminster Harriers to the title.

What makes it pertinent now is that the official Conference manager of the year award went to the Harriers’ current boss Steve Burr, whose side finished runners-up and beaten play-off semi-finalists remember, at Celtic Manor last week.

The Aggborough chief was as shocked as anyone, and rightly paid tribute to Paul Cox and Justin Edinburgh, the promotion-winning gaffers in the room, as he took the stage.

Twitter was awash with criticism for the Conference because they hadn’t given the award to the manager of the champions, Mansfield Town, as has been the case in recent seasons. While others took the subjective view that budget, expectation and consistency should also be taken into account, hence NLP readers voting for Newport’s Edinburgh in our National Game Awards.

What people (again including yours truly) don’t understand is that the method the league uses to come up with their top boss has its origins in that 1983 points system that rewards open, attacking play away from home. With a slight twist.

Managers are awarded the now-standard THREE points for a home win and ONE for a draw. Crucially in the Burr v Cox showdown, however, they get FOUR points for an away win and TWO for an away draw. Ultimately, Harriers drawing three more games on their travels than the Stags won Burr the accolade, with 111 points to Cox’s 110.

My conversion of the 2012-13 table to the system operated from 1983 to ‘86 also makes interesting reading. Spandau Ballet were Top of the Pops 30 years ago and it’s ‘True’, Burr and Kidderminster would have been likewise in the  Conference, taking ‘Gold’ on goal difference!