In dislike of “As it stands” League Tables

Football may be a living, breathing event full of turns and twists but, as I write at 4.19pm on a Saturday afternoon, I’d like to express my dislike of “As it stands” league tables.

I remember fondly the days when the newspapers would refuse to publish any kind of league table until three matches had been played at the start of the season. Now, meaningless standings are published after but one game, with those playing on the initial Sunday distinguished by a row of goose eggs and differentiated by alphabetical order.

But it’s gotten even worse than this. We now have league standings altered and updated while games are going on – with the BBC a prime culprit. True, internetting Spireites might enjoy their temporary acsension to top spot in League Two above Port Vale, but the canny among them won’t be going in for chicken counting – Vale still having the best part of half and hour to find a winner against Gillingham. In League One, Tranmere Rovers afficionados will be worried enough to be 2-0 down at home to Brentford without seeing their club assigned prematurely to twenty fourth place.

Tables at the end of games only please.

Rob Langham

Rob Langham (pen name: Lanterne Rouge) is co-founder of the defiantly non-partisan football league blog, The Two Unfortunates, a website that occasionally strays into covering issues of wider importance. He's 47 and lives in Oxford while retaining his boyhood support of Reading FC. He tweets as @twounfortunates and has written for a number of websites and publications including The Football Attic, The Inside Left, When Saturday Comes, In Bed with Maradona, Futbolgrad and The Blizzard as well as being nominated for the Football Supporters' Federation Blogger of the Year Award in 2013.