Historical top goal scorers list

[matherto]

I started this as a boredom tool when I was working in a small shop on my own in summer and had zero customers and I've been using it as a procrastination tool lately to stop myself from completing assignments which is probably a bad idea but I've been filling this out all this time and I guess I might as well show people what it's like.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NF9wQB_mYfSfpWLOMbS3F1KdQz6Zz5SgsuYxNRBjUDY/edit#gid=0

Gives a good illustration of just how good Ronaldo and Messi have been for so long. Kept it mainly to the best 5/6 or so leagues in Europe plus Brazil, Argentina and then individual players that are well known for being good goalscorers (so Shevchenko has some of his Dynamo Kyiv seasons there but I probably won't fill out Ukrainian Premier Liga top scorers). Haven't finished filling out going backwards from 18/19 for any of them but there's a big swathe of data there.

Surprising looking at how highly certain players have had for individual seasons (like Salah in 17/18) and how low certain well known scorers have for their highest one season total (Shearer and Agüero for instance in mid 30's which I suppose is actually high but Ronaldo and Messi broke things).

The columns have filters so you can see highest overall for a season or highest league/CL/cup/EL/etc scorers and there's a filter option too that allows you to just search for a certain league, club, season, etc to show whatever you want really.

I'm sure all of this could've been filled really easily by some sort of search and return database query but alas, it kept me occupied and I quite like making spreadsheets and being a sad bastard so here we are.

Only scorers of 10+ overall goals a season count and I've been struggling with the older years to get accurate records from the likes of Transfermarkt/11v11/Wikipedia/etc so if anyone has recommendations of good sites to use for historical data records of players then I'm all ears.

Someone give me a life or force me to do my assignments instead of finding this so satisfying to fill out. r/dataisbeautiful might get a kick outta this, ta xo.

 

[harms]

You should probably open the access to everyone who's got a link — at this point everyone have to ask you for access individually.

 

[RedTiger]

I started this as a boredom tool when I was working in a small shop on my own in summer and had zero customers and I've been using it as a procrastination tool lately to stop myself from completing assignments which is probably a bad idea but I've been filling this out all this time and I guess I might as well show people what it's like.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NF9wQB_mYfSfpWLOMbS3F1KdQz6Zz5SgsuYxNRBjUDY/edit#gid=0

Gives a good illustration of just how good Ronaldo and Messi have been for so long. Kept it mainly to the best 5/6 or so leagues in Europe plus Brazil, Argentina and then individual players that are well known for being good goalscorers (so Shevchenko has some of his Dynamo Kyiv seasons there but I probably won't fill out Ukrainian Premier Liga top scorers). Haven't finished filling out going backwards from 18/19 for any of them but there's a big swathe of data there.

Surprising looking at how highly certain players have had for individual seasons (like Salah in 17/18) and how low certain well known scorers have for their highest one season total (Shearer and Agüero for instance in mid 30's which I suppose is actually high but Ronaldo and Messi broke things).

The columns have filters so you can see highest overall for a season or highest league/CL/cup/EL/etc scorers and there's a filter option too that allows you to just search for a certain league, club, season, etc to show whatever you want really.

I'm sure all of this could've been filled really easily by some sort of search and return database query but alas, it kept me occupied and I quite like making spreadsheets and being a sad bastard so here we are.

Only scorers of 10+ overall goals a season count and I've been struggling with the older years to get accurate records from the likes of Transfermarkt/11v11/Wikipedia/etc so if anyone has recommendations of good sites to use for historical data records of players then I'm all ears.

Someone give me a life or force me to do my assignments instead of finding this so satisfying to fill out. r/dataisbeautiful might get a kick outta this, ta xo.

Give me access!

 

[matherto]

Ah shit, how do I give access on Google sheets?

EDIT - Think I've sorted it now. Someone check.

 

[RedTiger]

Ah shit, how do I give access on Google sheets?

EDIT - Think I've sorted it now. Someone check.

All working now bro. It's a hell of a list mate, you really were procrastinating.

 

[ivaldo]

Great stuff my man!

 

[matherto]

All working now bro. It's a hell of a list mate, you really were procrastinating.

I desperately need not to do this and get a life but I figured if someone would appreciate it, it'd be on a football forum.

it's immensely satisfying looking at the records and trying to imagine if each player had their invidivual best season all at once.

Can see how injuries wrecked certain players too which we were robbed of seeing their best of.

Surprising seeing where certain players lie in terms of their best too. Michael Owen is a prime example of never scoring more than 30 goals in total and never 20 in the league yet he's well known as a really good goalscorer. Guess it's just a massive shift in expectation since Leo and Cristiano started racking up their totals.

 

[AshRK]

Great job. Messi and Ronaldo have totally changed the meaning of good season. Earlier 20 plus goals in a season would have been amazing but now it does not look that great when looking at Ronaldo and Messi's record.

 

[Skills]

Great job. Messi and Ronaldo have totally changed the meaning of good season. Earlier 20 plus goals in a season would have been amazing but now it does not look that great when looking at Ronaldo and Messi's record.

It's just a different era in football.

Since 2010 - the average PL winning team has scored 89 goals. Liverpool at current rate, are projected to score 93 goals.
Between 1999/2000 - 2009 the average PL winning team scored 78 goals.

Which is why Mourinho's done for in this era as a top level manager, because his 70 odd goals a season max team aren't going to be anywhere near enough. And why the likes of Klopp built their attacks, before they go anywhere their defence. You need to be able to score a lot of goals first, then you plug the gap at the back. The saying 'defences win titles' doesn't hold up anymore, and quite frankly any club that spunks 80% of their budget on players who aren't going to be contributing massively to their attacking play (without having a great attack in place already) are run by idiots.

 

[AshRK]

It's just a different era in football.

Since 2010 - the average PL winning team has scored 89 goals. Liverpool at current rate, are projected to score 93 goals.
Between 1999/2000 - 2009 the average PL winning team scored 78 goals.

Which is why Mourinho's done for in this era as a top level manager, because his 70 odd goals a season max team aren't going to be anywhere near enough. And why the likes of Klopp built their attacks, before they go anywhere their defence. You need to be able to score a lot of goals first, then you plug the gap at the back. The saying 'defences win titles' doesn't hold up anymore, and quite frankly any club that spunks 80% of their budget on players who aren't going to be contributing massively to their attacking play (without having a great attack in place already) are run by idiots.

I agree having a strong attack is very important but all the top teams do also have top defenders with them. Liverpool started to get those results after they bought VVD. Ofcourse you cannot win titles by just having 3 quality defenders and no stable attack. Opposite is also true, you cannot win major trophies by just having strong attack but your defence sucks.

I also think the art of defending is dying. There is a reason VVD looks much better than others because others around him in this era don't look that great. But having said all that one cannot still take away from the numbers Ronaldo and Messi have been putting in. They are once in a lifetime talent.

 

[Skills]

I agree having a strong attack is very important but all the top teams do also have top defenders with them. Liverpool started to get those results after they bought VVD. Ofcourse you cannot win titles by just having 3 quality defenders and no stable attack. Opposite is also true, you cannot win major trophies by just having strong attack but your defence sucks.

I also think the art of defending is dying. There is a reason VVD looks much better than others because others around him in this era don't look that great. But having said all that one cannot still take away from the numbers Ronaldo and Messi have been putting in. They are once in a lifetime talent.

Well no team can be great with an area of pitch that sucks.

But a great attack, coupled with an average defence will take you much further than a great defence, coupled with an average attack. Teams who are successful need to beat poorer opposition more often than not. It's worth remembering this Liverpool team that made the Champions League final in 17/18, did it with Karius and Lovren in their defensive line.

 

[AshRK]

Well no team can be great with an area of pitch that sucks.

But a great attack, coupled with an average defence will take you much further than a great defence, coupled with an average attack. Teams who are successful need to beat poorer opposition more often than not. It's worth remembering this Liverpool team that made the Champions League final in 17/18, did it with Karius and Lovren in their defensive line.

Agree with that but you need to be extremely luck to win major trophies with either scenarios. I think it is much harder to beat this liverpool side than liverpool side from 2 years ago. I also don't think this klopp side plays the same expansive football like his Dortmund or early Liverpool side used to play. But because they are so well organized in defence and have a quality attack the results are following.

 

[Skills]

Agree with that but you need to be extremely luck to win major trophies with either scenarios. I think it is much harder to beat this liverpool side than liverpool side from 2 years ago. I also don't think this klopp side plays the same expansive football like his Dortmund or early Liverpool side used to play. But because they are so well organized in defence and have a quality attack the results are following.

I'm not particularly talking about winning, I'm talking about an approach to team building. You'll win once the pieces are in place, but the scenario of a great attack/average defence will keep you more competitive from the off. Liverpool built their creative and goalscoring hub, and the defence being the final piece of the puzzle (Fabinho, Van Djik, Allison) are the guys who provide balance and compliment exactly what the team needs to allow their attack to thrive.

It's why everyman and his dog knew that Liverpool were the club in ascendency at the end of 17/18, and our performances didn't reflect our league position. It's why Mourinho is a idiot who thought CB was the problem after his team scored a pathetic 54 and 68 goals in 2 consecutive league campaigns.

 

[matherto]

It seems like the 90's were historically a very good time for defending because some of the 80's records I've put in have been fairly high and we know earlier than that Pele and the likes of Dixie Dean were scoring for fun but in the 90's hardly anyone got 20+ a season league goals in most leagues and hardly any got 30+ total.

Then as we came through the 00's and into the 10's it's not just been Ronaldo and Messi (although arguably they broke the system) because Lewandowski, Kane, Ibra, Aubamayang, Cavani and Suarez have banged 40-50 in.

I know Serie A was famed for it's defenses in the late 80's-early 90's but I didn't realise the rest of the continent wasn't a goalfest either.

 

[GlastonSpur]

Great job. Messi and Ronaldo have totally changed the meaning of good season. Earlier 20 plus goals in a season would have been amazing but now it does not look that great when looking at Ronaldo and Messi's record.

Jimmy Greaves scored 132 goals in just 4 seasons at Chelsea - an average of 33 goals per season - and then went on to score 266 goals for Spurs.

In total for club(s) and country he scored 479 goals, including 44 goals in 57 games for England's senior team.

 

[Mb194dc]

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Interesting article, in light of the "records" broken by Ageuro.

Funny how Greaves got zero honours as well, Kane already has an MBE...

Forgotten indeed.

 

[montpelier]

Jimmy Greaves scored 132 goals in just 4 seasons at Chelsea - an average of 33 goals per season - and then went on to score 266 goals for Spurs.

In total for club(s) and country he scored 479 goals, including 44 goals in 57 games for England's senior team.

Greaves scoring made almost everyone between 1958 and the 1990s look like a 2nd rater.

JG was top scorer in the top division 4 times in 6 seasons, for example.