Squad Sizes from the 50s until today

[Physiocrat]

Does anyone know what has happened to squad sizes over the decades? Not the paper ones as much (today squad sizes are 25 in the EPL) but something like bow many different players played over 5 games in league season. I'm trying to see whether there is a correlation between average squad side and how competitive the league is.

 

[harms]

Check out, say, Real Madrid's squads over the years on here – you'll have everyone's appearances and it's a very convenient website for such a task.

https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/t/t.html#primera

 

[Physiocrat]

Check out, say, Real Madrid's squads over the years on here – you'll have everyone's appearances and it's a very convenient website for such a task.

https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/t/t.html#primera

Great find. Thanks for that

 

[krautrøck]

I would assume the introduction of substitutions had a great impact on how squads were structured, which did not happen until the 60s and 70s.

 

[MrMarcello]

United site that goes back to 1970.

http://www.redstat.co.uk/

 

[Physiocrat]

United site that goes back to 1970.

http://www.redstat.co.uk/

Cool.

 

[Physiocrat]

After a brief look at both sites unsurprisingly squads have got bigger but not by that much. United's had only increased by two or three players (that played more than 5 league games) since the early 1970s. In the 70 Utd used 19 main players, in 07/08 it was 20, 19/20 it was 21. In 1953 (Di Stefano's first season) they used 16 players, last season (19/20) they used 24. Obviously, more players were used for cup games than they were in the past.

It would be interesting to see how football would be if teams were limited to a squad of 20 plus as many under 21s as they like and limited to three players on the bench. I reckon it would make the top leagues much more competitive.

 

[Gopher Brown]

After a brief look at both sites unsurprisingly squads have got bigger but not by that much. United's had only increased by two or three players (that played more than 5 league games) since the early 1970s. In the 70 Utd used 19 main players, in 07/08 it was 20, 19/20 it was 21. In 1953 (Di Stefano's first season) they used 16 players, last season (19/20) they used 24. Obviously, more players were used for cup games than they were in the past.

It would be interesting to see how football would be if teams were limited to a squad of 20 plus as many under 21s as they like and limited to three players on the bench. I reckon it would make the top leagues much more competitive.

I’ve seen arguments for 3 subs maximum on the bench in that it becomes an extra tactical decision to be made by the manager.

How did you judge the ‘competitiveness’ of the leagues?

 

[Physiocrat]

I’ve seen arguments for 3 subs maximum on the bench in that it becomes an extra tactical decision to be made by the manager.

How did you judge the ‘competitiveness’ of the leagues?

I didn't. Real obviously had a super team in the 50s but it is clear that in England the gap between the worst and best teams in Division 1 was much closer than it is today.

As to measuring competitiveness you could look at the standard deviation of points but there's no easy way to adjust between the two point and three points for a win.

 

[Chipper]

United site: https://www.stretfordend.co.uk/menu.html

Go to season by season, click one then the hand/pointer thing for summary of appearances/scorers.

I love this site for United stats, been around years but sadly it's being sold/closed down. The Caf should buy it!