Originally Posted by
upthemaggies
We will have played 4 games by the end of August, which doesn't sound a lot but of the 9 worst four game starts we've ever had - 6 of those saw us ultimately relegated. Promotion wise, we've never gone up after starting with less than a win and a draw from the first four played (and all promotion seasons apart from 1989/90 began better than that).
Every season is unique, but an extreme set of bad results after 4 games would strongly indicate a relegation battle, and if we have any ambition to go up, you'd want be averaging a point a game at the absolute minimum to still feel confident that you can shift into gear before it's too late.
Sunderland famously lost their opening four of 2006/07 and ended the season as Champions, but you're looking at a freak season and one that involved a swift change of manager (Roy Keane sat in the stand and ready to take over in game 5).