With a handful of matches left, 18 different players have scored for Town this season, and that won't be far away from the all-time record, as Chris Rand reports.

One feature of modern football is a large squad of players, and another, arguably, is less structured roles for those players. Put these together and it's perhaps not surprising that a typical season now sees many more different names on the scoresheet than in the past.

For Town, the all-time record was smashed in 2006/2007, Jim Magilton's first season, when 20 different players scored in the league, easily beating the previous highest of 17. This season, however, won't be far behind; already 18 players have found the back of the net, making it to a clear second place on the all-time list.

The record is unlikely to be broken - the only players who may make an appearance in the last few matches and who haven't scored yet are Delaney, Garvan, O'Connor and Quinn. But 18 different goalscorers from just 44 goals must be the widest spread ever - 2006/2007's 20 different goalscorers did at least manage a more impressive 64 goals between them.

For the record, the seasons with the most goalscorers are dominated by recent ones: after 2006/2007, and this season, the next most prolific - with 17 different names on the scoresheet - are 1998/1999, 2003/2004, 2005/2006 and 2007/2008. However, the 16-goalscorer mark had been reached as far back as 1969/1970, so the action isn't all in the last decade or so.

Some of the most telling records come from the other end of the table though. Bobby Robson's great teams were renowned for the consistency of their line-up from week to week, so it's probably not surprising that many of the seasons in the this era also had a low number of different goalscorers: there were just 11 in 1976/1977, 1977/1978, 1979/1980 and 1980/1981.

But the three seasons which featured the fewest different goalscorers happen to be the other great period on the club's honours board: nine different goalscorers in 1960/1961, eight in 1962/1963, and sandwiched between them, an astonishing record low of six in 1961/1962. And the significance of that season? I'm sure nobody will need reminding it was the season Ipswich Town were English league champions for the first and only time in the club's history.

Is there some sort of correlation then between success and a low number of different goalscorers? It would appear so. Maybe a low number of different goalscorers is just a result of having found a successful team which doesn't change much through the season. When the team isn't doing so well, a lot more changes take place in the starting line-up from week to week, and a lot more players appear on the scoresheet.

Whichever is the cause and effect, however, I'll be much happier seeing half as many different goalscorers next season as we've been seeing in the past decade.

All-Time Highest Number of Different Scorers in a League Season

2006-2007: 20
2009-2010: 18 (to date)
1998-1999: 17
2003-2004: 17
2005-2006: 17
2007-2008: 17
1969-1970: 16
1975-1976: 16
1995-1996: 16
1996-1997: 16
1997-1998: 16
2002-2003: 16

All-Time Lowest Number of Different Scorers in a League Season

1948-1949: 10
1972-1973: 10
1960-1961: 9
1962-1963: 8
1961-1962: 6

Selected Season Scorers (one goal unless stated)

1961-1962: Doug Moran (14), Jimmy Leadbetter (8), John Elsworthy (2), Ray Crawford (33), Roy Stephenson (7), Ted Phillips (28)

1962-1963: Billy Baxter (3), Bobby Blackwood (4), Dennis Thrower (1), Doug Moran (9), Jimmy Leadbetter (2), Ray Crawford (25), Roy Stephenson (5), Ted Phillips (9)

1972-1973: Bryan Hamilton (11), Colin Harper, Colin Viljoen (5), Dave Johnson (7), John Miller, Kevin Beattie (5), Mick Lambert (5), Peter Morris, Rod Belfitt (6), Trevor Whymark (11)

1998-1999: Alex Mathie, Bobby Petta (2), David Johnson (13), Fabian Wilnis, James Scowcroft (13), Jamie Clapham (3), Jim Magilton (3), Kieron Dyer (5), Manuel Thetis (2), Mark Venus (9), Marlon Harewood, Matt Holland (5), Mauricio Taricco, Mick Stockwell (2), Richard Naylor (5), Samassi Abou, Tony Mowbray (2)

2006-2007: Alan Lee (16), Billy Clarke (3), Danny Haynes (7), Darren Currie, David Wright, Dean Bowditch, Francis Jeffers (4), Gary Roberts (3), Gavin Williams (2), George O'Callaghan, Jaime Peters (2), Jason De Vos (2), Jon Macken (3), Jon Walters (4), Mark Noble, Matt Richards (2), Nicky Forster, Owen Garvan, Simon Walton (3), Sylvain Legwinski (5)

2009-2010 to date: Alex Bruce, Carlos Edwards, Connor Wickham, Daryl Murphy (6), David Healy, David Norris (2), David Wright, Gareth McAuley (4), Grant Leadbitter (3), Jack Colback (4), Jaime Peters, Jon Stead (6), Jon Walters (7), Lee Martin, Liam Rosenior, Pablo Couñago (2), Stern John, Tamas Priskin

ollyfayers added 22:41 - Apr 5 I think you're probably correct in your second to last paragraph - if a team isn't winning, you'd change it, whereas if it is, you'd stick with the winning formula. Your early point about the large squads which typify modern football is also important, I feel. This said, I wonder to what extent you really can draw a correlation. It will be interesting to see how many goalscorers we have when we trounce the division and go up as champions next year. Good blog. Keep it up.

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Kropotkin123 added 08:04 - Apr 6 You state that 'one feature of modern football is a large squad of players' and then proceed to use our past as a comparitive, when our most consistent success, was at a time of smaller squads. Whilst I'm not saying your data or your logic isn't correct, it would be nice to see a comparission with some of the more successful clubs from the modern game. Eg, Is it the clubs with the smaller scorers list winning the league now? It would be particularly interesting to see a comparission with those successful, and those unsuccessful, in their bids for european football. That might well be a bit too much effort, but I'd certainly read it!

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barnesey added 08:42 - Apr 6 must be the highest number of scoring players who belonged to other clubs ! Ipswich players are scoring elsewhere, even Daryl Knights Gary Roberts and Dean Bowditch scored on Monday!
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Throbbe added 10:29 - Apr 6 The number and use of substitutes is also a factor that you haven't allowed for. In Ramseys time there were no substitutions allowed, and in Robsons it was still just one, so often related to injury rather than tactical reasons. With the introduction of 3 subs it means a greater number of bit-part players are coming on against a tired defence and scoring as a result.
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Greektractor added 17:10 - Apr 6 unless you are not including cup games (i haven't read further) then yes garvan has scored, he scored a f/k against blackpool in the fa-cup...
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WadzillaBhoy added 18:08 - Apr 10 Wow great blog, some really good research with the stats and I totally agree the smaller the squad the more consistant the performance as the team line up stays more stable instead of rotating.
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