Topic: Biggest relegation you can remember?

[Iska]

Define ‘big’ however you like - most shocking, most hilarious, most significant, the one that made you recoil the most, whatever.  I’ve allowed three votes each to take account of the different types of bigness.  Not going back beyond 1973-74 on the assumption that for anyone who was alive then, that will be the one.

[CraigDS]

Leeds or Newcastle are probably the two that spring to mind most for me.

[-Willo-]

Between Villa, Leeds and Newcastles first for me.

[FiSh77]

Only one winner, even though I was only 3 at the time

[LovelyCushionedHeader]

Define ‘big’ however you like - most shocking, most hilarious, most significant, the one that made you recoil the most, whatever.  I’ve allowed three votes each to take account of the different types of bigness.  Not going back beyond 1973-74 on the assumption that for anyone who was alive then, that will be the one.

90s baby so wasn't around / don't remember the earlier ones, so it's Leeds United for me, mostly just because of where they were just two seasons earlier.

Paul Robinson, Ian Harte, Lucas Radebe, Nick Barmby, Mark Viduka, Jermaine Pennant, Alan Smith, Erik Bakke, Dominic Matteo, Michael Duberry, David Batty, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Carson, Danny Mills... Even with their financial difficulties, it's incredible that a squad featuring those players got relegated. It's far superior to what Everton are dealing with, and that was in an era where the bottom half of the league was still full of teams with predominately British-based squads.

[Crosby Nick]

As someone who’s formative years were the 90s I’ve splurged on that completely and gone Forest, Middlesbrough and Blackburn.

Forest going down felt a big deal at that time. Their real glory days were already quite far gone but Clough was still there (even if a shadow of his former self). They were still reaching cup finals in the previous few seasons and had plenty of established top flight players. Mad how we bought Nigel Clough and United got Roy Keane.

Boro going down was hilarious. Ever since they somehow signed Juninho they were making a lot of headlines. Former United hero Bryan Robson in charge, more glamorous signings that summer in Ravanelli, Emerson and Branco. Loads of hype and then a few struggles. Then that mad situation where they cancelled a game at short notice because of illness and injuries. They ended up being docked 3 points and ultimately that’s what sent them down. Funny as fuck.

Blackburn in 98/99 was big too, just because of them winning the league in 95 and then things beginning to unravel almost as fast as they had, erm, ravelled.

I know United in the 70s was bigger but was before my time. Leeds obviously a huge story but the three I went for were big stories at a time I probably paid more attention to the league as a whole.

[thaddeus]

Leeds for their dramatic fall from grace and, with hindsight, how long it took them to bounce back.  Forest and Blackburn similarly and in Forest's case they've still not bounced back!

For me, Everton going after their recent spending spree would be unprecedented.  QPR are the closest comparison but their spending was much smaller.

[rob1966]

I was 7 in May 1974, so gone for that.

Leeds was massive in the modern era as they have spent a fortune, Blackburn wasn't a shock, Jack Walker was a fan who used his money to play in and win the PL, it was never going to last.

[FiSh77]

Come on arl arses get voting, first time in my life I've wanted the c*nts to win something

[El Lobo]

Yeah has to be Leeds for me.

I know they were already on the slippery slope, but only a couple of seasons before they had the team containing the likes of Kewell, Fowler, Viduka, Woodgate, Ferdinand, Robbie Keane, Bowyer etc and even when they went down they still had a lot of big names. I guess maybe West Ham come close the season before, that was quite the collapse too and had Cole, Carrick, Johnson, Defoe, Di Canio and Kanoute in the team. Actually maybe that is the bigger one actually, that squad should never have been even close to relegation although maybe a little unlucky to get 42 points and still go down.

[Lusty]

What could possibly have prompted this thread

That 2003 West Ham side is the one that sticks in the memory because of the amount of talent in the team, even if that squad was a touch overrated.  Still one of the best teams to go down.

Leeds and Villa felt bigger.

Honorary mention for Coventry City just because they felt unsinkable at the time.

[Iska]

Forest for me too.  Everything about it felt so wrong, it felt almost eerie.  If ever the devil was guiding a relegation it would’ve been that one.  They were like watching a ghost ship that year.  Or occasionally you see a junkie stagger oblivious along a crowded street, nobody knows what to do except stay out the way and pretend it’s not happening.

Portsmouth just over the second Leeds one.  They were pretty similar but at least you could see what Leeds were hoping to pull off, so I found the Portsmouth fiasco more shocking on a human level.

Wimbledon and Coventry seem similar to me, being sides that had cracked being in the top-division and then gave it up long after you’d got used to them always being around.  But Wimbledon was the actual death of a club so I went for that.

I’m old enough to remember David Pleat frolicking on the pitch, but I forgot to include Steve Lomas keeping the ball in the corner so City miss out entirely for me.

[Barneylfc∗]

Newcastle for me.

Leeds was a gradual decline and I don't remember being shocked they went down.

Newcastle just seemed like a shock that they were an absolute shambles on and off the pitch that season. I spent the final game against Villa watching with my mate who is a die hard Geordie. He didn't take it well.

[ScouserAtHeart]

Newcastle weren't Champions League semi finalits three years prior though

[Linudden]

United, Forest and Boro.

All three of them had squads far too good to go down and Boro even reached two cup finals that season with Ravanelli up top. Forest finished third in the league two years later upon the return and the United one was just unbelieveable.

Leeds and Newcastle were more logical in that the first had been drained and Newcastle had spent money on injury-prone mediocrity and had Joe Kinnear and a novice club legend in Shearer managing the ship during the season.

West Ham in 2003 was really close with Middlesbrough 1997 though. Looking at the names of that squad and seeing Kanouté, Defoe and Di Canio as attacking options it really made you wonder but that defence was basically Swiss cheese. Their general performance also didn't really deserve to go down considering 42 points and all that so it was more of a freak event.

Do I personally remember the three I voted for then? No. So I might have misunderstood the question. However, they deserve to be the ones because I do know about them from before and I was really surprised as a kid learning about those relegations. However, solely for remembrance purposes it would be West Ham 2003, Newcastle 2009 and Newcastle again in 2016.

[Barneylfc∗]

Newcastle weren't Champions League semi finalits three years prior though

It's personal opinion rather than what is factually the biggest relegation of all time.

Leeds going down didn't shock me. Newcastle did, hence that gets my vote.

I didn't watch or pay much attention to anything that wasn't Liverpool in the 90s so can't say any of the likes of Blackburn or Forest had much of an impression.

[Barneylfc∗]

Didn't notice there were 3 selcetions.

Middlesbrough would also have got a vote from me. Remember listening to the first game of that season on the radio in Donegal. Bjornebye opening the scoring after about 4 mins and of course Ravanelli getting a hat trick. Not sure if they spent big or how they managed to get the likes of him, Juninho, Emerson and Branco (?), but at the start of the season I expected them to do pretty well with that squad.

[jackh]

Leeds and Newcastle during the 00s for me - was 16 & 21 at the times, and so they'd been ever-presents in the top flight for pretty much as long as I could remember and had seemingly fallen from grace after periods in the top third of the league.

All of those from your childhood years who don't come back quickly seem to make an impression - my early memories of football are of the Premier League around the 1996/97/98 mark, and so the likes of Wednesday, Forest, Southampton, Wimbledon, Blackburn, and Coventry dropping all seemed quite significant, whereas I had a sense that Barnsley, Bradford, Derby, etc, going down wasn't as significant.

Villa going down should probably have felt more of a thing than it did, but it took them about five years of circling the drain! It's probably not been a bad thing for them at all really, though I suspect others may not prove as resilient...

[-Willo-]

Didn't notice there were 3 selcetions.

Middlesbrough would also have got a vote from me. Remember listening to the first game of that season on the radio in Donegal. Bjornebye opening the scoring after about 4 mins and of course Ravanelli getting a hat trick. Not sure if they spent big or how they managed to get the likes of him, Juninho, Emerson and Branco (?), but at the start of the season I expected them to do pretty well with that squad.

For some reason the 00's used to have loads of random teams with superstars from overseas somehow, Bolton had a fair few, Blackburn rocking up with Salgado.

Great times

[Crosby Nick]

Didn't notice there were 3 selcetions.

Middlesbrough would also have got a vote from me. Remember listening to the first game of that season on the radio in Donegal. Bjornebye opening the scoring after about 4 mins and of course Ravanelli getting a hat trick. Not sure if they spent big or how they managed to get the likes of him, Juninho, Emerson and Branco (?), but at the start of the season I expected them to do pretty well with that squad.

For all those star names, the squad was also balanced out with Robbie Mustoe, Steve Vickers and Phil Stamp.

A real Primark ‘Zidane y Pavon’ approach.

[RedForeverTT]

Newcastle for me. From title contender, certain top 4 to relegation. Quite a big fall from their heights.

[Crosby Nick]

For some reason the 00's used to have loads of random teams with superstars from overseas somehow, Bolton had a fair few, Blackburn rocking up with Salgado.

Great times

Fat Sam and his attempt to build a time machine with Djorkaeff, Campo, Hierro, Jardel, Okocha and others.

Christophe Duggarry rocking up at Birmingham.

[Elmo!]

Leeds for me. Too young to remember the early nineties or earlier.

The not so subtle implication of why this thread has been created puts a smile on the face. 

[gerrardisgod]

Yeah, Middlesbrough were paying relatively big fees for the time and Ravanelli was the highest paid player in the league, so imagine the others were on a fair chunk.

Talking of fair chunks, surrounding those players with the likes of Phil Stamp was their biggest problem, the drop off in quality was enormous (sorry Phil). Can’t remember any of their promoted players really offering them much that season.

[Ziltoid]

Leeds, Newcastle and Middlesbrough - although for some reason I selected Blackburn

[Iska]

I was just assuming Spurs going down in 77 was a big deal btw, as they were winning trophies a few years either side of it - but nobody’s voted for it yet, and to be honest I’m not sure I remember hearing any stories about it either.

[Kekule]

Forest.  Like others I remember them in cup finals/semi finals/putting the nail in a coffin of the 1991 title challenge/generally being a pain in the arse. I was too young to remember the European Cup wins but I knew they were two time European Champions.  Clough as manager, a few internationals sprinkled through the squad, Pearce, Clough Jr, it was the first time I ever heard the phrase "too good to go down".  Probably as shocking as the relegation itself was the deterioration of Clough himself.  The interview at the end of the game when they were finally relegated where he seemed not just emotional, but a bit of a shadow of himself and just not quite "right" was uncomfortable viewing.

Blackburn.  I selected them because I thought they were the first, and only, side I'd seen win the league relegated.  but...

Leeds.  The other side I'd seen win the League end up relegated. Momentarily forgot their 1992 League win.

I think both relegations were perhaps on the cards the season or so before.  Leeds was perhaps a slower decline than Blackburn's, but I'd seen teams circle before and not get flushed (cough Everton cough) so thought that perhaps they could have improved the following year.

[Father Ted]

Didn't notice there were 3 selcetions.

Middlesbrough would also have got a vote from me. Remember listening to the first game of that season on the radio in Donegal. Bjornebye opening the scoring after about 4 mins and of course Ravanelli getting a hat trick. Not sure if they spent big or how they managed to get the likes of him, Juninho, Emerson and Branco (?), but at the start of the season I expected them to do pretty well with that squad.

They got to two Cup finals that year as well. Just for having Juninho alone I remember thinking they'd never get relegated, too much quality for that. They drew 3-3 at Old Trafford that year too, back when getting something at Old Trafford was actually difficult.

Leeds was big, but as other have said they were heading that way for a few years and had begun offloading big names and slowly declining.

Went for Forest as the other one (too young to remember United getting relegated, must have been hilarious), they were long established as a fairly big club by then and always seemed to finish top 6, get far in Cup competitions and have a decent crop of young players coming through. I guess getting relegated in the very first PL season symbolised how they'd go on to fare compared to the First Division era.

[Brain Potter]

Manchester United I vividly remember at the age of 8. Too young to really appreciate but I still find it scarcely believable even today.
Spurs going down as well with a really poor side.
Man City in the early 80s so memorable as it provided the occasion for David Pleat to run across Maine Road in a tan suit and shoes combo

Also not mentioned here but Chelsea got relegated twice in the 70s.

[Charlie Adams fried egg]

Fat Sam and his attempt to build a time machine with Djorkaeff, Campo, Hierro, Jardel, Okocha and others.

Christophe Duggarry rocking up at Birmingham.

I remember having a coffee in a shop in Solihull back then. There was a small group of lads who looked a bit like footy players, but none I immediately recognised. Then I picked up on a bit of footy chat which confirmed they were players, then I recognised Tommy Mooney coz of his baldy head. Then Dugarry rocked up in his long coat, sunglasses and mediterranean tan.

I'll always remember it, not just because Mrs A was swooning, but because Dugarry was asking who they were playing at the weekend, he didn't have a clue.

[Son of Spion]

Man United in '74. It's the only one I recall. The rest I'd long forgotten about.

'74 was absolutely glorious. The self-proclaimed 'biggest club in the world'  relegated on their own pitch by their little neighbours. Condemned to the second division by a goal from one of their greatest ex players, just six years after being European champions. Their Bay City Roller wannabe fans invading the pitch trying to get the game abandoned.

*Lights cigar*

[Alan_X]

1973-74 Man United has to be top for me. It was a thing of beauty to see them go down. The shame is that they came back up.

1992-93 was massive because of what Forest had achieved. The reality is they over-achieved under Clough and relegation wouldn't have been such a shock if it wasn't for the two European Cups. By 1992-93 Clough was a sad alcoholic whod' shat all over his legacy with his comments about Hillsborough.

2003-04 Leeds was just a monstrous fuck up by a club that believed it's own hype. You can still find videos online celebrating Leeds glorious season in the 2001 European Cup (they were smashed 3-0 by Valencia in the second leg of the semi-final). They built a good team on the never-never with some superb young players (and Lee Bowyer) but O'Learly was a weird manager who was obsessive about his 'babies'.

A bit like Spurs glorious night in Milan when Bale scored a hat-trick (they lost the game 4-3) it gave Leeds a massively exagerated sense of how good they were and they bet the farm on continued qualification and success in the Champions League. It was a massive gamble and they failed to qualify for the CL again in the following seasons and went into free fall.

They're the perfect cautionary tale for every muppet on Twitter (and on here) who expects any club not owned by a state or an oligarch to bet the farm by pumping in money it hasn't earned.

[Jookie]

Voted Leeds.

Agree that Forest and Blackburn going down were relative surprises. Late 80's and very early 90's Forest were one of the better teams. They'd had 11 consecutive Top 10 league finishes before their relegation season. In the previous 4 seasons before relegation season they'd won League Cup twice and been runner up in League Cup and FA Cup as well. Selling Sheringham after a couple of games probably didn't help. Bannister and Clough didn't score enough.

Blackburn getting relegated was a surprise.  Getting relegated after only 4 seasons after being champions is unusual. They came 6th the season before relegation as well. Again they had a good squad but didn't score enough. Gallacher and Sutton missed big chunks of the season and that's what probably did for them.

I actually think the best team to get relegated (as a set of individual players) is West Ham in 2002-03. Here's their squad:

David James
Raimond van der Gouw
Nigel Winterburn
Tomas Repka
Christian Dailly
Gary Breen
Iain Pearce
Scott Minto
Rufus Brevett
Glen Johnson
Anton Ferdinand
Don Hutchison
Lee Bowyer
Michael Carrick
Trevor Sinclair
Steve Lomas
John Moncur
Joe Cole
Edouard Cisse
Jermnain Defoe
Paolo Di Canio
Les Ferdinand
Freddie Kanoute
Titi Camara

They got 42 points in a 38 game season and got relegated. That's pretty unheard of. You generally need about 35 points to be safe.

[Alan_X]

I was just assuming Spurs going down in 77 was a big deal btw, as they were winning trophies a few years either side of it - but nobody’s voted for it yet, and to be honest I’m not sure I remember hearing any stories about it either.

They were hovering round the drain the season before so it wasn't totally unexpected. They weren't such a mess as some others who've been relegated and came back up soon after with players like Hoddle & Ardiles.

[Drinks Sangria]

Too young to remember anything prior to about 96, so Leeds to me always felt the big one. They'd always been a European-level side in my childhood and were not far at all removed from a Champions League semi-final when things started to go drastically wrong for them.

[thaddeus]

2003-04 Leeds was just a monstrous fuck up by a club that believed it's own hype. You can still find videos online celebrating Leeds glorious season in the 2001 European Cup (they were smashed 3-0 by Valencia in the second leg of the semi-final). They built a good team on the never-never with some superb young players (and Lee Bowyer) but O'Learly was a weird manager who was obsessive about his 'babies'.

A bit like Spurs glorious night in Milan when Bale scored a hat-trick (they lost the game 4-3) it gave Leeds a massively exagerated sense of how good they were and they bet the farm on continued qualification and success in the Champions League. It was a massive gamble and they failed to qualify for the CL again in the following seasons and went into free fall.

They're the perfect cautionary tale for every muppet on Twitter (and on here) who expects any club not owned by a state or an oligarch to bet the farm by pumping in money it hasn't earned.

That 2000/01 season was, in hindsight, the beginning of the end.  This BBC match report of their win at Anfield in April sums it up well:

Leeds United took a giant stride towards a Champions League slot via the Premiership next season with a crucial victory against Liverpool at Anfield.

David O'Leary's side - who are still in contention to win this season's European showpiece - moved menacingly into third place with an impressive display.

We ended up taking 19 points from 21 after that game, won the Ged treble and finished in third, one point ahead of Leeds.  Leeds themselves won 8 of their last 9 games but, as you say, that really impressive team was all paid for on the never-never and without that CL qualification they couldn't sustain it.

[Fromola]

Forest under Brian Clough.

[Millie]

The Mancs in 74 for me.  Remember it well.

[Statto Red]

Leeds 03/04 wasn't that much of a surprise given how horrific the finances at the club were, & were selling everyone, the signings were based on revenue they'd get from being in the Champions League, failing to qualify for the second season in a row in 02/03 was catastrophic for Leeds.

Forest 92/93, they were still a good team, got to the FA Cup final in 91, many had them with a top 10 finish going into that season.

Crystal Palace 92/93, relegated in spite of finishing on 49 points, they were 5 points clear of the bottom 3 with 2 matches left, & ended up relegated, largely as Oldham won there last 3 matches to finish above Palace on GD

Sheffield Wednesday 99/00, were a decent team but shit manager, have not been back in the Premier League since, couple of playoff finals closest they've come

I wouldn't have Coventry as a surprise relegation, Coventry had been dodging relegation almost every season by winning there last match[es] of the season, that luck had to run out which did do in 00/01.

[Stubbins]

It was the Mancs in 74. Wonderful to behold.