It’s now that time of year when the aspirations of different football clubs are either realised or shattered. In keeping with that theme I thought it would be apt and perhaps morbidly fascinating to take a look at the fortunes of some of the clubs that have been relegated from the Premier League.
Starting with recent history there has been vastly contrasting fortunes for many teams who have participated in the Premiership in just the last five years. Southampton was confirmed as being relegated from the Championship after last Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Burnley. It had been like a creeping death for several days as the FA had already announced a deduction of ten league points due to financial irregularities.
Southampton had attempted to escape any punishment by stating that it was their parent company that had entered administration, in reality ‘Southampton Leisure Holdings’ is a part of the club. The result last weekend meant that the club that contested the FA Cup final six years ago; will now play in Coca Cola League 1 next season. On top of that the ten- point penalty will incur next season, otherwise it would not be an effective punishment in light of their demotion.
Whilst one club is in turmoil, another one re-emerges. Wolves have been promoted to the Premiership as the champions of the Championship. The team managed by Mick McCarthy has been lurking around the top two for the vast majority of the season. The champions tag was confirmed last weekend when they were held to a 1-1 draw with relegation fearing Barnsley.
Wolves disheartened Barnsley by scoring their equaliser in the 84th minute, and so confirming themselves as title winners. Barnsley meanwhile will be heartened after Norwich lost to Reading 2-0 on Monday night. That result now means that if they draw their final game away at Plymouth, they will survive in the Championship.
Either way it will mean that yet another recent Premiership team will have now dropped to English football’s third tier. Norwich City stayed around for one season when they were last in the top division during 2004-05. Under the stewardship of Nigel Worthington they succumbed to relegation on the last day of the season, nothing much went right as they lost 6-0 to Fulham!
Barnsley on the other hand were memorable one hit wonders in 1997-98, but they too were eventually relegated at the season’s end. Only last season though they played well enough to battle through to the FA Cup semi-finals, knocking out incredibly both Liverpool and Chelsea en route.
Elsewhere Leeds United continue to try and begin their great rise back to the big-time from League One. The trials and tribulations of the club have long been explored, but they are surely the largest of all Premiership clubs to suffer such a hiatus. I had expected their fall not be so far but instead thought they would bounce back relatively swiftly.
Much has occurred at Leeds since their disastrous season in 2003-04, but now they have at least stabilised enough to earn a play-off place this season. Under the steady hand of Simon Grayson their season has been rekindled and they have every chance of moving back in the right direction and being promoted back to the Championship.
Staying in League One, it should be noted that Leicester City has certainly achieved what Leeds United hope to. Their fall from grace was perhaps just as shocking as the Yorkshire club’s. Only nine years ago Martin O’Neill was leading Leicester to their second League Cup win under his management.
Within two seasons of O’Neill leaving for Celtic, Leicester City was promptly back in the Championship. They managed to return swiftly for the 2003-04 season but suffered another relegation, which meant that they had yo-yoed between divisions for three straight years. Last season saw them drop below the second tier for the first time ever, but this season they have dominated League One and will be back in the Championship in August.
Another team who have spectacularly imploded after falling from the Premiership is of course Charlton. Their demise this season has been like a long painful break-up, things did not start well as they won only four league games through to January. They were quickly trapped in the relegation zone and Alan Pardew suffered the ignominy of mutual consent near the end of November.
Things have improved fractionally under new manager Phil Parkinson, but only in the sense of far too little too late. Since March 7th they have lost only two league games out of nine, the problem is out of those they have drawn six. That is why they’ll be in the English third tier for the first time since 1980, when next season kicks-off.
Finally, a look at one of the teams that most neutrals loved- Wimbledon FC, aka the ‘Crazy-Gang’. Obviously nowadays things are quite a lot different for the club that once consisted of John Fashanu, Vinnie Jones, Robbie Earle and still has Marcus Gayle.
The original Wimbledon eventually became what is now known as the MK Dons, they too are in League One and are currently in third place. Last weekend their automatic promotion hopes were ended and so they will contest the play-offs alongside Leeds and co.
The fact that the MK Dons ended up re-locating to Milton Keynes was the turning point for many of the clubs traditional fans, those who had enjoyed the FA Cup triumph of 1988 and their competitiveness under Joe Kinnear. As a consequence a new team was formed and named AFC Wimbledon, an attempt to re-claim their club if you like by starting afresh and disowning the new brand that the old Wimbledon had become.
Well, AFC Wimbledon confirmed their fourth promotion in their seven-year history last weekend! As a result of their 3-0 win over St Albans they secured the Conference South title and have climbed into the Blue Square Premier League for next season.
It is quite incredible that AFC Wimbledon are now only one promotion away from appearing in the professional football league, only seven years since their inception. Depending on how MK Dons fare in the League One play-offs, there may only be two divisions separating the re-born Wimbledon and their former namesakes.
A return to the Premier League is probably just a tad bit ambitious for the foreseeable future, but I hope that AFC Wimbledon get the chance to clash with MK Dons at some point soon. It should certainly give hope to any football supporter that however disastrous your team performs, there is always a chance of reclaiming past glories. If that does not seem likely then you could always start again from scratch!