David James once said that relegation was “the single most traumatic experience you can have in a football career” (and that’s coming from a bloke who’s been managed by Alan Pardew).
We jest, of course. Some teams get used to the idea of going down – hopeless Derby were famously consigned to the drop in 2008 just 48 hours short of April Fool’s Day, while Joleon Lescott described confirmation of Aston Villa’s 2016 relegation as a “weight off the shoulders”. Naturally, that went down gloriously.
Others, meanwhile, are plunged into the pits of despair at a moment’s notice. It’s the hope that gets you...
10. Millwall (1995/96)
Few teams have slipped into a post-Christmas freefall as dramatically as First Division Millwall in 1995/96.
The Lions were sitting pretty at the top of the table in December before boss Mick McCarthy left to take the Republic of Ireland job. But replacement Jimmy Nicholl could only steer the club to four more victories, and by the final day they were needing a fifth just to avoid relegation.
Sadly for the Lions, they could only manage a goalless draw at home to Ipswich and sunk into the bottom three for the first time that season. Remarkably, they almost repeated their trick the following year when they nosedived from top in December to an eventual 14th.
9. Manchester City (1995/96)
Running down the clock is an age-old tactic – but generally not so popular for those desperately needing a winner to avoid relegation. Yet thanks to one almighty communication breakdown, that’s what Manchester City ended up doing to themselves in the 1995/96 Premier League season’s final throes.
Having clawed back a two-goal deficit against Liverpool, 18th-placed City (just behind Southampton and Coventry on goal difference) must have fancied their chances of survival – even more so when boss Alan Ball apparently heard his former side were losing.
Ball instructed City to waste time in the closing minutes, only for a substituted Niall Quinn to learn that the Saints were, in fact, still on level terms. Cue a half-dressed race down the tunnel to inform his team-mates that they needed a winner. They didn’t get it.
8. York City (1998/99)
York spent just seven minutes in the relegation zone during their 1998/99 Division Two campaign. Unfortunately for them, it just happened to be the last seven minutes of the season.
Despite hovering above the drop zone going into the final day, Neil Thompson’s men must have still felt relatively confident that they wouldn’t fall in. Both Wycombe and Oldham needed wins to leapfrog them, and a victory against play-off-bound Manchester City would have guaranteed survival regardless.
Instead, the nightmare scenario: York got battered 4-0, Oldham beat Reading 2-0 and Wycombe scored an 83rd-minute winner against Lincoln. The Minstermen went down – and haven’t returned to that level since.
7. Bristol Rovers (2013/14)
Rovers not only had to suffer the agony of relegation from the Football League for the first time ever in 2014 – they were also beaten by a club sporting their very own strip.
A kit mishap meant that visitors Mansfield Town were forced to wear Rovers’ away shirt during their vital encounter at the Memorial Stadium. Going in, the Gas were two places and three points above the drop zone – meaning only a defeat for them plus wins for both Northampton and Wycombe would send them down.
But Mansfield were in no mood to return any generosity. After Colin Daniel scored a first-half volley, a desperate Rovers hit the woodwork three times but couldn’t find the equaliser. Sure enough, both Wycombe and Northampton won.
An army of angry Gasheads invaded the pitch at full-time, having watched their club sink to its lowest point in over 90 years – at the hands of players wearing their own colours.
6. Birmingham City (2010/11)
Five teams battled it out on 2011’s Premier League Survival Sunday to avoid the final two relegation spots (bottom-placed West Ham’s fate was already sealed).
Inevitably, there were more twists and turns than inside Donald Trump’s head, as Wolves, Wigan, Blackburn, Blackpool and Birmingham continually swapped places in the table. With just three minutes to go, the Blues – League Cup winners only months earlier – looked to be heading for survival.
With just under 20 minutes remaining, all was rosy: Wolves were 3-0 down to Blackburn; Wigan level at Stoke; while Blackpool were en route to defeat at Old Trafford.
And then it all turned sour. Wigan grabbed a 78th-minute lead, sandwiching two Wolves goals which put Alex McLeish’s side in the bottom three on goals scored. Birmingham’s misery was compounded when they conceded a stoppage-time winner from Spurs’ Roman Pavlyuchenko, confirming their relegation with Blackpool.
5. Lincoln City (1986/87)
A future World Cup hero, an unwanted historic milestone and a toothy German Shepherd all played a vital part in this bizarre final-day Division Four drama of 1986/87.
Lincoln looked to have avoided the ignominy of becoming the first team ever to be automatically demoted to the Conference when rivals Torquay went 2-0 down at home to a David Platt-starring Crewe.
But they didn’t bank on the tenacity of Jim McNichol. After grabbing one back for the Gulls, McNichol raced upfield in search of a second, only to be attacked by a police dog whose over-eagerness left him needing 17 stitches.
It was in the resulting five minutes of injury time when Torquay managed to net a crucial equaliser and push Lincoln – whose defeat to Swansea left them level on points but with an inferior goal difference – into the record books for all the wrong reasons.
4. Doncaster Rovers (2013/14)
Seventeenth-placed Doncaster must have felt positive about their Championship status with 16 minutes to go of the 2013/14 season. The Yorkshiremen were drawing with league winners Leicester, while the team directly below them, Birmingham, were losing 1-0 to Bolton – thus requiring a three-goal swing in just over quarter of an hour.
Despite Leicester scoring from the spot shortly after, a second Bolton goal soon extinguished any panic. Or at least it should have: Birmingham pulled a goal back with 12 minutes to go, then struck a 93rd-minute winner via Paul Caddis which saved the Blues and consigned Donny to the drop.
3. Peterborough United (2012/13)
Peterborough had spent most of their 2012/13 Championship season staring relegation in the face, but five wins from their last 12 matches meant they went into the final day above the drop zone on goal difference.
Leading play-off-bound Crystal Palace 2-1 with just nine minutes left, the Posh looked set to leapfrog Millwall (losing at Derby) and Huddersfield (losing to fellow relegation battlers Barnsley) into a relatively comfortable-looking 19th-place finish.
But then everything that could go wrong did. Huddersfield and Palace both scored equalisers in quick succession, leaving Peterborough in the precarious position of 21st. Darren Ferguson’s side then leaked an 89th-minute Mile Jedinak goal at Selhurst Park, slipping beneath the dotted line.
With echoes of the infamous Austria-West Germany 1982 World Cup farce, Huddersfield and Barnsley – both knowing they only needed a point to survive – played out their final minutes with a near-comical lack of effort.
Skip to 3:24 for Huddersfield and Barnsley's antics
2. Sheffield United (2006/07)
They’ve never quite got over this one at Bramall Lane – and it’s hard to blame them.
Neil Warnock’s men only needed a point from their drop-dodging battle with fellow strugglers Wigan, who lay three points (but one goal difference point better off) below them. But even defeat didn’t seem a world-ender, considering that West Ham needed to win at Old Trafford to send the Blades down.
However, having already lifted their ninth Premier League title, a relaxed Manchester United allowed the Hammers victory, as Carlos Tevez grabbed the winner. Many believed the fiery Argentine shouldn’t have even been on the pitch following the rule-breaching transfer scandal which earned West Ham a hefty fine – but ultimately, no points deduction.
A furious Sheffield United appealed, but after an agonising two-month wait their relegation was confirmed for good. In March 2009, West Ham shelled out around £20m to them in an out-of-court settlement.
1. Real Betis (2008/09)
La Liga staged their very own Survival Sunday in 2009 when five teams battled to avoid the final relegation spot. By the day’s end, Sporting Gijon, Osasuna, Real Valladolid, Getafe and Real Betis were separated by one point – but it was the latter who’d been sent down to the Segunda by a single goal.
Nearly every side entered the drop zone throughout the evening, so when Betis – who were drawing against Valladolid – did so in the 66th minute, they could have assumed it wouldn’t be for long (not least as Osasuna were playing, and beating, Real Madrid).
Just a goal in their favour in any of the four relevant matches would have lifted them to safety. But the remaining 24 minutes came and went without any scoreline changes, and Betis were relegated with a goal difference of -7, just ahead of Getafe’s -6. Brutal.
