30 years of play-offs madness: The 27 best moments from promotion showdowns

The never-ending story

Charlton vs Leeds, 1987
First/Second Division play-off final replay

It was the third time the teams had met in a week, after cancelling each other out over two legs at Selhurst Park and Elland Road. But the replay at Birmingham’s St Andrews would be winner takes all – although for Charlton their 2-1 extra-time victory meant nothing sexier than avoiding relegation, such was the original format. “When the final whistle blew the main feeling was relief,” says Shirtliff. Not just for the players...

After a 2-1 aggregate defeat left Chelsea relegated, though, the major issue facing the Boro fans was survival of a very different kind to that which the Blues had failed to achieve. “At the final whistle the
Shed End just emptied and ran towards the Boro fans,” says Paylor. “If they had got over the fence there would have been casualties. It would have taken football back to the dark ages.”

“We were concerned they’d try to get it abandoned,” recalled Sunderland’s Gary Owers, who was wearing the dangerous colours of red and white inside the cauldron of hate that was St James’ Park on a late May evening in 1990. Sunderland had taken a 2-0 lead and were on their way to the final when ref George Courtney informed the players that he would give them a signal when 30 seconds of the derby remained, to ensure they escaped before all hell broke loose. “He [Courtney] was cool as a cucumber,” said Owers. “He said not to worry because we’d finish the game, even if it took until 2am.” In the end Courtney was first down the tunnel, followed by 11 petrified but jubilant Wearsiders.

It took just 10 days for Swindon Town’s world to implode. Ossie Ardiles – his knees presumably “all trembly” – had led the Robins to a famous 1-0 triumph over Sunderland at Wembley, but before long the pride of Wiltshire weren’t contemplating glory in the top flight but life in the Third Division after the FA relegated them twice for sanctioning illegal payments (although they were later allowed to remain in the Second Division after appealing). The club’s leading scorer, Steve White, described it as a “devastating blow”, but Sunderland didn’t care – they were up without even winning a game.

“That was some side,” recalls a misty-eyed Steve Claridge of his days at Cambridge United under the unorthodox and unpopular John Beck. The U's had sprinted through the leagues under Beck and were well placed to become founder members of the Premier League as the likes of Claridge, Dion Dublin and John Taylor propelled them to the play-offs. Leicester put paid to that dream, though, with a 6-1 aggregate hammering in the semi-finals. For Cambridge, life would never be the same again: just 13 years later the club was relegated from the Football League altogether.

“We had these bright yellow suits and I had this red and green stuff all over mine. I didn’t know whether it was good luck or bad luck. I guess it was good if you look at what followed for the club.” He’s not wrong. Blackburn and Wilcox never looked back: they won 1-0 and just three years later were celebrating a Premier League title. That success is well-documented – the fate of the club’s feathered friend remains a mystery.

It was a statto’s dream – interruptions totalling 33 minutes, 30 supporters ejected, 20 arrests, two policemen injured and two pitch invasions. Oh, and Derby County won this second-tier (its name having changed to the First Division) semi 5-1 over two legs – hence the free-for-all in south-east London. “We feel like we’ve been through a war, not a football match,” said Derby’s Marco Gabbiadini after the club’s goalkeeper Martin Taylor was floored at the New Den. Despite the trouble Millwall chairman Reg Burr was clearly wearing his Arsene Wenger glasses, saying: “Yes I feel saddened but there was no violence that I saw. I don’t know anything about players being punched and kicked.”

Stockport finished 12 points ahead of Burnley in the third tier but, crucially, the Clarets finished this ill-tempered Wembley with two more players on the pitch. “It was bizarre – sheer stupidity,” reflected County manager Danny Bergara who, after four Wembley defeats in three years, could have been forgiven for thinking his side were cursed. Michael Wallace and Chris Beaumont were given their marching orders before the hour mark and Burnley took advantage, securing their place in the then First Division with a 2-1 win.

For a club with no reserve team and no training ground, Reading were doing rather well after 12 minutes of their final against heavily-fancied Bolton. Having sprinted into a 2-0 lead, promotion looked assured when Aussie Stuart Lovell stepped up to take a penalty on the half-hour. “Archie had the courage to step up, but the keeper saved it and the rest is history,” said former Royals skipper Ady Williams. “He was absolutely distraught and I have never seen anyone take something like that so personally.” Imagine how he felt, then, as Bruce Rioch’s Bolton came back and won the game in extra-time. Doubly galling for Royals was the fact that Reading had finished second in the league in the only season in living memory in which two – rather than three – sides were promoted, as the Premier League slimmed itself down from 22 to 20 teams. Gah.

“I was a Sunderland fan – it’s funny the way it worked out,” said Clive Mendonca when describing a hat-trick that left guffaws in short supply on Wearside. In one of Wembley’s greatest ever games, a Mendonca-powered Charlton came back three times in a pulsating 4-4 draw before a sudden-death penalty shootout. Sunderland cracked first and, after 14 spot-kicks, Alan Curbishley’s Charlton were in the Premier League. Mendonca would score a hat-trick on the following season’s opening day, but would be forced to retire less than two years after his greatest triumph. The Black Cats’ Michael Gray was haunted by his missed kick for the rest of his career. “It was an iconic game but someone had to be the villain and it ended up being me.”

“If I’m totally honest I really didn’t want to take one. You always think the penalty shootout will be over after the first five picks but this just went on and on. When it comes to sudden death you look around and start thinking, ‘Who’s next?’ Niall Quinn took No.6, then I realised I was probably the elder statesman among the rest so I thought it was up to me. You feel confident walking up but then I changed my mind about 10 times before I took it. It wasn’t a great penalty – in fact, it was awful. I was devastated. I just stood there waiting for someone to come along and give me a hug.”

Scunny’s unlikely Spaniard, Alex Calvo Garcia, carved his name into Iron folklore with the winner in their bottom-tier final. He would later go on to write surely the most bizarrely titled Spanish book in history: Scunthorpe Hasta La Muerte (Scunthorpe ’Til I Die). After retiring he recalled: “The day of the match, I remember all those who went to London – about 15,000, a quarter of the population. But the best memory I have is the following day, seeing people with a big smile on their faces.” His goal put it there.

“The Gillingham fans were already singing ‘We are going up’ and half our fans had left,” recalls England rugby World Cup winner and Manchester City nut Will Greenwood. You could hardly blame either set of fans for assuming the die had been cast. Joe Royle’s side were 2-0 down in the last minute and staring another season in the third tier square in the face. Enter Kevin Horlock, who pulled one back, then Paul Dickov, who delivered the ultimate sucker punch four minutes into injury time. City would eventually win 3-1 on penalties. That United had won European football’s biggest prize just four days before mattered not. “I went through every emotion on that day,” says Greenwood. He wasn’t alone.

David Moyes would be at Everton the following March, but his final stab at getting to the Prem with Preston was an unmitigated disaster. Bolton had lost out in the play-offs two years in a row but made no mistake this time as Allardyce’s men won 3-0 in front of Sir Tom Finney and Nat Lofthouse. “I can’t quite put what I feel into words,” said Allardyce. Neither could a fuming Moyes. The bookies responded to Bolton’s promotion by installing them as 4/7 favourites for the drop. They didn't get relegated until 2012.

Just five days before the start of the 2002/03 season Lincoln had been in administration and were favourites for relegation out of the Football League. Now they were 90 minutes from promotion, thanks in large part to super-sub Simon Yeo, who had come off the bench to score twice in the semi-final first leg. “It’s a huge achievement for us,” said Imps boss Keith Alexander. “We should be the team of the season.”

But not only did they get thrashed 5-2 in the final, it would be the first of five successive play-off appearances for Lincoln. And to the despair of their long-suffering fans, they would succeed in none of them. Andy Townsend, of the Lincoln Supporters Trust, recalls the misery. “Five years on the bounce we got to the play-offs and not once did we get promoted. I remember the first time we got there and lost to Bournemouth in the final, but in many ways that didn’t really matter – we were just thrilled to be there.

"The year that really sticks in the throat was 2005, when we lost 2-0 to Southend. It was a case of tired legs and them hitting us on the break. I don’t mind admitting there were a few tears shed over that one. By the time the fifth year rolled around, we were really thinking: ‘Do we need to go through all this again?’ I think by the end it was really affecting the players. It was more psychological than anything.”

“When Iain took over, promotion was a million miles away, but we kept believing,” said assistant Palace boss Kit Symons after a Wembley win over West Ham that provided the culmination of one of football’s most epic revivals. Palace were 19th when Dowie took the reins in December 2003 and now his side – courtesy of Neil Shipperley’s winner – were contemplating life among the elite of the English game. “We’re talking about teams like Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea,” said an excited Dowie. “I don’t sleep as a manager in Division One so what I’ll be like in the Premiership I really don’t know!”

Barnsley sub Chris Shuker stuck out a leg and Huddersfield mascot Terry the Terrier – punching the air in delight at an equaliser – hit the deck in this third-tier play-off semi. At that moment, Town’s hopes of getting one over on their Yorkshire rivals hit the skids, too. As stewards battled to contain the fracas caused by Shuker’s dog-handling skills, Barnsley scored twice to seal a final with Swansea. “I’ve had my family in my office in tears,” said Huddersfield boss Peter Jackson. Imagine the reaction back at Terry’s kennels.

Every player wants a song written about them, don’t they? Yann Kermorgant might beg to differ. After his limp Panenka penalty cost Leicester City a place in the Championship play-off final, Foxes fan David Henson chose to immortalise the Frenchman’s howler to the tune of Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart. “As I watched my TV screen, I was sure that he’d have ripped it / Could not believe what I’d seen when the stupid w***er chipped it / Confidence is one thing but you took it too far / Did someone tell you you were Eric Cantona? / What else can I say? / He was totally s*** from the start.” What else can you say, indeed?

Fewer than 10,000 bothered turning up for the first leg 1-1 draw at Dean Court, but those who showed up for game No.2 were glad they did... if they were a home fan, anyway. The teams traded blows in the first half at the Galpharm Stadium, but it was Huddersfield who took a half-time lead with goals from Lee Peltier and Danny Ward cancelling out Steve Lovell's equaliser. But Lovell struck again after half-time, and that's how it stayed after 90 minutes. And so to extra-time, where an 18-year-old Danny Ings headed the Cherries into a 104th-minute lead. But before referee Neil Swarbrick could blow for the interval, Huddersfield's Antony Kay struck to level things up once more.

Crewe had finished seventh in the League Two table, but saw off Southend 3-2 in the semi-finals and headed to Wembley in hope more than expectation against Cheltenham, who'd wiped the floor with Torquay. That hope quickly blossomed 15 minutes into the final, however, when the Railwaymen's rising midfielder Nick Powell thundered home a beauty. Crewe added a second eight minutes from time through Byron Moore. Powell joined Manchester United before he could kick a ball in League One.

With the match poised at 2-2 on aggregate and about to enter extra-time, Leicester's Anthony Knockaert won a dubious penalty. Hornets keeper Manuel Almunia pulled off a sensational double save, allowing Watford to counter. No need to guess the rest: within 20 seconds Kasper Schmeichel had flapped at the other end, before Troy Deeney fired the Hornets to Wembley (where they lost to Crystal Palace).

Rotherham had one foot in the Championship as they sought back-to-back promotions, but to make it all the way they'd have to get past an impressive Leyton Orient side who'd only just missed out on automatic promotion. At half-time in this one, it looked like their dream was over after first-half goals from Moses Odubajo and Dean Cox had given Orient a commanding 2-0 lead at Wembley. What the O's hadn't counted on was Alex Revell, Rotherham's predatory poacher who'd also netted in the semis against Preston.

If the striker's first goal was important on 55 minutes, his second five minutes later was huge in more ways than one – a sumptuous half volley from 35 yards that's arguably one of Wembley's greatest ever goals. Millers' fans celebrated wildly, but none of them more so than boss Steve Evans, who almost lost his trousers running down the touchline like a chubby child running after the ice cream van. Rotherham won on penalties, while a miserable Orient followed up their misery with relegation to League Two in 2014/15.

It's accepted that second legs are usually more entertaining than the cagey ones that predede them – but Swindon and Sheffield United took that idea even further with a 10-goal thriller at the County Ground. The hosts led 2-1 from the first leg and were absolutely crusing to Wembley when Ben Gladwin's brace and Michael Smith put them 5-1 up on aggregate inside just 18 minutes of the second leg.

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