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[Football] Take nothing for granted, how the 'mighty' are fallen



Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
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Oct 8, 2003
55,912
Faversham
Tonight's League 1 (third division, old money) table shows....

mighty fallen.PNG
 




PILTDOWN MAN

Well-known member
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Sep 15, 2004
19,558
Hurst Green






Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
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Apr 5, 2014
25,845
1.png

And risen. 1997/98 bottom of Division 4.

The four who survived have been in the Premier League since. Three also reaching major finals.

Doncaster Rovers made it back to Division 2 and played us opening day at the AMEX.
 






Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,821
Uffern
View attachment 139553

And risen. 1997/98 bottom of Division 4.

The four who survived have been in the Premier League since. Three also reaching major finals.

Doncaster Rovers made it back to Division 2 and played us opening day at the AMEX.

We were abysmal that season, it was like watching a pub team - how the hell did we manage to get 35 points?
 






Deportivo Seagull

I should coco
Jul 22, 2003
5,446
Mid Sussex
We were abysmal that season, it was like watching a pub team - how the hell did we manage to get 35 points?

One of life’s mysteries. We were an abomination…. And yet I still went to Gillingham to watch it. The game against Doncaster was about as bad as it got.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 




JBizzle

Well-known member
Apr 18, 2010
6,214
Seaford
We were abysmal that season, it was like watching a pub team - how the hell did we manage to get 35 points?

I thought that. My memory of that season was that Brian Horton worked wonders to keep us up (which given that we got 35 points may well be true) but having a FIFTEEN point gap between relegation and safety makes it appear a lot less tense than I recall.

In terms of the progress/regression of teams, I think it's genuinely a fine football story to see so-called "massive clubs" in League One and "little clubs" in the Premier League. That said, League Two doesn't have any real historical heavy hitters in there (perhaps Bradford and Swindon as fairly recent Premier Leaguers?). Bolton and Sunderland (Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich & perhaps Charlton too) are genuine fallen giants and have the fan base and old world glamour that may get them back to the top, but I think it's more likely we see more big teams drop from the Championship to Leagues One and Two.

Derby and Nottingham Forest look like they're in a real state and Preston have had a wretched start too.
 




junior

Well-known member
Dec 1, 2003
6,632
Didsbury, Manchester
Just goes to show you are only a couple of bad decisions away from plummeting down the leauges. Something that those on here who are clamouring for a £30 million striker on £85k per week would do well to remember.
 


Napper

Well-known member
Jul 9, 2003
24,449
Sussex
League one this season is where its at excitement wise.

So many big clubs and smaller clubs that also could win it.

Quite happy Pompey being top , get them worked up for the inevitable fail
 


Napper

Well-known member
Jul 9, 2003
24,449
Sussex
Just goes to show you are only a couple of bad decisions away from plummeting down the leauges. Something that those on here who are clamouring for a £30 million striker on £85k per week would do well to remember.

could easily insert the word "not" before (clamoring) and still kind of applies
 




Cowfold Seagull

Fan of the 17 bus
Apr 22, 2009
22,111
Cowfold
Just goes to show you are only a couple of bad decisions away from plummeting down the leauges. Something that those on here who are clamouring for a £30 million striker on £85k per week would do well to remember.

Conversely if we were to splash out £30m on that striker and pay him £85k per week, some would say that there would be more chance of us staying in the Premier League, and not heading south through the divisions.

I'm not saying that l necessarily think that, l'm simply plkaying Devils's Advocate you understand! :)
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
55,912
Faversham
One of life’s mysteries. We were an abomination…. And yet I still went to Gillingham to watch it. The game against Doncaster was about as bad as it got.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

0-0 wasn't it? They brought around 50 supporters who stood on the terrace in the norh west corner. I have a photo.....

One of the worst games I have ever watched. At that time if we put three passes together or even just one decent ball into the opposition's half, it was a miracle.
 




Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,821
Uffern
I thought that. My memory of that season was that Brian Horton worked wonders to keep us up (which given that we got 35 points may well be true) but having a FIFTEEN point gap between relegation and safety makes it appear a lot less tense than I recall.

I've just looked that season up. We won just two games in 1998 (and had a spell in the autumn where we won just one in 16) - we did draw quite a few, however.

The Doncaster match on Valentine's Day was the nadir of football, I've seen better games on Hackney Marshes.
 




Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
55,912
Faversham
I thought that. My memory of that season was that Brian Horton worked wonders to keep us up (which given that we got 35 points may well be true) but having a FIFTEEN point gap between relegation and safety makes it appear a lot less tense than I recall.

In terms of the progress/regression of teams, I think it's genuinely a fine football story to see so-called "massive clubs" in League One and "little clubs" in the Premier League. That said, League Two doesn't have any real historical heavy hitters in there (perhaps Bradford and Swindon as fairly recent Premier Leaguers?). Bolton and Sunderland (Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich & perhaps Charlton too) are genuine fallen giants and have the fan base and old world glamour that may get them back to the top, but I think it's more likely we see more big teams drop from the Championship to Leagues One and Two.

Derby and Nottingham Forest look like they're in a real state and Preston have had a wretched start too.

We were never in any real danger of the drop, despite being worse than the season before, because Donny Rovers were a basket case. The owner, Ken Richardson, got four years for paying someone to burn down their main stand in an insurance fraud and the clown he paid left his mobile phone at the crime scene with a txt message in his sent box saying 'done it boss, it's burning nicely' or somesuch :facepalm:.
 


Nobby Cybergoat

Well-known member
Jul 19, 2021
8,617
I've just looked that season up. We won just two games in 1998 (and had a spell in the autumn where we won just one in 16) - we did draw quite a few, however.

The Doncaster match on Valentine's Day was the nadir of football, I've seen better games on Hackney Marshes.

Better atmosphere than many of them though.

I only really remember one thing from the actual matches at Gillingham that season. An unbelievable striking performance against us from a then mostly unknown Jason Roberts in the Swansea game.

The rest of that season has entirely faded from my memory ... which I think is a good thing.
 


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