Below A teenage
Hoddle became
a regular as Spurs
went down in ’77FourFourTwo June 2022 77MANCHESTER UNITED
RELEGATED 1974
The Red Devils secured the European Cup
under Sir Matt Busby in 1968 – yet within
six years they’d fallen to the second tier.
An ageing side finished 11th in the First
Division in the very next season after lifting
Old Big Ears – Busby decided to retire aged
59 only to return briefly 18 months later,
taking charge until the end of the campaign
after successor Wilf McGuinness was sacked.
United came eighth for three consecutive
campaigns – the latter under new boss Frank
O’Farrell, after failed attempts to recruit Don
Revie from Leeds and Jock Stein from Celtic.
That 1971-72 season, the club were forced
to play two home fixtures away from Old
Trafford after yobs threw knives at visiting
fans mid-match – United ‘hosted’ Arsenal at
Anfield, then West Brom at Stoke’s Victoria
Ground. A fallout with increasingly wayward
star George Best and a 5-0 defeat at Crystal
Palace led to O’Farrell getting the heave-ho
in December 1972, but United still finished
18th under replacement Tommy Docherty.
The team found it difficult to score goals –
Bobby Charlton top scored with just six and
retired that summer, and Denis Law joined
Manchester City on a free transfer.
Best remained but featured little as United
went down the following season, playing his
last game for the club in a 3-0 defeat at QPR
on New Year’s Day. United again struggled to
find the net – goalkeeper Alex Stepney was
bizarrely made penalty taker, bagging twice
to become the team’s joint-top scorer for
a period – and went into their penultimate
game of the season needing victory at home
to City, plus favourable results elsewhere if
they were to avoid the drop.
Law’s 81st-minute backheel memorably
put City 1-0 up – minutes later, United fans
stormed the pitch (above) and the match
was abandoned. The scoreline was allowed
to stand but other results that day meant
United were doomed regardless – even a win
wouldn’t have been enough.LIVERPOOL
RELEGATED 1954Seven years after becoming England’s first
post-war champions in 1946-47, Liverpool
finished bottom of the top flight.
The reason for their downfall was
obvious. With Bob Paisley in defence,
they conceded a league-low 52 goals
in 42 games en route to First Division
success. But in a miserable 1953-54
campaign, they leaked a league-high- Paisley was 35 by then and on the
verge of retirement – the club’s demise
had been coming, after they’d wound
up 11th in 1952 and then 17th in 1953.
Don Welsh’s side conceded five goals
on five separate occasions in relegation
and were stuffed 6-0 at Charlton, ending
49 years in the top flight. It would take eight
years – and the appointment of Bill Shankly- for the Reds to return to the First Division.
TOTTENHAM
RELEGATED 1977Glenn Hoddle would become one of Spurs’
greatest ever players – but not before his
career began with the drop. The teenager
was a regular in 1976-77, though couldn’t
stop their slip towards the Second Division.
Gaffer Terry Neill defected to former club
Arsenal prior to that relegation campaign.
He’d been an unpopular successor at Spurs
for the loved Bill Nicholson, who’d won the
UEFA Cup as recently as 1972 and reached
the final again in 1974, his last hurrah.
Assistant Keith Burkinshaw took the hot-
seat from Neill, and while he’d later recruit
Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa, lead Spurs to
two FA Cups and another UEFA Cup, his first
season proved a baptism of fire. An 8-2
thrashing at Derby in mid-October was the
Rams’ first league win – their only other
home victory had been 12-0 against Finn
Harps in the UEFA Cup.
No one in the division conceded more
goals than Spurs that term, as they came
bottom and slid into the second tier for
the first time in 27 years. Fortunately for
them, they immediately returned... and
haven’t been out of the top flight since.
Chris FlanaganChelsea weren’t the only
powerhouse to slip out of the
top tier shortly after post-war
success. Despite a true great
and a penalty-taking keeper,
the same fate befell this trioCHELSEA
TOO BIG TO FAIL?