One for the stato’s

[Sheffsteel]

Watford 1977-1983 is impressive:

1977 Division 4 7th
1978 Division 4 1st
1979 Division 3 2nd
1980 Division 2 18th
1980 Division 2 9th
1982 Division 2 2nd
1983 Division 1 2nd

Nobody has ever done 3 promotions back to back to the top flight. Swansea are fastest.

Forgot that Watford finished as high as 2nd.
Thats probably the most impressive rise of any team.
They weren’t too bad from 84 onwards either finishing 11th, 11th, 12th, 9th then a surprising 20th resulting in relegation.

 

[Silent Blade]

I knew Swansea had summat to do with it!

The thing I remember most about Swansea's rise and fall, was the culling of their manager John Toshack. For those Blades who have only fairly recently acquired pubic hair, I should point out that John Toshack was a bloody good footballer and played for Liverpool. He was Swansea's manager and took them all the way from 4th division to the 1st - and just when he thought he was about to become a managerial legend - they sacked him following two successive relegations. (The records will say he resigned, but I know a bloke who comes in the pub with a dog, and he told me he was sacked).

My Swansea mate said that Toshack's decision to wear the Liverpool shirt when Swansea played at Anfield in 1981 was a bad idea even though it was a tribute to Bill Shankly

 

[finlaytheblade]

From 4th to 1st division

It's far harder to make the jump from 1st division to premiership now than previously as the gap in funding between the premiership and championship is far wider .
makes our achievement even greater.

 

[Brian Deane]

What would the finishing positions have been if you deducted 3 wins (as they were lucky)?

Was thinking more of deducting 3pts for a win back to 2pts like the good old days. We all know who suffered with that one I believe it made a MASSIVE difference to a certain team

 

[Sheffsteel]

It's far harder to make the jump from 1st division to premiership now than previously as the gap in funding between the premiership and championship is far wider .
makes our achievement even greater.

Think you might be right and the financial gap is getting bigger every year.
Its quite incredible to think the tv prize money is something like

Premier League £120 million a year
Championship £6 million a year
League 1 is £1 million a year
League 2 is £500,000 a year

No wonder lower end clubs that are promoted often face immediate relegation.

 

[Top Cat]

Northampton Town. The ultimate rags to riches and back to rags story.

"In the midst of the Swinging Sixties, though, something the town could once again benefit from, all caution was thrown to the wind. For the Cobblers, mediocrity was out of the equation. In its place came a heady mixture of feelings and emotions – astonishingly bewildering highs and unbearable lows. Between 1960 and 1969, Northampton Town went on one of English football’s most remarkable journeys.

Playing at the alarmingly quirky County Ground, shared with the local cricket club, the Cobblers achieved the unthinkable. Three promotions in five years propelled the club to a solitary season in the top flight. Subsequently, after three relegations in five years they concluded the decade where they had begun, by lining up in Division Four."

 

[Blade56]

Watford 1977-1983 is impressive:

1977 Division 4 7th
1978 Division 4 1st
1979 Division 3 2nd
1980 Division 2 18th
1980 Division 2 9th
1982 Division 2 2nd
1983 Division 1 2nd

Nobody has ever done 3 promotions back to back to the top flight. Swansea are fastest.

Nice call R, history says we can do it

 

[Cerberus Blade]

My Swansea mate said that Toshack's decision to wear the Liverpool shirt when Swansea played at Anfield in 1981 was a bad idea even though it was a tribute to Bill Shankly

Was McBurnie at that one in his Ronald MacDonald coat?