Top 10 of the week – Teams too good to get relegated
September 15th, 2009 | Author: Shaw
Last year you could argue that with West Brom, Stoke and Hull were the favorites to go down, however Newcastle and Middlesbrough filled their places.Were they too good to go down? Maybe, but there are 10 good teams above these two, who made a hash of it even more.
10. Reading, 2007/08
They say the second season is the most tricky for a newly promoted club. The Royals, in their previous season, had finished just shy of a Uefa Cup place. Their team has showed resilience and promise; Kevin Doyle, James Harper, David Kitson and Steve Sidwell had shown they could cut it in this division – the second season would be a doddle right? – Wrong!!! A song from a fan!
9. Nottingham Forest, 1992/93
Brian Clough had led his side to three League Cup finals in the past four years but his luck finally ran out. The season started tragically; he first let go of Teddy Sheringham , then he decided to bench Stan Collymore and instead signed Robert Rosario from Coventry. Des Walker had gone too and Roy Keane was employed as an emergency centre-back. It was all a bit of a mess.
8. Manchester United, 1973/74
The key to every relegation fight is to score goals, because eventually these goals turn into points and guess what…points turn into safety. So when your joint top scorer, by Chrismas, is a goalkeeper (Alex Stepney in this case, with two penalties) alarm bells were surly ringing. A fat George Best made his final appearances that season and despite possessing players such as Martin Buchan, Sammy McIlroy and Lou Macari Man United finished 21st.
7. Middlesbrough, 1996/97
When you mention European flair in England you usual think about Chelsea or Arsenal, but during the 96-97 season Boro had a little flair themselves. Bryan Robson had brought in the likes of Fabrizio Ravanelli and Juninho to spice up his team, who strangely managed to make two cup finals in 1997, yet could not avoid relegation.
6. Charlton, 2008/09
Charlton could easily be on this list twice. Under Curbishley Charlton had enjoyed mid-table success. With a pinnacle high of 7th place in 2004. After another two good seasons he left, deciding he could take them no further. A season later, they got relegated to the Championship and two years later, they encored their biggest failure… relegation to league one. The London based club had in fact been tipped for promotion that season, but continued on their path to destruction, coming bottom of the league that year.
5. Blackburn, 1998/99
Just four years after being crowned Premier League champions and Rovers found themselves in the Championship. Roy Hodgson might have turned Fulham’s fortunes around, but 10 years ago he couldn’t help Blackburn’s descent into the second tier of football.
4. Real Zaragoza, 2006/07
Well okay, they’re not exactly Spanish giants,I could easily have mentioned Sevilla or Athletico Madrid’s relegation in 2001, but they were expected, Zaragoza’s relegation came as a complete shock. In their previous season they had won a Uefa cup spot, coming 6th, with a team that contained such players as the Milito brothers (Gabriel, now at Barcelona and David now at Inter), Pablo Aimar, Diago and Ewerthon. Things looked like they could only improve, they had the same stars as last year, had no financial trouble yet somehow managed to get relegated in 2007.
3. Juventus, 2005/06
Despite winning the Scudetto, Juve were relegated to Serie B for match-fixing – you might have heard about it. The investigation revealed that general manager Luciano Moggi was involved in an average 416 calls per day and had 300 Sim cards.
“The transcripts of his iffy calls read like The Sopranos as rewritten by Horne and Corden, including memorable phrases like “Don’t break my balls…” – The Times
Juve lost many of their top names, including Paddy Viera and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but managed to keep stars Alessandro del Piero and Gigi Buffon while tempting Boom, Boom Boumsong to sign on Loan. No wonder they only stayed in Serie B for one season.
2. West Ham 2003/04
I am convinced manager Glenn Roeder is a magician. It must take wizardry to relegate a side containing David James, Joe Cole, Frédéric Kanouté, Jermain Defoe, Michael Carrick and Paolo Di Canio into the Championship. They may have managed 42 points that season, but if you consider what all these players have achieved since, its sometimes hard to believe.
1. Leeds United, 2004/05
Remember the fish tank? Well, Peter Ridsdale is probably trying to forget. Leeds came third in the league in 2000, reached the Champions League semi-final in 2001, and three years later found themselves in the relegation zone. That season Leeds were in financial meltdown but they still had the likes of Mark Viduka, Alan Smith, Harry Kewell, Paul Robinson, James Milner and Ian Harte among their ranks. Relegation arrived with two games to spare after a 4-1 defeat at Bolton. Leeds are still on the road to recovery, now in League one.
Honarable Mention – Dennis Wise - Leeds and Newcastle Hero.
11. Newcastle, 2008/09
I could have put Newcastle in the top 10 but the fact is, they were rubbish. Aside from Michael Owen, Shay Given and Sebastian Bassong (who all existed for half a season, for whatever reason) Newcastle had a team that deserved relegation.
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stop putting where instead of were!
Nice to see Leeds top of something.
I would like to say on behalf of all Leeds fans that Dennis Wise is not a United legend, much the opposite.
great list in fairness. hoping that we will find liverpool on 1 of these lists soon…
Newcastle not even in top 10, wtf? your reason for them not being there is retarded also, surely if a team is RELEGATED, they are rubbish
Newcastle should be 2nd atleast. first time out of the EPL for 16 yrs, surely that says something.
But newcastle had it coming to them after so many years of self-destruction
i agree with andy, year before last it could have happened, so whilst we were surprised at them actually doing it this year, them doing it wasnt that big a surprise. if u get me