Football

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Oldham Athletic descended from the Premier League to the National League in a gradual slow decline.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Man City nearly got relegated successive seasons.

Certainly not recent history, but they (Manchester City) did manage to win the old First Division title in season 1936-37, before then being relegated the very next season (1937-38), this despite them being the topmost goalscorers in the division!

 

[1D54]

Freiburg 2-2 Leverkusen. A result that gives Bayern the title and Harry Kane has a medal at last.

 

[Iskra]

West Yorkshire Police are estimating up to 200,000 attendees for the Leeds open top bus parade today.

 

[Cletus]

My team Dover Athletic won our last game of the season at 6th place Chichester to make the Isthmian Premier play offs, then won away at the 2nd place Billericay Wednesday and at 3rd place Dartford today to be promoted back to the National League South.

No Dover fan in their right mind thought we'd be anywhere near the play offs this season after years in the doldrums and being run on a shoestring budget.

Couldn't get a ticket due the League's tinpot ticketing arrangements.

 

[JD2168]

The Venezuelan footballer Darwin Manchis has set an unfortunate record in Spanish football after being relegated from La Liga for 4 consecutive seasons.

Tom Cleverly has been sacked as Watford Manager

Tottenham Hotspur’s home game against Aston Villa has been moved to a Friday night 7:30pm kick off to help with preparations for a possible Europa League final

Manchester United who are playing on the same night have had their kick off time moved to 8:15pm

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Worksop 2 Guiseley 1 - so our near neighbours couldn't quite take advantage of Stockton's woes. This was despite their current and former manager Mark Bower, who is also our former manager (two spells), persuading two or three of our better players to jump ship and follow him up the road to Nethermoor.

Still no news about when Jersey Bulls, Redhill, Whyteleafe & co might play their play offs. Interestingly the FA used exactly the same words when dismissing Jersey & Stockton's appeals. Can't beat "cut and paste".

 

[SuspectUsual]

Wealdstone 3-1 FC Halifax Town

A dead rubber for us as a sixth place finish was guaranteed; a win to have a chance of staying up for Wealdstone. We rested a load of players and were 3-0 down at half time, made all five subs at half time and won the second half 1-0, with Luca Thomas scoring what’s one of the three best goals I’ve witnessed live (twitter link below)

https://x.com/lucaty10/status/1919683786180051348?s=46&t=_YJpC0NnDFgt_77zD1Eteg

 

[Peeled Apples]

Bristol City - first and only team to drop from the First Division to the Fourth in consecutive seasons. Never been back since, as I type this...

My team did it from 1984-1986

 

[Harvester]

Bristol City - first and only team to drop from the First Division to the Fourth in consecutive seasons. Never been back since, as I type this...

And it doesn’t look like they are going back this season through the playoffs. They lost at home 3-0 to Sheffield United this evening, in the first leg.

 

[Haywain]

My team did it from 1984-1986

Ah, yes, the spectacular demise of Wolverhampton Wanderers!

 

[Peeled Apples]

Ah, yes, the spectacular demise of Wolverhampton Wanderers!

And then the more recent collapse from the prem to League One, I got the feeling we were going to do it again or be stuck there for years, thankfully went straight back up.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

I remember seeing Halifax win at Molineux in D4 - twice in fact

 

[Peeled Apples]

I remember seeing Halifax win at Molineux in D4 - twice in fact

August 1987 first home game of the season 1-0 and I got soaked in a massive downpour walking back to the station - it’s amazing the things that stick in the head. I think it was 4-2 to Halifax at The Shay, umm bogey team! Can’t remember the scores the previous season I’m pretty sure both were away wins.

 

[Purple Train]

My team did it from 1984-1986

Apologies, I'm sure I was told my version of events when I was a child, but then I was at the stage of being convinced that Bristol City were special...

And it doesn’t look like they are going back this season through the playoffs. They lost at home 3-0 to Sheffield United this evening, in the first leg.

Thank goodness. As much as I want us to win every game and be a massive club, I really don't fancy watching us get tonked 6-0 every week next year.

 

[Peeled Apples]

Apologies, I'm sure I was told my version of events when I was a child, but then I was at the stage of being convinced that Bristol City were special...

Thank goodness. As much as I want us to win every game and be a massive club, I really don't fancy watching us get tonked 6-0 every week next year.

I remember the Bristol City collapse and thinking how is this possible, little did I know that my team was about to embark on a similar adventure.

 

[Haywain]

Still no news about when Jersey Bulls, Redhill, Whyteleafe & co might play their play offs. Interestingly the FA used exactly the same words when dismissing Jersey & Stockton's appeals. Can't beat "cut and paste".

The latest twist in this story is that Redhill have now suffered a 3 point deduction for playing an ineligible player some months ago. But still no indication of when the play-offs will happen and which teams will be involved. AFC Whyteleafe are, of course, busy this weekend with the FA Vase final.

 

[43096]

A little surprised that there has been no mention on here that today marks the 40th anniversary of the Bradford Valley Parade disaster.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

1987/1988	Tue 16 Feb	Halifax Town	2 - 1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	League
	Sat 22 Aug	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0 - 1	Halifax Town	League
1986/1987	Tue 17 Mar	Halifax Town	3 - 4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	League
	Tue 21 Oct	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1 - 2	Halifax Town	League

 

[Peeled Apples]

1987/1988	Tue 16 Feb	Halifax Town	2 - 1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	League
	Sat 22 Aug	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0 - 1	Halifax Town	League
1986/1987	Tue 17 Mar	Halifax Town	3 - 4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	League
	Tue 21 Oct	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1 - 2	Halifax Town	League

Where did I get 4-2 from? must have been thinking of the 4-3 game.

 

[Falcon1200]

After yesterday's games the two teams immediately above the three already relegated from the Premier League are.... Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur!

 

[Haywain]

After yesterday's games the two teams immediately above the three already relegated from the Premier League are.... Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur!

One of which will be playing in next season's Champions League. Ludicrous!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

One of which will be playing in next season's Champions League. Ludicrous!

But the rules governing the administration of European Champions League competition are naught to do with the positions in domestic leagues but concern the winners of the Europa League.....or am I wrong?

How poor the European opposition in the Europa League must have been this season when those two English clubs reached the final.

A few years ago, you could never imagine Manchester United beating Athletic Club (Bilbao) 7-1 on aggregate in a European competition semi-final.

 

[Ted633]

But the rules governing the administration of European Champions League competition are naught to do with the positions in domestic leagues but concern the winners of the Europa League.....or am I wrong?

How poor the European opposition in the Europa League must have been this season when those two English clubs reached the final.

A few years ago, you could never imagine Manchester United beating Atletico Madrid 7-1 on aggregate in a European competition semi-final.

Couldn’t imagine it now either! It was Athletic Club (Bilbao) they beat.

Completely agree that league position has nothing to do with European competition. It wasn’t that long ago Wigan were playing in the Europa League (may have been the UEFA cup then) whilst being in the Championship! No one seemed to mind about that. It’s only because it’s Man Utd or Spurs that it’s now become an issue.

 

[Jimini]

Completely agree that league position has nothing to do with European competition. It wasn’t that long ago Wigan were playing in the Europa League (may have been the UEFA cup then) whilst being in the Championship! No one seemed to mind about that. It’s only because it’s Man Utd or Spurs that it’s now become an issue.

Back in 2011, my lot (Fulham) qualified for the Europa League via. the fair play table. Not sure if that's still a thing or not, but just goes to show you can / could get European footy in a variety of ways!

 

[Haywain]

It wasn’t that long ago Wigan were playing in the Europa League (may have been the UEFA cup then) whilst being in the Championship!

Which they qualified for by winning the FA Cup, a competition which has carried a European place for the winner for many years.

It’s only because it’s Man Utd or Spurs that it’s now become an issue.

No, it's because they whichever wins will be in the Champions League. If winning the Europa League gave qualification to the next season's Europa League no-one would complain. To be clear, I find it ludicrous that teams as low as 4th in the league can qualify for the Champions League, let alone any further down.

 

[JamesT]

No, it's because they whichever wins will be in the Champions League. If winning the Europa League gave qualification to the next season's Europa League no-one would complain. To be clear, I find it ludicrous that teams as low as 4th in the league can qualify for the Champions League, let alone any further down.

As noted previously, winning the Europa League has given a Champions League place for a decade. But I don't remember quite as much fuss when Manchester United won it in 2017 despite only finishing 6th in the league.

 

[Ollie29]

How poor the European opposition in the Europa League must have been this season when those two English clubs reached the final.

Yes, they've reached the final, and they've been poor across the season both clubs have, but they've only beaten what's in front of them, no matter how poor the opposition have been

 

[Peeled Apples]

Back in 2011, my lot (Fulham) qualified for the Europa League via. the fair play table. Not sure if that's still a thing or not, but just goes to show you can / could get European footy in a variety of ways!

Fair play qualification ended around 2016.

 

[Ted633]

Which they qualified for by winning the FA Cup, a competition which has carried a European place for the winner for many years.

No, it's because they whichever wins will be in the Champions League. If winning the Europa League gave qualification to the next season's Europa League no-one would complain. To be clear, I find it ludicrous that teams as low as 4th in the league can qualify for the Champions League, let alone any further down.

And either Spurs or Utd will qualify for the Champions League (top level European competition) by winning the Europa League (2nd level competition). This has been a rule for over a decade and makes perfect sense!