10 famous promotions to top flight English football

I’m making a rare foray into the Championship this weekend to cover Nottingham Forest against the leaders, Middlesbrough on Saturday.

With eight points separating the top eight teams with only 11 matches to go, stakes are high and the division is impossible to predict.

So, for this week’s blog, I’m delving into the archives to recall 10 famous promotions from English football’s second tier.

1962 The rise of Liverpool.

Nowadays, we are used to Liverpool as powerhouses of English and European football. But in the late 1950s, they were fallen giants until a Scotsman called Bill Shankly arrived in 1959 to reinvigorate the whole club.

He quickly got rid of 24 players and started to build his own team. In the summer of 1961, he signed centre-half Ron Yeats from Dundee United and confidently told the press this man would lead Liverpool back to the First Division.

With another new arrival from Scotland, Motherwell’s Ian St John, scoring the goals at the other end, the Reds stormed to the Second Division title by eight points.

After an eight-year exile, Liverpool were back and ready to embark on a run of 13 League Championships in the next 28 seasons.

1964 Unloved but unstoppable.

Don Revie had said it would take five years to re-invigorate Leeds when given the job as manager in 1961. Two years later, he had a team ready for promotion from the Second Division with a heady mix of youth and experience.

His detailed instructions and hard training sessions, allied to curious mannerisms and hunches like changing Leeds’ home kit to white were loved by his players, but detested by outsiders.

And by 1964, they had gained promotion back to the top division with players like Billy Bremner, Peter Lorimer and Norman Hunter about to become household names.

Once up, they were feared and despised in equal measure with good reason. They would finish no lower than fourth in any of the next ten seasons.

1975 For one season only.

Manchester United’s relegation in 1974 into the Second Division sent shockwaves around football.

Suddenly, the mighty United were facing trips to Leyton Orient, Bristol Rovers and York City, with ‘house full’ signs going up around the country.

They were big favourites to go up but a major wobble of four defeats in seven matches prompted a serious case of nerves.

Those were eased by an 11-match unbeaten finish to the season as they beat Aston Villa to the title by three points.

It turned out to be a happy one-off for United fans as their heroes visited grounds that had previously been off the radar.

1977 Here comes Cloughie.

In modern football, the team to claim the third and final promotion spot begins the next season as relegation certainities in the Premier League.

In 1977, Nottingham Forest were sweating on Bolton’s last three results to go up, with Forest having completed all their games in the days before TV executives had taken complete control of the fixture list.

Bolton needed five points (in the days of two points for a win) but they only managed three. So Forest manager Brian Clough could celebrate his good luck on holiday as Forest grabbed that last spot.

He didn’t need any luck though over the next three seasons as he turned the East Midlands club into the envy of England.

They were Champions for the first time in their history in 1978 and won back-to-back European Cups in the next two years. But what would have happened to Cloughie if Bolton hadn’t lost their nerve?

1984 Four into three doesn’t go.

This was a season when the Second Division was dominated by heavyweights. Newcastle, Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester City were fighting for the three promotion spots and the play-offs had not yet been invented.

Chelsea edged Wednesday for the title on goal difference as they were inspired by the goals of Kerry Dixon, while the Owls returned to the top division after a 14-year exile.

Newcastle claimed the third spot, helped by a front three of Kevin Keegan, Peter Beardsley and Chris Waddle.

It was Keegan’s final season as a player and he notched 28 goals to start a love affair on Tyneside that would carry on during two spells as a manager.

1986 Look out for the Crazy Gang.

The battle for the third promotion spot in 1986 couldn’t have thrown up a greater contrast: a storied club of English football in Portsmouth managed by 1966 World Cup hero Alan Ball against these newcomers from Wimbledon.

But a 1-0 victory on the final day at Huddersfield took the Dons up at Pompey’s expense. Nine years after their election from the Southern League, Wimbledon had made it to the big league.

And for the next 14 years the Crazy Gang took great pleasure as their unique approach constantly upset both the authorities and English football’s established clubs.

1989 City go bananas.

Long before Sergio Aguero or even Paul Dickov, Manchester City fans had Trevor Morley. With a minute to go of the final game of the season, City looked destined for the play-offs as they were losing 1-0 away at Bradford and Crystal Palace were thrashing relegated Birmingham.

This came seven days after City had thrown away a 3-0 lead at home to Bournemouth when victory would have secured automatic promotion. This seemed to be typical City.

That was until Morley slid home David White’s cross to get the point they needed and spark jubilation on the terraces from supporters wielding inflatable bananas.

1992 Jack’s dream starts to come true.

Jack Walker had a dream of making his beloved Blackburn Rovers Champions of England. But first, they needed to get into the top division. Cue the arrival of Kenny Dalglish as manager and a host of big money signings.

They looked certain to cruise to a top-two finish but a chronic run of three wins from their last 16 games saw them just about limp into the play-offs in sixth place.

They got their reward after edging out Derby over two legs before Mike Newell’s penalty defeated Leicester in the Wembley final. Three years after this, Jack’s dream became a reality and Blackburn were Premier League Champions.

1998 Sunshine on Tees; Tears for Wearsiders.

The 1997/98 promotion race featured three strong contenders Nottingham Forest, Middlesbrough and Sunderland. All three had been relegated the previous year but only two could go back automatically.

Forest took top spot, so it came down to one of their North East rivals for second place. Boro had the flair of Paul Gascoigne and Paul Merson while Sunderland had the deadly duo of Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips up front.

Yet a costly 2-0 defeat to Ipswich in the Black Cats’ penultimate game allowed Boro to pip them on the final afternoon.

Worse was to come for Sunderland as they lost a penalty shoot-out to Charlton in the play-off final after an incredible 4-4 draw at Wembley.

2013 Dance like an Egyptian.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-92ps4ccje0

OK, so the real reason I have chosen this one is to include a clip of Hull midfielder Ahmed Elmohamady’s crazy dance. His team only needed to win against already promoted Cardiff on the final day to guarantee Premier League football. Leading 2-1, they missed a penalty to calm the nerves before they conceded a penalty deep into injury time to draw 2-2.

Suddenly, the Tigers were at the mercy of Watford, who were drawing 1-1 against Leeds in a game delayed by a major injury where a win would now take them up.

Elmohamady and his team-mates were a bag of nerves watching on a TV screen before an unlikely Leeds goal was celebrated manically in East Yorkshire.