More than they can chew - relegation with a positive goal difference.

[Stobart]

Polish second tier side Bytovia Bytow are only just above the relegation zone on goal difference - a POSITIVE goal difference. Has a team with a positive goal difference ever been relegated ?

[irony towers]

Yes.

[Sporting]

Link takes me to T. May which I am sure was not your intention.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

If you click on the question in red, rather than the newspaper website address, you will get to the question (and answer)

[ad hoc]

Gangster Octopus of these parts is one of the respondents to that question

[Gangster Octopus]

I don't remember that.

[Janik]

Manchester City did it back in the 1930s. They were the defending league champions at the time...
This is the most pre-Abu Dhabi Manchester City thing ever.

[Janik]

In non-Football or elite sport news, I had an experience with goal difference playing a bizarre role in a relegation scenario the weekend before last: my Hockey team started the final day of the season in a relegation place, lost our game, and stayed up! Our GD was -1 worse than our relegation rivals at the start of the day. We lost 5-2. They lost 6-1. Come the evening it was -1 less negative. They had also scored more goals than us, so if the GDs had been level it would have been them who survived. Oh, and we scored in the last ten seconds of our match...

What is that Samuel Becket quote about 'Fail better' that Stan Wawrinka has a tattoo? That.

[Glass Half Empty]

Third Division			Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Ave Gate	FA Cup	League Cup	European
1	12	Rotherham United	46	17	6	0	43	8	7	7	9	19	24	30	61	7,985	Rd 2	Rd 1
2	9	Barnsley	46	15	5	3	46	19	6	12	5	26	26	27	59	12,800	Rd 5	Rd 4
3	D 2	Charlton Athletic	46	14	6	3	36	17	11	3	9	27	27	19	59	7,206	Rd 5	Rd 3
4	D 4	Huddersfield Town	46	14	6	3	40	11	7	8	8	31	29	31	56	11,548	Rd 3	Rd 1
5	-1	Chesterfield	46	17	4	2	42	16	6	6	11	30	32	24	56	7,331	Rd 3	Rd 2
6	D 4	Portsmouth	46	14	5	4	35	19	8	4	11	20	28	8	53	13,514	Rd 1	Rd 4
7	8	Plymouth Argyle	46	14	5	4	35	18	5	9	9	21	26	12	52	6,766	Rd 3	Rd 1
8	D 2	Burnley	46	13	5	5	37	21	5	9	9	23	27	12	50	6,469	Rd 2	Rd 2
9	10	Brentford	46	7	9	7	30	25	7	10	6	22	24	3	47	6,752	Rd 2	Rd 1
10	-3	Reading	46	13	5	5	39	22	5	5	13	23	40	0	46	5,439	Rd 1	Rd 2
11	-3	Exeter City	46	9	9	5	36	30	7	4	12	26	36	-4	45	4,555	Rd 6	Rd 1
12	D 4	Newport County	46	11	6	6	38	22	4	7	12	26	39	3	43	5,675	Rd 1	Rd 2	European CWC QF
13	D 2	Fulham	46	8	7	8	28	29	7	6	10	29	35	-7	43	5,059	Rd 4	Rd 1
14	3	Oxford United	46	7	8	8	20	24	6	9	8	19	23	-8	43	4,027	Rd 2	Rd 3
15	1	Gillingham	46	9	8	6	23	19	3	10	10	25	39	-10	42	4,676	Rd 2	Rd 2
16	-2	Millwall	46	10	9	4	30	21	4	5	14	13	39	-17	42	4,494	Rd 2	Rd 1
17	-7	Swindon Town	46	10	6	7	35	27	3	9	11	16	29	-5	41	6,826	Rd 2	Rd 3
18	-9	Chester	46	11	5	7	25	17	4	6	13	13	31	-10	41	2,875	Rd 1	Rd 1
19	-13	Carlisle United	46	8	9	6	32	29	6	4	13	24	41	-14	41	4,064	Rd 4	Rd 2
20	D 4	Walsall	46	8	9	6	43	43	5	6	12	16	31	-15	41	4,265	Rd 2	Rd 1
21	-9	Sheffield United	46	12	6	5	38	20	2	6	15	27	43	2	40	12,774	Rd 2	Rd 1
22	-17	Colchester United	46	12	7	4	35	22	2	4	17	10	43	-20	39	2,645	Rd 3	Rd 1
23	-5	Blackpool	46	5	9	9	19	28	4	5	14	26	47	-30	32	5,859	Rd 2	Rd 2
24	-4	Hull City	46	7	8	8	23	22	1	8	14	17	49	-31	32	4,319	Rd 4	Rd 1

Well seeing as it has come up in a thread 38 years later I suppose I can just about live with a quick review of the complete shambles of Sheffield United's 1980-81 season. As you can see we were indeed relegated with a positive goal difference but really that is only one of many causes of angst in a long and sorry tale of decline. With virtually nothing between the teams in the lower half of the table, 3 more points would have seen us finish level with Newport County (European Cup winners Cup quarter finalists no less) in mid table. A glance at the top of the table sees both Rotherham and Barnsley promoted and indeed our 4 nearest neighbours in the league that season finished in the top 5 places.

The only time we were in the bottom 4 of the table in the entire season was for the last 5 minutes or so of the last game. That game has gone down in infamy amongst Blades' supporters. We were at home to Walsall who were occupying one of the relegation spots. Here is a brief report taken from S24SU.

"We needed a point to stay up and send Walsall down. They needed to win and send us down. However, even if we lost we would stay up if Swindon lost their game.

A frenetic start, which calmed down into a game of few chances. In the second half, I recall the ref getting laid out by a poweful shot just inside the half at the Kop end (was he replaced by the linesman? I can't recall) and Givens on a powerful run that led to a 20 yarder than went just wide of the right post at the Kop end.

Then came the drama: 5 mins to go, Alan Buckley breaks into the United area to the left of the BL goal. John MacPhail comes careering across and sends him flying. I knew it was a pen straight off. Don Penn took it, Conroy dived left and the ball went straight down the middle of the goal.

The United fans at the Kop end then started climbing the barriers with a view to invading the pitch. With a min to go Hatton had the ball on the right of the Walsall area and sent in a speculative cross shot, which hit a Walsall player. To the amazement of everyone, the ref gave a pen, for handball apparently, though I coudn't see it. I reckon he thought he would be lynched if Walsall won.

After a delay Don Givens took the kick (as we all know John Matthews bottled it). I remember focusing on the net waiting for the ball to hit it. It didn't. It was a soft kick to Ron Green's right and he easily smothered it.

The final whistle went shortly afterwards, there was a pitch invasion and a number of Walsall players were attacked. Then a rumour started circulating that Swindon had lost; it was apparently spread by the police to end the violence. We lived in hope and I saw a bloke come out of a Kop exit, arms aloft shouting "yesssssssss"."


The official attendance that day was 16,001, I guess I can claim to be the 1. I sat on the concrete floor of the Kop, as the ground emptied I was one of the last to leave. I was quite into photography at the time and I had a camera with me and took virtually a full roll of shots. To my huge annoyance I never saw the photos as they were lost in processing.

[Glass Half Empty]

As a bit of context Sheffield United had finished 6th in Division 1 in the 74-75 season; the pace and scale of decline was shattering for the club. Jimmy Sirrel and Harry Haslam were the men in charge for most of that decline and the team they led was hugely inconsistent and utterly lacked the grit and determination that we Blades fans demand. But they weren't alone in overseeing the decline. As ever the boardroom was full of muddled thinking and short pockets. The 74-75 season had persuaded the board that now was the time to capitalise on our relative success and push on. Cricket departed from Bramall Lane and the club invested heavily in a new stand built on the old cricket square. 1975-76 was a shocking season, with an ageing team and little money to invest in new players we fell away and instead of kicking on we finished rock bottom of Div 1 and were relegated. With bills to be paid any player we had an offer for was sold including tragically Tony Currie to Leeds. (Also promising youth strikers Simon Stainrod, Imre Varadi and Keith Edwards for jack all)

The decline continued and despite some imaginative (for the time) thinking with the purchase of Alex Sabella and the unrealised deal to buy Diego Maradona the team struggled. Capable of some lovely football at times it developed a deep rooted ability to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory and was relegated for the first time in our history from Division 2 at the end of the 1978-79 season.

At the start of the 79-80 season hopes were high that we could stabilise and win promotion. Early season form was encouraging and we topped the table but it was all brought to a jarring halt with another infamous result, a 4-0 reverse at Wednesday in front of over 49,000 at Hillsbrough on Boxing Day. Jack Charlton had spent a while scrapping around trying to dig Wednesday out of their own mire and he was finally building the sort of rugged, well organised team that he would become famous for. Wednesday went from strength to strength after the victory over us and gained promotion back to Division 2 for the first time in 5 years leaving United behind and deeply traumatised.

One of Haslam's eye-catching signings when we fell into Division 3 had been Martin Stanford Peters MBE, East End hero and national treasure, as player coach. When Haslam's health took a turn for the worse mid way through the 80-81 season with the Blades in mid table, Haslam stood down and Peters took over as manager. Safe to say it was not Peters' finest hour; of the remaining 16 matches we won 3 and the farce outlined above completed our decline.

Astonishingly, after the desperation of the summer of 1981 the decline was halted, somehow the board managed to persuade Ian Porterfield to turn his back on Division 2 football with his newly promoted Rotherham and come to us as manager. With the inspired re-signing of Keith Edwards, the purchase of Colin Morris and a final glorious season from Bob Hatton, we scored goals for fun, the defence was tightened up and the midfield given some bite and we Blitzed our way to promotion at the first attempt. In my opinion it's not stretching the facts too much to believe that Ian Porterfield saved the club.

[Gangster Octopus]

I never forgave Porterfield for that.

We were on the pitch at Millmoor celebrating our Championship when we heard the news from Brammal Lane. Most entertaining it was. Until we got stuck in the pub with a Blade for the evening...

[nmrfox]

Capable of some lovely football at times it developed a deep rooted ability to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory and was relegated for the first time in our history from Division 2 at the end of the 1978-79 season..

I was at Bramall Lane for the 2-2 draw that sent The Blades down. We kept pretty silent on the way back to the car and were fortunate to get away unscathed, though luckily none of us had any colours on and with my Dad being a Yorkshireman we would have left any talking to him. Remember a couple of pitch invasions at the game, and one of the Leicester players - Alan Beer I think - was attacked on the pitch. Scary stuff for 13 year old me.

[Glass Half Empty]

It was certainly a dark era for football, where violence of one sort or another was the norm around a lot of matches. It was certainly grim at Bramall Lane with both the anger and despair directed at the team and the terrible decline in the City itself. I remember seeing some stats once that showed that Sheffield lost on average a 1000 jobs a month from summer 1979 till summer 1982.