Relegation? Been there, done that

You have to be of a certain vintage to remember experiencing relegation as a Spurs fan. Sadly, that includes yours truly.

When I started going to matches, at the tender age of 9, it was the mid seventies. Whilst the memory of the great double winning team lingered for my father’s generation, I came of age at a time when excitement was derived from the battle to stay up. And it was exciting. One memorable night in 1975 was the best atmosphere I ever experienced at the old ground (and the new, for that matter). 

It was a cool April night. The floodlights shone brightly in the four corners of the ground as close to 50,000 packed into the old stadium. Spurs narrowly avoided relegation that night with a 4-2 victory over reigning champions Leeds United.

It was the match when winger Alfie Conn at one point sat on the ball, an act of gamesmanship and a demonstration of showboating for which any player today would be heavily criticised. Which feels like a shame. Conn himself says he did it to "take the sting out of the game," or, in common parlance, waste time. Despite only narrowly escaping relegation, courtesy of that famous victory, the players are feted as greats of the past. Except for a few notable exceptions, they weren’t great at all. They were, for the most part, ordinary at best. This was confirmed two seasons later.

In 1977 Spurs finished bottom of what was then a league of 22. It was all a bit tight in the battle to avoid relegation that season. Spurs ended with 33 points. 35 points was enough to survive and Birmingham City, only 5 points ahead of us on 38, finished 9 places higher in 13th. Leicester City won the same number of games as Spurs (12) and ended up in the top half of the table. They were just a lot better at drawing games than we were.

The reason it was all so tight is that in those days you only got two points for a win. Jimmy Hill’s idea of three points for a win wasn’t implemented until four years later, in 1981. Not that it would have saved us. A quick session with the calculator informs me that Spurs would still have been relegated that season. 

Many supporters who remember the 1977-78 season in the Second Division speak fondly of it. For a lot of us it was the first season we supported the club when winning was a far more regular occurrence than losing. Of the 42 games played, only six were lost. Bristol Rovers were famously dispatched 9-0. 

I was a season ticket holder that season and attended every home game. As a member of the supporters club I subscribed to a service that sent me every away match programme, to go with the home ones my dad bought for me at the ground. I still have them - every single programme from that famous season - sitting in the back of the cupboard with my other memorabilia, soon to pass the 50 year mark. 

Away matches were beyond me, however acute my 12 year old enthusiasm. So on the fateful afternoon when we travelled to Southampton, needing a point to secure an immediate return to the First Division, I was playing pitch and putt at Grovelands park. Or as best I could, with a small transistor radio planted in my ear, the BBC’s sports report updating me on the afternoon’s events as I hacked my way around the course.

Conspiracy theorists say the outcome of that match was pre-ordained. With both clubs needing a point to secure promotion, a draw, they say, was inevitable. What we do know is that when the gates were opened to let the crowd out, towards the end of the match, the reverse happened. Spurs fans waiting outside the ground poured in to savour the moment and join in the celebrations.

Immediate promotion was not guaranteed but the Gods were smiling on us. One God in particular. The one they called Glenn. As a 19 year old, Hoddle was an emerging talent that season, but oh what a talent! This was a man who made up his own style of play. With an unprecedented level of vision, he saw the play ahead of anyone else on the pitch and matched it with the ability to hit a long pass with astonishing accuracy.

Can you imagine a team getting relegated today holding onto a player of such generational talent? It’s food for thought. Despite Spurs current woes, nearly all of the first team squad are internationals. I can’t imagine many of them wanting to play in the Championship next season. There’d be a mass exodus. 

There’s a famous picture of two supporters entering the field of play before the last game of the 1976-7 season, at home to Leicester City,  holding a banner. A 2-0 victory that day was not enough to keep us up, we were already down.

“We will return,” it read. And we did. 

Thank God.

Andrew Pettifer is the author of "When the Final Whistle Blows: Glory, Grief and Tottenham Hotspur"