Following Chesterfields relegation it set me thinking about what happened in previous years.
It surprised me to recall some of the teams who had actually been relegated.
A good number of teams have bounced back while others took a long time. More unfortunate ones kept dropping.
It reminds me of the relegation of Grimsby Town in 2010 and it took them six years to get out of the Conference. It took Luton ages. Even Saturdays opponents spent a season in it.
Aldershot went down in 2013 and Tranmere a couple of years ago, although both of them may have opportunities to get back through the play offs.
Leyton Orient went downhill following the 2014 play off final and Hartlepool went last year, and both of them have really struggled this year.
The saddest case for me is the case of Torquay United who were relegated to the Conference South, a fate which befell York City and Stockport County (into Conference North) neither of whom are showing any signs of recovery.
Some teams are able to dust themselves down and get back up and Chesterfield have to draw comfort from this.
Division 4 was formed in 1958 and up until 1986 the bottom team had to seek re-election and in this period only 5 teams were able to gain enough votes to oust the incumbent team.
This is shown below :
1960 Gateshead out Peterborough in
1970 Bradford out Cambridge in
1972 Barrow out Hereford in
1977 Workington out Wimbledon in
1978 Southport out Wigan in
In this period one team actually dropped out of the league. This occurred In 1962 when Accrington dropped out & were replaced by Oxford United.
From 1986 automatic promotion and relegation was introduced and this is how it panned out : (from 2003 two teams were relegated and 1 went up automatically & one went up via the play offs)
Some of the teams might surprise you.
Year In. / Out
——- —- ——-
In 1987 Scarborough / Lincoln.
in 1988. Lincoln. / Newport
In 1989. Maidstone. / Darlington
in 1990. Darlington. / Colchester
in 1991. Barnet. / No-one
in 1992. Colchester. / Maidstone Aldershot*
In 1993. Wycombe. / Halifax
in 1994. No one (Kidderminster failed criteria)
in 1995 No one ( Macclesfield failed criteria)
in 1996 No one ( Stevenage failed criteria)
In 1997 Macclesfield. / Hereford
In 1998. Halifax. / Doncaster
in 1999 Cheltenham. / Scarborough
in 2000 Kidderminster. / Chester
in 2001. Rushden. / Barnet
in 2002 Boston. / Halifax
in 2003 Yeovil & Doncaster / Exeter & Shrews
in 2004 Chester& Shrews / Carlisle & York
in 2005 Barnet & Carlisle / Kidder & Cambridge
2006 Accrington & Heref. / Oxford & Rushden
2007 Dagenham Morecambe / BostonTorquay 2008 Aldershot Exeter. / Mansfield Wrexham
2009 Burton Torquay. / Chester Luton
2010 Stevenage Oxford. / Grimsby Darling
2011 Crawley AFC Wim. / Lincoln Stock
2012 Fleetwood York. /Hereford Macc
2013 Mansfield Newport / Barnet Aldershot
2014 Luton Cambridge / Bristol R. Torquay
2015 Barnet Bristol R. / Cheltenham Tranmere
2016 Cheltenham Grimsby / Daggers & York
2017 Lincoln & Forest G. / Hartlepool & Leyton
2018 Macclesfield. / Chesterfield
I know Chesterfield aren’t formally down but in effect they are.
* note 1992 Aldershot didn’t complete the season
* * in 2007 Boston were relegated two divisions.
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