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Thread: All four football leagues and below?

  1. #11
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    Too true, Mike. It's hard to imagine now - especially Burnley who survived relegation from the old Fourth Division to the Conference in the last game of the season when they needed to beat Orient - and Lincoln had to lose. Both happened and Burnley stayed up. That was the first year when coming last in the Fourth Division meant automatic relegation. Prior to that, the club in the final place had to seek reelection and the FL would vote to make a decision. Had Burnley gone down they would probably not have survived as a club...

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by mikemiller View Post
    Near misses for Burnley, Wolves and Cardiff not so long ago!
    Also Swansea just a couple of years after pipping us to the 4th Division title.

    Interesting thread CT and I never realised Orient had hit the heights but it was only for one season and in the year of my birth so I have an excuse.

    I thought Bristol Rovers might be another but they have never quite made it to the promised land. In researching I did see they started as a team with a name that would raise a few eyebrows today, the Black Arabs.
    Last edited by CAMiller; 08-12-2019 at 08:49 PM.

  3. #13
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    Another fairly near miss - Blackpool had to apply for re-election at end of the 1982/3 season after finishing 21st in the old 4th Division.
    Bottom four clubs were all re-elected.
    Last edited by mikemiller; 08-12-2019 at 09:07 PM.

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by CAMiller View Post
    Also Swansea just a couple of years after pipping us to the 4th Division title.

    Interesting thread CT and I never realised Orient had hit the heights but it was only for one season and in the year of my birth so I have an excuse.

    I thought Bristol Rovers might be another but they have never quite made it to the promised land. In researching I did see they started as a team with a name that would raise a few eyebrows today, the Black Arabs.
    I never knew that about Bristol Rovers being called the Black Arabs, CAM. Not something they bring up too often, these days, I suppose!

    I did a bit of quick research on it and they borrowed the name from a local Bristol rugby club who called themselves the "Arabs". Rugby was far more popular in the area in the 1880s and they were presumably capitalising on a known name. The 'Black" part came from the need to differentiate themselves from the rugby team and the fact that they wore an all-black kit.

    Obviously it was different times and different sensibilities. Although there's no clear evidence I could find to prove it, there were several rugby teams that called themselves "Saracens" in those days to denote that they were teams that wandered nomadically to play their games - including one in Bristol. Saracen was the old name for the nomadic Arabic tribes used in the time of the Crusades. It's entirely possible that the Bristol rugby team named themselves the "Arabs" within this same context.

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by mikemiller View Post
    Another fairly near miss - Blackpool had to apply for re-election at end of the 1982/3 season after finishing 21st in the old 4th Division.
    Bottom four clubs were all re-elected.
    Yes, Blackpool have been up and down the four divisions quite dramatically over the years. Hard to imagine they were such a force - especially in the late 1940s/early 50s

  6. #16
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    Just had s bit of a google and surprisingly Watford had to apply for re-election several times in the 50’s.

  7. #17
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    Grimsby Town apparently played in the top flight when Frog was a boy, and they've been out of the league recently, so they must qualify.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by PerigordMiller View Post
    Grimsby Town apparently played in the top flight when Frog was a boy, and they've been out of the league recently, so they must qualify.
    Correct!

    Brentford have run it fairly close , just avoided having to apply for re-election to Division 4 a couple of times

  9. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by CTMilller View Post
    I never knew that about Bristol Rovers being called the Black Arabs, CAM. Not something they bring up too often, these days, I suppose!

    I did a bit of quick research on it and they borrowed the name from a local Bristol rugby club who called themselves the "Arabs". Rugby was far more popular in the area in the 1880s and they were presumably capitalising on a known name. The 'Black" part came from the need to differentiate themselves from the rugby team and the fact that they wore an all-black kit.

    Obviously it was different times and different sensibilities. Although there's no clear evidence I could find to prove it, there were several rugby teams that called themselves "Saracens" in those days to denote that they were teams that wandered nomadically to play their games - including one in Bristol. Saracen was the old name for the nomadic Arabic tribes used in the time of the Crusades. It's entirely possible that the Bristol rugby team named themselves the "Arabs" within this same context.
    The Saracens rugby club when they were first founded actually had a local rival team called The Crusaders.

    Later the two teams amalgamated to form the current club. So Saracens 1 Crusaders 0

  10. #20
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    Sep 2005
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    Don't forget Sheffield Zulus fc.

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