Quote Originally Posted by nw6pie View Post
The home form has been key every time we've performed a great escape. Under Nolan we only lost once at home after he joined in 2017 (and that was against champions-elect Portsmouth); under Derry in 2013-2014 we won our final five home games of the season (and this was a team that had been thumped 5-1 at home by Walsall in January); and in the original great escape season of 2001-2002, we again won our last five home games in a row.

What's noticeable in that last fantastic run is that we also started keeping more clean sheets (6 in the last 10 games) and also had some great performances away from home (4-0 at Bury; 1-0 at Peterborough; 2-2 against promotion-bound Brighton, from 2-0 down, thanks to Marcel Cas' great volley).

In 2007-2008, when we finished 21st, we won our last two home games 1-0 (including that Richard Butcher goal against Wycombe), but again got better at keeping clean sheets (again, 6 in the last 10 games).

The luckiest escape was most definitely in 2005-2006, when we won only 1 of our last 16 games (that stat sounds familiar) and scraped a 2-2 draw with Bury on the final day of the season.

What's interesting (to me at least) is how many of the League 2 sides in that 2006 season are either no longer in the league or have been relegated and bounced back - two-thirds (16 out of the 24). Carlisle, Bury, Northampton and Notts are the only ones still in L2, albeit having spent some time in L1.

On the plus side, 7 teams who subsequently went down and returned: Lincoln City, Bristol Rovers, Mansfield, Grimsby Town, Macclesfield Town, Cheltenham Town, Oxford United. If we get relegated, I think we will share a unique "honour" with Oxford and Luton: the only winners of a major trophy to be relegated from the Football League (us the FA Cup, the other two the League Cup).

On the down side, these teams were subsequently relegated and have yet to resurface: Torquay (currently top of National League South); Wrexham (National League); Stockport County (National League North); Darlington FC (National League North); Chester City (National League North); Rushden & Diamonds (dissolved); Boston United (National League North); Leyton Orient (currently top of National League) and Barnet (National League). (Tranmere also get relegated, in 2015, and came back this season.)
An excellent post. My concern is if we were to get relegated it would be a pivotal moment in the clubs history. It could be a positive in that we could start again from scratch and re-build and come back stronger like Bristol Rovers, Oxford United and Luton Town. Or the negative is that we stay in there for a number of years (Wrexham) or even drop down further and wither away. I guess it's how the club approach the future.

The last time we had a season as pivotal as this one could be if we do get relegated was in 1994/95 when we dropped from the 2nd tier to the 3rd tier. That's the line between the lower leagues and the higher leagues. It will be 24 years at the end of the season in which we last played in the 2nd tier which is a generation ago.

I only hope that if we were to be relegated out of the football league we don't end up on a path where it will be a generation that passes since we went out of the football league. I do believe the club is strong in the sense that even in the 5th tier there would be a core of 3,500 - 4,000 which would make us a very heavily supported and big club at that level. In a sense that additional income means we should be able to build a competitive squad. It's not that simple though as big clubs like Leeds, Portsmouth, Sunderland and others have found out when they've dropped into the lower leagues. You then become the team everyone wants to beat.