Top ten new boys
A look back at some memorable campaigns for newly promoted top-flight clubs, both good and bad
On the back Cardiff City's memorable
victory over Manchester City on Super Sunday, we take a stroll down
memory lane to remember ten memorable campaigns enjoyed and endured by
promoted clubs down the years.
1992/93 - Blackburn Rovers
Future Premier
League champions Blackburn Rovers introduced themselves to the inaugural
season in some style. After finishing sixth the previous season and
gaining promotion through the playoffs, Rovers could have been forgiven
for struggling in their first top flight season since 1966. However, an
outstanding start to the season proved many people wrong, and the club
even challenged for the title until poor January form robbed them of the
chance.
Blackburn won 5 of their first seven games to stun fans and critics
alike, then continued similar form for the remainder of the calendar
year. On New Year's Day, Rovers were sitting comfortably in fourth
position, just four points behind Norwich City in what was a truly tense
title race. Then the Lancashire club hit a slump, not winning a game
from until mid-February to all-but end their title challenge. Things
picked up from then on, with the club only losing three more games in
the season to finish fourth and miss out on UEFA Cup qualification by
just a single point.
1993/94 - Newcastle United
After romping to First Division glory in spectacular style, recording
96 points and being top from virtually the first kick of the ball to
the last, Newcastle United entered their maiden Premier League season
full of hope. New signings, especially Peter Beardsley for £1.5 million,
fuelled Newcastle's pre-season success, and the club had every chance
of translating this across to the regular campaign.
Unfortunately for the Toon Army, things didn't start all-too well.
Defeats in their first two games left fans wondering whether they would
be dropping straight back down and whether star striker Andy Cole was
Premier League standard.
Those doubts were soon cast aside when Cole
started to link up well with Beardsley, and the north-east outfit were
quickly climbing the league. By New Year, the club had reached an
impressive fifth in the table after having won ten of their last twenty
games. A hat-trick of defeats spanning January and February ended any
faint hopes of a title challenge, but the St. James' Park side regained
their form to win six in a row, and ultimately qualify for the UEFA Cup
in third place. Cole was the league's top scorer with a stunning 34
goals.
1994/95 - Nottingham Forest
Two-time European champions Nottingham Forest had dropped out of top
flight in the 1992/93 season after 17 years there, but gained promotion
straightaway after finishing second in Division One the season after.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Forest adapted to Premier League life well under
the guidance of manager Frank Clark, who had taken over from Brian
Clough when the club went down. Stan Collymore scored 19 goals in his
first Forest campaign the year before, meaning a repeat performance was
expected from the £2 million man.
Forest started the 1994/95 season like they were never gone, going
unbeaten for the first 11 games of the season. By the time they lost, to
eventual champions Blackburn, they were flying in second place. A six
game winless streak, which included four defeats, followed though, and
soon they found themselves in fifth and on the decline. A poor first
three months of 1995 saw the Nottinghamshire club lose touch with the
top four, however a brilliant run of nine wins and two draws to close
the season out meant Forest finished in third and claimed a UEFA Cup
sport. Collymore scored ten times in that eleven game unbeaten run,
giving him 22 goals for the season.
1997/98 - Bolton Wanderers, Barnsley and Crystal Palace
For the first and only time since the inception of the Premier
League, the 1997/98 season saw the three promoted clubs go straight back
down. They were all stuck in and around the relegation zone all season,
with only Bolton putting up any kind of fight. For the relegated clubs,
that season only served to highlight the massive difference that can
exist between the top two tiers of the Football League.
None of the teams started well, with the teams mustering a combined
16 points in 13 games by the end of August. Things picked up for Palace,
who even got as high as 10th in November, but it quickly went downhill
for the London-based side, who went winless from December to mid-March.
Barnsley, who were bottom by New Year and didn't offer much resistance
after that, had their season summed up by thumping 7-0 and 6-0 losses to
Manchester United and West Ham, respectively. Bolton were only
relegated on the final day, albeit by goal difference, and argued that a
shot crossed the line in a 0-0 draw against Everton earlier in the
season. If it had counted and Bolton had won the game, they would have
stayed up at Everton's expense.
1999/00 - Sunderland
A new league and a new sponsor awaited Sunderland after amassing a
then record 105 points during a hugely successful Division One season.
Kevin Phillips was the star of their season, with the England
international scoring 23 league goals. Questions were asked about
whether the forward could translate his game to the Premier League and
play at the highest level. He responded in incredible style.
A 4-0 drubbing by Chelsea was not the way Sunderland wanted to start
their season off, but they dusted themselves down and got going by
beating Watford a week later. A ten game unbeaten streak followed, and
the Black Cats were storming up the table by Christmas, having won 11 of
their first 18 games. However a 5-0 away defeat to Everton on Boxing
Day kicked off an eleven game winless streak, finally ending in March in
the return fixture. The north-east club ended the season well to finish
in seventh place, with Phillips scoring 30 goals to be the league's top
scorer.
2000/01 - Ipswich Town
Finishing third and winning the playoffs the season before, Ipswich
Town were expected to just go back down without doing much harm. However
manager George Burley had other ideas. The Scotsman signalled his
intent by bringing in Icelandic international Hermann Hreidarsson for a
then-club record £4.5 million, and keeping hold of star midfielder Matt
Holland. It was expected that if Town were going to stay up, it would
come down to those two and striker Marcus Stewart.
Claiming just four points in their opening five games was not a good
start for the Tractor Boys, and it seemed like pundits were right about
the Suffolk club. However an impressive run of form followed, with Town
winning 10 of their next 16 matches to propel the club to third at New
Year. Talk of a Champions League place was rife, but five defeats in
their next eight games gave other clubs a chance to catch up. Despite
dropping only seven points in their final nine games, Ipswich slipped
down the table to fifth and qualified for the UEFA Cup. Stewart was the
league's second top scorer with 19 goals, with Holland and Hreidarsson
missing just a combined three games in all competitions.
2004/05 - West Bromwich Albion
2005 may have been the year Liverpool won a historic Champions League
final, and the year Chelsea dazzled the Premier League with brilliant
performances week in, week out, but West Brom fans remember the 2004/05
campaign for a whole different reason. After comfortably finishing
second in the First Division, Baggies manager Gary Megson looked to
bolster their attacking options by adding Zoltan Gera and Robert
Earnshaw to the squad.
West Brom started the season with three 1-1 draws, but it took them
until October to claim three points in a match. A 3-0 loss to Crystal
Palace marked the end of Megson's reign two weeks later, with Bryan
Robson taking the job a week later. Things didn't improve however, and
the Baggies could only muster a solitary point by Christmas Day. They
were five points from safety by then, and relegation was looking all-but
confirmed for the Midlands side. Things turned around in January when
they claimed five points from a possible 12. They continued to grind out
results, and they knew a win on the last day, combined with other
results going their way, would make them safe. The Baggies recorded
their seventh clean sheet of the season to beat Portsmouth 2-0, whilst
their close rivals all failed to win, making West Brom safe by one
point. They are still the only team in the Premier League era to have
been bottom on Christmas Day and avoid relegation.
2005/06 - West Ham United
West Ham gained promotion to the Premier League by finishing sixth
and beating the odds to win the play-off final. This meant the Hammers
were the sixth-best side in the Championship in 2004/05, and now they
were going to be playing the big boys in the Premiership every week. It
was almost a given that they would go down, but Alan Pardew was
determined to keep them up. He made this very clear when he splashed out
£2.5 million on Yossi Benayoun and £1.5 million on Paul Konchesky.
The Irons opened the season in style, winning 3-1 to start top of the
table. They continued this up, winning half their games by October.
Inconsistent form followed though, and from the start of December to the
start of January, they lost five games out of seven. That patch had
pushed the London club way down the table into 10th, but not to be
written off, they won their next five, including a 3-2 victory at
Arsenal. However yet another bout of poor results, in which they won
just two of 10 games, meant that faint hopes of a European place had
gone. They did manage to qualify for the UEFA Cup in the end though,
after losing to Liverpool in the FA Cup final on penalties.
2006/07 - Reading
After marching through The Championship, losing just twice on their
way to a record 106 points, Reading had ended their long wait for top
flight football. Dave Kitson and Kevin Doyle had shared 36 goals in
their record-breaking season, and manager Steve Coppell will have been
hoping their form would continue into their maiden Premier League
season. Coppell also signed Ulises de la Cruz, who played Premier League
football the previous season, and Andre Bikey to add extra defensive
options.
The Royals' season consisted mostly of erratic form, often going on a
long winning streak before entering a losing one equally as long. They
won four of their first seven games, including the first one in which
Dave Kitson sustained a long-term injury, but then lost four in a row in
a tough run of fixtures that included Chelsea and Arsenal. Patchy
December form appears to have plagued newly-promoted sides, and Reading
were no different, losing four games in the month. However, that
kick-started a six game unbeaten run, which suddenly turned into a six
game winless streak in March. A strong end to the season meant the
Berkshire club finished in 8th position, just a single point from a UEFA
Cup place.
2007/08 - Derby County
In the 2006/07 season, Derby County had finished just two points off
an automatic promotion place, but ended up winning the play-offs anyway,
ensuring the top three were promoted. To try and keep Premier League
status as long as possible, manager Billy Davies brought in established
goalscorer Robert Earnshaw and experienced centre back Claude Davis,
both for in excess of £3 million. Even with those signings, Derby were
always expected to struggle. But no one expected them to be this bad.
An opening day draw was a positive sign for the club, but things went
downhill from there on out.
Four games and four losses later, and Irish
bookmaker Paddy Power were paying out on their relegation. Ironically,
things could have started to look up in their next game when they
registered their only win of the season, at home to Newcastle. Of
course, that didn't continue and on the 28th October, Derby fell to the
foot of the table. They didn't move for the rest of the season,
recording just five more points to finish on a Premier League-worst 11.
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