What's the cost of relegation?

Feb 22 2009 by Michael Kelly, Sunday Sun

WITH Newcastle United and Middlesbrough in a relegation dogfight, and Sunderland not quite out of the woods, the region’s fans face a nail biting end to the season. But the dreaded drop is not just a disaster in football terms, as Mike Kelly found out.

IT seems like a case of deja vu for Middlesbrough fan Rob Nichols.

The country is in the midst of a recession, Woolworth is closing down on the high street and his beloved team is facing the drop.

This is not just a snapshot of the Teesside town today, but the nightmarish memory of 1981 when Boro dropped out of the top tier under Bobby Murdoch.

It is the memory of that relegation rather than the more recent one in 1997 which he compares the present feeling of doom to.

For in the 1990s there was Juninho and the collective sense of injustice about the “three point affair” when Boro were docked the points after postponing a fixture against Blackburn Rovers within 24 hours of the scheduled kick-off.

Rob said: “While it was like a fantasy turned to a nightmare we picked things up pretty quickly. We still had big crowds when we went down. We really got behind the team to right a wrong.

“The circumstances this time around are not like that. I can remember other relegations in history, when we went down under Bobby Murdoch.

“In the 1980s there was a recession, I can remember Woolworths closing down in town. The crowds dropped to about 5000. All you see on the television now is news of people losing their jobs. If your team goes down it finishes you off.

“We don’t want to think about it. You say ‘don’t mention the match’ when you meet friends. Then we do. People are really worried.”

And so they should be. Boro along with Stoke and West Brom are the three bookies’ favourites to be relegated this year. Newcastle are fifth favourites to go down and while the odds on Sunderland have lengthened with their recent form, that could change with a couple of bad results in a desperately close Premier League.

Apart from the financial hit from dropping out of a cash-laden division, there are other unseen factors which come into play.

Rob, who edits the Boro fanzine Fly me To The Moon, explained: “First and foremost it is without doubt a big blow to the public’s morale. It makes you feel proud when you are in the top league because we are a small town.