Which teams have had the biggest climbs and falls after Christmas Day?
“On Christmas Day 1981, Liverpool were in the bottom half of the table (12th of 22) and ended up winning the league,” tweets Derek Brosnan. “On Christmas Day 1994, Norwich were seventh and ended up getting relegated. Can any teams beat these ascents/descents to success/relegation?”
Let’s start with teams who hit form after Christmas. Liverpool were indeed 12th in 1981, a position they stayed in after an infamous defeat by Manchester City on Boxing Day. Then, from nowhere, they won 18 of the next 20 games to take control of the title race. They eventually finished four points ahead of Ipswich after an impressive post-Boxing Day run of 63 points from 25 games: 20 wins, three draws and two defeats. That looks impressive now but in the early 80s, when the top division was a lot more competitive, it was extraordinary.
In the same season, there was an even more greater post-Christmas surge in Division Three. “Can I put forward Burnley, 1981-82?” offers Mark Jones. “Eighteenth in the table at Christmas, promoted as champions.” The interesting thing about Burnley is that, even when they were 18th at Christmas, they were on a great run of form. After losing six of the first eight league games, they were beaten only twice in the last 38 and pipped Carlisle to the title on goal difference.
Dave Mackay’s Derby were champions of England in 1974-75 despite being 10th at Christmas. Manchester City were eighth this time last year, though the late start to the season meant they had only played 13 games.
Arsenal were sixth and in a perceived crisis on Christmas Day 1997; just over four months later, Tony Adams was summing it all up for the double winners on an idyllic day at Highbury.
Sunderland were 11th in the Championship on Christmas Day 2006, before their players twigged that the best way to make manager Roy Keane happy was to win football matches. They won 17 of the last 22 and were promoted as champions.
The play-off system offers greater scope for snakes and ladders, the ladders bit at least, in the second half of the season. On Christmas Day 2003, Iain Dowie’s Crystal Palace were 19th in what is now the Championship. They dropped to 20th after losing at home to Millwall on Boxing Day, but then won 14 of their last 21 games to sneak – and we mean sneak – into the play-offs. You know the rest.
There are loads of examples of teams plummeting in the second half of the season. As mentioned in the question, Norwich were seventh in the Premier League on Christmas Day 1994.
They lost to Spurs on Boxing Day and Nottingham Forest on 27 December, a scandalous fixture schedule that triggered a spectacular slump. Norwich won only two of their last 22 games and were relegated after losing at Leeds on the penultimate weekend.
“Norwich’s fall matched Spurs in 1927,” notes Gary Cumberland, “and was beaten by Blackpool (from sixth place in 1977), but the winner was Crystal Palace in the 1924-25 season. They opened their presents in fifth place in Division Two on 25 December 1924, before plummeting to 21st place which was second bottom and earned them relegation to Division Three South.”
Middlesbrough were 12th at Christmas in the inaugural Premier League season before becoming decisively embroiled. Manchester City were 11th at Christmas in 1908-09 and went down; the same thing happened to Millwall in 1995-96, though that doesn’t tell the whole story. At the start of December, they were top of the league.
“On Christmas Day 2019, Hull City were 11th but only four points off sixth place,” writes Kirk Buxton. “A win on New Year’s Day took them up to eighth, after which they won only once more for the rest of the season, picking up nine points from the final 20 games and finishing bottom of the league.”
Lincoln were eighth in the old Division Four on Christmas Day 1986, but went into freefall and dropped out of the Football League on a dramatic final day. Hellas Verona were eighth in an 18-team Serie A on 25 December 2001, and were still eighth in mid-March. But they lost six of the last eight games and dropped into the relegation places for the first time on the final day of the season.
A few more to finish up. The following teams were all relegated despite looking comfortable at Christmas: Walsall (11th, League One, 2005-06), Reading (12th, Premier League, 2007-08), Blackpool (10th, Premier League, 2010-11) and Notts County (seventh, League One, 2014-15).
Finally, the one that got away. Thirteen years ago, Phil Brown’s Hull were sixth at Christmas in their debut Premier League season. Then, after Brown administered an on-field brollocking at the Etihad on Boxing Day, they experienced a variant of second-season syndrome. Hull suffered second-halfof-the-season syndrome, winning only one of their last 20 league games. Eventually they avoided relegation by a point, and it was time for karaoke. Knowledge archive
“Have any footballing thespians ever tread the boards in panto?” mused Chris Callaghan back in 2011.
Manchester United used to run an annual pantomime, which was written by and starred the club’s youth players. According to no lesser a source than the Sun, 2011’s panto included skits on Wayne Rooney and David de Gea. One youth player appeared in a Rooney shirt with a Shrek mask and gave a mock interview about how his hair transplants had changed his life. Anderson was teased about his weight, while De Gea’s run-in with the doughnut police was also recreated.
In years gone by, former Newcastle player Peter Beardsley appeared in Sleeping Beauty (“he impressed as King Pedro of Gallowgate in a part written specially for him,” in 1999, according to Observer Sport Monthly’s account). Vinnie Jones shunned pantomimes for bigger things (like Midnight Meat Train, presumably), declaring as he set off for Hollywood: “I want to be a big player. I’ve been offered pantos and turned them down – they didn’t do Frank Bruno any favours.”
Ian Botham appeared on the festive stage – he played professional football for Yeovil and Scunthorpe, lest we forget – making his panto debut at the Alhambra in Bradford on 21 December 1990 alongside George and Zippy from Rainbow. The Daily Express reviewed his performance thus: “The expressionless Botham is the only wooden thing on stage apart from the beanstalk – and even that projects itself better.” Cruel.
Can you help?
“Was there ever a match where all the players were so woeful that no player of the match was awarded?” asks Umar Faruk.
“What is the longest length of time a player has had to leave the pitch, only to eventually return to the game?” wonders Guy Stephenson.