Bolton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Portsmouth, and Middlesborough are clubs to drop like a stone from Europe’s secondary competition to the Football League in recent years. Not to mention Leeds United’s fall from grace…
Should Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United be worried? Perhaps not, but as football shows – You never quite know what is around the corner.
Here’s a look at how the European adventures of the following clubs…
Bolton Wanderers
Oh for the glory days under Gary Megson eh?! While Wanderers fans may be far more content seeing the club’s management in the hands of Owen Coyle, they can only look back on the relative success with envy. It was actually the UEFA Cup back then, and Bolton did really well – Until Megson effectively threw the competition. Their run included a memorable win over Sergio Aguero’s Atletico Madrid, and a remarkable draw away to Bayern Munich. They were eliminated away to Sporting Lisbon in the last 16, after Megson fielded an under strength side to concentrate on the Premier League. After a narrow defeat fans were simply left wondering what could have been.
Birmingham City
Birmingham City had an eventful few months in 2011. No sooner had the dust settled from winning the Carling Cup and qualifying for Europe, than they were relegated from the Premier League. So by time their Europa League campaign kicked off they entered it as a Championship club and with a depleted squad. Despite a relatively fearless group featuring Maribor, Braga, and Brugge, they could not quite do enough to qualify for the next stage, despite a final 1-0 win over Slovenians Maribor in their final game. It turned into a real against-the-odds adventure, and at least for supporters it softened the depressing blow of relegation.
Portsmouth
From AC Milan to administration, never has a club sunk so quickly as Pompey, and it is terrible to see. Right now Portsmouth have just three registered players after the cash-strapped club were relegated to League One. Harry Redknapp’s side almost beat Italian giants Milan, racing to a 2-0 lead before being pegged back courtesy of two late Ronaldinho and Inzaghi strikes. They also met Braga and Wolfsburg, and it was the Germans led by Edin Dzeko who dumped them out of the competition after a hopeless David James error which saw them lose 3-2. A second chance to enter Europe was denied to them after reaching the FA Cup Final in 2010, after they had entered administration.
Middlesborough
Amazing Middlesborough reached the Final of the UEFA Cup under Steve McClaren’s management. It would boost his reputation and later prove costly for England. They may have lost 4-0 in the final to Sevilla, but two dramatic comebacks put them there. They were 3-0 down on aggregate to Basel in the quarter finals before winning 4-3, and 2-0 down to Steaua Bucharest before triumphing 4-2 – with Italian Massimo Maccarone the unlikely goal hero. This after knocking out Italian giants Roma. Truly a memorable run, but the Championship club are very much a middle-of-the-road side at present and 2006 seems like a long time ago.
And then – Leeds United – Champions League and downwards
Leeds went one worse than all of the above, they dropped from Europe’s elite competition down to the Football League. They preceded Portsmouth by entering administration and going into League One, but they have bounced back somewhat since. Under Neil Warnock they are busy snapping up new signings and fancy their chances of promotion next season. Leeds reached the semi-finals of the Champions League back in 2001, finishing above Barcelona in their group, knocking out Deportivo in the quarters, before succumbing to Valencia in the semi-finals. Memorable days indeed.
image: © steenbergs
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