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THE SEASON AFTER
As mentioned at various points in this publication, we have a whole swathe of sup- port who have never seen us play in the top flight, and even more who experienced the joy of promotion for the first time, as well as the added euphoria of it being achieved courtesy of a win at Wembley. While the feel-good factor is most definitely back with us, how long will that last? How did we fare in the seasons following our nine previous promotions?
Alan Brown steered the Lads of ’64 to second place and our first promotion using the likes of club legends Hurley, McNab, Harvey, Mulhall, Sharkey, Cec and Len, Monty, Crossan, and Herd,
and while most of them remained for
the following season, the most notable signing was a goalkeeper, Sandy McLaughlan. With Monty injured, Derek Forster started the season aged 15 before McLaughlan arrived in September. Eighteen goals from Nick Sharkey were the main reason we finished the ’64-’65 season in fifteenth place, a whole seven points from the drop. Would we take that next season? Possibly.
Following our table-topping finish in ’76, the following Division One season was memorable for all the wrong reasons. After a poor start Bob Stokoe decided
he was no longer the man for the job and quit. Ian McFarlane took over, and we managed to win two of his seven games in charge, the first, ironically, at Coventry. In came Jimmy Adamson, who brought three former Burnley servants in Colin Waldron, Mick Docherty, and Doug Collins. However, it was three local Lads,
Elliott, Rowell, and Arnott, the original Three Amigos, who almost saved things. Sixteen goals in three consecutive games (4-0 Boro, 6-1 WBA, 6-0 West Ham, when Hammers boss John Lyall commented that they were lucky to get nil) had Roker rocking, and salvation was very much on the cards until the final game, at Everton. Enter Coventry and Jimmy Hill. Ask yer dad. Would we take that? Hell, no.
After Ken Knighton’s team had earned second spot in ’79-’80, with the Three Amigos reduced to two for most of the campaign thanks to Rowell’s injury, we started well
with a John Hawley hat-trick in our second game, at Man City (imagine that!) following
a 3-1 home victory over Everton that marked two things, Big Sam’s debut, and the most hilarious OG until Dundee Utd’s recent effort. However, after a poor campaign, and a defeat by a Stoke side that included Iain Munro, Loek Ursem, Lee Chapman, Paul Bracewell, and Adrian Heath, Knighton was sacked,
and Mick Docherty took over. Rowell still top scored with eleven, Cummins weighed in with nine, Hawley with seven, and we finished seventeenth, a nervy two points from the drop. Would we take that? I’d rather not.
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