Yo-yo club

A yo-yo club is a sporting side that is regularly promoted and relegated between a higher and lower league or division. This phrase is most typically used in association football in the United Kingdom, but also in other countries.

The phrase has been used to describe teams such as Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion, all sides that have regularly been promoted to and relegated from the top flight in English football (now known as the Premier League).

In England

Brighton & Hove Albion

Brighton & Hove Albion have been a yo-yo club in the 2000s, with 3 promotions and 2 relegations (and a final-day relegation escape) in 6 seasons up to 2005-2006. In their first season after being relegated from the Championship, they finished 18th in League One.

Leicester City

Leicester City have been another yo-yo club during the last 15 years. They won promotion to the Premiership as Division One playoff winners in 1994, only to go down after one season. They regained their status at the first attempt and spent six seasons back in the top flight, winning two League Cups in the process, before going down again in 2002. They returned to the Premiership at the first attempt, only to go down again. In the space of 14 seasons, 'the Foxes' moved divisions six times. They finally relegated to League One, the first time in their history that they had fallen into the league's third tier in 2007-2008 season.

Manchester City

Manchester City were another team to bounce between the divisions during the 1980s, being relegated from the First Division to the Second Division in 1983, being promoted again in 1985, suffering relegation again in 1987 and finally returning to the First Division in 1989 - thus moving divisions four times in the space of seven seasons. City's yo-yo form returned between the mid 1990s and early 2000s. They slipped from the Premiership to Division One in 1996, and two years later were relegated to Division Two - the first time in their history that they had fallen into the league's third tier. Two successive promotions followed and City were back in the Premiership come the 2000-01 season, only to go down again after one season. They regained their Premiership status at the first attempt by winning the Division One championship and have remained at the highest level ever since. In the course of seven seasons, City moved divisions six times.

Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough were a yo-yo club during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. They were promoted to the First Division in 1974 and remained there for eight years before going back down to the Second Division in 1982. In 1986 they were relegated to the Third Division and almost went out of business, but quickly recovered and two successive promotions took them back into the First Division for the 1988-89 season. They went down again after one season and remained in the league's second tier until winning promotion to the newly-created Premiership in 1992. They went down after one seasons but regained their Premiership place two years later as Division One champions. Two years later, in spite of signing more than £10million worth of famous international players, a three-point deduction cost Boro their Premiership status and they slid back into Division One, but regained their Premiership place at the first attempt and have held on to it ever since. It has seen the Tees-siders achieve stability after a 25 years of yo-yo existence which saw them move divisions 11 times.

Norwich City

Norwich City are a yo-yo club. [ [http://www.sportingo.com/football/a5749_how-arsenal-manchester-united-chelsea How Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Co can help the Premier League Yo Yo Clubs - Sportingo ] ] In 1972, the club finally reached the pinnacle of the league structure, with their first promotion to the top tier. Since then, the club has spent 21 seasons in the top league and 15 in the second tier, where they currently reside. [http://stats.football365.com/cgi-bin/teamrecords.pl?team=Norwich_City Statistics - Football365 News ] ]

underland

Sunderland have established themselves as a yo-yo club during the last 20 or so years. They were relegated to the Second Division in 1985 and in 1987 reached the lowest ebb in their history by slipping into the Third Division. They were promoted at the first attempt and by 1990-91 had reached the First Division again, only to lose their status after just one season. They reached the Premiership as Division One champions in 1996 but were relegated a year later. Sunderland returned to the Premiership in 1999 and finished seventh in both of the following two seasons, but by 2003 an increasing difficulty in finding the net had caught up with them and they were relegated from the top flight. They won the newly-named Championship title in 2005 but dreadful Premiership form throughout the 2005-06 Premiership campaign condemned them to relegation. In 2006-07, they were able to win the Championship to be promoted to the Premier League. This will be their 12th movement in 23 years. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/7294791.stm]

Watford

In the last 30 years, Watford have been regular movers between the league's four divisions. In the four seasons leading up to 1982, they won three promotions to climb from the Fourth Division to the first. They were league runners-up in their first season as a First Division club, and were F.A Cup losing finalists a year later. But they were back in the Second Division come 1988-89, and slipped into the third tier of the league (by then the new Football League Division Two) at the end of the 1995-96 season. They were promoted back to Division One two years later after winning the Division Two title, and a Division One playoff triumph the following year earned them promotion to the Premiership. But Watford were unable to adjust to the pace of Premiership football and were relegated at the end of their first top flight season in more than a decade. They won the Championship playoff in 2005-06, but last place in the Premiership the following season ensured their 11th movement in 25 seasons.

West Bromwich Albion

West Bromwich Albion have lived something of a yo-yo existence over the last 22 or so years. They were relegated from the First Division in 1986 and five years slipped into the Third Division for the first time. They won the new Division Two playoffs in 1993 and remained in the Division One for nine years before winning promotion to the Premiership in 2002. Albion's first top flight campaign for nearly 20 years ended in relegation but they were promoted back to the Premiership at the first time of asking. Albion were relegated two years later to complete their seventh division move in the space of 23 seasons. They finally promoted back to Premier League as champions in 2007-2008 season.

West Ham United

West Ham United have been another yo-yo club since 1977/78 when their where Relegated to Div 2. In 1980/81 Their gotPromoted to Div 1 only to go back down in 1988/89. Promoted to Div 1 again in 1990/91 but only for 1 season Relegated 1991/92.Promoted to Premiership in 1992/93 but Relegated (with 42 points!) to the 'Nationwide' Division 1 in 2002/03.Promoted to Premiership 2004/05. They avoided from relegation by 1-0 winning against Manchester United in 2006-2007 season.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolves were one of the most famous yo-yo clubs during the 1980s. They began the decade on a high by winning the League Cup in 1980, only to suffer relegation to the Second Division and narrowly avoid bankruptcy two years later. They regained their First Division status at the first attempt, only to endure successive relegations over the next few seasons and slip into the Fourth Division for the first time in 1986. Fourth Division championship glory came two years later and the following year Wolves were Third Division champions and promoted to the Second Division. During the 1980s, Wolves had moved divisions seven times in eight seasons. They have spent all but one of their 17 subsequent seasons in the league's second tier (Second Division, Division One and now the Championship), having been in the Premiership during the 2003-04 season.

In Ghana

Bofoakwa Tano have been promoted or relegated nine times since finishing bottom in 1979. They were promoted back to the top flight in 1982, but were relegated again in 1985. The club reappeared in the top division in 1989-90, by which time the league had switched to winter. They were relegated again in 1990-91, promoted back in 1994-95, relegated in 1996-97, promoted in 1997-98. In 1999 they finished third from bottom, but avoided another relegation by winning a play-off. However, they were relegated again in 2006-07.

In the Netherlands

Dutch football club FC Volendam are known as the "Heen-en-weer club" (The to-and-fro club): they won promotion from the Eerste Divisie to the Eredivisie in 1959, were relegated in 1960, were promoted in 1961, were relegated in 1964, were promoted in 1967, were relegated in 1969, were promoted in 1970, were relegated in 1972, were promoted in 1977, were relegated in 1979, were promoted in 1983, were relegated in 1985, were promoted in 1987, were relegated in 1998, were promoted in 2003 and were relegated in 2004. As a result of the last relegation, FC Volendam are currently playing in the Eerste Divisie.

In Turkey

Karşıyaka SK relegated from first level in 1964, 1967, 1972, 1991, 1994 and 1996. AlsoSakaryaspor has an interesting statistic. They promoted in 1981, relegated in 1986. But they promoted again after 1986/87 season. However they could only stay in first level for 3 seasons and relegated again in 1990. They came back to first level for a single season : 1998/99. They were back again in 1st level in 2004/05, but relegated same season. They won 2005/06 play-offs and promoted to 1st level again, just to relegate after one season. They almost repeated same thing when they reached play-offs in 2007/08 but this time they lost and finally "stayed" in 2nd level for a 2nd season in row.

References

External links

* [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/malagal.html Yoyo teams worldwide (RSSSF)]