When Elmer Bernstein wrote the score to The Great Escape for the 1963 war movie of the same name, the American composer could hardly have envisaged its role in the Premier League’s relegation fight.
These days Bernstein’s tune is a staple earworm for any team escaping the drop into the EFL.
West Ham fans will hum along if they score early against Leeds and it will reverberate five miles across London to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium where former Hammers boss David Moyes’ Everton team are the visitors.
It will be a nailbiter. It always is – as those who survived the final day tell Daily Mail Sport.
Who will win the battle for survival between West Ham and Tottenham on the season’s final day?
May 7, 1994: Everton 3 Wimbledon 2
Everton stay up, Sheffield United relegated from the Premier League.
Destiny was not in Everton’s hands on that day. They were in the bottom three and needed a better result than Sheffield United at Chelsea to escape. They went 2-0 down in 20 minutes at Goodison Park to a Wimbledon team who would finish the season sixth.
‘I shudder to think what the odds on us staying up at that time,’ said Tony Cottee. ‘To get back from there was a minor miracle.’
It started with a penalty. As Graham Stuart put the ball on the spot, he saw fans dangling in the trees of Stanley Park, visible through the frame of a new stand being built at the Park End of the ground. Stuart scored and Barry Horne levelled.
‘A phenomenal goal,’ said Cottee, who had a hand in Stuart’s 81st-minute winner. ‘The ball hit me just under the knee, bounced off my shin pad and back to Graham Stuart who side-footed it towards goal. Honestly, I didn’t think it was going to end up in the back of the net. As it went past me, I thought, “well, that won’t beat anyone” and of course it went in past Hans Segers.’
Stuart called it ‘one of the worst goals and one of the best goals’ of his career. ‘Must’ve bobbled 20 times and popped over Hans’ arm and the roof came off Goodison,’ he said. The goal came under renewed scrutiny when Segers later became embroiled in match-fixing allegations.
‘There’s only one person can answer them questions,’ said Cottee. ‘What a game though, an incredible game. You look back and think, wow, we were close. Nine minutes from Everton getting relegated for the first time in 40 years. I didn’t want that on my CV.
‘Fans steamed onto the pitch when the final whistle went. Pure relief more than ecstasy because the pressure was so huge. A bottle of champagne was opened but I remember thinking to myself Everton shouldn’t be celebrating staying in the Premier League. As good as it was that we were, that’s not a cause for celebration. Just as whoever survives from Tottenham or West Ham shouldn’t be celebrating. They should be having a good look at themselves.’
Sheffield United only needed a draw to pip Ipswich to survival but conceded a stoppage-time goal at Chelsea.
Gary Ablett and Graham Stuart celebrate with Everton fans after beating Wimbledon in 1994
Club chairman Bill Kenwright (centre) celebrates the result that kept Everton in the top flight
May 19, 1977: Coventry City 2 Bristol City 2
Bristol City and Coventry stay up, Sunderland relegated from the First Division.
This one is mired in controversy. One of three teams would go down on the final day, all on 32 points. There was Sunderland who were at Everton. And there were Coventry and Bristol City, playing each other at Highfield Road. The away side were managed by Alan Dicks, who had been assistant to Coventry’s managing director Jimmy Hill when he was Sky Blues manager in the 1960s.
Gerry Sweeney of Bristol City reflects now: ‘Loads of fans came up from Bristol City to support the team and before the game Jimmy Hill (then Coventry chairman) came in and said, “Lads, the crowd is so big, there’s 15 minutes delay”. We went “Oh no”. Nothing else. The game started and they went 2-0 but Gerry Gow got one back for us then (in the 79th minute) Donnie Gillies equalises, brilliant.
‘Jimmy Mann hit one and it skimmed the bar. And on the screen it came up: Everton 2 Sunderland 1 – Final Score. Everyone knew if this stayed level both teams were safe so without saying a word we’ve gone, you stay in that half and we’ll stay here.
‘They had Mick Ferguson up front still running about like a man possessed and Norman Hunter said to him: “What are you doing? Get in your own half!”. Still running around, he said: “No, no, no, we’re not getting relegated”. Norman said: “It won’t happen, Everton have beaten Sunderland”. Ferguson said: “I don’t believe you”. Norman said: “It’s on the scoreboard”. Ferguson said: “I still don’t believe you”. Norman said: “It’s your scoreboard”. Eventually they pulled him back.’
The managers Dicks and Gordon Milne celebrated afterwards drinking champagne from tea cups. The Football League investigated and cleared both clubs of wrongdoing. Hill claimed the decision to delay kick off was made by the referee. Sunderland fans have not forgotten. They still don’t like Coventry or Bristol City.
The Bristol City side of ’77 that stayed up, led by manager Alan Dicks (middle row, furthest left) and saved by a goal from Donnie Gillies (back row, furthest left)
May 14, 2000: Bradford City 1 Liverpool 0
Bradford stay up, Wimbledon relegated from the Premier League.
Bradford were in the relegation zone, behind Wimbledon on goal difference. They required a better result than Wimbledon to stay up and few fancied their chances. Bradford were at home to Champions League-chasing Liverpool and Wimbledon were at Southampton.
‘So many people had written us off from the start and at various points through the season,’ said Bradford defender David Wetherall. ‘We had to get a result and knew even a win might not be enough. And Liverpool had a lot riding on it, so not many gave us a chance going into that game either.
‘Probably not so many in and around the dressing room either, truth be told. Our manager Paul Jewell said regardless of what happened we should be proud of our efforts and it seemed to take the pressure off. We went out and did what we needed to do. It was a strong performance. We came under pressure, but I don’t remember us riding our luck.’
Wetherall scored the only goal, a header from a corner in the 12th minute. As one of the most famous Bradford goals, images of it adorn Valley Parade.
‘Sometimes football rewards you,’ he said. ‘We just had enough, Wimbledon didn’t match the result, and we got that escape that so many people thought if not impossible very highly unlikely.
‘News filtered onto the pitch from the crowd that Wimbledon were losing. We had a good idea what was happening. Everyone was ecstatic at the final whistle. I was shattered. I’d played every minute of every game that season. It had been a long season and a long afternoon.
‘There wasn’t a big celebration. I went round to the neighbours for a quiet drink but that result helped Leeds qualify for the Champions League. It was my first season at Bradford after leaving Leeds and I got a noisy phone call from Gary Kelly on the Leeds bus on the way back from a goalless draw at West Ham.’
Bradford had won three of their last four to survive. Wimbledon, who lost 2-0 at Saints, did not return and three years later split into Milton Keynes Dons and the phoenix offshoot now known as AFC Wimbledon.
David Wetherall (left) celebrates scoring the only goal against Liverpool that kept Bradford City up in 2000, as Dean Saunders (right) joins the party
But for Wimbledon it was agony, as they dropped out of the top flight and soon became MK Dons
May 15, 2005: West Bromwich Albion 2 Portsmouth 0
West Brom stay up, Crystal Palace, Southampton and Norwich City relegated from the Premier League.
West Bromwich Albion started the day 20th but beat Portsmouth 2-0 and became the first in the Premier League era to stay up despite being bottom at Christmas. The escape was plotted by boss Bryan Robson with the help of a bonding trip to Disney in Florida and that famous Al Pacino speech from the film Any Given Sunday.
Hungarian midfielder Zoltan Gera admits he couldn’t understand most of what Pacino was saying and Danish defender Martin Albrechtsen’s clearest memories are of dressing-room nerves and a bottle of cognac pulled from a medical bag.
Robson said: ‘The conditioning coach Richard Hawkins had a bottle for emergencies. A few of the lads wanted a shot to take the edge off their nerves. I looked at Richard as if to say, “as long as they don’t have more than a nip”. Some of the lads put it in their tea when I was playing.’
It was goalless at half time and Gera was playing on with a broken hand when Robson sent on former builder Geoff Horsfield, who had prepared for the game by renovating one of his properties.
Horsfield said: ‘I had the plasterers coming in on the Monday so after training on Saturday I went on site and knocked an internal wall down and was putting a steel girder in at 10 that night. It’s a good thing I was only sub because I was a little bit tired.’
At times in the day all four of the relegation-threated teams had survival in their grasp, but Albion prevailed. Horsfield scored the first and Kieran Richardson the second. And Kevin Campbell doused Robson with champagne.
Robson said: ‘My eyes were stinging for two days, and he ruined a decent suit, but it was worth it. I went to a nice little Indian restaurant in Walsall afterwards with my wife, my brother-in-law and his wife. I was totally drained and in bed by 10. Honest!’
Relegated were Crystal Palace who conceded a late equaliser at Charlton, Norwich who were hit for six by Fulham and Southampton who lost at home to Manchester United to end their 27-year stay in the top flight.
Geoff Horsfield, scorer of the first West Brom goal, celebrates when the Baggies found out they had stayed up – the first team to do so after being bottom at Christmas
Kevin Campbell douses manager Bryan Robson in champagne after the great escape
May 14, 1983: Manchester City 0 Luton Town 1
Luton stay up, Man City relegated from the First Division.
Luton’s season was ending badly with a 5-1 home defeat to Everton and a 3-0 defeat at Manchester United pitching them into a fight to the death at City.
Boss David Pleat said: ‘We shouldn’t have had a chance really, but my team could play and I knew that. We were underdogs and we were nervous, but as we left our hotel in Stafford, there was a cavalcade of cars with orange scarves on the motorway. That was fantastic, like me saying to the players, “you’re not alone”. Somehow the players delivered.’
Raddy Antic scored the only goal to keep Luton afloat and condemn City, and Pleat danced onto the pitch in his brown suit and shoes.
‘It’s a blur now,’ said Pleat. ‘I just ran instinctively to my great captain, Brian Horton. City fans were on the pitch. It was slightly volatile. I’ve no idea what I was thinking about. It was the release of pent-up emotion. Pride, that’s what I felt.
‘It was my team. I had built it and to stay up meant everything. Maybe that dance and that suit is what I am remembered for, which is a bit of a shame because it eclipses the progress we made, but I’m OK with it.
‘Afterwards, City chairman Peter Swales was there in his platform shoes and his hairpiece. He was almost in tears. He said: “I’m pleased for you, but this will kill us”. And I said it would have been worse for us. They came back. We may not have.
‘I went into the City treatment room to find their manager John Benson. He was a lovely man and I wanted to commiserate. Anyway, Eddie Large, the comedian, was with him. I didn’t know what to say. I was just a bit embarrassed.’
Outside Maine Road, there was more drama.
‘City fans were going crazy,’ said Pleat. ‘Swales Out and Sack the Board. At the back of our coach were six Manchester policemen in case people attacked the bus. The first mile and a half was packed and a lady stepped in front of the bus. We knocked her over. My physio got off the bus and treated her.’
Pleat’s suit went to a charity shop and his shoes raised £4,000 for the club’s academy at an auction.
David Pleat’s famous dash onto the pitch to celebrate after Luton Town stayed up in 1983
Raddy Antic’s only goal could well have saved Luton from oblivion – though Man City thought they were would never recover
May 14, 2007: Sheffield United 1 Wigan Athletic 2
Wigan stay up, Sheff Utd relegated from the Premier League.
Amid the controversy surrounding West Ham, Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, Wigan Athletic knew they would stay up with a win at Sheffield United.
Emile Heskey, who had gone down with Birmingham the year before, had been brought in to bring experience.
‘We knew we had it in our hands and we knew what it meant to the club,’ he tells us. ‘You’re always going to be nervous, aren’t you? You can imagine the tension around the place. But you can be nervous and excited at the same time. I was excited. I wanted to go out there and beat them. I just wanted to win.
‘We had a good set of players and, even though we were on a bad run, we were still together and believed in ourselves. It wasn’t a fractured squad where people were upset we were losing. That helped us. You just have to block everything out and, as team-mates, try to be as focused and relaxed as possible. Don’t overthink it. Despite everything, it’s just another game.’
Paul Jewell’s side went ahead through Paul Scharner on 14 minutes but Jon Stead equalised for Neil Warnock’s Blades. Then Phil Jagielka’s moment of madness, handballing in the area from Kevin Kilbane’s free-kick, gave Wigan a penalty and David Unsworth duly converted.
A Heskey overhead kick brought a spectacular save out of Paddy Kenny just after half-time, and then Lee McCulloch was given a second yellow card for a foul on Michael Tonge – leading to some creative solutions from Jewell.
The Phil Jagielka handball that ended up sending Sheffield United down, as they lost 2-1 at home to Wigan Athletic
Emile Heskey celebrates with David Unsworth, who scored the penalty that kept Wigan up
Wigan boss Phil Jewell celebrates at full time, as relegated Blades boss Neil Warnock looks on. Then Jewell delivered a bombshell to his players
‘I ended up playing centre back for the last five minutes, with us down to 10 men,’ says Heskey. ‘Any ball into the box, you just want to get the first contact. We wanted to win so badly.
‘After we won, we were sitting in the dressing room, everyone was super happy we were staying up and already thinking about next season when Paul came in and just went “lads, lads lads, stop, stop, stop” and told us he was resigning.
We were in shock. We had got over the line. We’d done it. He just said he couldn’t do it anymore.
He’d put all the pressure on himself and took it off us. A lot of managers do that, to help us go out and perform. You don’t realise how much of a strain it puts on people. The pressure it puts on them and their family, it’s not just you dealing with it.’
