Some clubs are accustomed to being in the limelight, fighting to be at the perch in their domestic leagues, all is not merry for the clubs used to seeing the abyss at the bottom.
While some do have the misfortune of falling into oblivion, there are others who have perfected the skill of survival and always seem to emerge out victorious having stared down the gun barrel of relegation.
While the incredible success stories of Leicester City winning the Premier League and Atletico Madrid reaching the Champions League seem to take up all the news headlines, not all heroics lie in clubs bagging trophies and glories but also in pulling themselves out of the danger of relegation.
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So here we take a look at 5 clubs who have become the masters of ‘The Great Escape’ and constantly flirt with danger but always avoid the ultimate drop.
1) Sunderland
Talk about relegation battles and the first team that comes to mind is Sunderland.
The club from Tyne and Wear can no doubt be called the “Houdini of Escapes”. After spending 237 days in the bottom three (That’s 84% of the season!), somehow Sunderland managed to escape relegation at the very death, pulling off wins at Chelsea and Everton and drawing to Arsenal and Stoke City in their last 5 fixtures.
They won 12 points of a possible 18 from their last six games, finishing 2 points above third from bottom arch-rivals Newcastle, making the escapade even sweeter.
Sunderland have been surviving narrowly since the past few years, their best finish being just 5 points above the relegation zone in the last four seasons. It has been the same story in and out for the club’s fans, the shadow of the drop looming large for most of the season and finally crawling out through the pitch black tunnel into broad daylight in a ‘Shawshank Redemption’-esque style.
This year was a repeat of the circumstances faced last time around when they bounced back with a five-game unbeaten run to guarantee Premier League stay with one game in hand.
2) Granada
Another familiar specialist, Granada was able to secure survival only on the penultimate matchday of this season.
This season was the fifth consecutive time that Granada have avoided the fall, bettering their last season and deciding their fate with one game to go instead of taking it to the very last.
Till February, the Nazaries were heading to what seemed like a rock bottom finish having registered only five wins but never looked back after the managerial shift in the form of Jose Gonzalez. They went on an impressive 6-game unbeaten run at home before suffering a defeat at the hands of champions Barcelona in the last match of the season.
Granada have been finishing 16th, 17th, 15th, 15th and 17th in their last five seasons, always managing to survive against all odds. Their secret has been in changing the management each season in the second half.
They did so in 2012, appointing Abel Resino, repeated it with bringing in Lucas Alcarez which worked for two seasons and then continued the ‘tradition’ by bringing in Jose Ramon Sandoval followed by Gonzalez in the seasons to come.
This system of showing the door may be frowned upon by many, but seems to be working for Granada year after year.
3) Hamburger SV
The famous “Bundesliga clock”; the clock that hangs at Hamburger’s stadium Volksparkstadion indicating them to be the only club to have never relegated from the top flight ;did come into danger of being removed the last two seasons when they finished in the relegation qualification playoff spot, but won both of them to keep the remarkable record intact.
Although Hamburger seemed to have finished this season strongly , finishing 10th in the League but they were still only 5 points clear of the relegation zone.
Their last season saw a finale which surely would have given some faithful fans a heart attack. They finished with the worst goalscoring record in the league, managing just 9 goals in 34 games. But in a turnaround of the season, they secured the playoff spot following a run of three wins in their last five games.
After drawing to third placed second division side Karlsruher at home in the first leg of the playoff, they came from a goal down to score an equalizer in injury time in the second leg and went on to win the match in extra time!
The 10th place finish could be a sign of things to come for the Hamburg-based club and fans will be hoping that the club improves further under current manager and club legend, Bruno Labbadia.
4) Toulouse
Critics had already consigned Toulouse to Ligue 2 with 10 games to go as they languished 10 points short of survival, but they did the unthinkable and saved their skins on the last day of this season, closing in on the huge point gap; a feat that has never been equalled in Ligue 1 so far.
Although they have managed mid-table finishes in the past, Les Pitchouns have finished just above the relegation zone for the second consecutive time, finishing just five points clear last season and ending their campaign with an even lower gap of two points this time around.
Their escape this season was truly miraculous after having picked up 18 points from a possible 30 at the very end. Their battle was won in some fashion, coming from one goal behind in a must win game to score twice in the last 12 minutes of the season against Angers SCO in a 3-2 thriller, the winner being scored from a direct free-kick!
Toulouse could take some positive from the season as they have scored more goals than half of the teams and should look to add to their back line if they want to avoid another last day battle against relegation.
5) Udinese
Udinese would seem to be the surprise pick in the list, but the fact is that ever since star striker Antonio Di Natale’s form faded, they have not been able to touch the soaring height of a top five finish again. Instead, they have become unwanted escape artists, consistently finishing narrowly above the bottom three.
This season saw Udinese finish just a point above 18th placed Carpi, having already decided their fates with one match to go. Coincidentally, their last game was against Carpi itself which they lost 2-1. Their last season finished on a similar note, ending 16th in the table, 7 points clear of the drop.
The club must act upon the obvious warning signs the last two seasons have given them. To avoid following in the footsteps of the likes of Aston Villa, Udinese’s current manager Luigi De Canio should look to the transfer window during this summer to bring in some new talent with club legend Di Natale retiring, otherwise the last gasp escapes may just prove a little too much to handle for the Italian club next season.
