At the start of 1983, they were in third place behind Wolverhampton Wanderers and Queens Park Rangers, and were seven points clear of fourth-placed Leicester City with a game in hand by the end of March.

However, successive defeats to Leicester, Sheffield Wednesday and QPR saw Fulham drop out of the promotion places for the first time since November.

Going into their final match of the season at relegation-threatened Derby, Fulham’s destiny was now out of their hands as they were level on points with Leicester, but with an inferior goal difference.

It later transpired referee Ray Chadwick had actually blown for an offside decision and there were still 78 seconds to go, but there was little hope of the match restarting.

Fulham manager Malcolm Macdonald immediately called for the match to be replayed and the club lodged an official appeal the following Monday, which was rejected by the Football League.