Yo-yo club
[1] The phrase is most typically used in association football in the United Kingdom, especially in reference to promotion to and relegation from the Premier League.
In Germany the equivalent term is Fahrstuhlmannschaft; in Greece it is ομάδα ασανσέρ; in Hispanic countries it is equipo ascensor; in Danish elevatorhold; in Russia they often say команда-лифт; in Turkish asansör and in Chinese it is called 升降机; All seven terms literally mean "lift team" or "elevator team".
Similarly, Crystal Palace reached the Premier League five times and were relegated the following season on the first four occasions, but have now survived in the top flight since 2013.
Playing from 1971 to 1981 on the top flight, since 1982 the club has spent nine seasons in the Brasileirão Série A, 18 seasons in the second division, three in the third division and three in the Brasileirão Série D. Due a severe administrative crisis, the club currently competes at the Campeonato Pernambucano.
Other clubs who recently swung between divisions are América Mineiro,[5] Criciúma, Sport Recife, Náutico, Figueirense, Ponte Preta, Bahia, Vitória, Guarani and Vasco.
[6] Most of them are from the Northeastern region of Brazil, from Santa Catarina and from smaller cities of São Paulo state.
The next 70 years (including the breaks for the two world wars) were comparatively stable, with only three relegations and four promotions.
Despite their previous reputation as a yo-yo club during the erratic years of the 1980s and 1990s, only five other clubs (Everton, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United) have spent more than the 95 seasons Manchester City have been in the top division of English football.
They lasted only one season, and spent three more years in the Second Division before winning promotion to the newly created Premier League in 1992.
Two years later, despite investing over £10 million in transfer fees for famous international players, a three-point penalty for failing to fulfil a fixture cost Boro their Premier League status.
This time they regained it at the first attempt, and they held on to it for 11 years, but played seven consecutive seasons in the Championship following relegation in 2009.
In the next 23 seasons the club was relegated to the second tier three times (1973–74, 1980–81, 1984–85) but they always bounced back to the top flight at the first attempt (1974–75, 1981–82, 1985–86).
In 2018, Gregor Robertson, writing in The Times, described Norwich City as "The perennial yo-yo club".
[10] Notts County are the second most frequent yo-yo club, switching divisions a total of 29 times in their history with 13 promotions and 16 relegations.
Notts County have spent a total of 30 seasons in the top flight of English football, all of which were in Division 1.
Each time they won promotion at the first attempt, and it was their manager Eric Taylor who referred to this period as "the yo-yo years".
In 1958, Sunderland were relegated for the first time in their history, they then spent six seasons in the second tier, gaining promotion in 1964, they were relegated in 1970 and spent a further six seasons in the Second Division; it was during this spell that Sunderland won their second FA Cup, beating Leeds United in the 1973 FA Cup Final.
Under the management of Peter Reid, Sunderland were promoted to the Premiership in 1996; again it was a short stay, returning to the second tier in 1997.
However, their stay at this level was short-lived and they were twice relegated, at the end of the 1971–72 and 1974–75 seasons, to sink back to the Fourth Division.
Under the auspices of chairman Elton John and manager Graham Taylor, Watford achieved promotions in consecutive seasons between 1977 and 1979 to reach the Second Division once again.
Watford were league runners-up in their first season as a First Division club, and were FA Cup losing finalists a year later.
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 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.
The table below shows the total number of relegations and promotions (of select clubs) between the top four tiers of English football as of the beginning of the 2023-24 season.
Arminia Bielefeld (14 moves), VfL Bochum, Hertha BSC (both 12), Karlsruher SC and MSV Duisburg (both 11) each are also considered to be yo-yo clubs in German club football, as well as Hansa Rostock (16 moves) and Union Berlin (12) if the league system in the former East Germany is included in the statistics.
In more recent years, Frosinone, Crotone and Benevento have seen multiple promotions and relegations in successive seasons.
Their next promotion came (after changing their name to Petro Płock) in 2000, and this time they managed to avoid relegation after one season.
Dunfermline currently hold the record for relegations from the top flight, experiencing demotion from this level on ten occasions (1928, 1937, 1957, 1972, 1975, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2007, 2012).
Dundee have been the country's foremost yo-yo club since league reconstruction in 1975, with eight relegations over this period and nine overall (1938, 1976, 1980, 1990, 1994, 2005, 2013, 2019, 2022).
They almost repeated same thing when they reached play-offs in 2007–08 but this time they lost and finally "stayed" in second level for a second season in row.
