Best ever promotion?
Just picking up a couple of themes from assorted threads I thought i’d give them headings in their own right?
So the question is: is this our best ever promotion in terms of how we got there? I know Wembley was special but to me this tops the lot.
I’ll exclude the first one to the Gola league as that was just strange but the others were:
Bognor (A) (albeit not mathematically certain)
Was it Runcorn (H)? Can’t remember for sure
Preston (Wembley)
Notts County (H)*
Southend (H)
*what a contrast that was to yesterday!
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It's a difficult one, because Chesterfield was only yesterday. 'Best ever' is easy to say in the adrenalin of the moment.
Preston was undeniably great. The performance, the comeback, the fact it was 'back-to-back', and at Wembley.
I'm sure Runcorn was massive (the significance of the achievement) although by then an almost certainty. But it seems a long time ago, and it's very hard to remember the feelings exactly. I remember Preston more, and it was only one season later.
What made yesterday sweeter for me was the 'surprise' factor. I thought we would win our game (although guessed we might make hard work of it) but never thought BOTH Exeter and County would screw up.
Please remind us of the Notts county game as i was living away from this area at the time
Yeah, the odds against the combo of us winning AND both Exeter and Notts County choking horrifically must have been pretty decent. I certainly expected it to go down to the final day.
Can't imagine the Notts County game getting too many votes! Nearly a full house, just a draw needed against a woeful County team who had narrowly avoided relegation and I think had lost their previous 6! A gutless performance, full of fear saw us beaten 1-2, but hold onto 3rd place because of results elsewhere.
Preston was the best for me, the performance that day was unbelievable. Promotions will always be judged on context though. The last 2 promotions were followed by relegations. If we can survive next season and establish ourselves in League 1, then yesterday can be ranked alongside Bognor, Runcorn & Preston.
We actually went up by a goal difference of 1, so turncoat McCracken’s goal that day in a 1-2 defeat got us promoted, the dampest of damp squib proms ever. Captain McC was so sure of his crew he immediately jumped ship to MK, imagine any of our current squad being that disloyal!
They all have their own beauty. But getting in to the football league on the Runcorn evening, however inevitable it had become, is extra special.
I wasn't at Wembley for Preston, but it's hard to see something beating that. First season in the football league, into the unknown, and going up against a famous club like that!
Yesterday was excellent though, better than the last two in 09 and 11 for sure.
The long odds and the late drama certainly made yesterday something that will live long in the memory. Gutted I couldn’t get down to Adams Park afterwards, though considering the state I got in after the playoff defeat of Preston it’s probably for the best.
Very hard to make those sorts of comparisons. However, I would say it is particularly special for the sustained effort of building over several years with the same manager and nucleus of players, and for having begun at the point where the club was really on the brink of the abyss.
Also, the season as a whole has probably been my favourite of those that I can really remember, with the exception of 00/01. So many highlight to savour, but to name just a handful:
-Bayo having a colossal campaign
-Watching Eze, probably the most naturally gifted player I've seen play for Wwfc
-Scoring absolutely loads of goals!
-Tyson coming back and playing a crucial role (I admit I feared it may be a sentimental swansong)
-Multiple late comebacks and last minute goals
-Beating Luton away in a proper midweek, top of the table game
-Matt Bloomfield marking his 400th league appearance with a goal
-Bean!!!!
-Gareth celebrating on the pitch at Chesterfield
A truly sensational season.
Thank you @Glenactico. Saved me endless typing by summing it up perfectly.
After years of comments like "striker's graveyard" and never seeming to trouble the upper levels of goals scored, this year has massively reset that!
I know that GA told us to 'Believe' back a while, but this season has been unbelievable!
@Glenactico An excellent highlight summary of an astonishing season.
It has to be this one for all the reasons adduced by @Glenactico and one or two others, not least being able to attend the last game of the season stress-free on a beautiful warm afternoon.
Good use of adduced.
Thanks @OxfordBlue.
This forum is second to none for sesquipedalian discourse.
Bognor away will never be topped for me - chiefly age related. Bunked off school to get the coach. Amazing scenes. Yesterday not far off though.
Gareth Ainsworth sitting shoulder high amid a sea of Wycombe fans does it for me. That is my computer wallpaper forever now.
Bognor was a fantastic night, and so was yesterday. Southend at home was also a great day.
But for me it has to be beating PNE at Wembley, simply because of the quality of the performance that day.
I might have said the promotion to the football league at home to Runcorn - I was able to actually enjoy the game as well as the outcome simply because the outcome was never really in doubt. Yesterday was too tense for me to enjoy until the final whistle - I actually felt quite unwell for the last 19 minutes after Gape scored. The magnitude of what we were about to achieve was almost too much. I was nearly as nervous as at Torquay.
Thankfully I was so wrong about Exeter winning all their remaining games. So to win promotion yesterday was more than I had dreamed of. I always felt it would come to a nail biting, but ultimately victorious, countdown to the final whistle next Saturday not yesterday. As it is I will now, very much, enjoy next week's game against Stevenage.
I think @Glenactico has pretty much summed it up for me. Those scenes on the pitch at the end of the game yesterday will last a long while in my memoey.
Thanks to everyone - players, management team, backroom staff, match day volunteers, fans. What a team we are.
Preston for me too. Dave Carroll's maizey run a real thing of beauty that day.
Preston for me great day.
I fully expected us going into the last game this season needing a win in fact I had visions of the clock running down as Gaz let Brown go up for a corner so I can’t express my relief that we’ve crossed the line and I will enjoy the party
Preston for me, top day out, Jesus parting the northern defence and then the atmosphere in town that evening, quality. I recall staggering into the Antelope shouting "who are we we?" And seemingly the whole pub shouting "Blue Army!" In return.
Mind you Saturday was pretty special too.
@ChasHarps , i was impressed, having at one stage been sitting a few seats away from you across the aisle, to the next min, seeing you on the pitch revelling!
Some nippy footwork!
I fell over a table in the Antelope that night without spilling my beer. Later fell asleep on Amersham Hill, eventually woken up by a passing concerned driver.
Have to agree with those who say Preston game because the whole season was at stake in just 90 minutes. Had we lost on Saturday we would still have been in a promotion place but also agree that it’s a massive relief and wonderful feeling to have gone up with a game to spare.
Runcorn was special, especially the wonder goal from Guppy. Only problem, I think officially promotion wasn’t confirmed until the following Saturday. But yes, I know, no one was going to beat us on goal difference so we were effectively up after beating Runcorn.
How do the wins at Lincoln and Torquay compare? i.e. Is winning promotion better than avoiding relegation? I’d still put that day at Torquay ahead of any of the promotions!
Didn't we actually lose the game that mathematically secured our promotion to the Football League? I remember the Runcorn game and the one at Gateshead on the Sunday but think I might have erased the memory of the Saturday game for some reason.
How lucky are we to have so many great days to remember and celebrate. Some clubs play for years for one of these.
yes, we lost at home to Altrincham
most fans remember the Runcorn game as the promotion clincher though owing to the huge goal difference advantage we had