I think they were the first to go, in 86-87. If I have the right year I think it was them or Burnley on the last day, and Burnley did enough to stay up. It would have been a huge story if Burnley had gone down because they had been League Champions less than 30 years earlier. I’m sure Lincoln bounced straight back, I think quite a few teams did in the early years of automatic relegation.
I know it was one team relegated for a long time, I’ve forgotten when it changed to two.
Yes they were the first was it Maidstone that replaced them or Wycombe
Scarborough were in for 87/88, their first match was v Wolves. What could possibly go wrong?
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It must have been Maidstone then, because Wycombe came up in 92-93. We played them on NYD of 1994, a terrific game we won 4-2 in front of loads of their lot. They got promoted in their first season.
I know we played Maidstone a few times but all I can remember is a dull 0-0 draw in front of a low crowd one Tuesday night. I couldn’t name a single player, they came up for a few seasons and went without making any impression on me.
Good shout. A quiet, uneventful first game for them. 
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Another marketing triumph no doubt 
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We’ll never know. No accounts were filed.
As I recall there were about 8 or 9 clubs that could have gone down on the last day that year, including Burnley and Tranmere. Lincoln went down on goal difference having never been bottom all season, reason I remember was I was at college with lads who individually supported Tranmere, Lincoln, and Burnley and a Swansea fan and Swansea beat Lincoln on the last day.
Tranmere were the ones in absolute freefall having failed to win for weeks, but then they won on the Friday night when a defeat would have relegated them thus sending the other teams into the Saturday needing their wins.
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It was Burnley I remembered because the media were making a big thing of the chance of them disappearing into non league having been Champions in 1960. I suppose it would be like Blackburn ending up in the Conference in 2022. I don’t think they were bothered about any of the other teams, but I remember Lincoln because they finished bottom. Lincoln had been a decent third division team in the early and mid eighties, the fall seemed a swift one.
PT may recall that the non-league legend Chris Camden played for Tranmere that night, as a part-timer whilst working at Vauxhall Motors.
There was a headline that mixed up his day job with the fact that he helped save Tranmere from the Vauxhall Conference as I think he got an assist for the winner.
Our best cup run was the one that saw us beat Manu and Newcastle before going out 2-1 in round 5 at the Blues, in a disappointing game that, had we played even to our normal standard, we should have won.
I remember at St Andrews some kids throwing stones through the gap between the roof and wall of the stand at the back.
Other strong memories were us beating Swansea 6-3 and Preston 7-3, with Willie Naughton getting a hat-trick.
That one was before my time, but I remember beating Swansea 4-1 in 77-78. Having got past Dagenham and then Port Vale it was a bit of an anti-climax to only get Swansea in Round 3, but a Buckley hat trick and one from, I think, Jeff King, saw us through to play Leicester and then Arsenal.
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I remember. I was selling programmes in Wallows Lane. They brought a lot a fans who were really giving it big. Some thought they’d win no trouble. Hopes snuffed out pretty quickly from what I remember.
My first ever Walsall FA Cup game. Went with a friend from my class at secondary school who was a Swansea supporter.
I think that season was the start of their rise, they were in Division One by 1981 or 1982 and then went all the way back down again in a few years. They must have been promoted in 77-78 because we played them the following season when we were relegated.
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From what I remember, one if the few highlights of that season was a 2-2 draw at the Vetch.
I think Sibley was manager then wasn’t he? Probably our best result under him.
Yep. Wasn’t there, but, from what I remember was reported, it was one of Dave Syrett’s ( remember him?) best games for us.
I do remember him, he’d always been a handful when I saw him, I thought it would be a great signing, and that he and Terry Austin could have been brillaint together. Problem was he was signed to replace Austin, not play with him.
From Christmas onwards we hardly got a point, we were dreadful.
He went to Peterborough. I can remember the away game. Took enormous stick from the away end despite the fact that he pulled back on a challenge on the Walsall keeper, Turner?, that could have been dangerous if he’d gone through with it. It looked a decent decision. A good enough player ,at our level. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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