It’s a really weird feeling being in a relegation battle. You feel like your career and your whole life are in limbo as you don’t know where you’ll be playing next season, and when you begin to think you’re really in trouble everyone starts rushing for the lifeboats.
I was only relegated once in my career, at Nancy in France, but had a few close shaves and remember the fear very well. Most people in life like certainty and are slightly scared of the unknown — footballers are no different. They want to know where they’ll be playing next season, which division they’ll be in, how much they’ll be earning, but when you’re threatened by relegation all those things are up in the air.
Everyone’s trying to see the chairman to find out what will happen, but you never really know until the season is over and everything is decided. And even then there’s often a long queue outside the chairman’s office
It affects your whole life. The boys in the Barclays Premier League are earning good money, but most of them have got families who will be struggling with the uncertainty. For the players it’s about professional pride and job satisfaction but their wives will be wondering where they’re going to be living next season. Understandably many women hate the constant moving that goes with being a footballer, especially if their kids are settled in schools, so they often stay put and their husband makes the move on his own.
Having said all that I actually enjoyed our relegation campaign at Nancy. It was desperate for the younger players, but as a senior pro coming to the end of my career it was a good experience. I saw it as a real challenge and enjoyed the heightened stakes. Maybe I’m an adrenaline junkie, or just an oddball. You can really feel the nerves in the dressing room before every game and some players feed off that and it increases their enthusiasm, but you need the right characters. Looking at the Premier League right now I’d be worried if I were a Newcastle fan, as I don’t think they’ve got players who will relish the dogfight. Sunderland look like they have stronger personalities for me.
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My Millwall team were relegated from the old Division One in 1990, but I had left in March to go to Aston Villa. Millwall were in desperate trouble at the time but I had no choice and was told that I had to go. Players often don’t get any choice and once the club accepts an offer there’s not much they can do.
If Newcastle go down, I think about three quarters of the squad would go, which is dangerous. If you don’t have the same stake in your club’s survival then it’s doubtful that you’ll be as committed as players whose careers are on the line and it becomes a vicious circle. Ironically once you start scrambling for the life raft you’re far more likely to drown.