Hi guys, just curious to see what teams were in the top league (who aren't now) while they were growing up. The fact that the parachute payments are so high that when teams go down are almost always expected to be immediately promoted nowadays, however the teams that don't and now struggle find themselves as far down as League 2 (Bradford and Wimbledon). As I am only young am not too sure which teams were "top dogs" before the premier league came along.
I first started taking an interest in football with the Charlton-Burnley Cup Final in 1947. I was 7. My father and brother were Chelsea supporters. We still had a war worker from the North billeted with us. He was a Burnley supporter and teased me a lot. I was so pleased when Charlton won I decided to support them. Later, when I married, I moved from Surrey to Lewisham and was fanatical for a couple of decades, going to away matches, reserve and youth matches, etc. To answer your post, at the end of the 1947-48 season, Grimsby and Brentford were relegated from the top division. Of course neither have been back. Grimsby now play in the Conference. Other teams I can think of who have played in all five top tiers are Carlisle, Oxford and Luton. Can anyone think of others?
Charlton were a top flight team when I started supporting them in 1989 at Selhurst so in my eyes should always be a top-flight club even if I perhaps wasn't fully aware of the circumstances at the time of being at Selhurst and what position the club was in. Luton Town were also in the top league playing on a plastic pitch along with QPR think it was. Wimbledon were there too, Forest and Norwich were up with the league's big hitters. Funny though Chelsea, Leeds, Birmingham, Man City all with there very recent histories of success were not in the top flight either!
