Just two points seperated first from fourth at the end of the 1977-78 season, with Keith Burkinshaw's Tottenham returning to the top-flight at the first time of asking, albeit on goal difference. Philip Cornwall reports
The long-term significance
It’s not the winning or the losing, it’s the coming second or third. Bolton, managed by Ian Greaves, took the title, but it would be 20-odd years before Wanderers, led by one of Greaves’ defenders, would become top-flight regulars. Yet the two teams they pipped for the title, Southampton and Tottenham, haven’t been relegated since achieving this promotion. Keith Burkinshaw, the manager of Spurs who had taken them down the previous May to end 27 seasons in the top flight, was given the opportunity to put that right, something unlikely to happen today.
