Only seven seasons have passed since the three-point win requirement was instituted before Stoke City entered the 35th game with 35 points or less.
When we examined the same statistic last week, we saw that ten seasons had 35 points heading into the 34th game. However, the classes of 1984, 2013 and 2020 achieved significant victories at this precise juncture in order to finish on the correct side of the dotted line.
There are now seven ill ones left: the one that is hanging by a thread, the relegations in 1985, 1990, 1998, and 2018, and the last-day escapes in 1982 and 2003. Despite the sometimes gloomy tone and the hard journey to this point, nothing is written in the script yet.
Do or die is the situation. Twelve pivotal games that have the power to either build heroes or give rise to nightmares; games where a single second can decide a player’s career and place them in the annals of history.
Stoke has previously dropped into the third tier and emerged unscathed, but nobody should undervalue the devastation that would come with being relegated this time around—job losses and excruciating accusations.
Teams may find themselves caught up in the terrible cycle of League One, where winning 90 points and having an exceptionally good season may not be sufficient to secure promotion. Bad signings are even more desperate, defeats are even more gut-wrenching, and you could be locked there for years.
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