As Bad As Things Got: Bristol City, 1st April 1982

18 months earlier they'd been in the First Division, but by spring 1982 Bristol City were on the brink of bankruptcy and closure.

The early 1980s were a desolate time for English football. Crowds had slumped and revenues had plummeted, though transfer fees continued to shoot up, leaving a large number of clubs living on the breadline. And one club came to symbolise the agony of the era more than any other, a club that had led a fairly trouble-free existence for the previous nine decades or so but which peaked as the game’s economics took a serious downward turn and who almost paid the ultimate price when things went sour.