Going to the Wire : English Football's Finest Final Day Acts of Escapology

Going to the Wire looks at a dozen teams, from the 1970s to the present day, whose survival came down to the season’s final day. It captures the drama and the passion that comes when not only league survival, but jobs and even a club’s very existence can be on the line. 

It’s all here, as Tom Brogan looks at the drama of late, late goals, on those days when fans can spend more time with ears pressed to radios, or eyes glued to mobile phones, all for news from another ground! The passion, the shredded nerves, bitten fingernails, the absurdities of blatant time-wasting, fake news of ‘goals’ elsewhere and ultimately teams coming back from the dead. 

Relegation is all part of the game, but one that no fan wants their team to get dragged into, but great escapes can make heroes of the unlikeliest of players. Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Middlesbrough, Burnley, Derby County and Coventry City are just a few of the clubs whose final-day escapes make the cut in Going to the Wire, as Brogan reveals just how close some clubs got to falling through the relegation trap door and what it took to avoid it.

Tom Brogan has written for When Saturday Comes, Nutmeg magazine and various football websites, including In Bed With Maradona and The Football Pink. His first book, We Made Them Angry: The Story of Scotland at the World Cup Spain 1982, was released by Pitch in 2022, while his second, Scotland 101: An Introduction to the National Team, was published in 2023.