IN A relegation fight there’s nothing worse than being in a dressing room, looking around and knowing there are people that don’t fancy it.
I have been relegated in 2002 with Derby and Southampton in 2005.
Danny Higginbotham has been relegated on two occasionsCredit: Getty – Contributor
I won all the Player of the Year awards at County that year but I would have swapped them all for staying up.
In my experience, when the s**t hits the fan, when you are down at the bottom, certain players pick up an injury.
Then when you start to get some wins and look like you are going to get out of trouble, all of a sudden that treatment room empties very quickly.
You cannot have five per cent of the squad not fancying it because you have to have everyone with the same mentality going on the pitch.
It is going to be a scrap and it is going to hurt.
When you are winning everything is brilliant. When you are not winning, in my experience, that is when you get to know a lot about people. At this stage of the season it is not all about the pleasing-on-the-eye stuff.
It is about getting results in whichever way is necessary and players sticking together.
It is going to be a scrap and it is going to hurt.
People talk about the pressure at the top of the league — trying to win the title or get into Europe — especially when you are at a huge club. But I tell you what, multiply that pressure for teams down the bottom.
West Ham have the biggest pressure from inside and out.
The players brought in over the last two seasons were signed for the other end of the table.
That doesn’t make them bad players, it is just you have a certain mentality of player for where you are in the league.
Down at the bottom, it is all about togetherness, continuity and having that mentality as an individual and collectively to get out of the position you are in.
I took relegation very personally. It really affects you — you just want to get away from everyone and the whole horrible situation and gather your thoughts.
When I went down with Southampton, we played Manchester United in the last game of the season.
At half-time it was 1-1 and we were safe but we ended up losing 2-1 and getting relegated.
I was the last one into our dressing room and Sir Alex Ferguson was outside waiting for me.
He apologised to me because I was with United until I was 21. He said ‘it’s football’.
But even having such a legendary figure take the time to do that didn’t take away the pain of going down.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
