You’d think he’d stop signing for Premier League clubs eventually…
Hermann Hreidarsson is one of football’s journeymen, having played for 10 clubs over 21 seasons of professional football between making his debut in 1993 and retiring in 2014. His total transfer fees add up to £8.15 million. During his career, he won the Football League Third Division and the FA Cup. He was named in the Third Division PFA Team of the Year and was named the Icelandic Footballer of the Year on three separate occasions (1997, 2000, 2007). Of his 610 career appearances, 522 of these were made playing in English football. Hreidarsson would spend 15 years in English football plying his trade for seven different clubs: Crystal Palace, Brentford, Wimbledon, Ipswich Town, Charlton Athletic, Portsmouth and Coventry City. Apart from Brentford and Coventry, Hreidarsson would play Premier League football for five different clubs between 1997 and 2010. Between these dates, the Icelandic defender would make 332 appearances in the Premier League, scoring 14 goals along the way. These statistics become irrelevant compared to the major statistic that Hreidarsson has become known for. Along with one other player (who will discussed another time), Hermann Hreidarsson shares the record for the most relegations suffered by an individual player, having suffering the pain of relegation on five separate occasions. This article will examine each individual relegation including the club who were relegated, when it happened, how it happened and what happened to Hermann Hreidarsson in the aftermath of this relegation.
1. Crystal Palace, 1998
Hermann Hreidarsson began his professional career playing in his native Iceland. Making his professional debut in 1993 at the age of 19 for IBV (also known as Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja). He play five seasons for the club between 1993 and 1997, becoming a first-team regular in his second season. He would be a key player as the team rose to prominence within the Icelandic league as the team moved from finishing 8th out 10 teams in his debut season to 3rd two seasons later. In his final season, Hreidarsson would help IBV become champions of Iceland for the second time in their history, winning the Úrvalsdeild for the first time since 1979. During the team’s rise, Hreidarsson would also receive his first caps for the national team, making his debut in a match against Cyprus in June 1996.
Hreidarsson would not play the entirety of IBV’s title-winning season as he would be scouted by newly-promoted Premier League club Crystal Palace. Crystal Palace had gained promotion to the Premier League through winning the First Division play-offs, beating Sheffield in the play-off final after to return to the top-flight after three seasons in the second tier. Hreidarsson would sign for the Selhurst Park club for a still unknown fee on 1st August 1997.
During his debut season in English football, Hreidarsson would make a total of 36 appearances for Crystal Palace, 30 of which would come in the Premier League. He would partner ex-Arsenal player Andy Linighan in the centre of defence, while being flanked by full-backs Dean Gordon and Marc Edworthy. Despite a bright start, winning 2 of their first 3 matches back in the top-flight defeating established teams Everton and Leeds United, the Eagles would soon find further wins hard to come by, earning a further 6 of the course of the remaining 35 league matches.
At point in the season, Crystal Palace would lose 8 straight Premier League matches between 10th January and 14th March 1998, failing to score in five consecutive matches during this run. If this losing streak wasn’t enough, it was at the heart of a 15 match winless streak dating back to a victory over Tottenham back in November. Hreidarsson would regularly start for a team that only won two matches at Selhurst Park during this season and conceded a total of 71 goals, the leakiest defence in the league. Two notable losses during the season would occur at the hands of Chelsea and fellow promoted club Bolton Wanderers. On 11 March 1998, Chelsea would defeat Crystal Palace 6-2at Selhurst Park. Palace would actually take the lead in this match through Hermann Hreidarsson, but soon the floodgates would open as Gianluca Vialli (x2), Gianfranco Zola, Tore Andre Flo (x2) and Dennis Wise would provide the goals for the visitors. What made this defeat even more embarrassing for Crystal Palace was the fact that Chelsea had scored a single goal in previous four league matches prior to the match at Selhurst Park.
On 2nd May, with Palace pretty much down, Bolton would also arrive at Selhurst Park to inflict further pain. The wanderers would take the lead early through Nathan Blake but the hosts would quickly respond through defender Dean Gordon. Palace would even take the lead through striker Marcus Bent to make it 2-1 to the Eagles. Bolton would equalise within the first 20 minutes through Mark Fish. Eight minutes later, Bolton were 3-2 up and didn’t look back. Alan Thompson scored a fourth in the 70th minute and 9 minutes later, Dean Holdsworth had made it 5-2. Despite leading 2-1, Palace had still managed to lose heavily. After remaining in mid-table for most of the season, Crystal Palace dropped in to the Premier League relegation zone for the first time on 9th February with a 3-0 defeat to Wimbledon. They would never make it out of the relegation zone, hitting bottom two weeks later after losing 3-0 to Coventry City. Relegation would be confirmed with another 3-0 loss, this time to Manchester United on 27th April 1998, immediately returning to the second tier of English football.
Despite relegation, Crystal Palace would still qualify for European competition the following season, finding their way into the UEFA Intertoto Cup. How did the team manage to qualify? They were the only English team to apply for entry into the summer tournament. Hreidarsson would score his first two Premier League goals during this season. The first would come in a 3-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday on 25th October 1997 and the second would be the aforementioned opener against Chelsea in March.
Hreidarsson would initially stick with Crystal Palace after their relegation to the First Division and would play 10 further matches for the club in all competitions before moving down the football pyramid to sign with Third Division Brentford on 22nd September 1998 for a club record £750,000.
2. Wimbledon, 2000
Hreidarsson would make 37 total appearances for Brentford during the 1998/99 season, scoring 6 goals from defence. $ of these goals would come in the league as Brentford would win the Third Division title on 8th May 1999, beating title rivals Cambridge United on the final day of the season. Hreidarsson would make 8 appearances and score 2 further goals for Brentford in the Second Division before being rocketed right back to the Premier League after receiving an offer from Premier League club Wimbledon.
On 12th October 1999, Hreidarsson would join his second Premier League club for £2.5 million. He would make his debut for the Crazy Gang, starting in a 3-2 victory over Bradford four days later. The Bradford win had only been Wimbledon’s 2nd victory of the season after 11 matches, with their only victory occurring on the opening day in another 3-2 win over Watford. He would become a crucial part of Wimbledon’s defence with Kenny Cunningham, Ben Thatcher and Alan Kimble. He would score his first goal for the club in 2-2 draw with West Ham on Boxing Day 1999. Hreidarsson would make 24 Premier League appearances for the Crazy Gang. However, he would find himself in another leaky defence, as Wimbledon’s defence conceded 74 goals during the 1999-00 season.
Similar to Crystal Palace, Wimbledon would find wins hard to come by, winning a total of 7 matches the entire season, but wouldn’t find themselves in relegation trouble until the season’s closing stages. Wimbledon spent a total of three weeks in the relegation zone across the whole season, first dipping in after a 5-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, the match before Hermann Hreidarsson’s debut.
Wimbledon would remain in the lower stretches of mid-table for most of the season, but would once again taste the relegation zone with three weeks remaining. Wimbledon would drop from 15th place on 11th March after a 2-1 victory of Leicester City (their last win of the season) to 18th on 30th April after a 3-0 defeat to Bradford. The Bradford defeat had come at the end of a, 8-match losing streak. A 2-2 draw with Aston Villa would see Wimbledon escape the following week at the expense of Bradford. However, a 2-0 defeat to Southampton on the final day of the season coupled with a surprise Bradford victory over Liverpool at Valley Parade saw Wimbledon end their association with the top division that had existed since 1986. In addition, Hermann Hreidarsson had suffered his second Premier League relegation in three seasons.
3. Ipswich Town, 2002
Hermann Hreidarsson would not have to wait long to pay in the Premier League once again. Three months after Wimbledon’s relegation from the top flight, he find himself going the other way. On 18th August 2000, Hreidarsson would be signed by newly-promoted Premier League club Ipswich Town for a club record £4 million. Ipswich, like Hreidarsson’s previous club Crystal Palace had attained the third possible promotion slot out of the First Division by winning the play-offs, beating Barnsley at Wembley in May 2000. Luckily for Hermann, this next season wouldn’t end in relegation. It would end up being quite the opposite.
Ipswich Town would finish their first Premier League season since 1995 in 5th. They actually finished in 5th place, above Premier League stalwarts Chelsea (6th), Newcastle (11th), Tottenham (12th) and Everton (16th). Ipswich were the quintessential ‘surprise package’ in this season’s Premier League. After joining from Wimbledon, Hermann Hreidarsson would make his debut in a 3-1 defeat to Spurs on 18th August. Having spent his previous Premier League seasons at centre-back, Ipswich manager George Burley would move Hreidarsson to left-back to accommodate the central defensive partnership of Titus Bramble and John McGreal.
Hreidarsson would only miss 2 Premier League matches and would play at total of 46 matches for the club in all competitions. Compared to his previous two Premier League clubs, Hreidarsson was now part of a strong defence that earned 12 clean sheets across the whole of the season and conceded 42 goals, the 5th-fewest in the Premier League with only the top 3 and 7th-placed Sunderland conceding less. Backed by a strong defence and the goals of Marcus Stewart, Ipswich would surprise everyone who pegged the team as pre-season relegation favourites, winning 20 matches to gain a place in the following season’s UEFA Cup. Along the way, Ipswich would actually spend 12 weeks in the Champions League placings, including 8 straight weeks in 3rd place between 4th March and 21st April. They would compete with the Premier League’s elite, defeating Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield and holding Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal to draws at Portman Road.
Manager George Burley would receive huge plaudits for his incredible stewardship of the club, earning the Premier League Manager of the Month award for November before being named both the Premier League Manager of the Season and the League Managers’ Association Manager of the Season. Hreidarsson had found himself a winning team.
Ipswich could not repeat their heroics in their second Premier League season. After spending 12 weeks in the 2000-01 season in the Premier League’s top 3, the Tractor Boys would spend 26 weeks of the 2001-02 in the Premier League’s relegation zone. The team would open the season with a 1-0 away defeat to Sunderland, but would respond by beating Derby County 3-1 at Portman Road on 21st August. After this, Ipswich would go 15 matches without winning until a 2-1 victory over Spurs on 22nd December. This itself would spark a period of good form that carried Ipswich out of the relegation zone and as high as 12th place. Including the victory over Spurs on 22nd December, Ipswich would win 7 out of 8 matches, beating Leicester, Sunderland, Spurs (again), Derby County, Fulham and Everton.
After this particular run was ended with a heavy 6-0 defeat to title-chasing Liverpool on 9th February 2002, Ipswich would only win 1 of their final 13 matches, a 1-0 win against Middlesbrough at Portman Road on 24th April. Ipswich would be relegated on the final day of the season, thanks to another heavy defeat to Liverpool (5-0), ending their stay in the Premier League after two seasons. Hreidarsson would play another 47 matches for Ipswich this season, starting all of the team’s Premier League matches and all 6 of the team’s UEFA Cup matches, where the team would exit at the hands of Inter Milan in the 3rd round. He would also score two goals, one in the league and one in Europe. His first would come in a 3-2 Premier League defeat to West Ham on 28th October 2001, but the second would be even better, as the Iceland international would open the scoring in a 3-1 UEFA Cup second leg victory over Swedish side Helsingborg on 1st November. After being part of the 5th-best defence in the Premier League one season earlier, Hreidarsson was now playing in a defence that conceded 64 goals in the Premier League, becoming the joint-worst defence in the league that season along with bottom-placed side Leicester City. To boot, he had now picked up his 3rd Premier League relegation in 5 seasons.
4. Charlton Athletic, 2007
Compared to his previous teams, Hermann Hreidarsson would immediately leave Ipswich Town after their relegation from the Premier League, playing much of the 2002-03 in the First Division. He would make a further 36 appearances for the club, playing under three different managers as George Burley and then Tony Mowbray would make way for Joe Royle to take charge. On 27th March 2003, Hreidarsson would leave the Tractor Boys to join his fourth Premier League club, Charlton Athletic for £900,000. The deal was made up of an initial fee of £800,000, with an £100,000 bonus being paid to Ipswich if Charlton were not relegated at the end of the 2003-04 Premier League season. Even they saw a pattern was occurring. He was allowed to move outside of the regular transfer windows due to Ipswich Town being in administration, but due to being transferred outside of the regular windows, he was not allowed to play for Charlton until the following season.
Hermann Hreidarsson would make his 4th Premier League debut in a 3-0 Charlton defeat to Manchester City on 17th August 2003. Similar to his previous clubs, he would become a Premier League regular, playing 33 out of 38 matches alongside Mark Fish, Chris Perry, Luke Young and Jonathan Fortune in the Addicks defence. Instead of another relegation season, Hreidarsson would find himself part of another winning team as Charlton would win 14 and lose 13 matches to ultimately finish 7th in the Premier League.
Similar to Ipswich two seasons earlier, Charlton actually threatened the Champions League and UEFA Cup places throughout the course of the 2003-04 season. A total of 11 weeks were spent in the Premier League top five, including seven straight weeks between 26th December 2003 and 8th February 2004. However, a late-season slump saw the Addicks drop out of European contention after 2 wins in their final 10 matches. Throughout the season, Charlton would pick up victories against Liverpool (3-2), Chelsea (4-2), Tottenham (1-0) and draw with Arsenal (1-1). Hreidarsson would add to his Premier League goals tally, scoring twice in wins over Blackburn (1-0) and the aforementioned 4-2 victory over Chelsea.
The following season, Charlton would reach the heights of the previous season, but would still finish in a respectable 11th place in a strong mid-table position. Charlton’s form was mostly inconsistent throughout the season as back-to-back wins would be followed by back-to-back defeats. The Addicks would spend the majority of the season in the Premier League top half, reaching as high as 7th on six different occasions. However, a now traditional late-season slump from Charlton saw the team drop into the league’s bottom half after failing to win their final 9 matches. Hreidarsson would have another strong season, making 39 total appearances for Charlton, with 34 coming in the league. He would score one league goal this season, in a 2-0 victory over Everton on 28th December 2004.
In Hreidarsson’s 3rd season at The Valley, the result would be much the same. Charlton would have a strong first half to the season before falling away after Christmas to finish in 13th place. The team would start incredibly well, winning all four Premier League matches to start the season, with new signing Darren Bent scoring in all 4 victories. A further win against West Brom at the end of September following a loss to champions Chelsea saw the Addicks lying 2nd in the table after 6 matches. The team would remain in the top five for another four weeks. However, a 5-match losing streak between 29th October and 4th December 2005 saw the team drop out of the Premier League’s top half, to which they would never return. After this streak, Charlton would only win 7 of the next 23 matches, failing to seal a top-10 finish and costing long-time manager Alan Curbishley his job. Despite the 18 league goals of Darren Bent, 55 goals conceded throughout the course of the season by Charlton’s defence would see the team lose 17 matches.
For Hreidarsson, he would make the most appearances of any Charlton player during the 2005-06 season. His 42 appearances in all competitions (34 Premier League appearances) placed him as the rock at the centre of Charlton’s defence.
The 2006-07 season would be a much more difficult season for Charlton Athletic. Three different managers would head through the doors of the Valley. For Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie, who had replaced Alan Curbishley in the summer, would be sacked in November. His replacement Les Reed would set a new Premier League for shortest managerial tenure in Premier League history being sacked after 6 matches to be replaced by West Ham manager Alan Pardew. Despite heavy investment in the transfer market which saw the arrivals of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Djimi Traore, Amdy Faye, Scott Carson ,Andy Reid, Souleymane Diawara, Zheng Zhi, Ben Thatcher, Madjid Bougherra and Alex Song, the Addicks were never able to gather any sort of momentum throughout the season. The team would be in the relegation zone for all but five weeks after beginning with one win from their first eight matches. Charlton would pick up 8 wins from the 38 Premier League matches, but would only pick up consecutive victories once during the season.
As the season drew to a close and the threat of relegation loomed ever nearer, Alan Pardew’s side would put up a fight in February and March, going on a six-match unbeaten run which drew the team out of the relegation zone for the first time since 9th September. However, 3 defeats from the final 5 matches saw Charlton slip out of the Premier League after seven consecutive seasons. Hermann Hreidarsson would remain a Charlton regular at left-back despite two managerial changes, making 32 total appearances (30 in the Premier League). He would go scoreless for a second consecutive season in what would be his final season at The Valley after his 4th Premier League relegation.
5. Portsmouth, 2010
Now a Premier League veteran, 33-year-old Hermann Hreidarsson wouldn’t take long to join his fifth Premier League club. 12 days after the end of the 2006-07 season, Hreidarsson would join Portsmouth on a free transfer on 25th May 2007. Portsmouth had finished the previous season in 9th place under the stewardship of Harry Redknapp.
Following the signings of Glen Johnson, Sulley Muntari, Lassana Diarra, John Utaka, Sylvain Distin, David Nugent, Jermain Defoe and Hreidarsson, Portsmouth would have their best Premier League season to date. Following a difficult start where the team won 1 of the first 6 matches of the season, Portsmouth, powered by the goals of Zimbabwean striker Benjani, would go on an 11-match unbeaten streak starting with a 0-0 draw with Liverpool at Fratton on 15th September 2007 and lasting until a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham on 15th December. The highlight of this streak would be a historic 11-goal thriller against Reading on 29th September. The 7-4 victory would break the record for the highest-scoring Premier League match. The match was notable in that 8 of the 11 goals scored in the match would be scored after half-time.
The 11-match unbeaten streak would see Portsmouth rise from 15th to 5th and into a UEFA Cup place. This would be the peak of Portsmouth’s league season, but the team’s position would fluctuate between 6th and 9th for the rest of the season. Portsmouth would lie 6th with five matches, but a draw with Newcastle and four straight losses to end the season would see Portsmouth slip out of European contention entirely. While Portsmouth would record their best Premier League finish to date, this would not be the highlight of the club’s season.
On 17th May 2008, Portsmouth would win the FA Cup, beating Championship side Cardiff City 1-0 after a goal from Nwankwo Kanu. During this season, Hermann Hreidarsson would make 39 appearances for club in all competitions, including 32 appearances in the Premier League, serving as Pompey’s first-choice left-back as part of an experienced back four possessing an average age of 30 years old alongside Sylvain Distin, Sol Campbell and young right-back Glen Johnson. He would even have his best goalscoring season in the Premier League scoring 3 goals. He would score in victories against Fulham, Birmingham and as one of five Portsmouth scorers in the historic 7-4 victory over Reading on 29th September 2007.
The following season would not be as successful for Portsmouth, although the club did receive their first taste of European football through the UEFA Cup. Portsmouth would beat Vitoria de Guimaraes to qualify for the tournament proper, but would exit at the group stage. In the Premier League, Pompey were not able to replicate the previous season’s top-10 finish, eventually finishing after a flirtation with the relegation zone.
It was a season of two halves for Portsmouth and a season of two managers. Starting with two consecutive losses, Pompey would respond by winning 4 of the 5 matches, knocking the team back up to 8th place. This run was prompted by the excellent strike partnership forged between Jermain Defoe and new signing Peter Crouch. Two further draws against Aston Villa and Fulham would see Portsmouth reach their highest position of 7th. However, the day of the Fulham match would see Harry Redknapp leave Fratton Park to become the new Tottenham manager. He would be replaced by his assistant, legendary Arsenal defender Tony Adams.
Following two early losses, Adams and Pompey would embark on another 5-match unbeaten run. This 5-match unbeaten run would immediately be followed by a 9-match winless streak which would see the team drop from a European-chasing 7th on 8th December 2008 to a relegation-troubled 16th come 7th February 2009. Adams would pay with his job and Paul Hart was given the task of steering the ship away from relegation, a prospect that seemed unthinkable in the early months of the season.
Paul Hart would succeed in his duties, leading Portsmouth to win 4 and draw 5 of the final 14 matches to finish in a nervy but safe 14th. Through the managerial changes, 34-year-old Hermann Hreidarsson would lose the surety of his regular starting spot, having to now compete with younger teammates Noe Pamarot, Nader Belhadj and Armand Traore. He would make 29 appearances in all competitions, with 23 coming in the Premier League. He would match the previous season’s goal tally of 3 goals, scoring in a UEFA Cup victory over Heerenveen and in back-to-back matches against Liverpool and Manchester City.
If the previous season had been a mixed bag for Portsmouth, then the 2009-10 season would be a downright nightmare. First-teamers Glen Johnson, Sylvain Distin, Niko Kranjcar and Peter Crouch would all be sold to ease financial troubles, but it wouldn’t stop the club from entering administration in February 2010. In the league, the team would be bottom of the table for all but one week.
Pompey would get off to a disastrous start, losing the first seven matches of the season, finally gaining the first win on 3rd October 2009 with a 1-0 win against Wolves. A second win would follow on Halloween with a 4-1 win over Wigan. The team would have to wait until December and a change to gain wins three and four, a 2-0 victory against Burnley on 4th December and another two weeks later in a shock victory over Liverpool. Paul Hart had been sacked as Pompey boss in November and had been replaced by Avram Grant, who had led to Chelsea to Premier League and Champions League runner-up spots in 2008. The wins against Liverpool and Burnley were encouraging but Portsmouth were already so far behind every other team in the league that results did nothing to move them from their position rock-bottom of the Premier League.
Grant and Portsmouth would not win another match for two months, with win number five seeing Pompey do the double over Burnley on 27th February 2010. A sixth win would come against Hull City at the end of March but by this point, Portsmouth’s fate had been sealed. Adminisration was followed by a 12-point deduction from the Premier League, taking away any chance for Portsmouth to remain in the Premier League. The inevitable occurred on 10th April after relegation-troubled West Ham beat Sunderland to extend Portsmouth’s gap to safety to an unattainable 17 points.
During all this time, the only positive for Pompey came in the shape of the FA Cup. Portsmouth defied their situation by defeating three Premier League teams to shockingly reach a 2nd FA Cup Final in 3 years. Sunderland were beaten 2-1 in the 4th Round, Birmingham were seen off 2-0 in the quarter-finals and Harry Redknapp’s top-four chasing Tottenham were surprisingly dispatched 2-0, with the Portsmouth needing extra-time to finish the job.
In the FA Cup Final, top would face bottom as Portsmouth faced newly-crowned Premier League champions Chelsea. In a closer match than expected, Portsmouth took the fight to Chelsea with Kevin-Prince Boateng proving dangerous. Boateng even had a chance to give Portsmouth a shock lead when Portsmouth were awarded a penalty, but his shot was saved by Petr Cech. Five minutes later, Didier Drogba would open the scoring for the champions with a well-taken free kick to score in a third consecutive FA Cup Final appearance. Chelsea would hold on for the win, achieving the Double for manager Carlo Ancelotti in his debut season and leaving Portsmouth trophyless.
Hermann Hreidarsson would play no part in that FA Cup Final. He would make 23 appearances in all competitions for Portsmouth, 17 of which would come in the Premier League. He would score what would become his final Premier League goal in a 2-0 victory over Burnley. He would make his 332nd and final Premier League appearance on 27th March 2010 in a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham. In the match, he snapped his Achilles tendon which ruled him out for the rest of the season. To make things worse, he had also suffered his 5th Premier League relegation.
Conclusion
Hermann Hreidarsson can count himself unlucky for being on the receiving end of this shared Premier League record. Despite this unenviable record, Hreidarsson was often seen as one of the highlights of the teams he was part of. During his time at Crystal Palace, the young Hreidarsson was seen as one of the side’s stand-out players despite being part of a team that conceded over 70 Premier League goals during the 1998-99 season. He was of course a three-time Icelandic Football of the Year.
Often, there were seemingly other factors at play during those relegation seasons. Crystal Palace may not have been ready for an extended run in the Premier League and either through a lack of investment or not having the right players or manager for the job, it didn’t work out. Wimbledon had been on a decline for a number of years, having spent 3 of the previous 4 seasons prior to relegation in a final league position of 14th or lower. Ipswich suffered second season syndrome and could not match their over-achievement of the previous season. Charlton tried to fix what wasn’t broken by sacking Alan Curbishley and didn’t give the next two managers a chance to make their mark on the side before relegation occurred.
Finally, Portsmouth’s problems were caused by overspending financially and not keeping an eye on balancing the books. Once the financial problems started, Portsmouth were hamstrung with the players they could bring in to potentially improve the team and relegations seemed an inevitability sooner or later.
That is not to say that Hermann Hreidarsson was not at fault during these relegation seasons. As a defender, his job was to prevent goals from occurring in many cases, he failed at his job, but you cannot blame one player for the overall poor performance of an entire team. This is actually a Premier League record that the holder probably doesn’t even think about, but you can be sure that Hermann Hreidarsson prefers not to be asked about it all the same.
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