The demise of the once mighty Leeds United into the lower reaches of the English football league ladder is perhaps the most high profile example of a club in falling from former great heights.  Of course Leeds United are not alone with noted twice former European Cup winners Nottingham Forest also having a spell in the third tier of English football.  The list does not end with Forest and Leeds Utd with noted established once traditional clubs such as Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester City and Southhamption also having spells in the lower third league.

The tale of the demise of Leeds United is a well known one to most football fans.  But the fact that the club is still in existance is also a miracle given the levels of debt built up by the previous cub regime.   The  sinking of the club can be specifically detected back to severe financial turmoils that led to a stripping of assets by way of big name players on massive salaries.   The ultimate drop was Leeds being  relegated to League One for the 2007-2008 season.

After a history including Eropean Cup finals, a Champions League semi final in 2001 and Fairs Cup wins this was the first time the club had dropped below the top two tiers of domestic football in England.   Administration for Leeds in May 2007 meant that the club incurred a league imposed 10 point deduction which officially relegated the club to the third tier of English football.

Nottingham Forest in some ways have as pround a history as Leeds although the fall from grace of the club was slower than that of Leeds Utd.  A range of club managers failed to follow in the footsteps of legendary manager Brian Clough and Forest wasted millions of transfer fees on a range of average players.  Amongst the worst culprits were David Platt the former England captain who spent approximately £12m on players during his spell at the club.  In his final book before his passing former manager Brian Clough lambasted the purchasing performance and coaching abilities of Platt as a coach by way of his lack of astute buying  practices in the transfer market. 

With the folding of the failed ITV Digital network, Forest were left with substantial levels of debt that the club struggled to wriggle free from.  From January 2005 onwards Forest failed to stave off the freefall of relegation as the club ended the season second bottom in 23rd place.  Forest since then have subsequently been promoted to the second tier of English football the now 'Championship' but by being relegated to the third tier they became the only European Cup-winners ever to fall into their domestic third division.

English football is not alone in having former giants dwelling in its lower league system far from former glories.  Below we look at some of the prominant league systems around Europe and analyse what went wrong for some recognised names and how the clubs, with the help of fans have faught back from the brink.

Germany   

The 3.Liga is now firmly regarded as the third division of the football league ladder in Germany although the league itself (like the now League One in England) is a fairly new concept.   The 3.Liga started at the beginning of the 2008-09 season when it replaced the Regionalliga as the third-highest football league in Germany.   The movement to the Third league system was done in an effort to firmly position a nationalised league between the 2.Bundesliga and the semi-professional Regionalliga system, which although containing famous names is now the fourth divisional network and consists of three groups of 18 clubs playing separately.

One issue for German clubs in the older Regionalliga was that it was divided into northern and southern regional leagues as opposed to a nationalised networking league.  Whilst many players were full-timers and had modernised stadium infrastructure the less ambitious clubs were forced to keep costs down with part-timers, second rate foreign players and precocious teens.  This in itself was not too much of a problem for smaller sides who could make money from local derbies. However, for more ambitious names that regional nature of the league meant the possibilities off the field were squeezed.

The 3.Liga is operated by the German Football Federation (DFB) and not the German Football League (DFL) which currently runs the top two successful divisions of  the 1. and 2. Bundesliga. Essentially the three leagues operate as one streamlined pyramid, but the DFB has gone to great lengths to inform everyone that the new league must be called by the title  3.Liga rather than 3. Bundesliga.

The current third tier incluces a range of sizable sides including former Bundesliga champions Eintracht Braunschweig and two larger sides who have had success in European club competition.  Until this season Fortuna Düsseldorf, a former runner up in the ECWC, were in the third tier as are FC Carl Zeiss Jena and Dynamo Dresden from the former East Germany.

Competing in the third tier of the league still brings burdens for the more once established clubs and smaller clubs alike.    Like in England where financial clout is directed towards the Premiership and the Coca Cola Championship, television revenue at level three in Germany is small compared to the larger two top divisions but even the smaller clubs have to  find finance  to establish youth academies and stadia infrastructure.  Last season fans of 1.Union Berlin helped with the construction of stadium facilities at its ground.  The end of the 2008-2009 season saw 1.Union Berlin promoted to the 2.Bundesliga.   Off the field, the movement from the regional league format means travel expenses for teams have risen dramatically with some game meaning a cross country trip from south to north.  Player costs meanwhile have risen as have matchday stadium infrastructure costs via stewarding and policing. 

For the lower less ambitious clubs in the 3.Liga the renovation of home grounds has been the biggest expense, and this has led to discord between the DFB and the clubs.  The DFB have stated that it requires all 3. Liga stadia to accommodate 10,000 spectators, with at least 2,000 seats on offer each matchday.  One issue with this is that clubs, such as former Bundesliga club the Munich based SpVgg Unterhaching, attract just 2,500 spectators per match on average.  There were also large disparities in support bases between clubs playing in either the  Regionalliga Süd and Regionaliga Nord.  Eintracht Braunschweig for example regularly attract 14,889 but some other teams can expect to attract only 3,000 regularly.

Some feel the formation of a nationalized 3.Liga has been to the detriment of tfans, match day atmosphere that the more regionalised feel of the older system provided.  New matchday stadium rules mean that a dumbing down of fan displays and choreographies have occured  with pyrotechnics outlawed and stewarding becoming more domaint and visable.  Sporting advantage at least for fans has largely disappeared with the new set up in an effort for greater competiton between sides. In the former Regionalliga Nord there were plenty of raucous and lucrative derbies.   One problem here is that the regularity of such games in say Dresden or Kiel have now been cast aside in favour of visits from clubs from the southern states of Bavaria or Baden-Württemberg.

Smaller southern clubs meanwhile have smaller average home attendances, fewer traveling supporters and less established fan cultures.   Fans of Wacker Burghausen would have to travel on a 1900 kilometers roundtrip for a game to watch their club challenge Kickers Emden who play on the edge of the North Sea in East Frisia. Another issue larger more traditional sides in the 3.Liga have faced is the lack of travlling support from some clubs.  At least three prominant Bundesliga gaints have clubs in the 3.Liga and these include Bayern Munich II, Bremen II and Borussia Dortmund II. 

German lower-league clubs in general until now have not had to face the financial difficulties that many English teams have.  One exception has been the once mighty Fortuna Dussedorf who since being relegated from the Bundesliga in 1987 the club have proceeded to bounce back and forth between leagues in the system. Despite spending five more seasons in the Bundesliga in 1989-92 and 1995-97 the club from the Rhein slipped and were playing in as low as Oberliga Nordrhein as recently as 2004.

This period in particular saw Fortuna have wide ranging money problems but with the development and establishment of the Esprit arena, Fortuna have slowly crawled from the depths and now find themselves in the second tier of German football alongisde sides such as Kaiserslautern and TSV 1860 Munchen.  The Esprit arena is a multifunctional football arena that home games are played in by the club and during time in the regionaliga it was by far the most modern and largest ground.  The ground was also being built during the period of club particpating in the Oberliga Nordrhein from 2002 to 2004.   The status of the club and the esteem the stadia is held in can be seen through the  fact that the ground holds both 2.Bundesliga football matches and has held Bundesliga games.  With the BayArena being redeveloped in Leverkusen, Bayer  played games at the ground during the second half of the 2009-2009 season.

Dynamo Dresden still find themselves in the 3.Liga and are one of the biggest sides from the former East Germany.   Despite not participating in European Competition since 1991 following the subsequent merger of the East and West German leagues, Dresden played for four years in the top flight Bundesliga but struggled to compete and nearly always finished in the bottom half of the table.  The crucial period for the club was a last place finish during the 1994-95 season that led to relegation for the once mighty club.  Thereafter a period of financial turmoil  saw the former club president imprisoned and questions being asked about the clubs role with the former East German Police.

A playing license for Dresden was denied in 2004 and the club were sent all the way down to the Regionalliga Nordost the forerunner of the 3.Liga.   Dynamo Dresden also fell further and struggled for some time falling to the fourth level Oberliga Nordost-Süd before gaining promotion to 2.Bundesliga in 2004. 

Before the 2006 World Cup, Dresden were relegated to the Regionalliga Nord again.  In competing in the 3.Liga Dynamo Dresden are some way off former heights of early glory days which included a run to the semi-final of the UEFA Cp in 1989.  Today the club takes great delight in being the number one club in Saxony with matches against local rivals Erzgebirge Aue being the top draw for the clubs fans.

Spain

In Spain the Segunda División B is the third level of the football league system and it is admistrated by the RFEF.  Primarily the third tier contains the reserve teams of several La Liga sides prominant amongst these are Real Madrid Castilla and a wide variety of B teams. Segunda División B currently features 80 teams divided into 4 groups of 20. The top four teams from each group (16 teams in total) qualify for play-offs to determine which four teams will replace the four teams relegated from the second tier Segunda Division/Liga Adelante.

Despite a run to the 2001 UEFA Cup final where they played Liverpool, Alaves find themselves in the third tier of Spanish football.  The fall from grace has been quick being that as recently as 2006 the club were playing in La Liga.  

France

The Championnat de France National is the third highest division in France. Today it sits above Ligue 2 and one above the Championnar de France Amateurs.  The Championnat National consists of 20 teams bith professional and amateur.

Cannes are in level three in France and one fairly large name is Troyes who find themselves in the third tier of football after a second from bottom finish during the 2008-09 season.  Troyes won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2001 after beating Newcastle United.  Stade Reims are also located in level three in France and were the outstanding team from France in the 1950s and early 1960’s twice reaching the final of the early European Cup.  Rheims was also the club of Raymond Kopa, Michel Hidalgo and Just Fontaine who all played for the club during its halcyon period of the 1950.