We went down with 47 points in 1982/3, which was the fourth-highest ever points tally for a relegated team in a 42-game top-flight season with three points for a win. The record is held jointly by Norwich (1984/5) and Crystal Palace (1992/3), both of whom notched 49 points, while Birmingham City were relegated with 48 points in 1983/4.
We actually avoided the drop in 1985/6 with fewer points than we garnered three years earlier - 45 from 42 games when finishing 15th. Ipswich, in 20th place on 41 points, had the highest tally of any relegated team that year, but Leicester and Oxford (42 each), Coventry (43) and Aston Villa (44) all stayed up with even fewer points than we got.
The record points haul while still going down in a 38-game season is 43 by Sheffield Wednesday in 1989/90. Averaged out over a 42-game season, that would have given them 47.52 points, so better than our haul in 1982/3. But the next highest, West Ham's 42 points that saw them go down in 2002/3, would equate to 46.42 points in 42 games. So you can basically put our 1982/3 haul as the fifth-highest PPG tally to be relegated from the top flight since 3 points for a win were introduced in 1981/2.
As for our 48 points in 46 games to go down from the second tier in 1997/8, that's been eclipsed many times. The record for relegation in a 46-game season under three points for a win is 54 points, shared by Southend when relegated from the third-tier in 1988/9 and Peterborough when they dropped out of the second tier in 2012/13.
The most remarkable thing about our drop out of the second tier in 1997/8 was our goal difference of -1. I believe that's the closest anyone has ever come in English football history to going down having scored as many as they conceded apart from ourselves in 1937/8 in dropping to the second tier (F - 80, A - 77), and Sheffield United when relegated to the fourth tier in 1980/1 (F - 65, A - 63).
I appreciate that probably no one else on here gives a fuck about this stuff. However, the pedant in me likes to ensure that, if it's being discussed, we should have the facts set out correctly. :)
