All right, that one was a crisis at the bottom of Division Three while this time it is the chill wind from the trapdoor at the very bottom of the Football League that it whistling worryingly around Field Mill.

Nevertheless, in the cold of mid-February 1976 Mansfield Town were as good as down.

They were five points adrift of everyone else and it was only two points for a win in those days.

But Dave Smith's men saved their skin with an amazing 19-match unbeaten run to the end of the season which saw them eventually finish in comfort in 11th place.

Smith had brought in three new faces in the summer – Ian MacKenzie, Noel O'Brien and Ian McDonald – but made a bad start when they lost a proud home record stretching back to April 1974 as Shrewsbury beat them 2-1 in the opening game.

A 2-0 away win at Colchester was sandwiched by home and away wins over Scunthorpe in a two-legged League Cup tie and it seemed the ship was back on an even keel.

But Stags were only to win one of their next 14 games after hitting a run of four straight defeats in September.

While League form remained poor, Mansfield went on an exciting League Cup run, putting out Wolves in round four before another top flight club, Manchester City, finally eliminated them at Maine Road.

Kevin Randall and Roy Brown had been added to the squad, but still results were poor with successive 4-1 away defeats at Grimsby and Crystal Palace.

It was 6th December before the sorry Stags chalked up a second home win, Bird, Clarke and Randall shooting down Swindon 3-1.

As they headed for Rotherham on 20th December, Mansfield were bottom and seven points adrift of safety. There was little sign of Christmas cheer as they duly lost 2-1.

Two defeats and a draw followed as they ended the year rock bottom before Clarke (2) and Randall at least gave them some New Year cheer in a 3-1 win over Port Vale on 3rd January.

But the next six games produced three draws and three more defeats and the Vale victory seemed a flash in the pan.

There were just 19 games left, 11 at home, and Stags were five points adrift at the bottom and six points from safety.

Incredibly, the 1-0 defeat at Hereford on 11th February was to be their last defeat of the entire season as fortunes suddenly swung dramatically.

It was love at first sight for Stags fans of their newest player as youngster Mick Saxby scored the winner on his debut in a 2-1 win at Halifax on Valentine's Day.

A 1-0 win over Aldershot finally all but guaranteed safety on 10th April.

But relief was replaced by confusion as, after a 15-game unbeaten run, supporters were left shocked when the club announced manager Smith had been relieved of his duties.

Conjecture and debate continues to this day as to why Smith was pushed.

But Mick Buxton was put in charge and quickly won fans over with a 2-1 Easter win at Chesterfield – a club record seventh away victory.

The momentum of that finish to the season continued into the following season when, under the guidance of player-manager Peter Morris, they stormed to the title and went up to what is now the Championship for just one season.