The 1975-76 campaign was a total disaster for Portsmouth, as the season wore on, their league form severely deteriorated and it came to no surprise when they finished the season off in a dismal 22nd place, in turn resulting in relegation to the third division. The club was now in crisis and the following season saw things go from bad to worse for Portsmouth, they could not fit in inside the third tier of English football and were fortunate to avoid relegation as they finished the season off in a horrific 20th place. They also crashed out early in the third round of the FA Cup to make matters worse.
The 1977-78 season was probably the worst in the history of the football club, after exiting all the cups at the first hurdle, they put on an embarrassing show in the league, they got off to an awful start and no improvement was seen from there on. They ended the season rock bottom, in turn, relegating the club to the forth division, also resulting in the need to off load any of their star players.
 The 1978-79 season did not see the immediate return to the third division that the fans were hoping for, there bad start to the season proved costly at the end as they put on a  good run towards the climax of the season, however it was not enough as they finished off in 7th place.
Portsmouth was promoted the following season after finishing forth in the table, promotion via the play offs, many believe that their manager, Frank Burrows held the key to their success that season and Pompey were now looking to build on that.