Aston Villa relegation: Five others who fell

They are, by no means, the first to hit the heights in English football and then tumble down from the top flight to the second-tier.

Here, Matt Wilson takes a look at five warning signs from the history of the game in our country who have plummeted to the depths of despair.

1, PORTSMOUTH

Five years after winning the FA Cup in 2008, Pompey were playing in League Two thanks to huge financial problems off the pitch.

As their debt rose past the £100m mark, the South Coast spenders tumbled down the leagues.

In 2013, the Pompey Supporters' Trust wrestled away control and now, they are the largest fan-owned club in England.

Still trying to get out of the fourth tier, the days when AC Milan were pitching up at Fratton Park are a distant memory.

2, LEEDS UNITED

Champions League semi-finalists in 2001, chairman Peter Ridsdale took out massive loans which eventually forced him to sell the best players, resulting in relegation three years later.

Ridsdale sold the club to Ken Bates, but nothing improved, and the club entered administration in 2007, was docked 10 points, and fell to League One.

Although they're back in the Championship, current chairman Massimo Cellino has been found guilty of tax evasion and is hated by most of the fans.

'Doing a Leeds' has become the term for a decline following financial ineptitude.

3, NOTTINGHAM FOREST

Double European Cup winners under Brian Clough, Forest haven't been in the Premier League since 1999 and spent three seasons in League One a decade ago.

Unlike Leeds and Pompey, Forest's decline has nothing to do with financial struggles, it's down to good old-fashioned mismanagement and poor decision-making.

It makes it the most worrying case study for Villa, who won the European Cup two years after Forest.

4, WOLVES

There were back-to-back relegations in 2012 and 2013 that took the club from Premier League to League One, following poor stints in the hot seat for Terry Connor, Stale Solbakken and Dean Saunders.

But, in the early 80s Wolves managed to go down three times in a row thanks to the Bhatti brothers bankrupting the club.

Saved by the city council, manager Graham Turner and striker Steve Bull, they shot back up the divisions, but it's always been a topsy-turvy time at Molineux.

5, COVENTRY CITY

After 34 consecutive seasons in the top flight, the Sky Blues were finally relegated in 2001 under Gordon Strachan when they let a two-goal lead slip against Villa.

Eleven years later they fell to League One, where they still reside.

A mind-numbing decline at a snail's pace, Coventry haven't finished in the top six of any division for 46 years, which is 30 years more than any other club.

Sometimes there are far worse fates than the dramatic implosion.