Wolverhampton Wanderers spent three of the nine seasons in the Premier League, 2009/10 to 2011/12, and the other six outside it. They played Manchester City six times in the league and won once: 2–1 at home on 30 October 2010. Three points.
Take City out and those three points go. So does Wolves’ survival. Across nine rebuilt tables, they are the one club pushed down: one relegation for real, two without City. On the site’s Ledger, the list of the nine clubs whose fate changes, Wolves have a single line: 2010/11, relegated.
Around that season sit two quieter ones. In 2009/10 they climb two places without a point changing hands. In 2011/12 they go down either way, and the result that relegated them for real was City’s.
2009/10
Two places, no points
Beaten 1–0 away in August and 3–0 at home on 28 December, Wolves lose nothing when City go. Their 38 points stay 38.
One of the places they gain is City’s own. The other is a real climb: 15th becomes 13th of 19, level on points with Bolton and ahead of them on goal difference. Only two clubs climb two places that season, Blackburn and Wolves, and both lost twice to City.
It changes no fate. In the rebuilt table they finish nine points above the drop, 26 off fourth and 48 behind the champions.
2010/11
The win that goes
On the last day of 2010/11 Wolves lost 3–2 at home to Blackburn and stayed up anyway: 17th, 40 points, a point above the drop. Blackpool went down on 39, beaten 4–2 at Old Trafford. The October win over City was worth three points, three times the margin Wolves survived by.
Now take City out. The October win goes, and three points with it. The 4–3 defeat at City on 15 January costs nothing, because it earned nothing, though it was the result that put City top of the league for exactly one day. 40 becomes 37.
With 19 clubs the table still sends three down, so 17th is a relegation place. Blackpool took nothing off City and keep their 39: 16th, two points clear. Wolves and Birmingham, 37 each, fall below them.
Blackpool don’t pass anyone by doing anything. They stand still, on the same 39, while the two clubs that took points off City come down past them. Wolves finish 17th of 19, ahead of Birmingham only on goal difference, −20 to −21, and down.
Nobody played more league games for Wolves that season than Matt Jarvis: 37. For real, those games ended in survival. Without City, the same 17th place ends in relegation.
2011/12
Down either way
The next season there is nothing for the rebuild to take. Beaten 3–1 away in October and 2–0 at home on 22 April, Wolves keep all 25 of their points. For real, that 2–0 relegated them in April, with three games to spare.
Take City out and the result that sent them down goes with City, and it makes no difference. 20th becomes 19th of 19: City’s place and nothing more, twelve points short of 16th and 64 behind the rebuilt champions.
So the rebuilt tables relegate Wolves twice in two seasons, once because of the win over City, and once whatever City did. Then come six seasons outside the Premier League.