A “Yo-yo club” is a football club that regularly flirts with promotion and relegation. It is a club that is regularly promoted and relegated between a higher and lower league or division and cannot sustain a regular slot in either.
A yo-yo club jumps to and fro a certain division. It gets promoted to a higher division in one season and then very soon drops down to a lower division. Clubs such as Premier League’s Sunderland, West Bromwich Albion are referred to as yo-yo clubs.