Cover of El Mundo Deportivo in 1981.
Levante altered the status quo that prevailed within the framework of the Silver category with signing of Cruyff. It was a laborious signing with continuous ups and downs depending on the information released. Johan Cruyff made his debut with Levante in a duel against Palencia (1-0). Pousada scored the goal leading to local triumph. It was 1st March, 1981. That game was followed with special attention. Levante had led the table a few weeks earlier. The victory against Burgos raised them to the highest point in the standings. It was the first match of the second round. However, the team never reached such a high position on the league table again.
Levante when the team was a member of the Third Division.
Not even the incredible signing of a Dutch player reversed the negative spiral of a society besieged by the precipice. The budget situation was dire. The end of that season coincided with the players shutting themselves inside the Nou Estadi in protest due to the lack of payment of their salaries, bonuses and transfer signings. The eighties established a frontier in the sports, economic and social section. The Granota squad was relegated to Second Division B at the end of the 1981-1982 season. It was the beginning of a nightmare that lasted. The sporting relegation overlapped with an administrative relegation.
In the eighties the team fluctuated between Second B and Third Division.
In September 1982, after the echoes of the World Cup played in Spain, Levante faced a duel against Alginet in the framework of the Third Division. The summer had been complex. The continuous sports oscillations supposed a considerable reduction of its social mass. Problems in the economy ensued. In the 1982-1983 season, Ensidesa separated the Granota hosts in the first round of promotion to Second Division B. It was a hard blow. Levante returned to the Bronze category in June 1984 after eliminating Fuengirola and Orense during the year of their 75th anniversary.
Levante returned to Second Division at the end of the eighties.
However, at the end of the 1985-1986 financial year, they returned to the Third Division due to a new restructuring of the Second Division B. It was a campaign of contrasts. Solid and strong in the first chapter of the League, always positioned in the noble zone, then they faded over the weeks until they was defeated and submerged in the catacombs. Ramón Victoria became President in a context of crisis. He succeeded Antonio Aragonés. Levante emerged quickly from the Third Division in the 1986-1987 season and was invested with the status of a Second Division A team after beating Nules in the final days of the 1988-1989 season (0-3). However, their position on the second rung of national football was fleeting and ended at the end of the 1990-1991 season.