Premiership-Football League gulf
Encyclopedia
In English football
, a gulf has arisen between the finances of clubs from the Premier League and The Football League
since the First Division clubs broke away to form the Premier League in 1992. Some have argued that this disparity is wider than in other European leagues where the top flight is combined with at least one division below in a league, such as Germany's
Bundesliga
, Italy's
Serie A
and Spain's
La Liga
. However, England has five tiers of single national divisions, compared to only two in Spain and Italy and three in Germany.
colleagues. Prior to the formation of the Premier League, television revenues from top flight matches were shared between the 92 Football League clubs across 4 unified national professional divisions. The break away of 22 clubs to form the Premier League resulted in top flight revenues being shared exclusively between Premier League clubs. The FA Premier League agreed to maintain the promotion and relegation of three clubs with the Football League, but The Football League was now in a far weaker position - without its best clubs and without the clout to negotiate high revenue TV deals. This problem was exacerbated in 2002 when ITV Digital
, holder of TV rights for The Football League, went into administration. Many League clubs had invested in ground improvements and the player transfer market with anticipated television funds that never materialized, causing several clubs to enter receivership
- most notably Bradford City
, who were faced with debts of £36million and almost lost their Football League status as a result.
As a result, financial disparity has been cited as a reason for newly promoted
teams finding it increasingly harder to establish themselves in the Premiership, thus worrying more about avoiding relegation than winning the title. The Premiership relegation
places have been filled by at least one newly promoted club in all but one of the 17 seasons since its introduction, and in the 1997–98 season
all three clubs were relegated. The only exception was the 2001-02 season
, in which all three promoted teams survived and as of 2010–11, are still in the Premiership (Fulham
, Blackburn Rovers
and Bolton Wanderers
).
The Premier League distributes a small portion of its television revenue to clubs that are relegated from the league in the form of "parachute payments". Starting with the 2006-07 season, these payments are in the amount of £6.5 million over the club's first two seasons in lower leagues. Though designed to help teams adjust to the loss of television revenues (the average Premier League team receives £45 million while the average Football League Championship
club receives £1 million), critics maintain that the payments actually widen the gap between teams that have reached the Premiership and those that have not, leading to the common occurrence of teams returning soon after their relegation. This, however, does not take into account former Premiership mainstays which currently are in The Football League, such as Wimbledon
(who became Milton Keynes Dons
in 2004 on their relocation
from South London
to Milton Keynes
), Southampton
, Sheffield Wednesday
, Coventry City
and Leeds United
, who were founding members of the Premiership and stayed there for between nine and 12 years before going down, and have yet to return. Queens Park Rangers (also a founding premier league club) saw a 15 year absence from the premier league, before finally returning for the 2011-2012 season.
The payments have been also criticised as causing Premiership teams to play more cautiously—playing not to lose instead of playing to win—because the threat of relegation means the loss of payments from the television rights. In fact, as of December 2006, the goals-per-game average is only 2.14, the lowest it has ever been in Premiership history and lower than any other professional league in Europe. Steve Bruce
, at the time manager of Birmingham City
, stated that,
) since the Premiership started in 1992. The momentous achievement has since been dubbed 'The Great Escape' due to its improbability, particularly as West Brom were still bottom of the league on the morning of the last day of the season.
The last time a top division team had achieved this feat was in 1990-91
, when Sheffield United
avoided relegation after being bottom of the penultimate pre-Premiership First Division on 25 December 1990. The Blades had not won in their first 16 matches and had less than 10 points, thought they survived as they produced the form of champions in the second stage of the season and won an incredible 7 games in a row to drag themselves into a comfortable 13th place (out of 22).
Certain teams are notable for extremely poor seasons as a result of inability to come to terms with the gulf.
Swindon Town
were the first such example in the 1993-94 season
, when they won a mere five games out of 42 and conceded 100 goals (still a Premier League record) in their first (and to date only) season as a top flight club. One of the few bright spots of the season came when they held Manchester United
(who went on to win the league title and FA Cup
) to a 2-2 draw in March, and having lost 4-2 to them earlier in the season they scored more goals against the title winning side bar also relegated Oldham Athletic
than any other club in the league that season. Sunderland
, who had set the previous record as the "worst ever Premier League club" in 2002-03
with four wins, 19 points and 21 goals, set a new record in 2005-06
, when one season after promotion they went straight back down with just three wins and 15 points, though as some consolation they scored more goals than they had the previous time. Derby County
won just one league game out of 38 in the 2007-08
(1-0 at home to Newcastle United
on 17 September 2007) and finished with 11 points. This was a record low for Premier League points and wins (as well as a new low of 20 goals), and the only the second team ever to complete an English professional league campaign with one win in a season (the other was Loughborough
in 1900). This came one year after they had been promoted as Championship playoff winners.
were among the three teams who won promotion to the Premier League upon its formation, and bankrolled by owner Jack Walker's
millions they were able to attract some of the best players in English football - most notably £3.6 million national record signing Alan Shearer
. They finished fourth in their first Premier League season. Ipswich Town
, one of the other promoted teams that season, were among the top five clubs as late as February 1993 and were being tipped as surprise title contenders, but a late slump in form dragged them down to 16th place.
of the Premier League, newly promoted Newcastle United
finished third - the same position which was occupied by another newly promoted side, Nottingham Forest
, the following year. With the exception of Ipswich Town
in 2001, this was the last time a newly promoted club finished in the top five.
Middlesbrough
finished 12th in the 1995-96 season
after promotion, but 10 games into the season they occupied fourth place - high enough for UEFA Cup qualification - - and were being touted as outsiders for the Premier League title.
In 1996-97
, newly promoted Leicester City
achieved top flight survival for the first time since 1986 by finishing ninth and also winning the Football League Cup
to end their 33-year trophy drought. Middlesbrough had been relegated from the Premier League in 1997 two years after promotion (though only through a points deduction) and were promoted back at the first attempt, and in their first Premier League campaign following relegation they finished ninth in the Premier League and only narrowly missed out on UEFA Cup qualification.
Sunderland were promoted to the Premier League as Division One champions with a new record of 105 league points in 1999, and marked their return to the top flight by finishing seventh and only missing out on UEFA Cup qualification on goal difference.
return to the Premier League as Division One champions for the 2000-01 season
was marked with a ninth place finish - their highest for some 50 years.
In 2001-02
, Blackburn Rovers returned to the Premier League two years after relegation and marked it with their first Football League Cup
triumph, and a late surge in form following the trophy win took them clear of the relegation zone to a secure 10th place finish. Manchester City
returned to the Premier League in 2002 a year after relegation by securing the Division One title, and marked their return to the top flight with a ninth place finish - their highest in a decade. After two seasons of newly promoted clubs either being relegated or narrowly scraping survival, West Ham United
finished ninth in the Premier League in 2005-06
and almost won the FA Cup (only missing out due to a late Liverpool
equaliser and a penalty shoot out defeat), while fellow promoted side Wigan Athletic enjoyed an even more remarkable season. They were rarely outside the top five in the first half of the season, and then reached their first major cup final - the League Cup final - which they lost to Manchester United. They eventually finished 10th in the final table.
Reading reached the top flight for the first time in their history for the 2006-07 season
and finished eighth - narrowly missing out on UEFA Cup qualification. Hull City
reached the Premier League for the 2008-09, the first time they had ever appeared in the top flight and all the more remarkable considering they had begun the decade almost bankrupt in the league's basement division. An excellent start to the season saw them level on points in third place with the leading pack of Liverpool and Arsenal in mid October, though their season gradually fell away from December onwards and they ended up surviving by just a single point.
Stoke City
returned to the top flight at the same time as Hull's promotion, having been in exile for 23 years, and returned in reasonable style with a 12th place finish. Birmingham City
, who had two spells in the Premier League between 2002 and 2008, returned to the elite for the 2009-10 campaign one season after relegation and have secured a ninth place finish, the club's best in decades and one of their highest ever.
, who were promoted to the Premier League after a five-year exile and finished fifth in 2000-01
, qualifying for the UEFA Cup, but were relegated a year later. In 2005-06
, for instance, newly promoted West Ham United
and Wigan Athletic
finished ninth and tenth in the Premier League (it was Wigan's first season as a top division club) and were runners-up in the FA Cup
and Football League Cup
respectively. The following season, however, they narrowly avoided relegation with respective 15th and 17th place finishes. In 2006-07
, Reading were playing top division football for the first time in their history and finished eighth in the Premier League, with only a defeat on the final day of the season preventing them from qualifying for the UEFA Cup. A year later, however, a drastic loss of form in the second half of the season saw them dragged from mid table to occupy the final relegation place, and they were relegated on the last day of the season. Another example is Birmingham City
, who after securing ninth position with over 50 points, were then relegated in 2010–11 after suffering a horrific downturn in form despite claiming the League Cup. Indeed, this season saw a surprisingly high number of points sending people down, with West Ham United finishing bottom with 33 points, which would have secured 17th place the previous year, and Birmingham and shock 'new-boys' Blackpool
both going down on 39 points.
Football in England
Association football is a national sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game...
, a gulf has arisen between the finances of clubs from the Premier League and The Football League
The Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
since the First Division clubs broke away to form the Premier League in 1992. Some have argued that this disparity is wider than in other European leagues where the top flight is combined with at least one division below in a league, such as Germany's
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
, Italy's
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
and Spain's
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
La Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
. However, England has five tiers of single national divisions, compared to only two in Spain and Italy and three in Germany.
Finance
Since the Premier League began as the FA Premier League at the start of the 1992–93 season, its member teams have received larger amounts of money in TV rights than their Football LeagueThe Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
colleagues. Prior to the formation of the Premier League, television revenues from top flight matches were shared between the 92 Football League clubs across 4 unified national professional divisions. The break away of 22 clubs to form the Premier League resulted in top flight revenues being shared exclusively between Premier League clubs. The FA Premier League agreed to maintain the promotion and relegation of three clubs with the Football League, but The Football League was now in a far weaker position - without its best clubs and without the clout to negotiate high revenue TV deals. This problem was exacerbated in 2002 when ITV Digital
ITV Digital
ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster, which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network as ONdigital in 1998 and briefly re-branded as ITV Digital in July 2001, before the service ceased in May 2002. Its main shareholders...
, holder of TV rights for The Football League, went into administration. Many League clubs had invested in ground improvements and the player transfer market with anticipated television funds that never materialized, causing several clubs to enter receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
- most notably Bradford City
Bradford City A.F.C.
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two....
, who were faced with debts of £36million and almost lost their Football League status as a result.
As a result, financial disparity has been cited as a reason for newly promoted
Promotion and relegation
In many sports leagues around the world, promotion and relegation is a process that takes place at the end of each season. Through it, teams are transferred between divisions based on their performance that season...
teams finding it increasingly harder to establish themselves in the Premiership, thus worrying more about avoiding relegation than winning the title. The Premiership relegation
Promotion and relegation
In many sports leagues around the world, promotion and relegation is a process that takes place at the end of each season. Through it, teams are transferred between divisions based on their performance that season...
places have been filled by at least one newly promoted club in all but one of the 17 seasons since its introduction, and in the 1997–98 season
FA Premier League 1997-98
The FA Premier League 1997-98 season saw Arsenal lift their first league title since 1991, and also become only the second team to win the 'double' of the FA Cup and league title twice...
all three clubs were relegated. The only exception was the 2001-02 season
FA Premier League 2001-02
The 2001–02 FA Premier League season was the tenth season of the competition. It began with a new sponsor, Barclaycard, and was titled the FA Barclaycard Premiership, replacing the previous sponsor, Carling...
, in which all three promoted teams survived and as of 2010–11, are still in the Premiership (Fulham
Fulham F.C.
Fulham Football Club is a professional English Premier League club based in southwest London Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they play in the Premier League, their 11th current season...
, Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
and Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....
).
The Premier League distributes a small portion of its television revenue to clubs that are relegated from the league in the form of "parachute payments". Starting with the 2006-07 season, these payments are in the amount of £6.5 million over the club's first two seasons in lower leagues. Though designed to help teams adjust to the loss of television revenues (the average Premier League team receives £45 million while the average Football League Championship
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
club receives £1 million), critics maintain that the payments actually widen the gap between teams that have reached the Premiership and those that have not, leading to the common occurrence of teams returning soon after their relegation. This, however, does not take into account former Premiership mainstays which currently are in The Football League, such as Wimbledon
Wimbledon F.C.
Wimbledon Football Club was an English professional association football club from Wimbledon, south-west London. Founded in 1889 as Wimbledon Old Central Football Club, the club spent most of its history in amateur and semi-professional non-League football before being elected to the Football...
(who became Milton Keynes Dons
Milton Keynes Dons F.C.
.Milton Keynes Dons Football Club is an English professional football club founded in 2004 and based since 2007 at Stadium mk, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire...
in 2004 on their relocation
Relocation of Wimbledon F.C. to Milton Keynes
Wimbledon Football Club was an English professional football club from Wimbledon, south-west London. Founded in 1889, the club spent most of its history in amateur and semi-professional non-League football prior to a "fairytale" rise through the divisions following election to The Football League...
from South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
to Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
), Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
, Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
, Coventry City
Coventry City F.C.
Coventry City Football Club, otherwise known as the Sky Blues owing to the traditional colour of their strip, are a professional English Football league club based in Coventry...
and Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
, who were founding members of the Premiership and stayed there for between nine and 12 years before going down, and have yet to return. Queens Park Rangers (also a founding premier league club) saw a 15 year absence from the premier league, before finally returning for the 2011-2012 season.
The payments have been also criticised as causing Premiership teams to play more cautiously—playing not to lose instead of playing to win—because the threat of relegation means the loss of payments from the television rights. In fact, as of December 2006, the goals-per-game average is only 2.14, the lowest it has ever been in Premiership history and lower than any other professional league in Europe. Steve Bruce
Steve Bruce
Stephen Roger "Steve" Bruce is an English football manager and former player. Born in Corbridge, Northumberland, he was a promising schoolboy footballer but was rejected by a number of professional clubs. He was on the verge of quitting the game altogether when he was offered a trial with Gillingham...
, at the time manager of Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
, stated that,
Curse of Christmas
The Curse of Christmas refers to a trend where the team at the bottom of the table at Christmas has been relegated at the end of the season every year except one (2004/05 West Bromwich AlbionWest Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
) since the Premiership started in 1992. The momentous achievement has since been dubbed 'The Great Escape' due to its improbability, particularly as West Brom were still bottom of the league on the morning of the last day of the season.
The last time a top division team had achieved this feat was in 1990-91
1990-91 in English football
The 1990–91 season was the 111th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Arsenal won the league. Runners-up spot was achieved by Liverpool, who had led the table for much of the first half of the season but had been shell-shocked in February by the sudden resignation of manager...
, when Sheffield United
Sheffield United F.C.
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional English football club based in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire.They were the first sporting team to use the name 'United' and are nicknamed 'The Blades', thanks to Sheffield's worldwide reputation for steel production...
avoided relegation after being bottom of the penultimate pre-Premiership First Division on 25 December 1990. The Blades had not won in their first 16 matches and had less than 10 points, thought they survived as they produced the form of champions in the second stage of the season and won an incredible 7 games in a row to drag themselves into a comfortable 13th place (out of 22).
Certain teams are notable for extremely poor seasons as a result of inability to come to terms with the gulf.
Swindon Town
Swindon Town F.C.
Swindon Town Football Club are a team based in Swindon, Wiltshire. Currently in League Two, Swindon have been managed by Paolo Di Canio since 23 May 2011...
were the first such example in the 1993-94 season
1993-94 in English football
The 1993-1994 season was the 114th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:From the start of this season, the FA Premier League would be sponsored by Carling Breweries - an association which would last for eight years...
, when they won a mere five games out of 42 and conceded 100 goals (still a Premier League record) in their first (and to date only) season as a top flight club. One of the few bright spots of the season came when they held Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
(who went on to win the league title and FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
) to a 2-2 draw in March, and having lost 4-2 to them earlier in the season they scored more goals against the title winning side bar also relegated Oldham Athletic
Oldham Athletic A.F.C.
Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is an English association football club based at Boundary Park, on Sheepfoot Lane in Oldham, Greater Manchester. The club currently competes in the Football League One, the third tier of the English league...
than any other club in the league that season. Sunderland
Sunderland A.F.C.
Sunderland Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear who currently play in the Premier League...
, who had set the previous record as the "worst ever Premier League club" in 2002-03
2002-03 in English football
The 2002-03 season was the 123rd season of competitive football in England.-Most Memorable rise:*Wigan Athletic marked their 25th season of Football League membership by winning the Division Two championship and reaching the league's second tier for the very first time.-Most Memorable...
with four wins, 19 points and 21 goals, set a new record in 2005-06
2005-06 in English football
The 2005–06 season was the 126th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:*The rebuilt Wembley Stadium was due to open in time for the FA Cup final in May. However, in August 2005, The Football Association reserved the Millennium Stadium as a backup, as there was some doubt whether...
, when one season after promotion they went straight back down with just three wins and 15 points, though as some consolation they scored more goals than they had the previous time. Derby County
Derby County F.C.
Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
won just one league game out of 38 in the 2007-08
2007-08 in English football
The 2007–08 season was the 128th season of competitive football in England.-European competitions:In October 2007 Arsenal equalled the UEFA Champions League record victory with a 7–0 win over Slavia Prague at the Emirates Stadium. The record was broken the following month when Liverpool...
(1-0 at home to Newcastle United
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
on 17 September 2007) and finished with 11 points. This was a record low for Premier League points and wins (as well as a new low of 20 goals), and the only the second team ever to complete an English professional league campaign with one win in a season (the other was Loughborough
Loughborough F.C.
Loughborough Athletic and Football Club were an English football club based in Loughborough, Leicestershire, that played in The Football League at the end of the 19th century.-History:...
in 1900). This came one year after they had been promoted as Championship playoff winners.
Surprise packages
There have been some strong performances by newly promoted clubs in the Premier League - particularly in its first few seasons. Blackburn RoversBlackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
were among the three teams who won promotion to the Premier League upon its formation, and bankrolled by owner Jack Walker's
Jack Walker
Jack Walker was a British industrialist and businessman, from Blackburn, Lancashire. Walker invested tens of millions of pounds in Blackburn Rovers football club after amassing a personal fortune of £600 million...
millions they were able to attract some of the best players in English football - most notably £3.6 million national record signing Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer OBE, DL is a retired English footballer. He played as a striker in the top level of English league football for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and for the England national team...
. They finished fourth in their first Premier League season. Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town Football Club are an English professional football team based in Ipswich, Suffolk. As of 2011, they play in the Football League Championship, having last appeared in the Premier League in 2001–02....
, one of the other promoted teams that season, were among the top five clubs as late as February 1993 and were being tipped as surprise title contenders, but a late slump in form dragged them down to 16th place.
1990s
In the second season1993-94 in English football
The 1993-1994 season was the 114th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:From the start of this season, the FA Premier League would be sponsored by Carling Breweries - an association which would last for eight years...
of the Premier League, newly promoted Newcastle United
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
finished third - the same position which was occupied by another newly promoted side, Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
, the following year. With the exception of Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town Football Club are an English professional football team based in Ipswich, Suffolk. As of 2011, they play in the Football League Championship, having last appeared in the Premier League in 2001–02....
in 2001, this was the last time a newly promoted club finished in the top five.
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
finished 12th in the 1995-96 season
1995-96 in English football
- Premiership :Newcastle United were 12 points clear at the top of Manchester United, but Alex Ferguson's relatively young and inexperienced side overhauled them during the second half of the season to win the title....
after promotion, but 10 games into the season they occupied fourth place - high enough for UEFA Cup qualification - - and were being touted as outsiders for the Premier League title.
In 1996-97
1996-97 in English football
The 1996–1997 season was the 117th season of competitive football in England.Arrival into the league and exit out of the league returns in the fourth tier for the first time after its 3 season absence with only 1 relegation spot.- Premier League :...
, newly promoted Leicester City
Leicester City F.C.
Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...
achieved top flight survival for the first time since 1986 by finishing ninth and also winning the Football League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
to end their 33-year trophy drought. Middlesbrough had been relegated from the Premier League in 1997 two years after promotion (though only through a points deduction) and were promoted back at the first attempt, and in their first Premier League campaign following relegation they finished ninth in the Premier League and only narrowly missed out on UEFA Cup qualification.
Sunderland were promoted to the Premier League as Division One champions with a new record of 105 league points in 1999, and marked their return to the top flight by finishing seventh and only missing out on UEFA Cup qualification on goal difference.
2000s
Charlton Athletic'sCharlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...
return to the Premier League as Division One champions for the 2000-01 season
2000-01 in English football
The 2000–01 season was the 121st season of competitive football in England.-Overview:Manchester United secured their 3rd Premiership title in succession and their 7th title in just nine seasons...
was marked with a ninth place finish - their highest for some 50 years.
In 2001-02
2001-02 in English football
The 2001-02 season was the 122nd season of competitive football in England.-Arsenal cruise to title glory:In what had earlier been one of the most closely fought Premiership title races for years, Arsenal won the championship by seven points. Their crown was won in the penultimate game of the...
, Blackburn Rovers returned to the Premier League two years after relegation and marked it with their first Football League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
triumph, and a late surge in form following the trophy win took them clear of the relegation zone to a secure 10th place finish. Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
returned to the Premier League in 2002 a year after relegation by securing the Division One title, and marked their return to the top flight with a ninth place finish - their highest in a decade. After two seasons of newly promoted clubs either being relegated or narrowly scraping survival, West Ham United
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...
finished ninth in the Premier League in 2005-06
2005-06 in English football
The 2005–06 season was the 126th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:*The rebuilt Wembley Stadium was due to open in time for the FA Cup final in May. However, in August 2005, The Football Association reserved the Millennium Stadium as a backup, as there was some doubt whether...
and almost won the FA Cup (only missing out due to a late Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
equaliser and a penalty shoot out defeat), while fellow promoted side Wigan Athletic enjoyed an even more remarkable season. They were rarely outside the top five in the first half of the season, and then reached their first major cup final - the League Cup final - which they lost to Manchester United. They eventually finished 10th in the final table.
Reading reached the top flight for the first time in their history for the 2006-07 season
2006-07 in English football
The 2006–07 season was the 127th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:* The number of divisions at Level 8 of the English football league system increased from four to five...
and finished eighth - narrowly missing out on UEFA Cup qualification. Hull City
Hull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...
reached the Premier League for the 2008-09, the first time they had ever appeared in the top flight and all the more remarkable considering they had begun the decade almost bankrupt in the league's basement division. An excellent start to the season saw them level on points in third place with the leading pack of Liverpool and Arsenal in mid October, though their season gradually fell away from December onwards and they ended up surviving by just a single point.
Stoke City
Stoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...
returned to the top flight at the same time as Hull's promotion, having been in exile for 23 years, and returned in reasonable style with a 12th place finish. Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
, who had two spells in the Premier League between 2002 and 2008, returned to the elite for the 2009-10 campaign one season after relegation and have secured a ninth place finish, the club's best in decades and one of their highest ever.
Second season syndrome
Second season syndrome is a downturn in form suffered by a team in their second season after promotion, having performed relatively well in their first season. The first notable example was Ipswich TownIpswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town Football Club are an English professional football team based in Ipswich, Suffolk. As of 2011, they play in the Football League Championship, having last appeared in the Premier League in 2001–02....
, who were promoted to the Premier League after a five-year exile and finished fifth in 2000-01
2000-01 in English football
The 2000–01 season was the 121st season of competitive football in England.-Overview:Manchester United secured their 3rd Premiership title in succession and their 7th title in just nine seasons...
, qualifying for the UEFA Cup, but were relegated a year later. In 2005-06
2005-06 in English football
The 2005–06 season was the 126th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:*The rebuilt Wembley Stadium was due to open in time for the FA Cup final in May. However, in August 2005, The Football Association reserved the Millennium Stadium as a backup, as there was some doubt whether...
, for instance, newly promoted West Ham United
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...
and Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic F.C.
Wigan Athletic Football Club is an English Premier League Association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, having been promoted from the Championship in 2005. Wigan's current spell in the Premier League is the only top flight run in the club's history.They have played at the DW...
finished ninth and tenth in the Premier League (it was Wigan's first season as a top division club) and were runners-up in the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
and Football League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
respectively. The following season, however, they narrowly avoided relegation with respective 15th and 17th place finishes. In 2006-07
2006-07 in English football
The 2006–07 season was the 127th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:* The number of divisions at Level 8 of the English football league system increased from four to five...
, Reading were playing top division football for the first time in their history and finished eighth in the Premier League, with only a defeat on the final day of the season preventing them from qualifying for the UEFA Cup. A year later, however, a drastic loss of form in the second half of the season saw them dragged from mid table to occupy the final relegation place, and they were relegated on the last day of the season. Another example is Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
, who after securing ninth position with over 50 points, were then relegated in 2010–11 after suffering a horrific downturn in form despite claiming the League Cup. Indeed, this season saw a surprisingly high number of points sending people down, with West Ham United finishing bottom with 33 points, which would have secured 17th place the previous year, and Birmingham and shock 'new-boys' Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
both going down on 39 points.