Since the 1992-93 season, 94 teams have been relegated from England’s top flight, but only a handful have ranked among the “worst Premier League teams ever”.
The series will soon include Sheffield United for the 2023-24 season. Their season hit a new low on Monday night when they suffered a 6-0 defeat at Arsenal, becoming the first club in English league history to lose three consecutive home games by five or more goals. Let’s not forget that their season also included an 8-0 home defeat to Newcastle. Tell me a sad story in four words or less: Bramall Lane scoreboard.
But Sheffield United are not the only team to suffer misfortunes at the top of the league table. Combinations of names and seasons, such as Swindon Town in 1993-94, Derby County in 2007-08, Queens Park Rangers in 2012-13, Huddersfield Town in 2018-19, and “Swindon Town” in 2007-08. The word “Deland” conjures up memories of a bad team, a miserable coach, a horrific failure and a broken fan base. Being in the Premier League is probably the best feeling ever. It can be humiliating to leave it.
Exercise to find out who has actually Being the worst team is a tall order. Football didn’t start in 1992, but that year was a long time ago and the sport is still evolving. Is it fair to compare a journeyman Swindon side who are still getting used to the back-passing laws to a Sheffield United side who are clearly not very good but are still capable of playing well with the likes of Cameron Archer and Gustavo ·Millions of pounds spent on Hammer and others?
Probably not, but let’s try anyway.
points earned
Points are the ultimate currency in a relegation battle, so if your total reaches a record low, such as the 2007-08 Derby, Then when the Worst Teams discussion starts, a lot of people will look in your direction. 11 is how many players you should end a game with, not how many points you should end a season with.
In the 2007-08 season, Derby County did not record any wins in the final 32 games. Head coach Paul Jewell replaced Billy Davies, who was Derby County’s only manager that season. The architect of 2 wins, he only scored 5 points in 24 games. Sheffield United are currently at the stage of the season where Derby County have 9 points. Will Chris Wilder’s side add more than two games to their 11 games between now and the end of the season? You have to suspect they will.
Derby County manager Paul Jewell in March 2008 (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
So are there any mitigating factors for Derby? Well, one look at the other end of the table will remind you that the 2007-08 season was in the midst of one of the strongest periods of the Premier League era. We are well into the ‘Big Four’ era, with Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea all reaching the Champions League semi-finals before the latter two battle it out for the final. Derby were clearly not ready to compete in the top flight that season, but they did choose one of the most difficult times to enter. But still 11 points.
Sunderland should not avoid blame in this regard, having scored less than 20 points in not one but two games. The 19-game stretch in 2002-03 seemed bad enough, but they returned three seasons later with four fewer seasons. They ended a three-match losing streak in 2002-03 with 15 straight defeats, then lost their first five games in 2005-06, extending their top-flight losing streak to 20 in a row, a streak that may never be surpassed. break in. In a reversal of what scientists said was “unlikely” to happen, Sunderland suffered their most home defeats in the Premier League between 2002-03 and 2005-06, despite not being in the Premier League for half of those four seasons. .
Huddersfield’s dismal relegation in 2018-19 saw them win just 16 points, but that’s a win for a side who have climbed from the third tier to the Premier League after never having a positive goal difference in five seasons in the Championship. Is it really a surprise for Premier League teams? Win promotion to the top flight with two penalty shootouts and one goal (an own goal) in three play-off games?
Manchester City have won more Premier League games in the past 58 days than Huddersfield have won in two seasons
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) March 2, 2021
Finally, Aston Villa’s 17-point total in 2015-16 is often overlooked due to Leicester City’s antics at the other end of the table, but it was truly a frustrating effort.
This is a regular Premier League club that was challenging for Champions League qualification a few years ago but has gone through three managers this season (classic Tim Sherwood, Remy Gard, Eric Black succession plan) , lost 11 games in 2017. In the spring, they even went two games in a row without winning a corner kick in February.
Villa only led the way for 243 minutes in 2015-16 — that’s the length of the Star Wars movies, A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back combined (which might be a more interesting use of your time) — but Unlike Sunderland and Sheffield United, they have since returned to the top flight in style, which at least works in their favour.
goals conceded
You have to admire Swinton’s commitment to round numbers. With one game left in the 1993-94 season, Wiltshire had conceded 95 goals. No top-flight team has conceded 100 goals since Ipswich 30 years ago, so everyone knows what they have to do. Leeds United turned up at the County Ground and promptly won 5-0, Swindon reached their century and everyone moved on with their lives.
Swindon conceded a goal in the 1993-94 league season. There are 99 alternatives to this photo (Tony Marshall/EMPICS via Getty Images)
After the Premier League reduced its schedule by four games to 38 games from the 1995-96 season, many concluded that we would never see triple-digit goal tallies again. You know, they teach defense now.
But that was before Sheffield United came along. (One of Swindon’s backup goalkeepers in 1993-94 was Jon Sheffield, who conceded seven goals in the two games he played.)
0-8 – This was Sheffield United’s biggest defeat in league history in the 4,988th game. This was the first time Sheffield United had conceded eight goals in the league since November 1933 when they lost 3-10 to Middlesbrough. pic.twitter.com/OU0kqJ3Fcv
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 24, 2023
If their 8-0 home defeat to Newcastle in September was a warning sign, Sheffield United’s current losing streak at Bramall Lane (5-0 for Villa and Brighton, 6-0 for Arsenal) is One Alert team keeps making strides towards the record books.
Conceding 2.67 goals per 90 minutes, undoubtedly the highest rate in the Premier League era, Swindon in 1993-94 looked like a lesson in chain defense by comparison.
deeper
How Italy won Euro 1968: a chain defense, a coin toss and a goal worthy of any final
This also means that Sheffield United will concede 101 goals this season. The news would shock the nation if it happened, from deepest Wiltshire to South Yorkshire.
Burnley’s performance in the 2023-24 season above is also telling.
The three teams at the bottom of the Premier League are currently conceding at a record high rate, with a total of 3.25 goals conceded per game this season being the highest in England’s top flight since the early 1960s. Maybe that makes Sheffield United unlucky to be in the Premier League with this team at this point, but it might make it possible for Burnley – who, let’s not forget, are level on points with this Sheffield United – very lucky. Vincent Kompany and company have also been embroiled in a chaotic campaign, but they may get away with it relatively easily with more eggs in their shorts, sneakily following Behind the team.
Count the number of goals conceded by Swindon or Derby County into a season like this one and you might expect them to concede another 15-20 goals, but that’s not how football works and more importantly, remember the worst in football Neither is the team. If Sheffield United reach triple figures this season, it will be a source of cheers at pub tables and halls for decades to come. Indeed.
Erling Haaland now has as many Premier League goals as Derby County in 2007-08 but in 24 fewer games
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) December 28, 2022
And the worst team is…
Raw data can only get you so far. There have been plenty of strugglers over the past 32 years, they may not have had the sheer numbers of Derby County, Sunderland or Swindon, but they still deserve recognition for their incompetence.
Take Norwich City as an example. From the 2018-19 season to the 2021-22 season, they ranked first in the English Championship and last in the Premier League. They once again won the first place in the English Championship and the bottom in the Premier League. Their 2019-20 side were considered underdogs in the eyes of relegation experts, having lost 27 games before being relegated, including all nine in the scorching summer following the Plan Restart lockdown. . That said, the 2021-22 Norwich side had only scored eight goals before Christmas, so it wasn’t a classic XI by any means.
Then there was QPR in 2012-13, initially managed by Mark Hughes and then led by Harry Redknapp during the January transfer window. It took them 17 games to finally win, ending the season with 2 points from the last 9 games and a player they didn’t need in Christopher Samba.
In case you were wondering, QPR’s winless start to the season is no longer a Premier League record. It was “beaten” in 2020-21 by our old friends Sheffield United, who managed just 2 points from 17 games before finally picking up their 1st place title against Newcastle in January (!) A three pointer. It’s not that it sparked a revival – they collapsed with six games remaining, another (joint) Premier League record.
Derby 07-08 Sheffield United 20-21
🤝
beat Newcastle at home— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) January 12, 2021
The key to the worst-case narrative is this: what Sunderland did in the mid-2000s and what Sheffield United are doing now – namely, cobbling together two abysmal Premier League campaigns in three years – winning An 11-point season for Derby County? Yes, it’s becoming increasingly clear that no team will be as low as 11 points again, but Derby County have at least realized there will never be a return.
Sheffield United players were in low spirits during Monday’s game against Arsenal (SportImage/Getty Images)
It’s very unsatisfying to have a team perform poorly and then quickly come back and do the same thing again. It feels like a wasted season. It feels like you’ve been cheated.
So here’s the deal.
If Sheffield United continue to concede goals at their current rate and break Swindon’s goalscoring record, add that to the 29 defeats in 2020-21 and the number they manage over the coming months. Points totaled and announced: the Premier League’s new worst-ever team.
Your redemption finally came in the 2007-08 Derby County season. perhaps.
(Popular Photo: Getty Images)
