Sky Sports Ultimate League 2023/24: Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal and Tottenham in top four | Football News | Sky Sports We are ranked 28th over the last 50 years, 1 Liverpool 2 Man Utd 3 Arsenal 4 Tottenham 5 Everton 6 Chelsea 7 Aston Villa 8 Man City 3 9 West Ham 10 Newcastle 11 Southampton 12 Leeds 13 Leicester 14 Norwich 15 Middlesbrough 16 Nott'm Forest 17 West Brom 18 Blackburn 19 Sunderland 20 Crystal Palace 21 Ipswich 22 QPR 23 Derby 24 Wolves 25 Coventry 26 Stoke 27 Birmingham 28 Watford 29 Sheff Weds 30 Sheff Utd 31 Charlton 32 Fulham 33 Bolton 34 Millwall 35 Burnley 36 Brighton 37 Portsmouth 38 Bristol City 39 Barnsley 40 Reading 41 Luton 42 Cardiff 43 Preston 44 Hull 45 Huddersfield 46 Swansea 47 Oldham 48 Brentford 49 Bournemouth 50 Wigan 51 Blackpool 52 Swindon 53 Plymouth 54 Rotherham 55 Notts County 56 Oxford United 57 Bradford 58 Bristol Rovers 59 MK Dons 60 Gillingham 61 Walsall 62 Peterborough 63 Port Vale 64 Shrewsbury 64 Tranmere 66 Grimsby 67 Leyton Orient 68 Southend 69 Crewe 70 Carlisle 71 Colchester 72 Doncaster 73 Chesterfield 74 Cambridge 75 Northampton 76 Scunthorpe 77 Stevenage 78 Wrexham 79 Exeter 80 Lincoln 81 Mansfield 82 Stockport 83 Rochdale 84 Hartlepool 85 Newport (post-89/90) 86 Wycombe 87 York 88 Torquay 89 Yeovil 90 Barnet 91 Cheltenham 92 AFC Wimbledon 93 Morecambe 94 Burton 95 Accrington (post-68/69) 96 Crawley 97 Fleetwood
GT was right then! As ever.. We are a top 30 club . Cannot be too many teams outside the bigger ones who have always been in the top 2 leagues this century ?
Actually sure they were above us in this sort of table before their fall down the leagues. I guess it shows how well Bournemouth and Brentford have done in recent years. Don't show this to Everton fans - they'll really think they are a big club who ought to be at the top.
This is the 66th season since Division 3 South and North were changed to the current 4 division format. Since then we have spent: 14 seasons in the top tier 32 seasons in the second tier 15 seasons in the third tier 5 seasons in the fourth tier Up to 1979 our average league position must have been appalling. Since 1979 we have spent only 2 seasons outside of the top 2 tiers, our average position would be top half of Championship.
To answer your question (sort of) this is part of a table I posted elsewhere. It covers the 32 seasons since the Premier League started. Only these 10 clubs have not dropped into tier three in that time. (So nice to see a table without UAE City.)
Which is why GT said we are a top 30 club I guess. I know it won't feel like it now given we have fallen out of the Premier league (and there are teams in it smaller than us) but in a way have we punched above our weight generally in terms of where we stand against others with bigger gates and money? We've had some pretty ropy and teams in that period ! Not had too many relegation battles in this league either save for the season we did go down and a couple of late important wins in 1991 (I think) at Oxford and 2005 at Stoke.
Spurs and Everton absolutely laughable clubs, in the case of Spurs at least they have barely won a thing but place so high overall, always the bridesmaids but never the bride.
The 1991 escape was incredible, although the win at Oxford was the one that sealed survival, it was the end of a 10 match run with 7 wins. We had a close shave with it in 1994 too but the late season loans of Bailey and Mooney helped keep us up, the heart attack inducing 4-3 win at Peterborough was horrendous.
There are probably 30 mid sized clubs in the league so when people state how Brentford , Muff etc are above us there 20 + clubs below us
The atmosphere at that win at Oxford was amazing. The defending and keeping at the PBoro win has to be the worst I’ve ever seen. The goal where Digweed bends to collect the ball and literally shovels it along the pitch to a PBoro player summed up what a dreadful keeper he was.
I was at Oxford too, I swear there were more Watford fans shoehorned into that stand than there were Oxford fans around the rest of the ground, you couldn't move. Wilko scored the only goal of the game down the other end, we could barely see it but the crowd went wild. Had the only goal been scored down our end there would have been injuries on that terrace.
I make our average league position for the last 50 years 11th in our current division, unfortunately you will have to wait a few seasons to be able to answer your question G.T. was appointed in June 1977.
There was a pitch invasion when we scored if I remember correctly. A load of Horns charged down the pitch and got over the halfway line before sheepishly going back. That was a great day out. The Peterborough game was awesome too, i loved the atmosphere in that little covered stand.
That was such a great relegation campaign with Oxford away being the pinnacle. The game away to Pompey, another 1-0 win, was awesome too, massive surge down the terrace when we scored. I think I still have a dictaphone recording of that moment somewhere.
I was really into Twin Peaks in which Agent Cooper used to record things into a dictaphone. I took one to all sorts of places including 6 months travelling around the USA. Weirdo? Guilty as charged.
After the unexpected win at Boro (which I didn't go to) I then saw all the remaining matches apart from the defeat at Notts County, as each match passed we were more convinced we'd survive until it was confirmed at Oxford. The final match of the season was then Bristol City at home, although we lost it 3-2, it didn't matter as we achieved the impossible. For the younger generation, this was the table with 11 matches remaining. https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-two/20-march-1991/ and after the Oxford game with one match remaining https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-two/04-may-1991/
"Diane, it's 2.45pm on Saturday 28th, I'm standing by a football stadium where the wind blows strong and the feeling of evil is never far away....."
It was as good as getting promoted. The spirit amongst the fans especially at away games was incredible and we definitely played our part in survival. Would that happen these days or would the sense of entitlement just lead to booing and moaning? (Probably a rheroical question)
Everyone would be complaining and moaning about how rubbish we were etc I suspect but at that moment delighted to stay up against the odds. Or some might just say how we were or it papers over the cracks. I guess we would have had about 5 managers that season if the Pozzos were around!
