@kiwipie Totally right - unless you bankrupted yourself getting promoted in the first place - which has happened to a few clubs and consequently have to let your best players go.
@canefane Your comment prompted me to check. Fulham have spent 15 seasons in the Prem this century. Only 10 clubs have managed more - the ever presents plus Man City, Newcastle, West Ham, Villa.
Fulham have spent more time in the top tier than Southampton or Leicester - without ever finishing higher than 7th.
So there have been 50 clubs that have featured in the EPL.
12 of the 22 Founder members are in this years comp. Six of them have been ever present. Eight teams have never been relegated. Three are currently in League Two and 8 are in League One
How many of the 50 can you name?
What would be interesting to know is which teams have spent the longest in the Championship (or the old Div 2) without ever gaining promotion.
@dogmeat said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
So there have been 50 clubs that have featured in the EPL.
12 of the 22 Founder members are in this years comp. Six of them have been ever present. Eight teams have never been relegated. Three are currently in League Two and 8 are in League One
How many of the 50 can you name?
I'll have a go at the more obscure ones.
Barnsley, Bradford, Wimbledon, Portsmouth, Swindon, Oldham (were they still there at the start?) and of the ones currently struggling Wigan, Charlton, Bolton, Ipswich, Sunderland. Did Luton play in the first season or did they get relegated (like Notts County) in the season before - those are the only 2 I can think of who had a chance to drop out of the league altogether.
@bovidae said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
What would be interesting to know is which teams have spent the longest in the Championship (or the old Div 2) without ever gaining promotion.
Of the current batch, Forest & Preston have been there a while without going up (or down)
@kiwipie all correct bar Luton who did indeed go down with County. Swindon were there the first two seasons.
Forest have had three spells in Premiership but haven't featured since 98-99
Preston haven't graced Tier One of English football since 1961. They have actually spent the majority of the last 50 years in the bottom two leagues even having to reapply in 1986. They have only been in the Championship since 2015-16. they are the only First Division Champions yet to feature in the Premier League.
I’ll have a go
Ever Presents
Others
DISQUALIFIED
45. Millwall - courtesy of dogmeat
@bovidae I reckon it's Plymouth Argyle. Certainly the biggest club from the biggest city never to have played at top level.
They have ben tier 3 champions 5 times have had six spells in Tier 2, once for 20 years (including WW2 They finished 4th in 1953, the closest they have ever come to promotion although they did also have a chance in 86 just outside the play-offs. They did get to the FA Cup semis in 1984
@sparky said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
Oldham Athletic, Bradford City and Sunderland have all been in the EPL at some point.
Thanks, how could I have forgotten Sunderland
Just thought of another possibility but can't remember their name but they play in vertical blue and white stripes from memory and come from one of those old towns up north somewhere.
@dogmeat said in EPL 2021 / 2022:
@higgins OK It's quite difficult scanning through 50 guresses so only just noticed you have Millwall - which gets the buzzer I'm afraid.
Damn, I have scratched them from my list. What about Swindon, they were a speculative guess.
