How PL teams relegated in the last decade have fared in the Championship

Quick Reads

Planet Football
24th April 2018

West Brom, Stoke City and Southampton are all staring down the barrel of relegation from the Premier League heading into the final few matches of the season.

The trio currently occupy the three relegation places in the league, with Southampton and Stoke both four points behind Swansea City, with crucial visits to the Liberty Stadium still to come.

Relegation this season appears particularly daunting given the example of Sunderland, who dropped out of the Premier League last term only to finish bottom of the Championship in their first campaign back in the second tier.

After a slow start to the season, Middlesbrough have equipped themselves well, and currently sit in a play-off position, but Hull City also flirted with a second-successive relegation for much of 2017-18.

With fans of struggling Premier League teams starting to nervously consider their prospects to next season, we looked back at the record of every side to be relegated to the Championship in the past 10 seasons to see how they have fared outside the glitz and glamour of England’s top flight.

Here's what's still possible – and likely – in the Premier League this season.

Relegation is still a mathematical possibility for over half of the clubs in the division, while only two teams can no longer finish in the top half. pic.twitter.com/YbjVJpf0xg

— Ben Mayhew (@experimental361) April 24, 2018

– Since 2007-08, nine sides have managed to bounce straight back and win promotion to the Premier League at the first attempt. Newcastle United have done so twice, alongside the likes of Birmingham City, West Brom and Burnley – who all finished in the top two of the Championship to earn automatic promotion. QPR, West Ham, Norwich City and Hull City all managed to win the lottery of the play-offs.

– Of the 30 teams we looked back at, 14 have won promotion back to the Premier League at some stage, although any two of Cardiff City, Fulham, Middlesbrough and Aston Villa could all bolster that figure come the end of the current season.

– Seven teams, however, have been relegated to League One, with Wolves joining Sunderland in suffering consecutive relegations. The Black Cats can perhaps at least take some inspiration from the fact Wolves have just secured promotion back to the Premier League.

– Only five teams are yet to to be either promoted or relegated again after dropping out of the Premier League. All five still have something to play for this season, however, with Cardiff, Fulham, Villa and Derby all still in with a chance of promotion, while Birmingham could still be relegated to League One.

– Prior to this season, the average league finish in a team’s first season following relegation from the Premier League is 8th, just missing out on a play-off place.

– Meanwhile, the average length of stay in the Championship after the initial relegation from the top flight has been three seasons, although that can be ended by both promotion and relegation.