The worst teams in Premier League history

For a division often hailed as the ‘best in the world’, the Premier League has boasted some truly awful sides over the years.

There have been plenty of clubs over the years that have been laughably bad, competing in their own mini-league of the worst sides to have ever taken to the Premier League stage. It’s hardly a competition to be proud of winning, but it does guarantee notoriety for years to come.

Of course, it’s not always the fault of these dismal teams, many of whom are unable to cope with the jump in quality and financial disparity between the Championship and the Premier League, but the English top flight can be a merciless place.

Here are the worst teams in Premier League history – ranked by their microscopic points tallies.

Bradford, having retained their Premier League status by the barest of margins the previous season, endured a miserable domestic campaign at the start of the millennium.

Their European journeys in the summer will live long in the memory as they reached the semi-finals of the now-defunct Intertoto Cup via trips to FK Atlantas and RKC Waalwijk, but such travails can’t be blamed for their Premier League woes.

Paul Jewell’s departure doubtlessly hindered the Yorkshiremen, who ended 2000/01 as the division’s lowest scorers – netting just 30 times – and rock-bottom of the table, 16 points adrift of safety.

Who you gonna call? BIG SAMMM!

Not even escape artist Sam Allardyce could save the Baggies after he was drafted in as manager following Slaven Bilic’s departure 13 games into the 2020/21 season.

Allardyce struggled to oversee a notable resurgence within a fairly uninspiring West Brom squad highlighted by England international Sam Johnstone, Chelsea skipper Conor Gallagher and crafty playmaker Matheus Pereira.

The Baggies notched a memorable 5-2 win at Stamford Bridge to supply a mere glimmer of hope, but their return to the Championship was long deemed inevitable. For Allardyce, who lasted until the end of the season, it was his first experience of relegation.

There were high expectations for this Fulham side having returned to the top tier via the play-offs, with over £100m being spent in the summer to ensure the Cottagers were Premier League ready.

They weren’t.

Despite their abundance of big names, Fulham were pitiful defensively – conceding 81 goals – and only Scott Parker was able to get a tune out of this squad in the final month of the season. They’d be much higher on this list if it wasn’t for Parker overseeing three consecutive victories in April.

QPR were doing Nottingham Forest things before the Premier League was the financial juggernaut it is today. Their 2012/13 squad was bonkers, but it didn’t get them anywhere safety.

The Rs brought in the likes of Junior Hoilett, Jose Bosingwa, Julio Cesar, Ryan Nelsen, Andy Johnson and Rob Green on free transfers before rejuvenating their ageing squad further in the winter window.

Mark Hughes got the boot in November and his replacement, Harry Redknapp, splashed the cash in January. In came Christopher Samba and Loic Remy for a combined £20m, but the newcomers failed to make a discernible impact. QPR endured a nine-game winless run to end the season bottom of the pile with a measly 25 points.

Ralph Hasenhuttl had done a fine job at Southampton, but his spell had reached a natural conclusion by the time the 2022/23 season got underway. A 4-1 defeat at Tottenham on the opening day painted a fairly bleak picture, but things would worsen once Nathan Jones replaced Hasenhuttl in November.

Jones’ tenure was nothing short of a parody. The former Luton Town boss oversaw just one victory and lasted 95 days at St Mary’s in what has to be regarded as one of the worst managerial spells in Premier League history.

There was no saving this Saints side, even if Ruben Selles did an admirable job to round off the season.

This certainly wasn’t the fondest season in Wolves’ history yet it started with back-to-back victories. 2011/12 would conclude with a winless manager and a drunken captain.

Terry Connor, who replaced Mick McCarthy in February, failed to oversee a single victory during the backend of a dire season, with new club captain Roger Johnson fined in March for showing up to training worse for wear.

This Wolves outfit were always doomed after they made Jamie O’Hara their marquee summer arrival.

There was once a time when the Premier League featured 22 teams and thus, 42 games were played. As a result, a slight adjustment is needed to ensure Ipswich Town land in the right spot.

The Tractor Boys recorded 27 points from 42 games in 1994/95, meaning that, based on their points-per-game average, they would’ve notched 24.4 in a 38-game season.

This was a campaign which boasted the peak of beating back-to-back champions Manchester United but the trough of a 9-0 mauling in the reverse fixture. Those nine at Old Trafford were fewer than 10% of the 93 they conceded during the 1994/95 season as they finished rock-bottom of the table.

Big Sam had worked his vintage artistry to keep Sunderland up in 2015/16, but his decision to take the England job meant the Black Cats needed a manager heading into the new season.

David Moyes was keen to rebuild his reputation on English shores having seen his stock plummet in the wake of his Man Utd disaster, but Moyes failed to bring about a change in public opinion following a miserable spell on Tyneside.

Jermain Defoe was Sunderland’s sole hero for his on-field and off-pitch exploits, but a Black Cats squad laden with Everton outcasts failed to provide the requisite support and they were consigned to the drop in April.

There were early bright sparks for this Watford side, one that enjoyed back-to-back promotions under legendary coach Graham Taylor.

The Hornets recorded victories over Liverpool and Chelsea within the first two months of the season, and a mid-table finish didn’t seem out of the ordinary. However, after their win over the Blues on Matchday 8, Watford won just three more games and struggled mightily for goals despite their summer purchases.

Taylor’s side scored less than a goal a game on average and finished the 1999/00 campaign with what was then the lowest points total in Premier League history. Fortunately, there have been several poorer teams since, including a later iteration of the Hornets…

22 years on from Taylor’s rapid ascenders, a chaotic season at Vicarage Road culminated in a mere 23 points.

Watford’s trigger happy owners appointed three managers in 2021/22, ditching the first, Xisco, barely two months into the season after a sub-par but hardly disastrous start.

The Pozzos turned to compatriot Claudio Ranieri, but the Italian, despite overseeing thumping victories over Everton and Man Utd, didn’t last long either. Roy Hodgson had little hope of keeping Watford up having arrived in January and oversaw just two victories during the second half of the season.

Remarkably, there was a team worse off.

Having finished a remarkable ninth on their return to the Premier League the season before, Sheffield United had hopes of kicking on during the 2020/21 campaign and solidifying their status as a top-flight club. However, things didn’t go to plan.

Playing in front of an empty Bramall Lane – due to the coronavirus pandemic – didn’t help their cause, but little can excuse the Blades’ woeful displays. In fact, they didn’t claim a first win in the league until early January, losing 15 of their opening 17 matches.

They did eventually secure six wins, including a 2-1 victory away at Man Utd, but just two draws meant they finished with 24 points – a whopping 16 points from safety.

Daniel Farke had guided Norwich City back to the Premier League after a dismal last stint with the Canaries in the top flight, but things didn’t get much better second time around.

A difficult start to the season, with 3-0 and 5-0 defeats to Liverpool and Manchester City respectively in their opening two games, meant Norwich were left chasing shadows and they finished the term rock bottom of the table.

They scored just 23 goals in their 38 league matches, finishing with a -61 goal difference and 16 points from safety.

Following their return to the Premier League under Farke in 2019/20, Norwich City hoped that they could finally discard their status as a yo-yo club. They were remarkably unsuccessful in doing so.

The Canaries actually made a surprisingly positive start to the season, with home victories against Newcastle United and champions Manchester City during their opening five matches.

However, a series of narrow defeats and draws saw the wheels slowly come loose, with their campaign ending with ten consecutive losses. During that dismal streak, Norwich conceded 24 times and managed to score just once.

Sunderland had just avoided relegation from the Premier League the previous season, but they wouldn’t be so fortunate on this occasion. The Black Cats got through three managers over the course of the 2002/03 campaign, with Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson dismissed before Mick McCarthy’s arrival.

Despite a strong start to the campaign, relatively speaking of course, Sunderland’s form fell off a cliff at the turn of the year. They managed just one draw out of 17 Premier League matches in 2003, with McCarthy unable to get a single point on the board following his appointment in March.

They finished an eye-watering 25 points off Bolton Wanderers in 17th.

This tally comes with an asterisk, with Portsmouth deducted nine points for entering administration during the 2009/10 campaign. Without that punishment they would have claimed a more respectable 28 points, although they still would have finished rock bottom of the table.

Even with the likes of Nwankwo Kanu, David James and Kevin-Prince Boateng in their ranks, Pompey couldn’t stave off relegation, despite also reaching – and losing – the FA Cup final in the same season.

In the end, their points deduction and poor performances proved too much to overturn, and the south coast side haven’t returned to the Premier League since.

The fact that Aston Villa finished 17 points below 19th-placed Norwich speaks volumes about just how terrible they were during the 2015/16 season, with Remi Garde unable to help the Midlands club out of the trouble that Tim Sherwood had placed them in.

Villa managed to secure eight draws over the course of the campaign, but just three victories meant they never stood a chance of survival. Their defence was the biggest issue, conceding 76 goals, but they also failed to score three or more in a single match over the season.

While Villa are now flying in the Premier League, it’s worth remembering where they were less than a decade ago.

Having secured unlikely promotion in 2017 via the play-offs, Huddersfield Town were expected to make a swift return to the Championship. However, they finished 16th in their first ever Premier League campaign courtesy of the brilliant David Wagner on the touchline.

However, second season syndrome doesn’t come much worse than Huddersfield’s 2018/19 campaign, which saw them drop back into the second tier with just a 16-point tally.

A 6-1 defeat to Man City on the second day of the season set the tone, with the Terriers only accumulating three wins over the course of the year. They managed just 22 goals in 38 matches, while also conceding 76.

Sheffield United’s 2023/24 season also comes with an asterisk for the time being given the Blades still have matches to play in the Premier League. However, they have already been relegated back to the Championship and have conceded a century of goals in the top flight.

Chris Wilder was brought back in to steady the ship halfway through the season but has been unable to stop the rot, with an 8-0 defeat to Newcastle the standout result of a shocking year. Having said that, they have also conceded five or more in seven different Premier League games this season.

Having been unable to change their fortunes on his arrival in the 2002/03 season, McCarthy was given another shot at the top flight with Sunderland several years later. However, the results were similar.

The gruff manager was dismissed in February after just two league wins, with caretaker boss Kevin Ball unable to change the club’s fortunes. That tally of two wins would only rise to three by the end of the campaign.

The best things got for Sunderland supporters was a goalless draw at Old Trafford in what was a disastrous season, with just 15 points to boast at the end of the term.

Derby County’s infamous 2007/08 campaign may never be beaten. They managed a measly 11 points across the season, winning just the one match – a 1-0 win over a rather embarrassed Newcastle side.

The Rams conceded six goals in four separate matches and were woeful in both boxes, finishing the season having scored just 20 and conceded 89. Kenny Miller was the club’s top scorer in the Premier League with just four goals.

A record low Premier League points tally, Derby’s last season in the division was certainly iconic.

*Points adjusted for 38-game season**Points deduction (-9)***Season still active

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