Highlights

  • Sheffield United defied the odds and achieved a ninth-place finish in the Premier League in the 2019/2020 season, proving that teamwork can lead to success.
  • Leeds United returned to the Premier League after 16 years and secured a ninth-place finish, earning 59 points and scoring the seventh-highest number of goals in the league.
  • Reading had an impressive debut season in the top flight, narrowly missing out on European qualification and finishing in eighth place with 55 points.

Every season of the Premier League sees three new sides promoted to the top flight and given the opportunity to compete with the country's best teams, but which of these sides have fared best on their return to the promised land that is the Premier League?

Most sides who come up from the Championship (formerly Division One) have their sights firmly set on survival, or at best consolidation, with 17th place, and previously 19th (22-team league until 1995/96), being seen as very successful first seasons in England's notoriously tough top flight.

Due to the financial disparity between the Premier League and the Football League there has been an ever-expanding gap between the top division and the rest of the pyramid in England, meaning that the leap up is even harder for clubs, but some have bucked the trend in the 30+ years of the new league format, with a select few even qualifying for Europe.

Let’s look at the five best league finishes by promoted clubs in the Premier League era - in the case that two sides have the same position, points tally and then goal difference will be taken into account.

Read more: Top 10 best big-name signings for promoted clubs in the Premier League era

Sheffield United 2019/2020 - Ninth

Ollie McBurnie celebrates for Sheffield United

The Blades defied the odds during the 2019-2020 campaign. Chris Wilder's side were exemplary on the pitch and proved that teamwork does indeed, make the dream work. Of course, Wilder is by no means a man to deliver his pre-game motivational talks via a selection of cheesy platitudes, but the Yorkshire-based side spent most of the season looking as though they were about to pull off mission impossible by breaking the top six. A side that was more than the sum of its parts, following a slight downturn in form after the enforced COVID break, the Bramall Lane faithful were still left more than pleased at their side's ninth place finish.

West Ham 2005/2006 - Ninth

Marlon Harewood for West Ham

The season prior to one of the wildest Transfer Deadline Days of all time, which saw Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano inadvertently move to West Ham, through up quite the surprises for the East Londoners. Having been promoted at the end of the 2005 season via the playoffs, staving off relegation was the objective for Alan Pardew and the Irons. Yet, after a scintillating start to the season, with three wins from their first five games, Pardew's men would not only end the season in the top half, but also with an appearance in the FA Cup Final, losing by a whisker on penalties to Liverpool.

Leeds United 2020/2021 - Ninth

Jack Harrison for Leeds

Leeds were a club dormant for 16 years, having been relegated from the top flight in 2004. Luckily, for the Lilywhites, Aregntinian genius, Marcelo Bielsa was on hand to resurrect the club from its ashes and return Elland Road to its former glory, making it a Premier League ground once more.

Typically, due to COVID-19 restrictions and various lockdown rules, it meant that few Leeds fans would actually get the chance to witness their side in action in the top flight until the following season. Employing an unrestrained, all or nothing type system saw Bielsa's side excel in their return. Notching up 59 points and 62 goals, the seventh-highest in the league, Leeds would go marching on together to secure a ninth place finish.

Reading 2006/2007 - Eighth

Reading's Kevin Doyle

The 2006-2007 campaign was Reading's debut season mixing it in the top flight with the country's very best. The Royals certainly weren't overawed by their new competition, adapting to the arduous demands of the Premier League with aplomb.

With the likes of Dave Kitson, Leroy Lita, Kevin Doyle, and Steve Sidwell all featuring in the blue and white hoops down in Berkshire, the Madjeski tenants had an abundance of firepower. Narrowly missing out on a maiden shot at Europe by one point, Reading fans could be forgiven for asking "what could have been?", however, ending the season on 55 points in eighth is not to be socffed at.

Wolves 2018/19 - Seventh

Raul Jimenez celebrates

Seven years after the club were unceremoniously relegated from the top flight, it was fitting that Nuno Espirito Santo led his side to a seventh-place finish at the first time of asking, upon the club's return to the Premier League.

Wolves enjoyed a stellar campaign under their head coach and with their talented Portuguese core, the haunting memories of the dismal 2011-12 season were quickly replaced with ones of a fond nature. Finishing with a 57-point haul, the men from Molineux fired themselves to a spot in Europe.

Sunderland 1999/2000 – Seventh

Kevin Phillips celebrates for Sunderland

The Black Cats had won Division One at a canter, accumulating a then-record 105 points. This momentum carried them into the Premier League in 1999/2000, as they missed out on European qualification on goal difference to Aston Villa.

At Christmas, Peter Reid’s men were third in the table but fell off to finish seventh, which remains their joint-best Premier League finish. Kevin Phillips was the clear standout, smashing in 30 league goals to win both the Premier League and European Golden Boot. He and Niall Quinn remain an iconic partnership in the club’s history.

Ipswich Town 2000/01 – Fifth

Ipswich celebrate

The Tractor Boys had last been seen in the Premier League in 1994/95, where they suffered the ignominy of a 9-0 defeat to Manchester United. Several seasons of narrowly missing promotion followed before George Burley took them up in the 1999/2000 playoffs.

What followed was a spectacular fifth-placed finish, with Marcus Stewart leading their charge into the UEFA Cup with 19 league goals. It was the club’s best league season since Bobby Robson’s 1980s heyday.

Sadly, the tractor quickly ran out of gas as they were relegated the following season despite Portman Road playing host to European football. They haven’t been back in the big time since.

Blackburn Rovers 1992/93 – Fourth

Alan Shearer celebrates

Rovers' golden period under Jack Walker began the season before when they hired Liverpool’s title-winning manager Kenny Dalglish, who returned to the game after taking some time off following the trauma of the Hillsborough stadium disaster.

Promotion came through the playoffs and Walker then flexed his financial muscle by signing Alan Shearer for a then-British record transfer fee from Southampton, as well as future title winners Graeme Le Saux and Henning Berg.

They arguably would have challenged Manchester United for the title if not for a midseason injury to Shearer, but they would only have to wait two years until their ultimate success came.

Nottingham Forest 1994/95 – Third

Stan collymore celebrates 1994

Forest had been relegated in Brian Clough’s last season, which meant they spent their first year in the second tier since 1976/77 (they won the league in 1977/78 upon promotion but this is a post-1992 list). They bounced straight back up with Stan Collymore at the heart of everything.

Stan the Man’s form continued in the top flight, banging in 22 league goals to help Frank Clark’s side to a seriously impressive third-place finish, meaning UEFA Cup football would be on show at the City Ground the next season.

This was as good as it got for Forest as Collymore left for Liverpool and a failure to replace him adequately meant they got relegated just two seasons later. One more yo-yo between the leagues came before they were consigned to lower-league football for 23 straight seasons (1999-2022).

Newcastle United 1993/94 – Third

Newcastle 1993-94

The Magpies top this list above Forest by virtue of their better goal difference, which is +41 to +29 in their favour. Both sides earned 77 points from the then-42 league game season.

Kevin Keegan had taken over in February 1992 with the club facing relegation to the third tier of English football. Less than 18 months later, he brought them into the Premier League as champions and immediately set about making them one of the best sides in the country.

Peter Beardsley was signed, returning to both his boyhood club and a side he had played for in the 1980s and was partnered up top by Andy Cole. The pair hit a combined 55 league goals - Cole’s 34 landing him both the Golden Boot and PFA Young Player of the Year.

The free-flowing football that became synonymous with Keegan led to a third-placed finish behind Blackburn and champions Manchester United, which meant UEFA Cup football for the Geordies. Soon, Newcastle would be challenging for the title in the most exciting period of their modern history.



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