Historically there have always been teams who fall between two stools, too good for the second tier but out of their depth in the top-flight.
Subsequently, yo-yo clubs have existed since way back when.
Most Relegations From Premier League
- Norwich City – relegated six times
- West Bromwich Albion – relegated five times
- Burnley – relegated four times
- Leicester City – relegated four times
- Middlesbrough – relegated four times
- Sheffield United – relegated four times
- Sunderland - relegated four times
- Watford - relegated four times
The introduction of parachute payments however has seen this concept become a phenomenon in recent years and it’s no surprise to learn that the eight clubs who have dropped from the Premier League four times or more since 1992 are all firmly established members of the yo-yo fraternity.
They come up, having out-scored the rest and boasting a high percentage of clean sheets. They immediately plummet, thrashed most weeks and hopelessly outclassed.
By the following May, they are feeling champion again.
Such has been Norwich City’s fate – on and off – for over 30 years now, and the Canaries can take great pride in navigating five promotions to the promised land, a record in the modern era.
That though only tells half of their tale.
Norwich City – 6 Relegations
The founding of the Premier League coincided with a high-water mark for Norwich, a terrific side fronted by Mark Robins and Chris Sutton challenging for the title right through until spring.
A year later they famously beat Bayern Munich in Europe, a performance still cherished in East Anglia.
Yet just two seasons after finishing third in the Premier League’s inaugural campaign Norwich were down, undone by an atrocious second half to 1994/95. On New Year’s Day they were ninth.
If that tumultuous period demonstrates how boom-and-bust Norwich can be it pales to a more recent example. Across four seasons from 2018/19 on, the Canaries twice finished top of the Championship and twice finished bottom of the Premier League.
West Bromwich Albion – 5 Relegations
The Baggies are such a yo-yo club the fans have even taken to bouncing on the spot when celebrating a goal, shouting ‘boing boing’ as they do so. Let’s just say this is not a club overly associated with stability.
Their first relegation took place in 2003, just twelve months after securing promotion. Their next tenure at the top saw an improvement, this time lasting two seasons after coming back up in the interim.
In 2008 they were promoted again, proudly as champions, but a meagre 32 points had them promptly depart the main stage, rock bottom to boot.
A year later they returned to the big-time, on this occasion lasting eight seasons. They even broke into the top ten in 2013, propelled by the goals of Romelu Lukaku.
2018 saw them bottom again come May but yet another promotion swiftly followed. Not even a fire-fighting Sam Allardyce could save them from an immediate stumble back to the Championship, however.
Is anyone’s head spinning?
Burnley– 4 Relegations
For the first half of the Premier League era the Clarets could only dream of enduring relegation from the top-flight. Instead they languished in the lower divisions, at times facing financial oblivion.
Gaining a foothold in the second tier therefore was a huge plus for this marquee name in English football, a circumstance that greatly improved when Owen Coyle took over and guided Burnley out of the Championship via the Play-Offs in 2010.
On that occasion, gravity soon took hold but several further stints among the elite have followed, courtesy of Sean Dyche and Vincent Kompany. Each relegation has hurt, but that’s nothing compared to their serious woes of yesteryear.
Leicester City– 4 Relegations
The Foxes have twice upset the football odds in the last decade, first winning a fairy tale title in 2016 against all logic and expectation, before going down in 2023 when many were tipping them for a top-half finish.
Elsewhere, relegations have been suffered in 1995, 2002 and 2004 with an additional demotion occurring in 2008 that took the East Midlanders down to the third tier.
Their 2002 campaign stands out as being a particularly poor vintage, with a pitiful 30 goals scored and just 28 points accrued.
Middlesbrough – 4 Relegations
Boro went down in the Premier League’s inaugural season but it’s their second relegation that stays long in the memory, a ridiculous state of affairs that can be read about here.
In summary, with a team illuminated by Juninho and spearheaded by Fabrizio Ravanelli, Boro somehow contrived to win only two of their 20 fixtures between mid-September and the start of March, a disastrous run to spiralled them into the drop-zone.
It was a postponed game with Blackburn Rovers around Christmas that ultimately did for them though, a subsequent three-point punishment costing them dear amidst a series of misunderstandings.
The North-East club have since endured the drop twice-over, in 2009 and 2017.
Sheffield United– 4 Relegations
One aspect of Premier League betting got significantly easier just a couple of months in to the Blades’ horror-show of a season in 2023/24.
Once a week it was simply necessary to check who Chris Wilder’s broken team were playing that weekend and back them to the hilt. Hey presto, quids in.
Across an arduous campaign, United won only three of their contests, shipping in a staggering 104 goals as the great, good and average lined up to beat them comfortably.
It was a hard watch at times, though presumably Wednesday supporters enjoyed every sorry minute of it.
Sunderland– 4 Relegations
When the Mackems are bad, they are very, very bad.
In 2002/03, they lost 15 games on the bounce, the longest losing streak in the Premier League era. Kevin Phillips bagged just shy of a third of their league goals that term, which initially sounds impressive. But the usually reliable hit-man converted only six times.
Three years later they surpassed even this extreme level of poorness, breaking all manner of unwelcome records.
Only five weeks were spent away from the foot of the table as a substandard side featuring Jon Stead in attack and Anthony Le Tellec alongside him won only one game at home all season-long.
They were down with weeks to spare.
Watford– 4 Relegations
The Hornets have spent 22 seasons of the Premier League era in the Championship, and a further two in the third tier, and this surprises given their stature.
If top-flight sides was a category on Pointless you would be reluctant to plump for Watford. They would feel too obvious.
Moreover, they have experienced relegation in exactly half of their eight seasons at the summit.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
