This article looks at the records of the most recent 15 teams to be promoted from the Championship to the Premier League. This will compare their performances, detail the reality check they faced in stepping up to top-flight football and look ahead to the prospects of this season’s promotion-winning trio of Norwich, Bournemouth and Watford when they join English football’s elite in 2015/16. All statements about worst and best performances refer to comparisons between these 18 promoted teams, not between other Championship or Premier League teams. Star players list are those that made proved good Fantasy players in the Premier League.
Clubs promoted in 2010
Newcastle scored 56 home goals in winning the 2009/10 Championship, the best by any promotion-winning team during this six-year period, and their overall total of 90 goals was the third best amongst all promoted teams after 2010. Their 41 home goals in the 2010-11 Premier League was also the best by any team promoted since 2010, and their overall total of 56 was only equalled by West Brom. Star player: Andy Carroll.
Runners-up West Brom were also prolific. Their overall total of 89 goals in the Championship being the fourth best during the period looked at in this article. Their 26 away goals in the 2010-11 Premier League was the best amongst all promoted sides since 2010, and their overall total of 56 goals was joint-best amongst all promoted sides with Newcastle. They did, however, only keep two Premier League clean sheets (both at home), the lowest total and biggest deterioration defensively among promoted sides since 2010. Star player: Peter Odemwingie.
Blackpool only failed to score in one home match in the Championship, and repeated the feat in the Premier League, both of which were bests for a newly promoted team since 2010. They also did well in terms of total goals scored (which only dropped from 74 to 55) and away goals scored (which only dropped from 28 to 25). Their weakness, however, was in defence. In the Championship they conceded 36 away goals and in the Premier League they conceded 78 goals, 37 of which were at home. Blackpool also kept the smallest number of home clean sheets of a post 2010 promoted side – just one, which was the biggest deterioration (down from nine in the Championship). Star player: Charlie Adam.
Clubs promoted in 2011
QPR won the 2010/11 Championship with the lowest numbers of total goals conceded (32), away goals conceded (17) and the greatest number of clean sheets (25) and away clean sheets (13) amongst post-2010 promoted sides. But in the 2011/12 Premier League they showed a huge deterioration in total goals conceded (from 32 to 66) and away goals conceded (from 17 to 41). Star player: Bobby Zamora.
Norwich were runners-up, but amongst promoted teams since 2010 they had the lowest number of home clean sheets (four) and joint-lowest number of total clean sheets (11). In the 2011/12 Premier League they had the joint fewest number of away failures to score (five) amongst promoted sides, but they also had the joint-lowest number of away clean sheets (zero) and the joint-biggest deterioration in away clean sheets (from seven to zero). This failure to carry strong defensive away form into top-flight football is something we will address later in this article. Star player: Wes Hoolahan.
Swansea were promoted with the smallest number of home goals conceded (11) and the highest number of home clean sheets (14) of post-2010 promoted sides. But unlike Norwich, when they made the step up to the Premier League, they maintained their impressive defensive record, with the lowest number of home goals conceded (18) amongst promoted teams and the greatest number of total clean sheets (14) and home clean sheets (9). Star player: Michel Vorm.
Clubs promoted in 2012
Reading won the 2011/12 Championship on the back of strong defence of 20 clean sheets and only 41 goals conceded. But in the the 2012/13 Premier League this strong record was left in tatters as they failed to register any away clean sheets. Star player: Adam Le Fondre
Southampton were runners-up this year on the back of a strong attack. This carried over into the 2012/13 Premier League season where they failed to score away from home just five times. Star player: Rickie Lambert.
West Ham‘s strong away form, with 40 goals on road, ensured promotion from the Championship. But in the 2012-13 Premier League season they suffered a rude awakening, only scoring 11 on their travels. At home though they performed better in the top flight, only dropping from 41 to 34 in terms of home goals scored. Star player: Kevin Nolan.
Clubs promoted in 2013
Cardiff won the 2012-13 Championship but this was largely thanks to a strong defensive record rather than goalscoring ability as they conceded 45 goals but only scored 72 – 17 fewer than Watford that season. This sorry state of affairs in attack carried over into the Premier League where they failed to score on a staggering 19 occasions in the 2013/14 season and were promptly relegated. Star player: Jordan Mutch
Hull were runners-up in the Championship, and were also poor in attack, registering just 61 goals. As with Cardiff, this failure in attack also carried on into the Premier League in 2013/14, where they narrowly avoided relegation after scoring just 38 goals. However, they did only concede 53 times, one more than they let in during their promotion winning Championship season. Star player: Curtis Davies.
Crystal Palace were promoted despite conceding 62 goals. But in the 2013/14 Premier League it was a different story as they were the only team promoted since 2010 to concede fewer goals in the Premier League than in the Championship, shipping just 47 in the top flight in 2013/14. They also kept 12 clean sheets in the Premier League, compared to 11 in their promotion winning Championship season. This improvement came only after Tony Pulis took over from Ian Holloway as manager. Star manager: Tony Pulis.
Clubs promoted in 2014
Leicester won the 2013-14 Championship with the smallest number of total failures to score (three) and away failures to score (one) amongst post 2010 promoted teams. In the 2014-15 Premier League, however, they showed a huge deterioration in total failures to score (up to 14), with home failures to score up from two to six and away failures to score up from one to eight. But with a succession of wins in the final half of the season they secured safety after finally finding the winning combination of clean sheets and goals. Star player: Jamie Vardy.
Burnley were runners-up in the 2013-14 Championship and showed a defensive resiliance in the top flight. In the 2014/15 Premier League season they conceded the smallest number of total goals (43) and away goals (23) amongst promoted teams looked at in this article. Their attack though was woeful, with Burnley only finding the net 28 times. It was no wonder they failed to secure Premier League status. Star player: Danny Ings.
QPR‘s promotion came despite scoring the lowest number of total goals (60) amongst post-2010 promoted sides. They also had the greatest number of total failures to score (13) and away failures to score (10). In the 2014/15 Premier League their attack improved significantly, especially in away matches, but conceding 49 goals away from home proved to be relegation form. Star player: Charlie Austin.
Clubs promoted in 2015
Bournemouth won the 2014-15 Championship impressively, scoring the greatest number of total goals (98) and away goals (50) of promoted teams since 2010. Their defence was only average for a promoted team. Star players: Callum Wilson & Matt Ritchie.
Watford were runners-up with the second greatest number of total goals (91) amongst promoted sides looked at in this article. Their defence, however, was below average, with just 15 clean sheets, seven of which came at home. Star player: Troy Deeney
Norwich were promoted with the fifth greatest number of total goals (88) amongst post-2010 promoted sides. As with Watford, their defence was suspect in the Championship and could be an even bigger issue in the Premier League. In their promotion-winning season they kept 14 clean sheets, with their defence seemingly more confident away from home. They conceded fewer goals away than at home and kept two more clean sheets on the road than at Carrow Road. This away form could prove crucial information for those looking to involve Norwich defenders or goalkeeper in a rotation strategy, as it appears they could be utilised better away from home. But as we saw in 2011 this could be the second promotion-winning campaign on the bounce where the Canaries fail to carry their defensive resolve away from home in the Championship with them into the Premier League. Star Players: Bradley Johnson and Nathan Redmond
Analysis
A comparison of the average promoted team’s performances in both the Championship and Premier League should act as a wake-up call for those expecting similar attacking prowess from 2015’s trio of promoted teams.
On average, promoted teams scored 1.64 goals per match in the Championship, but this reduced to 0.99 in the Premier League. This indicates that investment in successful Championship strikers should be treated with caution. For every success like Charlie Austin, who scored 17 goals in QPR’s promotion season, 2013/14, and 18 in the Premier League in 2014/15, there is also a failure, like Sylvan Ebanks Blake. The Wolverhampton Wanderers striker scored 25 goals in the Midlands side’s 2008/9 promotion-winning season, only to score just two goals the following season in the Premier League.
The average promoted team over the period 2010 and 2014 conceded 1.00 goals per match in the Championship, rising to 1.63 in the Premier League. On average, the number of home goals conceded per match increased from 0.86 to 1.37, while the number of away goals per match conceded increased from 1.14 to 1.88. With just five home clean sheets on average for 2010-2014’s promoted sides, even at home, promoted sides face a mountain to climb as they move to the top flight.
N.B. Figures for the Average Team were obtained by summing the stats for the 15 teams promoted in 2010-14 and then dividing by 15. The Championship figures are for 46 matches (play-off matches being excluded), and the Premier League figures are for 38 matches.
8 years, 10 months agoGreat research. Shows that the promoted times have a tough time ahead. Norwich's defence is particularly interesting. Can they maintain at least some of their strong away form in the Championship?