Have you ever wondered what the average league positions would be for sides historically?
Well you don’t need to wonder anymore, as the legwork has been done on the last 50 years worth of league tables to come up with average league positions for each applicable side given their performances over the years since – up to and including the last 2015/16 campaign.
There is an obvious caveat to the final table as compiled by Sky Sports, as they have limited it to clubs who have spent at least 15 seasons out of the last 50 years in the Football League pyramid, so some recently promoted clubs who are now established – such as Fleetwood Town in League One, and even Burton Albion who won promotion to the Championship last season – aren’t represented in the final make up, whereas sides who will find themselves in the National League (the old Conference) in 2016/17 are included in the list and in many ways it shows how historically they have fared in the professional game.
I don’t think the table shows up any major surprises, given success for various sides over the past half a century – Liverpool top the table with a highest average position of 3.46 and they are closely followed by Arsenal and Manchester United who average a fifth place finish.
Other successful clubs in history and in more recent times like Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, and Chelsea figure in the top six, but fans of relegated Aston Villa and Newcastle United will no doubt be shaking their heads seeing those clubs take eighth and ninth place with respective 14.64 and 14.98 placed finishes across the last 50 years.
With a number of years out of the top flight, Southampton, Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and current Premier League Champions Leicester City are nicely in the top 15, and there are plenty of other clubs outside of the top flight for 2016/17 who will be hankering for former days of glory and stability given their own average placings.
Equally with Leicester and Southampton having their own journeys into League One before bouncing back, Coventry City, Sheffield United and others who find themselves now at that level or League Two, will be hoping for a steady rise back to the upper echelons before their historical placing suffers further.
Other things to be gleaned are how easily things can change in the game, as Tranmere Rovers now in the National League, take a 58th place finish with an average of 59.26, and they are just beaten by Bournemouth who sit in 57th place with an average of 58.18.
Two clubs with clearly contrasting journeys in the last decade, and I’m sure individual fans with their own knowledge of clubs will spot things that didn’t instantly jump out at me.
One final thing that did surprise me, given we all make assumptions about performance, history and everything else in the modern game, is how few clubs at the higher end of the table have positive goal differences.
You have to go to Leicester in 15th place before you register the first with a positive double figure tally, and they are followed in 23rd place by Stoke also on plus 14 – and only five clubs down to 23rd place featured a plus goal scoring ratio with the maximum being 6 (Southampton) and three clubs with three.
With Leicester and Southampton having League One battles on their rise, maybe domination in the next two tiers helped them on that score, as it did Stoke possibly.
But Liverpool with minus seven despite having the best average finish just feels curious.
Special mention for Bournemouth for having a plus 41 goal difference, as only Swansea City get near in reality with plus 40 of their own – Brentford are next as the only club in the thirties with plus 31 and then we are down to plus 29 with Rochdale, and plus 24 with Scunthorpe United and then you quickly get the single figures with only a handful of clubs reaching double figures of their own.
Others will look into over-achievement in 2015/16 and compare sides’ average positions with the one they gained last term, and stand outs there are Leicester City 14 places above their average in the Top 20, and Bournemouth holding a best 41 places above their average in the entire table. Swansea City manage 40 places above their average in a close second, and Brentford with 31 and Rochdale with 29 also stand out on that front.
The other end of the scale sees National League North side Stockport County a full 47 places below their average as they finished ninth last term, but they aren’t alone with Luton (41), Portsmouth (40), Tranmere Rovers (40), Notts County (36) and Coventry City (31) places below their 50 year average as well.
National League Play Off final winners Grimsby Town make their return to the Football League and League Two in 2016/17 but they too stand 31 places below their average position.
|
–
|
Team
|
Avg Pos
|
2015/16 Pos
|
Goal Diff
|
2016/17
|
|
1
|
Liverpool
|
3.46
|
8
|
-7
|
Premiership
|
|
2
|
Arsenal
|
5
|
2
|
0
|
Premiership
|
|
–
|
Manchester United
|
5
|
6
|
-4
|
Premiership
|
|
4
|
Tottenham Hotspur
|
8.84
|
3
|
1
|
Premiership
|
|
5
|
Everton
|
8.98
|
11
|
-6
|
Premiership
|
|
6
|
Chelsea
|
11.02
|
10
|
-4
|
Premiership
|
|
7
|
Manchester City
|
13.62
|
4
|
3
|
Premiership
|
|
8
|
Aston Villa
|
14.64
|
20
|
-12
|
Championship
|
|
9
|
Newcastle United
|
14.98
|
18
|
-9
|
Championship
|
|
10
|
West Ham United
|
15.16
|
7
|
3
|
Premiership
|
|
11
|
Southampton
|
17.16
|
5
|
6
|
Premiership
|
|
12
|
Leeds United
|
17.66
|
33
|
-21
|
Championship
|
|
13
|
Nottingham Forest
|
20.92
|
36
|
-23
|
Championship
|
|
14
|
Ipswich Town
|
20.94
|
27
|
-13
|
Championship
|
|
15
|
Leicester City
|
22.3
|
1
|
14
|
Premiership
|
|
16
|
Sunderland
|
22.46
|
17
|
-1
|
Premiership
|
|
17
|
West Bromwich Albion
|
22.5
|
14
|
3
|
Premiership
|
|
18
|
Norwich City
|
22.52
|
19
|
-1
|
Championship
|
|
19
|
Middlesbrough
|
22.9
|
22
|
-3
|
Premiership
|
|
20
|
Derby County
|
23.18
|
25
|
-5
|
Championship
|
|
21
|
Coventry City
|
23.22
|
52
|
-31
|
League One
|
|
22
|
Queens Park Rangers
|
23.98
|
32
|
-10
|
Championship
|
|
23
|
Stoke City
|
25.34
|
9
|
14
|
Premiership
|
|
24
|
Blackburn Rovers
|
25.74
|
35
|
-11
|
Championship
|
|
25
|
Birmingham City
|
26.2
|
30
|
-5
|
Championship
|
|
26
|
Wolverhampton Wanderers
|
26.72
|
34
|
-8
|
Championship
|
|
27
|
Crystal Palace
|
27.42
|
15
|
12
|
Premiership
|
|
28
|
Sheffield Wednesday
|
29.86
|
26
|
2
|
Championship
|
|
29
|
Sheffield United
|
31.56
|
55
|
-26
|
League One
|
|
30
|
Charlton Athletic
|
32.14
|
42
|
-12
|
League One
|
|
31
|
Bolton Wanderers
|
32.66
|
44
|
-13
|
League One
|
|
32
|
Watford
|
35.34
|
13
|
19
|
Premiership
|
|
33
|
Fulham
|
36.44
|
40
|
-7
|
Championship
|
|
34
|
Portsmouth
|
38.94
|
74
|
-40
|
League Two
|
|
35
|
Millwall
|
39.2
|
48
|
-13
|
League One
|
|
36
|
Burnley
|
40.42
|
21
|
15
|
Premiership
|
|
37
|
Bristol City
|
41.94
|
38
|
-1
|
Championship
|
|
38
|
Luton Town
|
45.62
|
79
|
-41
|
League Two
|
|
39
|
Oldham Athletic
|
46.34
|
61
|
-22
|
League One
|
|
40
|
Hull City
|
46.68
|
24
|
16
|
Premiership
|
|
41
|
Brighton
|
46.74
|
23
|
18
|
Championship
|
|
42
|
Barnsley
|
47
|
50
|
-8
|
Championship
|
|
43
|
Cardiff City
|
47.14
|
28
|
15
|
Championship
|
|
44
|
Reading
|
47.26
|
37
|
7
|
Championship
|
|
45
|
Huddersfield Town
|
47.52
|
39
|
6
|
Championship
|
|
46
|
Preston North End
|
48.22
|
31
|
15
|
Championship
|
|
47
|
Blackpool
|
49.34
|
66
|
-19
|
League Two
|
|
48
|
Swindon Town
|
50.18
|
60
|
-12
|
League One
|
|
49
|
Notts County
|
53.16
|
85
|
-36
|
League Two
|
|
50
|
Plymouth Argyle
|
54.84
|
73
|
-23
|
League Two
|
|
51
|
Oxford United
|
55.18
|
70
|
-19
|
League One
|
|
52
|
Swansea City
|
55.72
|
12
|
40
|
Premiership
|
|
53
|
Bristol Rovers
|
57.5
|
71
|
-18
|
League One
|
|
54
|
Walsall
|
57.6
|
47
|
7
|
League One
|
|
55
|
Rotherham United
|
57.82
|
41
|
14
|
Championship
|
|
56
|
Bradford City
|
57.94
|
49
|
7
|
League One
|
|
57
|
Bournemouth
|
58.18
|
16
|
41
|
Premiership
|
|
58
|
Tranmere Rovers
|
59.26
|
98
|
-40
|
National League
|
|
59
|
Wigan Athletic
|
59.68
|
45
|
14
|
Championship
|
|
60
|
Brentford
|
60.08
|
29
|
31
|
Championship
|
|
61
|
Carlisle United
|
60.42
|
78
|
-17
|
League Two
|
|
62
|
Leyton Orient
|
60.46
|
76
|
-14
|
League Two
|
|
63
|
Gillingham
|
60.52
|
53
|
10
|
League One
|
|
64
|
Port Vale
|
60.66
|
56
|
8
|
League One
|
|
65
|
Grimsby Town
|
61.26
|
96
|
-31
|
League Two
|
|
66
|
Shrewsbury Town
|
62.16
|
64
|
2
|
League One
|
|
67
|
Bury
|
65.16
|
58
|
9
|
League One
|
|
–
|
Southend United
|
65.16
|
59
|
8
|
League One
|
|
69
|
Peterborough United
|
65.2
|
57
|
12
|
League One
|
|
70
|
Chesterfield
|
66.12
|
62
|
8
|
League One
|
|
71
|
Colchester United
|
67.3
|
67
|
4
|
League Two
|
|
72
|
Crewe Alexandra
|
68.8
|
68
|
4
|
League Two
|
|
73
|
Wrexham
|
70.5
|
100
|
-27
|
National League
|
|
74
|
Doncaster Rovers
|
71.78
|
65
|
9
|
League Two
|
|
75
|
Scunthorpe United
|
72.56
|
51
|
24
|
League One
|
|
76
|
Mansfield Town
|
74.2
|
80
|
-4
|
League Two
|
|
77
|
Northampton
|
74.38
|
69
|
8
|
League One
|
|
78
|
Stockport County
|
74.7
|
125
|
-47
|
National North
|
|
79
|
Cambridge United
|
74.76
|
77
|
2
|
League Two
|
|
80
|
Hartlepool United
|
77.2
|
84
|
-4
|
League Two
|
|
81
|
Exeter City
|
77.72
|
82
|
-1
|
League Two
|
|
82
|
York City
|
77.92
|
92
|
-10
|
National League
|
|
83
|
Rochdale
|
78.32
|
54
|
29
|
League One
|
|
84
|
Lincoln City
|
79.14
|
105
|
-21
|
National League
|
|
85
|
Torquay United
|
80.18
|
110
|
-25
|
National League
|
|
86
|
Wycombe Wanderers
|
86.7
|
81
|
5
|
League Two
|
|
87
|
Barnet
|
94.42
|
83
|
4
|
League Two
|
|
88
|
Macclesfield
|
98.74
|
102
|
-14
|
National League
|
|
89
|
Cheltenham Town
|
100.84
|
93
|
-4
|
League Two
|
