billsportsmaps.com

August 13, 2024

2024-25 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts (Average attendance; Seasons-in-1st-Division; English titles list)./+ The 3 promoted clubs (Leicester City, Ipswich Town, Southampton).

2024-25_premier-league_map_w-attendance-chart_-post_b_.gif
2024-25 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts (Average attendance; Seasons-in-1st-Division; English titles list)



By Bill Turianski, on the 13th of August 2024; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2024-25 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Table, fixtures, results, stats, attendances, etc…Summary – Premier League [2024-25] (soccerway.com).

2024-25 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts (Attendance; Seasons-in-1st-Division; English titles list).
The map is a basic location-map, with an inset map of Greater London. Also shown are small labels which point out both the three promoted clubs (Leicester City, Ipswich Town, Southampton), and the three relegated clubs (Luton Town, Burnley, Sheffield United). And there are three charts…

The Attendance chart, at top-centre of the map page, shows 4 things for each of the 20 current Premier League clubs…A) 2023-24 finish (with promotions noted). B) 2023-24 average attendance [from home league matches]. C) Stadium capacity [2023-24]. D) Percent-capacity [2023-24].

At the right-hand side of the map page are two more charts. The chart at the top-right shows Seasons-in-1st-Division for the 20 current Premier League clubs. Also shown are consecutive top-flight-seasons, and first season of current spell. (Counting 2024-25, there have been 126 seasons of English 1st division football; the English 1st division was established in 1888-89, with seasons played from 1888-89 to 1914-15; from 1919-20 to 1938-39; and from 1946-47 to 2024-25.)

Everton have played the most seasons in the top flight – 122 – and Everton have been in the top tier without relegation since 1954-55 (71 straight seasons). There are four other clubs that have played over 100 seasons in the English top flight: Aston Villa (111 seasons), Liverpool (110 seasons), Arsenal (108 seasons), and Manchester United (100 seasons). Arsenal are the club with the longest spell in the top tier – 99 seasons (since 1919-20). Of the three newly-promoted sides, both Leicester City and Southampton return back to the top flight after one year. And Ipswich Town returns back to the Premier League after a 22 year absence.

The final chart, at the right-hand foot of the map-page, shows the all-time English Title Winners list (1889 to 2024 / 125 titles). Manchester United has won the most English titles, with 20 (last in 2013); Liverpool has won the second-most titles, with 19 (last in 2020). Arsenal have won the third-most titles, with 13 (last in 2004). Reigning champions Manchester City have won the fourth-most titles – 10. Man City have now won 6 of the last 7 titles. Twenty four clubs have won the English title. The most recent club to win their first title was Leicester City, in 2016.




Top 10 clubs that filled their stadium the best in 2023-24. (Clubs with best Percent-Capacity figures.)…
1. Arsenal, at 99.7%-capacity (the Gunners drew 60.2-K-per-game in their 60.3-K-capacity Emirates’ Stadium).
2. Brentford, at 99.0%-capacity (the Bees drew 17.0-K-per-game in their 17.2-K-capacity Brentford Community Stadium).
3. Newcastle United, at 98.8%-capacity (the Magpies drew 52.1-K-per-game in their 52.7-K-capacity St James’ Park).
4. Brighton & Hove Albion, at 98.7%-capacity (the Seagulls drew 31.4-K-per-game in their 31.8-K-capacity Falmer Stadium [the Amex]).
5. Aston Villa, at 97.8%-capacity (Villa drew 41.8-K-per-game in their 42.7-K-capacity Villa Park).
6. Tottenham Hotspur, at 97.7%-capacity (Spurs drew 61.4-K-per-game in their 62.8-K-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium).
7. West Ham United, at 97.0%-capacity (the Hammers drew 62.5-K-per-game in the 64.4-K-capacity London Stadium).
8. Manchester City, at 96.8%-capacity (City drew 53.3-K-per-game in their 55.0-K-capacity Etihad Stadium).
9. Manchester United, at 96.4%-capacity (the Red Devils drew 73.5-K-per-game in their 74.0-K-capacity Old Trafford).
10. Everton, at 96.2%-capacity (the Toffees drew 39.0-K-per-game in their 40.5-K-capacity Goodison Park).

Links to other recent posts…
-Here is a chart I made which shows the best Percent-capacity figures last season (in the Premier League & the EFL)…England: Best Percent Capacity figures in 2023-24 – all clubs that drew above 80%-capacity (41 clubs).
-Here is a map I posted earlier this summer…England (including Wales) – Map of all clubs drawing above 1,000 per game (2023-24 attendance figures): 152 clubs, including 60 non-League clubs.

    The 3 promoted clubs…

2024: Leicester City, promoted back to the Premier League after 1 year…
leicester-city-fc_promoted-2024_king-power-stadium_i_.gif
Photo credits above – Leicester City 2024-25 jersey, from shop.lcfc.com. King Power Stadium, photo from lcfc.com.

2024: Ipswich Town, back in the Premier League after 22 years, following back-to-back promotions, from the 3rd division to the 1st division…
ipswich-town-fc_promoted-2024_portman-road_h_.gif
Photo credits above – Ipswich Town 2024-25 jersey, from shop.itfc.co.uk. Portman Road, aerial photo by John Fielding at flickr.com/photos/john_fielding.

2024: Southampton, promoted back to the Premier League after 1 year…
southampton-fc_promoted-2024_st-marys-stadium_b_.gif
Photo credits above – Southampton 2024-25 jersey, from southamptonfc.com/en/news. St Mary’s Stadium, photo from dailyecho.co.uk/news.

___
Thanks to all at the following links…
-Blank map of English Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Counties, by Nilfanion, at File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties 2010.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg (en.wikipedia.org).
-2023-24 attendance figures, and venue-capacities from: soccerway.com.
-Seasons in Football League by Club: Club League Divisional History Summary 1888-89 to 2023-24 (myfootballfacts.com); fchd.info (Football Club History Database); England – First Level All-Time Tables 1888/89-2018/19 (rsssf.com).
-Distances: mapdevelopers.com/distance_from_to.php (mapdevelopers.com).

July 26, 2023

2023-24 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts (Average attendance; Seasons-in-1st-Division; English titles list).

2023-24_premier-league_map_w-attendance-chart_post_f_.gif
2023-24 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts (Average attendance; Seasons-in-1st-Division; English titles list)



By Bill Turianski, on 26 July 2023; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2023-24 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Table, fixtures, results, stats, attendances, etc…Summary – Premier League [2023-24] (soccerway.com).

2023-24 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts (Attendance; Seasons-in-1st-Division; English titles list).
The map is a basic location-map, with an inset map of Greater London. Also shown are small labels which point out the three promoted clubs (Burnley, Luton Town, Sheffield United). And there are three charts…

The Attendance chart, at top-centre of the map page, shows 4 things for each of the 20 current Premier League clubs…A) 2022-23 finish (with promotions noted). B) 2022-23 average attendance [from home league matches]. C) Stadium capacity [2022-23]. D) Percent-capacity [2022-23].

At the right-hand side of the map page are two more charts. The chart at the top-right shows Seasons-in-1st-Division for the 20 current Premier League clubs. Also shown are consecutive top-flight-seasons, and first season of current spell. (Counting 2023-24, there have been 125 seasons of English 1st division football; the English 1st division was established in 1888-89, with seasons played from 1888-89 to 1914-15; from 1919-20 to 1938-39; and from 1946-47 to 2023-24.)

Everton have played the most seasons in the top flight – 121 – and Everton have been in the top tier without relegation since 1954-55 (70 straight seasons). There are three other clubs that have played over 100 seasons in the English top flight: Aston Villa (110 seasons), Liverpool (109 seasons), and Arsenal (107 seasons). Arsenal are the club with the longest spell in the top tier – 98 seasons (since 1919-20). Of the 3 newly-promoted sides, Burnley return back to the top flight after one year. Sheffield United return back after two years. And Luton Town are playing top flight football for the first time in 31 years. The last time previously that Luton Town had been in the top tier was in 1991-92, which was the last season the English top flight was called the First Division. (The following season of 1992-93 was, of course, when the Premier League was established.)

The final chart, at the right-hand foot of the map-page, shows the all-time English Title Winners list (1889 to 2023/ 124 titles). Manchester United has won the most English titles, with 20 (last in 2013); Liverpool has won the second-most titles, with 19 (last in 2020). Arsenal have won the third-most titles, with 13 (last in 2004). Reigning champions Manchester City, and Everton, have jointly won the fourth-most titles – 9. Everton won their last English title in 1987; Man City have now won 5 of the last 6 titles. Twenty four clubs have won the English title. The most recent club to win their first title was Leicester City, in 2016.




Below are illustrations for the 3 promoted clubs (Burnley, Luton Town, Sheffield United)…

Burnley – promoted in 2023.
burnley-FC_promoted-2023_turf-moor_m_.gif
Photo credits above – Burnley 2023-24 home jersey, photo from shop.burnleyfc.com. Aerial shot of Turf Moor by Richard McCarthy via www.imago-images.de via weltfussball.de/news.




Luton Town – promoted in 2023; promoted back to the 1st division after 31 years. Luton Town are the first club to go from non-League football to the Premier League.
{Kenilworth Road: The throwback Luton Town stadium hosting the Premier League, by Kris Holland at bbc.com/news.}
luton-town-fc_promoted-2023_kenilworth-road_oak-stand-entrance_f_.gif
Photo credits above – Luton Town 2023-24 home jersey, photo unattributed at footyheadlines.com. 2 photos by Carl Recine/Reuters {@twitter.com/carlrecine}: Aerial drone shot of Kenilworth Road. Aerial drone shot of the two Oak Stand entrances (built into the row of terraced houses along Oak Road; entrance to the stadium, from there, is via a back-yard staircase). 2 photos via @twitter.com/James_Dart.




Sheffield United – promoted in 2023.
sheffield-united-fc_promoted-2023_bramall-lane_e_.gif
Photo credits above – Sheffield United 2023-24 home jersey (w/ no sponsor), photo unattributed at footballshirtculture.com. Aerial shot of Bramall Lane by Michael Regan/Getty Images via gettyimages.com.au/photos/bramall-lane-sheffield.

___
Thanks to all at the following links…
-Blank map of English Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Counties, by Nilfanion, at File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties 2010.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg (en.wikipedia.org).
-2022-23 attendance figures, and venue-capacities from: soccerway.com.
-Seasons in Football League by Club: Club League Divisional History Summary 1888-89 to 2023-24 (myfootballfacts.com); fchd.info (Football Club History Database); England – First Level All-Time Tables 1888/89-2018/19 (rsssf.com).
-Distances: mapdevelopers.com/distance_from_to.php (mapdevelopers.com).

September 14, 2022

2022-23 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts (Attendance; Seasons-in-1st-Division; English titles list)./+ The 3 clubs promoted to the Premier League in 2022… Fulham, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest.

2022-23_premier-league_map_w-3-charts_post_c_.gif"
2022-23 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts (Attendance; Seasons-in-1st-Division; English titles list)



By Bill Turianski on the 14th of September 2022; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2022–23 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Table, fixtures, results, stats, attendances, etc…Summary – Premier League [2022-23] (soccerway.com).
-Premier League 2022-23 previews (theguardian.com/football).

Quick clicks to the 3 promoted teams illustrations…
-Fulham – promoted in 2022.
-Bournemouth – promoted in 2022.
-Nottingham Forest – promoted in 2022.

2022-23 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts (Attendance; Seasons-in-1st-Division; English titles list).
The map is a basic location-map, with an inset map of Greater London. Also shown are small labels which point out the three promoted clubs (Fulham, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest). And there are three charts.

The Attendance chart, at top-centre of the map page, shows 4 things for each of the 20 current Premier League clubs…A) 2021-22 finish (with promotions noted). B) 2021-22 average attendance [from home league matches]. C) Stadium capacity [2021-22]. D) Percent-capacity [2021-22].

At the right-hand side of the map page are two more charts. The chart at the top-right shows Seasons-in-1st-Division for the 20 current Premier League clubs. Also shown are consecutive top-flight-seasons, and first season of current spell. (Counting 2022-23, there have been 124 seasons of English 1st division football; the English 1st division was established in 1888-89, with seasons played from 1888-89 to 1914-15; from 1919-20 to 1938-39; and from 1946-47 to 2022-23.)

Everton have played the most seasons in the top flight – 120 – and Everton have been in the top tier without relegation since 1954-55 (69 straight seasons). There are three other clubs that have played over 100 seasons in the English top flight: Aston Villa (109 seasons), Liverpool (108 seasons), and Arsenal (106 seasons). Arsenal are the club with the longest spell in the top tier – 98 seasons (since 1919-20). Of the 3 newly-promoted sides, Fulham return back to the top flight after one year. Bournemouth return back after two years. And Nottingham Forest are playing top flight football for the first time in 22 years.

The final chart, at the right-hand foot of the map-page, shows the all-time English Title Winners list (1889 to 2022/ 123 titles). Manchester United has won the most English titles, with 20 (last in 2013); Liverpool has won the second-most titles, with 19 (last in 2020). Arsenal have won the third-most titles, with 13 (last in 2004). Everton have won the fourth-most titles, with 9 (last in 1987). Reigning champions Manchester City have won the fifth-most titles, with 8. Twenty four clubs have won the English title. The most recent club to win their first title was Leicester City, in 2016.

Below are illustrations for the 3 promoted clubs (Fulham, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest)…
[note: you can click on the images below to get an enlarged image on a separate page.]

2022:
Fulham: promoted to the Premier League, for the 3rd time in 5 years

-Fulham clinch Championship title with emphatic Luton victory (bbc.com/sport on 2 May 2022).
-Aleksandar Mitrovic claims highest-scoring season record with 43rd Fulham goal (by PA (Press Association) at fourfourtwo.com/news.
http://billsportsmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/fulham-fc_promoted-in-2022_craven-cottage_marco-silva_i_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Coat of arms of Fulham, from heraldry-wiki.com. 2021-22 FFC jersey, illustration from football.fandom.com. -Aerial shot of Craven Cottage alongside the Thames, photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images via theguardian.com/football. -The Cottage Pavillion, photo from fulhamfc.com. -Old Fulham badges, from historicalkits.co.uk/Fulham. FFC Wembley 1975 badge, photo from oldfootballshirts.com. -Marco Silva, photo by Getty Images via noticiasaominuto.com/desporto. -Tosin Adarabioyo, photo unattributed at sportslens.com. -Antonee Robinson, photo by Imago/Pro Sports Images via si.com/soccer. -Harry Wilson, photo by Rex Features via bbc.com/sport. -Aleksandar Mitrović, photo unattributed at g3.football. Mitrović and Fulham teammates celebrate automatic promotion, photo unattributed at mirror.co.uk/sport.




2022:
Bournemouth: promoted back to the 1st division after 2 years.

-Tue 03 May 2022, Championship – AFC Bournemouth 1-0 Nottingham Forest (by Andrew Aloia at bbc.com/sport).
bournemouth_promoted-in-2022_dean-court_scott-parker_c_.gif
Photo and Image credits – Arms of the Bournemouth Borough Council, from heraldry-wiki.com. 2021-22 Bournemouth jersey, from footballkitarchive.com. Boscombe beach from pier, photo by David Hawgood at geograph.org.uk. Aerial image of Dean Court with south coast in background, by eksekseksg3 at reddit.com/r/soccer. -Scott Parker, photo by Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images via dorset.live/sport. Gary O’Neill, photo unattributed at twitter.com/[@gazoneill]. -Lloyd Kelly, photo by Getty Images via thes*n.co.uk/sport. -Phillip Billing, photo by PA Photo via bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport. -Dominic Solanke, photo unattributed at goal.com. -Kieffer Moore scores, off a Philip Billing free kick; and pitch invasion: screenshots from video uploaded by AFC Bournemouth at youtube.com.




2022:
Nottingham Forest: promoted back to the 1st division after 22 years.

-When Nottingham Forest retained the European Cup 40 years ago (by Steven Pye on 28 May 2020 at theguardian.com/football/[That 1980s sports blog]).
-Sun 29 May 2022 Championship – Play-Off Final Huddersfield Town 0-1 Nottingham Forest (by Ian Woodcock at bbc.com/sport).
-16 Conclusions from the Championship play-off final: Huddersfield 0-1 Nottingham Forest (by Nathan Spafford at football365.com).
nottingham-forest_promoted-2022_city-ground_steve-cooper_h_.gif
Photo and Image credits – Coat of arms of Nottingham, vector drawing by Doc Taxon at File:Grand coat of arms of Nottingham.svg (commons.wikimedia.org). 2021-22 Nottingham Forest jersey, from shop.nottinghamforest.co.uk. 2021-22 NFFC jersey badge, screenshot from video uploaded by EFL at youtube.com. Aerial shot of Greater Nottingham with City Ground and Meadow Lane, photo by David Goddard/Getty Images via gettyimages.ie. Aerial shot of City Ground, photo by David Goddard/Getty Images via bbc.com/news. -Brian Clough & Peter Taylor, photo unattributed at pinterest.com. -Trevor Francis scores winner v Malmo in 1979 UEFA European Cup Final, photo by Bob Thomas/Getty Images via dailymail.co.uk/sport. -Trevor Francis, photo by John Herringshaw via sporting-heroes.net. -Nottingham Forest 1979 European Cup jersey badge, photo from dpretro.com/product/nottingham-forest-1979-european-cup-final-home-shirt. -Clough with European Cup trophy (1979), photo by Popperfoto via mirror.co.uk/sport. -Nottingham Forest squad pose with European Cup following victory over Hamburg in 1980 UEFA European Cup Final, photo by Empics/Sport via theguardian.com/football. -John Robertson, photo unattributed at football365.com. -Steve Cooper, photo by PA via nottinghampost.com/sport. -Djed Spence, photo by James Williamson – AMA/Getty Images via bayernstrikes.com via arsedevils.com. -Joe Worrall, photo by Jon Hobley – MI News / NurPhoto / Getty Images via nottinghamforest.news. -Ryan Yates, photo by Dan Westwell at nottinghampost.com/sport. -Brennan Johnson, photo unattributed at premierleague.com/news. -2022 Championship play-offs final, Levi Colwill own-goal, screenshot from video uploaded by EFL at youtube.com. -Forest players celebrating at Wembley after the goal, photo unattributed at mirror.co.uk/sport.




___
Thanks to all at the following links…
-Blank map of English Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Counties, by Nilfanion, at File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties 2010.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg (en.wikipedia.org).
-Historical attendance figures, european-football-statistics.co.uk.
-2021-22 attendance figures from worldfootball.net/attendance/eng-league-two-2021-2022.
-Seasons in Football League by Club: Club League Divisional History Summary 1888-89 to 2020-21 (myfootballfacts.com); fchd.info (Football Club History Database); England – First Level All-Time Tables 1888/89-2018/19 (rsssf.com).
-Player-positions: transfermarkt.us.
-Distances: mapdevelopers.com/distance_from_to.php (mapdevelopers.com).
-PFA Championship Team of the Year [2022] (thepfa.com).
-Football Manager EFL Team of the Season [2022] (efl.com/news).

September 7, 2020

2020-21 Premier League location-map, with 2019-20 league table, incl. top 6 finishers from 2nd division, with 2019-20 Attendances + Seasons-in-1st-division (current clubs) & All-time English Titles list./ Plus, illustrations for reigning champions Liverpool FC, and the 3 promoted clubs (Leeds, West Bromwich, Fulham).

2020-21_premier-league_map_post_b_.gif
2020-21 Premier League location-map, with 2019-20 league table, incl. top 6 finishers from 2nd division +Attendances from 2019-20 + Seasons-in-1st-division & English Title-winners list



By Bill Turianski on the 7th of September 2020; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

    2020-21 Premier League location-map, with 2019-20 league table, incl. top 6 finishers from 2nd division, with 2019-20 Attendances + Seasons-in-1st-division (current clubs) & All-time English Titles list.

The location-map is the same as before, but the 3 charts on the map page are all new. Because of the COVID pandemic, I have de-emphasised attendance data (for obvious reasons). So, where before I had listed teams by average attendance, I now have listed the teams by last season’s finish.

So the current [2020-21] Premier League clubs are listed by 2019-20 finish, in a modified table.
The modified table features five things: #(Rank in English Pyramid), Matches, Goal Difference, Points, and Average Attendance (from 2019-20 home league matches before 15 March). This modified table includes the 6 top finishers from the 2nd division last season (and that is where Rank in English Pyramid comes in). And that’s where you will find the three newly promoted clubs, shown with bright-green bars (automatic -promotion-winners, Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion; and the Championship Play-off winner, Fulham). The 3 teams relegated from the top flight last season are only listed on the modified table, and are not shown on the map, and are shown on the modified table with pale-red bars (relegated clubs were: Bournemouth, Watford, Norwich City). Also shown on the modified table but not shown on the map are the three top-6-finishers from last season’s 2nd tier who failed to win promotion (Brentford, Cardiff City, Swansea City).

Also shown in the modified table are the teams who qualified for Europe. Royal blue bars in the modified table indicate UEFA Champions League qualification (top 4 finishers: Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United). Pale-blue bars indicate UEFA Europa League qualification (5th- and 6th-place finishers, plus FA Cup winner: Leicester City, and Tottenham Hotspur, plus Arsenal).

The second chart shows All-time Seasons in the 1st division (Current clubs).
This chart shows 4 things: All-time Rank, Seasons in the 1st division, Consecutive Seasons in the 1st division, and 2020-21 Jersey. (Counting 2020-21, there have now been 122 seasons of 1st division football in England.) Illustrations of the Jersey-segments are all from the excellent Historical Football Kits site {historicalkits.co.uk}. Data from RSSSF at this page {rsssf.com/tablese/engalltime.html}.

The third chart simply shows the All-time English Titles list. (Football League titles from 1889 to 1992; Premier League titles from 1993 to 2020.)
This chart shows 3 things: Titles won, Last title won, and Most-recent season in 1st division (ie, Current, or otherwise). There have been 24 clubs that have won an English title; 15 of those clubs are currently in the top flight. The clubs that have won English titles but are not currently in the 1st division are: Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn Rovers, Huddersfield Town, Derby County, Portsmouth, Preston North End, Nottingham Forest, and Ipswich Town.

Below are illustrations for 4 teams: reigning champions Liverpool, plus the 3 newly-promoted clubs.

    Below: the 2020 Premier League champions: Liverpool (their first English title in 30 years)…

liverpool-fc_champions2020_anfield_jurgen-klopp_m-salah_s-mane_r-firmino_t-alexander-arnold_a-robertson_v-van-dijk_j-henderson_c_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Aerial shot of Anfield [April 2020], photo by Getty Images via liverpoolfc.com/news. Premier League trophy, photo from barclaycardtravel.com. Illustrations of the three 2019-20 Liverpool jerseys: illustrations by footballshirthistory.weebly.com/[Liverpool]. Jürgen Klopp, photo brightonandhoveindependent.co.uk/sport. Mohammed Salah, photo from liverpoolfc.com/news. Sadio Mané, photo by Paul Ellis/AFP via thestatesman.com/sports. Trent Alexander-Arnold, photo unattributed at liverpoollatestnews.com. Roberto Firmino, photo unattributed at rushthekop.com. Andrew Robertson, photo unattributed at squawka.com. Virgil van Dijk, photo by Getty Images via no.shotoe.com. Jordan Henderson, photo unattributed at mightyceeblog.com.



    Below: the 3 promoted clubs (Leeds United, West Bromwich Albion, Fulham)…

Leeds United AFC: promoted to the Premier League, as winners of the 2019-20 EFL Championship
leeds-united-afc_promoted-2020_elland-road_marcelo-bielsa_p-bamford_p-hernandez_m-klich_j-harrison_m_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Aerial shot of Elland Road, photo by the Football Architect UK via picfair.com. Illustrations of the three 2019-20 Leeds United jerseys: illustrations by footballshirthistory.weebly.com/[Leeds United]. Marcelo Bielsa, photo unattributed at ninetyminutesonline.com. Patrick Bamford, photo unattributed at footballleagueworld.co.uk. Pablo Hernández, photo unattributed at thisisfutbol.com. Mateusz Klich, photo by Alex Dodd – CameraSport/Getty Images via tbrfootball.com. Jack Harrison, photo by Tony Johnson via yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport.




West Bromwich Albion: promoted as 2nd-place finishers in 2019-20 EFL Championship
west-bromwich-albion_promoted-2020_the-hawthorns_slaven-bilic_m-pereira_g-diangana_m-phillips_c-austin_h-robson-kanu_m_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Aerial shot of the Hawthorns by Webb Aviation at webbaviation.co.uk. 19/20 WBA jersey, photo unattributed at footballkitnews.com. Illustrations of the three 2019-20 West Bromwich jerseys: illustrations by footballshirthistory.weebly.com/[West Bromwich]. Slaven Bilić , photo by AMA via expressandstar.com/sport. Matheus Periera, photo by AMA via expressandstar/sport. Grady Diangana, photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/WBA FC via Getty Images via football.london. Matt Phillips, photo unattributed at soccersouls.com. Charlie Austin, photo unattributed at birminghammail.co.uk/sport. Hal Robson-Kanu, photo by PA via walesonline.co.uk/sport.




Fulham FC: promoted, as winners of the 2020 EFL Championship Play-off Final (Fulham 2-1 Brentford (aet).)
fulham-fc_promoted-2020_craven-cottage_scott-parker_a-mitorvic_i-cavaleiro_t-cairney_j-bryan_i_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Aerial shot of Craven Cottage, photo by Getty Images via independent.co.uk/sport. Illustrations of the three 2019-20 Fulham jerseys: illustrations by footballshirthistory.weebly.com/[Fulham]. Scott Parker, photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images via theguardian.com/football. Joe Bryan’s 1st goal in Play-off Final, screenshot from video uploaded by EFL at youtube.com. Joe Bryan’s 2nd goal, photo by Javier Garcia/BPI/Rex via dailymail.co.uk/sport. Aleksandar Mitrović, photo unattributed at footballleagueworld.co.uk. Ivan Cavaleiro, photo unattributed at fulham.fandom.com. Tom Cairney, photo by Jacques Feeney/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images via soccer.nbcsports.com. Joe Bryan, photo unattributed at footballleagueworld.co.uk.



___
Thanks to all at the following…
-Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-Attendances from E-F-S site, european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm.
-Jersey illustrations from Historical Football Kits site at historicalkits.co.uk.
-Club histories, from Football Club History Database at fchd.info/[index].
-Seasons in 1st division (all-time), from RSSSF at England – First Level All-Time Tables 1888/89-2018/19 (rsssf.com).
-2019-20 kit illustrations from footballshirthistory.weebly.com.
-Thanks to the contributors at Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).

December 22, 2019

2019-20 Premier League (England, 1st division) – location-map with chart, including 18/19-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division./+ Top of the table chart (showing each of the 8 top teams’ managers & their leading scorer).

2019-20_premier-league_map_w-2019-crowds_all-time-seasons-in-1st-div_titles_post_b_.gif
2019-20 Premier League (England, 1st division) – location-map with chart, including 18/19-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division




By Bill Turianski on 22 December 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2019-20 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Table, fixtures, results, attendance, stats…SUMMARY – Premier League [2019-20] (us.soccerway.com).
-Guardian/football’s Premier League page…theguardian.com/premier-league.
-Kits…Premier League 2019 – 2020 [kits] (historicalkits.co.uk).

    Premier League – Top of the table as of 23 December 2019 (17-or-18 games played / ~47% of the season played):
    Shown below are each of the 8 top teams’ manager & their leading scorer(s)…

2019-20_premier-league_top-8-teams_as-of-23-dec-2019_manager-and-top-scorer_liverpool_leicester-city_man-city_chesea_sheffield-utd_wolves_tottenham_man-utd_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
Table (screenshot) from worldfootball.net/competition/eng-premier.
Liverpool: Jürgen Klopp, photo from BT Sport via soccerticketsonline.com; Sadio Mané, photo by Peter Powell/EPA via theguardian.com/football/live.
Leicester City: Brendan Rodgers, photo from lcfc.com/galleries; Jamie Vardy, photo from lcfc.com/galleries.
Manchester City: Pep Guardiola, photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images via theguardian.com/football; Raheem Sterling, photo unattributed at khelnow.com; Sergio Agüero, photo from premierleague.com/news.
Chelsea: Frank Lampard, photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images via football.london; Tammy Abraham, photo unattributed at 90min.com.
Sheffield United: Chris Wilder, photo from premierleague.com/news; Lys Moussett, photo by Ian Hodgson via sport.net
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Nuno Espírito Santo, photo unattributed at fansided.com; Raúl Jiménez, photo by DPA via straitstimes.com/sport.
Tottenham Hotspur: José Mourinho, photo by Reuters via telegraph.co.uk/football; Harry Kane, photo from premierleague.com/news.
Manchester United: Ole Gunnar Solskjær, photo from manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport; Marcus Rashford, photo from premierleague.com/news.

___
Thanks to all at the following…
-Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-Attendances from E-F-S site, european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm.
-Thanks to the contributors at Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).

August 7, 2018

2018-19 Premier League (1st division England, including Wales) – location-map with chart, including 17/18-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division./+ the three promoted clubs for 2018-19 (Wolverhampton Wanderers, Cardiff City, Fulham).

http://billsportsmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2018-19_premier-league_map_w-2018-crowds_all-time-seasons-in-1st-div_titles_post_c_.gif
2018-19 Premier League (1st division England, including Wales) – location-map with chart, including 17/18-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division





By Bill Turianski on 7 August 2018; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2018-19 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Table, fixtures, results, attendance, stats…SUMMARY – Premier League [2018-19] (us.soccerway.com).
-Guardian/football’s Premier League page…theguardian.com/premier-league.
-Kits…Premier League 2018 – 2019 (historicalkits.co.uk).

A brief re-cap of 2017-18…
Champions…Manchester City.
Teams that qualified for Europe…Champions League Group Stage: Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham. CL GS play-off round: Liverpool. Europa League Group Stage: Chelsea, Arsenal. EL GS 2nd qualifying round: Burnley.
Teams that were relegated to the 2nd division…West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City, Swansea City.
Teams that were promoted from the 2nd division to the Premier League…the 3 clubs profiled below…

    Below: illustrations for the 3 promoted clubs
    (Wolverhampton Wanderers, Cardiff City, Fulham)
    •Wolverhampton Wanderers FC.

Est. 1877. Nicknames: Wolves; the Wanderers. Colours: Old Gold [aka Pale Orange] and Black. Location: Wolverhampton, West Midlands, situated (by road) 17 miles (28 km) NW of Birmingham; Wolverhampton is situated (by road) 130 miles (210 km) NW of central London. Population of Wolverhampton: city-population of around 256,000 {2014 estimate}.

Manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Nuno Espírito Santo (age 44, born in Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe).

-From the Guardian, Wolves’ link with agent Jorge Mendes to face Premier League scrutiny •Portuguese’s Molineux relationship will have to pass top-flight test; •FA and EFL fail to explain how arrangement complies with rules (by David Conn on 17 April 2018 at theguardian.com/football).

Below: Wolves win the 2017-18 EFL Championship, clinch promotion with 4 games to spare, and return to the Premier League after a 6-year absence…
wolverhampton_promoted-2018_molineux_nuno-espirito-santo_d-jota_leo-bonatini_ivan-cavaleiro_barry-douglas_john-ruddy_conor-coady_ruben-neves_r_.gif
Photo and Image credits -
Wolves 17/18 jersey, photo unattributed at footyheadlines.com. Aerial shot of Wolverhampton including University of Wolverhampton and Molineux Stadium, photo from wlv.ac.uk via pinterest.com. Aerial shot of Molineux, photo by PA via itv.com/newswolverhampton-named-least-prosperous-place-in-uk. John Ruddy, photo by Getty Images via express.co.uk/football. Connor Coady, photo by David Rogers/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com. Rúben Neves, photo by James Baylis AMA via expressandstar.com/football. Diogo Jota, photo by James Bayliss/AMA via shropshirestar.com. Ivan Cavaleiro, photo by David Rogers/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com. Léo Bonatini, photo by James Bayliss/AMA via gettyimages.fr. Barry Douglas, photo by AMA via expressandstar.com/football. John Ruddy makes penalty save at Cardiff, photo by PA via mirror.co.uk/football. Nuno Espírito Santo celebrating win in Cardiff, photo unattributed at espn.com/soccer.

    •Cardiff City FC.

Est. 1877. Nickname: the Bluebirds. Colours: Blue, with white trim. Location: Cardiff, Glamorgan, South Wales, Wales, UK. Cardiff is situated (by road) 41 miles (66 km) E of Swansea; and Cardiff is situated (by road) 152 miles (244 km) W of central London. Population of Cardiff: city-population of around 361,000; metro-area population of Greater Cardiff/South Wales Valleys: around 1.09 million {2016 estimates}.

Manager of Cardiff City, Neil Warnock (age 69, born Sheffield, West Yorkshire).

-From the Guardian, Cardiff may not be liked but Neil Warnock’s achievement is remarkable – The promotion king has forged a rugged, uncompromising and successful side from a bunch of misfits and the Premier League is in for an uncomfortable ride (by Nick Miller at theguardian.com/football/blog).

-From BBC/football, Neil Warnock: Anatomy of a promotion winner (by Chris Nathan at bbc.com/sport/football).

Below: After 4 seasons in the 2nd tier, unheralded Cardiff City are promoted to the 2018-19 Premier League on the final day of the season…
cardiff-city_promoted-2018_cardiff-city-stadium_neil-warnock_jumior-hoillet_callum-patterson_kenneth-zohore_sean-morrison_d_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – 17/18 Cardiff City jersey, from cardiffcityfcstore.com. Aerial shot of Cardiff and Cardiff Bay, photo unattributed at airlines-airports.com. Cardiff City Stadium, aerial shot, photo unattributed at telegraph.co.uk/football. Callum Paterson, photo unattributed at 7msport.com. Sean Morrison, photo from cardiffcityfc.co.uk. Kenneth Zohore, photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images via theguardian.com/football. Junior Hoilett, photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com. Cardiff City fans’ pitch invasion, 1st image: screenshot from video at walesonline.co.uk/football; 2nd image: photo by Richard Joyce at twitter.com/@RichardDJoyce; 3rd image: photo by Simon Galloway via the42.ie. Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock and captain Sean Morrison lift the promotion-trophy, photo by Reuters via dailymail.co.uk/sport/football.

    •Fulham FC.

Est. 1879, as St. Andrews Cricket & Football Club. Nickname: the Cottagers. Colours: White jersey, Black pants, Red trim. Location: Fulham, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, West London W6. Fulham is situated (by road) 4.4 miles (7.0 km) W of central London. Population of Fulham: city-population of around 87,000 {2011 census} [Fulham is within the metro-area population of Greater London, which is around 14.4 million {2016 estimate}].

Manager of Fulham, Slaviša Jokanović (age 45, born in Novi Sad, SFR Yugoslavia).

-From the Guardian, Drills, travels and tactics: the keys to Slavisa Jokanovic’s Fulham success (by Paul MacInnes on 26 May 2018 at guardian/football).

Fulham wins the 2018 League Championship Play-off Final (Fulham promoted back to the Premier League after 4 seasons in the 2nd division).
fulham_promoted-2018_craven-cottage_slavisa-jokanovic_tom-cairney_ryan-sessegnon_ryan-fredericks_aleksandar-mitrovic_c_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – 17/18 Fulham jersey, unattributed at footyheadlines.co.theyneverlinktosources. Aerialshot of Craven Cottage from visitfloridablog.org via news.wfsu.org. Craven Cottage, exterior view from across the River Thames, photo unattributed at cardiffcityfc.co.uk. Street-view of exterior of Craven Cottage on Stevenage Road, photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Street-view of front gate of Craven Cottage with the cottage in background, photo by texantreks.com/2011/12/my-trip-to-craven-cottage-for-fulham. Shot of Jimmy Haynes Stand at Craven Cottage, photo unattributed at pinterest.co.uk. Ryan Fredericks, photo unattributed at blog.tipbet.com. Tom Cairney, photo unattributed at joe.co.uk/sport. Ryan Sessegnon, photo by REX Features via telegraph.co.uk/football. Aleksandar Mitrović, photo unattributed at themag.co.uk. Slaviša Jokanović (Fulham manager), photo by Nick Potts/PA Wire via football.london/fulham-fc. Fulham win semifinals over Derby/pitch invasion, photo from twitter.com/[@MJPotts17]. Sessegnon passes to Cairney to set up winnng goal, screenshot from youtube.com. Tom Cairney scores winning goal in 2018 Championship play-offs Final, photo from efl.com/news/play-off-final-captain-cairney-carries-cottagers-up. Cairney after scoring, photo unattributed at independent.ie/sport.

___
Thanks to all at the following…
-Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-Attendances from E-F-S site, european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm.
-England – First Level All-Time Tables 1888/89-2015/16 (rsssf.com).
-Thanks to the contributors at 2017-18 Premier League & 2018-19 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).

July 27, 2018

England, 1st division – all-time: List of all clubs with at least one season in the English 1st division (120 seasons/since 1888-89/65 clubs); with English titles listed.

england_1st-division-premier-league_120-seasons_chart-of-all-time-most-seasons-in-1st-div_by-club_w-seasons_consec_titles_colours-and-crest_post_i_.gif
England, 1st division – all-time: List of all clubs with at least one season in the English 1st division (120 seasons/since 1888-89/65 clubs)





By Bill Turianski on 27 July 2018; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2018–19 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Table, fixtures, results, attendance, stats (us.soccerway.com).

Sources…
-Club League History Summary 1888-89 to 2018-19 Seasons spent by each of the 140 Clubs in the Four Flights of English League Football from 1888-89 to 2018-19 (myfootballfacts.com).
-English Clubs Divisional Movements 1888-2016 (rsssf.com).
-historicalkits.co.uk.

The chart can be seen by clicking on the image at the top of this post.
The chart shows 5 things…
A) Seasons in the English 1st division [120 seasons, counting 2018-19 (since 1888-89)]. 65 clubs in total have played in the English 1st division. Shown in a dark-blue column.
B) Consecutive seasons in the 1st division [pertaining to the 20 Premier League clubs in 2018-19].
C) Last season that the club was previously in the 1st Division [pertaining to all the clubs (42 clubs) with history in the top flight, but who are below the 1st division 2018-19; or defunct clubs (3 defunct clubs with 1st division history/see last paragraph)].
D) An illustration of each clubs’s jersey worn the last time the club was in the 1st division; for the twenty Premier League teams of 2018-19, the jersey shown is the current one. All jersey illustrations are from the excellent and very comprehensive site called Historical Football Kits {historicalkits.co.uk}.
E) English titles [1st division title, since 1888-89: First Division titles, 1889-1992 / Premier League titles, 1993-2018 (119 titles)]. Shown in a dark-purple column. Title-holders’ crests are shown alongside.
…And at the far left-hand-side of the chart, three more things are shown…
F) Current club jersey badge.
G) Current club colours.
H) Current level of the club [2018-19], within the English football pyramid…Levels: 1=1st division aka Premier League; 2=2nd division aka Football League Championship; 3=3rd division aka Football League One; 4=4th division aka Football League Two; 5=5th division [non-League] aka the National League; 6=6th tier comprised of 2 regionalised leagues [National League North & National League South]; 7=7th tier comprised of 4 regionalised leagues [Northern League, Southern League Central, Southern League South, Isthmian League]; 8= 8th tier comprised of 8 regionalised leagues;…

Below, the 10 clubs in English football with the most seasons spent in the 1st division…

Everton have played the most years in the English 1st division – 116 top flight seasons. Liverpool-based Everton were a founding member of the 1st Division in 1888-89. Everton have only been relegated twice (in 1929 and in 1950), and have played just 4 seasons in the 2nd division. Everton have played in the 1st division consecutively since 1954-55 (65 straight seasons).

Second-most seasons in the 1st division belongs to Aston Villa – 105 seasons. But of course right now, the Birmingham-based Aston Villa are stuck in the 2nd division. 2018-19 will be the 3rd straight year Villa are out of the Premier League.  Aston Villa were a founding member of the 1st Division in 1888-89.

Third-most seasons in the 1st division belongs to Liverpool – 104 seasons. And Liverpool have been in the top flight for 57 straight seasons (since 1962-63).

Fourth-most seasons in the 1st division belongs to Arsenal – 102 seasons. And the North-London-based Arsenal have been in the top flight for a record 94 straight seasons (since 1919-20).

Fifth-most seasons in the 1st division belongs to Manchester United – 94 seasons. The Greater-Manchester-based Man United have been in the top flight for 44 straight seasons (since 1975-76).

Sixth-most seasons in the 1st division belongs to Manchester City – 90 seasons. The City-of-Manchester-based Man City have been in the top flight for 17 straight seasons (since 2002-03).

Seventh-most seasons in the 1st division belongs to Newcastle United – 87 seasons. 2018-19 will be the Tyne-and-Wear-based Newcastle’s second season back in the Premier League.

Eighth-most seasons in the 1st division belongs to Sunderland – 86 seasons. The Tyne-and-Wear-based Sunderland, relegated from the Premier League in 2016-17, suffered a second-straight relegation in 2017-18, and are now stuck in the 3rd division.

Joint-Ninth-most seasons in the 1st division belongs to Tottenham Hotspur – 84 seasons. The North-London-based Spurs have been in the top flight for 41 straight seasons (since 1978-79).

Joint-Ninth-most seasons in the 1st division belongs to Chelsea – 84 seasons. The West-London-based Chelsea have been in the top flight for 30 straight seasons (since 1989-90).

Note:
There are three clubs that have history in the English 1st Division, which are now defunct…
-Wimbledon FC (19 seasons in the 1st division, most recently in 1999-2000), (1889-2004)/Dissolved/Franchise became Milton Keynes FC (est. 2004). Milton Keynes FC [4th-division] have divested itself of Wimbledon FC’s titles & honours. South-London-based AFC Wimbledon [a current 3rd-division side], is the Phoenix-club of Wimbledon FC.
-Accrington FC (5 seasons in the 1st division, in the late Nineteenth century), (1878-96)/Dissolved. Accrington FC, a Lancashire-based club that was a founding member of the First Division in 1888-89, was an entirely separate club from Accrington Stanley FC (1891-1968), or Accrington Stanley FC (est. 1968) [a current 3rd-division side].
-Darwen FC (2 seasons in the 1st division, in the late Nineteenth century), (1870-2009)/Dissolved. Darwen FC was a Lancashire-based club that was dissolved in 2009, when they were a 9th-level team.
__
Thanks to…
My Football Facts.com,
RSSSF.com, and
Historical Football Kits/[English Clubs section].

July 17, 2017

2017-18 Premier League (1st division England, including Wales) – location-map with chart, including 16/17-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division./+ the three promoted clubs for 2017-18 (Newcastle Utd, Brighton & Hove Albion, Huddersfield Town).

2017-18_premier-league_map_w-2017-crowds_all-time-seasons-in-1st-div_titles-listed_post_c_.gif
2017-18 Premier League (1st division England, including Wales) – location-map with chart with: 16/17-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division




By Bill Turianski on 17 July 2017; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2017–18 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Table, fixtures, results, attendance, stats…SUMMARY – Premier League [2017-18] (us.soccerway.com).
-theguardian.com/premier-league.
-Kits…Premier League 2017 – 2018 (historicalkits.co.uk).

A brief re-cap of 2016-17…
Champions…Chelsea: under their new manager Antonio Conte, Chelsea won the 2016-17 English title with ease, clinching with 2 games to spare and finishing 7 points above Tottenham.
Teams that qualified for Europe…Champions League Group Stage: Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Manchester United (via winning Europa League title). CL GS play-off round: Liverpool. Europa League Group Stage: Arsenal. EL GS 3rd qualifying round: Everton.
Teams that were relegated to the 2nd division…Hull City, Middlesbrough, Sunderland.
Teams that were promoted from the 2nd division to the Premier League…the 3 clubs profiled below…

    Below: illustrated articles for the 3 promoted clubs
    (Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Huddersfield Town)

Newcastle bounced straight back to the Premier League as 2016-17 EFL Championship winners. Brighton & Hove Albion finished in second and won the other automatic promotion to the Premier League, meaning Brighton will play in the top flight for the first time in 34 years. Huddersfield Town won the 2017 Championship play-off Final at Wembley, beating Reading 0-0/4-3 in penalties; this means Huddersfield will play in the top flight for the first time in 45 years…

    •Newcastle United FC.

Est. 1892. Nicknames: the Magpies; Geordies; the Toon (or the Toon Army). Colours: Black-&-White [vertically-striped jerseys]. Location: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, situated (by road) 289 miles (465 km) N of London; and situated (by road) 98 miles (158 km) N of Leeds. Population of Newcastle: metro-area population of around 1.6 million (6th-largest in the UK) {2011 census}.

NUFC, est. 1892: location, colours, nicknames…
Newcastle United are from Newcastle upon Tyne, in the county of Tyne and Wear. Newcastle is the 6th-largest metro-area in the UK (with a population of around 1.6 million). Newcastle is located in the north east of England, a few miles inland from the North Sea, about 30 miles south of the Scottish border, and 15 miles north of their hated rivals, Sunderland AFC. {NUFC and SAFC contest the Tyne and Wear derby/ Newcastle vs Sunderland: Why is the Tyne-Wear derby such a big deal? (by Luke Edwards at telegraph.co.uk/football, from Dec. 2014).}

Newcastle wear Black-&-White [vertically-striped jerseys], and have done so since 1894 {since their 3rd year of existence/see NUFC home-kit-&-crest-history (historicalkits.co.uk)}. Newcastle are nicknamed the Magpies (magpies, a large bird from the Corvid [crow] family, have black-and-white feathers). Newcastle United, and especially their local supporters, also go by the name Geordies (a term dating back to the 18th century, see this, Geordie/Etymology). There is a third moniker for NUFC (and their fans), and that is Toon (or Toon Army)…Toon is how Geordies (Newcastle-area locals) pronounce the word “town”. {See this, quora.com/Why-is-Newcastle-United-called-Toon-Army.}

Newcastle United: a gigantic club, with cobwebs in their trophy cabinet…
‘The club has been owned by Mike Ashley since 2007, succeeding long term chairman and owner Sir John Hall. The club is the seventeenth highest revenue producing club in the world in terms of annual revenue, generating €169.3m in 2015.’ {-excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_United_F.C.}. Newcastle’s stadium, St James’ Park is the 7th-largest football venue in England (seated capacity: 52,405; last expanded in 1998-2000). Newcastle United have a gigantic fanbase, and usually draw between 49-and-52-K. Newcastle are the sixth-highest-drawing club in England (after Manchester Utd, Arsenal, West Ham Utd, Manchester City, and Liverpool).

Newcastle United have 4 English titles and 5 FA Cup titles to their name, but they have not won a major domestic title in over 60 years…no domestic titles since 1955 (1955 FA Cup title). (Though Newcastle did win an international title in 1969 – the Fairs Cup, which was the predecessor to the UEFA Cup/Europa League.) So, I’m not gonna say it – but this guy will…Newcastle United – Specialists in failure (by Matt North on 13 Feb. 2015 at themag.co.uk [the Independent voice of Newcastle Utd since 1988]).

Newcastle United have been relegated from the Premier League twice in the last 8 years (in 2009 and in 2016)
Newcastle have been relegated twice in the last 8 years, but have immediately bounced back from the 2nd division both times. In 2009-10, they won the 2nd division easily (by 11 points), under current-Brighton-manager Chris Hughton. But then they sacked Hughton half a year later, despite being a just-promoted side which was sitting in 11th place in the Premier League in mid-December of 2010 (see more on this time-period in the Chris Hughton part of the Brighton & Hove Albion section, further below).

Newcastle finishd in 12th that season (2010-11). The following season, under Alan Pardew, Newcastle finished 5th, and it looked like Newcastle were on the cusp of returning to the solid form they had in the early years of the 2000s (when they qualified for the Champions League in 2002 and in 2003, under Sir Bobby Robson). But the next season the bottom fell out, the atmosphere poisoned, and Newcastle finished in 16th place…they went from competing for a Champions League spot to a relegation-scrap in less than 12 months. Newcastle finished in 10th place the following season (2013-14), but it was much worse than it looked on paper, because the team ended the season losing 15 of their last 21 Premier League matches, and the Toon Army heaped further abuse on Pardew. A website called SackPardew.com was created. However, Pardew maintained the support of owner Mike Ashley into the following season (2014-15), but then Pardew jumped ship to Crystal Palace in January 2015…“with assistant manager John Carver taking over until the end of the season. He presided over some of Newcastle’s worst ever league form, including a run of eight consecutive defeats. A win over West Ham on the final day of the season ultimately secured Newcastle survival.” {-excerpt from 2014–15 Newcastle United F.C. season}. Overrated manager Steve McClaren was hired by Newcastle in June 2015. Bad move. By March 2016, Newcastle were in jeopardy of relegation, with only 24 points from 28 Premier League matches (an all-time club low). And this, despite the fact that Newcastle had spent about £100m in the past two transfer windows (Aug. 2015/Jan. 2016).

Enter Rafael Benitez as manager, replacing the sacked McClaren on 11 March 2016. But it was too late, and Newcastle went down to the 2nd division as 19th-place finishers, despite going 3 wins/4 draws/3 losses under Benitez. The one bright spot was that Benitez, who won two Spanish titles with Valencia, the Champions League and the FA Cup with Liverpool, and who could get a top flight job in most any league on the planet, decided to stay with the project at Newcastle. So in 2015-16, under Rafa Benitez, Newcastle won automatic promotion straight back to the top flight by winning the EFL Championship (edging out Chris Hughton’s Brighton, for the 2nd division title, on the last day of the season). Newcastle were in the automatic-promotion-places virtually the entire season. And they actually drew about 1.7-K-per-game higher in the 2nd division last season than they did 2 seasons ago in the Premier League (51.0 K in 16/17 versus 49.7 K in 15/16). Stand-out players for Newcastle in their successful promotion-campaign of 2016-17 were midfielder/playmaker Jonjo Shelvey, and striker Dwight Gayle, both of whom were selected to the EFL Championship Team of the Year {see photos/captions of both Shelvey and Gayle, further below}.

Newcastle United, 1st-place-finishers in the 2016-17 League Championship (automatic-promotion to the 2017-18 Premier League)…
newcastle-utd_st-james-park_promoted-2017_rafa-benitez_jonjo-shelvey_dwight-gayle_i_.gif
Photo and Image credits -
NUFC 2016-17 jersey, photo from u90soccer.com. Aerial shot of St James’ Park, photo unattributed at pinterest.com. sc. Distant-exterior shot of Newcastle with St James Park in background, photo by Getty Images at gettyimages.com jpg Exterior/panorama shot of St James’ Park, photo unattributed at openbuildings.com. Exterior/close-up shot of St James’ Park, photo by Getty Images via chroniclelive.co.uk. Toon fans outside St James Park, pre-match, photo unattributed at themag.co.uk/the-siege-of-st-james-park.
Jojo Shelvey gives shout-out to cheering Toon fans, photo by Reuters via hitc.com/poll-who-is-the-best-centre-midfielder-in-the-championship jpg. Jonjo Shelvey, photo by Getty Images via express.co.uk/football. Dwight Gayle celebrating goal with teammates, photo unattributed at chroniclelive.co.uk/football. Inset: Dwight Gayle after an away-goal, photo by Reuters via the s*n. Rafael Benitez with players, celebrating away win at Brighton (Feb. 2017), photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com. Screenshot of image from video in caption-form [chant by Toon fans mocking Mackems/Toon fans as NUFC clinch promotion], image by mirror.co.uk/football. Newcastle players celebrating in dressing room after clinching promotion, photo by Getty Images via the s*n.

    • Brighton & Hove Albion FC.

Est. 1901. Nickname: the Seagulls. Colours: Blue-&-White [vertically-striped jerseys]. Location: As the crow flies, Brighton & Hove is situated 47 miles (76 km) S of central London/By road, Brighton & Hove is situated 77 miles (123 km) S of central London. Population of Brighton & Hove: city pop., around 273,000/ metro-area pop., around 769,000 (15th largest in UK) {2011 census figures}.

-From the Guardian.com/football, Brighton’s long march ends in Chris Hughton’s completion of a job well done
- Twenty years ago it looked all over but an unflappable manager, a sparkling French winger and special team spirit have taken them back to the promised land
(by Nick Miller on 18 April 2017 at theguardian.co.uk/football/blog).

Question: Why is the city (and the club) called Brighton and Hove ?
Answer: “The towns of Brighton and Hove formed a unitary authority in 1997 and in 2001 were granted city status by Queen Elizabeth II. “Brighton” is often referred to synonymously with the official “Brighton and Hove” although many locals still consider the two to be separate towns.” (-excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_and_Hove). Also, Brighton & Hove Albion’s original ground, the Goldstone Ground (which the club played in from 1902 to 1997), was located in the town of Hove (and not in Brighton), so the club has always gone by the Brighton & Hove moniker.

Brighton & Hove Albion were founded in 1901…
Brighton & Hove Albion played in the Southern League for two decades before they and the rest of the 1919/20 Southern League Division 1 were absorbed into the Football League as the new Third Division, in 1920-21. Since then, overall (and counting 2017-18), Brighton has played 91 seasons of League football, with the vast majority of its Football League seasons as a 3rd division side – 53 seasons in the 3rd division, most recently in 2010-11 {all-time Eng. Div. Movement (1888-2016), here at rsssf.com}. Before 2017-18, Brighton had only played 4 seasons in the 1st division, and that was in one 4-year spell in the early 1980s.

Before 2017-18, Brighton & Hove Albion had only played 4 seasons in the English 1st division (1979-80 to 1982-83).
Brighton drew decent as a First Division team in the 1979-to-’83 time period, averaging 19.1 K per game, in that four year span {source: E-F-S site}. But the Seagulls never reached the top-half of the table in that 4-season stint, and 34 years ago, the frustration of finishing in last place in the First Division in 1982-83 was compounded by the fact that Brighton made it to the FA Cup Final that season, only to lose to Manchester United 2-2/0-4 in the replay {1982-83 FA Cup Final (en.wikipedia.org)}.

In the following 13 seasons, Brighton gradually slid down the divisional ladder, and fell into the 4th division, in 1995-96. The 1996-97 season in the fourth tier was the start of the club’s most difficult period. Not only were the Seagulls in jeopardy of losing their League place, but the club had severe financial problems, and owners that were only looking for profits…profits at the expense of the club itself (see next paragraph). Brighton were at one point 13 points adrift that season, and only avoided relegation out of the 4th division of the Football League by drawing with Hereford United on the final match of 96/97.

But for the Brighton faithful, their troubles were far from over. Because right at this point in time (spring of 1997), ownership sold their home, the Goldstone Ground, to developers (it is now the site of a row of retail outlets including a Toys R Us and a Burger King). In 1997, the mephistophelian owners of Brighton & Hove Albion (Greg Stanley, Bill Archer, and David Bellotti), sold their ground and pocketed the money… despite the team having NOWHERE ELSE TO PLAY. And the local council in Hove did nothing to stop this outrageous act. So Brighton & Hove Albion were made homeless – by their owners. (There was precedent for the local authorities to stop this, because, back in the mid-1980s, the local government in southeast London where Charlton Athletic play effectively saved Charlton Athletic from becoming homeless…“[The local council] told the builders they could build whatever they wished but not until [Charlton Athletic] had played their first league fixture in their new stadium, obviously never built, in the same borough. The ground stood derelict for a number of years while Charlton played at Palace and West Ham, before the developers realised they had been outfoxed and sold the ground back to a now solvent club. So why didn’t Hove Council do the same thing? It was all legal and above board, yet not one local political figure even suggested such a move.”…{-excerpt from Still missing the Goldstone Ground from 2007 at worthingherald.co.uk}.)

Thus began Brighton & Hove Albion’s homeless years – 14 seasons without a ground…
-Here is a youtube video, 20 REMARKABLE YEARS AT BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION (3:43 video uploaded by Official Brighton & Hove Albion FC on 24 April 2017 at youtube.com).
First Brighton played two seasons at Gillingham’s charmless Priestfield Stadium in Kent (from 1997-to-’99), which was an unworkable 75 miles away. Then for 12 long seasons, they found accommodation at a local municipal venue, one that was completely unsuitable. That was the much reviled Withdean Stadium, which was a converted athletics facility that still had a running track, and which seated only 7-K, and which was not at all suitable for a Football League team, let alone any Non-League club worth its salt. The stands at the Withdean were at a shallow incline and were, thanks to the stupid running track, over 50 feet from the touchline {here is a shot of the North Stand at the Withdean}. In 2004, the Withdean was declared, by the Observer, the 4th-worst Football League venue {see this, Simply the worst, by Gemma Clarke on 9 Oct. 2004 at theguardian.com/football)}.

In 1998, the site for Brighton’s new venue at Falmer was identified. (Falmer is located 5 miles north-east of central Brighton.) But delays in getting planning permission kept pushing the start of the construction back. Meanwhile…“Because of the cost of the public enquiry into planning permission for a new stadium, rent on Withdean Stadium, fees paid to use Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium, and a general running deficit due to the low ticket sales inherent with a small ground, the club had an accumulated deficit of £9.5 million in 2004.” {-excerpt from Brighton & Hove Albion F.C./Stadium (en.wikipedia.org)}. This debt was paid up by late 2005, which was also when the planning for the Falmer project was approved. Another delay set the project back even further, when it was revealed that some of the projected venue’s parking lot would be in the adjacent town of Lewes. Finally, construction of the Falmer Stadium began in 2008. A year later, in May 2009, new ownership (and the cash to fuel the ambitious new stadium project), came into Brighton and Hove Albion: Brighton-born property-investor/-pro-poker-player/-bookmaker Tony Bloom. “Since 2009 Bloom has been the chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion…/…He succeeded Dick Knight after securing a 75% shareholding in the club and investing £93 million in the development of the club’s new ground, the American Express Community Stadium at Falmer.” {-excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Bloom}.

So instead of the early-to-mid-2000s, it wasn’t until the summer of 2011 that Falmer Stadium was completed…
As you can see in the illustration further below, Falmer Stadium is breathtaking. The venue, with a 30-K-capacity, is both space-age and fan-friendly. Through some asymmetrical design features (see 3rd stadium-photo below), it avoids the cookie-cutter look that afflicts some modern football stadiums in England (like Bolton’s stadium). And Seagulls fans have responded to the long-sought-after venue by producing some of the largest attendances in England outside of the top flight…
20.0 K in 2011-12,
26.2 K in 2012-13,
27.2 K in 2013-14,
25.6 K in 2014-15,
25.5 K in 2016-17,
27.9 K in 2016-17.
Basically, the only perennially-2nd-division club that has drawn higher than Brighton in the last half-decade (2012-13 to 2016-17) has been Derby County, and even so, Brighton drew highest in the 2nd tier in 12/13 and 13/14. Now that they have a proper football ground again, and after a 34-year absence from the 1st division, Brighton’s return to the top flight in 2017-18 will probably end up producing a percent-capacity figure above 95%.

Manager of Brighton: Chris Hughton (age 58).
Chris Hughton was born in Forest Gate, Essex (which is now situated in East London), the mixed-race son of a Ghanaian postman. Hughton was a left-back, making 361 league appearances (with 12 goals). Because of Irish roots on his mother’s side, Hughton was able to play for the Republic of Ireland (1979-91), with 53 caps (and 1 goal). Hughton’s whole pro playing career was spent with London-based clubs…primarily with Tottenham Hotspur (1977-90), but also with West Ham, and then with Brentford, the latter being where he hung up his boots in 1993. Hughton had always been a bit different than most footballers, and that manifested itself early on in his football career, in the late 1970s, with a sideline as a writer for the Workers Revolutionary Party (UK). These days, as it says in his Wikipedia page, Hughton plays down the Trotskyist aspect of that gig, saying “it’s probably not as dramatic as it sounds. I’ve always had strong views on social issues such as hospitals – I think we should have a good health system – and the education system, too…These days, players can do as many interviews and columns as they want. Back in the day, it wasn’t like that. Anyway, I’m sure I wrote about football and football issues. Nothing else.”. Be that as it may, Hughton has retained his left-wing convictions – he is a member of the Labour Party.

After retiring from the pitch, Hughton got into coaching and returned to Tottenham…
Hughton was in the Spurs coaching set-up for 14 years (June 1993 to October 2007) – first as the U-21 team coach, then the reserves coach, then as first team coach in 2001. Serving under 10 different managers, Hughton also had 2 short stints as caretaker-manager with Spurs back then. He lost his job when Spurs’ boss Daniel Levy sacked both him and manager Martin Jol, after Spurs fell to Spanish minnows Getafe in the UEFA Cup, in October 2007. Hughton then was hired by Newcastle United 5 months later, in February 2008, again as a first team coach. This was during the last reign of Kevin Keegan, who at that point could not hack it, so when Keegan bailed out, in September 2008, Hughton got his third gig as a caretaker-manager. That did not work out, and he was replaced by the bonkers Joe Kinnear (Newcastle were particularly tumultuous back then, and ended up relegated in that 2008-09 season). As the season wore on, in desperation, Newcastle tried out another former-hero-who-ended-up-a-managerial-flop (Alan Shearer), and were relegated to the 2nd division as 18th-place-finisher that season. Then owner Mike Ashley once again went back to Hughton. This time, in the 2nd tier in 2009-10, things clicked for the calm-and-preparation-focused Hughton, and after back-to-back Manager of the Month awards, he was hired as Newcastle’s full-time manager in October 2009. Newcastle easily won promotion straight back to the Premier League on 5 April 2010, finishing 11 points above the 2nd-place-finishers (West Brom). Then in 2010-11, with Hughton as a top-flight manager for the first time, Newcastle did well enough in the first-40-percent of the season. But Ashley and the Newcastle top brass didn’t think so, and after the team lost to West Bromwich 3-1, they sacked Hughton, in December 2010…when Newcastle, a just-promoted-team, were in a respectable 11th place (what?). The move was widely condemned by the vast majority of observers, and by a significant amount of Newcastle fans…“Before the match against Liverpool, on 11 December, campaigners from United For Newcastle organised a protest outside St James’ Park as an opportunity for supporters to thank Hughton and to show their anger towards Ashley’s decision.” {-excerpt from Chris Hughton (en.wikipedia.org)}.

But Hughton landed on his feet, and after being linked to many clubs, he signed on with just-relegated Birmingham City in the summer of 2011. Hughton led Birmingham to a 4th place finish in the 2011-12 League Championship, but the Blues lost to eventual promotion-winners Blackpool, in the play-off semifinals in May 2012. When Birmingham gave him permission to talk to other clubs, Hughton was hired by then-top-flight-side Norwich City, in the summer of 2012. In 2012-13, inheriting a team that finished 12th in the top flight, he kept the Canaries at about the same position, finishing in 11th. That was actually Norwich City’s best finish in 24 years (since 1988-89). But the following season, Norwich reverted to their all-too-frequent relegation-embattled mode, and Norwich dismissed Hughton when the Canaries sat 17th, in early April 2014 (Norwich went down that season as 18th-place finishers).

Brighton hires Hughton after a disastrous start to their 2014-15 season…
Through the 2014 off-season, several upper-division clubs then offered Hughton a job as the second-in-command, but Hughton held out for a gaffer’s role, and 8 months later, in late December 2014, 2nd-division-side Brighton and Hove Albion hired Hughton as their manager. Brighton, who at that point had been back in the 2nd tier for a third season, were in total disarray. They were in the relegation zone, in 21st place, and had won only once in 18 matches under manager Sami Hyypia. This, after Brighton had had a solid 4th-place finish the previous season (in 2013-14). So starting in January 2015, Hughton righted the ship and lead the Seagulls out of danger, and Brighton finished in 17th place. The following season [2015-16], Hughton’s first full seaon at Brighton, they finished agonizingly close to automatic promotion, only losing out to Middlesbrough on a goal difference of just of 2. Then the disheartened Brighton squad flamed out in the 15/16 play-offs semifinals, losing to Sheffield Wednesday 1-3 aggregate.

2016-17: Brighton wins promotion to the Premier League…
But in the following season of 2016-17, there was no letdown on the south coast. Hughton shored up the Brighton squad, bringing back the aging-but-still-effective poacher Glenn Murray (who had scored 53 goals in 118 appearances for the then-3rd-tier Brighton in the 2007-11 time frame, and who had scored 30 goals in 12/13 to help get Crystal Palace promoted to the Premier League). Hughton also signed fullback Shane Duffy (an Ireland international), for Brighton’s highest-ever transfer fee (£4 million). Both have proven to be adept as 2nd division players. Hughton convinced much-in-demand mercurial French winger Anthony Knockaert to keep with the project, rather than opt for a transfer to a bigger club (such as Newcastle). With stellar contributions from both goalkeeper David Stockdale and the 25-year old centre-back/vice-captain Lewis Dunk, Brighton were joint-top-best-defense in the 2nd division last season along with Newcastle (both teams conceded just 40 goals, or 0.86 allowed per game). {See photos/captions further below of both David Stockdale and of the local-born/Brighton-youth-product Lewis Dunk.} The Brighton offense, while not the most prolific (Newcastle, Fulham, Norwich, and Brentford scored more), did enough to get the job done. The Seagulls’ attack featured the 2016-17 Championship Player of the Year, the aforementioned Knockaert, a 25-year-old playmaker with huge potential. Knockaert scored 13 goals, added 8 assists, and generally ran the opposition to distraction. {Knockaert and Murray were also selected by the EFL to the Championship’s best 11/see photos below. There were 4 Brighton players in the official Best 11, which was the most of any team in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th divisions in 2016-17.}

Had Brighton not clinched with 3 matches remaining, they probably would have ended up with an even better record, seeing as how they lost their last 3, and ended up being pipped by Newcastle for the 2016-17 EFL Championship title. But the bottom line is that, come mid-August 2017, Brighton and Hove Albion will be playing in the first division for the first time in 34 years. And in a majestic and state-of-the-art venue to boot.

Brighton & Hove Albion: 2nd-place-finishers in the 2016-17 League Championship (automatic-promotion to the 2017-18 Premier League)…
brighton-and-hove-albion_falmer-stadium_aka-the-amex_chris-hughton_anthony-knockaert_glenn-murray_lewis-dunk_david-stockdale_h_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
B7HAFC 16/17 jersey, photo unattributed at footyheadlines.com/jpg. Exterior shot of Falmer Stadium, photo by Graeme Rolf via footballgroundguide.com. Falmer Stadium at night, exterior shot by Dominic Alves at File:Falmer Stadium – night.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). Interior shot of (empty) Falmer Stadium, photo by Daniel Hambury/Focus Images Ltd. via marcadorint.com. Interior shot of full house at Falmere [ca.2013], unattributed at images.cdn.stuff.tv/jpg. Chris Hughton, photo by Getty Images via dailymail.co.uk/football. David Stockdale (GK), photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com. Lewis Dunk (CB), photo from seagulls.co.uk jpg. Anthony Knockaert (RW) & Glenn Murray (FW) photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com. Screenshot of pitch invasion from video uploaded by Official Brighton & Hove Albion FC at youtube.com. Shot of Jiri Skalak and Anthony Knockaert taking a selfie during promotion/pitch invasion celebration, photo unattributed at pressreader.com/uk.

    •Huddersfield Town AFC.

Est. 1908. Nickname: the Terriers. Colours: Blue-and-White [vertically-striped shirts]. Location: Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, situated (by road) 20 miles (33 km) SW of Leeds; and situated (by road) 191 miles (397 km) N of London. Population of Huddersfield: around 168,000 {2015 estimate}.

Huddersfield Town are from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, about 14 miles (as the crow flies) south-west of Leeds. They are nicknamed the Terriers and wear blue-and-white vertically-striped jerseys. They play at the John Smith’s Stadium (aka the Kirklees Stadium), which has a capacity of 24,500. Huddersfield Town has a ground-share with 1st division rugby league club Huddersfield Giants, and have been doing so since the venue opened in 1994. Last season [2016-17] Huddersfield Town drew 20.3 K, which was a whopping 7.5-K-increase over 2015-16. (In case you are wondering, Huddersfield Giants RLFC drew in the 7.0-K-to-7.7-K-range 6 years ago and have lost about 2.5-K of fans since then, now drawing around 5 K.)

Huddersfield Town won 3 straight English First Division football titles in the 1920s.
Counting 2017-18, Huddersfield have played 31 seasons of top flight football (previously in 1971-72). And although they have not played in the 1st division in 45 years, Huddersfield Town have a storied past. In the mid-1920s, Huddersfield Town became the first club to win 3 consecutive English titles (it has since been done by only 3 other clubs: Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United). Under manager Herbert Chapman, and for the third title, under manager Cecil Potter, Huddersfield Town won 3 straight English First Division titles in 1923-24, 1924-25, and 1925-26. Huddersfield also won the 1922 FA Cup title (also under the innovative Chapman). At Huddersfield in the 1920s, Herbert Chapman emphasized a quick, short passing game, and pioneered the use of the counter-attack as a scoring weapon. “The most opportune time for scoring is immediately after repelling an attack, because opponents are then strung out in the wrong half of the field.” – Herbert Chapman. Lured by a doubling of his wages (and no doubt the chance of a larger stage), Chapman joined Arsenal after Huddersfield Town’s second League title (following the 1924-25 season), and there, along with assistant coach Charles Buchan, went on to further tactical innovations {see this, The Question: Did Herbert Chapman really invent the W-M formation?, by Jonathan Wilson at theguardian.com/football}. In London, Chapman was instrumental in helping to turn Arsenal into the giant club they are today, leading Arsenal to their first FA Cup title (1930), and Arsenal’s first two English First Division titles (in 1930-31 and in 1932-33). But at the height of his success, Chapman died suddenly of pneumonia, at age 55, in 1934. The following two links touch on the huge legacy of Herbert Chapman.
-From Football Paradise.com, by Ashree Nande, The Gentleman from Kiveton Park – Herbert Chapman, part 1 (footballparadise.com).
-From the DailyMail.co.uk/football, Huddersfield Town may be the Premier League’s new boys, but they were once the best team in England… they dominated the 1920s during the reign of Herbert Chapman (dailymail.co.uk/sport/football).

Huddersfield Town of the 1920s: the first back-to-back-to-back champions of England…
huddersfield-town_1923-24_1924-25_1925-26_first-3-times-straight-champions-of-england_herbert-chapman_clem-peterson_charlie-wilson_edward-taylor_v_.gif
Image and Photo credits above – HTAFC 1st crest [1920], and HTAFC 1924-25 kit illustration, both images from historicalkits.co.uk/Huddersfield_Town. Arsenal 1932 crest from historicalkits.co.uk/Arsenal. Herbert Chapman, photo by Rex/Mail Pix via dailymail.co.uk/football. 3 players’ trading cards [Clem Stephenson, Edward Taylor, Charlie Wilson], from huddersfieldtowncards.co.uk/1924. 1924-25 Huddersfield team photo, from huddersfieldtowncards.co.uk/1925.

Manager of Huddersfield Town: David Wagner, age 45, born in Trebur, Greater Mainz, Hesse, West Germany. Wagner is the son of an American father and a German mother. Wagner was a striker who had 94 league appearances for Mainz (a then-2nd-division side) and played in 29 league matches (scoring 2 goals) from 1995-97 for Bundesliga side Schalke. Wagner made 8 international appearances for the USA national team (1996-98).

Upon retiring from the pitch, Wagner took up coaching, getting his start with the coaching set-up at then-2nd-division side Hoffenheim in the 2007-09 time frame. Wagner moved on to Borussia Dortmund, and had been coach of Dortmund’s reserves (Dortmund-II) under Jürgen Klopp (from 2011-15). Some thought he would follow Klopp to Liverpool, but Wagner signed on as Huddersfield Town manager in November 2015. Huddersfield finished in 19th place in 2015-16 (Town had finished in 16th place the previous season [2014-15]). {The following 3 sentences are an excerpt from Wagner’s page at Wikipedia.}… “In the summer of 2016, Wagner brought in 13 players from across the continent – with Danny Ward, Chris Löwe and Aaron Mooy amongst these. Wagner took his players on a bonding tour of Sweden, where they had to survive with only basic equipment for a few days. The team’s success in the early 2016–17 season was largely accredited to the squad’s tight bond, something that Wagner claimed was a direct result of this Sweden trip.”

So in his first full season as Huddersfield Town manager, David Wagner got Town promoted to the 1st division for the first time in 45 years (Huddersfield Town were last in the First Division in 1971-72). Wagner did this despite Huddersfield Town having a minus-2 goal difference. And that includes the play-offs, because Huddersfield Town drew all 3 of their 2016-17 play-off games, going to a penalty shoot-out in both the semifinals (v Sheffield Wednesday) and in the Final (v Reading). Making this the first time – ever – that a team has gotten promoted to the 1st division with a negative goal difference (I checked). In fact, this feat has never been done in the English 3rd division or the 4th division either: see this article, Terriers out to prove that points make the difference (by Kevin Pullein at racingpost.com).

Huddersfield Town may have a hard time of it staying in the top flight this season, but they have ensured that two of the key figures in getting them there will remain…Wagner has signed a new contract despite more lucrative offers from Aston Villa and Wolfsburg, and the fan-voted player of the season in 16/17, Australian MF Aaron Mooy (see photo below), has been bought outright from Manchester City. {See this article, David Wagner sticks with Huddersfield Town for Premier League adventure (by Paul Doyle at theguardian.com/football).}

huddersfield-town_promoted-2017_david-wagner_elias-kachunga_aaron-mooy_tommy-smith_christopher-schindler_k_.gif
Photo and Image credits -
16/17 HTAFC home jersey, photo unattributed at uksoccershop.com/blog. 16/17 HTAFC away (neon yellow) jersey, photo unattributed at footballshirtculture.com. Aerial shot of Kirklees Stadium, unattributed at the mag.co.uk. jpg Exterior shot of Kirklees Stadium, photo by tweek at 28dayslater.co.uk. Shot of roof-pylons, photo by Neil Turner at flickr.com. Elias Kachunga, age 25, b. Haan, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany [Rep. Congo national team], photo from htafc.com/news/2017/march/signing-kachunga-joins-htafc-permanently. Tommy Smith (DF), age 25, b. Warrington, Cheshire, photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com. Aaron Mooy (MF), age 26, b. Sydney, Australia [Australia national team], photo by John Clifton/Reuters via abc.net.au/news/one-way-or-another-aaron-mooy-destined-for-premier-league. Christopher Schindler scoring winning penalty kick, photo by Action Images via Reuters / John Sibley Livepic via thescore.com. David Wagner with trophy, photo unattributed at espnfc.com.
___
Thanks to the following…
-Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-Attendances from E-F-S site, european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm.
-England – First Level All-Time Tables 1888/89-2015/16 (rsssf.com).
-Thanks to the contributors at 2017-18 Premier League & Premier_League/2017-18 season (en.wikipedia.org).

Note on seasons in 1st division:
It is rather hard to pin down how many seasons any given club has been in the top flight, because so few places online seem to want the responsibility of maintaining an accurate and up-to-date list. It is even hard now to actually add up the seasons yourself, now that the Footy-mad sites have dumbed-down their entire network of sites and have scrapped their all-time-seasons lists for each club (you can find most via the Wayback Machine, though, such as this [Huddersfield Town-mad.co.uk/Club/League History from March 2016]).

The only error-free list that I have been able to find that is currently available online has not been updated since 2015-16 (two seasons ago), and that is at RSSSF.com {here}.

The current Wikipedia list of seasons in English 1st division {here: Premier_League/2017-18 season} has several errors…
West Bromwich Albion’s total seasons in 1st division is wrong, by 1 too many seasons (2017-18 will be West Brom’s 80th season in the 1st Div, not their 81st).
And Huddersfield Town’s total seasons in 1st division is wrong, by 1 too many seasons (2017-18 will be Huddersfield’s 31st season in the 1st Div, not their 32nd).
And Watford’s total seasons in 1st division is also wrong, by 4 too many seasons (2017-18 will be Watford’s 11th season in the 1st Div, not their 15th).
And Brighton & Hove Albion’s total seasons in 1st division is also wrong, by 1 too many seasons (2017-18 will be Brighton’s 5th season in the 1st Div, not their 6th).
And Leicester City’s total seasons in 1st division is also wrong, by 1 too few seasons (2017-18 will be Leicester’s 50th season in the 1st Div, not their 49th).

This list at MyFootballFacts.com is really nice {myfootballfacts.com/ClubLeagueHistorySummary}, especially because it doesn’t just show seasons in top flight, it also includes all-time seasons in all 4 divisions of the League…but it looks like this list, like Wikipedia’s list, has both West Brom and Leicester’s numbers also wrong (for Leicester: 50 seasons in top flight, not 49; for West Brom, 80 seasons in top flight, not 81). I’ve counted several times, but if you want to count for yourself, via the Wayback Machine, here is West Brom’s and Leicester’s old pages at Footy-mad, when League History of both clubs was there…
{https://web.archive.org/web/20160323150053/http://www.westbromwichalbion-mad.co.uk/league_history/west_bromwich_albion/index.shtml}
{https://web.archive.org/web/20160506213518/http://www.leicestercity-mad.co.uk:80/league_history/leicester_city/index.shtml}.

…So if you really want to know how many seasons a club has been in the English 1st division, don’t rely on Wikipedia, instead go here {http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/engalltime.html}, then add zero or one or two to that figure (depending on the club in question’s divisional status in 2016-17 and 2017-18).

July 31, 2016

2016–17 Premier League (1st division England, including Wales – location-map with chart: 14/15-&-15/16-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division./+ the 3 promoted clubs for 2016-17 (Burnley, Middlesbrough, Hull City AFC).

2016-17_premier-league_map_w-2016-crowds_titles_seasons-in-1st-division_post_b_.gif
2016–17 Premier League (1st division England, incl Wales): map w/ 15/16-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division




By Bill Turianski on 31 July 2016; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2016–17 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Table, fixtures, results, attendance, stats…PREMIER LEAGUE [Summary] (soccerway.com).
-2016-17 Premier League kits (historicalkits.co.uk).
-New crests for Manchester City and West Ham United (among others)…New season, new badges: We take a look at club crests which have changed for 2016/17 (skysports.com/football).

    Below: the 3 promoted clubs for 2016-17 (Burnley, Middlesbrough, Hull City AFC)…

Burnley return straight back to the Premier League, as does the 2nd-division play-offs winner Hull City AFC. Middlesbrough finished in 2nd place in the second division last season, and now return to the Premier League after a 7-season absence.

    •Burnley FC

Est. 1882. Nickname: the Clarets. Colours: Claret and Sky-Blue. Location: Burnley, Lancashire, situated (by road) 45 km (28 mi) N of central Manchester; also, Burnley is situated (by road) 20 km (12 mi) E of hated rivals Blackburn. Population of Burnley is around 73,000 {2011 census}.

Manager: Sean Dyche (age 45, born in Kettering, Northamptonshire).

From Reddit.com/soccer, Team Preview: Burnley.

2015-16 Football League Championship winners Burnley return straight back to the Premier League. 2016-17 will be Burnley’s 54th season in the 1st division…but it will be only the Clarets’ 3rd season in the top tier in the last 41 years. (Burnley were a founding member of the Football League, and played in the inaugural season of the English First Division in 1888-89./ Burnley League history (1888-89-2015-16).) Burnley have won the English title twice – their first championship was won in 1920-21, and their second title was won in 1959-60. Burnley also have 1 FA Cup title (1914), as well a two more appearances as an FA Cup finalist (losing to Charlton in 1947, and losing to Tottenham in 1962).

In 1959-60, Burnley pipped Wolverhampton and Tottenham for the title…
Burnley had a well-developed youth team set-up in the 1950s, and almost the entire title-winning-squad of 1959-60 had came through the Burnley youth team. During this period, Burnley became innovators as the first English club to train on a purpose-built training complex nearby their ground (as opposed to what every other club was doing back then, which was to simply train on the pitch they played their matches on, churning up their own home-field-playing-surface in the process). In 1958, former Burnley FW Harry Potts became Burnley manager (Potts served two spells at the helm of Burnley [1958-70; 1977-79]). The Burnley squad of that era was built around the midfield duo of Northumberland-born team-captain and right-half Jimmy Adamson (you can see him in the squad photo below at front-centre directly behind the trophy), and attacking-midfielder Jimmy McIlroy. The County Antrim-born McIroy, dubbed the Brain of Burnley, was an attacking-midfielder/inside-forward with neat footwork and a finely-honed passing ability. Jimmy McIroy scored 116 league goals for Burnley from 1950-62, and was a Northern Ireland international (below, on the left, you can see a photo of McIlroy, and an illustration of him playing for Northern Ireland). In the tightly-contested 1959-60 season, Burnley chased Wolverhampton and Tottenham the entire campaign, and only reached first place on the final day of the season, when they beat Manchester City 1-2 at Maine Road. But in 1962, the chairman of Burnley, Bob Lord, sold McIroy to Stoke City for a cut-rate £25,000, a move that some Burnley supporters labeled ‘insane’, and the Burnley team never was the same. And that began Burnley’s decline, a decline which saw the Clarets out of the First Division/top flight for 33 seasons. There was no first tier football for Burnley from 1976-77 to 2008-09…and that included the club’s nadir of a 7-season spell stuck in the Fourth Division in the 1980s-and-early-1990s. In the late 1990s, the club named a newly-rebuilt stand after Jimmy McIlroy (photos of the Jimmy McIlroy Stand can be seen further below).
Below is an illustration in honor of the title-winning 1959-60 Burnley squad (which I first posted in March 2008/ image below first appeared here, http://billsportsmaps.com [Burnley FC].
burnley1960_j_mcilroy.gif
Image credits above – Jimmy McIroy photo unattributed at Clarets-Mad site, at clarets-mad.co.uk/ [article: We've wiped away our history]. Unattributed illustration of Jimmy McIroy playing for Northern Ireland, from NIFG site nifootball.blogspot.com/2007/04/jimmy-mcilroy. Photo of title-winning 1959-60 Burnley squad, photo unattributed at The Longside [Burnley fan-site] thefootballnetwork.net /[Burnley fan-site]. Photo of 59/60 Burnley jersey, from Toffs [image no longer there at...] toffs.com/retro-football-shirts/burnley. Burnley 1960 coach-top champions’ parade, photo from Lancashire Telegrapah, such as lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/Burnley Title win down to team effort.

Burnley FC have a very tiny catchment area…
When you look at a map of the highest-drawing clubs in England {here}, which shows how over-crowded with big and not-so-big clubs it is up in Lancashire, Merseyside, and Greater Manchester…and then when you look at how small the population of the town of Burnley is (about 73,000)…well, you can see why Burnley are a frugal club. Because, from where can Burnley hope to attract fans, what with Man U and Man City and Bolton and Wigan and Blackburn all within 30 miles of Burnley’s Turf Moor? And northwards, into central and northern Lancsashire and then into Cumbria and the Lake District, the population thins out considerably. And in the other direction, east, is the Pennines, which is a physical as well as a cultural barrier, because on the other side of the Pennines is Yorkshire, and you can forget about getting any people from Yorkshire to support a Lancashire club. So Burnley is boxed in, and the Clarets are doomed to have a very small catchment area for potential fans. And thus Burnley have become a club that is known for spending within its limited means. At the start of the 2014-15 Premier League season, some scoffed at the then-newly-promoted-Burnley for not spending any money at all on new players, and then they went straight back down. But now, two years later here they are back in the Premier League…and Burnley did it flying under the radar and once again without splashing the cash around. Although in July 2016 they did buy, from Charlton, an Iceland starter (the MF Jóhann Gudmondsson).

Burnley’s squad is notable for its preponderance of British-and-Irish-born players…
Over three-quarters of Burnley’s squad is from the United Kingdom or from Ireland. Take a look at their current squad and see what I mean…when I wrote this on 27 July 2016, Wikipedia listed 27 players on Burnley’s first team squad, 16 of which are England-born, 3 of which are Northern-Ireland-born, 2 of which are Republic-of-Ireland-born, one of which is Scotland-born, one of whom is also a key player on the Wales national team (Sam Vokes). If you do the math you find that that’s 22 of 27 Burnley players (81%) coming from the British Isles (England/Northern Ireland/Scotland+Ireland)}.
burnley_turf-moor_andre-gray_sam-vokes_h_.gif
Photo and Image credits above –
Screenshot of 2016-17 Burnley jersey, image by burnleyfootballclub.com. Aerial shot of Turf Moor with Burnley Cricket Ground alongside, photo by Simon Kirwan at the-lightbox.com. Shot of streets outside Turf Moor [Feb. 2014], with Jimmsy McIlroy Stand visible in background, photo by Richard Ratcliffe at summiteer.co.uk/2014/Feb2014/Burnley. Shot of club shop and cantilevered stand at Turf Moor with looming winter skies above, photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Interior/panoramic shot of Turf Moor, photo by Carlos Rosende at marcadorint.com/championship/burnley-turf-moor, Illustration of Burnley 2016-17 kits from en.wikipedia.org/Burnely_FC Andre Gray, photo by clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk. Sam Vokes, photo unattributed at theleaguepaper.com.

    •Middlesbrough FC

Est. 1876. Nickname: Boro. Colours: Red and White [usually with a wide band of white on their red jersey]. Location: Middlesbrough, Teesside, situated (by road) 65 km (41 mi) S of Newcastle. Population of Middlesbrough (borough-population) is around 138,000, while the Teesside built-up-area (aka Greater Middlesbrough) has a population of around 376,000 {2011 census}. That makes Middlesbrough the 18th largest Urban Area in the United Kingdom. {See this, List of urban areas in the United Kingdom (en.wikipedia.org).}

Manager: Aitor Karanka (age 42, born in Vitoria, Basque Country, Spain).

From Reddit.com/soccer, Team Preview: Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough finished in 2nd place in the second division last season, and now return to the Premier League after a 7-season absence (which was preceded by an eleven-season spell in the Premieer League, from 1998 to 2009). This season [2016-17] will be Middlesbrough’s 61st season in the top flight. (Boro’s first season in the 1st division was in 1902-03./ Middlesbrough League history here.) Middlesbrough has a scant League Cup in their trophy case (won in 2004), although they did make it to a UEFA Cup final (losing to Sevilla in 2006), as well as losing in both an FA Cup final and a League Cup final in the same disastrous season 20 years ago (in 1997, when Middlesbrough lost to Leicester City in the League Cup final, then were relegated by finishing in 19th place, and then lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup final).

Middlesbrough were under pressure to get back to the Premier League, and after a March locker-room-dustup, Boro finished undefeated (6-4-0)…
After Middlesbrough’s wrenching loss to Norwich City in the 2014-15 Championship play-offs final, and after a few years of considerable financial outlay by owner Steve Gibson, there was a great deal of pressure on the Boro squad and on the coaching staff to gain promotion last season. And the pressure almost got to manager Aitor Karanka. At one point in time in March 2016, it looked like Karanka was going to walk away from the club, after a dressing room row revealed that there were players secretly colluding against him. Karanka was actually not allowed at the training grounds the day after he stormed out of that meeting. But then, after Boro lost that weekend to relegation-doomed Charlton, and after another (emergency) meeting was called for by owner Gibson, Karanka and the players worked it out, and then Boro went 6 wins, zero losses and 4 draws in their final 10 games. {See this article posted right before the final match in May, from the Independent, Aitor Karanka has happy Middlesbrough on brink of big time after bump in the road (by Martin Hardy at independent.co.uk/sport/football).}

Boro’s cathartic pitch invasion of 7 May 2016…
And so getting that crucial result in the last match of the season (a 1-to-1 draw at home versus fellow-promotion-rivals Brighton, which clinched promotion), ended up in a joyous release of pent-up angst. And that release of anxiety manifested itself in one of the more exuberant pitch-invasions in recent memory. That pitch invasion was captured by visiting Seagulls fan and Instagram-ace Danny Last, in one of the best sports photos from the 2015-16 season {you can see that brilliant photo below, and you can see that photo along with others at: How Boro’s promotion party looked through the eyes of Brighton fans (Teesside Gazette at gazettelive.co.uk/football, by Graham Corking).}.

It’s great to see Middlesborough back in the Premier League. They might not have many titles, but they sure have devoted fans and they sure have history. This is the place where Brian Clough first made his mark (Clough, before he became legendary as Derby County and then as Nottingham Forest manager, played 12 seasons [1955-61], for a then-2nd-division Middlesbrough, scoring an astounding 197 league goals in 213 games). {Here is an article with illustrations that I posted in December 2007, Middlesbrough FC.} Beset by heavy industry, Middlesbrough is frankly charm-deficient and is not the sort of town that WAGS would want their top-shelf-footballer-partners to play for. The last thing Middlesbrough is, is glamorous. That’s why I can’t dislike them.
middlesbrough_promoted-7-may-2016_riverside-stadium_pitch-invasion_h_.gif
Photo and Image credits above –
Screenshot of 2016-17 Middlesbrough jersey, image from mfc.co.uk/news/article/2016/201516-home-and-away-premier-league-kits-revealed. Aerial shot of Riverside Stadium, photo unattributed at thejournal.co.uk, here. Entrance to the Riverside Stadium, photo by Chris Heaton at geograph.org.uk. 1st photo of Boro fans pitch invasion by Danny Last at instagram.com/p/BFHDUlGP91z/ and at How Boro’s promotion party looked through the eyes of Brighton fans (gazettelive.co.uk/sport). 2nd photo of Boro fans pitch invasion by Phil Noble/Reuters via theguardian.com. 3rd photo of Boro fans pitch invasion by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images via irishtimes.com/sport/soccer.

    •Hull City AFC

Est. 1904. Nickname: the Tigers. Colours: Amber and Black [usually with amber/black vertical-stripes on their jersey]. Location: Kingston upon Hull (aka Hull), East Riding of Yorkshire, situated (by road) 98 km (61 mi) E of Leeds. Population of Hull (borough-population) is around 257,000, while the Kingston upon Hull built-up-area (aka Greater Hull) has a population of around 314,000 {2011 census}. That makes Hull the 24th largest Urban Area in the United Kingdom.

Manager: ?

From Reddit.com/soccer, Team Preview: Hull City.

Hull City AFC return straight back to the top flight after having won the 16/17 League Championship play-off final. Hull is basically more of a rugby town than a football town. There are 2 first-division rugby league clubs in Hull – Hull City FC and Hull Kingston Rovers – and between them they average around 20-K-worth of fan support (or more). So it has always been an uphill battle for the Hull association football club to establish itself in the upper tiers of English football, because a sizable chunk of the local sports fans and a great deal of the local sports media are all oriented towards rugby. And the League history of Hull City AFC shows that plain as day, because the Tigers have been around for over 110 years, yet this is only their 5th season ever in the 1st division. (Hull’s first season in the top flight was in 2008-09./ Hull City AFC League history here.) Hull City have no major titles but were FA Cup finalist a couple of seasons ago (in 2014, losing to Arsenal).

Hull backed their way into the Premier League, and there are serious signs of fan-unrest up there on the Yorkshire coast…
Hull sort of backed their way into the Premier League last season, with a rather alarming minus-6.3-K-drop-off in attendance. That drop-off was basically twice-as-worse as they had the previous time they were relegated (they had a minus-3.2-K drop-off in 2010-11, after having been relegated in May 2010). That much larger drop-off in crowd size is mostly attributable to the continuing histrionics of owner Assem Allam (see the text-block in the crest-history section of the illustration below). There are a whole lot of longtime Hull City fans who have stopped going to games, because of the unhinged behavior of Allam. {To get a good look at the Hull City supporters many grievances with Allam, see this site, allamout.co.uk.} {Also see this, from the Hull City Supporters site, by Andy Mills, from March 2015, The divisive figure of Assem Allam.} Then on 21 June, manager Steve Bruce walked off the job. Bruce, who had been defending Allam for several years, now just seems to have had it. But by having bailed out less than 4 weeks before the start of the new season, Bruce has sullied his own legacy by bolting – thus leaving the club to twist in the wind. The widespread opinion is that Hull are a lock for going straight back down, again.

A Hull City fan at the comments section of a Guardian/football article, articulated the gloomy situation the best…
…”Thats why us fans are narked. We won’t sit by and watch a tinpot team. Remember the first time we got promoted to the prem? Packed out Wembley (highest play-off final attendance at that point) and won with a stunning volley from a local lad (Dean Windass). Filled the city centre to celebrate and painted the town black and amber. A few games in and we beat four London clubs on the trot to propel ourselves to joint-top part way into the season. We then made a fool of ourselves with a shocking dip in results and things like mid-pitch half-time team talks (entertaining non-the-less). But it was all fun and enjoyed with passion. This time around? Gruelling championship season with a niggling feeling of discontent and disengagement. Play-off final with less than 30,000 fans attending. :-( Numerous anti-Allam protests even though none of the Allam family attended the games. So, whats the reason for this build-up of discontent? Simply that we feel our club is being taken away from us. Made tinpot and plastic. Using it as a money-making machine, trying to market us to the middle east by renaming us Hull Tigers whilst completely alienating the existing fan-base. Telling loyal fans to join a membership scheme which scraps lower fees for kids and pensioners and telling us all to ‘earn your stripes’. I could go on. Steve Bruce provided a minor outlet for us with his great management through these difficult times, hence the big ‘In Bruce we Trust’ banners. Him leaving and no new appointment really is the final straw. From Hull: We will not accept a tinpot team as our local club, however successful you can make it. We want real passion, grit and pride. There’s still elements of those three attributes around, they’re just hard to find.”…(comment by whiterosetiger at Have Hull City suffered the worst-ever Premier League pre-season? by Louise Taylor at theguardian.com/football/blog).
hull-city-afc_the-kc-stadium_hull-city-name-and-crest-controversy_abel-hernandez_e_.gif
Photo and Image credits above –
Screenshot of 2015-16 Hull City AFC jersey, image from tigerleisure.com/jpg.
Hull City AFC crests through the years, most crest images from historicalkits.co.uk/Hull_City; 1979 badge is from a photo at Toffs, here ; 2000 tiger-in-white-shield crest is a photo from the Amber Nectar blog, [scroll down a bit for it at the following link...] ambernectar.org/blog/the-soul-of-hull-city. View of central Hull, screenshot from video uploaded by World Cities at youtube.com. Aerial image of the Humber Bridge, screenshot of video frame by Getty Images at gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/aerial-humber-bridge-over-estuary-east-riding-stock-video-footage. Photo of the KS Stadium, unattributed a kooora.com. Abel Hernández, photo by yorkshirepost.co.uk/football.
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Thanks to the following…
-Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-Seasons in 1st division, England – First Level All-Time Tables 1888/89-2015/16 (rsssf.com).
-Attendances from E-F-S site, european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm.

Thanks to the contributors at en.wikipedia, at 2016–17 Premier League.

August 7, 2015

England: Premier League [1st division], 2015-16 location-map with: 14/15 attendances, all-time seasons in 1st division + major titles listed./ Plus, a few words about each of the 3 sides promoted for 15/16 (Bournemouth, Watford, Norwich City).

Note: to see my latest map-&-post of Premier League, click on the following, category: Eng>Premier League (Eng. 1st division). Otherwise, if you really do want to see an out-dated map. scroll down.
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http://billsportsmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2015-16_premier-league_post_d_.gif
England: Premier League [1st division], location-map with 14/15 attendances, all-time seasons in 1st division + major titles listed




Links…
-Teams, etc…2015–16 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-News, fixtures, results, table, etc…Premier League page at BBC.
-My favorite site for articles on the Premier League, etc…The Guardian.com/football (theguardian.com/football).
-Table, fixtures, results, stats, etc…soccerway.com/national/england/premier-league.
-Kits…Barclays Premier League 2015 – 2016 [home, away & alternate kits] (historicalkits.co.uk).

    England: Premier League [the first division], location-map with 14/15 attendances, all-time seasons in 1st division + major titles listed…

By Bill Turianski on 7 August 2015; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.com.

Promoted from the League Championship for 2015-16…

-AFC Bournemouth (aka the Cherries) – This is the top-flight-debut-season for the cherry-red-&-black-striped Cherries, who hail from the south coast of England in Dorset. Bournemouth is about 40 km (or 25 mi) SW of Southampton. It might surprise you to know that Bournemouth is actually the 16th-largest city (metro area) in the United Kingdom {see this} [Bournemoth/Poole built up area has a population of around 466,000]. Bournemouth, with only an 11.7 K-capacity ground (Dean Court), and a ~10-K-sized fan base, are certainly one of the smallest-ever Premier League clubs (ie, since the formation of the Premier League in 1992-93/ other contenders would be Wimbledon FC, Oldham Athletic, Swindon Town, and Blackpool).
{Sources for last sentence: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Premier_League_clubs;
european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm}.

Bournemouth were almost liquidated in Feb. 2008, when the then-fourth-division club were stuck with around £4 million in debts…and after the automatic 17 points penalty they were handed, they narrowly avoided relegation out of the Football League the following season (in 2008-09). So…from the brink of banishment from the League in May 2009, to three promotions in the next six seasons incl. a Premier League debut in August 2015. Holy Cow.

Bournemouth are majority-owned (since 2011) by Russian petro-chemical-mini-oligarch Maxim Denim (cash-wise he’s probably one-twentieth, or less, as rich as Roman Abramovich [the Chelski owner]; Denim can also be compared to Abramovich in that both are discreet and publicity-shy in their ownership roles).

Bournemouth are managed by the up-and-coming 37-year-old, Eddie Howe, who played for Portsmouth and for Bournemoth as a DF, before the injuries mounted up. And so, as a 27-year-old, he retired from the pitch – which led to his decision to acquire his coaching badges. Howe was first hired as Bournemouth manager in January 2009, when he was only 32. Bournemouth under Howe won promotion to League One in 2009-10. A half-season later in Jan. 2011, he left to manage Burnley, to lukewarm effect over a 2.7 season-spell. And then in Oct. 2012, Howe simply resigned from his manager’s role at Burnley, and immediately returned to his manager’s role at Bournemouth. He then led the Cherries to promotion to the Championship that season (2012-13), and, two seasons later, he led the Cherries to promotion to the Premier League. Howe likes his squad to move the ball around on the ground and constantly press for scoring chances – and they scored a League Championship-best 98 goals last season. Bournemouth could be shaping up to be a real neutral’s favorite for 2015-16.

-Watford FC (aka the Hornets) – This [2015-16] will be the 9th season in the top flight for Watford (last in 2006-07). The club usually draws around 13-16 K when in the second division, and are situated just outside of, and north-west of, the official boundaries of Greater London, in Hertfordshire. But the town of Watford’s real connection to London is apparent in the fact that one of the London tube [subway] lines reaches Watford. Watford FC are nicknamed the Hornets, but their crest features a domestic breed of deer with huge antlers (a hart; which is a reference to the club’s home county of Herts). Watford’s kit is yellow jerseys and usually black pants (and their gear usually has some red trim). Watford FC is rock legend Elton John’s club – he is lifetime President (a role he shares with former Watford manager and England coach Graham Taylor), and which is a title he has earned, for sure, by bailing out the club more than once, via solid cash, or via the odd benefit rock concert at the club’s Vicarage Road ground (present capacity 21 K).

Watford are now one of the 3 homes of the Italian experiment…see this, How the Pozzo family have fueled Watford’s Premier League dreams (theguardian.com/football by Simon Burnton from 3 Aug. 2015). Not sure if I am rooting for their business model, which involves a cartel-style approach with respect to farming a giant in-house roster amongst their 3 top flight clubs (the Pozzos also own Udinese Calcio [a top flight Italian club] and Granada CF [a top flight Spanish club]). As a commenter said in the Guardian article linked to above, “hmm its at least dubious to ‘acquire’ players without any fee, who no other club has access to. sounds like a form of cheating to me. certainly don’t see how it benefits other clubs.” (< comment by ID9782772.) Another thing bothersome about how Watford currently does business is that they shed managers like crazy...since the Pozzos took over the club in the summer of 2012, seven different people have managed the club (that is an average of 2.3 managers per season). And they had FOUR managers last season. The current person in charge (for now) is the Spaniard Quique Flores.

-Norwich City FC (aka the Canaries) – (2015-16 will be Norwich City’s 25th season in the first division; their highest finish was third place in 1992-93.) It is always good to see the Canaries back in the Premier League…this time they bounced straight back after winning the 2014-15 Football League Championship Play-off Final at Wembley, in front of 85.6 K, besting Middlesbrough 2-0, with goals from MF Cam Jerome in the 12th minute, and from Winger Nathan Redmond 3 minutes later (15′). Both Jerome and Redmond return for Norwich this season. This is one serious yo-yo club: Norwich City have won three promotions to the Premier League in the last 12 years (since 2002-03), a time-period which also included a one-season stint in the third tier in 2009-10 (where their solid ~24-to-26-K crowd-size did not drop at all…the club averaged 24,671 per game at home when they were in the third division, which, believe it or not, was the 19th best in all Leagues in all of England and Wales that season / fair play Norwich City fans).

The club is from the city which is the smallest perennial top flight city in England – Greater Norwich only has a population of around 213,000, and is just the 36th-largest city (metro-area) in the UK. And, for the longest time, Norwich was the largest settlement in the UK which was not connected to a major roadway…hence the club was sometimes mildly patronized as a club supported by country yokels (not). But, as pointed out by commenter R Groom in the Comments section futher below, the city of Norwich finally does have a proper major roadway connection to London, etc. Anyway, they sure can pack ‘em in up there in East Anglia, as Norwich City constantly draws to +95-percent-capacity (at around 26 K-per-game in the 27-K-capacity Carrow Road). Love their kit, too, which is, of course, bright yellow-orange jerseys and brilliant turtle-green pants. Managed by Scotsman Alex Neil, who is just 34, and was hired by Norwich City in Jan. 2015, when Norwich sat 7th, 3 points off the play-offs. Neil’s previous stint was as player-manager with plucky Scottish top-flight-minnows Hamilton Academical, whom he led to promotion in 2013-14.
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Thanks to all at the links below…
-Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.

-Attendances from E-F-S site, european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm.
-2014-15 stadium capacities (for league matches) from soccerway.com, us.soccerway.com/national/england/championship/20152016/regular-season/r31555/.

-League histories of clubs:
-England – First Level All-Time Tables 1888/89-2013/14.
-Footy-Mad sites’ League History pages, such as Swansea City-mad, here, swanseacity-mad.co.uk/league_history.

-Titles…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_football_champions.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_FA_Cup_finals.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Football_League_Cup_finals.

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