FanNation

These two tables update my blog post from about two months ago:

http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/162211

Now that the 2007-08 Premier League season has drawn to a close, I've updated the information. And there *have* been some changes!

The first table summarizes the results of 109 seasons of English league football. From 1888/89 to 1991/92, the top tier was known as "Division One"; while from 1992/93 to 2007/08, the top tier is of course known as the "Premier League".

There have been 120 possible seasons, but only 109 seasons actually completed, due to World Wars I and II resulting in 11 league seasons being canceled (1915/16 through 1918/19; 1939/40 through 1945/46).

The table is based on 2 points for a win, and 1 point for a draw, in order to keep consistency over the entire historical span of English league football. Finally, the order of teams in the first table is by *total* points accumulated.

The second table reorders the Top 25 teams in order of Points Per Game (PPG); in my previous blog I added it into the first table, but I've decided to make a completely separate table for this blog, as the PPG table paints a much different picture than the first table.

Most of the information for the first table is from the following link (which has not yet been updated as of May 11, 2008):

http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/engalltime.html

TOTAL POINTS TABLE

Team/Seasons in 1st Tier/Total Games Played/Total Points/1st Tier Titles

   1. Liverpool, 93, 3716, 4352, 18 titles (moved from 2 to 1)
   2. Everton*, 105, 4100, 4348, 9 titles (moved from 1 to 2)
   3. Arsenal, 91, 3716, 4271, 13 titles
   4. Aston Villa*, 97, 3766, 3994, 7 titles
   5. Man. Utd., 83, 3360, 3953, 17 titles
   6. Newcastle, 78, 3122, 3220, 4 titles
   7. Man. City, 79, 3202, 3177, 2 titles
   8. Tottenham, 73, 2976, 3102, 2 titles
   9. Chelsea, 73, 2980, 3063, 3 titles (moved from 10 to 9)
  10. Sunderland, 77, 2998, 3034, 6 titles (moved from 9 to 10)
  11. West Brom.*, 71, 2766, 2684, 1 title
  12. Sheff. Wed., 66, 2582, 2572, 4 titles
  13. Blackburn*, 68, 2568, 2562, 3 titles (moved from 14 to 13)
  14. Bolton*, 69, 2650, 2556 (moved from 13 to 14)
  15. Derby Co.*, 65, 2468, 2397, 2 titles
  16. Wolves*, 60, 2308, 2354, 3 titles
  17. Sheff. Utd., 60, 2356, 2302, 1 title
  18. Leeds Utd., 50, 2060, 2215, 3 titles
  19. Middlesbr., 59, 2362, 2202
  20. Nottingham, 56, 2178, 2149, 1 title
  21. Burnley*, 51, 1982, 2015, 2 titles
  22. Birmingham, 55, 2230, 1964
  23. West Ham, 51, 2092, 1958
  24. Stoke City*, 52, 1992, 1798
  25. Preston N.E.*, 46, 1720, 1732, 2 titles

* = founder members of the Football League in 1888

(the other two were Notts County and Accrington Stanley)

FYI, here are the all-time stats for the four 2007-08 Premier League teams not in the above table:
30. Portsmouth, 31, 1280, 1238, 2 titles
38. Fulham, 19, 770, 650
52. Wigan, 3, 114, 94 (moved from 54 to 52)
55. Reading, 2, 76, 65 (moved from 56 to 55)
 
POINTS PER GAME (PPG) TABLE**
 
Team/PPG/1st Tier Titles (EPL titles in parentheses)

   1. Man. Utd., 1.17649, 17 titles (10 EPL)
   2. Liverpool, 1.17115, 18 titles (0 EPL)
   3. Arsenal, 1.14935, 13 titles (3 EPL)
   4. Leeds Utd., 1.07524, 3 titles (0 EPL)
   5. Aston Villa, 1.06054, 7 titles (0 EPL)
   6. Everton, 1.06049, 9 titles (0 EPL)
   7. Tottenham, 1.04234, 2 titles (0 EPL)
   8. Newcastle, 1.03139, 4 titles (0 EPL)
   9. Chelsea, 1.02785, 3 titles (2 EPL)
  10. Wolves, 1.01993, 3 titles (0 EPL)
  11. Burnley, 1.01665, 2 titles (0 EPL)
  12. Huddersfield, 1.01349, 3 titles (0 EPL)
  13. Sunderland, 1.01201, 6 titles (0 EPL)
  14. Preston N.E., 1.00698, 2 titles (0 EPL)
  15. Blackburn, 0.99766, 3 titles (1 EPL)
  16. Sheff. Wed., 0.99613, 4 titles (0 EPL)
  17. Man. City, 0.99219, 2 titles (0 EPL)
  18. Nottingham, 0.98668, 1 title (0 EPL)
  19. Ipswich Town, 0.98616, 1 title (0 EPL)
  20. Sheff. Utd., 0.97708, 1 title (0 EPL)
  21. Derby Co., 0.97123, 2 titles (0 EPL)
  22. West Brom., 0.97035, 1 title (0 EPL)
  23. Portsmouth, 0.96719, 2 titles (0 EPL)
  24. Bolton, 0.96453
  25. Blackpool, 0.95503

** = Minimum of 25 seasons in 1st Tier

The PPG table is a more specific measure of the success of a club regardless of the number of first-tier seasons, while the total points is more a summary of historical accomplishment in the first tier. By PPG ratio alone, it's clear that there is a top three at some distance ahead of the rest of the pack:

   1. Manchester United
   2. Liverpool
   3. Arsenal

Note also that for the top three, the number of first tier titles corresponds closely with PPG: Liverpool and Manchester United are very close, with Arsenal not too far behind.

It might surprise some people which team comes in fourth by PPG ratio--Leeds United. With only 50 seasons in the first tier, that may seem unfair, but those seasons were by and large good ones, as the PPG ratio demonstrates. Aston Villa (5th), Everton (6th), Tottenham (7th), Newcastle (8th), Chelsea (9th), and Wolverhampton (10th) round out the Top 10.

It's clear, however, that the Premier League is a different creature altogether from the erstwhile English "First Division". While surprise champions such as Ipswich Town or Derby County were not exactly commonplace--Liverpool prevailed over much of the 1970s and 1980s--such an occurrence would be virtually unthinkable now. The one EPL title by Blackburn can even be seen as the "last gasp" of the old system. While the two titles won by Chelsea were impressive, in the long-term view, the jury is still out. If Chelsea experiences a prolonged period of success, however, then the club will continue to move up both the total points table and the PPG table.