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Average League Position In Last 50 Yrs

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Have you ever wondered what the average league positions would be for sides historically?

Well you don’t need to wonder anymore, as the legwork has been done on the last 50 years worth of league tables to come up with average league positions for each applicable side given their performances over the years since – up to and including the last 2015/16 campaign.

There is an obvious caveat to the final table as compiled by Sky Sports, as they have limited it to clubs who have spent at least 15 seasons out of the last 50 years in the Football League pyramid, so some recently promoted clubs who are now established – such as Fleetwood Town in League One, and even Burton Albion who won promotion to the Championship last season – aren’t represented in the final make up, whereas sides who will find themselves in the National League (the old Conference) in 2016/17 are included in the list and in many ways it shows how historically they have fared in the professional game.

I don’t think the table shows up any major surprises, given success for various sides over the past half a century – Liverpool top the table with a highest average position of 3.46 and they are closely followed by Arsenal and Manchester United who average a fifth place finish.

Other successful clubs in history and in more recent times like Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, and Chelsea figure in the top six, but fans of relegated Aston Villa and Newcastle United will no doubt be shaking their heads seeing those clubs take eighth and ninth place with respective 14.64 and 14.98 placed finishes across the last 50 years.

With a number of years out of the top flight, Southampton, Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and current Premier League Champions Leicester City are nicely in the top 15, and there are plenty of other clubs outside of the top flight for 2016/17 who will be hankering for former days of glory and stability given their own average placings.

Equally with Leicester and Southampton having their own journeys into League One before bouncing back, Coventry City, Sheffield United and others who find themselves now at that level or League Two, will be hoping for a steady rise back to the upper echelons before their historical placing suffers further.

Other things to be gleaned are how easily things can change in the game, as Tranmere Rovers now in the National League, take a 58th place finish with an average of 59.26, and they are just beaten by Bournemouth who sit in 57th place with an average of 58.18.

Two clubs with clearly contrasting journeys in the last decade, and I’m sure individual fans with their own knowledge of clubs will spot things that didn’t instantly jump out at me.

One final thing that did surprise me, given we all make assumptions about performance, history and everything else in the modern game, is how few clubs at the higher end of the table have positive goal differences.

You have to go to Leicester in 15th place before you register the first with a positive double figure tally, and they are followed in 23rd place by Stoke also on plus 14 – and only five clubs down to 23rd place featured a plus goal scoring ratio with the maximum being 6 (Southampton) and three clubs with three.

With Leicester and Southampton having League One battles on their rise, maybe domination in the next two tiers helped them on that score, as it did Stoke possibly.

But Liverpool with minus seven despite having the best average finish just feels curious.

Special mention for Bournemouth for having a plus 41 goal difference, as only Swansea City get near in reality with plus 40 of their own – Brentford are next as the only club in the thirties with plus 31 and then we are down to plus 29 with Rochdale, and plus 24 with Scunthorpe United and then you quickly get the single figures with only a handful of clubs reaching double figures of their own.

Others will look into over-achievement in 2015/16 and compare sides’ average positions with the one they gained last term, and stand outs there are Leicester City 14 places above their average in the Top 20, and Bournemouth holding a best 41 places above their average in the entire table. Swansea City manage 40 places above their average in a close second, and Brentford with 31 and Rochdale with 29 also stand out on that front.

The other end of the scale sees National League North side Stockport County a full 47 places below their average as they finished ninth last term, but they aren’t alone with Luton (41), Portsmouth (40), Tranmere Rovers (40), Notts County (36) and Coventry City (31) places below their 50 year average as well.

National League Play Off final winners Grimsby Town make their return to the Football League and League Two in 2016/17 but they too stand 31 places below their average position.

Team
Avg Pos
2015/16 Pos
Goal Diff
2016/17
1
Liverpool
3.46
8
-7
Premiership
2
Arsenal
5
2
0
Premiership
Manchester United
5
6
-4
Premiership
4
Tottenham Hotspur
8.84
3
1
Premiership
5
Everton
8.98
11
-6
Premiership
6
Chelsea
11.02
10
-4
Premiership
7
Manchester City
13.62
4
3
Premiership
8
Aston Villa
14.64
20
-12
Championship
9
Newcastle United
14.98
18
-9
Championship
10
West Ham United
15.16
7
3
Premiership
11
Southampton
17.16
5
6
Premiership
12
Leeds United
17.66
33
-21
Championship
13
Nottingham Forest
20.92
36
-23
Championship
14
Ipswich Town
20.94
27
-13
Championship
15
Leicester City
22.3
1
14
Premiership
16
Sunderland
22.46
17
-1
Premiership
17
West Bromwich Albion
22.5
14
3
Premiership
18
Norwich City
22.52
19
-1
Championship
19
Middlesbrough
22.9
22
-3
Premiership
20
Derby County
23.18
25
-5
Championship
21
Coventry City
23.22
52
-31
League One
22
Queens Park Rangers
23.98
32
-10
Championship
23
Stoke City
25.34
9
14
Premiership
24
Blackburn Rovers
25.74
35
-11
Championship
25
Birmingham City
26.2
30
-5
Championship
26
Wolverhampton Wanderers
26.72
34
-8
Championship
27
Crystal Palace
27.42
15
12
Premiership
28
Sheffield Wednesday
29.86
26
2
Championship
29
Sheffield United
31.56
55
-26
League One
30
Charlton Athletic
32.14
42
-12
League One
31
Bolton Wanderers
32.66
44
-13
League One
32
Watford
35.34
13
19
Premiership
33
Fulham
36.44
40
-7
Championship
34
Portsmouth
38.94
74
-40
League Two
35
Millwall
39.2
48
-13
League One
36
Burnley
40.42
21
15
Premiership
37
Bristol City
41.94
38
-1
Championship
38
Luton Town
45.62
79
-41
League Two
39
Oldham Athletic
46.34
61
-22
League One
40
Hull City
46.68
24
16
Premiership
41
Brighton
46.74
23
18
Championship
42
Barnsley
47
50
-8
Championship
43
Cardiff City
47.14
28
15
Championship
44
Reading
47.26
37
7
Championship
45
Huddersfield Town
47.52
39
6
Championship
46
Preston North End
48.22
31
15
Championship
47
Blackpool
49.34
66
-19
League Two
48
Swindon Town
50.18
60
-12
League One
49
Notts County
53.16
85
-36
League Two
50
Plymouth Argyle
54.84
73
-23
League Two
51
Oxford United
55.18
70
-19
League One
52
Swansea City
55.72
12
40
Premiership
53
Bristol Rovers
57.5
71
-18
League One
54
Walsall
57.6
47
7
League One
55
Rotherham United
57.82
41
14
Championship
56
Bradford City
57.94
49
7
League One
57
Bournemouth
58.18
16
41
Premiership
58
Tranmere Rovers
59.26
98
-40
National League
59
Wigan Athletic
59.68
45
14
Championship
60
Brentford
60.08
29
31
Championship
61
Carlisle United
60.42
78
-17
League Two
62
Leyton Orient
60.46
76
-14
League Two
63
Gillingham
60.52
53
10
League One
64
Port Vale
60.66
56
8
League One
65
Grimsby Town
61.26
96
-31
League Two
66
Shrewsbury Town
62.16
64
2
League One
67
Bury
65.16
58
9
League One
Southend United
65.16
59
8
League One
69
Peterborough United
65.2
57
12
League One
70
Chesterfield
66.12
62
8
League One
71
Colchester United
67.3
67
4
League Two
72
Crewe Alexandra
68.8
68
4
League Two
73
Wrexham
70.5
100
-27
National League
74
Doncaster Rovers
71.78
65
9
League Two
75
Scunthorpe United
72.56
51
24
League One
76
Mansfield Town
74.2
80
-4
League Two
77
Northampton
74.38
69
8
League One
78
Stockport County
74.7
125
-47
National North
79
Cambridge United
74.76
77
2
League Two
80
Hartlepool United
77.2
84
-4
League Two
81
Exeter City
77.72
82
-1
League Two
82
York City
77.92
92
-10
National League
83
Rochdale
78.32
54
29
League One
84
Lincoln City
79.14
105
-21
National League
85
Torquay United
80.18
110
-25
National League
86
Wycombe Wanderers
86.7
81
5
League Two
87
Barnet
94.42
83
4
League Two
88
Macclesfield
98.74
102
-14
National League
89
Cheltenham Town
100.84
93
-4
League Two



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