5 of the best promoted teams in Premier League history
The step-up between the Championship and the Premier League is often a big one and many clubs don’t fair too well despite excelling in the lower leagues. However, sometimes there are teams who do exactly the opposite of what’s expected of them (Leicester City, case in point) and go on to shock the Premier League.
However, when statistics show that nearly half of the teams that qualify for the Premier League are immediately relegated the very next season, it certainly says something about the level of the Premier League.
Easily one of the toughest leagues to play football in, only twice have all three promoted teams survived their first season in the Premier League, in over 23 years.
Sometimes a team manages to go beyond the expectations and perform exceedingly well in the top half. Here are five such teams.
#5 Reading 2006-2007
Reading won the Championship after leading for most of the season, walking over other contenders and going on to win an incredible 106 points in the process. So it didn’t come as much of a surprise when they ended the season in eighth in the Premier League, behind Everton and Bolton, one point off a UEFA Cup spot (now known as the Europa League), despite critics who predicted that The Royals wouldn’t survive the season.
They started the season well, winning three of their first five games, losing to Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic. However, things went downhill from there as they went on a four-game losing run, which would eventually cost them at the end of the season.
Financial backing meant that Reading was not in the business of letting their best players leave, and this further helped their success in the league.
However, things were not to be and despite finishing one point and one place off a UEFA Cup place, the club slipped to the relegation zone and getting relegated on the last day of the season.