Yo-yo club

Birmingham City have been promoted to and relegated from the top division more times than any other English club, with 12 promotions and 12 relegations.[2]

Birmingham's longest period in one division has been 18 years in the First Division, from 1921 to 1939. Their next longest was 10 years, also in the First Division, between 1955 and 1965.

Elected to Division Two in 1892, Birmingham were promoted to Division One in 1894 and relegated in 1896. Their next promotion came in 1901, and was followed immediately by relegation in 1902 and a third promotion in 1903. This time they lasted five years in the First Division, before relegation in 1908.

The next 70 years (including the breaks for the two world wars) were comparatively stable, with only three relegations and four promotions. After their seventh relegation, in 1979, they were promoted at the first attempt; the same happened in 1984 and 1985, but after their ninth relegation, in 1986, they spent 16 years out of the top flight.

During these 16 seasons Birmingham had two separate spells in the Third Division: from 1989 to 1992 (three seasons), and from 1994 to 1995 (one season).

They were promoted to the Premier League for the first time in 2002. Their first spell in this league lasted four years, but in the four years from 2006 to 2009 they were relegated twice and promoted twice.

In 2011 they were relegated again, and this was the eighth time since 1979 that this had happened to Birmingham. Six of these relegations were between the top two divisions, and two were between the second and third. They have remained in the second-tier Championship since.

Brighton & Hove Albion have had only, until 2017, one brief spell in the top flight of English football, from 1979 to 1983, but in the 53 years since 1958 they have been relegated nine times and promoted 10 times.

Founder members of the Football League Third Division in 1920, they remained at that level (Third Division South from 1921) for 31 seasons (38 years, including the break for World War II). Since 1958, the longest period they have spent in any one division has been seven years in the Third, from 1965 to 1972.

After winning promotion to the Second Division for the first time in 1958, they suffered consecutive relegations in 1962 and 1963 to reach the Fourth Division for the first time. (The Fourth Division was created in 1958.) Sixteen years later in 1979 they reached the other extreme when they won promotion to the First Division for the first time, but 17 years after that in 1996 they were back in the fourth tier of English football (now known as Football League Two).

In the six years from 2001 to 2006, Brighton experienced three promotions and two relegations, leaving them in the third tier (now known as Football League One), and in 2011 they were promoted to the Championship for the first time.

In 2017, Brighton finally achieved promotion back into the top flight for the first time in 34 years, finishing second and gaining automatic promotion.

Hull City have been promoted to the Premier League in 2008, 2013 and 2016, with relegations to the Championship in 2010, 2015 and 2017.

Leicester City had three separate spells in the Premier League between 1994 and 2004. The second lasted six years (1996 to 2002), but the other two only one year each (1994–95 and 2003–04). After each of the first two relegations they returned to the Premier League after only one season, but after being relegated in 2004, they were out of the top flight for ten seasons, until their promotion in 2014. In 2008, they were relegated to League One (the old Third Division) for the first time, but they were promoted back to the Championship at the first attempt. The team eventually was promoted back to the Premier League in 2013–14, making a total of five promotions and three relegations in 20 years. They have remained in the Premier League ever since their last promotion, including winning the title in 2015–16, the first league trophy overall for Leicester. They would have another European campaign four seasons later, this time in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, after finishing 5th in the 2019–20 season.

Of the 107 seasons that Manchester City have spent in the English Football League, only 25 have been outside the top flight. But in the 18 years from 1983 to 2001, they were relegated from the top flight four times; and they even spent one season in the third tier.

Founder members of the Football League Second Division in 1892, City gained promotion to the First Division for the first time in 1899. They spent 63 of the following 73 seasons in the First Division (the top tier), despite suffering relegation six times – of their six spells in the Second Division over this period, the longest was three years, from 1963 to 1966. But they were relegated twice in the 1980s, and two years after another relegation in 1996 they dropped into the Third Division (then known as the Second Division) for the first time in their history – their only season at that level, to date, being 1998–99.

City have now been back in the Premier League since 2002 and, since being bought by Sheikh Mansour of the Abu Dhabi royal family, have won four Premier League titles (2012, 2014, 2018 and 2019) in recent history.

Middlesbrough changed divisions 10 times in the 16 years from 1982 to 1998.

Following relegation in 1954 they had been out of the First Division for 20 years, and had dropped into the Third Division for the first time in their history (1966–97).

After regaining their First Division place in 1974 they were relegated again in 1982, and in 1986 they dropped into the Third Division again. This time they almost went out of business, but they quickly recovered and two successive promotions took them back into the First Division by 1988. They lasted only one season, and spent three more years in the Second Division before winning promotion to the newly created Premier League in 1992.

They stayed there for only one season, but regained their Premier League place two years later as First Division champions. Two years later, despite investing over £10 million in transfer fees for famous international players, a three-point penalty for failing to fulfil a fixture cost Boro their Premier League status. This time they regained it at the first attempt, and they held on to it for 11 years, but played seven consecutive seasons in the Championship following relegation in 2009. Middlesbrough gained promotion as Championship runners-up in the 2015–16 campaign only to suffer another relegation in the following season.

Millwall have yo-yoed between the second and third tier of English Football throughout their 92 consecutive seasons in the Football League. They have spent two seasons in the top tier, 42 in the second, 43 in the third and five in the fourth tier. They have been promoted 11 times (five as champions) and relegated 10 times. They've been promoted a record eight times from the third tier, and relegated six times from the second tier.[3]

When the regional divisions were scrapped in 1957, the club was placed in Division Four. The 1960s proved to be a remarkable decade for the club.

Promoted in 1961, Northampton were Division Three champions in 1963 and in 1965 they won promotion to the First Division. Having risen from the Fourth to the First Divisions, their decline was equally spectacular.

Relegated after one season at the top, by 1972 they were applying for re-election to the Fourth Division.[4]

In 1971–72, Norwich City won the second tier and reached the top flight for the first time. In the next 23 seasons the club was relegated to the second tier three times (1973–74, 1980–81, 1984–85) but they always bounced back to the top flight at the first attempt (1974–75, 1981–82, 1985–86). Since being relegated in 1994–95, the club has been promoted a total of five times (2003–04, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2014–15, 2018–19) and relegated six times (1994–95, 2004–05, 2008–09, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2019-20), with one of those seasons (2009–10) spent in the third tier.

Managers of the team that have celebrated promotion in the Premier League era are Nigel Worthington (2003–04), Paul Lambert (2009–10, 2010–11), Alex Neil (2014–15) and Daniel Farke (2018–19), whereas managers in the same era suffering relegation have been Gary Megson (1994–95), Nigel Worthington (2004–05), Bryan Gunn (2008–09), Neil Adams (2013–14), Alex Neil (2015–16) and Daniel Farke (2019–20).

In 2018, Gregor Robertson, writing in The Times, described Norwich City as "The perennial yo-yo club".[5]

Officially, Notts County are the most frequent yo-yo club, switching divisions a total of 29 times in their history with 13 promotions and 16 relegations.

Promotion years: 1897, 1914, 1923, 1931, 1950, 1960, 1971, 1973, 1981, 1990, 1991, 1998, 2010

Relegation years: 1893, 1913, 1920, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1958, 1959, 1964, 1984, 1985, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2004, 2015, 2019.

Notts County have spent a total of 30 seasons in the top flight of English football, all of which were in Division 1. They have never played in the Premiership, as they suffered relegation from the old First Division the season before it became the Premiership. They have spent a further 37 seasons in the second tier, 31 in the third tier, and 15 in the fourth tier. After the 2018–19 season, they dropped into the National League for the first time in their history.

Prior to World War II, Sheffield Wednesday were one of England's most successful clubs; they won their fourth Football League title in 1930, and they won the F.A. Cup for the third time in 1935. But they were relegated to the Second Division in 1937, and after promotion in 1950 they experienced three more relegations in the next eight years: in 1951, 1955, and 1958. Each time they won promotion at the first attempt, and it was their manager Eric Taylor who referred to this period as "the yo-yo years".[6]

After their fourth promotion in nine years, in 1959, Wednesday remained in the First Division until 1970 (and came close to winning their fourth F.A. Cup in 1966, when they lost a memorable final to Everton). But in 1975 they dropped into the Third Division for the first time, and in 2010 they began their third spell at this level. However, in May 2012, they were promoted back to the Championship. Since 1970 they have had two periods in the top flight – totalling 14 seasons – but they have never yet repeated the frequent ups and downs of the 1950s.

Following promotion from the Southern League at the end of the 1919–20 season, Watford spent their existence in the Football League's basement Third Division South, restructured to the Fourth Division for the 1958–59 Season, before achieving their first promotion within the Football League structure, to the Third Division, at the end of 1959–60. Watford spent nine seasons at this level before a further promotion to the Second Division at the end of 1968–69. However, their stay at this level was short-lived and they were twice relegated, at the end of the 1971–72 and 1974–75 seasons, to sink back to the Fourth Division.

Under the auspices of chairman Elton John and manager Graham Taylor, Watford achieved promotions in consecutive seasons between 1977 and 1979 to reach the Second Division once again. This was followed by three seasons at that level, culminating in achieving runners-up position in 1981–82 and promotion to the First Division.

Watford were league runners-up in their first season as a First Division club, and were FA Cup losing finalists a year later. But they were back in the Second Division come 1988–89, and slipped into the third tier of the league (by then the new Football League Division Two) at the end of the 1995–96 season. They were promoted back to Division One two years later after winning the Division Two title, and a Division One playoff triumph the following year earned them promotion to the Premiership.

Watford were unable to adjust to the pace of Premiership football and were relegated at the end of their first top-flight season in more than a decade. They won the Championship playoff in 2005–06, but last place in the Premiership the following season ensured their 11th movement in 25 seasons. After finishing runners-up in the Championship in 2014–15, Watford were promoted once again and competed in the Premier League in 2015–16. The club finished 13th, thereby maintaining Premier League status for the first time, and subsequently finished 17th, 14th and 11th in its next three Premier League seasons, while also reaching an FA Cup final. They were relegated again in the 2019-20 season, despite notching a 3-0 win over Liverpool, who had been unbeaten in league play that season and ultimately went on to win their first-ever Premier League title.

Since 2002, West Bromwich Albion have provided a classic example of the yo-yo. Between 2002 and 2010 they were promoted to the Premier League four times and relegated back to Division One (known since 2004 as The Championship) three times, and 2011 was the first year since 1999 that they were not involved in either a promotion or a relegation battle, in most cases right up to the last match of the season.

Albion were promoted in 2002, relegated in 2003, promoted in 2004, achieved what has become known as "The Great Escape" in 2005 when they became the first ever club to avoid relegation from the Premier League after being in bottom place at Christmas, relegated in 2006, lost the 2007 play-off Final to Derby County, promoted in 2008, relegated in 2009 and promoted in 2010. They have remained in the Premier League until the end of the 2017–18 season when the club was relegated to the Championship once again. Having lost to Aston Villa in the 2019 playoffs, they won automatic promotion in 2020.

In 2000 Albion had been in real danger of relegation to Division Two right up to the last day of the season, and in 2001 they reached the Division One play-offs, losing in the semi-finals to Bolton Wanderers. Albion had also spent two years in the Third Division between 1991 and 1993, after being relegated from the top tier in 1986.

Wolves were one of the most famous yo-yo clubs during the 1980s. They began the decade on a high by winning the League Cup in 1980, only to suffer relegation to the Second Division and narrowly avoid bankruptcy two years later. They regained their First Division status at the first attempt, only to endure successive relegations over the next few seasons and slip into the Fourth Division for the first time in 1986. Fourth Division championship glory came two years later and the following year Wolves were Third Division champions and promoted to the Second Division. During the 1980s, Wolves had moved divisions seven times in eight seasons. They have spent all but one of their 17 subsequent seasons in the league's second tier (Second Division, Division One and now the Championship), having been in the Premier League during the 2003–04 season. Wolves won the Football League Championship title in 2009, but were relegated in 2012 after three seasons in the Premier League and relegated again a year later. Wolves finally returned to the Championship at the first attempt as League One champions in 2013–14, and were promoted to the Premier League following the 2017–18 season. They went on to finish seventh on their return, which was their best performance since 1979-80, and claimed victories over four of the Big Six. Their league position was enough to qualify for the 2019-20 UEFA Europa League.

The table below shows the total number of relegations and promotions (of select clubs) between the top four tiers of English football as of the beginning of the 2020–21 season.