The icy grip of relegation gets everyone in the end. Since William McGregor first came up with the idea of organised league football in 1888, every club to ever grace England’s top flight has bowed out of the grand old competition.

Relegation is an all too recent memory for some sides, while others have gone more than 100 years without facing that bleak fate. Riches brought in by the advent of the Premier League in 1992 ensure that certain giants are practically impervious to the drop – as many as six clubs have contested every season. But history has proven that no team is safe.

Staying in the division for a newly promoted team has proven to be harder than ever in recent season, although Sunderland and Leeds are fighting back this term.

For the first time since 1998, all three clubs that came up from the Championship were sent straight back down into the second tier at the end of the 2023/2024 campaign. That trend was continued in the 2024/2025 Premier League season when Southampton, Leicester City and Ipswich all got relegated, highlighting the real gap that is developing between the established sides and those coming up. Below is a look at just when every Premier League team was last relegated.

20

Burnley

11th May 2024

Having won the Championship at a canter in 2023, Burnley and Vincent Kompany were given a rude awakening in the Premier League as they were immediately relegated back to England’s second tier.

The attacking football that was so successful under the Belgian in the Championship failed to translate to the Premier League, with missed chances and defensive mistakes costing the Clarets throughout the campaign.

Burnley also lost all of their 12 matches against the top six Premier League sides on the day they suffered relegation away at Tottenham Hotspur.

The Lancashire outfit are currently on course for another instant relegation, having been promoted in 2024-25.

19

Leeds

28th May 2023

Leeds United’s relegation to the Championship was confirmed following a heavy 4-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the Premier League campaign at Elland Road.

It was a result which summed up their season as they went into the clash with Spurs knowing they needed to win, before conceding two minutes into the game and then two minutes into the second half.

Leeds conceded a league-high 78 goals across the season, while manager Sam Allardyce described his side’s finishing as “inept” on the final day.

18

Fulham

10th May 2021

Relegation was a depressingly familiar sensation for Fulham fans by the summer of 2021 as the west London outfit fell out of England’s top flight for the third time in seven years. Former club captain Scott Parker was at the helm throughout a campaign short on excitement.

Bobby Decordova-Reid mustered a team-high five goals, the lowest tally of any top scorer in the club’s history. Parker was adamant that Fulham would avoid relegation right up until it became a mathematical certainty, railing against the majority who may have thought that he was “living in cuckoo land”. His confidence was misplaced.

17

Bournemouth

26th July 2020

Eddie Howe took over as Bournemouth boss in 2008 when the club was inside League Two’s relegation zone. The Cherries avoided the drop despite a 17-point deduction and spent five seasons in the Premier League before going through the trap door.

Bournemouth were still under Howe’s stewardship when they fell one point short of safety in 2020, tumbling into the Championship despite defeating an Everton side which finished in mid-table on the final day. The south coast outfit conceded at least 60 goals in each top-flight campaign under Howe and injuries to their forward line that season robbed them of the firepower which had offered salvation in the past.

16

Sunderland

29th April 2017

Sunderland’s 10-year stay in the Premier League ended with four matches of the season left to play as Bournemouth came to the Stadium of Light and secured a 1-0 win.

The result against the Cherries was the Black Cats’ 23rd defeat of a poor campaign in which they didn’t win their first until November, and they would go on to record three more losses in their final four games.

Sunderland’s blank against Bournemouth was their 18th in 34 matches, with their lack of ruthlessness one of the reasons why they finally lost their Premier League status in David Moyes’ first season in charge.

The Wearsiders are on course to preserve their Premier League status this term having been promoted via the Championship playoffs last term.

15

Newcastle

11th May 2016

There have been few bleaker days in the history of Newcastle United than 11th May 2016. The club’s fierce local rivals Sunderland, who were led by former Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce, earned a commanding victory over Everton to send the Magpies into the Championship.

A buoyant crowd at the Stadium of Light bellowed: “Are you watching Newcastle?” Only those with a penchant for punishment were still tuning in to see Lamine Kone lash Sunderland into a 3-0 lead. Their fate may have been confirmed by the final day of the season, but Newcastle romped to a 5-1 win against a Tottenham team that had spent most of the campaign fighting for the title.

14

Aston Villa

16th April 2016

Aston Villa finished the 2015/16 campaign with more managers (four) than victories (three). Remi Garde was the third forlorn figure through the door by November and lost the dressing room immediately. Former Premier League winner Micah Richards described Garde’s first set of drills as “pathetic” and “under-8s football”.

“So from that moment in the training session, we knew full well that we were going down,” Richards revealed. The French coach was in charge of a 6-0 thrashing at home to Liverpool which began a sequence of 11 consecutive defeats. Garde and his children’s games were gone before Villa stopped the rot.

13

Wolves

22nd April 2012

After consecutive victories to begin the 2011/12 campaign, mutiny had broken out in the ranks of Wolverhampton Wanderers before Halloween. Manager Mick McCarthy labelled fans who had called for his departure “mindless idiots.” The club directors eventually sided with the supporters and let McCarthy go in February.

There was no bad blood as McCarthy signed off with a message for his successor: “Please stay up!” Terry Connor couldn’t even earn a win, let alone Premier League survival during the final three months of the campaign. Wolves subsequently suffered the ignominy of consecutive relegations, dropping into League One the following season.

12

West Ham

15th May 2011

Avram Grant didn’t even make it into the changing room of the DW Stadium before he was bluntly informed of his sacking. The unpopular West Ham manager had just watched his side slip into the second tier after giving up a two-goal lead to fellow relegation battlers Wigan Athletic.

The crowd was still celebrating Charles N’Zogbia’s 94th-minute winner when Grant learned his fate in the tunnel. “It is a very sad day, the saddest since I started football almost 40 years ago,” the former Chelsea boss glumly reflected. West Ham boasted the freshly crowned FWA Player of the Year Scott Parker, but individual quality wasn’t enough.

11

Crystal Palace

15th May 2005

Crystal Palace needed to defeat Charlton Athletic on the final day of the 2004/2005 season to avoid relegation. The Eagles were 2-1 up with eight minutes left when Jerome Thomas swung a free-kick into the box.

Palace boss Iain Dowie plastered posters which read: “How much do I want it?” around the club’s training ground heading into the final months of the season. Goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly wanted it less than Charlton’s Jonathan Fortune, jumping under the ball as the defender headed the hosts level. Dowie looked on dumbfounded – perhaps he should have provided an answer to his rhetorical question – as Palace sank into the second tier.