A decade-long study of The Premier League’s promotion and relegation carousel

Since the 2015/16 season, the year Leicester City tore up the rulebook and won the league title, promotion and relegation in the Premier League has been less about fairy tales and more about hard reality. Clubs have come up with dreams, gone down with debt, and a few have played the yo-yo game so well you’d think it was strategic.

Let’s start with the promoted lot. Across ten seasons, 30 teams have risen from the Championship. For Brighton and Brentford, that’s how you do it, with smart recruitment, a clear identity, and no panic buys. Bournemouth too, for a while, but for every Brighton, there’s a Norwich City, or a Fulham, or a Watford. Clubs that dance between divisions like it’s part of the plan. It isn’t, of course. It’s just what happens when you’re too good for the Championship but too soft for the Premier League.

And the relegated sides? The numbers are brutal. Since 2015/16, 30 teams have gone down. Some bounced back with parachute money cushioning the fall, while others, Sunderland, Stoke, Reading, spiraled into lower-league purgatory. Sunderland has climbed back up for this coming season. Relegation isn’t a dip in form anymore. It’s an identity crisis. Ask West Brom United fans know how it feels to be stuck between the Premier League’s glass ceiling and the Championship’s chaos.

The cycle tells us a few things. One, Premier League survival is less about tradition and more about models. Clubs like Brentford and Luton Town haven’t just survived, they’ve disrupted. Two, parachute payments help, but they don’t guarantee competence. Just look at how often promoted clubs burn through managers and budgets trying to “stay up.”

And Three, the middle of the Premier League has shrunk. Mid-table mediocrity is a myth now. You’re either scrapping for Europe or dodging relegation. No one coasts anymore. Even the likes of Everton flirted with the drop more than once.

Promotion is a dream. Relegation, a reckoning. But between those poles is a deeper story about strategy, identity, and survival in the most brutal league on earth. And if history since 2015 has taught us anything, it’s this: the Premier League is no place for passengers.

And, as a reminder, the past two seasons has seen all promoted teams relegated at the end of the season.

Buckle up, the elevator only moves two ways.

Oh, and by the way, Arsenal is one of only six clubs to never be relegated!

Season	Promoted for Start of Season	Relegated at End of Season
2015-2106	Bournemouth, Watford, Norwich City	Newcastle United, Norwich City, Aston Villa
2016-2017	Burnley, Middlesbrough, Hull City	Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Hull City
2017-2018	Newcastle United, Bright and Hove Albion, Huddersfield Town	Swansea City, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion
2018-2019	Wolves, Cardiff City, Fulham	Cardiff City, Fulham, Huddersfield Town
2019-2020	Norwich City, Sheffield United Aston, Villa	Bournemouth, Watford, Norwich City
2020-2021	Leeds United, West Brom Albion, Fulham	Fulham, West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield United
2021-2022	Norwich City, Sheffield United, Aston Villa	Burnley, Watford, Norwich City
2022-2023	Fulham, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest	Leicester City, Leeds United, Southampton
2023-2024	Luton Town, Burnley, Sheffield United	Luton Town, Burnley, Sheffield United
2024-2025	Southampton, Leicester City, Ipswich Town	Southampton, Leicester City, Ipswich Town
2025-2026	Burnley, Leeds United, Sunderland	???

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