Alex Keble takes a look at the teams that defied the odds to become the biggest overachievers in Premier League history.
Bolton Wanderers, 2004/05: 5th-place finish
It is a common misconception that direct football is boring. A long punt forward, the striker winning his header, and a playmaker picking up the loose ball to drive towards the penalty area: it can be thrilling viewing for supporters, especially when the cast includes Jay Jay Okocha, Henrik Pederson, El Hadji Diouf, Kevin Nolan and Ivan Campo.
Sam Allardyce’s Bolton were already a force to be reckoned with by 2004/05, finishing in the top ten in the previous two seasons and reaching the League Cup final in 2004, but Big Sam’s fifth year at the club represented his pinnacle. Bolton missed out on the Champions League by just three points, their five straight defeats through December ultimately costing them.
They didn’t score many goals or concede many either, taking part in 14 1-0s throughout the Premier League season, but we remember Bolton for their flashes of brilliance. Okocha had his best year in English football, flanked by on-loan Diouf and supported by a host of household names including Gary Speed, Les Ferdinand, and Fernando Hierro.
Bolton fell just short of the Champions League, but nevertheless qualified for European competition for the first time in their history. Another two years under Allardyce ended in his shock resignation in April 2007, and in later years he would blame the club’s lack of ambition for his departure.
Ipswich Town, 2000/01: 5th-place finish
At the beginning of the 1999/2000 season, following play-off defeats in each of the last two years, Ipswich Town fans must have been pretty deflated when star player Kieran Dyer left for Newcastle United. Not in their wildest dreams could they have imagined that within two years they would be on the verge of Champions League qualification.
George Burley won Manager of the Year in 2000/01, and quite rightly, missing out on third spot by just three points. To this day, it is the best-ever finish of a side newly promoted to the Premier League.
Ipswich spent very little money after being promoted, relying instead on the likes of Marcus Stewart (a one-season-wonder who hit 21 goals in 00/01, more than any other Englishman), Titus Bramble, and Matt Holland.
They played courageous attacking football and were defined by charisma and sheer willpower; a third of their total goals scored that season (18 out of 57) came in the first ten minutes of matches. Ipswich simply weren’t afraid of anyone, and few could match their enthusiasm.
Having occupied third, the final Champions League spot, for eight success weeks in the spring they conceded it to Liverpool with just three games remaining. A defeat at Charlton and draw at home to Derby prevented one of the all-time great Premier League seasons.
Sadly, a series of bad signings, and the loss of Richard Wright, led to relegation the following campaign.
Everton, 2004/05: 4th-place finish
After finishing 17th in the 2003/04 season Everton lost Wayne Rooney to Manchester United. Relegation was the most likely outcome for the following year, and those fears appeared to be confirmed after a 4-1 defeat at home to Arsenal on the opening day of the 2004/05 season.
Yet somehow David Moyes took the Toffees to Champions League qualification. It was an odd campaign defined by defensive steeliness (Everton finished with a negative goal difference) rather than entertaining football, while their success was largely thanks to a strong first-half of the season. Moyes’ side won 40 points in the first 19 games and just 21 in the second 19.
A 7-0 defeat to Arsenal in May opened the door to Liverpool, but Rafael Benitez’s side couldn’t capitalise, and Everton instead celebrated their best-ever Premier League season.
The arrival of Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta was the main reason for their success. They significantly strengthened the first 11, which is just as well given both James Beattie and Marcus Bent flopped, scoring a mere nine league goals between them in 2004/05.
Unfortunately, Everton lost their Champions League qualifying match the following year and returned to mid table. Moyes stayed another eight years before landing the Manchester United job in 2013.
Sheffield United, 2019/20: 7th-place so far
The season isn’t over yet but whatever happens in the final nine games Chris Wilder’s side deserve inclusion on this list. A top-four finish is definitely possible, and Europa League qualification is highly likely for a Sheffield United side that were bottom of League One four years ago.
Their meteoric rise is scarcely believable, achieved with virtually the same group of players and playing complex, progressive tactics. Wilder’s 3-5-2 – with constant positional interchanges, complicated overloading of the flanks, and overlapping centre-backs – is still bamboozling Premier League opponents. Nobody can quite work out how to break them down.
The midfield trio of John Lundstram, John Fleck, and Oliver Norwood is outstanding, the beating heart of the team that keeps United way above their expected level. However, Wilder’s side clearly lack a goalscorer, having netted just 30 times from 28 games. For all the diligent organisation of the shape, Sheffield United don’t have enough creativity in the final third.
Unlike the majority of the teams on this list, it feels unlikely that United will fall down the table in subsequent seasons. Wilder’s tactics have been too good for too long to be a flash in the pan, and unless he is poached by a bigger club Blades fans can anticipate plenty of good years ahead.
Leicester City, 2015/16: champions
The 5000/1 fairy-tale will never be topped. What Leicester City achieved under Claudio Ranieri is still almost literally unbelievable, a toppling of the established order that defied all financial and competitive reasoning. To win the league title, to earn more points from 38 games than the ‘Big Six’, is stupefying.
The heroes of that season are still fresh in the memory and most are still playing in English football. Throughout different points of the season Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kante, and Wes Morgan took up the mantle to become household names as the season played out in two distinct halves.
First came electrifying counter-attacking football that surprised under-prepared opponents who just couldn’t to get to grips with Mahrez and Vardy, and then in the second half of the campaign came a steely defensive side that ground out 1-0 wins thanks to Kante and Morgan.
Ranieri’s side won the league with 81 points - and it wasn’t even close. They finished ten points higher than second-place Arsenal. The manager was sacked the following February with Leicester embroiled in a relegation battle, but now the club have been revived by Brendan Rodgers. The current incarnation of Leicester City owes everything to those extraordinary title winners.
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