Out With The Old, In With The New: Are Yo-Yo Clubs a Thing of the Past … For Now?
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Out With The Old, In With The New: Are Yo-Yo Clubs a Thing of the Past … For Now?

Out With The Old, In With The New: Are Yo-Yo Clubs a Thing of the Past … For Now?

We’ve seen it so many times before - a club breaks its back in a bid to rise to the top tier of English football, but the efforts it took to get there were so severe that the hierarchy can only watch on as their outfit enters free-fall, dropping straight back to the Championship.

Worse still, this pattern has a nasty habit of repeating itself - the very next season, the same team bounces back up to the Premier League, only to discover once again they do not have the class to hang at the highest level as they fall back to the second tier once again.

These so-called “yo-yo clubs” have been well documented, particularly over the last 15 years or so. When the term is said aloud, a few names come to mind: Norwich City, Burnley, Hull City, Leicester City, and Watford have all bounced between England’s top two divisions in three consecutive seasons over the last 15 years; and Premier League fans, as well as supporters of the aforementioned clubs, have become absolutely sick of it.

However, this season, there appear to be changes in the offing: for the first time since the 2022/23 season, all three promoted sides (these being Sunderland, Leeds United, and Burnley) find themselves above the relegation zone at the end of matchweek five. This has only occurred twice since the 2018/19 season, illustrating just how rare it is for all of the newly promoted sides to immediately hold their own in the Premier League.

Moreover, last season's relegated trio of Leicester City, Southampton, and Ipswich Town have all had poor starts to the campaign, with only the Foxes occupying any of the potential promotion places in the Championship.

This sparks an interesting debate: could this be just the second season since the Premier League's inception to see no yo-yo action?

The History of the Yo-yo

It is a remarkable fact that in over 30 years of Premier League football, the six moving sides from the previous season have refused to return to their previous divisions only once.

This occurred in 2017/18, when Hull City, Middlesbrough, and Sunderland failed to bounce back to the top flight after relegation the previous year, while Huddersfield Town, Brighton, and Newcastle United all managed to secure their Premier League safety the same year.

Though Sunderland were relegated from the Championship in 2017/18, resulting in only five of the six sides staying put, their performances showed that the promotion and relegation class of 2016/17 was the best and worst, respectively, in a long history of competing trios.

Prior to and since then, no season has truly come that close to equaling this, and in the last two seasons, momentum seems to have shifted the other way, with all six promoted sides from the last two seasons almost immediately bowing out to go and play Championship football again.

How Are The Relegated Sides Doing?

The 2025/26 season has a different feel about it - we’ll discuss the relegated sides first.

Leicester City

After a dire Premier League showing last season, which saw them end the campaign on just 25 points despite an 18th-place finish, Leicester were arguably worse than Ipswich, who finished below them.

Conceding a whopping 80 goals and scoring just 30 in response, Leicester at one point found themselves on a run of just four points from 19 games - in a different context, four points from half a Premier League season.

Deservedly demoted, they are doing the best out of the drop-down counterparts, as the Foxes currently sit fourth in the Championship. However, even in the second tier there are problems. Struggling in front of goal with just eight goals in six games, the Foxes lie just a point ahead of 10th-placed Millwall; one slip-up could see their table position drop dramatically, along with any club morale they have going.

The looming risk of a points deduction also threatens to negate any progress they actually make - they may finish the season with enough points earned to return to the top flight - however, the story of their true points total could be very different.

Chance of Promotion: B-

Ipswich Town

Receiving limited criticism for their Premier League performance last season due to it being their first top-flight campaign in 22 years, Ipswich did their level best to make it a close-fought battle.

Though they mustered 10 draws, including against high-caliber sides such as Chelsea and Man United, their meager four wins were ultimately what cost the Tractor Boys, as they tasted relegation with just 22 points to show for their efforts.

And if there were fans hoping for an immediate bounce back to the top, they have so far been disappointed - Ipswich have managed just one win in their opening five games, and although this was a 5-0 thumping of a dire Sheffield United side, they have failed to look as convincing in any of their other fixtures.

Though their squad is still punctuated with superb talents, including Jaden Philogene-Bidace, Jack Clarke, and Sammie Szmodics, they have so far failed to gel as a unit down in the Championship, as manager Kieran McKenna struggles to find the right balance in the squad.

Chance of Promotion: C+

Southampton

One of the worst sides to ever play Premier League football, Southampton only managed to avoid beating or equalling Derby’s unwanted points record of 11 on the third to last match day of the campaign, as they executed a shock 0-0 draw with Manchester City.

Still, to finish a top-flight campaign on 12 points is simply unacceptable, and the board recognized this immediately, which saw the Saints splash almost £50 million in the summer transfer window on proven Championship stars in the likes of Finn Azaz and Tom Fellows.

However, if the Saints board thought that all it took to soar back up to the Premier League was a bit of investment, they were severely mistaken - Southampton have just one win in six (a nervy opening-day win against Wrexham) and have so far suffered defeats to Stoke and Hull.

Draws against winnable sides such as Watford, Portsmouth, and fellow-relegation strugglers Ipswich have compounded the misery for new coach Will Still, who will now be hoping that his well-documented interest in the Football Manager video game can carry him through such a rough start.

How Are The Promoted Sides Doing?

On the flip side, Sunderland, Leeds, and Burnley have all thrived in the early stages of the Premier League season, relieving some of that early pressure on them to make an instant impact and escape the drop zone quickly.

The reason this trio has so far avoided flirting with the bottom three is down to their summer recruitment: combining the outlay of all three teams across the summer transfer window that they paid up front, they spent an eye-watering total of £374.2 million.

If all add-ons are also included, it would see all clubs comfortably pass the £100 million mark (in Sunderland's case, almost £200 million), and the total expenditure would rise to £464.5 million. Across Premier League history, the closest new sides came to this figure was back in 2022/23, when £338 million was spent - almost £200 million alone was forked out by Nottingham Forest.

And the more you look at the numbers, the more a pattern begins to emerge. It may sound simple, but the more money spent in the summer, the better a side's chances of survival. As per RG, the average money spent by a club that goes on to survive their first season in the top flight sits at £73 million. For yo-yo clubs, the average money spent is just £32 million. A night-and-day comparison.

So with that in mind, let's have a closer look at the new(ish) faces taking the Premier League by storm.

Leeds United

Though they won the Championship last season - with a century of points, no less - Daniel Farke’s side actually spent the least across the summer transfer window, with an up-front outlay of just under £100 million.

In spite of this, their signings have been savvy - focusing on proven quality up top to boost their top-flight firepower, the Whites brought in free agent Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Wolfsburg striker Lukas Nmecha, and the multi-positional Noah Okafor from AC Milan. After just five league games at the club, all of them have found the scoresheet.

Combining these arrivals with smart options further back, including Anton Stach from Hoffenheim and James Justin from Leicester, Leeds slowly accumulated a host of new faces with experience across Europe’s top five leagues, adding diversity and vital experience to a side expected to make a good go of staying up.

Though it is still early in the season, things look good for Farke’s men - they lie 12th on seven points, having already notched wins against Wolves and Everton. Ignoring their chastening defeat against Arsenal, Leeds have not conceded more than one goal in a match so far - combining their defensive solidity with their much-improved output at the top of the field, they will be a very tough unit to break down, which will earn them crucial points throughout the season.

Chances of Survival: B

Burnley

So unfortunate to miss out on the Championship title last season, after finishing tied on 100 points with Leeds, Burnley appear to have made it their mission to get revenge on last season's rivals.

Spending £111 million on new players over the summer, the Clarets have brought in some familiar Premier League faces, including Chelsea duo Armando Broja and Lesley Ugochukwu. However, wherethey contradict Leeds’ transfer approach is by bringing in other familiar names, recent heroes who had earned them promotion while on loan deals.

This meant that Bashir Humphrys, Zian Flemming, Jaidon Anthony, and Marcus Edwards all saw their temporary stay at Turf Moor made permanent, as the club instilled belief in them that they added sufficient quality to the squad to assure Premier League survival.

So far, the strategy has paid off - though they sit just a point above the relegation zone, they still lie 16th with a win and a draw from their first five games. And when their performances in narrow defeats to Liverpool and Manchester United are examined closely, it is hard not to think that against less well-established sides, Burnley could pull off more than a few shock results.

Chance of Survival: B-

Sunderland

Finishing a whopping 24 points behind both of their promoted counterparts, it is likely that if I told you in May that Sunderland are being tipped as the most likely side to retain their Premier League status this season, you would have been more than a little surprised.

And yet that is where we find ourselves - the Black Cats, after a stellar start to the season that saw them take three points against both Brentford and West Ham, lie a stunning seventh, as points against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa took their points tally to eight.

As such, Regis Le Bris’ side sit just two points outside the top four, and they are currently ahead of Man City, Man United, and bitter rivals Newcastle in the pecking order, a scenario beyond the wildest dreams of a Sunderland fan this time last year.

Spending a massive £164 million in the summer, the European quality of Nordi Mukiele, Granit Xhaka and Reinildo Mandava has brought leadership, experience, and a winning mentality to a Sunderland side that just eight years previously had tasted back-to-back relegations and was plying their trade in League One.

Though there is plenty of football to be played, Sunderland’s bold, fearless approach has been a breath of fresh air from a promoted side, and if they stick to their guns, there is no reason why they couldn’t pull off a Sheffield United 2019/20 run and finish in the top half.

Chance of Survival: B+

Is the 2025/26 Yo-Yo Dream Dead in the Water?

Not by a long shot. With the Championship season just six games in and the Premier League season in an even more premature phase, it is far too early to call who will stay and who will go. But it never hurts to be ahead of the curve, and even if I prove to be wrong, it is still a fascinating discussion to be privy to.

Sunderland, Leeds, and Burnley have already surprised many in the top flight this season, while Leicester, Southampton, and Ipswich have done the same in the Championship, but largely for all the wrong reasons.

Should things stay as they are (which, let’s be honest, rarely happens in football), what is to stop the 2025/26 season from being marked out as a huge success in the history of promotion and relegation stories? After all the discussion over the last couple of years surrounding whether the gap to Championship sides has grown too large to overcome, this year's graduates have the chance to leave the so-called "experts" red in the face.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist

Harry Pascoe

Lead Writer

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