Southampton have endured a miserable campaign in the Premier League this season. After surprisingly beating Leeds United at Wembley Stadium in last season’s Championship playoff final and gaining promotion to the top flight, many hoped that they would be able to consolidate their status in English football’s top division. Unfortunately, though, they instead look set to go down as one of the worst teams in the league’s history.
Much of the talk heading into the final weeks of the Premier League season surrounds the wide-open race for a spot in the top four, with five teams separated by just four points and online sports betting sites simply unable to split them. The latest live sports betting at Bovada odds currently makes Manchester City the frontrunner to secure one of those Champions League qualifying spots, pricing them at -200 to do exactly that. The likes of Newcastle (evens), Chelsea (+120), and Nottingham Forest (+135) will all fancy their chances as well.
But for the aforementioned Saints, the campaign may as well already be over. A recent 3-1 defeat away at Spurs confirmed their relegation despite their still having seven games remaining. Then, a 3-0 drubbing at home to Aston Villa still leaves them with the distinct possibility of being confirmed as the worst team in history. Their current points haul of ten points is the lowest ever posted, although they do still have six games left to pick up more points.
But which team currently holds the unwanted honor of being the worst to ever grace the top flight? Let’s take a look.
Derby County – 2007/08: 11 points
Derby County’s 2007/08 season had to be seen to be believed. Much like Southampton this year, the Rams were also promoted via the playoffs, beating West Bromwich Albion at Wembley thanks to Stephen Pearson’s second-half winner. Billy Davies was the man who got them to the promised land, and he remained in charge in the Premier League, strengthening his side by signing hotshot strikers Robert Earnshaw and Kenny Miller.
Both players had been prolific in the second tier and Scotland respectively, but it was clear early on that neither was up to the task of playing week in and week out in the most competitive league on earth. Derby won just once all season, and that came on matchday six with a 1-0 win against Newcastle United at Pride Park. They then went without a win in their next 32 games, the longest barren spell in Premier League history.
Manager Davies was sacked in November and was replaced with former Wigan great escape artist Paul Jewell. But even Pep Guardiola would have struggled to keep this side up. The new manager rang the changes in the January transfer window, bringing in experienced campaigners such as Robbie Savage, Laurent Robert, and Hossam Ghaly, but they did little to stem the tide. He went on to lose 15 of his 19 games in charge, including ending the season with six straight defeats in which they conceded 22 goals against just four scored.
Sunderland – 2005/06: 15 Points
Two years prior, Sunderland had a disastrous campaign of their own. They were promoted from the Championship the season prior by romping to the league title, and with a decent squad containing the likes of Liam Lawrence and Dean Whitehead, bolstered with the signings of Jon Stead, Alan Stubbs, and Anthony Le Tallec, there was a real hope around the Stadium of Light that the Black Cats could avoid an immediate return to the second tier.
Unfortunately, those hopes and dreams were dashed almost immediately. Sunderland lost their first five games of the season, before then losing nine straight between October and Christmas. Manager Mick McCarthy was sacked in February but by that point, the damage was already done. Kevin Ball would take interim charge until the end of the season, and he would lose his first six games in charge.
The Black Cats ultimately finished with 15 points, 23 points away from safety.
Sheffield United – 2023/24 – 16 points
Had it not been for global events back in 2020, there’s a very real chance that Sheffield United may well have qualified for European football, much to the surprise of everybody. However, as we all remember, the season had to be suspended and then when it returned, games had to be played in front of zero spectators.
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That took away arguably the Blades’ greatest asset in their raucous Bramall Lane fanbase. They were duly relegated from the Premier League in 2021, but two years later, they were back after finishing as runners-up to Burnley.
Unfortunately for the South Yorkshire side though, the promotion couldn’t have come at a worse time. The club was in disarray at boardroom level, with a power struggle between prospective owners leaving Paul Heckingbottom at the mercy of other clubs in the transfer market. He lost star players such as Sander Berge and Iliman Ndiaye, replacing them with unproven players from Scandinavia, Belgium, and the English second tier.
The result? Relegated with a whimper. United lost nine of their first ten games and picked up just three wins all season. Throughout the campaign, they conceded a gobsmacking 104 goals, the most in history and by some distance. Fast forward 12 months and the Blades are in the hunt for an immediate return to the top flight, sitting in third place in the Championship narrowly behind Leeds and Burnley.
