In this article we look at 6 teams that have never appeared in the Premier League as of 2022
Of course there is still hope for these teams but with the parachute payments of relegated teams and the championship being one of the difficult leagues to get out of, it seems to get trickier every season.
Luton Town
They were actually in Division 1 prior to the Premier League being formed but were relegated.
Luton won the League Cup in 1987–88 and reached the final the next season during what was one of their more prominent periods
In 2008–09 they were relegated out of the football league system but eventually gained promotion back to League 2 in 2013–14
In the previous season Luton finished 6th in the Championship and earned a spot in the play-offs for promotion to the Premier League, but were eliminated in the semifinals by Huddersfield Town.
The club still plays at Kenilworth Road which only has a capacity of just over 10000 but has plans to move to a new stadium
Preston North End
Preston North End was a founder member of the Football League in 1888
Many people associate Preston with Tom Finney but what is remarkable is that they hadn’t actually featured in the top league since 1960-61
In the last 18 seasons they have spent 14 in the Championship and 4 in League 1 – they have reached the Championship playoffs on 3 occasions and lost the 2004-05 final to West Ham, the closest they came to promotion to the Premier League
In the last 7 seasons the closest was a 7th place finish, just missing out but the last 2 seasons have been middle table finishes in 13th
Preston has been based at Deepdale since 1875 and at the moment this has a 23000 capacity
Millwall
They have spent 89 of their 95 seasons in the Football League between the second and third tiers.
The club did have a brief spell in the old Division 1 between 1988 and 1990, they even finished in tenth place in the First Division in 1988–89 which was their highest finish.
As recently as 2004 Millwall reached the FA Cup final but lost 3 – 0 to Manchester United
They have spent the last five seasons in the championship with 2 8th place finishes the closest to getting promoted to the Premier League
They plat the Den which has a capacity of 20,146
Bristol City
The club has spent all but 11 years of its history playing in either the second or third tiers; nine of those have been in the top flight, with the most recent being in 1980 in the old Division 1.
They have never won the FA Cup or League cups
In the 2007-08 season they finished 4th and reached the play-off final but lost to Hull City 1-0, since then it has been a lot of lower half of the table finishes with the best season being 2018–19 and a 9th place finish.
A well supported club with decent attendances, Bristol City play at Ashton Gate Stadium which has a capacity of 27,000
Plymouth Argyle
They have never played in the top tier in their history
Promoted as champions in 2001–02, they secured a record fifth third tier league title in 2003–04, and would remain in the Championship for six seasons until administration and two successive relegations left them in League Two by 2011. In 2016–17 Argyle won promotion to League One, and again in 2019–20 following relegation the previous season.
They have never won the FA Cup or League cups – the best they have ever done was an FA Cup semi final
The best ever Championship season was 2007–08 when they finish in 10th place
A well supported club with decent attendances of 10000 even in the 3rd tier, Plymouth play at Home Park which has a capacity of 17,000
Oxford United
Oxford United only joined the Football League in 1962.
After relegation in 1976, between 1984 and 1986 the club earned successive promotions into the First Division, and won the League Cup in 1986.
Oxford was not able to enter the UEFA Cup because of the UEFA ban on English clubs in European competitions.
Relegation from the top flight in 1988 began a dramatic decline which saw the club relegated to the Conference in 2006, becoming the first winners of a major trophy to be relegated from the Football League.
After four seasons, Oxford returned to League Two in 2010 via the playoffs, and six seasons later achieved promotion to League One, after finishing second in League Two in 2016.
United’s home ground is the Kassam Stadium which has a capacity of 12,500.
