Of the 12 founding members of the Football League 8 will be in the Championship for 2026-27.

Only the original big city clubs of Aston Villa and Everton remain in the Premier League.

No founder members in League One, but Notts County and the reformed Accrington in League Two.

All the Championship clubs were in the Football League in 1926-27, and here are their positions in that season.

Division- position club:

1-4 Bolton Wanderers, 1-5 Burnley, 1-6 West Ham United,, 1-8 Sheffield United, 1-12 Derby County, 1-14 Cardiff City, 1-17Birmingham City, 1-18 Blackburn Rovers, 1-22 West Bromwich Albion, 2-1 Middlesbrough, 2-2 Portsmouth, 2-6 Preston North End, 2-12 Swansea Town (now City), 2-13 Southampton, 2-15 Wolverhampton Wanderers, 3S-1 Bristol City, 3N-1 Stoke City, 3S-3 Millwall, 3N-11 Lincoln City, 3S-13 Charlton Athletic, 3N-13 Wrexham, 3S-14 Queens Park Rangers, 3S-16 Norwich City, 3S-21 Watford.

22 minutes ago, donkeyshorn said:

Google Gemini 

 

That's reassuring. 

It just looks such a competitive league on paper next season. 

73% is quite a lot higher than I expected

1 hour ago, Underpants said:

I think a large proportion will be happy to just keep our noses above the waterline. But over the past 4 years we have been in, or been very close to the playoffs. That means winning (and drawing 🙄) more games than we lose. Next season that will almost certainly not be the case. Unfortunately, if just getting a foothold in the division is the priority, folk will get "grumpy" and question SS, the board and the playing staff. Next season isn't going to be pleasant compared to previous ones. Unless it goes spectacularly tits up then people need to keep their pitchforks in the barn.

Good post.

There’s fine lines that are debated to hell after defeats/poor spells. Some of it good, some of it poor IMO

I don’t mind the grumpiness, the fan opinion, the debate about players, formations, tactics etc. That’s why we are here.

The line gets crossed for me when folk become categoric about football players and management. Writing players off after a bad game, insisting that changing things to suit their opinion will make THE difference, and calling their opinion out to make more sense than what the manager is currently doing as if they hold a UEFA A license and have multiple years of coaching experience at a high level. 

Very different to me than a healthy debate about differing fan opinions. 

Some folk, this season, were very negatively catergoric about certain players - who helped us get promotion and about SS and his tactics - which also led us to promotion.

It would be nice to think, that next season, the debate that follows defeats/bad spells is reasonable and rational (after the in game hysterics 😂), keeping pitchforks well and truly buried, while being aware of our realistic goals and targets. 

2 hours ago, perth_white said:

Can't help but think back to the equivalent Rioch season. Lower mid table without ever looking in danger would be a very successful season. We need to give Schumacher the same grace we gave Rioch. 

That got me reminiscing back to that glorious day at Grimsby on day 1, absolutely sweltering, debuts for Alan Thompson, Owen Coyle and that fantastic blue and red striped kit; 3.5k of us crammed in behind the goal.

The home crowds in them days were poor.  Stoke swelled our 1st home game to 11k then 8k v Oxford & 7k v Luton!  7k happened a few times that season, presume therefore less than 5k season tickets, different times.

On another post I mentioned we might only have one cup game before Christmas if we lose in the 1st round.  In 93/94 we played TWELVE cup games before Christmas!  And no squad rotation in them days, the first team played every game.  6 Anglo Italian, 4 league cup, 2 FA Cup, imagine that now while trying to get a foothold in the championship.

Then another 6 FA Cup games after Christmas (got to QF v Oldham).

So we may have been bottom half but it was a fantastic season in both league and cup, we certainly didn't have to give any grace to Rioch, he had us back on the map and we were lucky to have him.

18 minutes ago, desperado said:

Good post.

There’s fine lines that are debated to hell after defeats/poor spells. Some of it good, some of it poor IMO

I don’t mind the grumpiness, the fan opinion, the debate about players, formations, tactics etc. That’s why we are here.

The line gets crossed for me when folk become categoric about football players and management. Writing players off after a bad game, insisting that changing things to suit their opinion will make THE difference, and calling their opinion out to make more sense than what the manager is currently doing as if they hold a UEFA A license and have multiple years of coaching experience at a high level. 

Very different to me than a healthy debate about differing fan opinions. 

Some folk, this season, were very negatively catergoric about certain players - who helped us get promotion and about SS and his tactics - which also led us to promotion.

It would be nice to think, that next season, the debate that follows defeats/bad spells is reasonable and rational (after the in game hysterics 😂), keeping pitchforks well and truly buried, while being aware of our realistic goals and targets. 

Well we haven’t yet been told what our aims and targets are for next season, understandably so, but personally I think if we can sign the right players, Kenny and Amario again maybe, then I genuinely don’t believe there’s much to worry about in the Championship. Of course it’s a step up from L1 as all promotions are but I look at the Championship and I don’t see many teams I’d worry against. It all depends on who we sign and how they gel and I’d trust Fergal and Schuey to get that right. Staying up is obviously one aim but surely we would be looking to do better than that? If we can have a solid start we can add in January and with that extra play off place available I don’t think it’s too optimistic to at least aim for that.

5 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

Well we haven’t yet been told what our aims and targets are for next season, understandably so, but personally I think if we can sign the right players, Kenny and Amario again maybe, then I genuinely don’t believe there’s much to worry about in the Championship. Of course it’s a step up from L1 as all promotions are but I look at the Championship and I don’t see many teams I’d worry against. It all depends on who we sign and how they gel and I’d trust Fergal and Schuey to get that right. Staying up is obviously one aim but surely we would be looking to do better than that? If we can have a solid start we can add in January and with that extra play off place available I don’t think it’s too optimistic to at least aim for that.

I think that's setting us up for a lot of moaning when that doesn't happen.  I'm saying its unrealistic for a team that's had a lot of struggles in L1 this season, not to have a lot more struggles in the championship.  I'd snatch your hands off not necessarily to just avoid relegation on the last day, but to never be in the bottom 3 - basically the season Charlton have just had.  But let's be realistic, the likes of Sheff U, WBA, Norwich and Leicester were in the bottom 3 for long spells last season.  We are starting as the worst side out of 24, its a bit early to say there's nothing to worry about in the championship without seeing what team we can put out in August/September.

1 hour ago, Johnnyrotten said:

That got me reminiscing back to that glorious day at Grimsby on day 1, absolutely sweltering, debuts for Alan Thompson, Owen Coyle and that fantastic blue and red striped kit; 3.5k of us crammed in behind the goal.

The home crowds in them days were poor.  Stoke swelled our 1st home game to 11k then 8k v Oxford & 7k v Luton!  7k happened a few times that season, presume therefore less than 5k season tickets, different times.

On another post I mentioned we might only have one cup game before Christmas if we lose in the 1st round.  In 93/94 we played TWELVE cup games before Christmas!  And no squad rotation in them days, the first team played every game.  6 Anglo Italian, 4 league cup, 2 FA Cup, imagine that now while trying to get a foothold in the championship.

Then another 6 FA Cup games after Christmas (got to QF v Oldham).

So we may have been bottom half but it was a fantastic season in both league and cup, we certainly didn't have to give any grace to Rioch, he had us back on the map and we were lucky to have him.

How did we have FA Cup games before Christmas? Was it a different structure back then with some div 2 clubs included before 3rd round?

On 26/05/2026 at 08:13, Mounts Kipper said:

Remember the league cup 1/4 final down at Upton Park… we were in the Boleyn pub at 5pm the West Ham lads rocked up later spat there dummies out said we were taking liberties, no aggro just a row of 3 vans with slashed tyres after the match… was a tad unfriendly in the ground, no segregation and sat on seat over aisle were 2 Frank Bruno lookalikes… kept my celebrations down to a bare minimum. 

 

 

Yes I went to that match and was shocked to see Bolton fans walking down Green St chanting "Where's your famous ICF " a couple of hours before kick off.These just seemed high spirited lads off the Travel club coaches rather than the Tonge Moor mob.I also saw the Bolton fans in the Boleyn Tavern, again couldn't believe it.I went in the same Stand as the Bolton fans as a lone wolf in the West Ham section.It wasn't particularly hostile or angry but i did get a dig in the back when West Ham scored probably i was sussed for not celebrating enough.

3 hours ago, Stig said:

How did we have FA Cup games before Christmas? Was it a different structure back then with some div 2 clubs included before 3rd round?

For some reason we had to play in the 1st round despite being in the championship, presume the promoted teams had to make the numbers up, but I don't know why (the year after we entered at the 3rd round as normal).  Just as wierd was us playing in our away kit at home, v Gretna, we were drawn away but they chose to switch it to Burnden.  We were losing late on and if Coyle hadn't scored we'd never have had the famous 5 unbeaten games v Everton, Arsenal and Villa.

4 hours ago, Stig said:

How did we have FA Cup games before Christmas? Was it a different structure back then with some div 2 clubs included before 3rd round?

Ai tells me ...

"Bolton Wanderers had to enter the 1993–94 FA Cup in the First Round because of the sweeping structural changes to English football following the creation of the Premier League in 1992.

Under the competition rules at the time, all clubs in the bottom two tiers of the Football League (Divisions 2 and 3) entered the FA Cup in the first round, along with the non-league teams. Because Bolton had been promoted from what was then the Third Division, they were treated as one of the lowest-ranked professional sides in the competition and were required to join in the first round".

And we played in our away kit at home v Gretna.

Must be the only time ever?

Just beat the bottom 10 home & away & it's job done - pizza piss.🥴

14 hours ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

Ai tells me ...

"Bolton Wanderers had to enter the 1993–94 FA Cup in the First Round because of the sweeping structural changes to English football following the creation of the Premier League in 1992.

Under the competition rules at the time, all clubs in the bottom two tiers of the Football League (Divisions 2 and 3) entered the FA Cup in the first round, along with the non-league teams. Because Bolton had been promoted from what was then the Third Division, they were treated as one of the lowest-ranked professional sides in the competition and were required to join in the first round".

Just done some Wikipedia research on it and it seems a couple of the lowest ranked clubs in the second division would go into the FA cup first round up until the 95/96 season when the premier League was trimmed down to 20 clubs. Since then the top 2 divisions has been fully clear till the 3rd round

9 hours ago, gonzo said:

And we played in our away kit at home v Gretna.

Must be the only time ever?

See that other thread 😂

9 hours ago, gonzo said:

And we played in our away kit at home v Gretna.

Must be the only time ever?

@tomski put him right

9 hours ago, gonzo said:

And we played in our away kit at home v Gretna.

Must be the only time ever?

We played in it on that occasion as we were drawn as the away team but Gretna asked to move the match to Burnden, probably for safety and money reasons.

18 minutes ago, freds dad said:

We played in it on that occasion as we were drawn as the away team but Gretna asked to move the match to Burnden, probably for safety and money reasons.

Two Andy Walkers, theres only two Andy Walkers.

21 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

That got me reminiscing back to that glorious day at Grimsby on day 1, absolutely sweltering, debuts for Alan Thompson, Owen Coyle and that fantastic blue and red striped kit; 3.5k of us crammed in behind the goal.

The home crowds in them days were poor.  Stoke swelled our 1st home game to 11k then 8k v Oxford & 7k v Luton!  7k happened a few times that season, presume therefore less than 5k season tickets, different times.

recall our average attendance in 92/93 was 8.5k which is also what we took to Anfield for the cup replay

I know plenty of clubs do that for a day out, but still, at the time it seemed mental

1 hour ago, Zico said:

recall our average attendance in 92/93 was 8.5k which is also what we took to Anfield for the cup replay

I know plenty of clubs do that for a day out, but still, at the time it seemed mental

Even more telling 2 years before that. Took 10k to Old Trafford and bet our average attendance much less. 

14 hours ago, gonzo said:

And we played in our away kit at home v Gretna.

Must be the only time ever?

I also recall a match in the Anglo Italian Cup, or am I mistaken?

Wednesday borrowed our away kit when the Ref made them change once.

10 minutes ago, Dimron said:

I also recall a match in the Anglo Italian Cup, or am I mistaken?

Wednesday borrowed our away kit when the Ref made them change once.

That was when Wednesday were in the prem and refs wore green shirts 

So they had a black away kit, which normally wouldn't be a problem, but as it was league cup the ref was in black 

Don't know if teams had third kits back then or they just didn't realise about the potential clash so they used ours 

The football equivalent of getting something out of lost property when you've forgotten your PE kit at school 

3 hours ago, jayjayoghani said:

Even more telling 2 years before that. Took 10k to Old Trafford and bet our average attendance much less. 

Average in 1989/90 and 90/91 was virtually identical, just under 7,300.

2 hours ago, DirtySanchez said:

That was when Wednesday were in the prem and refs wore green shirts 

So they had a black away kit, which normally wouldn't be a problem, but as it was league cup the ref was in black 

Don't know if teams had third kits back then or they just didn't realise about the potential clash so they used ours 

The football equivalent of getting something out of lost property when you've forgotten your PE kit at school 

i could have sworn it was a Saturday afternoon when we had just been promoted into the Prem but I have slept a few times since!

On the other matter It was McGinlay who went in goal in an Anglo Italian Cup game, maybe that is the change of shirt I was thinking of

40 minutes ago, Dimron said:

i could have sworn it was a Saturday afternoon when we had just been promoted into the Prem but I have slept a few times since!

On the other matter It was McGinlay who went in goal in an Anglo Italian Cup game, maybe that is the change of shirt I was thinking of

No 

It was against Reading 

2 hours ago, DirtySanchez said:

No 

It was against Reading 

Definitely was. I was in Manny Road North and he looked so small when he went in net! Defence were great at protecting him best they could. We hung on to get a 2-1 win, and I think SJM got one of the two goals!

Edited Sunday at 18:343 days by Burnden Pies