These clubs have changed the way we look at promoted clubs for the better.
The transition from the Championship to the Premier League can be a difficult one for teams that make the jump.
Often branded no-hopers and written off due to their sizes and inabilities to attract the top players, promoted clubs face an uphill battle right from the start. Many go on to prove the doubters right, struggling in the top division before an eventual slide back down to the Championship.
But in recent Premier League history, a number of teams have bucked the trend and established themselves as forces to be reckoned with in the Premier League, either by consolidating their places and becoming a force within it, and going on to win silverware, the ultimate expression of a club’s success.
Here is our list of some of the most successful newly promoted clubs in recent Premier League history.
Bolton Wanderers
Given their precarious current position in League One, it is easy to forget that Bolton were the club other newly-promoted sides looked at for guidance when jostling for position in the Premier League. From 2001 to their eventual demotion in 2008, the Trotters grew from strength to strength under manager Sam Allardyce, becoming a bogey team for many sides and dining with some of the best in Europe.
Bolton achieved consecutive top-eight finishes in the league from the 2003-04 season to the 2006-07 season, a record bettered only by the ‘Big Four’ of the era – Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool – and that is great company to be in.
Add the fact that during the same time period, Allardyce’s side played in the UEFA Cup for two seasons in a row, and we have a side that was making waves in the world of football.
Bolton were eventually relegated in 2008, but their example was a hugely important one for newly-promoted sides to follow.
Wigan Athletic
One of the smallest clubs in Premier League history, Wigan went on to enjoy one of the best runs undertaken by a new team in the Premier League.
Beginning their journey in the 2005-06, the Latics went on a remarkable run that year and were placed in the heady heights of second place by November, before eventually finishing in 10th place.
Years of consolidation and near-relegations followed, but few teams carried themselves with as much resolve as Wigan. The greatest moment in the club’s history occurred at one of their darkest, when Roberto Martinez’s men sensationally beat Manchester City to win the FA Cup for the first time in its history, before being relegated from the Premier League days later.
A bittersweet end to their Premier League years, but Wigan were more than worthy of their place while it lasted.
Stoke City
Stoke have gone from strength to strength since their promotion to the Premier League in 2008. Almost immediately written off as certainties for relegation, the Potters managed to turn the Britannia Stadium into a fortress, and visiting teams always had a tough time trying to get a result.
Things would get better for Tony Pulis’ side, and they reached the FA Cup final for the first time in their history during the 2011-12 season, losing to Manchester City but gaining a place in the next season’s Europa League.
Under Mark Hughes, the club have finished in 9th place for the last three seasons in a row, a clear sign that they are now a Premier League club through and through.
Leicester City
Of course we had to finish with the Foxes. Leicester have been back in the Premier League for only two years, after a 12-year absence, and have already eclipsed the achievements of any promoted club in recent history.
Returning to the top flight in 2014, they were written off from the start and seemed doomed to make a return to the Championship having been bottom since Christmas, but Nigel Pearson’s side underwent a magnificent transformation towards the end of the season, winning seven of their last nine league games to beat the drop by the skin of their teeth.
But this was just the tip of the iceberg for the Foxes who, under Claudio Ranieri, went on to defy every odd possible and win the Premier League title last year, the first top-flight title in the club’s history.
For this achievement alone, Leicester will surely be regarded as the most successful promoted side in the Premier League’s recent history.
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