The Phenomenon of “Yoyo” Teams in the Premier League, Evidence of the Acute Gap in the English Competition

Wolverhampton Wanderers' 2-1 victory over Ipswich Town on Saturday (5/4/2025) at Portman Road Stadium seemed to draw the curtain on the competition among teams in the relegation zone. After playing 31 matches, Wolves—occupying the 17th position—extended their points lead over Ipswich, who are in 18th place, to 12 points.

As an illustration, Ipswich, even if blessed with a miracle in the remaining seven games, can only accumulate a maximum of 41 points. Meanwhile, Wolves only need three victories to achieve that point total.

However, once again, only a miracle could bring Ipswich to secure the maximum points as they face three strong teams, namely Chelsea, Arsenal, and Newcastle United, in their next three matches.

Ipswich, in which a minority stake is owned by singer Ed Sheeran, along with two teams promoted in the 2024-2025 season, namely Leicester City and Southampton, are also confirmed to compete again in the Championship League next season.

Referring to calculations by the supercomputer Opta, the chances of Ipswich, Leicester, and Southampton being relegated have reached more than 99 percent. In more detail, Ipswich is 99.95 percent, Leicester has a 99.97 percent chance, and Southampton is already 100 percent down.

Their fate resembles a yo-yo, rising to a higher tier for just one season, only to drop back down the following season. The three teams were unable to maintain their status as one of the 20 best teams in England for a longer period.

In fact, Southampton has the potential to break Derby County's record as the team with the lowest points in the Premier League era. Derby only collected 11 points in the 2007-2008 season.

However, the trio of promoted teams that were relegated again this season need not be discouraged. At the very least, they are repeating the situation that occurred during the 2023-2024 campaign.

At that time, the three teams that celebrated promotion tickets from the 2022-2023 Championship League occupied the bottom three positions in the Premier League the following season. They were Luton Town (ranked 18th), Burnley (19th), and Sheffield United (20th).

The fate of the three promoted teams in the last two seasons is very different from the trio of promotions in the 2021-2022 Championship. Fulham, Bournemouth, and Nottingham Forest are still able to survive in the Premier League entering three seasons in the top flight.

The three are even on track to fight for tickets to the 2025-2026 European club competition. Forest in particular, Nuno Espirito Santo's team is also getting closer to appearing in the next edition of the Champions League.

Meanwhile, Brentford is the longest-lasting promoted team in the Premier League at the moment. Since winning the 2020-2021 season promotion ticket, “The Bees” have shown their resilience to maintain the competition as a mid-table team.

The Premier League will also record two consecutive seasons of having a team that has collected under 20 points. Last season, Sheffield could only collect 16 points from 38 matches. Southampton has the potential to follow in that footsteps of dozens of points.

The phenomenon of three “yoyo” teams in the English Premier League is real evidence of the disparity that is manifested from the high turnover of money in the Premier League. Even before the season started, three promoted teams had already “lost” from the start.

This can be seen from the market value of the squad owned by the trio of promoted teams. In the last two seasons, not a single Premier League promoted team has packed the accumulated market value of the squad reaching 300 million euros (Rp 545.4 billion).

In fact, last season, two teams, Sheffield and Luton, also did not record more than 150 million euros in accumulated squad value.

It is no wonder that the six promoted teams in the last two seasons have struggled to compete in the Premier League, which is filled with the best players from all over the world. Apart from the influence of non-technical factors, such as experience and mental toughness in competing, the presence of quality players is one of the mandatory menus for a team to be able to compete in the highest caste competition.

The failure to collect the best players is influenced by the strength of financial capital. As is known, the Premier League presents a large bonus for its contestants which is divided into four categories, namely equal distribution, facility costs, achievement bonuses, and commercial cooperation profit sharing.

With that division, all teams will collect at least 100 million pounds in bonuses. In the 2024-2025 season, for example, Manchester City, who became champions, received 175.9 million pounds (Rp 3.77 trillion) from the league. Meanwhile, Sheffield, who was ranked 20th, received 109.7 million pounds (Rp 2.35 trillion).

Unsurprisingly, 13 Premier League teams are included in the list of the 30 highest-earning football clubs released by the Deloitte Football Money League 2025.

Referring to reports from several British media, Leicester as the champion of the 2023-2024 Championship League only received a prize money of 5 million pounds (Rp 107 billion). If added to the distribution of broadcasting rights and other commercial revenue sharing, the income of the best three teams in the Championship League is no more than 20 million pounds.

From the bonus value alone, it shows that the team's capital is very unequal. That's why promoted teams can't bring in expensive quality players. Moreover, the Premier League has strict rules on team financial records.

Ivan Juric, Southampton Manager as of December 21, 2024, acknowledged the acute disparity in quality of teams in the Premier League. He compared his experience coaching in mediocre teams in the Italian Serie A since 2016.

"We lost everything. On and off the pitch," Juric said, describing his team's helpless condition after a series of poor results, as reported by the BBC.

Apart from the financial side that is not equal, the promoted team, even though they have competed in the Premier League, often experiences a mental block after a series of bad results. Changing coaches and bringing in new players in the winter transfer market has proven to be of little help.

Leicester after entering the new year suffered 12 defeats and only one win. Ipswich fell nine times, then won one and drew two. Meanwhile, Southampton lost in nine games, then won one and drew one.

Steve Howard, Derby's former striker in the 2007-2008 season, said the mental problem was not a trivial matter. Suffering consecutive defeats from teams with better quality and performance can destroy the team's fighting spirit.

“A lot of the players at Derby were thinking, ‘We’re going to lose again today’, before we went into the dressing room,” Howard, who played 20 times that season, told The Guardian.

"Even though the team is leading 1-0, they often feel panic when the game is nearing the end. That makes your team give momentum to the opponent to hold a draw or even make your team lose," he added.

The Premier League has become a closed arena in the last two seasons with 17 teams. Of course, this situation will make the three promoted teams of the Championship League in the 2025-2026 edition have to find a way to end the "yo-yo" tradition. A very difficult job.