Since the English First Division was rebranded as the Premier League in 1993, many teams have come and gone from the English top flight. However, six teams have been ever-present in the Premier League: Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Tottenham.
While most of those clubs have been successful, winning the top-flight title at least once, two clubs have failed to win the Premier League title. Here is the story of the pair:
Everton
In terms of the history of the English game, Everton are still one of the biggest clubs. The Toffees have featured in more top-flight games than any other club, only spending four seasons out of the top flight. Only Arsenal has spent more consecutive seasons in the English top flight than the Merseysiders.
Struggles in the Premier League era
However, the Premier League years have been the least successful in the Toffees’ long history. At times, the men from Merseyside have seemed to have been stuck in the past in the last three decades, living off past glories and not giving their fans much to shout about.
Despite being considered one of the bigger English clubs pre-Premier League, Everton’s best finish in the Premier League era was fourth place in season 2004/05. David Moyes’s side were denied a place in the Champions League group stage by a controversial defeat by Spanish outfit Villarreal in the play-off.
Unfortunately for the Toffees, they were not helped by infamous referee Pierluigi Collina disallowing a Duncan Ferguson goal, which would have taken the game into extra time, with Everton in the ascendancy. The Scottish forward was penalised for a foul, but on second viewing, there seemed to be very little wrong with the goal. That was as good as it got for Everton and its fans, though. They finished fifth and sixth place numerous times but never quite returned to the lucrative Champions League.
Troubles on and off the pitch
The storied club has been closer to the Championship than European football’s elite competition in recent years. Back-to-back season fighting against relegation has done little for Evertonians’ blood pressure and hearts.
Not only has the club struggled on the pitch in recent seasons, but off it, they have been badly mismanaged, with some severe missteps in the transfer market leading to financial issues and problems with the football authorities.
A new state-of-the-art stadium on the banks of the Mersey at Bramley Moore dock is one of the few positives for Everton in the last decade. Everybody connected with the Merseyside club hopes the stadium will help the Toffees move forward. However, unless things change drastically on and off the pitch, they don’t look like ending that title draught anytime soon.
Tottenham
Like Everton, Tottenham’s glory days were pre-Premier League. The North London club had not quite hit the same heights as Everton’s nine top-flight titles, but they were English champions twice in seasons 1950/51 and 1960-61.
The legendary Danny Blanchflower inspired the first title, while another icon of the British game, Bill Nicholson, guided Spurs to the title in 1961, which came in the club’s most trophy-laden period.
Little success in the Premier League era
While Spurs were not a serial winner of the English top-flight title, they were still considered a relatively big club before the rebranding of the league in 1993. However, Spurs have been unable to claim the big prize in the current era.
Since 2010, Tottenham has been nearer the top of the table than the bottom, with their lowest finish during that period coming in season 2022/23 when they finished eighth place in the table.
There was a period from 2016 until 2018 when Tottenham didn’t finish outside the top three spots in the Premier League table, twice finishing third and once finishing as runners-up in 2017.
The 2017 season saw Tottenham play their final campaign at their old stadium, White Hart Lane, where they stayed unbeaten all season in all competitions. However, their good home form was not enough to stop capital rivals Chelsea from pipping them to the English title. Since that period, the highest finish Spurs have achieved is fourth place in seasons 2018/19 and 2021/22.
The summer of 2023 saw the departure of iconic captain and striker Harry Kane to German giants Bayern Munich. There was a sense that Tottenham may struggle without their talisman.
However, the team’s early form under new head coach Ange Postecoglou has led to optimism that Spurs can end their recent trophy draught and, even in season 2022/23, be realistic contenders to challenge for the Premier League title.
Whether that pans out well for the north London outfit, only time will tell, but for now, Tottenham remains one of the two Premier League ever presents to have never lifted the trophy.
Will either Everton or Tottenham win the Premier League title in the near future?