Biggest losers (games) in English Football History

[Deadbat]

Saw the thread about Worst Goals Tally and there was a discussion on there about total losses in Premier League history 29 which we will probably beat so I thought I would cast our net wider....

Let us look at the teams who have lost the most games ever in football history in a single season. I did not stop at the Premier League or even top flight - I have looked at all leagues right back in history.

To give it some perspective I looked at games played too.

Total losses

After beating Derby's record for points there is still something else we can aspire to! Most losses in a single league season.

There are lots who have lost 29, 28, 27 etc but 30 seems a high amount - most teams played 46 games but occasionally in some older seasons it was less such as 40 or 42. There are 26 teams that have lost 30 or more games in a single league season. Kudos to Stockport, Workington, Crewe and Rochdale who have both achieved this twice in their history (so in reality it is 22 teams really)

Only Stoke and Blackburn have lost 30 games in the top division.

With 7 games left we would need to lose 6 to top this and 5 to equal it. Very achievable on current form.

In terms of all time losses....

We could lose 32 and that would put us joint third all time.

Doncaster's 34 losses in 1997-98 is beyond us of course now. We cannot reach that figure!

Percentage of losses

We could still end up with most percentage of losses from games played though so in theory be the side that has lost the most games in a season if you are doing it pro rata if you like.

Currently the worst percentage wise are Rochdale in 1931-32 in Div3 North - with 33 losses from 40 games for a percentage of .83%

Close behind are Doncaster, Tranmere and Stoke all tied in 2nd place with a percentage of .74% of losses from games played.

We at the moment sit in 2nd with a percentage of .81%

If we lost every game we would take the title with 32 losses from 38 giving us a percentage of .84%

If we lose 31 we would miss the title as we would be on .82%. 30 we would be on .79%


Percentage of losses top flight history

We only need to lose 4 more to get to 29 games and would have lost the most games % wise in top flight history .76%

If we lost 3 more then it would get us to 28 losses and it would tie us with Stoke at .74%

I think the chances of us doing this are quite high!


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Full list below in percentage order rather than losses - put us at the bottom for now. I am sure some (Silent Blade!) will find some errors. I expect they are many!!!

I had a key with the colours showing for each tier (as below does not correspond to the right tier necessarily) but cannot get it to work on here - put a screenshot at bottom of below though.....

----

Team	Season	Division	Defeats	Total games	% of losses
Rochdale	1931-32	3N	33	40	0.83
Doncaster Rovers	1997-98	3	34	46	0.74
Tranmere Rovers	1938-39	2	31	42	0.74
Stoke City	1984-85	1	31	42	0.74
Newport County	1987-88	4	33	46	0.72
Chester City	1992-93	2	33	46	0.72
Oxford United	2000-01	2	33	46	0.72
Wimbledon	2003-04	1	33	46	0.72
Rotherham United	2016-17	Champ	33	46	0.72
Cambridge United	1984-85	3	33	46	0.72
Blackburn Rovers	1965-66	1	30	42	0.71
Leyton Orient	1994-95	2	32	46	0.70
Stockport County	2001-02	1	32	46	0.70
Stockport County	2004-05	1	32	46	0.70
Darlington	2009-10	2	32	46	0.70
Workington	1975-76	4	32	46	0.70
Bradford Park Avenue	1968-69	4	31	46	0.67
Crewe Alexandra	1956-57	3N	31	46	0.67
Newport County	1961-62	3	31	46	0.67
Barrow	1970-71	4	31	46	0.67
Workington	1976-77	4	31	46	0.67
Crewe Alexandra	1981-82	4	31	46	0.67
Leyton Orient	2016-17	2	30	46	0.65
Hereford United	2008-09	2	30	46	0.65
Accrington Stanley	1959-60	3	30	46	0.65
Rochdale	1977-78	4	30	46	0.65
Sheffield United	2020-21	Prem	25	31	0.81

 

[Deadbat]

Forgot to add. The most losses by a Premier League side is 29. We only need 4 more to equal it and 5 to beat it. Reckon we will do this.

Current holders: Ipswich Town (1994/95), Sunderland (2005/06), Derby (2007/08) - 29

 

[scouseblade]

Great stuff. I did wonder about %. Our 4 wins seems good but when you think we have had 6 positive results all season from 31 games it is horrendous.

 

[Davalon]

Sobering stuff

 

[Drunk blade]

Forgot to add. The most losses by a Premier League side is 29. We only need 4 more to equal it and 5 to beat it. Reckon we will do this.

Current holders: Ipswich Town (1994/95), Sunderland (2005/06), Derby (2007/08) - 29

Fine margins eh

 

[jono_t2000]

Great effort Deadbat, always enjoy reading stuff like this (as depressing as it is). Kudos for putting in the time

 

[Houston_Blade]

Cheers Deadbat, I’m just off to the garage to stick the hosepipe in the exhaust.

 

[Gannon's perm]

Great stuff. I did wonder about %. Our 4 wins seems good but when you think we have had 6 positive results all season from 31 games it is horrendous.

It really is horrendous, after 31 games as well. You could have put a blade of grass, or even a PS manager in charge and we could only have lost 6 more games.

 

[yorkshirecoast]

Surely we’ve already won the title for most useless, negative, pedestrian, boring bottlers ever?

 

[Houston_Blade]

It really is horrendous, after 31 games as well. You could have put a blade of grass, or even a PS manager in charge and we could only have lost 6 more games.

Seriously, a top end league 2 team would have been disgraced less than us this season. It’s awful.

Think back to the start of the season when despite their eyes telling them how poor we were some of our fans bought into the “fine margins” bullshit.

 

[Gannon's perm]

Seriously, a top end league 2 team would have been disgraced less than us this season. It’s awful.

Think back to the start of the season when despite their eyes telling them how poor we were some of our fans bought into the “fine margins” bullshit.

We put up more of fight against PL teams in the cup, when we were in L1.

 

[wak1889]

Saw the thread about Worst Goals Tally and there was a discussion on there about total losses in Premier League history 29 which we will probably beat so I thought I would cast our net wider....

Let us look at the teams who have lost the most games ever in football history in a single season. I did not stop at the Premier League or even top flight - I have looked at all leagues right back in history.

To give it some perspective I looked at games played too.

Total losses

After beating Derby's record for points there is still something else we can aspire to! Most losses in a single league season.

There are lots who have lost 29, 28, 27 etc but 30 seems a high amount - most teams played 46 games but occasionally in some older seasons it was less such as 40 or 42. There are 26 teams that have lost 30 or more games in a single league season. Kudos to Stockport, Workington, Crewe and Rochdale who have both achieved this twice in their history (so in reality it is 22 teams really)

Only Stoke and Blackburn have lost 30 games in the top division.

With 7 games left we would need to lose 6 to top this and 5 to equal it. Very achievable on current form.

In terms of all time losses....

We could lose 32 and that would put us joint third all time.

Doncaster's 34 losses in 1997-98 is beyond us of course now. We cannot reach that figure!

Percentage of losses

We could still end up with most percentage of losses from games played though so in theory be the side that has lost the most games in a season if you are doing it pro rata if you like.

Currently the worst percentage wise are Rochdale in 1931-32 in Div3 North - with 33 losses from 40 games for a percentage of .83%

Close behind are Doncaster, Tranmere and Stoke all tied in 2nd place with a percentage of .74% of losses from games played.

We at the moment sit in 2nd with a percentage of .81%

If we lost every game we would take the title with 32 losses from 38 giving us a percentage of .84%

If we lose 31 we would miss the title as we would be on .82%. 30 we would be on .79%


Percentage of losses top flight history

We only need to lose 4 more to get to 29 games and would have lost the most games % wise in top flight history .76%

If we lost 3 more then it would get us to 28 losses and it would tie us with Stoke at .74%

I think the chances of us doing this are quite high!


----

Full list below in percentage order rather than losses - put us at the bottom for now. I am sure some (Silent Blade!) will find some errors. I expect they are many!!!

I had a key with the colours showing for each tier (as below does not correspond to the right tier necessarily) but cannot get it to work on here - put a screenshot at bottom of below though.....

----

Team	Season	Division	Defeats	Total games	% of losses
Rochdale	1931-32	3N	33	40	0.83
Doncaster Rovers	1997-98	3	34	46	0.74
Tranmere Rovers	1938-39	2	31	42	0.74
Stoke City	1984-85	1	31	42	0.74
Newport County	1987-88	4	33	46	0.72
Chester City	1992-93	2	33	46	0.72
Oxford United	2000-01	2	33	46	0.72
Wimbledon	2003-04	1	33	46	0.72
Rotherham United	2016-17	Champ	33	46	0.72
Cambridge United	1984-85	3	33	46	0.72
Blackburn Rovers	1965-66	1	30	42	0.71
Leyton Orient	1994-95	2	32	46	0.70
Stockport County	2001-02	1	32	46	0.70
Stockport County	2004-05	1	32	46	0.70
Darlington	2009-10	2	32	46	0.70
Workington	1975-76	4	32	46	0.70
Bradford Park Avenue	1968-69	4	31	46	0.67
Crewe Alexandra	1956-57	3N	31	46	0.67
Newport County	1961-62	3	31	46	0.67
Barrow	1970-71	4	31	46	0.67
Workington	1976-77	4	31	46	0.67
Crewe Alexandra	1981-82	4	31	46	0.67
Leyton Orient	2016-17	2	30	46	0.65
Hereford United	2008-09	2	30	46	0.65
Accrington Stanley	1959-60	3	30	46	0.65
Rochdale	1977-78	4	30	46	0.65
Sheffield United	2020-21	Prem	25	31	0.81

View attachment 110515

I don't understand how if we lose 4 more games to take it to 29 losses we would have the highest loss percentage in prem history, surely Sunderland, derby and Ipswich who all lost 29 games must have a higher percentage than Stoke have who only lost 28 games ? Or did they play more games ?

 

[Revolution]

I don't understand how if we lose 4 more games to take it to 29 losses we would have the highest loss percentage in prem history, surely Sunderland, derby and Ipswich who all lost 29 games must have a higher percentage than Stoke have who only lost 28 games ? Or did they play more games ?

Stoke and Ipswich both played 42 games.

 

[Deadbat]

Still on.


1) % of losses (pro rata!) games played (top div)= Stoke 84-85 on .74%

2) % of losses games played (all divs/all time)= Rochdale 31-32 in D3 N on .83%

Current Blades % of defeats= .81%

Lose every game we'd be .84%

 

[Deadbat]

So we end up finishing 2nd pro rata for most losses for an English football league team in history (all 4 divisions - all time)

Rochdale were just not catchable in the end and the late wins v Everton and Burnley saw us move well away from them,

Although we still are firmly in 2nd place. We have 76% losses (29 from 38)

A fair bit ahead of other teams though.....

Team	Season	Division	Defeats	Total games	% of losses
Rochdale	1931-22	3N	33	40	0.83
Sheffield United	2020-21	Prem	29	38	0.76
Doncaster Rovers	1997-98	3	34	46	0.74
Tranmere Rovers	1938-39	2	31	42	0.74
Stoke City	1984-85	1	31	42	0.74
Newport County	1987-88	4	33	46	0.72
Chester City	1992-93	2	33	46	0.72
Oxford United	2000-01	2	33	46	0.72
Wimbledon	2003-04	1	33	46	0.72
Rotherham United	2016-17	Champ	33	46	0.72
Cambridge United	1984-85	3	33	46	0.72
Blackburn Rovers	1965-66	1	30	42	0.71
Leyton Orient	1994-95	2	32	46	0.70
Stockport County	2001-02	1	32	46	0.70
Stockport County	2004-05	1	32	46	0.70
Darlington	2009-10	2	32	46	0.70
Workington	1975-76	4	32	46	0.70
Bradford Park Avenue	1968-69	4	31	46	0.67
Crewe Alexandra	1956-57	3N	31	46	0.67
Newport County	1961-62	3	31	46	0.67
Barrow	1970-71	4	31	46	0.67
Workington	1976-77	4	31	46	0.67
Crewe Alexandra	1981-82	4	31	46	0.67
Leyton Orient	2016-17	2	30	46	0.65
Hereford United	2008-09	2	30	46	0.65
Accrington Stanley	1959-60	3	30	46	0.65
Rochdale	1977-78	4	30	46	0.65

 

[FATTYFOULKE]

So we end up finishing 2nd pro rata for most losses for an English football league team in history (all 4 divisions - all time)

Rochdale were just not catchable in the end and the late wins v Everton and Burnley saw us move well away from them,

Although we still are firmly in 2nd place. We have 76% losses (29 from 38)

A fair bit ahead of other teams though.....

Team	Season	Division	Defeats	Total games	% of losses
Rochdale	1931-22	3N	33	40	0.83
Sheffield United	2020-21	Prem	29	38	0.76
Doncaster Rovers	1997-98	3	34	46	0.74
Tranmere Rovers	1938-39	2	31	42	0.74
Stoke City	1984-85	1	31	42	0.74
Newport County	1987-88	4	33	46	0.72
Chester City	1992-93	2	33	46	0.72
Oxford United	2000-01	2	33	46	0.72
Wimbledon	2003-04	1	33	46	0.72
Rotherham United	2016-17	Champ	33	46	0.72
Cambridge United	1984-85	3	33	46	0.72
Blackburn Rovers	1965-66	1	30	42	0.71
Leyton Orient	1994-95	2	32	46	0.70
Stockport County	2001-02	1	32	46	0.70
Stockport County	2004-05	1	32	46	0.70
Darlington	2009-10	2	32	46	0.70
Workington	1975-76	4	32	46	0.70
Bradford Park Avenue	1968-69	4	31	46	0.67
Crewe Alexandra	1956-57	3N	31	46	0.67
Newport County	1961-62	3	31	46	0.67
Barrow	1970-71	4	31	46	0.67
Workington	1976-77	4	31	46	0.67
Crewe Alexandra	1981-82	4	31	46	0.67
Leyton Orient	2016-17	2	30	46	0.65
Hereford United	2008-09	2	30	46	0.65
Accrington Stanley	1959-60	3	30	46	0.65
Rochdale	1977-78	4	30	46	0.65

Well at least it was the toughest league in Europe and possibly the world we fared so poorly in. Not Div 3N or Div 4.

I can live with that.