Gillingham come out as the most miserable of the 92 clubs to support over the last 25 seasons, which feels a little harsh on anyone who still remembers where they were when Simeon Jackson got his head to that corner at Wembley.

Lincoln City fansite The Stacey West has taken the clubs in the 2026/27 Premier League and EFL and followed their results from 2001/02 to 2025/26, wherever in the pyramid they happened to be. League titles and cup wins earn ten points, other promotions earn eight and relegations cost eight. A beaten cup or play-off finalist gets two points, and a beaten semi-finalist gets one.

The cup figures cover the FA Cup, League Cup, EFL Trophy and UEFA’s three main club competitions. The score also includes ten times a club’s league points per game, before deductions, and its total league goal difference divided by 20. The lower the score, the longer those drives home tend to feel.

Gillingham and the trouble with away days

Jackson’s 90th-minute header beat Shrewsbury Town in the 2009 League Two play-off final. It sent the Gills back to League One, where they promptly went a whole season without an away league win. A 3-0 defeat at Wycombe Wanderers on the final day sent them back down. For a club that had picked such a good day to win away from Priestfield, the next 23 league trips were a bit of a comedown.

Martin Allen gave Priestfield something to celebrate in 2013 when the Gills won League Two, their first league title in nearly 50 years. Those two promotions put 18 points on the board, but four relegations took off 32 and a league goal difference of -187 cost another 9.35. A run to the area final of the EFL Trophy in 2014/15 was worth a point. Put it all together and Gillingham are first on -9.44, a score with plenty of Wycombe in it and one very good afternoon at Wembley.

Port Vale get caught by the calendar

Port Vale fans might reasonably ask to see the small print. They beat Brentford in Cardiff to win the Football League Trophy in April 2001, a few months before the index starts. A cut-off date looks very clever on a spreadsheet until it tells you the trophy you saw lifted is worth precisely nothing.

The promotions we do count include 2012/13, when boyhood Vale fan Tom Pope scored 31 league goals, and 2022, when the Valiants put three past Mansfield Town at Wembley. They went up again in 2025 and came straight back down. Three promotions earned 24 points and four relegations cost 32. The league results pulled some of that back, but a goal difference of -150 left Vale second on -2.72.

The Crewe kids had Wembley worked out

Nick Powell was 18 when he lifted the ball up and volleyed it into the top corner against Cheltenham Town in the 2012 League Two play-off final. A year later, Crewe Alexandra were back at Wembley, with Luke Murphy and Max Clayton scoring in a 2-0 EFL Trophy final win over Southend United. By the final league game of that season, the Alex put out an entire starting XI of academy graduates and beat Walsall 2-0. It’s hard to think of a more Crewe way to end a season.

The Railwaymen earned 11 points in the cups, but five relegations took off 40. Their league goal difference of -225, the worst of the 92, cost them another 11.25. Even with three promotions and two trips to Wembley that ended with something to take home, Crewe sit third on -1.74.

Walsall and the last kick

There was a day when stoppage time went Walsall’s way. Dean Keates equalised in stoppage time at Swindon Town in 2007 and the Saddlers won League Two. The draw sent Swindon up too, which made for one of those rare afternoons when both sets of supporters could stay behind and enjoy themselves.

Walsall made their first trip to Wembley in 2015 and lost the EFL Trophy final to Bristol City. They went back a decade later, having let a 12-point lead at the top of League Two slip, and lost 1-0 to AFC Wimbledon in the play-off final. Both finals were worth two points each, though you could forgive a Saddlers fan for wanting to trade the lot for an equaliser. The 2007 title is still their only promotion in the period, and three relegations helped leave them fourth on -1.38.

Rotherham keep the lift running

For six seasons from 2016/17, Rotherham United changed divisions every summer. Down from the Championship, up from League One, then round again. Five promotions gave the Millers 40 points, but seven relegations, more than anyone else in the index, cost 56. They finish fifth on 1.38.

In 2022, Jordi Osei-Tutu equalised in the 96th minute against Sutton United at Wembley and Rotherham went on to win the EFL Trophy final 4-2 in extra time. Later that month the Millers clinched promotion with a 2-0 win at Priestfield, relegating Gillingham in the process. Eight points for one club and eight off for the other, from the same afternoon and the same patch of grass.

The EFL clubs with the most to cheer

Salford City lead the EFL clubs on 90.44, with five promotions, zero relegations and an EFL Trophy win against Portsmouth. AFC Wimbledon are next on 89.30. Their supporters formed the club in 2002 and had a Football League team to watch nine years later. The win over Walsall in 2025 was their seventh promotion in the period.

Fleetwood Town come next on 80.61. They went up six times in ten seasons, the last of those promotions sealed at Wembley against Burton Albion in 2014. As for Lincoln City, 64.00 is the highest score in the Championship. A fair bit of that came from knowing what it feels like to win your way out of non-league.

Rank 1 is the most miserable. The rankings use unrounded scores. Premier League titles earn ten honours points each. The AFC Wimbledon and Milton Keynes Dons records start in 2002/03 and 2004/05, respectively.