The battle to reach the promised land of the Premier League is a tough one but here are five clubs I'm hoping can defy the odds to regain promotion to England's top flight in the near future...
5) Preston North End
The last time the Lilywhites were in the top-flight Tottenham won the double. That’s how long ago it was. Spurs were successful.
Since then, they’ve bounced around the divisions, spending a large number of years in the second tier but also plummeting to the fourth rung during a particularly grim period in the Eighties. In that regard they are less a ‘sleeping giant’ and more a once great club comatose.
Which is a genuine shame because historically Preston carry significant weight.
A founding member of the football league, they were the original Invincibles, winning the inaugural season in imperious style along with the FA Cup to boot.
Currently stuck in mid-table in the Championship, Preston will hope to return to the topflight later this decade.
4) Derby County
Now languishing in League One, the Rams have given English football stonewall legends such as Steve Bloomer, Hughie Gallagher, Raich Carter and Dave Mackay.
They won two league titles in the early Seventies and have been managed by the incomparable Brian Clough.
Exiting the top-flight in 2008 after enduring a record-breaking miserable campaign that saw them priced as dead-certs to drop in the Premier League betting just a handful of games in, Derby would be welcomed back with open arms for their legacy alone.
Financial issues left the club in a prolonged period of turmoil, but they are working their way back to where they feel they belong.
3) Portsmouth
Pompey certainly have the illustrious history, winning back-to-back league titles in the late-Forties.
According to legend they first wore red socks at the suggestion of Field Marshal Montgomery, to honour the fallen of the Second World War.
But really, it’s all about the fans. That’s why we want them back where they belong, competing among the elite and scaring them witless every time they travel down to a packed-out, ferocious Fratton Park.
After having their heart and soul ripped from them via terrible ownership that promised the world, they have secured promotion to the Championship for the 2024-25 season.
2) Sunderland
The Mackems’ downfall has been fairly recent, the North-East giants residing in the Premier League up to 2017.
Since then, their veering from calamity to crisis, and back to calamity again has made for a gripping documentary, one that painfully illustrates the game’s cruel streak.
Having bounced back from such adversity, Tony Mowbray’s young side lost to Luton Town in the 2023 Championship Playoffs. The 2023-24 season has been a frustrating one, with the Black Cats a long way off promotion contention.
1) Sheffield Wednesday
After defying football betting odds and avoiding relegation from the Championship in 2023, Sheffield Wednesday have again been embroiled in a battle against the drop in 2023-24.
We would expect nothing less from a club that for many years now have been specialists in snatching struggle from the jaws of hope.
The second oldest club in world football have won the league four times, last doing so in 1930, but it is fantastic teams forged in more recent times that explains why so many neutrals want them to recover.
Their entertaining side of the early-Nineties, featuring the likes of Waddle, Sheridan and Bart-Williams holds a special place in a lot of hearts.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
