Ranking Premier League clubs based on their longest trophy droughts ever: Man Utd 8th | OneFootball

Manchester United’s longest trophy drought is worse than seven other clubs including Leeds; Aston Villa have to end their wait soon.

For the purpose of this ranking we are counting only major trophies and not including league titles from the second tier and below.

Sod your Zenith Data Systems play-off promotions; we’re only here for the good stuff.

20) Fulham (147 years and counting)

Aside from a Division One title in 2001, a handful of Division Two and Division Three (South) crowns and the 2002 Intertoto Cup, Fulham have a bare trophy cabinet to show after almost a century and a half of existence.

They have lost two major finals in their history, with West Ham (1975 FA Cup) and Atletico Madrid (2010 Europa League) providing slightly different opposition.

Marco Silva has reached two quarter-finals and a semi – now then – but nothing more.

19) Brentford (136 years and counting)

Even if we counted the Football League Trophy, Brentford have failed three times to win the darn thing despite reaching the final. We cannot be too harsh on a club that has spent most of its existence in the non or lower leagues, though five years ago they teased us before losing in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup to Tottenham while still a Championship club.

18) Bournemouth (127 years and counting)

The Cherries have at least claimed a Football League Trophy (beating Hull in the final in 1984) but major silverware has not been on the radar for much of their existence. For their assorted competence and brilliance under Eddie Howe and Andoni Iraola, Bournemouth have still yet to ever reach a semi-final in the FA Cup or League Cup.

17) Brighton (124 years and counting)

The three-time third-tier, two-time fourth-tier and one-time Southern Football League champions have otherwise rarely threatened when it comes to major silverware.

There was a 1910 Charity Shield win over Aston Villa when it was presumably considered to be slightly more than a pre-season Curtain Raiser. The Seagulls did reach the 1983 FA Cup final and even forced Manchester United to a draw at Wembley, but one-game Liverpool captain Jimmy Melia watched his relegated side slip to a 4-0 defeat in the replay.

When they returned to the national stadium in 2019 they managed a creditable 1-0 semi-final defeat to a Manchester City side headed for a unique domestic Treble. And no, those 14 Sussex Senior Challenge Cups count for nothing here, son.

16) Crystal Palace (119 years)

“We said before the game that we wanted to write our own history and we have written a big chapter in our history, and next year we will do that again when we play in Europe,” said Oliver Glasner after masterminding one of the biggest FA Cup final shocks in modern history.

The relationship between Glasner and Crystal Palace threatened ruin at various points in the aftermath but after claiming only a Zenith Data Systems Cup since forming in 1905, the Eagles are FA Cup and Community Shield holders with one foot in the Europa Conference League final.

15) Burnley (66 years and counting)

When Burnley were crowned 1960 First Division champions, they probably wouldn’t have expected it to be their last trophy for at least six decades and almost certainly a few more.

The last manager to take the Clarets as far as a semi-final in the FA or League Cup? Not probable future European champion Vincent Kompany. Definitely not Scott Parker. But Owen bloody Coyle. That is hopefully the challenge for Steven Gerrard.

14) Nottingham Forest (61 years)

There were two world wars between Forest’s first FA Cup triumph in 1898 over rivals Derby County and their second in 1959 v Luton. Bizarrely, there have been no more FA Cups but four League Cups, one league title and two actual European Cups since.

It’s been 36 years since their last trophy – and that wait could be ended in the Europa League soon – but that’s a shortish drought compared to the one ended at Wembley under Billy Walker, the only manager to win FA Cups either side of the war.

13) Newcastle (56 years)

Over five decades from winning the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup – which Newcastle lifted by beating Ujpest to end what was then a 14-year drought since their last FA Cup victory – the Magpies stunned Liverpool to sup at the Carabao teat.

12) Sunderland (53 years and counting)

With second-tier titles, play-offs, the Football League Trophy and beating Newcastle every time they play discounted, Sunderland are on one of the dafter ongoing droughts of any top-flight club. The memories of that 1973 FA Cup win are fading.

11) Wolves (46 years and counting)

They won the 1908 FA Cup but had to wait until the 1949 edition to taste such success again, with their current barren spell stretching as far back as the 1980 League Cup victory over Nottingham Forest; it might not end soon.

10) West Ham (43 years)

The last team outside the top flight to win the FA Cup. Arsenal never saw Trevor Brooking coming in 1980. The Hammers actually won the Second Division and finished as League Cup runners-up a year later, plugging that ongoing gap ever so slightly with a 1999 Intertoto Cup win over Metz.

Steven Gerrard happened to them in the 2006 FA Cup final. But then Jarrod Bowen came along and scored a pretty big goal against Fiorentina in 2023.

9) Aston Villa (37 years)

The resounding victory over Leeds in the 1996 League Cup final remains Aston Villa’s last crowning moment outside of the play-offs or the bloody Intertoto Cup. Those three dry decades pale in comparison to the 37 they spent yearning for glory after the 1920 FA Cup final. A Peter McParland double in the same competition in 1957 pipped Matt Busby’s champions and European Cup semi-finalists.

If Villa bottle a Europa League semi-final under the actual Unai Emery against a team fighting relegation in the same division, that drought will be looming. Arsenal history is repeating itself.

8) Manchester United (37 years)

It was actually Busby who ended Manchester United’s own wait after the same length of time. Blackpool were outclassed at Wembley by a side in the middle of finishing second for three consecutive First Division seasons in 1948. The Red Devils had spent a decent amount of time in the second tier since Ernest Mangnall took them to their second title in 1911, and have won a copious amount of trophies – often in spite of themselves – since.

7) Manchester City (35 years)

Manchester United had handily provided a reminder to Manchester City as to how long it had been since their bitter neighbours won a pot, with the mocking banner at the Stretford End first appearing in 2002 and showing 26 years on the clock. It had ticked over to 35 when Yaya Toure scored the only goals in 1-0 semi-final and final wins in the 2011 FA Cup, laying the foundations for Scott Carson to win it all.

6) Leeds (34 years and counting)

There may be some protesting about the two Championship titles delivered in recent years, but Leeds have had painfully few sniffs of genuine top-tier honours in the last three decades.

Their FA Cup semi-final place this season marked the first occasion on which they had reached so far in either domestic cup since losing the 1996 League Cup final. Two European semi-finals at the height of their O’Leary-based powers in the early 2000s as one of the best Premier League teams never to win a trophy was as close as they have come.

5) Everton (31 years and counting)

Everton’s post-1995 FA Cup win run has included a solitary final in which they scored after 25 seconds and still lost. Ouch.

4) Tottenham (30 years)

The history of the Tottenham does not actually include too many long periods without silverware. Ange Postecoglou delivered their first trophy in 17 years and was fired for it, although contemporaneous reports suggest them being dreadful in the Premier League for ages might have had something to do with it.

Spurs’ longest barren stretch came between the 1921 FA Cup and 1951 First Division title. And it would be harsh to blame even Spurs too much for an actual World War.

3) Chelsea (26 years)

Managers will come and go but Chelsea will surely never come close to 26 years without silverware again, even if it might feel like it right now.

Their last 18 trophies have been won by eight different managers. They had 13 of them in the two-and-a-half decades between Dave Sexton securing the 1971 Cup Winners’ Cup and Ruud Gullit delivering FA Cup success in 1997.

2) Liverpool (24 years)

When a quarter of Liverpool’s longest trophy drought ever was taken up by the Second World War, you do start to realise that they are historically pretty good at doing the football. That was certainly the case when they beat Sunderland to their third league championship in 1923, as well as when they pipped Manchester United to their fourth in 1947. Imagine going 24 years without winning a title. How incredibly embarrassing.

1) Arsenal (17 years)

It seemed like a lifetime had passed when Arsene Wenger finally ended his personal nine-year dry spell by eventually winning the 2014 FA Cup final in ridiculous yet typical circumstances.

Arsenal themselves had gone almost twice as long between trophies before, edging the 1953 First Division title with a slightly superior goal average to Preston and then recovering from a 3-1 first-leg deficit to beat Anderlecht in the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final.