Lowest-Ever Championship Points Tallies

The Sky Bet Championship is known for being the holy grail of leagues as it is the gateway to the Premier League. It’s also been dubbed as the richest prize in football. However, not all teams are lucky enough to be competing at the top end of a massively tough league, and they slip through the backdoor into League 1. This article looks at the five teams who’ve made the records for the wrong reasons and got the lowest-ever points tally.

The Tractor Boys might be riding high now and have already surpassed their points tally for the whole of the relegation campaign in the process, but the 2018/19 season was one to forget.

Arch-rivals Norwich City won the league whilst Ipswich recorded a dismal five wins in 46 matches, with 13 points adrift from safety. It was a season proceeding long-serving manager Mick McCarthy, which saw rookie Paul Hurst take the reins and it wasn’t long before he was dismissed after a miserable start to the season with only one win during his tenure.

Paul Lambert was the man Ipswich turned to and despite his best efforts, was unable to turn the Suffolk side's fortunes around as they were condemned to playing in the third tier of English football for the first time in over half a century.

Despite the South Yorkshire side finishing inside the playoffs in the 2020/21 season against all odds, they were rooted to the foot of the table in the following season.

Six victories all season meant they finished four points below a beleaguered Derby County, who even had substantial points deductions that season. The Oakwell outfit were led by Markus Schoop until November as he made way for unknown Poya Asbaghi who didn’t even make it until the end of the season.

On-loan Carlton Morris was the only bright spark in what was a miserable campaign, with seven league goals for the season. Five of the six wins came at Oakwell, and they conceded 73 goals whilst only registering 51 goals during the season. Barnsley might have had a chance of survival but seven points from the final 13 games meant they were slipping into league one, just two years after promotion.

The first year of the newly formed Coca-Cola Championship saw Rotherham United relegated at their old home of Millmoor.

The Championship safety points tally was extremely high that year, with 51 points required to be guaranteed safety. United managed five wins during the campaign, with scoring goals being a huge problem with only scoring 35 league goals.

The Millers finished 16 points adrift of Nottingham Forest who finished one place above Rotherham. Ronnie Moore was the manager until January where he left by mutual consent and replaced with Alan Knill, who was caretaker. Rotherham had only registered three wins since Knill took charge of the side as the fortunes didn’t change as they spent the majority of the season rooted to bottom spot.

The second-lowest tally to grace the Championship is Blackpool. It was the Seasider's fourth consecutive season in the second tier after a valiant display in a cameo season in the Premier League under the charismatic Ian Holloway.

Jose Riga was the manager until late October and was replaced by Lee Clark until the end of the season. Riga left with Blackpool five points adrift at the foot of the table and only managed one victory during his tenure.

Blackpool finished with four league wins and conceded 91 goals in what was an abysmal season. They finished 20 points adrift of safety and failed to win away from Bloomfield Road. Interestingly, the final game at home to Huddersfield was abandoned on 48 minutes after mass protests broke out following a pitch invasion, with the league declaring it as a 0-0 draw as it stood during the game.

Back on the list for a second appearance but have made top spot for the wrong reasons is Rotherham.

Relegation was confirmed on 1 April after losing 1-0 at home to Fulham, they swiftly appointed Paul Warne on 5 April, and they were a much stronger outfit thereafter. A shambolic season totalling 23 points saw the Millers 28 points from safety. This was compounded with a goal difference of -58, with 98 goals conceded during the season. They did register five wins during the campaign, but with one win in 20 matches it was a club destined for the trapdoor to League One.

During this torrid season, the Millers picked up just two points away from home and conceded almost double the amount of goals. It’s clear to see where the big problems lied during this lowest-ever points season. They are competing in the Championship in the 2023/24 season, and they will look to consolidate so they can have a third consecutive crack at the league.

At present, Rotherham United looks set to feature on this list for a third time as the Millers sit on just 23 points from 43 matches, meaning that they have a trajectory of 24 points. There is of course still the possibility that they may even match their own record of 23 points from the 2016/17 season.

So far this season, United have won just four and drawn 11 of their 42 games, seeing them sit 22 points adrift of 21st-place Birmingham City. The Millers have already been relegated back to League One.

The Millers still have to play the following sides:

Birmingham City (h) - Saturday 20th April

Bristol City (a) - Saturday 27th April

Cardiff City (h) - Saturday 4th May

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