Last season, Manchester City won a third consecutive Premier League title. Southampton, Leicester City and Leeds United got relegated; while Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town are the newly promoted teams for the 2023/24 campaign.
2023/24 will be the 32nd season of the Premier League and 125th overall season of the English top-flight. The new season kicks off on the 11th of August 2023 and finishes on the 19th of May 2024.
In this post, FootballOrbit profiles the newly promoted EPL sides.
Burnley FC
Burnley secured automatic promotion to the Premier League after emerging as champions of the second division. They return after just a single season absence.
Based in Burnley, Lancashire, Burnley FC was founded on the 18th of May 1882. The club is nicknamed “The Clarets” because of the dominant colour of its home shirts. Burnley’s current emblem is based on the town’s coat of arms.
The club was one of the first to become professional (1883), and subsequently put pressure on the Football Association to permit payments to players. The club entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1885/86 and was one of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888/89.
From the 1950s until the 1970s, under chairman Bob Lord, Burnley became renowned for its youth policy and scouting system, and was one of the first to set up a purpose-built training ground.
The club’s home stadium is Turf Moor, which has 21,944 capacity.
The club is currently owned by ALK Capital LLC, with Alan Pace as the Chairman, while their manager is Manchester City legend, Vincent Kompany.
Burnley have been champions of England twice (1920/21 and 1959/60), have won the FA Cup once (1913/14), and have won the FA Charity Shield twice (1960 and 1973).
They have been runners-up in the First Division twice (1919/20 and 1961/62), and FA Cup runners-up twice (1946/47 and 1961/62).
Moreso, Burnley are one of only five clubs to have won ALL FOUR professional divisions of English football — along with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Preston North End, Sheffield United and Portsmouth.
Furthermore, when they won the 1959/60 Football League, the town of Burnley — with 80,000 inhabitants — became one of the smallest to have an English first-tier champion.
In 2008/09, Burnley got promoted to the Premier League for the first time in 33 years after defeating Sheffield United in the Championship play-off Final. They also reached the semi-final of the League Cup for the first time in over 25 years, but were beaten on aggregate by Tottenham in the last minutes of the second leg.
After the club’s promotion to the top flight, the town was one of the smallest to host a Premier League club; but they were relegated after just a single season.
In 2013/14, Sean Dyche was appointed as manager and he led them back to the top flight. They went down immediately after one season again, but returned back instantly after winning the Championship title in 2015/16!!!
Burnley finished 7th in the EPL in 2017/18, which meant qualification for the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League and a return to European football after 51 years. The team failed to reach the group stage though, as they were eliminated in the play-off round by Greek club, Olympiacos.
In December 2020, American investment company, ALK Capital, acquired an 84% stake in Burnley for £170 million. It was the first time the club was run by anyone other than local businessmen and Burnley supporters.
In 2021/22, Burnley were relegated back to the Championship after losing on the final matchday and finished in 18th place.
In June 2022, former captain of Man City and Belgium, Vincent Kompany, was appointed Burnley’s manager — becoming the first person from outside the British Isles to manage the club.
During his first months in charge, he signed 16 players — mostly young and foreign — as he rebuilt the squad on a tight budget. Kompany also implemented a possession-based, attacking style of play like that of his former club, Manchester City.
Burnley secured promotion back to the Premier League in style; with 7 matches remaining — a Championship record — before sensationally winning the Championship title following a 1-0 victory over local rivals, Blackburn Rovers.
The Clarets have a long-standing rivalry with Blackburn Rovers, with whom they contest the East Lancashire Derby.
Sheffield United FC
Sheffield United won automatic promotion to the top flight after finishing as runners-up in the 2022/23 EFL Championship. They return after a two-season absence.
The club is based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England and was founded on the 22nd of March 1889. It plays at the 31,884 capacity Bramall Lane Stadium.
Nicknamed “The Blades”, Sheffield United is owned by Saudi Arabian Prince and businessman, Abdullah bin Musaid Al Saud. The club’s Chairman is Yusuf Giansiracusa, while the manager is Paul Heckingbottom.
Sheffield was formed as an offshoot of Sheffield United Cricket Club in 1889. Following strong performances in the Midland League and Northern League, they were invited to become founder members of the Football League Second Division in 1892.
They won promotion to the First Division at the end of the 1892/93 season (the first team to do so), and went on to be crowned English football champions in 1897/98.
United went on to win the FA Cup on four occasions (1899, 1902, 1915 and 1925) and were beaten finalists in 1901. They spent 41 years in the top-flight before being relegated in 1934.
They finished as FA Cup runners-up in 1936 and were promoted as runners-up of the Second Division in 1938/39.
Furthermore, Sheffield won the Second Division title in 1952/53, following relegation in 1949. They spent the next three decades between the First and Second Divisions, winning promotions in 1960/61 and 1970/71 after relegations in 1956 and 1968.
However, a slow decline saw the club drop to the 4th tier by 1982, though they would win an immediate promotion as Fourth Division champions in 1981/82. This achievement meant that, like Burnley, Sheffield United are one of only five sides to have won all four professional divisions of English football.
Promoted in 1983/84, they recovered from relegation in 1988 to win consecutive promotions into the top-flight at the end of the 1989/90 campaign.
Sheffield United were founder members of the Premier League in the 1992/93 season — during which they scored the first ever goal of the competition.
They were relegated in 1994, and after losing play-off finals in 1997 and 2003; the club finally regained their Premier League status at the end of the 2005/06 campaign.
However, United were relegated the following year and dropped into League One in 2011. They spent six seasons in the third tier, losing in three play-offs campaigns, before manager, Chris Wilder, led the club to promotion as champions in 2016/17.
Promotion to the Premier League followed in 2018/19. In their first season back in the top-flight, despite being tipped by many for relegation, they achieved a decent 9th-place finish.
Unfortunately, they were relegated back to the Championship in 2021. The 2021/22 season resulted in a 5th place finish in the Championship, losing in the play-off semi-finals to Nottingham Forest on penalties.
The following season, Heckingbottom guided Sheffield back to the Premier League, securing automatic promotion from a second place finish.
Also, the team reached the FA Cup semi-final, losing 3-0 to Manchester City at Wembley Stadium.
Sheffield United have numerous rivalries, mostly with other Yorkshire clubs. The most notable rivalry is with their city neighbours Sheffield Wednesday, with whom they contest the Steel City derby (named after the steel industry for which the city of Sheffield is globally famous).
Sheffield United’s next main rival is Leeds United from West Yorkshire. This is known as a Yorkshire derby match (the two cities of Sheffield and Leeds are the largest two cities in Yorkshire). Their other main rivals are the professional clubs of South Yorkshire; Barnsley, Doncaster Rovers and Rotherham United. These matches are known as South Yorkshire derbies.
Sheffield United also have a rivalry with Nottingham Forest. This can be attributed to the miners’ strikes of the 1980s, where workers in the pits of Nottinghamshire did not join the strike (known locally as scabbing) while miners from Yorkshire did.
West Ham United have also become fierce rivals due to the ‘Tevez saga’ and the following lawsuit charges.
Luton Town FC
Luton Town were promoted to the Premier League for the first time in history after beating Coventry City in the Championship Play-off final.
Founded on the 11th of April 1885, Luton Town FC is based in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. They are nicknamed “The Hatters” due to the historical association of the town with the hat making trade, and have played their home matches at the 10,356 Kenilworth Road Stadium since 1905.
The club is owned by Luton Town Football Club 2020 Ltd, with the Chairman being David Wilkinson, while Rob Edwards is the manager.
Luton Town was the first club in southern England to turn professional. It joined the Football League before the 1897/98 season, left in 1900 because of financial problems, and rejoined in 1920.
Luton reached the First Division in 1955/56 and contested a major final for the first time against Nottingham Forest in the 1959 FA Cup final.
The team was then relegated from the top division in 1959/60, and demoted twice more in the following five years, playing in the Fourth Division from the 1965/66 season, before they were promoted back to the top level in 1974/75.
In 1981/82, the club won the Second Division and gained promotion to the First. Luton defeated Arsenal 3-2 in the 1988 Football League Cup final and remained in the First Division until relegation at the end of the 1991/92 season.
Between 2007 and 2009, financial difficulties caused the club to fall from the 2nd tier of English football to the 5th in successive seasons. The last of these relegations (in 2008/09), followed a 30-point deduction for financial irregularities.
Furthermore, Luton spent five seasons in non-League football before winning the Conference Premier in 2013/14, securing promotion back into the Football League.
They were promoted from League Two to League One in 2017/18. They achieved a second successive promotion in 2018/19, after winning the League One title, marking the club’s return to the Championship after a 12-year absence!!!
The club reached the Championship play-offs in 2021/22, where they were agonisingly beaten 2-1 on aggregate by Huddersfield Town in the semi-final.
At the end of the 2022/23 season, Luton Town secured a consecutive place in the Championship play-offs having finished in 3rd place.
The Hatters beat Sunderland 3-2 on aggregate in the play-off semi-finals to reach the final against Coventry City. They went on to beat Coventry City 5-6 on penalties after a tense 1-1 draw to secure promotion to the Premier League for the first time ever!!
Did you know? Luton are the first football team to return to the top tier of English football after successive relegations down to the 5th tier of English football
They have a long-standing rivalry with nearby club, Watford.
What do you think of the newly promoted EPL teams? Can they survive relegation? Let’s us know your opinion in the comment box below. Thanks for reading.
