The former member clubs of the English Football League are football clubs who lost their status in the League by resigning, or by relegation, by becoming defunct, merging with another club, or expulsion. Clubs presently playing in the Premier League are also included in this article.
The English Football League comprises professional clubs from England and Wales, and was established in 1888 as The Football League (First Division). In 1892, the Second Division was formed. A Third Division was introduced in 1920, before being regionalised as North and South. [1] In 1958 these became the national Third and Fourth Division. [2] The Premier League superseded the First Division as the top-flight of the English football league system in 1992, with the other three divisions renamed the First, Second and Third Divisions. [3] They were rebranded again in 2004 as the Championship, League One and League Two. [3]
Until 1986, clubs could lose their League status by failing to gain re-election after finishing in the bottom four of the bottom division (fourth tier). [4] From the 1986–87 season, the club finishing bottom was relegated to the Conference National (now National League), the highest level of non-League football, [5] depending on the ability of the Conference champions to meet FA requirements. [6] Since 2002–03, the bottom two clubs of League Two face relegation to the National League. [7]
The tables show the first and last seasons in which each club competed in the League. Some clubs' membership was intermittent between their first and last seasons.
Clubs shown in bold were among the founder members of the League. As of 2023, the founder member clubs playing in the League are Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Derby County, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke City, and West Bromwich Albion. Preston have continuously been League members, whereas the others (except Notts County) have played in the Premier League at one time or another. Notts County has recently returned to the League after four seasons in the National League.
Four former members of the old Football League Division One no longer play in the Football League or Premier League: Bury, Bradford Park Avenue, Darwen, and Glossop North End.
Where a defunct club has been succeeded by a phoenix club, the new club is listed.
Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river carried much of the town's trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, which is known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of settlement in the area dating back before the Stone Age. The town, part of the borough of Maidstone, had an approximate population of 100,000 in 2019. Since World War II, the town's economy has shifted from heavy industry towards light industry and services.
Oxford United Football Club is a professional association football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team will compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system, in the 2024–25 season, following promotion. The club chairman is Grant Ferguson, Des Buckingham is the head coach and Elliott Moore is the captain.
The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern Shropshire, the far west of West Yorkshire, and the High Peak area of Derbyshire. In the past, the league has also hosted clubs from North Wales such as Caernarfon Town, Colwyn Bay, and Rhyl. From season 2018–19 the league increased to three divisions: the Premier Division, at level nine in the English football league system, and two geographically separate Division Ones, North and South, at level ten. The league is a member of the Joint Liaison Council which administers the Northern arm of the National Football System in England.
Hucknall Town Football Club is a football club based in the town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England. The club is a member of the United Counties League Premier Division North and plays at the RM Stadium.
The Southern Counties East Football League is an English football league established in 1966, which has teams based in Kent and Southeast London. Its two divisions are allocated at Step 5 and Step 6 of the National League System. At its inception it was known for two seasons as the Kent Premier League and then, until 2013, as the Kent League.
Maidstone United Football Club is a non-professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team competes in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. The club's nickname is "The Stones" and they play in black and amber.
Chatham Town Football Club is an English association football club based in Chatham, Kent. It currently plays in the Isthmian Premier Division and is nicknamed "The Chats".
Glossop North End Association Football Club is a football club in Glossop, Derbyshire, England, which compete in the North West Counties League Premier Division. Their home ground is Surrey Street, which has a capacity of 1,301. The club play in blue, and are nicknamed the Hillmen or the Peakites. Between 1899 and 1992 the club was officially known simply as Glossop. Glossop is one of the smallest towns in England to have had a Football League club, and it remains the smallest town whose team has played in the English top-flight.
Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury is a football club based in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. The club was formed in 1999 by the merger of Sudbury Town and Sudbury Wanderers, the process giving rise to the name Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury. and went on to win the Eastern Counties League Premier Division five seasons in a row as well as reaching the final of the FA Vase in three successive seasons, records for both competitions. They are currently members of the Southern League Premier Division Central and play at the King's Marsh Stadium in the Ballingdon-Brundon area of Sudbury.
Gedling Town Football Club was a semi-professional football club based in Stoke Bardolph, Nottinghamshire, England. Founded in 1985 as R & R Scaffolding, the works team of a construction firm from Netherfield, Gedling played its first four seasons in the Notts Amateur League. The club joined the nationwide league system in 1992–93. At the time of its dissolution in 2011 due to insolvency, Gedling competed in the East Midlands Counties Football League (EMCFL) Premier Division at the tenth tier of the English football pyramid.
Gary Roland Mills is an English football manager and former professional player. He played in the Premier League and Football League for Nottingham Forest, Derby County, Notts County and Leicester City and managed in the Football League with Notts County and York City. He was recently the manager of Northern Premier League Division One Midlands club Corby Town.
Daryl McMahon is an Irish professional football manager and former player who is manager of National League South club Hornchurch.
Andre Christopher Boucaud is a professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder. He has played in the Football League for Peterborough United, Wycombe Wanderers, Notts County and Dagenham & Redbridge and at senior international level for Trinidad and Tobago.
William John Wheeler was a professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Cheltenham Town, Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town and Kettering Town. He helped Huddersfield Town to promotion to the First Division, and played more than 150 matches in the Football League for the club. After his playing career finished, he spent more than 25 years with Notts County, in a variety of roles including coach, trainer, caretaker manager and scout.
Christopher Lloyd Smalling is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Roma. Smalling represented the England national team from 2011 to 2017.
Scott Lindsey is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder in the Football League for Gillingham. He is the current manager of EFL League One side Crawley Town.
Norman Rigby was an English professional footballer who made over 430 appearances as a centre half for Peterborough United. Rigby is a member of the club's Hall of Fame and in a Football League 125th anniversary poll was voted by the Peterborough United supporters as the club's fifth best-ever captain. He later managed Peterborough United and in non-League football.
The 2021–22 National League season, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, was the seventh season as English football's National League, the nineteenth season consisting of three divisions, and the forty-third season overall.