Liverpool’s shock Carling Cup defeat Wednesday night at the hands of Northampton Town made me wonder when the last time a club with the name ‘Town’ was in the Premier League. After all in today’s busy metropolitan world, a club with a ‘Town’ name affixed to it seems like a walk through the past. And there’s definitely a lot of charm to it.
My research reveals that Ipswich Town, who were relegated from the Premier League in the 2001-02 season, was the last ‘Town’ club in the top flight of English football. They had two stints in the Premier League. The first one was 1992-93, 1993-94 to 1994-95. And the most recent one was 2000-01 to 2000-02.
Prior to that, the only other club with a ‘Town’ name was Swindon Town who played in the Premier League during the 1993-94 season. Swindon’s population is 155,000. Ipswich’s population is 122,300. But those are nothing compared to the population of Wigan, which is 81,203.
It makes you wonder when the next ‘Town’ will be in the Premier League. There’s only one ‘Town’ in the Championship, and that’s Ipswich who have a good chance of getting promoted this season. But there are still a few Towns sprinkled through League One and League Two. Whether they’ll make it into the Premier League in the near future is doubtful, though.
My own club, Swansea City, was once known as Swansea Town, but they changed their name to City in 1969.
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