Lincoln City got promoted to the Championship by having less of the ball than the other 23 teams in the division.
For us, it proved that not having the ball wasn’t a bad thing, and when we did come up against sides with potentially Championship-level players, like Cardiff, Bolton and Stockport, we remained unbeaten. There were some scares, but we remained unbeaten.
Of the top ten teams that had the lowest possession, three were relegated: Port Vale, Northampton and Rotherham. Stevenage made the play-offs, and the others were middling teams, such as Blackpool, Wigan and Burton. It means that while our lack of possession worked for us, it was not the universal blueprint for success. Bradford, Stockport, Bolton and Cardiff all had more than 50% in their games and finished in the top six, while Luton and Wycombe, chasing the top six, also had more than 50%.
I wondered how that looked at Championship level. Was not having the ball a route to the bottom three, top six, or middle of the pack? Using Wyscout, I broke down ball possession for each team and worked out who did ‘Lincoln’ the best.
Championship possession
Firstly, while the team with the least possession won League One, the team with the least possession in the Championship were relegated. Oxford United, who took our play-off spot on the final day of the 2023/24 season, suffered second-season syndrome and lost their place in the second tier.
The picture after that is encouraging. Derby, Wrexham, Millwall and Hull City were all among the top ten teams with the lowest possession, and all were either in the play-offs or just on the fringes. QPR, Preston and Charlton were lower mid-table, and they too remained in the division.
Sheffield Wednesday were relegated, but there were mitigating circumstances: their off-field issues and the big points deduction effectively ended their season before it began, and a lack of depth saw them beaten most weeks.
| Rank | Team | Ball Possession |
|---|---|---|
| 23 | Oxford United | 40.4% |
| 20 | Charlton Athletic | 43% |
| 15 | Queens Park Rangers | 45.4% |
| 14 | Preston North End | 45.5% |
| 8 | Derby County | 45.8% |
| 7 | Wrexham | 46.1% |
| 3 | Hull City | 46.4% |
| 24 | Sheffield Wednesday | 46.5% |
| 22 | Blackburn Rovers | 47.3% |
| 2 | Millwall | 47.7% |
Previous Precedents
Has possession been a big factor in Championship promotion and relegation races over the last few seasons?
In 2024/25, the teams with the lowest possession, Oxford and Millwall, both stayed up, with the latter finishing eighth. However, also in the top ten lowest possession stats were all three relegated teams: Plymouth Argyle, Luton Town and Cardiff City. QPR were the highest from the ten who liked not to have the ball, 15th in the division.
Millwall really are the blueprint. In 2023/24, they had 41.9% possession, third-lowest in the division, and finished 13th. The two teams with the fewest were Huddersfield Town and Rotherham, both relegated, while Birmingham also dropped out of the division with the fifth-fewest.
In 2022/23, we saw teams that liked to let the opponent have the ball thrive. Of the teams with the ten lowest possession stats, Luton (3rd), Millwall (8th) and Coventry (5th) all had much less possession than their peers.
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