The Misery Index Revealed: The Championship’s Most Miserable Clubs To Support

Charlton Athletic come out as the Championship’s most miserable club to support over the last 25 completed seasons, with Lincoln City at the happier end of our Misery Index.

We took the 24 clubs in the 2026/27 Championship and followed them through every division they played in from 2001/02 to 2025/26. Going up as champions or winning a cup earns ten points, any other promotion earns eight, and each relegation costs eight. Losing a cup or play-off final earns two points, and losing a semi-final earns one.

We took entertainment into consideration as well. For the regular-season results, we multiply points per game by ten and divide total goal difference by 20, so even sides who don’t win, but entertain, reduce their fans’ misery a little bit. Of course, administration and ownership trouble sit outside the scoring, and we calculate points per game before any deductions, because a win might not have counted for Sheffield Wednesday in terms of relegation last season, but those small victories were still enjoyed.

Across 25 seasons, it gets us fairly close to how much each club gave its supporters to cheer on the pitch.

Two Wembley wins still left Charlton first

How are Charlton the most miserable team to support in the Championship? Patrick Bauer bundled in a stoppage-time winner against Sunderland in 2019, and Macaulay Gillesphey’s free-kick against Leyton Orient took Charlton up again in 2025. Add the 2011/12 League One title and two losing semi-finals, and the Addicks earned 28 points for promotions and play-offs. Four relegations cost them 32, the first two taking them from the Premier League to League One in three seasons. Their cup record added zero, leaving their regular-season results to bring the score back into positive figures at 7.76.

Bolton put four past Plymouth Argyle to win the EFL Trophy in 2023 and four past Stockport County to go up in 2026, yet finished second on 13.34. Four relegations, including successive drops into League One and League Two in 2019 and 2020, cost them 32 points, and a league goal difference of -153 took off another 7.65.

Derby were just behind on 13.42, with three relegations and a single cup point from a League Cup semi-final in 2008/09. Their 2007 Wembley win led to an 11-point Premier League season, and they lost their next two play-off finals in 2014 and 2019.

Three titles took Lincoln clear

A 3-0 defeat to Aldershot Town at Sincil Bank sent us out of the Football League in 2011, our only relegation in the period, and that’s the sum total of our misery in the index (Carshalton doesn’t count, unbelievably). It took us six seasons to get back, but we came up as National League champions in 2016/17, won League Two in 2018/19 and took the League One title in 2025/26. That’s 30 points from three seasons alone, and Elliott Whitehouse’s winner against Shrewsbury Town in the 2018 EFL Trophy final was worth another ten. A league goal difference of +133 added 6.65 points to help take us to 64.00.

Swansea City took second at this end with 59.46. Scott Sinclair’s hat-trick against Reading in the 2011 play-off final took them into the Premier League, and they beat Bradford City 5-0 to win the League Cup in 2013, seven years after lifting the EFL Trophy.

Bristol City’s 56.54 owed plenty to a League One and EFL Trophy double in 2014/15 and the League Cup run in 2017/18 when Korey Smith knocked out Manchester United in stoppage time. Bristol earned 23 cup points, two more than Swansea, but the Swans’ extra promotion helped give them the edge.

Of course, these are rudimentary numbers, and maybe a promotion to the Premier League should score more than a promotion to League Two. Maybe visiting Anfield and losing as equals should be worth more than heading off to Eastleigh for a win, but it’s hard to drive into the nuances. We’re looking purely at seasons, overall enjoyment and things to celebrate.