There is an inextricable link between the geographical and population size of a city or town and its success on the football pitch. As of the 2024/25 season, London had seven Premier League teams alone, while Birmingham had two – so, the two largest cities in England contributed some 45% of all EPL clubs. According to the most recent data, the next largest cities in the UK are Liverpool, Nottingham and Sheffield – the exploits of their respective football teams require little introduction.
Sixth on the list, with an estimated population in excess of 610,000, is Bristol… and yet their sheer size has not been represented by a Premier League football club, despite the fact that Bristolians have two professional outfits to cheer on. The 2024/25 season was as close as the inhabitants have come, however, with Bristol City reaching the Championship play-offs – they were three games away from a maiden Premier League tilt.
Alas, they were soundly beaten by Sheffield United over two legs, which means that the city’s three-decade long wait for a Premier League team goes on. But which other considerably-sized English cities are also yet to experience the glamour and prestige of the Premier League on home soil?
Milton Keynes
Although the veracity of the 2025 population data can be queried, what is generally accepted is that Milton Keynes is the largest city in England never to have had a Premier League football club… after Bristol, of course. In fact, MK didn’t have a notable football at all until as recently as 2004… when a controversial relocation brought the city its first professional outfit.
Most people associated with Wimbledon FC were dead against the idea of moving to Milton Keynes, but financial pressures – and the weakened position of the club’s former owners – left them exposed to an offer from Pete Winkleman, a music promoter, and his consortium of investors. And so Wimbledon FC were moved to Milton Keynes, took up residence at the city’s Stadium MK, changed their kit colours, badge and even their name to MK Dons.
Fans of Wimbledon FC, meanwhile, created their own phoenix club: AFC Wimbledon, which has steadily risen up the English football pyramid and now, at the time of writing, competes against MK Dons in League Two. Although they climbed as high as the Championship for one solitary season, the MK Dons have been in a steady decline ever since – now in the fourth tier, Milton Keynes’ forlorn hope of a Premier League club to call its own is likely to continue in perpetuity.
Plymouth
With a population of in excess of 250,000, Plymouth is a big old city – and has perhaps under-achieved as far as its football club is concerned. In fairness to Plymouth Argyle, they have never quite had the financial muscle to compete with clubs from smaller cities and towns than theirs, which perhaps explains why they have never played a single season in the English top-flight – be it the Premier League or its predecessor, the First Division.
The Pilgrims have played much of their football in modern times in the second and third tiers, although there was disappointment at the culmination of the 2024/25 campaign when they were relegated from the Championship on the final day of the season.
Salford
It’s a little-known fact that Salford isn’t technically a part of Manchester. In fact, Salford has existed for longer than its more celebrated neighbour. The city hasn’t had much joy on the football front, mind you, and that continues now even after some famous faces from the area – including David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville – have acquired Salford City FC.
Beckham and Neville are now the sole owners of the club after the billionaire, Peter Lim, decided to sell his share in 2024 – perhaps frustrated at how the project has stalled.
The takeover of the Class of ’92 heralded an immediate change in fortunes for the Ammies, who rose from the ranks of non-league football in the north of England to join the Football League in 2019/20. They have remained in League Two since, although Salford did finish a single berth below the play-off places in 2024/25.
York
Perhaps its status as a tourist city with a huge student population is the root cause for why the scale of York has not been matched by footballing success. The locals are very proud of York City, the professional club founded way back in 1922. It’s just that success at a high level has been hard to come by.
The Minstermen have won league titles in the lower reaches of the English pyramid, while twice lifting the FA Trophy in 2012 and 2017. And there have been some memorable FA Cup runs too; most notably in 1955, when they made it all the way to the semi-finals.
But in the league, it has been a steady decline since York were relegated from Division 2 at the end of the 1998/99 season. They have even dipped as low as the National League North, however the ship has been steadied and the Minstermen finished second in the National League in 2024/25.
Peterborough
Peterborough, Preston, Doncaster, Colchester… there’s some discrepancies in the population size data to determine which comes next on our list. But the consensus seems to be that, in recent years, Peterborough has just outstripped the others in terms of size.
The people of the city have long had a decent football club to cheer on, with Peterborough United formed in 1934 and playing in the Football League since the sixties. In this contemporary era, they have ricocheted frequently between the Championship and League One, with a lack of resources perhaps to blame for their yo-yo status.
Their halcyon days, at least in the Premier League era, came back in 1992/93; the inaugural season of the EPL branded takeover. Peterborough finished tenth in the second tier, then known as the First Division, and may well have made the play-offs but for a sluggish start to 1993, in which they won just two of their opening nine games.
