In theory, taking up residence in a shiny new stadium should be an exciting time for a football club. It represents a fresh start, bringing new hope and dreams of success on the perfectly manicured pitch. But, historically speaking, it hasn’t always worked out like that. While Premier League sides that have pitched up at new stadia have typically fared well in their first outing at the venue, their first season as a whole has not gone so well.
In fact, in the majority of cases, they actually won fewer games in their first season at their new ground than they had in their last campaign at their former home. So godspeed to Everton, who will take up residence at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium in August 2025, tackling Brighton in their curtain raiser. Will the Toffees buck the trend and actually improve at their new stadium, or will they – like many others before them – take a step backwards?
Winning Start
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough kick off our look back at how Premier League clubs have fared in their first game at a new home. The 1995/96 season was one full of expectation for Boro, who had won the Second Division title in their final season at their former Ayresome Park home.
They had a popular player-manager in Bryan Robson, had smashed their record transfer fee paid on former England international Nick Barmby, before heralding a new dawn in the North East with the signing of Brazilian funster Juninho. They would have to wait until the second game of the season to make their competitive bow at the new Riverside Stadium, but it was worth the wait: goals from Craig Hignett and Jan Arne Fjortoft securing a 2-0 win over Chelsea.
Derby County
The 1997/98 edition of the Premier League saw Derby County take up residence at their new home. The Rams had waved goodbye to their iconic Baseball Ground and set up home at Pride Park… and that first season was one of true promise. But their first game at the venue? That was an unmitigated disaster. They were leading Wimbledon 2-1 early in the second half when a technical hitch saw the floodlights fail, plunging the stadium into darkness.
As officials desperately scouted around for torches and generators, the referee was given no choice but to abandon the game – a relative disaster for Derby’s Pride Park bow.
Southampton
Southampton had spent more than a century at their former home, the Dell, where the stands were so close to the pitch that the fans could pretty much reach out and grab any player taking a throw in.
For the 2001/02 season, they swapped the Dell for the St Mary’s Stadium, a modern venue built in the same soulless way as many others at the time. The Saints lost some of their home-field advantage as a result, which was evident when they lost their curtain-raiser at their new ground 2-0 against Chelsea.
Manchester City
It was all change at Manchester City in 2003/04, with the club leaving behind Maine Road to move to the City of Manchester Stadium, which promised 18,000 more seats and a contemporary aesthetic.
But would the club live up to hopes of a bold new dawn? The answer, in their opening game at the venue at least, was a resounding no: they went 0-1 down against Portsmouth to a Yakubu goal, before just about nicking a draw courtesy of an injury-time equaliser.
Arsenal
Arsenal made a headline-grabbing move to the Emirates Stadium in 2007/08, waving goodbye to their legendary Highbury home – not all fans were on board with the switch. Still, more than 60,000 of them turned out to see them take on Aston Villa in their Emirates debut. The first goalscorer in a competitive game at the venue? The unlikely figure of Villains defender Olaf Mellberg.
Arsenal would hit back with a late equaliser from Gilberto Silva, but a 1-1 draw was nevertheless a disappointing start for the title-chasing side.
West Ham
It would be fair to describe West Ham’s switch to the Olympic Stadium as controversial. Their fans, for the most part, did not want to leave the idiosyncratic Upton Park for the generic new build.
The reception was more mooted than it might ordinarily be for a club moving to a new home, although Michail Antonio at least gave West Ham fans something to cheer when he nodded home the winner in their first Premier League game at the venue against Bournemouth, which ended 1-0 to the Hammers.
Tottenham
And then there was Tottenham, who left White Hart Lane for their eponymous new home part-way through the 2018/19 season. Crystal Palace were sent packing, as goals from Son Heung-min and Christian Eriksen got Spurs off to the best possible start in their new surroundings.
Home Discomfort
Middlesbrough
It’s hard to compare the first season of Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium with their last at Ayresome Park, given that they were playing in different leagues. But by October of that first campaign, Boro were as high as fourth in the Premier League table. They would slip away and finish 12th, but even that might be considered a success for a newly-promoted side.
Derby County
One of the few teams to truly embrace their first season in their new home was Derby in 1997/98. After a solid enough 12th place in the prior campaign, the Rams enjoyed one of their best seasons in many a year in their maiden voyage at Pride Park – missing out on UEFA Cup qualification by just two points in a ninth-place finish.
Southampton
Southampton won just seven of their 19 home games in the Premier League in 2001/02; at the Dell a year prior, they had prevailed in eleven. The Saints looked like relegation candidates in that first season at St Mary’s – that would have been an unmitigated disaster, but Gordon Strachan came in as manager during the second half of the campaign and steadied the ship.
Manchester City
Another side that struggled to adjust to their new surroundings was Manchester City in 2003/04. They won just five of their 19 Premier League games on their own soil, which was almost the worst home record in the entire division. The Cityzens would also finish some seven places lower, in sixteenth, than they had in 2002/03. But, of course, they would soon be taken over by the Abu Dhabi aristocracy and their billions… funnily enough, City’s home form improved thereafter.
Arsenal
In their last season at Highbury, Arsenal had finished fourth. In their maiden voyage at the Emirates in 2006/07, they finished… fourth, gaining one more point. However, they claimed 45 points on home soil in 2005/06, compared to 42 at the Emirates a year later.
West Ham
West Ham had signed off on their long stay at the Boleyn Ground with a home record of W9 D7 L3 in 2015/16. But a year later, in their debut campaign at the London Stadium, that formline had regressed to W7 D4 L8 – a real terms drop-off of nine points… enough to see them fall from seventh to eleventh in the Premier League table.
Tottenham
Tottenham couldn’t have signed off on White Hart Lane in finer fashion: they went the entirety of the 2016/17 season unbeaten at home (W17 D2 L0). They didn’t play their first full season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium until 2019/20, by which time they were rather more profligate in front of their own fans – W12 D3 L4.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}