The worst starts to a season ever

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Ah, the start of the new football season: a time for optimism and that sense that 'this will be our year'.

Of course, as fans of pretty much any club will attest, things rarely go exactly as hoped – and sometimes, the campaign kicks off so nightmarishly that you wish you could go back and begin again.

If your team doesn't appear on this list, though, you're probably doing alright...

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32. QPR, 2012/13

QPR’s first top-flight stint of the 21st century came to a miserable end as they finished bottom of the Premier League table.

Having stayed up on the final day of the previous season – despite losing to Manchester City in the “AGUEROOOOO!” game – Rangers started abysmally by losing 5-0 at home to Swansea, ultimately taking just four points from their first 13 games.

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31. Sunderland, 2005/06

Back in the big time two years after recording the lowest points total in Premier League history (19), Sunderland would have been determined to begin the 2005/06 campaign with a bang.

That didn’t quite happen: Mick McCarthy’s Black Cats lost five and drew one before getting their first win, away to local rivals Middlesbrough in September – which would be their last until January…

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30. Marseille, 2015/16

There’s never a dull moment with Marcelo Bielsa in charge, and so Marseille found when the ever-passionate Argentine led them into the 2015/16 Ligue 1 season.

The French giants lost their curtain-raiser 1-0 at home to Caen – after which Bielsa resigned. A tad dramatic? For him, not really.

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29. Bournemouth, 2008/09

Several clubs found themselves in a right pickle at the start of the 2008/09 League Two season, with Luton being docked a whopping 30 points, and Rotherham and Bournemouth each 17.

And the Cherries looked even more doomed after winning just three of their first 18 matches – but then they appointed a club legend by the name of Eddie Howe as manager…

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28. Airbus UK Broughton, 2022/23

They started out as the works team of the local aircraft factory, but Airbus UK Broughton failed to take off at the start of the 2022/23 Cymru Premier (that’s the Welsh top flight) season.

Ok, they were stuck on the runway all campaign long, losing 30 of their 32 league fixtures (and drawing the other two) and finishing on -4 points, having been deducted six.

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27. Sampdoria, 2022/23

Italian champions, Coppa Italia winners and European Cup finalists in the early 90s, Sampdoria found themselves in dire straits three decades later.

Amid off-field problems which almost led to bankruptcy, La Samp lost seven and drew three of their first 10 Serie A matches, finally putting three points on the board in late October.

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26. Gretna, 2007/08

Italian champions, Coppa Italia winners and European Cup finalists in the early 90s, Sampdoria found themselves in dire straits three decades later.

Amid off-field problems which almost led to bankruptcy, La Samp lost seven and drew three of their first 10 Serie A matches, finally putting three points on the board in late October.

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25. Dover Athletic, 2021/22

Dover’s 2021/22 National League campaign wasn’t so much a case of a poor start but an entirely horrendous season: they didn’t win until late January, at the 25th time of asking, then had to wait another two-and-a-half months for their second (and final) victory.

Just to make matters worse, they started on -12 points after failing to fulfil 2020/21 fixtures amid the financial strain of Covid.

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24. Sheffield United, 1990/91

Sheffield United took just four points from their opening 16 First Division games, failing to secure a win until their final home match of 1990.

They fared considerably better after the turn of the year, improbably winning seven on the spin between late January and mid-March – and ultimately finishing 13th, 12 points above relegation.

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23. Fortuna Dusseldorf, 1991/92

Fortuna Dusseldorf couldn’t have made a more miserable start to the Bundesliga season, losing six out of six and sacking boss Josef Hickersberger as a result.

It wasn’t a good year for Hickersberger, who was appointed by Fortuna after quitting as Austria manager following an embarrassing defeat to the Faroe Islands – the North Atlantic minnows’ first ever win, as it happened.

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22. Brechin City, 2017/18

Playing in Scotland’s second tier for the first time in 11 years, Brechin found it tough going, picking up a mere four points from their first 20 games.

Those proved to be the part-timers’ only four points of the campaign, as they became the first Scottish club in 126 years to go a whole league season without winning.

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21. Crystal Palace, 2017/18

Ahead of the 2017/18 Premier League season, Crystal Palace replaced Sam Allardyce with new manager Frank de Boer in a bid to improve their playing style.

The South Londoners soon found themselves wishing they hadn’t: De Boer oversaw a campaign-opening run of four straight losses – in which Palace failed to score a single goal.

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20. Doncaster Rovers, 1997/98

For Doncaster Rovers, the 1997/98 campaign began with a 20-game winless stretch and ended in relegation (and chairman Ken Richardson awaiting trial for hiring three men to set fire to the club’s Belle Vue ground).

The Yorkshire outfit got through four managers that season, dropping into the Conference with a Football League record of 34 defeats.

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19. FC Grenchen, 2014/15

Grenchen made an absolutely nightmarish start to the season in the Swiss fourth tier, a run of nine consecutive defeats culminating in a 10-0 drubbing by FC Luzern’s youth team.

They managed to win just once all term, picking up five points from a possible 78, finishing well and truly rock-bottom of the pile, scoring 16 goals and conceding… 147. Ouch.

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18. Bolton Wanderers, 2019/20

A famous old club in the English game, Bolton were founder members of the Football League back in 1888.

Their history meant nothing when they almost got booted out of the League in 2019, though: as financial oblivion loomed, the Trotters began the League One season with just five senior players registered, having to field mostly youngsters.

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17. Greuther Furth, 2021/22

Playing in the German top flight for just the second time, Greuther Furth set a new record for the worst ever Bundesliga start by taking a solitary point from their first 14 outings.

The Bavarians were thumped 5-1 by Stuttgart on the opening weekend, before drawing their home opener against Arminia Bielefeld – then losing 12 on the bounce…

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16. Loughborough, 1899/1900

Loughborough’s tally of eight points (back when a win was only worth two) in their final Second Division campaign is a Football League record that it’s hard to ever see being broken.

The Leicestershire club had to wait until January to clinch their sole victory of a season in which they shipped 100 goals in 34 games.

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15. Ajax, 2023/24

They’re one of the most successful clubs in European football history, but even Ajax aren’t immune to a shocking start – as the Amsterdam giants found in 2023/24.

The perennial Dutch champions entered November bottom of the Eredivisie table, having just lost 5-2 to PSV to make it a club-record five straight top-flight defeats.

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14. Norwich City, 2009/10

In 2009, Norwich hit their lowest point in half a century as they were relegated to the third tier of English football.

And things got worse before they got better: the Canaries were eviscerated 7-1 at home by Colchester on the opening day, with supporters invading the pitch to hurl season tickets at manager Bryan Gunn.

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13. Ancona, 2003/04

Surprisingly promoted from Serie B the previous season, Ancona tried to improve their Serie A survival chances by making no fewer than 18 new signings – including stars like Dino Baggio and Mario Jardel.

It didn’t work: the side from Italy’s Adriatic coast didn’t put a win on the board until April, in their 28th match of the campaign.

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12. Cheltenham Town, 2023/24

Cheltenham made unwanted Football League history at the start of the 2023/24 League One season.

The Robins failed to score in their first 11 league outings, finally finding the net against Derby in early October (their only goal in any competition up to that point was an own goal by Bristol Rovers in the Football League trophy).

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11. Chelsea, 2015/16

Reigning Premier League champions Chelsea made a disastrous start to their title defence, losing nine of their first 16 fixtures.

Things started unravelling during the Blues’ 2-2 home draw with Swansea on the opening weekend: manager Jose Mourinho laid into club doctor Eva Carneiro for tending to Eden Hazard while, in his view, he wasn’t sufficiently injured, allegedly making a hugely offensive sexist remark.

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10. Almeria, 2023/24

Having narrowly avoided relegation in 2022/23, Almeria would have hoped to kick on and cement their LaLiga status.

That didn’t quite happen… The Rojiblancos went 28 games from the start of the season without winning (they threw away a 2-0 lead at Real Madrid in January), setting a new Spanish top-flight record.

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9. Manchester United, 1930/31

Back in the early 1930s, Manchester United were far from the dominant force they would go on to become.

They began this First Division campaign by losing their first 12 games – still an English top-flight record at the time of writing – going down 6-0 and 7-4 at home to Huddersfield and Newcastle respectively.

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8. Benevento, 2017/18

Benevento’s maiden Serie A campaign was as good as over by December, after they started with a run of 14 consecutive defeats.

But they had cause to celebrate when they finally picked up their first point of the season, snatching a draw at home to Milan through a stoppage-time header from the most unlikely of heroes: goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli.

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7. Maidstone United, 1992/93

Maidstone never got up and running at the start of the 1992/93 Fourth Division season: quite literally.

Amid worsening financial problems, the Kent club found themselves down to just two players and without a ground (having sold it) – and after being blocked from relocating to the north-east, they went out of business.

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6. Sheffield United, 2023/24

Having bounced back up at the first time of asking, Sheffield United were hoping to make it stick in the Premier League.

But they could hardly have got less purchase on the top flight: they took just one point from their first 10 matches, setting a new record for the worst ever start to a Prem campaign.

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5. Ibis

At the end of the 70s and start of the 80s, Brazilian lower-league outfit Ibis went three years and 11 months without tasting victory – a Guinness World Record.

Naturally, they embrace the tag of the ‘Worst Team in the World’ – and some fans weren’t overjoyed when they started finally winning some games after another astonishingly long barren run in the 2010s, concerned the club would lose its USP.

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4. Longford, 2015/16

Desperate times call for desperate measures – and in January 2016, Longford turned to Stuart Pearce as their saviour.

The England and Nottingham Forest legend had been retired for 14 years when he penned a one-match deal with the Gloucestershire non-Leaguers – who had lost every game of the season up to that point.

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3. Pescara, 2016/17

Pescara won just once during the first half of the 2016/17 Serie A season – and that wasn’t even their doing: they were awarded the three points after their opponents, Sassuolo, fielded an ineligible player.

Things didn’t get much better, mins you: the Delfini recorded only two more victories all campaign, finishing rock-bottom of the pile.

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2. Fort William, 2017/18 & 2018/19

Based at the picturesque Claggan Park in the foothills of Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest peak, Fort William haven’t had much success in their history.

They endured two particularly bad Highland League seasons towards the end of the 2010s, though, going two campaigns and 707 days without a competitive win – spending the entirety of 2018/19 on minus points after fielding ineligible players, and conceding 245 goals (ouch).

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1. Bury, 2019/20

Bury were on a high in the summer of 2019, having been promoted back to League One – then disaster struck.

Beset by serious financial issues, the Shakers were unable to start the season; the EFL eventually booted them out, bringing an end to the club’s 124-year Football League history and leaving fans utterly devastated.