Derby County

Derby County Football Club
Nicknames: The Rams
Founded: 1884
Stadium: Pride Park
Capacity: 33,597
Owner: Adam Pearson
Chairman: Adam Pearson
Manager: Paul Jewell

Derby County were founding members of English Football League when it was launched in 1888. They’ve had a couple of bad periods and they were relegated a couple of times, but they’re also one of the teams that won major trophies in England.

In 1946 they’ve won the FA Cup and in the 70s they managed to win twice the English premier League, once in 1972 and once in 1975. This season the team is not doing too well and it’s close to be relegated, but there is still hope for the team from Derby. After a really bad start this season, the former team owner, Peter Gadsby, decided to step down from the team and sold the club to former Hull City owner, Adam Pearson. They changed their coach and now they are looking for talent from North America that would hopefully save them from relegation. In January they’ve signed four new players, and they still want to buy new talent soon.

Derby’s main rivals are Nottingham Forest, a club based in Nottingham, located at a few miles from Derby. Also, there are other local teams like Notts County or Leicester City which are Derby’s rivals, but all these teams are in the lower English divisions.

Fulham

Fulham Football Club
Nicknames: The Cottagers, The Whites
Founded: 1879
Stadium: Craven Cottage
Capacity: 26,600
Owner: Mohamed Al-Fayed
Chairman: Mohamed Al-Fayed
Manager: Roy Hodgson

Founded in 1879, Fulham is considered the oldest professional football team in London. They’ve spent a lot of time in English Premier League but they haven’t gained any major honours yet. In 1975, when they were in the second division from England, they managed to reach FA Cup finals which they’ve lost to West Ham with 2-0. In 2002 they have won Intertoto Cup and they’ve qualified to UEFA Cup.

The team is based in Fulham, London, and probably their biggest rivals are the local neighbours Chelsea and Tottenham, Arsenal. They play at their current home, Craven Cottage since 1896, and currently they’re expanding it’s capacity to 30,500 seats.

In the last years, Fulham got away from a really bad period, after being in 3rd football league from England between 1994 and ’97. Probably the one that made miracles at Fulham was billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed who purchased the club in ’97. They quickly gained promotion in football league Division 2, and in 1999 they reached football league 1. In 2001, they gained promotion to English premier League. Everyone thought the team had potential, but in their first premiership season they finished only 13th. Now, the team is struggling to avoid relegation.

Sunderland FC

Sunderland Association Football Club
Nicknames: The Black Cats, The Mackems
Founded: 1879
Stadium: Stadium of Light
Capacity: 49,000
Owner: Niall Quinn
Chairman: Niall Quinn
Manager: Roy Keane

Sunderland is based in the city with same name located in Tyne and Wear. They are one of the most successful team from the Premiership winning six Premier League Titles and two FA Cups. They played at their old stadium, Roker Park for almost 99 years and in 1997 they moved to the new, modern Stadium of Light.
Even though the titles they’ve won were long time ago, first five before first world ware and the 6th title in 1936, the club had some bad periods too, being relegated a couple of times, first time in 1958.

In the last 10 years, in 1999, Sunderland were promoted again to English Premier League and they managed to finish 7th 3 years in a row but in 2003 they had another bad season and they had a record low points of 19 and were relegated to second division. In 2006 the club was bought by the irish consortium Drumaville represented by Niall Quinn. They appointed former Manchester United captain, Roy Keane, as team’s coach and since then, the team team has done really well in the second division and gained promotion again this year. Now, the team is struggling to remain in Englsh Premier League and they’ve got chances to do that.

Wigan Athletic

Wigan Athletic Football Club
Nicknames: The Latics
Founded: 1932
Stadium: JJB
Capacity: 25,138
Owner: David Whelan
Chairman: David Whelan
Manager: Steve Bruce

The team is based in Wigan, Greater Manchester at JJB Stadium. The club, founded in 1932, is the youngest in English Premier League with only 75 years of history. Wigan are only the fourth team in England in the last 20 years to win promotion in the Premier League for the first time.

They gained promotion in the first league in 2005 and their first season was pretty impressive. In November they were in the 2nd place in Premier League after surprising wins over good teams from Premier League. Their first season was pretty good but in the next years Wigan struggled to remain in the Premier League. Last year, they finish 17th and were almost relegated.

The club’s is playing at JJB Stadium since 1999, a stadium that’s shared with Wigan Rugby Team. The modern all seater stadium was officially opened in 4th of August 1999, and it’s cost was 30 million pounds. David Wheland, the club’s owner is a former football player for Blackburn Rovers. He bought Wigan Athletic in 1995 when the team was in brittish third division. Since then, every year the club is making serious progress. With his support Wigan managed to remain in the Premier League and the were in the League Cup Finals in 2006, where they’ve lost to Manchester United

Birmingham City

Birmingham City Football Club
Nicknames: Blues
Founded: 1875 as Small Health Alliance
Stadium: St. Andrew’s
Capacity: 30,009
Owner: David Gold
Chairman: David Gold
Manager: Alex McNish

Founded in 1875 as Small Health Alliance, they changed name to Small Health in 1888 and in the end, in 1905 they became Birmingham City. They’ve spent the majority of their history in English Premier League but they had a couple of bad periods. In the 50s they had their best period when they managed to finish league championship in 6th position and they were FA Cup finalists. Their Local rivals Aston Villa is a great local derby which is one to watch out for in this Premier League season.

The darkest era is pretty recent, between 1986 and 2002, when they were constantly outside the English premier league, strugglind in the lower division. They play at the current stadium, St. Andrew’s from 1906 and their biggest rivals are Aston Villa, another local team from Birmingham.
In 2001 they reached League Cup Finals, loosing to Liverpool at Millenium Stadium from Cardiff at the penalty shootout. A year later, they won promotion at another penalty shootout against Norwich City.

In July 2007 the hong-kong based businessman, Carson Yeung bought the main shares and became the biggest single shareholder. Apparently, he wants to take full control in the future (however this deal has been put off by David Gold), and he wants to invest a lot of money in the club. This year they managed to buy new players and they got the former Scottish International Team coach, Alex McNish, to guide them in Premier League.

Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers Football Club
Nicknames: The Trotters
Founded: 1874 as Christ Church FC
Stadium: Reebok Stadium
Capacity: 28,723
Owner: Phil Gartside
Chairman: Phil Gartside
Manager: Gary Mergson

Founded in 1874 as Christ Church, Bolton were one of the founders of English Football League. Iin the 20s they managed to win FA Cup 3 times and in 1958 they won it again for the 4th time. But, in time, the club passed trough bad periods and they were once in the Fourth Division in 1987. The club gained promotion in top flight again, after 15 years playing in the lower leagues, in 1995.

In 2005-2006 the team reached for the first team European Competitions and managed to qualify in the last 32 of UEFA cup. Last year, Bolton had a great season and they managed to finish 7th, qualifying again for UEFA.

The club’s old home was called Burnden Park, and they moved to it’s current locatin, Reebok Stadium, in 1997. In 2004, Bolton reached into the League Cup Finals but they lost to Middlesbrough. An year later, in 2005, they’ve got their biggest finish, finishing 5th in the Premier League, in front of other great teams from England. Gary Mergson is the new manager for Bolton from October 2007 after replacing Sammy Lee. Sammy Lee had to quit after winning only one match in eleven games but now the team is going better.