Summary
- Tottenham Hotspur is the best-run football club in England according to a 2024 study.
- Manchester United rank second despite facing a whole host of issues in recent months.
- Cambridge United is the third-best-run club in England, despite struggling in League One.
Football is the beautiful game. It’s the most popular sport in the world and is adored by fans all over the globe. It’s entertainment and an art-form in the purist sense. To some, though, it’s also a business and those tasked with running football clubs have to treat it as such. Their goal is to make money and earn success both on the pitch and away from it.
This might not be as extreme for teams lower down than the pyramid as opposed to those at the top of the Premier League, but they’re still expected to do everything they can to run teams effectively. Some are doing much better jobs than others, truth be told. A study conducted by Fair Game and shortly before the 2024/25 football season got underway has now revealed just how well every club in the top seven flights of English football is being run.
The Fair Game Index is a study that looks at several key components in running a football club and uses them to determine how well a team is being run. The key areas analysed are financial sustainability, good governance, equality standards and fan & community engagement. Using those, they’ve ranked every club from the Premier League down to National League North and South on how well they’re currently being run. Let’s take a look at the very interesting results.
The rankings per division have been taken from what league every team competed in during the 2023/2024 season.
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Premier League
Manchester United are second
According to the study, Tottenham Hotspur are currently the best run team in all of England’s top seven leagues. Daniel Levy’s side may not have won anything in quite some time, but they’re doing a good job in all other accounts. Manchester United are second, which many of the club’s fans might find hard to believe considering the issues they’ve had recently. The Red Devils have had to deal with leaks in the stadium and mice infestation during the 2024/25 campaign, so expect next year’s result to look somewhat different.
Interestingly, only 10 of the teams that were in the Premier League last season are in the top 20 best run teams in the country. Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal are some of the teams who made it. The table features a slight error, with Bournemouth being listed at 20, but they’ve actually been ranked 53rd. The Cherries are though the lowest ranked team in the top flight, despite on-field performances being excellent as of late.
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Championship
Norwich City are first
Despite being in the Championship, Norwich City and Swansea City are the fifth and sixth best run teams in the country. They’re also the top two sides in the second tier, with Plymouth Argyle one spot below them despite in serious threat of relegation. In the entirety of the Championship, only those three make it into the top 20 across the country.
Ipswich Town, Southampton and Leicester City, the three teams who earned promotion to the top flight last season are ranked 26th, 28th and 30th in total respectively. Despite their success in the FA Cup last term, Coventry City are the lowest ranked Championship team and are actually as low as 101 in terms of every team in the country. The Sky Blues replaced long-time manager Mark Robins with former England international Frank Lampard earlier this season and that tough decision has paid dividends as they shot back up the table.
League One
Cambridge United are third overall
A very surprising reveal in the rankings is the fact that Cambridge United are ranked third in the entire country in terms of how well they’re being run. It’s a testament to the excellent work being done at the club. Despite that, they’re struggling on the pitch and are currently second-last in League One. Four other teams from the division are ranked in the top 20 across all country, with Exeter City, Carlisle United, Lincoln City and Bolton Wanderers all placing ninth, 11th, 16th and 18th respectively. The latter of which is more surprising given the financial issues that have plagued the former Premier League outfit over the last decade.
Considering how abysmal the last few years have been for Reading, it’s no surprise to see the Royals ranked dead last out of the League One teams and 100th overall in the country.
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League Two
Notts County are only 22nd
Moving onto League Two, only two teams are in the top 20, with AFC Wimbledon and Forest Green Rovers coming in at 8th and 14th overall. The latter has earned a solid reputation for their excellent work building an environmentally friendly club, but they weren’t as successful on the pitch, suffering relegation to the National League last time out and seeing four managers take charge over the course of the campaign, including Troy Deeney. They currently sit third in the National League and are almost certain to make the playoffs.
Wrexham secured their second straight promotion and are flying in League One at the time of writing, but they’ve still only been ranked eighth out of every team in League Two last season, while also being ranked 60th overall. Notts County were ranked 22nd in the division. Considering the club have turned things around after some really drab years, one may expect them to fair better.
National League
York City are first
First in the National League is York City. The Minstermen are 21st overall in the country, while Chesterfield are second in the division, but significantly lower altogether, in 55th. The Spireites dominated the competition last season, though, storming to promotion. Dorking Wanderers, who were only founded in 1999 and are both owned and managed by Marc White, have had a surge up the football leagues in the last few years, but found themselves relegated after going one step too far.
According to the results, their rise to fame is not reflective of how well the club is run, as they were second from bottom in the National League and 153 out of a possible 164 teams across the country. White is known for his brash and honest nature, and while Dorking are ranked rather low, he’s still done a solid job all things considered. AFC Fylde are ranked 164th, the lowest of any team in the entire country.
Chelsea and Manchester United have not been afraid to splash the cash in the past two years.
National League North
Scarborough Athletic are second
Moving onto the National League North, 4th placed Chester are ranked first and they’re surprisingly 22nd across the country. Scarborough Athletic, who were only formed in 2007 following the folding of Scarborough FC, are 13th in the league, but 33rd overall. The last few years have been very kind to the Seadogs and the fan-owned club have done an exceptional job rebuilding the ashes of the seaside town’s former team.
Scunthorpe United have fallen down the football pyramid in recent years, suffering relegation on three occasions over the last five years. That’s reflected in the fact they’ve been ranked 113th across the country and seventh in the division. The Iron are however leading the race for promotion this season.
National League South
Yeovil are only seventh
Similarly to Scunthorpe, Yeovil Town have had a disastrous run over the last few years. It wasn’t too long ago that the club were plying their trade in the Championship, but these days, they’ve fallen down to non-league. Despite their standing as the 111th best run club in the UK, they did at least manage to secure promotion up to the National League where they have settled into mid-table.
Havant & Waterlooville, famous for their excellent FA Cup meeting with Liverpool, suffered relegation last time out, falling out of the National League South. Still, they were ranked 15th in the division in terms of how well they were run last year.
