Perfect Peterborough United are English football’s ‘Cup Final Kings’ over the last 40 years, but Brentford are the biggest bottle jobs!
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With May being synonymous with football cup finals, Paddy Power studied which clubs hold their nerve best in finals (since 1980) and which teams are the biggest bottlers
And, rather incredibly, Posh came out on top of the 92 Premiership and Football League clubs having won all four of the finals they have contested. Play-off finals were also included in the survey.
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Posh finished top of the pile thanks to a 100% record in four finals. The third tier play-off final wins over Stockport County (1992) and Huddersfield Town (2011), the League Two play-off final win over Darlington (2000) and the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final win over Chesterfield (2014).
Coventry City and Charlton Athletic also boast 100 per cent winning records in finals, but they’ve played in only three apiece.
Fresh from their fourth straight Carabao Cup success, Manchester City round off the top four, winning 82% of their finals (nine out of 11) over the period.
But, City are the only Premier League side to make it into the top 10, with the likes of Birmingham and Blackpool both winning in at least three quarters of their final appearances.
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Hide AdAt the other end of the scale, Brentford can’t seem to handle the pressure, losing in all seven of their cup finals. Shrewsbury Town also have a disappointing five losses in five. Other teams to have lost all their finals since 1980 are Leeds United, Reading and Sheffield United, who have lost four out of four, and Exeter City who have lost all three of their finals.
Cup kings (top 10): 1 POSH (P4 W4), 2 Coventry City & Charlton (P3 W3), 4 Manchester City (P11 W9), 5 Birmingham City (P5 W4), 6 BLackpool (P9 W7, 78%), 7 Barnsley, Crewe, Port Vale and Rotherham (P4 W3, 75%).
Bottlers (bottom 10): Brentford (P7 L7), 2 Shrewsbury (P5 L5), 3 Leeds, Reading & Sheffield United (P4 L4), 6 Exeter (P3 L3), 7 Sunderland (P7 L6, 13%), 8 Bristol Rovers, Stockport, Torquay (P5 L4, 20%).
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