Manchester City and Liverpool have hoarded silverware in recent years as clubs across the rest of the country have enviously watched on.
Even as they’ve otherwise struggled, Manchester United have lifted both domestic cups in back-to-back seasons and Chelsea’s Champions League victory remains fresh in the memory. Even West Ham have got their mits on European silverware.
But where does that leave everybody else? We’ve identified the nine clubs in the country who are most desperate to win something.
Tottenham
A lot of people scoff at Spurs’ inclusion in the Premier League’s “big six”, given how little they’ve got to show for it in their trophy cabinet going back to their 2007-08 League Cup under Juande Ramos.
But over the past 15 seasons, Spurs have finished in the Premier League’s top six more frequently than Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.
They’ve got the stadium of an elite super-club and have finished runners-up in both the Premier League and Champions League.
But it’s now four successive defeats in major finals since they last won one, and with every passing year it gets harder to shake that Spursy tag. What it would mean to stop being nearly men.
Arsenal
“We won the Charity Shield twice, no? So we’ve won three trophies,” Mikel Arteta responded when recently quizzed over Arsenal’s trophy record during his tenure.
Sorry Mikel, counting the Community Shield is a bit too late-period Mourinho. You don’t want that.
Still, Arteta does have a real trophy under his belt as a manager, and the 2020 FA Cup was an against-the-odds triumph. Four seasons without silverware is nothing compared to the other clubs in this list.
But it looks as though a third successive second-place finish in the Premier League is in the offing this year. Arteta has built a brilliant team, one that has notched mammoth points tallies to push Manchester City all the way in the past couple of years.
The only thing missing from this project is something tangible to show for it, but as things go in football that’s pretty damn important.
Pointing to annual league tables and being oh-so-close while enduring trophyless campaigns? Arsenal are in danger of becoming everything they derided at Pochettino-era Tottenham if they don’t lay their hands on silverware soon.
Newcastle United
With apologies to Shola Ameobi, Albert Luque and the rest of the Magpies’ 2006 squad, the Intertoto Cup (obviously) doesn’t count.
So you have to go all the way back to 1955 for Newcastle’s last major honour, their FA Cup final victory over Manchester City. Nobody under the age of 69 has seen the club win a proper trophy. That’s mad.
It’s been long overdue for Newcastle to put their hoodoo to bed for as long as we can remember. Is this their year?
QUIZ: Can you name every English club to win a major trophy since Newcastle last did?
Aston Villa
Unai Emery has worked wonders to turn Villa from lower-half stragglers to a Champions League side capable of mixing it with Bayern Munich and Juventus.
Given that, we feel a bit churlish pointing out that last season was a bit of a missed opportunity to go and emulate their claret and blue brethren, West Ham, and get their hands on the UEFA Conference League trophy.
They’re a genuinely quality side and with Emery’s track record for European knockouts, they ought to have beaten Olympiacos in the semis.
There have been defeats to Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City in domestic cup finals over the past 25 years, but their last major honour came from beating Leeds in the 1996 League Cup final, when it was sponsored by Coca-Cola.
Fulham
Arguably the biggest club in England to have never won a major trophy, the Cottagers are starting to establish themselves as a secure top-flight force once again after a period of yo-yoing.
Marco Silva has done a wonderful job at Craven Cottage, keeping Fulham competitive and improving them even after losing important players like Aleksandar Mitrovic and Joao Palhinha.
He’s got little left to prove, but a cup run would be welcome given that their Premier League status is already pretty much sealed for another year.
They reached the League Cup semis last term and the FA Cup quarters the year before, but little can compare to the unforgettable 2009-10 Europa League campaign.
READ NEXT: Ranking the most successful managers in football history by trophies won
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every club to win a title in Europe’s major leagues since 1990?
Crystal Palace
Fans of clubs across the country would kill to trade places for the humdrum, midtable existence of Crystal Palace.
But you can see why things get almost existential after 11 successive seasons of unflinchingly finishing somewhere between 10th and 15th with a points tally always, without fail, somewhere in the 40s. Is this living?
Palace’s run to the 1990 FA Cup final, and Alan Pardew’s infamous dance in 2016, will live long in the memory. Those heartbreaks mean that making it one step further will be all the more meaningful, should it ever happen.
Brighton
The last of the Premier League’s quartet of ‘never won a major trophy’ clubs we’re including (sorry Brentford, we’re patronisingly classing you as still just ‘happy to be here’ for another season or two) here.
Brighton, like their aforementioned M23 rivals, are now firmly ensconced in the Premier League’s warm midtable bosom.
After the Chris Hughton years of consolidation, they’ve since made great strides forward, astutely appointing a series of forward-thinking coaches in the dugout and even qualifying for Europe.
The Seagulls came agonisingly close to making the FA Cup final in 2023 after losing on penalties to Manchester United.
But deeper forays into the latter stages of the domestic cups ought to be expected now they’ve shown they’ve got what it takes to mix it with the big boys.
Leeds United
We know what you’re thinking. Walk before you can run. Leeds ought to focus on getting back (and established this time) in the Premier League before they can harbour any delusions of grandeur over lifting silverware.
To be fair, that’s exactly what the club hierarchy are doing. It’s been ages since the Yorkshire club went on any kind of cup run, even underwhelming under Marcelo Bielsa when they finished ninth in the top flight.
But for a club of a city of that’s home to a million people, 33 years – since the ’92 league title – is an age without silverware. Bringing home a first FA Cup since 1972 or a first League Cup since 1968 would mean everything.
Bradford City have been in a major cup final more recently than Leeds. That can’t be right, can it?
Sunderland
Sunderland fans already have bragging rights over Newcastle United, having seen their club lift a major trophy more recently than their hated local rivals.
But given the famous 1973 FA Cup final was over a half-century ago, it’s fair to say the sheen is fading. Can you really brag if you’re a 50-year-old Wearsider who wasn’t actually alive for Jim Montgomery’s miracle double-save?
The Black Cats were close to a more up-to-date reason to boast back in 2014. They were leading Man City at half-time in the League Cup final at Wembley but Yaya Toure’s outrageous long-range strike inspired a 3-1 comeback for Manuel Pellegrini’s heavy favourites.
Like Leeds, Sunderland’s second-tier status absolves them of any urgency of delivering silverware. But that didn’t stop them in ’73, did it? Have some belief.