What is Tranmere’s ‘natural position’?
It’s a question that’s almost impossible to answer.
Anyone that started following the club in the early ’90s will have been accustomed to Rovers being a second tier club - one that should have been promoted to the Premier League and would have had the players to survive in the top flight.
Older fans will recall a club that flittered between the third and fourth tiers, facing extinction while playing in front of sub-2000 crowds.
The youngest could have been introduced to a club in freefall – one that in 2015 fell through the trapdoor to non-league, where it spent three tortuous seasons enduring the indignity of being turned over by the likes of Welling United, Eastleigh and Braintree Town.
Matt Jones’ book documenting the redemptive arc of those three seasons toiling in the National League ahead of the eventual return to the Football League in 2018 is titled Back Where We Belong.
It’s hard to argue the club doesn’t belong in the Football League. Rovers joined as founder members of Division Three North in 1921/22 and had an unbroken run of almost a century before Mickey Adams masterminded 2014/15’s relegation.
But the Football League is vast. It contains 72 clubs and across three divisions – 92 across four if we want to pretend the Premier League counts.
When Alan Mahon, whose first spell with the club was spent entirely in what is now the Championship and included an appearance in a major cup final, was interviewed ahead of the 2019 League Two play-off final against Newport County, he said he wanted to see the club “back where we belong”.
So do Tranmere belong in the third tier? Is that the club’s ‘natural position’?
One approach – admittedly imperfect – is to look at Tranmere’s league finishes since 1958, when Divisions Three North and South merged to produce a four tier national Football League broadly comparable to what we know today.
Rovers finished that season in 7th place, equivalent to 51st in the Football League.
Since then, there have numerous peaks and troughs, from the high of 26th in 1992/931 to the low of 98th (6th in the National League) in 2015/16.
From 1958/59 to 2021/22, Rovers’ average finish has been 63rd,which is equivalent to 19th in League One.
Have a click around below to view details about each season.
Since 1958/59 Tranmere’s average league finish has been 63rd in the EFL
That’s equivalent to 19th in League One
How did Rovers’ attendances fluctuate during this period? That is a question that will be addressed in an upcoming post.