THE USURPER LEAGUEPremier League 2001/02.
A different title race.
Newcastle United win our alternative 2001/02 Premier League with 61 points from 28 matches. The usual suspects have been excused.
We removed every fixture involving the clubs on our exclusion list who actually played in the Premier League that year. We kept all other scores unchanged. That's 210 real matches and 15 competing clubs.
The new 2001/02 table
No imaginary fixtures. No points generously handed out. The other clubs keep their results against one another.
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newcastle United | 28 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 61 | 32 | 29 | 61 |
| 2 | Leeds United | 28 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 42 | 20 | 22 | 56 |
| 3 | West Ham United | 28 | 13 | 5 | 10 | 37 | 38 | -1 | 44 |
| 4 | Fulham | 28 | 10 | 12 | 6 | 27 | 19 | 8 | 42 |
| 5 | Aston Villa | 28 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 33 | 34 | -1 | 40 |
| 6 | Middlesbrough | 28 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 28 | 29 | -1 | 40 |
| 7 | Everton | 28 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 39 |
| 8 | Blackburn Rovers | 28 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 41 | 34 | 7 | 38 |
| 9 | Sunderland | 28 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 24 | 30 | -6 | 38 |
| 10 | Southampton | 28 | 9 | 7 | 12 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 34 |
| 11 | Bolton Wanderers | 28 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 32 | 41 | -9 | 30 |
| 12 | Ipswich Town | 28 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 36 | 40 | -4 | 29 |
| 13 | Charlton Athletic | 28 | 5 | 13 | 10 | 27 | 36 | -9 | 28 |
| 14 | Derby County | 28 | 7 | 4 | 17 | 27 | 44 | -17 | 25 |
| 15 | Leicester City | 28 | 4 | 13 | 11 | 23 | 41 | -18 | 25 |
How the table changes
With everybody participating, Arsenal lead our all-club calculation. Removing Big Six fixtures puts Newcastle United first in the alternative league.
Who's been excused?
Excluded clubs present in 2001/02: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur. We removed 170 fixtures, along with every point and goal from those matches.
Historical footnote: Manchester City were not in the top flight that season, so naturally no matches involving those clubs were removed.
See the all-club calculated table for comparison
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 38 | 26 | 9 | 3 | 79 | 36 | 43 | 87 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 38 | 24 | 8 | 6 | 67 | 30 | 37 | 80 |
| 3 | Manchester United | 38 | 24 | 5 | 9 | 87 | 45 | 42 | 77 |
| 4 | Newcastle United | 38 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 74 | 52 | 22 | 71 |
| 5 | Leeds United | 38 | 18 | 12 | 8 | 53 | 37 | 16 | 66 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 38 | 17 | 13 | 8 | 66 | 38 | 28 | 64 |
| 7 | West Ham United | 38 | 15 | 8 | 15 | 48 | 57 | -9 | 53 |
| 8 | Aston Villa | 38 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 46 | 47 | -1 | 50 |
| 9 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 49 | 53 | -4 | 50 |
| 10 | Blackburn Rovers | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 55 | 51 | 4 | 46 |
| 11 | Southampton | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 46 | 54 | -8 | 45 |
| 12 | Middlesbrough | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 35 | 47 | -12 | 45 |
| 13 | Fulham | 38 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 36 | 44 | -8 | 44 |
| 14 | Charlton Athletic | 38 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 38 | 49 | -11 | 44 |
| 15 | Everton | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 45 | 57 | -12 | 43 |
| 16 | Bolton Wanderers | 38 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 44 | 62 | -18 | 40 |
| 17 | Sunderland | 38 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 29 | 51 | -22 | 40 |
| 18 | Ipswich Town | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 41 | 64 | -23 | 36 |
| 19 | Derby County | 38 | 8 | 6 | 24 | 33 | 63 | -30 | 30 |
| 20 | Leicester City | 38 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 30 | 64 | -34 | 28 |
About the numbers
This is not an official Premier League table. We use real results to calculate an alternative competition. Wins earn three points; ties are ordered by goal difference and goals scored. This does not attempt every official historical disciplinary deduction or tiebreaker.
Original historical match results: footballcsv/england, CC0 public-domain licensed. Each source season was validated as a complete home-and-away league before inclusion.
That trophy never existed. The argument about who deserves it absolutely can.