The Premier League Standings for Websites
The English Premier League is the most popular sports league in the world.
If you run a team in the Premier League, you can reach 5 billion people in over 200 countries.
So, wouldn’t you want to put your best foot forward with marketing? Wouldn’t it make sense to build a great website?
We took a look at the websites for all 20 Premier League teams to find out whose sites were world-class and whose sites were an own goal.
Findings
Here’s what we found after looking at the websites for all 20 teams:
- Quality: Most of the Premier League teams’ websites suck.
- Mobile-friendly: There are only 3 mobile-friendly designs in the league.
- Software: With only one exception, all of the sites were built with ASP.NET or Java.
- Features: Football websites love splash pages and slideshows. Some even have multiple homepage slideshows.
- Problems: A majority of the sites have splash pages. Several had loud video playing automatically. Quite a few were almost impossible to read and navigate.
Champions: Arsenal
- Site: arsenal.com
- Mobile-friendly: Yes
- Google PageSpeed Score: 85
- Software: Seems to be Ruby
- This wasn’t even close. Arsenal are the run-away champions. True, this year’s competition wasn’t tough, but Arsenal’s site is clean, easy-to-read and provides the best mobile experience.
Runners-up: Sunderland
- Site: safc.com
- Mobile-friendly: Yes
- Google PageSpeed Score: 83
- Software: ASP.NET
- Sunderland’s site is mobile-friendly and clean which enough to land them high up this list.
3rd: Fulham
- Site: fulhamfc.com
- Mobile-friendly: Yes
- Google PageSpeed Score: 79
- Software: ASP.NET
- Fulham’s site is one of only 3 mobile-friendly designs in the league.
4th: Manchester City
- Site: mcfc.co.uk
- Mobile-friendly: No
- Google PageSpeed Score: 73
- Software: ASP.NET
- Problems: Splash page
- Man City’s site has a lot going for it, but the splash page and the lack of a mobile design mean that they can’t climb any higher than 4th.
Mid-table mediocrity: Everton
- Site: evertonfc.com
- Mobile-friendly: No
- Google PageSpeed Score: 91
- Software: ASP.NET
- Problems: A video with sound playing automatically plus strange boxes on the side of the site. I’ve put Everton at the top of the Mid-table mediocrity list, but really there’s little to choose between them and the 5 other sites in this area.
Mid-table mediocrity: Liverpool
- Site: liverpoolfc.com
- Mobile-friendly: No
- Google PageSpeed Score: 81
- Software: ASP.NET
- Problems: There’s way, way to much going on all over this site. There are double menus, double info boxes and approximately 1001 menu items in the footer.
Mid-table mediocrity: Aston Villa
- Site: avfc.co.uk
- Mobile-friendly: No
- Google PageSpeed Score: 67
- Software: Java
- Problems: Villa have a boxy, dated design. They also have an ad for Bon Jovi (?!?) and some broken links to newspaper sites.
Mid-table mediocrity: West Ham United
- Site: whufc.com
- Mobile-friendly: No
- Google PageSpeed Score: 84
- Software: Java
- Problems: A splash page, uninspiring design and a video that plays automatically.
Mid-table mediocrity: Tottenham Hotspur
- Site: tottenhamhotspur.com/
- Mobile-friendly: No
- Google PageSpeed Score: 86
- Software: Java
- Problems: Splash page and a double slideshow!
Narrowly avoiding relegation: Cardiff, Crystal Palace, Hull, Norwich, Southampton, Stoke, Swansea
- Crystal Palace site: cpfc.co.uk
- Norwich site: canaries.co.uk
- Southampton site: saintsfc.co.uk
- Cardiff site: cardiffcityfc.co.uk
- Hull site: hullcityafc.net
- Stoke site: stokecityfc.com
- Swansea site: swanseacity.net
- West Bromich Albion: wba.co.uk
- Mobile-friendly: No
- Google PageSpeed Score: 78
- Software: ASP.NET
- Problems: All 8 of these sites seem to have been mangled by the same team of designers. A horrible splash screen, obtrusive ads and mis-shapen homepage areas are just some of the multiple problems for these sites. I only wish I had room to mark all 8 sites for relegation.
Relegated: Chelsea
- Site: chelseafc.com
- Mobile-friendly: No
- Google PageSpeed Score: 58
- Software: Java
- Problems: There’s a splash page of course and but the real problem is that it’s slowest site in the league. Oh, and while we can excuse Hull and Crystal Palace for their sites, Chelsea are a global brand. They should be doing much better.
Relegated: Manchester United
- Site: manutd.com
- Mobile-friendly: No
- Google PageSpeed Score: 62
- Software: ASP.NET
- Problems: See Chelsea above. A slow with a splash screen and given their status, they should be doing much better.
Relegated: Newcastle United
- Site: nufc.co.uk
- Mobile-friendly: No
- Google PageSpeed Score: 78
- Software: ASP.NET
- Problems: The whole site is a problem. There’s a splash that confusingly looks as if it could be the real website. There’s a video with loud music playing automatically. There’s a broken headline for season tickets. Oh, and in Google they’re outranked by the .com version of their domain name.
No PHP?
ASP.NET seems to be very popular
Yes, these sites are in the dark ages. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the only site using open source is the Arsenal site.