Top 10 Premier League Legends Who Never Won a League Title
For a league that is less than 25 years old, the Premier League has produced more than its fair share of bona-fide legendary stars.
Some—like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes—saw their endeavours rewarded handsomely, collecting an endless stream of Premier League winners' medals.
Others haven’t been so lucky. In this list, we’ll rank the top 10 legendary Premier League players who, despite their efforts, never found themselves in a title-topping side.
They have been ranked by taking a number of criteria into account, including the number of appearances they made in the league, their contribution to their teams and how close they came to winning the title.
Players who are still active and playing in the Premier League are not excluded from consideration.
Honourable Mentions
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There are numerous players who can stake a realistic claim for inclusion on the list. Goalkeepers are arguably the most frequent nearly-rans, with Tim Howard, Brad Friedel, Mark Schwarzer, Shay Given and Jussi Jaaskelainen all having memorable careers.
Howard was particularly unlucky not to win, despite 45 appearances for Manchester United. The rest can look at Edwin van der Sar—a goalkeeper of similarly high ability—and consider themselves unlucky that it wasn’t they who were picked by Sir Alex Ferguson instead.
Tim Cahill was another fantastic performer for Everton alongside Howard who could potentially have made the jump to a title-winning side at the peak of his career. David Ginola lit up the Premier League during his stints with Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, winning the PFA Player of the Year in 1999.
Peter Beardsley may have been in his 30s by 1992, but that didn’t stop him making his mark on the league at Newcastle in particular. He finished a runner-up twice in 1995/96 and 1996/97, having won the old First Division twice with Liverpool. Another Liverpool great, who suffered from the club’s failure to translate their incredible record to the Premier League, was defensive stalwart Sami Hyypia.
Finally, the likes of Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink, Robbie Keane, Emile Heskey and Darren Bent have all broken the 100-goal mark in the league without receiving a winner’s medal.
10. David James
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A tough choice above the five ‘keepers given honourable mentions, David James edges them by virtue of the length of his service in the Premier League, particularly his seven seasons at Liverpool, during which time they finished third and fourth twice.
James’ reputation has been unfairly tarnished by his occasional mishaps, but his 572 appearances put him only behind Ryan Giggs and Frank Lampard in the all-time Premier League appearances list, a testament to his reliability and his quality between the sticks.
9. Jermaine Defoe
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Although time is not yet up on Jermaine Defoe’s career, now aged 32, it’s unlikely his chance is going to come unless one of the major clubs picks him up as a utility striker.
Still, that isn’t to put a dampener on what has been a fantastic career: 128 goals put him 11th on the all-time Premier League goalscoring list.
His return to the Premier League this season with Sunderland and his sensational winner in the derby against Newcastle was a timely reminder of his abilities, which show few signs of waning.
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8. Paolo Di Canio
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Controversial, explosive but undeniably brilliant, Paolo Di Canio’s time in the Premier League, with Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton Athletic and—most notably—West Ham United established him as a truly enigmatic presence in English football folklore.
Di Canio is probably best remembered for scoring a sensational scissor-kick volley against Wimbledon and his refusal to score against Everton after an injury to their goalkeeper, an act that FIFA deemed worthy of their Fair Play Award, per BBC Sport.
He also could have been a Premier League winner had Sir Alex Ferguson got his way and signed him in 2002, per the Manchester Evening News.
7. Gianfranco Zola
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Gianfranco Zola must have wondered if, having left Chelsea in 2003, the extremely high esteem that Chelsea fans held him in would wane as the club won silverware galore under Roman Abramovich's ownership.
However, 12 years on, his legend rivals any of the players who have since joined the club.
Similarly to Di Canio, Zola was one of the first great examples of continental flair in the Premier League, and before the era of John Terry and Frank Lampard truly got underway, he was undisputedly Chelsea's star, playing 229 games and scoring 59.
6. Les Ferdinand
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A vastly underrated striker, "Sir Les" was little short of prolific for Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle.
Like so many others on this list, he can consider himself unlucky that he was never called upon by a Manchester United or another title-winning side, although his two seasons at St James' Park saw the club finish second twice.
In all, Ferdinand scored 149 times, putting him eighth on the all-time list.
5. Robbie Fowler
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The first of three players in this list to have fallen foul of Liverpool’s Premier League curse, Robbie Fowler was the first Premier League successor to the long line of legendary strikers to have graced the Anfield turf.
He averaged better than a goal every other game during his first spell with the club and topped his time off with the club’s famous cup treble season, leaving at the end of the next campaign.
He never quite recaptured the form that saw the Kop dub him "God" in subsequent spells with Leeds United, Manchester City and a second with Liverpool, but his achievements earlier in his career more than offset this.
4. Matt Le Tissier
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Famous for his refusal to leave his beloved Southampton, to say the Saints rarely matched up to the supremely skilled Matt Le Tissier is something of an understatement.
The Telegraph notes that "Southampton did not win a game in which Le Tissier did not play for almost five years during the 1990s," which speaks to the club's dependence on his superb midfield scoring record.
Le Tissier’s loyalty not only cost him the chance of silverware but also scuppered what should have been a far more prominent career with the England team, for whom he only earned eight caps. However, he remains fondly remembered by Southampton and football fans in general.
3. Jamie Carragher
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Given his reputation as a domineering centre-back who ranks among the best the Premier League has ever seen, Jamie Carragher’s career is all the more remarkable when considering he was a utility man in his early years, being deployed in midfield or full-back as frequently as he was in the position he is now synonymous with.
Despite not winning the Premier League, Carragher won virtually everything else—the Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup, as well being named in the PFA Team of the Year in 2006 and winning the club’s Player of the Year award three times.
2. Gary Speed
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Arguably the most underrated Premier League player ever, Gary Speed was a complete midfielder who did everything well.
Starring for Leeds, Everton. Newcastle and Bolton Wanderers, Speed was a virtual ever-present during the league’s formative years, becoming the first player to reach the 500 appearances mark. He began as an exciting attacking force, a role he also regularly fulfilled in his 85 Wales caps, before becoming a linchpin in his time under Sam Allardyce at the Reebok Stadium.
Speed’s key ability was his meticulous reading of the game, something that carried over to his burgeoning coaching career. While he never managed a Premier League win, he was instrumental in Leeds United’s success in the final year of the First Division before the rebranding and played key roles in Bolton’s successive top-half finishes and Newcastle’s qualification for the Champions League in 2001/02.
1. Steven Gerrard
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With Steven Gerrard’s move to LA Galaxy imminent, so end his chances of winning a Premier League title.
Despite the incredible service he has provided for his beloved Liverpool over the years and the talismanic presence he offered them—a fact that fans of AC Milan, Olympiakos and West Ham will attest to—the man who may well be the club’s greatest-ever player was never quite able to help them get over the finishing line in the league and break their Premier League duck.
He was a runner-up three times, in 2001/02, 2008/09 and 2013/14. The latter season was undoubtedly the most cruel on a personal level, as it was Gerrard’s now infamous slip that let in Demba Ba in the Reds’ home fixture against Chelsea and put paid to their chances of finally capturing the crown.
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