Sky Sports update Ultimate League Ranking

The 89-team table, updated to include the final standings from the current campaign, calculates the average league position of each professional club competing in the English leagues over the past 50 years.

Statistically, it means City sit 37th on the national list – exactly where the club ended up.

That is a ranking superior to promoted Brighton & Hove Albion (39), play-off finalists Reading and Huddersfield (43 and 45) and Severnside rivals Cardiff City (44).

It also confirms City’s place as the most successful club in the South West in modern times, ahead of Swindon Town (48), Plymouth Argyle (52) and Bristol Rovers (55).

The highest-ranked club outside the Premier League is Aston Villa, who sit eighth, while Liverpool lead the way with an average league finish of 3.44 – despite failing to land the top-flight title for 27 years.

View the Sky Sports Ultimate League in full here.