A new study by a leading football prediction site has revealed the squads in the top 4 tiers of English football with the cleanest disciplinary records.
The research analysed data from the 2023/24 season games in the English Premier League, Championship, League One, and League Two competitions, to establish the teams who committed the most fouls and received the most cards.
The study used a points system to decide the league’s dirtiest sides in which each foul constituted one point, each yellow card three points, and each red card ten points, allowing the team with the highest scores to be considered English football’s dirtiest, and vice-verse, those with the lowest, England’s ‘good-boys’.
Manchester City ranked as the team in England’s top four leagues with the lowest disciplinary score, making them the team with the best disciplinary record. The Sky Blues completed the last Premier League season with just 289 fouls, 53 yellow cards, and only 2 red ones. With this, their total discipline score came in at 413, or just 10.87 per-game, the lowest nationwide.
Not a single other Premier League side made the top ten for the best disciplinary records with as many as three ranking among the ten worst discipline scores.
Manchester split
Comparatively, Manchester United finished with a total discipline score of 576, having committed 401 fouls and received 83 yellow cards plus one red card. This places them with the 56th worst discipline score in the top four English leagues during the 23/24 season.
Julien Josset, CEO of FootballWhispers.com, commented on the findings: “The study’s results are fascinating, and while football fans have no shortage of ammunition to berate one another with, the teams ranking as England’s dirtiest will no doubt be subject to colourful criticism by fans of their opposition, particularly those of their greatest rivals.
“It’s also interesting to see that, while lower leagues are often associated with a more physical style of play, it’s the Premier League that sees the most teams in the dirtiest ten.
“While the distribution is relatively even among leagues, that’s certainly an interesting insight into football across the country.”
Top of the table
| Rank | Squad | Fouls | Yellow Cards | Red Cards | Total Score | Total Score Per Game |
| 1 | Manchester City | 289 | 53 | 2 | 413 | 10.87 |
| 2 | Harrogate | 400 | 69 | 0 | 538 | 11.70 |
| 3 | West Brom | 377 | 79 | 1 | 544 | 11.83 |
| 4 | P’borough Utd | 412 | 63 | 1 | 547 | 11.89 |
| 5 | Notts County | 355 | 92 | 3 | 566 | 12.30 |
| 6 | Bristol City | 446 | 71 | 1 | 597 | 12.98 |
| 7 | Cardiff City | 436 | 81 | 1 | 607 | 13.20 |
| 8 | Northampton | 459 | 75 | 1 | 618 | 13.43 |
| 9 | Oxford United | 428 | 74 | 5 | 621 | 13.50 |
| 10 | Carlisle United | 431 | 83 | 3 | 624 | 13.57 |
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