Hmm... Maybe before you accuse someone of "being a dumbass who can't read" you should take the time to look at exactly who he was quoting.
Sorry Ray Parlour. Didn't see the other posting saying Arsenal was 8th. Which is completely off by the way. They are 3rd in my book behind ManU and Liverpool. Anyway, just wanted to apologize for my comments. Chris Walker
My top ten (well 2nd to 11th anyway) in no particular order: Stalybridge - Only team to ever resign from the league because they wanted to. Aldershot - Within only ten years of entering the league they had the greatest team in the country. Aside from inital members who can boast that. Grimsby - Can never stay in the same division for too long. Man City - Like Grimsby, but win things, in particular for their first championship defence. Hartlepool(s) - No one can match their record at the ballot box, and a rather successful monkey. Liverpool - For services to keeping Man Utd in the top flight. Glossop - For superb showing of going backwards. Plymouth - Winning isn't everything you know. How many other sides have managed so many successive runners-up spots. Pegasus - Toffs can bring in the crowds too you know. Spurs - OK, I'm taking the piss now
Liverpool - Multiple titles, european trophys, from the days when men where men, you played two legs in the cup, and three times on boxing day Manchester United - For two breif moments in history, the latter having dragged out for ten years through lack of competition. Arsenal - Simply Londons biggest club. PLus a bagful of trophies Nottingham Forest - For services rendered by Cloughie Leeds - Team of the seventies, and would have been in the nineties if not for some managerial mishaps Derby - Do I hear cries of suprise, twice first division champs, european cup semi finalists... compare them with erm.... Newcastle - fairs cup winners in 1969, but lets not forget the charity sheild in 1909, and the fa cup in 1955... One of britains top ten on support alone... Aston Villa - Only four teams have racked up more top division points that villa, enough to get them in my top ten. Everton - Longer in the top flight than anyone else... West Ham - Sneak in.. 3 times cup winners, 1 time eufa winners, and basis of the 66 world cup winning side. And still the romantic team in football Notable omissions - Tottenham - Im sorry.. but they need to ditch this big club mentality.. they havnt won jack for years, i cant remember ever seeing them in europe.. Theyre a mess. Ipswich - A Eufa cup, and a league title.. not big enough Chelsea - Nearly.. but not quiete
erm...sorry... we don't get in because we "havn't won jack for years" but west ham and newcastle are in? when were their last trophies exactly? west ham cos they're 3 times cup winners and have a uefa cup? how about 8 times cup winners, double winners, uefa cup winners and first english club to win a european trophy when we won the cup winners cup? plus we won the fa cup in 1991, more recently than anyone on your list except everton and the big three. and if you're going on recent history, why exactly do you have 3 nationwide sides on your list? what, derby and forest are bigger than us now? remove your head from your ass. jesus, and i'm supposed to have an irrational problem with newcastle.
If you look at a football club on trophies won, there a peaks and troughs for all clubs, and we see some clubs who's names appear regularly over a period of years, such as Manchester United and Liverpool. I look at the size of football clubs on support though, after all that is essentially what football is about. Im a Sunderland supporter and the away support my club commands never fails to amaze me. One of my earliest SAFC memories was when some 15,000 Sunderland supporters took over Maine Road to watch the team get relegated, and again when SAFC took over Selhurst park to watch the lads relegated against Wimbledon. On other days similar numbers of around 15,000-20,000 have travelled down to away games at less than glamerous venues such as Hull. Today, in the nationwide, Sunderland can quite easily command an away crowd of 5-6 thousand for a run of the mill league game. I was at both reading and Burnley this season to watch Sunderland, who unsurprisingly took over the towns and had a presence of 5,000 there to watch what is in this day and age, fairly average football. When we think about it, even at home matches, you have to admire the 30,000 mackems who show up, especially when we consider the manner in which we were relegated. Lets remember that we were one match off the worst run of results in football league history. To command the loyal, passionate crowd we do is a feat that I very much doubt Spurs, West Ham and the likes could pull off. i also seem to remember both Spurs and West Ham bringing pittiful followings to the SoL over the last couple of seasons, particularly in the premiership for West Ham. So, whilst in terms of trophys won, and quality of football and finances Sunderland may not be up there at the minute, with the massive backing we have and continually show, Sunderland are a sleeping giant who WILL return
firstly, where the hell did you dig this thread up from? secondly, my god, i've never heard a bigger load of disillusioned bollocks in my life. you might want to check out the following link: http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/2004/aveeng.htm west ham had a higher average attendance than sunderland last season! their figures stayed very close to the way they had been in the prem, while your figures plummeted! a 48,000 seater stadium and only 27,000 turn up. a drop of 31.7% from the previous season! the so called die hards dissapared without trace. i hate west ham a lot more than sunderland, who are really a somewhat irrelevant side, but hammers fans have shown commendable loyalty (despite being muppets with a major inferiority complex) while sunderland fans have illustrated the myth of their supposed loyalty nicely. and if you want to to take a look at our attendances when we spent time in the old second division, go right ahead. i think you'll be surprised by what you find.
Sunderland had 3607 at Reading last season. Impressive as that is, it's not 5000, nor is it the full away allocation.
Actually, more like 12 million within the M25. Then the rest of the South East to pick from. Probably looking at 1 fifth of the UK's population
To be fair, the atmosphere at United has improved dramatically over the last few years, and can really rock when the game is wound tight.
Now you just got on the one nerve I had left. Manchesters bid for the Olympics was doomed to failure because the media was against it, as was the government. You kinda need the governments help to get these things going. Now, in the time it has taken London to pick a builder, a financier, a design, and just begin to tear down Wembley, Manchester bid for, got, built facilities, and ran Britains biggest ever sporting event in the Commonwealth Games. Jaque Rogger came out and said Manchester had the ability to run a fantastic Olympics. We won praise the world over. To prove a point, to help the bid, London has nicked everyone that made Manchester a success! Besides, I was talking with the Australian Charge d'affair, and she said that having the Olympics in Sydney was nice, but she did not enjoy it because of the stress involved. The Commonwealth Games where much more relaxed. All I can say is, if London gets the Olympics, it better make d@mned sure it is perfect. London does not have a good track record in building things, on time, and on budget.
Actually, Manchester is closer to 800,000 and rising. Manchester itself is small, Birmingham is geographically bigger. However, if you tack on the 11 other Borough Councils of Greater Manchester, then the pop swells past the 2.5m mark. There has been talk of re-drawing the boundaries of Manchester so it can claim a popn of 1m. This would allow it to attract extra funding which would spill to the other boroughs. However, the other Boroughs (not surprisingly) don't like the idea of collectively losing 200,000 council tax paying voters.
Aye, Manchester is effectively the city centre and that's it. If the neighbouring boroughs could be included then the population would rise dramatically. There is one thing, there is no way in hell you could ever call Wigan and Bolton part of Manc so remove 600,000 people from the total
Having spent the last week in London (how lovely it is to be in a place where tramps will run around on all fours and bark at you) it struck me how few people there seemed to be English, let alone Londoners. The curious thing about London is the fact that there isn't a single 'big' south london club. There must be at least 4 million people in south london and yet the biggest club is charlton.
*picks self up from floor* Oh god big soccer never fails to amuse me a sunderland fan claiming that the mackems are a sleeping giant. YOU GAVE HALF YOUR TICKETS AWAY LAST SEASON!!! You give them to schools and even offer them to the families of the stewards. you show me the last time blunderland took more that 8000 away fans and i'll eat my novelty foam cowboy hat. SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET. SILLY MACKEM
In No Order At All 1. Manchester United 2. Liverpool 3. Everton 4. Preston 5. Leeds 6. Chelsea 7. Notts County 8. Leeds United 9. Arsenal 10. West Ham
How Could you put Notts County in the top 10?!?! They are not even the best club in Nottingham. Forest tops them in league wins and domestic cup wins. Plus they actually have multiple European silverware to their name.
Liverpool Manchester Utd. Nottingham Forest Arsenal Tottenham Aston Villa Everton Sheffield Wednesday Manchester City Can't choose the tenth Wednesday is a sleeping giant.
Blackburn Olympia - The first non-school based club to win the FA Cup, which began the club tradition we see today. Now, they're known as Blackburn Rovers FC. Manchester United - They are the first English club to win the European Cup (1968). They also are the first English club to win the Treble (1999). Largest club fan base in the world. Liverpool - History, very good in the seventies and eighties. More fans in England than any other club. Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich Town - All won Europe. All have massive fan bases and are steeped in tradition. West Ham - Good ol' east end of London working man's club. Some of the key players of England's 1966 World Cup winning team, including Captain Bobby Moore and the hat-trick hero of the final Geoff Hurst, played for the Hammers in season. Leeds United - In the early seventies, nobody could beat them, except for Sunderland. Now, Sunderland is the only club they CAN beat, maybe. Arsenal - The new kings of England - most of them are French now, but never mind. The first side to go through an entire Premiership season without losing a match. A hell of an achievement. They need to win in Europe before they can truly become legends, though. Chelsea - The richest club on the planet, and one of the most impressive collections of individuals there is. It is a team game, however. They need to remember this sometimes. As far as history goes, they haven't won many leagues. They've won the Cup Winner's Cup and the Super Cup as far as Europe is concerned, and are building a reputation based on finances and stupidly high offers. They will be the next massive club in this country, if they are not massive already. Glory supporting is a fave hobby of many a footer fan, malheureusement. Revelian
Well, London is supposed to be the most multicultural city on the face of the earth. However, most are wrapped up in their own little lives, so they cannot pick a footy team. That, and each area still holds a 'personality' which will dominate the choice they make.
Just to be nitpicky, the most multicultural city in the world (according to the UN) is Toronto. With all the banter going back-and-forth, realize one thing. It is great that in England, you can have a lively debate on who the biggest clubs are. In the Dutch Eredivisie it is so set in stone, no debate is necessary. Anyway, one fact appears to be true: the more you dilute a city's population with clubs, the less "big" each of them become. I am sure that as certain London teams rise into the premiership, they take away supporters that were previously supporting another premier London team and vice-versa.
Toronto? Really? Well, there you go! In the EPL, there is only 5 teams that have the better chance of winning the thing, with 3 of them standing a MUCH better chance... Well, I say in the Eredivisie, Feyenoord are definately the best. Well, I would. I spent 6 months living in Rotterdam. Lots of fun! Especially when Ajax came to town...