I worry about you boys in the Championship, despite having a world class manager, the bigger clubs getting the marginal decisions from inexperienced referees may work against you.
The term 'big club' is awful. We have prestigious clubs and we have modest clubs and we have clubs which are in between. Outside of Juventus, Bayern, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Man Utd, there's pretty much just everyone else.
Blackburn. One of the few who have won the Prem relegated to league one. Jack Walker will be twisting in his grave.
Serves them right thinking our ex star striker Danny boy would do the business for them. Shame for our away support as its easier to get to than St Andrews.
This "big club" term is a complete misnomer though. Are we big in terms of support? Absolutely - only 6 bigger. Are we big in terms of number of times winning the top division - in theory yes as only United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton and Villa have won it more than us (6 times) but our last success was 1935/36! Recently we've been a big club in support only - can;t compete with mid table sides so size is all about perception. (Luckily my missus wears massive jam jar glasses so she thinks I'm huge) Do us fans deserve us to be a "big club" - absolutely, I think us and the mags are the 2 best supported clubs in the country - pretty sure only Man United would rival our attendances with the same drab record. But, in reality, we're not! We can;t attract big players (as we can't/won't pay them the big money?) and Stoke can attract them and pay them more than us! That sentence probably sums it up.
[QOTE="marcusblackcat, post: 10520368, member: 1000689"]This "big club" term is a complete misnomer though. Are we big in terms of support? Absolutely - only 6 bigger. Are we big in terms of number of times winning the top division - in theory yes as only United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton and Villa have won it more than us (6 times) but our last success was 1935/36! Recently we've been a big club in support only - can;t compete with mid table sides so size is all about perception. (Luckily my missus wears massive jam jar glasses so she thinks I'm huge) Do us fans deserve us to be a "big club" - absolutely, I think us and the mags are the 2 best supported clubs in the country - pretty sure only Man United would rival our attendances with the same drab record. But, in reality, we're not! We can;t attract big players (as we can't/won't pay them the big money?) and Stoke can attract them and pay them more than us! That sentence probably sums it up.[/QUOTE] Toon and Sunderland are easily the best supported outside of Man Utd. That is true support; not the plastic glory supporters that turn up for the likes of Chelski, Arsenal etc. We have both won **** all within the last 40 years but still have massive home and away followings. Imagine what it would be like if we were both regularly challenging at the top of the PL. Defining a big club is subjective. Support, money, success, history all come in to play. Newcastle have 3 out of 4 elements [support, money and history] at the moment; Sunderland 2 out of 4 [support and history.] But both are potentially massive clubs. I think there are prestige clubs - Man Utd, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barca, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter, Bayern, Celtic, Rangers even someone like Benfica where the name alone is sufficient for people to say, yes they are 'big'. These are the traditionally successful clubs that have won numerous league titles, cups, European competitions and have had some of the worlds best players play or have played for them. There is then a second group of clubs - Successful, that have won trophies, but the name alone doesn't attract the same level of prestige as those above. So I would include, Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, Man City from England and Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, Athletico Madrid, Valencia, Dortmund as examples from Europe. They have regularly challenged for honours either domestically, in Europe or both over the years, but just don't have the same aura as the clubs in the first category. The third category encompasses those that have history, massive support, but just don't challenge for honours. Everyone has heard of them, most know the history of these clubs, most believe that they should be up there and these clubs have the potential to move into one of the first two categories. They are usually called 'sleeping giants'. Newcastle and Sunderland belong in this category as do Aston Villa and probably Everton. Entirely my view and people can disagree.
Toon and Sunderland are easily the best supported outside of Man Utd. That is true support; not the plastic glory supporters that turn up for the likes of Chelski, Arsenal etc. We have both won **** all within the last 40 years but still have massive home and away followings. Imagine what it would be like if we were both regularly challenging at the top of the PL. Defining a big club is subjective. Support, money, success, history all come in to play. Newcastle have 3 out of 4 elements [support, money and history] at the moment; Sunderland 2 out of 4 [support and history.] But both are potentially massive clubs. I think there are prestige clubs - Man Utd, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barca, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter, Bayern, Celtic, Rangers even someone like Benfica where the name alone is sufficient for people to say, yes they are 'big'. These are the traditionally successful clubs that have won numerous league titles, cups, European competitions and have had some of the worlds best players play or have played for them. There is then a second group of clubs - Successful, that have won trophies, but the name alone doesn't attract the same level of prestige as those above. So I would include, Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, Man City from England and Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, Athletico Madrid, Valencia, Dortmund as examples from Europe. They have regularly challenged for honours either domestically, in Europe or both over the years, but just don't have the same aura as the clubs in the first category. The third category encompasses those that have history, massive support, but just don't challenge for honours. Everyone has heard of them, most know the history of these clubs, most believe that they should be up there and these clubs have the potential to move into one of the first two categories. They are usually called 'sleeping giants'. Newcastle and Sunderland belong in this category as do Aston Villa and probably Everton. Entirely my view and people can disagree.[/QUOTE] Excellent post.
And then on top of that there are several clubs that could be regarded as 'big' due to what they've contributed to the game, beyond simply winning competitions. Some of them, such as Ajax, Austria Vienna, Honved, Dynamo Kiev remain relatively well known while others such as Sheffield FC, Corinthians, and Queen's Park have pretty much disappeared into obscurity. All of those clubs have had a major impact on the way the game is played and helped to shape and form modern football. In that respect, they should be regarded as being bigger than some club that has been pumped full of money and won some pots.
This. Ajax aren't a big club in terms of support or money, but their influence in World and European football is unquestionable. From Jack Reynolds to Rinus Michels they are another example of prestige. The name alone is synonymous with football itself. Everyone knows of them.
