Well not excatly giants but a fellow student from brizzle and i were talking about which club outside the Prem would be a good investment,He actually said Huddersfield whilst i said Bristol City as in support and the area which they command. A few other teams came into the discussion like both Sheffields and Forrest , even Gillinham ...............just a thought which team would you go for as a certain Mr Tan has grabbed the finest ...................;o)
John - Bristol City would seem to fit the bill perfectly. Their large city and surrounding catchment area means they're so well placed, it's a mystery why they aren't doing better, but then again, perhaps it's not a mystery at all. They're owned lock stock and barrel by Steve Lansdown and have been for many years. He sold his stake in Hargreaves Lansdown and walked away with a reported cool £300M. He'd already amassed another £300M stashed away and has taken up residency on Tomato Island and left it to his son Jon to run the club. I think he's personally picked up well over £40M of losses made by the club these past few years and seems reluctant to sling any more at it. With a reported wealth of around £600M he's well placed to go for it, but he let them drop a division last year through poor managerial decisions and deep pocket/short arm syndrome. Having money is one thing - spending it quite another. He's reported to have said they want to grow organically - well they're in the **** already so they're half way there.
The biggest clubs outside the top flight are Leeds and Sheffield Weds. Bristols problem is there are 2 clubs in the the same City. I know there are 2 in Sheffield but Wednesdays support is huge. Bristol Citys support is rubbish.
Birmingham support is just as bad - they can barely half fill their ground. I know they've got other clubs around there like Villa, Brom and Wolves, but for a city of that size, Brum's support is a disgrace.
Aston Villa though are the biggest and best supported club in Birmingham. Birmingham ive never considered a big club. Villa yes!
Going division by division I'd take Leeds UTD (Damn em !), Sheff Wed and Leicester or Derby rather than Forest, in the Championship. In Div. 1 Sheff Utd have a very good, and steady, support base which hasn't declined much with lack of success - also Wolves are potentially a massive club. In Div 2 if anyone can sort their problems out then Portsmouth would be a very good investment, from their support base they are at least Southampton's level, if not better.
Agree about Wolves there Cologne - good old club that deserves better than its' current regime. Good (and bad ) Molineux memories for me.
portsmouth don't have a big as fan base as us, what a ridiculous comment. we averaged over 20k in league1. what did they get last year?
No disrespect meant to the Saints but they did have a plush new stadium in contrast to the derelict Fratton Park, and Pompey were playing last season with a massive points deficit which more or less guaranteed relegation, so I don't think such a comparison is possible there.
I would say forest still except they have and always will struggle with ground capcity to get thefans in.......was always theproblem when 7 they were in Europe. ?... damn this tablet
I reckon Coventry would be a good punt. A load of debt and problems with the ground i.e. the rent they pay to the city council. but they have a lot of support in and around the city. They also have a decent acadamy.
colognehornet, Just re read my post back and realised it probably came across in the wrong way so apologies for that. I understand your point about the season they were having but when we were in the **** in admin n on way to league1 it actually made me want to go more, although that may just be me. Don't think the stadium should make too much difference if anything would maybe make their ticket prices cheaper though i am just speculating here. Pompey have a fiercely loyal but quite small fanbase, their away support is quite poor as well. On the subject of catchment area, i would say we both have quite a big one due to lack of decent sized clubs in south (i would say us 2 are comfortably the biggest on south coast). i know however that we have alot of fans from Winchester and Bournemouth, not sure where their out of city support comes from. apologies for long.post!
I remember watching a league match at Fratton park in the 70's and they had to play on a wednesday afternoon as the floodlights were bust, i was in the RN and had the afternoon off, so we went along and i do believe it is still the smallest recorded crowd for a league match. Well thats my 15 mins of fame over. I'll get my coat.
