Who said anything about the FA? And by what you are saying about the referees means you believe that there is a reason why they don't employ southern refs. Look at the stats from the past few years and they favour Arsenal and Chelsea just as much as they favour United and Liverpool.
There are only three genuine big clubs in the South: Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs. Other than that, no southern club (south of Birmingham and Nottingham) is any bigger than Leeds, Newcastle, Sunderland, Blackburn and Sheffield Wednesday, not to mention the big four. Heck, Preston North End have won more than trophies and have more history than most "big" southern teams. Fahkt fail alert! http://www.roymorgan.com/news/press-releases/2006/490/
Big Northern Clubs: Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland Big Southern Clubs: Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham, Ipswich Town
You forgot Dagenham & Redbridge, Wycombe Wanderers and Queen's Park Rangers - all of whom are very big names, in length anyway
are we talking big in terms of history, or big in terms of supporters, or big in terms of money, or big in terms of quality? don't think anyone's clarified that yet. history: man utd, liverpool, leeds, nottingham forest, arsenal? supporters: 1. man utd, 2. liverpool, 3. arsenal money: 1. man city, 2. chelsea, 3. i have no idea, arsenal or man utd or liverpool or QPR. quality: any PL club
It would be hilarious if Arsenal, who have a terrible record in Russia and Ukraine, are int he same group as both Shhakhtar and Zenit
Rubbish. Chelsea were pulling in numbers United never have or ever will have at OT in the past. City were getting 32,000 regularly at Maine Road in the 3rd Division. United only had a short spell in the 2nd division, had they been there for long enough like City in the 90s or Chelsea in the 70s they would have pulled in nowhere near the crowds they did. Up until Sky came along, even Aston Villa and Everton were bigger clubs than United going by your logic
It depends what the Criteria is, if we are including the Midlands as a separate region (which it is) then without doubt this is the following list: Big North West Clubs Clubs: Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton, Manchester City, Big North East Clubs: Newcastle United, Sunderland Big Yorkshire Clubs: Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Big West Midlands Clubs: Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Big East Midlands Clubs: Nottingham Forest, Derby County, Big London Clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Other Big Southern Clubs: Ipswich Town, Southampton, Portsmouth
Proof please. Chelsea had 48,000 in the year they won the title (1955) the season after they finished 16th and their average attendance was 34,000 When Chelsea were relegated in the 80's the crowds were 12,000 at the lowest. Compare that to United who were relegated in 1974 had an average attendance of 42,000. The season after their attendances were the biggest in the country at 48,000 (Liverpool who finished 2nd in the 1st Div had an attendance of 42,000). So your made up facts are wrong again mate In the 80's-early 90's they were getting attendances of 40-50,000 (before the Premier League) compared to Chelsea's 10-20,000 in the same time. Also in that time Liverpool's average was around the 35,000 when they were sweeping up everything in the country and in Europe. This shows United easily have the biggest and best support in the land. http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/englandcontent.htm
