Agree with this too tbh. However if Claridge had said that about West Ham only it wouldn't bother me because based on those 4 factors, it's true. But when they start praising Leeds for what they did 40 years ago it just gets a bit tiresome. I'm sure they'll get back to the PL one day and everyone will say they're 'back where they belong' or some other such filth. The general attitude that certain clubs are worth more to football than others based on their 'history' offends me.
But, realistically, they've got all that, and apart from Forest they should all be in contention for promotion come May. Forest have won 2 european cups & alot of others ffs! We'll never play in that competition. Derby have played in Europe and have won the cup and old division league- we'll never do all that. Leeds- same as above West Ham- have a whole part of London to themselves and have had some success and have the history of having 4 players of our WC '66 come from their team. I can see where you're coming from, but you're identifying with the wrong teams. There's alot of sides in this division that have some honours that they won some time ago, and may or may not be celebrated as vigorously by their modern fans. For example, Cardiff won the FA cup after World War I, others are Barnsley, Brighton etc etc but they won't gon about their successes like Derby, Forest, Leeds because hardly anybody remembers them. You can make your case all you want but we haven't even got any of that. We have history but it's nowhere near as prestigious. Now onto fans. Our fanbase is just recovering from 2 decades on the blink. We've still got a job on to eradicate the glory seeking Man Utd, Leeds, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal types from our fair city ans turn them onto HCAFC. If we'd achieved something in the late 70s/ early 80s we might have a stable fanbase home and away, but it fluctuates like mad. Don't get me wrong i love City (always have), but i cringe at these types of threads, when our fans talk garbage about history we;ve never had.
You've completely missed my point. I didn't say we have a prestigious history. I said that (whilst the respective clubs and their fans have every right to be proud of what their team has achieved) it doesn't matter now. It doesn't make those clubs any better or more important than us now. 15 years ago, would you have expected Fulham to be playing in Europe now? Yet it's impossible for us to ever play there? Actually that's irrelevant whether it's true or not. The point is what a club has achieved historically has no bearing on how much respect they deserve now. People use the term 'big' as some sort of justification for players moving to a club (for example I saw TWS thread the other day saying that Andros Townsend had signed for them because they were such a massive club) but why would history really affect that?! It's just complete bollocks.
The problem with the term 'biggest club' is that it is not defined anywhere. It's totally subjective at best. Do we take present attendances, previous attendances, current league position, previous league positions, cups/titles won recently or cups/titles won ever? Do we include wealth/turnover/backing? Size of stadium? Who knows?
When you talk about big or small clubs, it's inevitable to look at past history. If you would say who currently has more chances to get promoted that would be a whole different argument.
It's one of these things that is completely down to opinion, I see where ISTPT is coming from and one of the most loathsome things about Leeds is the fans who harp on about their achievements 30/40 years ago. But with them been in the premier league and 10/12 years ago been one of the leading forces in that league you can see why they recieve the big club tag they get, premier league or not. Obviously, the big clubs are the ones who have been in the premier league since it's inception, even though Everton and Villa haven't won anything in a while seeing them slide out of the top flight would be a shock given the size of the club. Then of course there's Man City and probably Newcastle too. Although Leeds aren't among the illustrious names of English football like they used to be, along with the likes of Southampton, Forest, Derby, Birmingham it's in a lot of fans living memory where these teams were successful in the top division, and despite current standing they'll still be considered big clubs. But in 20/30 years time if these clubs still haven't achieved anything, then they may well end up becoming like Blackpool, PNE and Burnley where past achievements and standing are too far in the distant past to be known as a 'big club'.
I pretty much agree with this. In my opinion there is another thing to consider. There are (rightly or wrongly) some clubs whose names are synonymous with being a 'big club' and, when they are linked with a player, would have more pulling power as a result. There are the obvious candidates of Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, (now) Man City, Newcastle, Celtic, Rangers. It pains me to say it, but Leeds would probably fall into that category as would (to a lesser degree than used to be the case) Forest.
I'd go with Forest on trophies, as for fanbase this is too much of grey area to base which is the biggest club on.
Did he now and how did he arrive at that conclusion then ? How is he basing that opinion ? Is it history - potential - ground size - spending power - what ? May i suggest its all down to peoples own opinion as to what makes a club a big one. Hull City have the potential to be a big club but only when we have a capacity of at least 40,000 @ the KC. As for big gates anyone can give away free tickets So i would say that only when every punter has paid can that be a true crowd. As for who is the biggest club in the championship at the moment it has to be Southampton as they are top, get big crowds & can get bigger ones and have good history. imo.
We can't sell out a 25.000 seater stadium so what makes you think we will get 40,000. To achieve this we would have to give away approximateky 20,000 free tickets, which is not viable. The biggest team in this division are West Ham because they have history of being a good top flight side, have spending power, have a large fanbase, probably the best squad in the league and arguably the most high profile manager in the league
