Beddy / Wise
The curious thing about this (and what makes it very a entertaining debate) is where would you draw the line if you had to discount the passage of time? The creation of the Premiership? Post 1966? Post 1945? If you counted every team on the basis of what they had acheived (as opposed to crowd attendance) you would get some interesting results with teams like The Wanderers who don't exist anymore (other than as a Unicef sponsored venutre in London since about 2005) pretty high up any notional league. Even on the basis of attendance, this would throw up some interesting results given the size of crowds who attended matches in the 20's and 30's. (I believe attendances actually sent down post-war.)
I would like to think that there would be a "heritage" factor if such a league ever came into existence as I would dislike "plastic" teams with no history such as MK Dons to end up in the higher echelons. It is intriguing that when you go abroad, just how recent many European football teams were formed. True, there are clubs in Italy which started in the late 19th Century (I believe Juventus owes it's origins to an Englishman) but I often go to France and you find teams over there like Lyon who only go as far back as the 1930's - in fact, St. Etienne were traditionally the "big " club in that part of France and Lyon were, until recently, considered up-starts. Paris St. Germain was formed in the 1970's after Racing Club de Paris' demise. Saints had been going for 50 years prior to the creation of OC Lyon! For me, the heritage and cultural aspects of football clubs in England and maybe even more so in Scotland make the game over here more special than elsewhere. I feel that this would have to be factored in some way in any decision as to who would play in this league . Our football history is something that makes the British game so special and wouldn't discount this quite as swiftly as Wisescummer if I had to assemble this notional league.
The worst thing would be for such a league to be assessed purely on financial clout as I think that money distracts from the sporting element of football. True, this league would need the top teams like Man Utd but, in an ideal world, I would like to see a bit more parity between the teams.
The curious thing about this (and what makes it very a entertaining debate) is where would you draw the line if you had to discount the passage of time? The creation of the Premiership? Post 1966? Post 1945? If you counted every team on the basis of what they had acheived (as opposed to crowd attendance) you would get some interesting results with teams like The Wanderers who don't exist anymore (other than as a Unicef sponsored venutre in London since about 2005) pretty high up any notional league. Even on the basis of attendance, this would throw up some interesting results given the size of crowds who attended matches in the 20's and 30's. (I believe attendances actually sent down post-war.)
I would like to think that there would be a "heritage" factor if such a league ever came into existence as I would dislike "plastic" teams with no history such as MK Dons to end up in the higher echelons. It is intriguing that when you go abroad, just how recent many European football teams were formed. True, there are clubs in Italy which started in the late 19th Century (I believe Juventus owes it's origins to an Englishman) but I often go to France and you find teams over there like Lyon who only go as far back as the 1930's - in fact, St. Etienne were traditionally the "big " club in that part of France and Lyon were, until recently, considered up-starts. Paris St. Germain was formed in the 1970's after Racing Club de Paris' demise. Saints had been going for 50 years prior to the creation of OC Lyon! For me, the heritage and cultural aspects of football clubs in England and maybe even more so in Scotland make the game over here more special than elsewhere. I feel that this would have to be factored in some way in any decision as to who would play in this league . Our football history is something that makes the British game so special and wouldn't discount this quite as swiftly as Wisescummer if I had to assemble this notional league.
The worst thing would be for such a league to be assessed purely on financial clout as I think that money distracts from the sporting element of football. True, this league would need the top teams like Man Utd but, in an ideal world, I would like to see a bit more parity between the teams.
