Who are the 3 biggest clubs in the football league

Arguments for and against a good few. But far more importantly, Burnley are the best and, beyond them, for any potential signing I would suggest we would be the most attractive.
 
wilkos_perm said:
For me it's not about just trophies it's basically how the club is perceived. Blackburn undoubtedly have had success but nothing about them gives off an impression of a big club, and they've spent a lot of time in the wilderness.
I'd say Sheff Wed and Sunderland
Then pick from Boro, Derby, Sheff Utd, maybe West Brom.
Forest were the obvious one until they were promoted.

I don't think these things are set in stone though and whther someone could be perceived as a big club changes over time. I mean are Sheff Wed really now a big club?
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Exactly, they’re not at all really. They’ve been out of the PL for nigh on a quarter of a century and haven’t troubled the scorers in the cups or Europe.

Sunderland have been in the PL more recently but aside from an underdog victory in the FA Cup over 50 years ago they’ve won nish since before the war.

In all honesty outside the big 5 in this country, there is Tottenham 6th, then you have Villa/Everton/Forest/Leeds and maybe trophyless Newcastle and then the rest is all so subjective it’s barely worth discussing IMHO.
 
GazBoro said:
I'm not sure why some fans talk about supporting a big club as some sort of badge of honour. The mackems are the prime example. They constantly like to remind people just how big they are with their attendance this and attendance that drivel.

Sunderland are the biggest club in the EFL if big is defined solely by attendances. But that also makes them the biggest failures as they've achieved nothing for over half a century. If big is defined as success, then Bury are bigger than Boro, as they've won 2 FA Cups to our none. And Preston are bigger than half the current Premier League as they've won the League and done the double. So success alone does not always equal big imo.

Personally speaking, I'm proud of Boro precisely because we're not a big club and never will be, but we've held our own and spent 99% of our entire history in the top two divisions. I've seen us beat the Arsenal 'invincibles' - twice in two weeks - to reach a major final and go on to win it, then compete in Europe and reach a final that only a select few of British clubs have ever managed.

Give me 'little Boro' and its achievements every time over some forever sleeping giant that hasn't achieved anything since the days of black and white TV.
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Great summary.

Spurs are a “big club” who’ve won the league less than Huddersfield and no more than Preston, Derby, Burnley and Pompey. Admittedly they’ve won quite a few FA cups, but so have Blackburn and West Brom.

Surely its only worth crowing about being “big” if you’re actually successful in the here and now? And nowadays it is increasingly the case that that just means you have the richest owner anyway, or the best at cheating their way round FFP.
 
atypical_boro said:
Great summary.

Spurs are a “big club” who’ve won the league less than Huddersfield and no more than Preston, Derby, Burnley and Pompey. Admittedly they’ve won quite a few FA cups, but so have Blackburn and West Brom.

Surely its only worth crowing about being “big” if you’re actually successful in the here and now? And nowadays it is increasingly the case that that just means you have the richest owner anyway, or the best at cheating their way round FFP.
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Exactly, Spurs are regarded as a big club yet since they last won the League (1961), Ipswich, Derby, Forest, Villa and Blackburn have won it. Indeed West Ham and QPR have been closer to winning the league. Spurs have won in Europe since 1961, Cup Winners and UEFA, but then so have Aberdeen and Ipswich in that time. They have a couple of League Cups and FA Cups, but even we have a League Cup and the Makems an FA Cup in that time too.
 
Borehamwood_Boro said:
If you go on historical crowd size and points in the top division since football began. These are low variance, higher n number sample size measures. Big to me should factor long term measurement of success and long term stature/draw of the club.

Trophies are high variance, plenty of decent sized clubs won nothing and plenty of smaller clubs one a few just because they had a one off great squad or investment for a year.

Sunderland (unfortunately, even though they have been **** for 40 years) and Sheff Wed tick all those boxes. Sheffield United, West Brom and Blackburn are very similar to ourselves. Think we were 20/21 overall on long term top league record and attendances last time I checked.

Teams like Portsmouth etc are no marks. Plenty of teams in the prem are no marks Bournemouth, Brentford, Fulham, Brighton etc. Let's not mix up long term and short term.
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Interesting to look at the geographic shift mentioned in your post.

Sheffield and Blackburn to London and the South Coast. (taking out Pompey)
 
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