Sunderland
Pompey
That's about it
Plymouth should at least be championship I suppose
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Sunderland
Pompey
That's about it
Plymouth should at least be championship I suppose
One club that I'm surprised has never been in the the football league is Truro
City in Cornwall massive fan base. Nice city but poor football team.
Wednesday?
Bradford and Ipswich I've always associated with being higher than where they are.
What is the definition of a big club?
Not always easy to define what makes a big club (history, success, ground size, fanbase, potential fanbase etc) but I would say the following are significantly underperforming teams. All those in League One could comfortably be Premier League teams. Those below them could all be established Championship teams
League One
Sunderland
Bolton
Sheff Wed
Ipswich
Charlton
MK Dons
Plymouth
League Two
Bradford City
Carlisle United
Bristol Rovers
Conference
Chesterfield
Stockport
Notts County
Southend
Conference North
York City
These are all traditionally lower league clubs. They may have had better times, but I wouldn't say they're underperforming now.
League Two
Bradford City
Carlisle United
Bristol Rovers
Conference
Chesterfield
Stockport
Notts County
Southend
Conference North
York City
Yeah, I don't disagree (although Notts County have had a fair amount of success).
I still think they are underperforming though. I often consider big clubs in terms of potential. Bradford is a big city etc, anyone who makes a big success of a Bristol club would have a big club on their hands, Carlisle could serve great swathes of the north etc...
But yeah, not comparable to clubs like Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday
Swinging the thread on its head, which teams do you believe are over-performing, based on the club's size ? Certainly Brighton and Brentford come into that category and so too do Bournemouth, given their meteoric rise over the last few years. Their current status in the Championship still belies the fact that they are a small club.
Remember when Leeds were stuck in the third tier? Great days.
I despise the club but it's a fairly big place with a wide catchment area and a big stadium. They could easily have become an English version of a team like Hoffenheim or Leipzig in Germany who reached the top flight without any notable fan base.
Less a big club, more potentially one I suppose
Truro City’s attendances are extremely poor. The club was in such a state that it had to play at. Plainmoor for a while. Most opposing clubs had more fans at Truro than what they had themselves, up until recently.
Slight twist on this are teams like Burnley or Wrexham. Both fairly small towns but with long-standing football history/heritage, with a long view both over performing given their size in an area of the world with many league clubs and some of the most illustrious in the UK.
Just adding this to the conversation - I've worked out the average league position of every one of the 92 sides currently in the league. Teams with an average position of 1-20 could claim their home is the Premier League, 21-44 - The Championship, 45-66 - League One, 67-92 - League Two. Note that
Premier League clubs (in average points order):
Liverpool
Arsenal
Everton
Manchester United
Aston Villa
Tottenham Hotspur
Chelsea
Manchester City
Newcastle United
Sunderland
West Bromwich Albion
West Ham United
Championship clubs (in average points order):
Blackburn Rovers
Leeds United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Derby County
Middlesbrough
Sheffield Wednesday
Leicester City
Sheffield United
Bolton Wanderers
Stoke City
Birmingham City
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Burnley
Ipswich Town
Preston North End
Portsmouth
Fulham
Huddersfield Town
Charlton Athletic
Blackpool
Coventry City
Norwich City
Queens Park Rangers
Cardiff City
Crystal Palace
Bristol City
Luton Town
Barnsley
Hull City
League One clubs:
Millwall
Watford
Oldham Athletic
Swansea City
Wigan Athletic
Brighton & Hove Albion
Plymouth Argyle
Reading
Bradford City
Oxford United
Brentford
Port Vale
Rotherham United
Leyton Orient
Swindon Town
Milton Keynes Dons
Bristol Rovers
AFC Bournemouth
Lincoln City
Fleetwood Town
Walsall
Doncaster Rovers
Tranmere Rovers
Shrewsbury Town
Peterborough United
Burton Albion
Carlisle United
Gillingham
League Two clubs:
Wycombe Wanderers
Accrington Stanley
Cambridge United
Scunthorpe United
Colchester United
Crewe Alexandra
Northampton Town
Mansfield Town
AFC Wimbledon
Newport County
Crawley Town
Exeter City
Rochdale
Stevenage
Hartlepool United
Barrow
Salford City
Cheltenham Town
Forest Green Rovers
Morecambe
Harrogate Town
Sutton United
Based on that, I'd say Sunderland are the biggest club outside the top two divisions, followed by Ipswich, Charlton, Bolton, Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth. In the opposite direction, from within the top two divisions, Watford, Brighton and Brentford are the smallest clubs inside the top flight, while Millwall, Swansea, Bournemouth, Reading and Peterborough are overachieving by being in the Championship.
I think he meant more in the sense that they are the highest placed team in the football league pyramid from Cornwall.
I was interested to note that they are owned by Cornish Pirates RFC. No surer way of keeping the football club at a nice low level than owning it yourselves.
They also seem to play in Plymouth also, which seems odd.
I think it's all tied up to a long running saga about a new 'Stadium for Cornwall' to be built in Truro as the club there was making a go of rising up the leagues and had some success with that.
The more controversial element is that Cornish Pirates, who are pretty successful, plan to move from Penzance to Truro to share the ground. Amidst all the drama I guess Truro City fell into difficulty and got bought out by the rugby club and temporarily moved to Plymouth. Not sure why they themselves didn't temporarily relocate to Penzance where the rugby club currently play.
Either way, I don't think people in Cornwall have much of an issue supporting Plymouth Argyle which is on the Cornish border anyway. Rugby is also pretty big there.