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Who “Should” be in the Top Flight?


Yojimbo

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I was Skyping my Dad yesterday and, as usual, the topic turned to football and my Dad jokingly said he hated Bournemouth because they are “where we should be”. Now, he didn’t mean it as clubs are generally were they are on merit (or at least how wisely they invest their money), but it got me thinking; who are the twenty clubs - by fanbase, history, success or whichever merits who choose as denoting the “biggest clubs” - “should” make up the Premier League?

Here’s my opening gambit...

Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Derby County
Everton
Fulham
Ipswich Town
Leeds United
Leicester City
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Sheffield Wednesday
Sunderland 
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
West Bromwich Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers

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4 hours ago, Yojimbo said:

I was Skyping my Dad yesterday and, as usual, the topic turned to football and my Dad jokingly said he hated Bournemouth because they are “where we should be”. Now, he didn’t mean it as clubs are generally were they are on merit (or at least how wisely they invest their money), but it got me thinking; who are the twenty clubs - by fanbase, history, success or whichever merits who choose as denoting the “biggest clubs” - “should” make up the Premier League?

Here’s my opening gambit...

Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Derby County
Everton
Fulham
Ipswich Town
Leeds United
Leicester City
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Sheffield Wednesday
Sunderland 
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
West Bromwich Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers

Huddersfield have won more than most those clubs.

Arsenal should be relegated for buying their way in instead of earning their right.

 

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Arsenal
Aston Villa
Birmingham
Blackburn
Bolton
Chelsea
Derby
Everton
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
Manchester United
Newcastle
Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur
West Brom
West Ham

Ok, maybe Portsmouth shouldn’t be in there, bit of a wildcard to stick in their as the atmosphere at Fratton Park can be pretty great.

Couple of others such as Bolton and Sunderland are there because they spent years in the Prem, hard to say they are not worthy.

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27 minutes ago, David said:

Arsenal
Aston Villa
Birmingham
Blackburn
Bolton
Chelsea
Derby
Everton
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
Manchester United
Newcastle
Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur
West Brom
West Ham

Ok, maybe Portsmouth shouldn’t be in there, bit of a wildcard to stick in their as the atmosphere at Fratton Park can be pretty great.

Couple of others such as Bolton and Sunderland are there because they spent years in the Prem, hard to say they are not worthy.

Interesting that you have dropped Man City for the likes of Bolton.  Anyway, the teams that should make up the Prem are the ones that are there on merit imo.  We have a bit of history and a fan base but most of our success was decades ago.  The younger ones in other parts of the country may not see us as worthy possibly picking Bolton over us.  Interesting thread

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Top 20 in average league position over the last 50 years (prior to the end of the 16/17 season) says ...

Arsenal

Aston Villa

Chelsea

Derby

Everton

Ipswich

Leeds

Leicester

Liverpool

Manchester United

Manchester City

Middlesbrough

Newcastle

Norwich

Nottingham Forest

Southampton

Sunderland

Tottenham

West Brom

West Ham

 

Looks like a solid top division to me. We could expand it to 24 teams to include both Sheffield clubs, Wolves and Birmingham (although they didn't place in the top 24 over the 50 year period).

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12 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Top 20 in average league position over the last 50 years (prior to the end of the 16/17 season) says ...

Arsenal

Aston Villa

Chelsea

Derby

Everton

Ipswich

Leeds

Leicester

Liverpool

Manchester United

Manchester City

Middlesbrough

Newcastle

Norwich

Nottingham Forest

Southampton

Sunderland

Tottenham

West Brom

West Ham

 

Looks like a solid top division to me. We could expand it to 24 teams to include both Sheffield clubs, Wolves and Birmingham (although they didn't place in the top 24 over the 50 year period).

my wrong impression would have been the Sheffield clubs over the east Anglia outfits

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Woodford Wells

Corinthian Casuals

Royal Engineers

Oxford University

Old Etonians

Old Carthusians

Clapham Rovers

Maidenhead

Wanderers

Sheffield

Hallam

Swifts

Old Harrovians

Cambridge University

Queen's Park

Shropshire Wanderers

Upton Park

Windsor Home Park

Marlow

Old Foresters

 

It's time to admit that the toffs were correct. They warned us that professionalism would ruin the game. Remove the insufferable oiks and return the sport to gentlemen.

 

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London clubs:

Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham (4)

South coast:

Portsmouth, Southampton (2)

West Midlands

Aston Villa, Wolves. (2)

East of England

Ipswich(1)

East Midlands

Derby, Forest (2)

Yorkshire

Leeds, Huddersfield (2)

Liverpool

Everton, Liverpool (2)

Manchester

Manchester utd (1)

Lancashire

Burnley, Blackburn (2)

North east

Scunderlund, Newcastle (2)

Because sod Man citeh.

 

 

 

 

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On 15/11/2018 at 01:03, Yojimbo said:

I was Skyping my Dad yesterday and, as usual, the topic turned to football and my Dad jokingly said he hated Bournemouth because they are “where we should be”. Now, he didn’t mean it as clubs are generally were they are on merit (or at least how wisely they invest their money), but it got me thinking; who are the twenty clubs - by fanbase, history, success or whichever merits who choose as denoting the “biggest clubs” - “should” make up the Premier League?

Here’s my opening gambit...

Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Derby County
Everton
Fulham
Ipswich Town
Leeds United
Leicester City
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Sheffield Wednesday
Sunderland 
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
West Bromwich Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers

I'd replace Fulham and Leicester with Middlesbrough and Southampton. 

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On 15/11/2018 at 09:07, Anon said:

Woodford Wells

Corinthian Casuals

Royal Engineers

Oxford University

Old Etonians

Old Carthusians

Clapham Rovers

Maidenhead

Wanderers

Sheffield

Hallam

Swifts

Old Harrovians

Cambridge University

Queen's Park

Shropshire Wanderers

Upton Park

Windsor Home Park

Marlow

Old Foresters

 

It's time to admit that the toffs were correct. They warned us that professionalism would ruin the game. Remove the insufferable oiks and return the sport to gentlemen.

 

good point. Its not only the goalkeepers who should wear caps........?

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On 15/11/2018 at 11:18, RadioactiveWaste said:

London clubs:

Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham (4)

South coast:

Portsmouth, Southampton (2)

West Midlands

Aston Villa, Wolves. (2)

East of England

Ipswich(1)

East Midlands

Derby, Forest (2)

Yorkshire

Leeds, Huddersfield (2)

Liverpool

Everton, Liverpool (2)

Manchester

Manchester utd (1)

Lancashire

Burnley, Blackburn (2)

North east

Scunderlund, Newcastle (2)

Because sod Man citeh.

 

 

 

 

Good to think about regional representation. You want a few juicy derbies (so there’s an argument for Man City and maybe Norwich based on that), and a few good away days. 

Not sure why Ipswich are getting so much live though. Either have Ipswich with Norwich, or not at all. Ipswich are the most nothing of nothing clubs as far as I’m concerned. You’ve got to look way back in history for anything interesting happening to them. 

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On 17/11/2018 at 18:53, TigerTedd said:

Good to think about regional representation. You want a few juicy derbies (so there’s an argument for Man City and maybe Norwich based on that), and a few good away days. 

Not sure why Ipswich are getting so much live though. Either have Ipswich with Norwich, or not at all. Ipswich are the most nothing of nothing clubs as far as I’m concerned. You’ve got to look way back in history for anything interesting happening to them. 

They won the UEFA Cup in 1981 so have won a major trophy since we last did

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On 15/11/2018 at 09:07, Anon said:

Woodford Wells

Corinthian Casuals

Royal Engineers

Oxford University

Old Etonians

Old Carthusians

Clapham Rovers

Maidenhead

Wanderers

Sheffield

Hallam

Swifts

Old Harrovians

Cambridge University

Queen's Park

Shropshire Wanderers

Upton Park

Windsor Home Park

Marlow

Old Foresters

 

It's time to admit that the toffs were correct. They warned us that professionalism would ruin the game. Remove the insufferable oiks and return the sport to gentlemen.

 

I say, old bean. I have actually played for one of those teams, what! And done a little coaching with one of the others, what! Spiffing choice...

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On ‎15‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 07:06, David said:

Arsenal
Aston Villa
Birmingham
Blackburn
Bolton
Chelsea
Derby
Everton
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
Manchester United
Newcastle
Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur
West Brom
West Ham

Ok, maybe Portsmouth shouldn’t be in there, bit of a wildcard to stick in their as the atmosphere at Fratton Park can be pretty great.

Couple of others such as Bolton and Sunderland are there because they spent years in the Prem, hard to say they are not worthy.

Portsmouth rather than Fulham certainly.  Coventry if were looking at length of top flight time.  Think they spent about 40 straight seasons there.

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On 17/11/2018 at 13:53, TigerTedd said:

Good to think about regional representation. You want a few juicy derbies (so there’s an argument for Man City and maybe Norwich based on that), and a few good away days. 

Not sure why Ipswich are getting so much live though. Either have Ipswich with Norwich, or not at all. Ipswich are the most nothing of nothing clubs as far as I’m concerned. You’ve got to look way back in history for anything interesting happening to them. 

Not as far back as you have to look to find something we have won.....!

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Those who earn the right to be there. I cannot see anything other than arrogance when people claim that we should be in the Premier League ahead of the likes of Bournemouth off the back of what happened over 40 years ago and because we have a few more fans. They have every right to be there as a reward for their achievements, and we have no right to be there as a result of our consistent failure to get promoted. This will remain the case until we actually achieve something.

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6 minutes ago, BurtonRam7 said:

Those who earn the right to be there. I cannot see anything other than arrogance when people claim that we should be in the Premier League ahead of the likes of Bournemouth off the back of what happened over 40 years ago and because we have a few more fans. They have every right to be there as a reward for their achievements, and we have no right to be there as a result of our consistent failure to get promoted. This will remain the case until we actually achieve something.

You sober?

Thought so!  Not half as interesting!

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