Clubs you thought were 'big' but now aren't?

wizard_wes

wizard_wes

Well-known member
I remember going to Charlton for an FA Cup game about 20 odd years ago and at the time was 'wow this is a big club' .. can't say I give them a second thought now and they are where they are.
 
Yes Charlton were an established Premier league side at the time so yes was seen as a big game.

Probably Sheffield Wednesday for me. Used to be a top half premier league side now not done anything for years and you wouldnt bat an eye lid if you drew them away in the FA cup.
 
Dave62 said:
When I was in my teens, I always considered Derby and Forest bigger clubs due to the Cloughie connection.
Also Ipswich around that time (70's)
More recently, Sunderland
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Yeah Sunderland is a good shout. Huge club, good history yet are struggling in a league they deserve to be in but shouldn't be in if you get my point.
 
a lot of peoples opinions will be based on their age. Charlton for me, I would never consider them to be a big club. Going back to the 60'S and 70's we were always a bigger club than them. Football and league positions, taking out about 8 teams out of the equation is very cyclical and teams will spend time in various divisions. The key point for me is there are a good number of teams who have the potential to be much bigger than they are but at this point in time and in a few cases, that's been for a while, teams and their fans are below where they think they should be.
 
Villa in a way. They had this aura of something and to some extent still do, but can you imagine them actually winning owt? Same with Leeds. Definitely Sheff Wed and Forest as well.

Forest are probably the obvious one where you see they're not that big really.
 
20togo said:
a lot of peoples opinions will be based on their age. Charlton for me, I would never consider them to be a big club. Going back to the 60'S and 70's we were always a bigger club than them. Football and league positions, taking out about 8 teams out of the equation is very cyclical and teams will spend time in various divisions. The key point for me is there are a good number of teams who have the potential to be much bigger than they are but at this point in time and in a few cases, that's been for a while, teams and their fans are below where they think they should be.
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Amazingly I don't completely disagree!
 
Stockport and Oldham when I was a kid were ‘big’ compared to us and seen as a bit of a scalp. Even Crewe too.
They were teams for a division or two above back then.
 
Forest are a big club, no question. Any club that has won a European Cup deserves that title.

I'm surprised that Bradford got mentioned. The first of the big overspenders that came a cropper.
 
20togo said:
a lot of peoples opinions will be based on their age. Charlton for me, I would never consider them to be a big club. Going back to the 60'S and 70's we were always a bigger club than them. Football and league positions, taking out about 8 teams out of the equation is very cyclical and teams will spend time in various divisions. The key point for me is there are a good number of teams who have the potential to be much bigger than they are but at this point in time and in a few cases, that's been for a while, teams and their fans are below where they think they should be.
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Agree with this. It does change quite a bit over time, not many clubs stay still for very long.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
Stockport and Oldham when I was a kid were ‘big’ compared to us and seen as a bit of a scalp. Even Crewe too.
They were teams for a division or two above back then.
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Stockport and Oldham ?
Sorry LA1 but they have never been big clubs by any stretch of the imagination, and certainly both have never been bigger than us.
Even when Oldham had their glory year in the Premier League under Joe Royle (Whatever happened to him?) they were never considered big.
Then again when you look back as a youngster I suppose they could appear to be big clubs.
Mine choice would be QPR and PALACE.
 
Blackburn were a club that I thought were big growing up with them winning the league and playing in Europe.

Theres also a few Italian teams I thought were huge footballing powerhouses because of football Italia but in reality they’re crap 😂
 
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td53 said:
Villa in a way. They had this aura of something and to some extent still do, but can you imagine them actually winning owt? Same with Leeds. Definitely Sheff Wed and Forest as well.

Forest are probably the obvious one where you see they're not that big really.
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Villa is a good call. Finishing second under Graham Taylor in the 90s after winning the League and European Cup in the 80s when you had to actually be a Champion to be in it. Even when they came down to the Third tier they wee still a big scalp. Now staying up is success.
 
Wizaard said:
Villa is a good call. Finishing second under Graham Taylor in the 90s after winning the League and European Cup in the 80s when you had to actually be a Champion to be in it. Even when they came down to the Third tier they wee still a big scalp. Now staying up is success.
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Also they were one of the founder members and historically an influential and rich club. Wasn't the league the idea of the Villa chairman? MacGregor irc?
 
td53 said:
Villa in a way. They had this aura of something and to some extent still do, but can you imagine them actually winning owt? Same with Leeds. Definitely Sheff Wed and Forest as well.

Forest are probably the obvious one where you see they're not that big really.
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Villa are a big club, they're European Cup winners.
 
Eternaloptimist said:
Stockport and Oldham ?
Sorry LA1 but they have never been big clubs by any stretch of the imagination, and certainly both have never been bigger than us.
Even when Oldham had their glory year in the Premier League under Joe Royle (Whatever happened to him?) they were never considered big.
Then again when you look back as a youngster I suppose they could appear to be big clubs.
Mine choice would be QPR and PALACE.
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I think that’s pretty much the reason I felt that way tbh. They’d all come down from the league above, had players I’d seen or heard of from TV or radio and seemed a big deal at the time. (Bare in mind I’m 30 ! So I was a kid in late 90’s and early 2000’s) in
I suppose there’s kids out there now that see Bournemouth and Burnley as ‘big’ when in reality they’re not.
 
Celtic and Rangers, when I was a kid Rangers would sign England internationals, that would never happen now.
When was the last time Celtic or Rangers produced a player that the big hitters in the Premier League would want to sign?
 
Middlesbrough too, wasn't long ago they had the likes of Massimo Maccarone, Julio Arca, and Juninho.
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
Villa are a big club, they're European Cup winners.
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That's the point though, they're also-rans now and imagining them winning it again? (or the league) I suppose that doesn't make them not 'big' but rather speaks to the hegemony of certain clubs who were in the right place at the right time in order to become dominant.
 
A club who I've never thought is big but has the potential to be is Bristol Rovers. Brought loads when they got promoted at Bloomfield years ago and I remember them packing Wembley in the play offs the day before we played Yeovil in 2007. Need a new stadium and to perform on the pitch because they've been sh1t for decades.
 
td53 said:
That's the point though, they're also-rans now and imagining them winning it again? (or the league) I suppose that doesn't make them not 'big' but rather speaks to the hegemony of certain clubs who were in the right place at the right time in order to become dominant.
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But the current standings don't really mater, otherwise Leicester would be a bigger club than Villa, I'm not sure anyone would agree with that.
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
But the current standings don't really mater, otherwise Leicester would be a bigger club than Villa, I'm not sure anyone would agree with that.
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I'm not simply looking at this year's table, just, as I said in my original post, pointing out that Villa's lustre, as one of the 'great names' (and they are) of English football has dulled somewhat. If you asked someone who'd grown up during the Premier League era and wasn't a bit of a football nerd 'Are Villa a great club' - I think they'd possibly just have them down as 'a bit like Southampton' - and yet, really, they're in traditional terms, up there with the greatest English clubs.

I think that's my point - they are a huge club, but unless you remember their history or take it into account, they don't *feel* like it anymore from the outside. i.e It didn't seem that odd when they got relegated, but if Chelsea (who I don't think are as big a club as Villa) got relegated it would be mind melting.

I agree, the size of the club and the success in the league are two different things, but their not mutually exclusive either.
 
PNENIL said:
A club who I've never thought is big but has the potential to be is Bristol Rovers. Brought loads when they got promoted at Bloomfield years ago and I remember them packing Wembley in the play offs the day before we played Yeovil in 2007. Need a new stadium and to perform on the pitch because they've been sh1t for decades.
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Problem is Bristol has two clubs and is also a massive rugby town, with both Bristol and Bath (which is a spit away) having big rugby teams. I know Bristol quite well and have a mate who is a gashead and they're rabid, but I think that three/four way split for attention is always a problem in terms of dreaming of being significantly bigger.

I deffo agree tho, if they could sort their ground and get a bit of form, they're bigger than they seem now.
 
td53 said:
I'm not simply looking at this year's table, just, as I said in my original post, pointing out that Villa's lustre, as one of the 'great names' (and they are) of English football has dulled somewhat. If you asked someone who'd grown up during the Premier League era and wasn't a bit of a football nerd 'Are Villa a great club' - I think they'd possibly just have them down as 'a bit like Southampton' - and yet, really, they're in traditional terms, up there with the greatest English clubs.

I think that's my point - they are a huge club, but unless you remember their history or take it into account, they don't *feel* like it anymore from the outside. i.e It didn't seem that odd when they got relegated, but if Chelsea (who I don't think are as big a club as Villa) got relegated it would be mind melting.

I agree, the size of the club and the success in the league are two different things, but their not mutually exclusive either.
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It just goes to show how much PL money has distorted football, Chelsea were never a huge club.
 
poolfc said:
Red Star Belgrade haven't been the same since they changed their name to FK Crvena zvezda as well.

Just sounds like a lazy text message.
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European Champions in 91 no?

There's a fair few clubs in Eastern Europe that have just imploded post iron curtain.

Read a book on, literally can't keep any good players and everything is corrupt as fuck.
 
td53 said:
European Champions in 91 no?

There's a fair few clubs in Eastern Europe that have just imploded post iron curtain.

Read a book on, literally can't keep any good players and everything is corrupt as fuck.
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Only good for agreeing to host Europa League ties involving super covid-riddled English sides now.
 
Bristol Rovers are a good shout. The name Jamie Cureton still gives me shivers. I'm going to throw Notts County in there, I'm sure they were in Division 1 when I started following football in the 90's. Allardyce left and went there, the stadium always seemed massive compared to ours (and may still be) and I'm sure they could still fill it with success.

Going abroad I'd say Deportivo La Coruna, we're littered with Spanish and Brazilian internationals and champions league regulars. When you look in to them it's actually a relatively small stadium and area and they were definitely in their purple patch.
 
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