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Football in the north

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Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne

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Interesting piece in the Economist this week about the decline of northern teams (outside of Liverpool and Manchester).

http://www.economist.com/news/brita...utiful-game-has-gone-south-country-two-halves

IN 1888 the world’s first football league was launched in England. Half the 12 teams competing in the inaugural season came from the north and half from the midlands; none was from south of Birmingham. Long after, the sport remained “a game of industrial England”, as Roy Hattersley, a deputy leader of the Labour Party, wrote in 1990.

As a new season of the Premier League kicks off on August 13th, that is no longer the case. The four clubs based in Manchester and Liverpool are still forces to be reckoned with: it is rare that one of them is not champion or runner-up. Yet outside those two cities, northern clubs are in decline (see chart). Last season the most successful of the bunch, Sunderland, finished 17th.

Poor management is one reason. Leeds United, who won the league in 1992, were relegated in 2004 after spiralling into debt. Newcastle United, relegated last season, had failed to invest. Sunderland have struggled to find continuity while going through six permanent managers since 2011.

Attracting elite players to the north is another problem. “Sunderland is pretty bleak. So is Newcastle,” wrote Roy Keane, a former Sunderland manager, in his autobiography. “They wanted compensation for the cold and dark nights,” the poor dears. Foreign owners have snapped up clubs all over the country as trophy assets, but the richest and most dedicated have tended to go for clubs that they can visit easily from London, says Jonathan Wilson, a football historian. And these days few local businessmen are able to bankroll their home teams to victory, as Jack Walker, a steel magnate, did with Blackburn Rovers in 1995.

Regional economic decline has sapped northern clubs’ revenues. In 2014-15 Sunderland had the sixth-highest attendance in the league but only the 15th-highest revenue, according to the Swiss Ramble, a football finance website. By contrast, clubs in posher parts of the country rake in money from tickets and corporate hospitality. Chelsea, who had a lower average attendance than Sunderland, earned over six times as much from each match day. This season Sunderland have cut their season-ticket prices.

Northern fans have some reasons to be optimistic. All three teams promoted to the Premier League this season are from the north. And a new TV deal that comes into effect this season is so lucrative that the proportion of clubs’ revenue that comes from matchdays will decrease significantly, helping teams in England’s poorer regions to catch up. Nonetheless the pitch looks uneven, a metaphor for England’s growing southern skew.
 

Bruce Wayne said:
Interesting piece in the Economist this week about the decline of northern teams (outside of Liverpool and Manchester).

http://www.economist.com/news/brita...utiful-game-has-gone-south-country-two-halves

IN 1888 the world’s first football league was launched in England. Half the 12 teams competing in the inaugural season came from the north and half from the midlands; none was from south of Birmingham. Long after, the sport remained “a game of industrial England”, as Roy Hattersley, a deputy leader of the Labour Party, wrote in 1990.

As a new season of the Premier League kicks off on August 13th, that is no longer the case. The four clubs based in Manchester and Liverpool are still forces to be reckoned with: it is rare that one of them is not champion or runner-up. Yet outside those two cities, northern clubs are in decline (see chart). Last season the most successful of the bunch, Sunderland, finished 17th.

Poor management is one reason. Leeds United, who won the league in 1992, were relegated in 2004 after spiralling into debt. Newcastle United, relegated last season, had failed to invest. Sunderland have struggled to find continuity while going through six permanent managers since 2011.

Attracting elite players to the north is another problem. “Sunderland is pretty bleak. So is Newcastle,” wrote Roy Keane, a former Sunderland manager, in his autobiography. “They wanted compensation for the cold and dark nights,” the poor dears. Foreign owners have snapped up clubs all over the country as trophy assets, but the richest and most dedicated have tended to go for clubs that they can visit easily from London, says Jonathan Wilson, a football historian. And these days few local businessmen are able to bankroll their home teams to victory, as Jack Walker, a steel magnate, did with Blackburn Rovers in 1995.

Regional economic decline has sapped northern clubs’ revenues. In 2014-15 Sunderland had the sixth-highest attendance in the league but only the 15th-highest revenue, according to the Swiss Ramble, a football finance website. By contrast, clubs in posher parts of the country rake in money from tickets and corporate hospitality. Chelsea, who had a lower average attendance than Sunderland, earned over six times as much from each match day. This season Sunderland have cut their season-ticket prices.

Northern fans have some reasons to be optimistic. All three teams promoted to the Premier League this season are from the north. And a new TV deal that comes into effect this season is so lucrative that the proportion of clubs’ revenue that comes from matchdays will decrease significantly, helping teams in England’s poorer regions to catch up. Nonetheless the pitch looks uneven, a metaphor for England’s growing southern skew.
Click to expand...
Tory.
 

He spends the whole article explaining why football in t' north outwith the two big powerhouse cities is in decline.

Then in the very last paragraph he informs us that three northern clubs have been promoted to the EPL this season :Blink:

When was the last time a southern team outside that London were champions of England?

Has there ever been one?

(Pompey perhaps?)

This season's EPL has eight teams from the "north".

EFC, the RS, the two Manc clubs, Sunderland, Hull, Burnley and Boro.

Three from the Midlands......Stoke, Baggies and Foxes.

And one from Wales.

That is twelve out of twenty not from the "posher parts" of the south of England.

Subtract the five London teams, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Hammers and Palace and you are left with three teams fitting his description of a swing toward the "posher parts" of southern England.

And it is being generous not counting Watford among the London clubs.

That leaves only Saints and Bournemouth to fly the flag for southern England outside London.

In short, the North and the Midlands still provide the majority of clubs in the top flight of English football ;)

Which in itself is quite remarkable given how the wealth is concentrated in the Home Counties and the South Coast.

Smoke that, hey boy :dance:
 
Khalekan said:
He spends the whole article explaining why football in t' north outwith the two big powerhouse cities is in decline.

Then in the very last paragraph he informs us that three northern clubs have been promoted to the EPL this season :Blink:

When was the last time a southern team outside that London were champions of England?

Has there ever been one?

(Pompey perhaps?)

This season's EPL has eight teams from the "north".

EFC, the RS, the two Manc clubs, Sunderland, Hull, Burnley and Boro.

Three from the Midlands......Stoke, Baggies and Foxes.

And one from Wales.

That is twelve out of twenty not from the "posher parts" of the south of England.

Subtract the five London teams, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Hammers and Palace and you are left with three teams fitting his description of a swing toward the "posher parts" of southern England.

And it is being generous not counting Watford among the London clubs.

That leaves only Saints and Bournemouth to fly the flag for southern England outside London.

In short, the North and the Midlands still provide the majority of clubs in the top flight of English football ;)

Which in itself is quite remarkable given how the wealth is concentrated in the Home Counties and the South Coast.

Smoke that, hey boy :dance:
Click to expand...

You could have just said 'He's talking crap'.
 
Bruce Wayne said:
Interesting piece in the Economist this week about the decline of northern teams (outside of Liverpool and Manchester).

http://www.economist.com/news/brita...utiful-game-has-gone-south-country-two-halves

IN 1888 the world’s first football league was launched in England. Half the 12 teams competing in the inaugural season came from the north and half from the midlands; none was from south of Birmingham. Long after, the sport remained “a game of industrial England”, as Roy Hattersley, a deputy leader of the Labour Party, wrote in 1990.

As a new season of the Premier League kicks off on August 13th, that is no longer the case. The four clubs based in Manchester and Liverpool are still forces to be reckoned with: it is rare that one of them is not champion or runner-up. Yet outside those two cities, northern clubs are in decline (see chart). Last season the most successful of the bunch, Sunderland, finished 17th.

Poor management is one reason. Leeds United, who won the league in 1992, were relegated in 2004 after spiralling into debt. Newcastle United, relegated last season, had failed to invest. Sunderland have struggled to find continuity while going through six permanent managers since 2011.

Attracting elite players to the north is another problem. “Sunderland is pretty bleak. So is Newcastle,” wrote Roy Keane, a former Sunderland manager, in his autobiography. “They wanted compensation for the cold and dark nights,” the poor dears. Foreign owners have snapped up clubs all over the country as trophy assets, but the richest and most dedicated have tended to go for clubs that they can visit easily from London, says Jonathan Wilson, a football historian. And these days few local businessmen are able to bankroll their home teams to victory, as Jack Walker, a steel magnate, did with Blackburn Rovers in 1995.

Regional economic decline has sapped northern clubs’ revenues. In 2014-15 Sunderland had the sixth-highest attendance in the league but only the 15th-highest revenue, according to the Swiss Ramble, a football finance website. By contrast, clubs in posher parts of the country rake in money from tickets and corporate hospitality. Chelsea, who had a lower average attendance than Sunderland, earned over six times as much from each match day. This season Sunderland have cut their season-ticket prices.

Northern fans have some reasons to be optimistic. All three teams promoted to the Premier League this season are from the north. And a new TV deal that comes into effect this season is so lucrative that the proportion of clubs’ revenue that comes from matchdays will decrease significantly, helping teams in England’s poorer regions to catch up. Nonetheless the pitch looks uneven, a metaphor for England’s growing southern skew.
Click to expand...

From 1888, money came more and more into the game, size mattered...size as in Population, Wealth, Area, the overall cache, the whole big city vibe.
Then add in the abolition of the maximum wage...and Sky. It matters even more.
So those proud old teams of often run by the local Mr Big in a small pond of Lancs and other places slowly fell by the wayside or never made it at all.
Most had 1 player...a Ray Wilson at Huddersfield... who, due to the maximum wage, had no reason to move.

You can plot a semi decent graph of success to size...of some or all of the 'size' aspects mentioned above.

There have and always will be I hope The Herbert Chapmans, Ramseys, Cloughs and dare I say it, Ranieris to drag an outsider over the line...and when they go down the ladder they slip.

Can't shed any tears for either the rich or not so rich clubs in the South...plenty for the really small clubs though.
 


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