"Medium-sized" PL clubs thread

[Billy Dean]

SAY IT!

I would be happy if either Palace or Brighton win the cup tbh. I grew up in that general area so like to see both clubs doing well. Palace are obviously the bigger of the two clubs. Knew loads of Palace fans growing up but Brighton fans were a rarity.

If not one of them to win the cup then Bournemouth for me I think. Sorry @chrismpw

 

[Billy Dean]

I really don’t get the hostility towards clubs like Bournemouth. It’s a meritocracy and they’ve done brilliantly over the last 15 years or so

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

Wolves are a fantastic side to use to annoy fans of other similar sized clubs. Simply say "Wolves are historically a bigger club, surely?"

BOOOM. Instant froth. Thing is, they probably are. Which is probably why it gets the reaction.

 

[cpfc1905]

Have a lot of respect for Brentford and Forest every time we play them, it's always a tight 50/50 that's decided on one moment. I think I slightly prefer the pragmatic coaches like Thomas Frank in the other 14 over your one style of play hipsters like Hurzeler who the media seem to love. I especially don't like sides who apparently play attractive attacking football but can't break a defence down - Fulham at Old Trafford at the weekend were so tame

Overall I think the PL's middle class are in rhe best shape we've ever been in and matches between us are rarely hard to watch. Usually we can give the top 6 a tough old afternoon as well if the lesser side doesn't play into their hands and keeps it simple

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

Seventh place belongs to Everton damn it

At least it's regarded as a lucky number...we could use some.

 

[Rook]

Have a lot of respect for Brentford and Forest every time we play them, it's always a tight 50/50 that's decided on one moment. I think I slightly prefer the pragmatic coaches like Thomas Frank in the other 14 over your one style of play hipsters like Hurzeler who the media seem to love. I especially don't like sides who apparently play attractive attacking football but can't break a defence down - Fulham at Old Trafford at the weekend were so tame

Overall I think the PL's middle class are in rhe best shape we've ever been in and matches between us are rarely hard to watch. Usually we can give the top 6 a tough old afternoon as well if the lesser side doesn't play into their hands and keeps it simple

IMO if loans were limited to say 3, the middle class has enough purchasing power that they could win the league 1-2X a decade.

 

[Marius57]

Brighton, that mighty top 7 club Massively overrated. Had one good season finishing in the top 7 in their entire history yet people talk about them as if they challenge for Europe every season.

 

[Billy Dean]

Brighton, that mighty top 7 club Massively overrated. Had one good season finishing in the top 7 in their entire history yet people talk about them as if they challenge for Europe every season.

They're right in the European race this season, along with Fulham, Forest and Bournemouth. Hope at least one of them make it. Would be great for 1 or 2 of them to get in through the league and another through the cup

 

[ToffeeScot]

I don't like to see them doing well. That's our competition now.

The league has jumped hugely in c. 5-10 years. Pretty much every club now has huge resources/owners/data behind them and we will be playing catch up due to Moshiri.

Instead of 5 or 6 clubs realistically competing for a European spot you have double that. It's healthier for competition to have that but it makes it harder to be one of those clubs trying to break back in.

 

[Alan Whittle]

I don't like to see them doing well. That's our competition now.

The league has jumped hugely in c. 5-10 years. Pretty much every club now has huge resources/owners/data behind them and we will be playing catch up due to Moshiri.

Instead of 5 or 6 clubs realistically competing for a European spot you have double that. It's healthier for competition to have that but it makes it harder to be one of those clubs trying to break back in.

…..or in, in the first place.

 

[wandyr79]

My club is bigger than your club is truly for the children in the playground. Any adults playing this game need to get a grip.

The so called 'medium' or 'small' clubs are welcome to a bit of relative success and I for one would be happy to let them enjoy it without the childish 'You don't deserve it because you have a smaller fanbase, you don't have as many trophies historically, etc.'

 

[Timbucktoo]

As I lived in Bournemouth through my teen years, I still see them as a 4th division club. In the 80s nobody, I mean nobody was interested in footy in Bournemouth. A place full of old retired posh people and most the kids my age were more interested in posing about than they were playing footie and getting grubby. In fact there were loads of people who looked down at you as some kind of weirdo if you turned up with a few mates at a bit of grassland and jumpers for goalposts.

I still shake my head in disbelief when I see them in the list of the top flight. Bournemouth don't deserve / hasn't earned a top team in my view.

I think those that have been running Bournemouth have done an exceptional job that has turned a club on the verge of going out of business to a team that has played several years on the bounce at the highest level in the country. Just a shame that while they were on the rise from the very lowest level of the football league we were being run so badly.

 

[Moonlight dribble]

Need to get our blue tinted glasses off.
Where is everyone placing Everton?
We've finished below these teams far too regularly in the last few years.
To save embarrassment, I'd bin this thread until we've got something to shout about.
Going unbeaten for 7 games doesn't put us on the top table.

When those clubs each have 100 seasons of top flight football and at least 9 top flight titles, then we may consider them peers, til then......

 

[BlueAmigo]

Wolves are a fantastic side to use to annoy fans of other similar sized clubs. Simply say "Wolves are historically a bigger club, surely?"

BOOOM. Instant froth. Thing is, they probably are. Which is probably why it gets the reaction.

They instigated European club competitions with their floodlift friendlies, huge club in the 50s.

 

[Blue 1]

As I lived in Bournemouth through my teen years, I still see them as a 4th division club. In the 80s nobody, I mean nobody was interested in footy in Bournemouth. A place full of old retired posh people and most the kids my age were more interested in posing about than they were playing footie and getting grubby. In fact there were loads of people who looked down at you as some kind of weirdo if you turned up with a few mates at a bit of grassland and jumpers for goalposts.

I still shake my head in disbelief when I see them in the list of the top flight. Bournemouth don't deserve / hasn't earned a top team in my view.

I kind of agree with all of that, but I used to have some customers at work, a couple just about at retirement age, who were season tickets holder at Bournemouth and had followed them forever, both of them proper knowledgeable about football, and whenever I went to see them we'd just drink tea, eat cheese, and chat about football amd their plans to do a road trip around the US in and RV when they retired. Which they're now doing, having retired a couple of years back. They were lovely, and it always kinds of made me happy for them when Bournemouth did well.

Still a Mickey Mouse 4th division outfit who have an annoying habit of beating us quite regularly though.