Does Redknapp have what it takes to be England manager?

Good to have you moderate your position District - we are now near agreement - domestically we are a big club alongside the likes of Chelsea but internationally we can no longer hold that claim. However go back to the 60s and 70s when we regularly competed and won in Europe and we were a force to be reckoned with - however we have slipped away - but equally Chelsea till 5 years ago hardly featured on the international stage - so a lot can change in a short period of time

 

Agreed, the only person who made Arsenal attractive was Rocastle

 

Agree completely.

I'd say domestically that only the "Sky 4" and Man City are bigger clubs than Spurs but it's very much a generational thing.

Spurs have huge support over the country but they really missed the boat in the 90s when interest in football boomed again after Italia 90 and the economic downturn settled.

Arsenal and later Chelsea in particular benefited hugely from the PL in terms of worldwide support. 2004 was really the first year that PL games were broadcasted regularly on American TV and at the time Chelsea, Arsenal, United and Liverpool were the 4 best teams by quite a long way. Liverpool and United were always popular because of success and domination of English Football at different times. Arsenal and Chelsea attracted a lot of support because they were the first two teams that really took to foreign players, so a lot of foreign fans instantly followed their heroes clubs. Chelsea and Arsenal were the first to majorly import African players and give them a chance at a time when African Football was largely frowned upon.

Foreign fans are often accused of being gloryhunters, that isn't always the case. The clubs that are more popular will always attract more fans and popularity is bred through the media. Whether for good or bad reasons Chelsea, United, Arsenal and Liverpool will more often than not always be on the back page, City will no doubt be the same after they pick up their PL title in May

Flick on Setanta Ireland, or US Sports Channels and you can't watch the likes of Wolves, WBA, Villa, Stoke, Everton etc so why would you support teams you can't see play?

In the old days you followed your local team, or the team your dad/uncle/aunt/best mate supported but these days the biggest influence on who people will support is the media.

 

You've lost me again: for the last half of the 60s our league records are almost identical and we also won the cup. For the first half we won the double and you were nowhere. How that does equate to being equal in the 60s as a whole?

 

Good summary - we certainly missed the Premiership boat

 

I also remember 50,000 crowd v Fulham in div 2.