Self Identity: Who Are We?

Sadly, this is Gao's Saints. He has shown no sign of aiming above 17th.

 

I guess what I was trying to find out how fans perceptions of the club have changed since 2009 when Markus and Nicola sold us a dream. I suspect the results would be a lot different pre-2009.

 

Suprise, suprise Magic has voted lower half in the Championship...told you there would be at least one!...

 

We are Southampton, the Pride of the South...

We're a bit **** at the moment, but I expect us improve at some point. After getting worse first, possibly. Anyway, we're not Man Utd, and we're not going to be Chelsea unless Mr Gao turns out to be a Chinese Abramovitch in disguise.

I'll support Saints whatever level we play at though. It's a sickness.

 

^^^^^ Is the correct answer...

 

It is a tricky one really. Are we, in terms of size, one of the top 20 clubs in the country? I would say no, so therefore we shouldn't be in a PL if it was based on size of the club. Do we have PL level facilities? Yes so that kind of comes into it, but I am basing it purely on size of club and I would say we are a Championship side in that respect

 

It's a reasonable viewpoint Magic, there are definately a lot of other clubs that could better or match us purely on size of fanbase.

 

There are a few factors I take into account when considering size of club, without actually going through it I’d say we are probably around 25-30 off the top of my head

 

It’s not a sickness, it’s a romance. A love.

 

Love sickness?

 

I don't think that "size" really matters anymore for all but the big six and maybe Everton. If you're in the PL, you're automatically one of the richest clubs in the world, and quite capable of competing on this stage. The difference between ourselves and West Ham and Bournemouth is mostly in the imagination of fans.

This I think is the correct answer. There are no real tiers beyond the top one; where one finds one's self from 7th-20th ultimately depends on whether one has the organization and plan necessary to be toward the upper end. We did, until we didn't. And while we don't, we'll be toward the bottom.

 

That’s all you needed to say. I’m with you fella

 

Indeed it is Fats. A magnificent obsession.

 

...A fine romance

 

Jurgen has it right. What happened before doesn't matter. All you can do is keep going forward.

 

Right, so I'm bored on nights so have compiled a list of clubs who I would consider bigger than us:

Manchester United
Liverpool
Arsenal
Manchester City
Chelsea
Spuds
Everton
Aston Villa
Newcastle
Sunderland
Leeds United
West Ham United
Sheffield Wednesday
Nottingham Forest

Right so there's 14 clubs there and I would argue that most (all) of those aren't even up for debate...

After that there's probably a group of 25-30 clubs who are all of a similar size/stature and who is 'bigger' probably depends on who is doing better at the time, I include us in this group. Not going to list them all but the likes of Wolves, Coventry, Leicester, Derby, Norwich, Ipswich, Sheffield United, Stoke, West Brom, Cardiff, Blackburn etc.

I've mainly stuck to the bigger (imo) ones to list but there's a lot in that above list who you could make a decent argument for them being bigger than us too, but that is a fluid list that can swap and change with taking into account how teams are doing. I'd include the skates in that group too btw.

Anyway, not that this matters at all but it killed 15-20 minutes for me

 

Despite their 2 European Cups, I don’t see Forest as a bigger club than us. Their success under Clough was particularly special because they are and always have been anything but a big club.

West Ham may be filling that stadium, but only because they hand out season tickets free with a box of cornflakes to the entire population of Essex. Not sure they’re any bigger than us - and they’ve spent st least as much time outside the PL.

Sheffield Wednesday ffs? How’d you come up with that?

Sunderland have never filled the Stadium of Light have they?

 

Yeah I did think that about Forest after I posted it, so will give you that one.

West Ham have a bigger fan base than us, which can be seen easily by looking at attendances both recent and historical. Yes they're getting dirt cheap tickets, but they're still selling them. We couldn't sell 27k tickets for a cup semi final at 20 quid a pop. Wouldn't know about their years in PL but would wager they have spent more top flight years than us.

Yeah Sheffield Wednesday, the club that's other 150 years old with four league titles and 3 FA Cups with a huge fan base in a 2 club city and densely populated county (In terms of pro clubs). Yeah that one mate, happy to hear an argument against it though

Sunderland see above, huge fanbase and great history of winning honours too, averaged bigger crowds in their Championship relegation season than our promotion one... will probably average more than us this season too despite being two divisions lower (currently 30k).

 

When I posted my thoughts about where we should be. I based that on recent history, say the last 5-10 years. Some of those clubs are bigger than us in terms of longer history and fan base, but today and including the last few years, I see us as a solid Premier League team.

 

Sheffield Wednesday might be old, with a big stadium, not sure that makes them a big club today? If they regularly fill Hillsborough then I suppose they are, but do they?

You forgot to mention they won the Sheffield Challenge Trophy in 1877.

Not sure West Ham’s fan base is any bigger than ours really. Any club in London is going to have a raised profile in the PL, even QPR had that - you could argue that both them and Fulham are as big as West Ham.