Rugeley Villa Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 I think we were a bigger club than utd up until the 50s but I still think they were a big club, we could possibly of been the biggest club in the country up until the 50s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 They had only won 2 league titles and 2 fa cups before the 50s so they were not what you call that succesful, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Depends on if you're lucky to appoint an inspirational manager for a bit aswell. Take the East midlands, all a much of a muchness these days I think but I'd probably say Derby are the biggest club in terms of fanbase. Yet Forest have the great success under Brian Clough which makes them world famous and Leicester had a very good spell in the 90s under MON, winning league cups and regularly finishing in the top 10 of the league. Yet I still think of Derby as the biggest club in that region even though they've achived little in the last 30 years compared to the other two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 I think the east mids is a tough one, derby forest and leicester are very much all similiar sized clubs, leicester are the odd ones out when it comes to honours but their fanbase is pretty much the same as the other two, I think leicester have the better away support out the three with derby having the worst but derby normally get bigger home gates than the other two, mad aint it that derby were playing in the semi finals of the european cup against real madrid back in the 70s and forest won back to back european cups, because of that I'd say forest derby then leicester in that order Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 I think the east mids is a tough one, derby forest and leicester are very much all similiar sized clubs, leicester are the odd ones out when it comes to honours but their fanbase is pretty much the same as the other two, I think leicester have the better away support out the three with derby having the worst but derby normally get bigger home gates than the other two, mad aint it that derby were playing in the semi finals of the european cup against real madrid back in the 70s and forest won back to back european cups, because of that I'd say forest derby then leicester in that order Nottingham County as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 The oldest football club in the world are they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Notts County. It's a strange geographical quirk that Nottingham Forest are located in the county of Nottinghamshire but outside the city limits of Nottingham while Notts Country are in the city limits and therefore not governed by the county. And of course, their respective stadiums are the two closest to to each other in England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRS-T Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 I think that Forest are the biggest in the East Midlands. West Midlands - Villa North East - Newcastle North West - Man U Yorkshire - Leeds South West - Bristol City South East - Southampton East - Norwich London - Arsenal Wales - Cardiff Scotland - Celtic Ireland - No idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Notts County. It's a strange geographical quirk that Nottingham Forest are located in the county of Nottinghamshire but outside the city limits of Nottingham while Notts Country are in the city limits and therefore not governed by the county. And of course, their respective stadiums are the two closest to to each other in England. Yes and the cricket ground is in close proximity too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 I think that Forest are the biggest in the East Midlands. West Midlands - Villa North East - Newcastle North West - Man U Yorkshire - Leeds South West - Bristol City South East - Southampton East - Norwich London - Arsenal Wales - Cardiff Scotland - Celtic Ireland - No idea Yes Derby must run them close though. Strange thing is if it wasn't for the fallout between Clough and the Chairman at the time, History would have been rewritten. Derby would most probably be the club that won 2 european cups not Forest. Regarding Scotland i always regarded Rangers as the bigger club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted November 18, 2013 Moderator Share Posted November 18, 2013 Derby were nothing before Clough and they've been nothing since. It's only thanks to him that they're not completely irrelevant over their entire history. As 'big clubs' go, they're a very small one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Big clubs big clubs ''My **** is bigger then yours''. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chakal Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 when talking about popularity level you can look at this old topic http://www.villatalk.com/index.php/topic/6842-most-popular-english-football-clubs/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 (edited) Derby were nothing before Clough and they've been nothing since. It's only thanks to him that they're not completely irrelevant over their entire history. As 'big clubs' go, they're a very small one. That is not true at all. Derby had a good side in the 30s and post war. They also won the league after Clough left under Dave Mackay. Our ex player Bruce Rioch was part of that side and that was a very good team. They haven't had success since then. Forest had a half decent side in the 60s but got relegated and it wasn't until Clough took over they had any succcess and since he left they have done nothing. Edited November 19, 2013 by PaulC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted November 19, 2013 Moderator Share Posted November 19, 2013 It's true that Forest's success was only under Clough but the sheer magnitude of it dwarfs what he did at Derby. Forest are big because of Clough. They won a league followed by consecutive European Cups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 You would be very surprised how well they are supported, just my opinion and I may be wrong but they are definately in the top 6, but I still stand by what I said, My uncle is a Leeds fan, goes to many away games, but very few home games. He himself has said Villa and Leeds are on a par with support, I would agree with him. It's definitely Arsenal 3rd(if not 2nd) then probably Spurs, they are massive in London and the surrounding areas, which is massive remember, Chelsea then Newcastle, then Everton, Us, Man City, Leeds and Sunderland in no real order. West Ham as well. Since football was invented in 1992, all of the London clubs have reaped the money harvest. As more money gets poured into football, capital cities have taken a major interest in kick ball, rather than just tolerating it as a working mans game. Soccereconomics by Simon Kuper goes into more detail about this. Look at PSG as well. I do not have the stats around but I would guess around say 20 years ago Chelsea, Spurs, and West Ham would all be getting less than 30,000 in most games and Highbury post Taylor only held 38,000. Now Arsenal have 60,000 and Spurs and West Ham could both have 50,000+ new stadiums within 5-10 years time. I would not be suprised at all that when the spammers get their new stadium, Sullivan and Gold will sell up to a rich arab and hey presto we have another moneybags fc to cope with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Yes true they did but the only reason Derby didn't have any sustained success was because Clough and Taylor were forced out. Biggest mistake the club ever made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 (edited) Clough stayiing on would have been irrelevant after a while due to more and more money into the game. Since the early 1980s ie after Forest it has been impossible for any provincial club to have major success in England. Only Blackburn funded by Walker in the 1990s goes against this. Same as Gladbach in Germany after the 1970s, a town of about 250,000 it just too small to be a major power in european football. Edited November 19, 2013 by The Fun Factory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Clough stayiing on would have been irrelevant after a while due to more and more money into the game. Since the early 1980s ie after Forest it has been impossible for any provincial club to have major success in England. Only Blackburn funded by Walker in the 1990s goes against this. Same as Gladbach in Germany after the 1970s, a town of about 250,000 it just too small to be a major power in european football. Yes but they would probably have won 5 leagues and 3 european cups by then and a big buyer would have come in for them. To me there's nothing between forest and Derby. Both provincial clubs like you say. The sad thing for me is that Birmingham is the 2nd city and we are the biggest club but probably only about 8th biggest in the Country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRS-T Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Also the fact that Manchester now has two clubs which are bigger than Birmingham's biggest club. Then again we could be Bristol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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