[Archived] If the Premier League were a closed shop of 20 clubs, which would they be?

[BlueMonday]

Don't know if this has been posted else where, but and interesting read.

Now with link Doh!

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2011/10/17/if-the-premier-league-were-a-closed-shop-of-20-clubs-which-would-they-be-171001/

[Tom]

Arsenal

Aston Villa

Manchester United

Manchester City

Chelsea

Liverpool

Everton

Tottenham

Newcastle

Sunderland

Leeds united

West ham

Would be lock ins most likely maybe even throw in Forest due to history and maybe Middlesbrough and Birmingham then a couple more of the London clubs

I do think they'd rather have the likes of Boro and Brum than Wigan etc though

[whatdial]

Wednesday would be in :-)

[Tom]

You are probably right there whatdial

[BlueMonday]

Another good article hear

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/sleeping-giant-or-minnow-how-do-you-measure-a-clubs-size-8570655.html

We've all had this conversation as well.

Rovers are definitely becoming small time under the f**ckwits from Pune.

[Clitherover]

Not Birmingham, they're pathetic to say they're a second city team and their attendances are laughable for such a large catchment area. Notice we're listed in every one of the categories Nick Harris has listed, nobody has a divine right to be in an exclusive Premier League but if any teams deserve it we have to be one of them. We may be an embarrassment now but just remember that we were doing just fine on all counts before those barstewards rolled into town.

[Guest Norbert]

Balls to Birmingham. They've won nowt at all. We should be in this set up, as we've been there more often than not since the Premier League started, and we did once win it.

[Tom]

Maybe but we are too murky at the moment so I was hypothetically excluding us

[Guest Norbert]

I can't argue with that, but football as a whole is murky, corrupt and frankly broken.

[LeChuck]

Sport Intelligence have been kind to us in the past, no? Very surprised to see we are in by all four of their criteria. Only surprised because I find the "biggest ground" addition ahead of "average attendence" a very strange one.

1. Arsenal

2. Aston Villa

3. Blackburn Rovers

4. Bolton Wanderers

5. Chelsea

6. Everton

7. Fulham

8. Leeds

9. Liverpool

10. Man Utd

11. Man City.

12. Middlesbrough

13. Newcastle

14. Nottingham Forest

15. Sheffield Wednesday

16. Southampton

17. Sunderland

18. Tottenham

19. West Ham

20. Wolves

That was harder than I thought, and actually pleasantly surprised how easy it was to include us in there. Considered Birmingham but decided Aston Villa had the city itself covered and couldn't justify another reason.

The likes of Bolton and Fulham are in assuming that PL history is going to far outweigh history as a whole, otherwise neither would stand a chance.

I know it's an incredibly small chance it would happen, but having had a stab at making that list, I am 100% certain it would only be 16-18 teams in the league if it did because I was just making up numbers towards the end. Even then, I'd be looking at Bolton, Wolves, Southampton and Fulham as the teams to drop out.

[Jock]

Sky would choose the 20. Set of cnuts

[LeChuck]

Sky would choose the 20. Set of cnuts

Even if they did...who do you think they would go for? I'd be genuinely interested in what 20 you come up with trying to thnk from a Sky POV.

[Clitherover]

Sky would choose the 20. Set of cnuts

Even if they did...who do you think they would go for? I'd be genuinely interested in what 20 you come up with trying to thnk from a Sky POV.

Man United and 19 London clubs.

[Jock]

Even if they did...who do you think they would go for? I'd be genuinely interested in what 20 you come up with trying to thnk from a Sky POV.

Whoever get the biggest viewing figures against Manure.

[LeChuck]

Whoever get the biggest viewing figures against Manure.

And your guess at those teams would be...

[Philly13]

They wouldn't leave out the cities of Sheffield and bristol right? Two of the biggest English cities.

[LeChuck]

Thought I'd included Sheffield Wednesday. That makes my twentieth choice a lot easier!

Don't think Bristol City would be in there. Bristol is a big city but not big on football, the club has no history. I'd have Bradford or even Hull above Bristol if it's population based.

[Clitherover]

The league would be based on clubs not cities though, besides both Bristol City and Bristol Rovers even more so are nothing clubs.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton, United, Villa, Chelsea, Spurs, City, Newcastle, Sunderland, Us, West Brom, Bolton, Sheff Wed, Derby, Wolves, Leeds, West Ham, Forest, Boro are the 20 teams with the most points attained in the top flight.

Liverpool, United, Arsenal, Villa, Chelsea, Spurs, Everton, City, Newcastle, Us, Wolves, Forest, Sunderland, Sheff Wed, West Brom, Leeds, Sheff U, Bolton, H'field, Portsmouth, Preston, West Ham have won the most trophies (the last four have won 4 each, that's why there's 22 there).

The ones in bold are in both lists and therefore must be in it imo,......which is 18 teams.

Huddersfield have won it three times and Preston, Derby and Portsmouth have won it twice......Derby and H'field have 1 FA Cup and Preston and Portsmouth have won it twice.

I don't really care about their stadium size as the game is played on the pitch, not in the stands.

I'd probably give it to H'field on account of them winning the top division three times and Derby because they've been in it longer than the others.

[Head Rover Heels]

Disagree. If something so radical was going to be done to the game, why wouldn't they make a radical decision about selection?

Bristol, Nottingham, Sheffield would all be in with a good shout of inclusion. If not at first, the system would end up like the US franchise version, and the owners of a "small catchment area club" would simply up sticks and move to a big city.

Just because Bristol has no history, doesn't mean there isn't money to be made there. Which is all it would come down to

[bob fleming]

Man United and 19 London clubs.

End of. Lock the thread. It's done.

[thenodrog]

Lancashire County!

Truth is that no town teams would get a sniff.

[gumboots]

I come from Teesside and can't for the life of me see why anyone would include the Boro in their top 20. No history - never won anything till they got the league cup and going nowhere any time soon. I still love them in the way you never quite get over that first boyfriend or girlfriend but i can't see why anyone else would

[ABBEY]

Spent the worst month of my life working there a few years back . We stopped near the park in what can best described as a dosshouse .

On topic couldn't care less who would be if we wernt .

[bazza]

According to the English Premier League All-time Table (includes the old first division), Middlesbrough would be in at No 20.

They would join Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Everton, Newcastle, Sunderland, Villa, Leeds, Sheff W, Derby, Forest, WBA, Wolves, Bolton, West Ham and Rovers.

This would exclude Sheff Utd, Stoke C, Birmingham and Burnley.

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/premier-league/all-time-table/full