Genuine EPL Clubs?

Mearns Ranger

Mearns Ranger

Well-Known Member
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Just thinking from the thread about Leeds Hibsing it tonight (or not as it turned out) and the subsequent discussions on them being a proper EPL type club, who does everyone view as proper EPL Clubs, and what should the Premiership be if the best 20 clubs were there?

I think the top ones (8 I’d say) speak for themselves either in terms of size, history or success.

Liverpool
Everton
Man U
Man City
Tottenham
Arsenal
Chelsea
Newcastle

Sure some would argue with Newcastle, but for me if managed properly (not by that lady's front bottom) they’re a top 8 club.

Then I think you’re looking at

Villa
Leeds
Forest (Clough & historically mainly)
Southampton (few bad years but top flight club for most of my 40 years)
West Ham
Sunderland (probably should be with fanbase)
Leicester (recently)

And then the rest really just seem much of a muchness.
Teams like Blackburn have won the EPL, but are they really a proper EPL club? Other than those glory years with Shearer at the beginning of the EPL?
Wolves, done well recently, but not really over a prolonged period.
The Lancashire clubs are all really much of a muchness... Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Wigan, Blackpool...
Birmingham & West Brom? Not for me.
Middlesbrough? Maybe
Norwich & Ipswich?

I’m sure we have resident fans of others I’ve missed, but who do we think are genuinely the top teams in England?
 
could argue for the inclusion of Wednesday or Coventry but they're one of the ones that fell through the trap door and never came back.
 
Other than fan numbers why are Newcastle there? On every other criteria they are a two bit flub. Even them being a one team city can explain fan numbers.
 
I dip in and out of the Premiership when it suits but largely now just for betting or fantasy football etc. It’s all about The Teddy Bears for me. If pushed however in my lifetime of watching it I would plump for in no order-
Man Utd
Man City
Chelsea
Arsenal
Spurs
Liverpool
Everton
Newcastle
Sunderland
West Ham
Villa
Leeds
Forest
Wednesday
QPR
Ipswich
Southampton
Norwich
Bolton
Blackburn( just as winners)

I could live without Leicester, West Brom,Boro, Watford, Wolves, etc. Brighton, Bournemouth, Stoke, Burnley, Hull , Bradford etc are of no interest
 
Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Forest and Leeds would be above Man City if we were going by history rather than money.

Ipswich over Norwich for East Anglia.

Blackburn would be on the cusp for me.
 
Expatbear said:
I dip in and out of the Premiership when it suits but largely now just for betting or fantasy football etc. It’s all about The Teddy Bears for me. If pushed however in my lifetime of watching it I would plump for in no order-
Man Utd
Man City
Chelsea
Arsenal
Spurs
Liverpool
Everton
Newcastle
Sunderland
West Ham
Villa
Leeds
Forest
Wednesday
QPR
Ipswich
Southampton
Norwich
Bolton
Blackburn( just as winners)

I could live without Leicester, West Brom,Boro, Watford, Wolves, etc. Brighton, Bournemouth, Stoke, Burnley, Hull , Bradford etc are of no interest
Click to expand...
That's pretty much the list I would go with, other than I might swap QPR for Watford.
 
Everton surely aswell?

Good sizeable fan base and are they not one of the only teams in England to never have been out of the top flight?
 
Surely one of the Sheffield clubs, the birthplace of English football and the 5th largest city. They both could have a huge fan base.
 
History counts for zilch. The teams in the top league are there for a reason. That reason being that they are the top teams.

When they cease to be a top team they are out. Even ManU have been in a lower league.

There are many clubs with a long standing tradition. That might make them popular but it doesn’t entitle them to anything.
 
Expatbear said:
I dip in and out of the Premiership when it suits but largely now just for betting or fantasy football etc. It’s all about The Teddy Bears for me. If pushed however in my lifetime of watching it I would plump for in no order-
Man Utd
Man City
Chelsea
Arsenal
Spurs
Liverpool
Everton
Newcastle
Sunderland
West Ham
Villa
Leeds
Forest
Wednesday
QPR
Ipswich
Southampton
Norwich
Bolton
Blackburn( just as winners)

I could live without Leicester, West Brom,Boro, Watford, Wolves, etc. Brighton, Bournemouth, Stoke, Burnley, Hull , Bradford etc are of no interest
Click to expand...

Weird how Leicester don't make your list, a team that have won the Premier League, but you have put QPR, Bolton, Norwich and Ipswich in.

QPR, Norwich and Bolton have never won the top league in England.

Ipswich have won it once back in 1961-62.

Leicester deserve to be in there in my opinion.
 
I much prefer Leeds, Forest and Wednesday in the top division than Bournemouth, Brighton and Watford.

A bit of a North vs South divide. Clubs in the south have tended to do well recently while ones in the North have struggled.
 
Expatbear said:
I dip in and out of the Premiership when it suits but largely now just for betting or fantasy football etc. It’s all about The Teddy Bears for me. If pushed however in my lifetime of watching it I would plump for in no order-
Man Utd
Man City
Chelsea
Arsenal
Spurs
Liverpool
Everton
Newcastle
Sunderland
West Ham
Villa
Leeds
Forest
Wednesday
QPR
Ipswich
Southampton
Norwich
Bolton
Blackburn( just as winners)

I could live without Leicester, West Brom,Boro, Watford, Wolves, etc. Brighton, Bournemouth, Stoke, Burnley, Hull , Bradford etc are of no interest
Click to expand...

Notts Forest a good inclusion, double European Champions.
 
Blackburn were effectively the Man City of the early 90s. If you took them in Championship Manager you had at least twice the player budget of even Man U & Arsenal :))
 
A good quiz here to test your knowledge of the EPL. It also shows how many seasons they have played in it, which may surprise you for some clubs.

www.sporcle.com

Premier League Clubs All-Time

Can you name the clubs in the Premier League since its inception?
www.sporcle.com www.sporcle.com
 
Smkz23 said:
If you’re just talking EPL then can you really include Forest who got relegated in its first season and have only been in the league something like 4 seasons in total?
Click to expand...
I suppose I think of them as a club that should be a top flight club.
They’ve won the league, European Cup twice and for a period in the 80’s and early 90’s were always in cup semis and finals. It’s purely my opinion but based in n them actually being one of the first English clubs I saw a lot of growing up, I tend to think of them as a club who used to always be there or thereabouts and that they should be a top flight club.
 
WinkieWATP said:
Other than when Keegan was there when have Newcastle ever looked a top 8 club?
Click to expand...
They were pretty much a top 4 club through Keegan and again with Bobby Robson.
They are massive in terms of stadium and support.
They are a club who should have won something.
When you look at some of the “diddy” clubs who have, then Newcastle really should have.
Wigan, Birmingham, Leicester(under O’Neill) Portsmouth and a few others have won cups.
Newcastle have had some great players over the years. Going back to Waddle, Gascoigne, Beardsley etc, then Cole, Ferdinand, Shearer, Asprilla, Ginola.
I just think of them as a club that should be there.
Again though, it’s just my opinion.
 
Villa are one of the original 6, so they should be above most of the teams in the top list tbh. Everton as well. So Only Man U and Liverpool above them imo.
 
JammiesBear said:
Other than fan numbers why are Newcastle there? On every other criteria they are a two bit flub. Even them being a one team city can explain fan numbers.
Click to expand...

9th most successful English club of all time in trophies won.

4th biggest historical average attendance of all time in England.

Leeds are a one city club, a city far, far bigger than Newcastle yet have never, ever averaged over 40k in a season.
 
Four London clubs - Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and West Ham.
The two Manchester clubs.
Liverpool and Everton.
Aston Villa and Birmingham.
Newcastle and Sunderland.
The rest made up from Leicester, Leeds, Blackburn, Forest, Sheffield Utd and Wednesday, Southampton, Bolton, Wolves and Preston North End :)
 
Times have definitely changed, I support Leeds and would love to see them back in the top flight but no one has a god given right to be there.

I wouldn't have considered Man City a genuine top flight club until the Arabs came in a decade ago, I'd have had them on a par with teams like Bolton, Blackburn and West Brom.

Man United
Man City
Liverpool
Everton
Arsenal
Chelsea
Tottenham
Newcastle
Southampton
Aston Villa
Leeds
Blackburn
West Ham
Nottingham Forest
Sheffield Wednesday
Bolton
Leicester
Middlesbrough
Coventry
Sunderland

I was born in 1990 so I've gone for some of the teams that you associate with usally being in it but struggling throughout the mid to late 90s and early 00s.

I'd like to see them all come back at some point but its looking a long way back for the likes of Bolton and Coventry.
 
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There's x3 'big clubs'.

Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal.

The rest, don't come close.

Villa are bigger than City.
 
Expatbear said:
I dip in and out of the Premiership when it suits but largely now just for betting or fantasy football etc. It’s all about The Teddy Bears for me. If pushed however in my lifetime of watching it I would plump for in no order-
Man Utd
Man City
Chelsea
Arsenal
Spurs
Liverpool
Everton
Newcastle
Sunderland
West Ham
Villa
Leeds
Forest
Wednesday
QPR
Ipswich
Southampton
Norwich
Bolton
Blackburn( just as winners)

I could live without Leicester, West Brom,Boro, Watford, Wolves, etc. Brighton, Bournemouth, Stoke, Burnley, Hull , Bradford etc are of no interest
Click to expand...
Tend to agree. Will Forest or Ipswich ever make it back though? Leeds will I think
 
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