Who are the biggest club on the South Coast? (and where do we sit....)

[GoldWithFalmer]

It's official, you are all absolutely off your f***ing heads. Deluded.

Here we go,deluded and on this forum can mean only 1 thing-

 

[TS90]

How do you mean? The consensus is Brighton are third, way behind Portsmouth and Southampton.

Is he a Palace fan? Nice to see he's bigging up Brighton more than their own fans are.

 

[SouthamptonGuy]

Last 30 years I would say Saints
Last 20 years I would say Saints
Last 10 years I would say Pompey

At present I would say Saints, then Brighton, then Pompey, then Bournemouth.
At present, however, it will depend on each poster's subjective criteria for what makes a club the biggest.

If we are looking at most expensive stadium, then it's Brighton.
If we look at who has recently spent the most amount of money on one player, then it's Brighton (CMS).
If we are looking at stadium capacity, then it's Southampton.
If we are looking at average attendance, then it's Southampton.
If we are looking at the last team to qualify for Europe, it's Pompey.
If we are looking at the last team to win a major tournament, then it's Pompey (FA Cup).

I think both Saints and Brighton have the set up to make it to the Premiership within the next few years.
It's hard to assess Pompey as their finances/ownership etc is unclear

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Fast forward a year & we COULD be pulling in 25k min for poor oppo & 28k for 4k sell out oppo, would push us up a bit...

 

[Alex]

Brighton could comfortably be bigger than Portsmouth soon, but to think Saints are smaller than Pompey is ridiculous.

My order:

Saints

Pompey
Brighton (Just behind, and soon to overtake)

 

[Pevenseagull]

The fact that every single poster has got Pompey as a bigger club than Saints..

We have spent most of our history in leagues above them,
Our record against them is much better than theirs against us,
We have a MUCH bigger fanbase,
We got bigger crowds than them in League One than they did in the PREMIER LEAGUE,
They can barely scrape 10k through the gates these days, our average attendances are consistently DOUBLE theirs.

fair points




but Pompey are bigger

 

[Pevenseagull]

mind you, I think Leyton Orient are bigger than Brentford

 

[Alex]

fair points




but Pompey are bigger

If one of you can give a valid reason as to why Pompey are bigger than us at this present moment in time then I will give you £100.

 

[Pevenseagull]

If one of you can give a valid reason as to why Pompey are bigger than us at this present moment in time then I will give you £100.

Thanks for the offer, unfortunately I have absolutely no valid reasons and cannot justify my comments in any way.


but they are

 

[Mackenzie]

Portsmouth have the history but are struggling now, Southampton have more money than us and a settled infrastructure so they are in front of us at the moment. I'd say:

1. Southampton
2. Brighton
3. Portsmouth
4. Bournemouth
5. Plymouth
6. Torquay

 

[Pevenseagull]

Plymouth are biggest because in the 1970s their football cards had a green border

 

[Working class pride]

This is like 3 bald men arguing over a comb. Brighton, pompey and Saints, Norwich, palace, QPR are all about the same, just that at various times they have been run better. Brighton had larger crowds in the lower leagues than Saints had in the top flight at the dell during the 70s, but 25 years of decline left Brighton a mess. Brighton are back and have I would argue, the biggest potential because of population but that is only a potential. Pompey I hate to admit, have to date, the best history in terms of winning things of all 3.

 

[Alex]

This is like 3 bald men arguing over a comb. Brighton, pompey and Saints, Norwich, palace, QPR are all about the same, just that at various times they have been run better. Brighton had larger crowds in the lower leagues than Saints had in the top flight at the dell during the 70s, but 25 years of decline left Brighton a mess. Brighton are back and have I would argue, the biggest potential because of population but that is only a potential. Pompey I hate to admit, have to date, the best history in terms of winning things of all 3.

We are comfortably bigger than all 5 other clubs you have mentioned there.

 

[Pevenseagull]

This is like 3 bald men arguing over a comb. Brighton, pompey and Saints, Norwich, palace, QPR are all about the same, just that at various times they have been run better. Brighton had larger crowds in the lower leagues than Saints had in the top flight at the dell during the 70s, but 25 years of decline left Brighton a mess. Brighton are back and have I would argue, the biggest potential because of population but that is only a potential. Pompey I hate to admit, have to date, the best history in terms of winning things of all 3.

you're good you are

 

[Napper]

If one of you can give a valid reason as to why Pompey are bigger than us at this present moment in time then I will give you £100.

The question wasnt now , it was who is the biggest. No hard and fast rules on what this is judged on hence why answers often differ. It is widely accepted that trophys / history , crowds are pretty major factors in the assesment and the further back these things happened the more they seem to hold weight now as it takes decades to change status. There are other lesser things that combined also come into play (including very recent history)

Sole reason you are below Pompey is the league titles and cup wins they have had.

You cant say that is wrong as that is the football perception . Same results would be found throught the land if the question was put out there.
I hate this as I hate Pompey but facts are facts

 

[Alex]

The question wasnt now , it was who is the biggest. No hard and fast rules on what this is judged on hence why answers often differ. It is widely accepted that trophys / history , crowds are pretty major factors in the assesment and the further back these things happened the more they seem to hold weight now as it takes decades to change status. There are other lesser things that combined also come into play (including very recent history)

Sole reason you are below Pompey is the league titles and cup wins they have had.

You cant say that is wrong as that is the football perception . Same results would be found throught the land if the question was put out there.
I hate this as I hate Pompey but facts are facts

The facts are as mentioned, they can just about scrape 10k through the gates, in a shit, run down heap. We are getting double their attendances, and we even were when in League One and they were in the Prem. If that doesn't say everything, then nothing will. They will never come close to having a fanbase the size of ours.

 

[Pevenseagull]

Pompey have got a trumpet

 

[Working class pride]

Pompey have got a trumpet

I thought it was a cow bell?

 

[Working class pride]

The facts are as mentioned, they can just about scrape 10k through the gates, in a shit, run down heap. We are getting double their attendances, and we even were when in League One and they were in the Prem. If that doesn't say everything, then nothing will. They will never come close to having a fanbase the size of ours.

Mate, Brighton did the same to you in the 70s.You were in higher leagues pulling in 17000, when Brighton were in the third division pulling in 25,000-30,000. Fact is that Saints before St Marys only got one crowd over 30,000. Brighton had numerous, as did palace and pompey.

 

[Alex]

Mate, Brighton did the same to you in the 70s.You were in higher leagues pulling in 17000, when Brighton were in the third division pulling in 25,000-30,000. Fact is that Saints before St Marys only got one crowd over 30,000. Brighton had numerous, as did palace and pompey.

The fact is we would have got more but were limited by the Dell. Pretty simple, I think anyone would be able to understand that. Someone else put the same to you. 9k capacity at the Withdean, so is your fanbase 9,000? No. Neither was ours 15,000.