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

[Goldstone Rapper]

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.

You seriously want to base it on hypotheticals such as what attendances you would have got if your ground was bigger?

 

[Napper]

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.

You have ignored my answer totally . It isnt just about fan bases and the present.

Perception it may be but Pompey are bigger than you still . Yes I'm sure it will change

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

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)

agree with this

 

[Alex]

You have ignored my answer totally . It isnt just baout fan bases and the present.

Perception it may be but Pompey are bigger than you still . Yes I'm sure it will change

The only claim they have to be bigger than us is trophies won. The other things that a size of a club is based on are:

Attendances,
Fanbase,
Stadium,
Facilities,
Infrastructure,
Time spent in higher divisions,
Record against each other

etc etc etc all of which we absolutely dwarf them. I make that 7-1 to us. There are many factors that determine the size of a club and we comfortably beat them in almost every single one.

 

[Working class pride]

Alex, The dell held 30,000 in its day and yet before St Marys, Saints had just one 30,000 crowd, Brighton, palace and pompey numerous. Brighton had bigger gates in the 70s and 80s because they had more punters through the turnstile, not because saints couldnt get them in, saints could, they just didnt, despite being in a higher division than us. When Brighton and palace were getting 25000/30000 crowds, saints were getting about 17000 and were a plucky underdog. Saints have come a long way since mind you but still only rarely get a 30K crowd and knock about between 20,000 to 25,000. This a long way from a west ham, which is a step up from the Brighton's, palace's, pompey's and saints of this world

 

[Shooting Star]

As a couple have mentioned. in my mind it's Saints, Pompey, Brighton, and for us in the near future to surpass Pompey.

 

[Alex]

Alex, The dell held 30,000 in its day and yet before St Marys, Saints had just one 30,000 crowd, Brighton, palace and pompey numerous. Brighton had bigger gates in the 70s and 80s because they had more punters through the turnstile, not because saints couldnt get them in, saints could, they just didnt, despite being in a higher division than us. When Brighton and palace were getting 25000/30000 crowds, saints were getting about 17000 and were a plucky underdog. Saints have come a long way since mind you but still only rarely get a 30K crowd and knock about between 20,000 to 25,000. This a long way from a west ham, which is a step up from the Brighton's, palace's, pompey's and saints of this world

You seem to think you are a bigger club than Saints, you are not. You know that full well. So does everyone else on here. We are a far bigger club than you and Palace. We also are bigger than Pompey, but not by that much. If you read my previous post, I gave 7 reasons why we are bigger than Portsmouth. Care to disagree with any of them?

 

[Napper]

The only claim they have to be bigger than us is trophies won. The other things that a size of a club is based on are:

Attendances,
Fanbase,
Stadium,
Facilities,
Infrastructure,
Time spent in higher divisions,
Record against each other

etc etc etc all of which we absolutely dwarf them. I make that 7-1 to us. There are many factors that determine the size of a club and we comfortably beat them in almost every single one.

In your opinion , look at the response on here , 90% say Pompey bigger. Same would be true on what the country think. End of the day it makes not a stinky shit what case you make . The perception in football for now is that you are smaller.

And no amount of bullet points of reasons can argue or overturn perception

I'm out

 

[Alex]

In your opinion , look at the response on here , 90% say Pompey bigger. Same would be true on what the country think. End of the day it makes not a stinky shit what case you make . The perception in football for now is that you are smaller.

And no amount of bullet points of reasons can argue or overturn perception

I'm out

Well if '90%' of people would really believe that then they are thick. Pompey only beat us in ONE of the determining factors. The other 7 listed, we comfortably smash them in.

 

[We're the Stripes]

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)

Sounds fair enough to me.

Saints have the set-up, academy, fan-base etc.. all in place and have done for years now. The only way is up for them, having come through the Lowe/administration problems. Likewise we're on an upward trajectory, just not quite as steep a gradient. I'd like to think Bloom's ambitions aren't too far off those of Southampton, but it's going to take time to establish ourselves, build-up a core support of 20k, get the academy up and running etc..

Pompey have the history in terms of Division 1 titles, FA Cup trophies, European football in recent years, although obviously detestable the manner in which some of it was achieved. Definitely going no-where quick without some major off-field progress - doesn't look forthcoming.

So I'd say your order of size is about right, with us over-taking Pompey, in time. Not that it matters a great deal..

 

[Pevenseagull]

I thought it was a cow bell?

cow bells are good as well

AND Pompey have got a tango man, although not as good as the Sheffield Wednesday one


Sheffield Wednesday, now that's a big club

 

[Working class pride]

Alex my friend, I have said Saints, pompey, Brighton, palace are all about the same. As for "you know saints are bigger so there" argument, you have to do better than that. Answer the point. In the 70's Brighton and palace got bigger crowds than you when you were playing in higher divisions and that had nothing to do with the dell's capacity, as the dell had the capacity in those days. It was not until all seater came in that saints can run that defence. Brighton and palace had numerous crowds above 30,000, saints? Just one before St Marys. You are a medium sized club, that is all. Brighton a bigger catchment area, but what the albion do with that catchment area is yet to be seen.

 

[Pevenseagull]

mind you, Sheffield isn't by the sea so there's a 360 degree catchment SO, to be bigger than Brighton or Portsmouth or indeed little Southampton they would really need to be more than twice as big as any coastal town to be really bigger.

then again if a team is nearer to the coast then they might have a few less coming from the side nearer the sea.

Derby should be bigger than they are

 

[Working class pride]

cow bells are good as well

AND Pompey have got a tango man, although not as good as the Sheffield Wednesday one


Sheffield Wednesday, now that's a big club

I though it was a tattooed fella that pompey had? If they have a tango man and a cow bell then that seals it, pompey are huge.
Shef Weds, yes huge, they won loads during the Boer War. Huge crowds in their day. Charlton are worth a shout as a club with a big history, they had regular 70,000 down the Valley. Millwall also had a few 40,000 crowds back in the day

 

[SouthamptonGuy]

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.

I find your numbers misleading.

Saints' average attendance in the 1970's in the league was 20,114.
Brighton's average attendance over a season in the 1970's in the league was 16,168.

Brighton's highest average attendance was in 1978 with 25,264. That is the one time since the 1950's (I haven't looked before then) your average attendance was 25,000+.

My sources.
England historical attendance and performance
England historical attendance and performance

Brighton have had higher average attendances than Southampton 11 times since 1950, 4 times since 1977 and not since the 1980 season.
Southampton have had higher average attendances than Brighton, therefore, the other 50 seasons since 1950.

1977= Brighton's average attendance was 703 more than Saints'.
1978= Brighton's average attendance was 4,093 more than Saints'.
1979= Brighton's average attendance was 744 more than Saints'.
1980= Brighton's average attendance was 3,415 more than Saints'.

 

[Pevenseagull]

when there were still terraces Sheff Wed and Sheff U were really huge because the fans had big legs from walking up and down the hills - if you take the hillyness into account then they were only marginally bigger than Norwich because Norwich is flat.

 

[Pevenseagull]

I find your numbers misleading.

Saints' average attendance in the 1970's in the league was 20,114.
Brighton's average attendance over a season in the 1970's in the league was 16,168.

Brighton's highest average attendance was in 1978 with 25,264. That is the one time since the 1950's (I haven't looked before then) your average attendance was 25,000+.

My sources.
England historical attendance and performance
England historical attendance and performance

Brighton have had higher average attendances than Southampton 11 times since 1950, 4 times since 1977 and not since the 1980 season.
Southampton have had higher average attendances than Brighton, therefore, the other 50 seasons since 1950.

1977= Brighton's average attendance was 703 more than Saints'.
1978= Brighton's average attendance was 4,093 more than Saints'.
1979= Brighton's average attendance was 744 more than Saints'.
1980= Brighton's average attendance was 3,415 more than Saints'.

I'm responsible for about 0.3 of the 1980 attendance

 

[GoldWithFalmer]

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.

we were limited by the Goldstone-were the East terrace square and did not trickle down to a few steps the Goldstone could have held in excess of 45,000 rather than 38,000 more than enough to see us become the numero uno

current standings allowing for Pompey's 50,000 highest ever crowd to the current day
allowing for Saint's increase from the Dell days to St Marys

& finally Brighton's last game at the the Goldstone average compared to now and the fact we have Falmer

All time averages see link

All Time English League Attendance Records - Electronic Arts UK Community

 

[Pevenseagull]

Pompey's got that landlady who puts on football in her pub, that's big

 

[Working class pride]

Better effort from Saintsguy. Saintsguy, have a look at the late 70s compared to early 70s. Brighton in the late 70s were pulling in much bigger crowds than you when in lower divisions than saints, but saints think they are a bigger club than brighton, or palace, really, so how did that happen then? Also Brighton, palace and pompey have had numerous crowds over 30,000 but saints, just 1 before st marys