who is the biggest london club

[Cheeky Monkey]

Until Chelsea get a ground with a decent capacity they're always going to be third behind Arsenal and Spurs (with their 58k one in the pipleline). Everyone's criteria for a big club is different - for me it's about fanbase/home crowds. Whether Chelsea would continually sell out a 60k ground, like Arsenal, and soon Spurs (with their 15,000 waiting list), I've no idea, but I struggle to take Chelsea seriously.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

did you bother reading my post ? , by your criteria blackpool wopuld have been a big club in the eighties .

Nope, I took a wild guess at what it said and then hoped my reply would sail somewhere near the mark...

Blackpool wouldn't have been a big club in the 80's and 90's. They've never been a big club. They had a decentish spell from the late 40's to late 50's. Their largest attendence is 38,000. Their list of honours is:

F.A cup: 1953
F.A cup Runners up:48, 51
Division One runners up:55/56
Division Two champions 1929/30
Pisspot trophy:2002, 2004

Not sure what there qualifies them as a big club. It's the sort of record that wannabe big clubs might big up. It's not too different to chelsea's pre 1997...

 

[Publius Ovidius]

London Irish

 

[Mackenzie]

....well it ain't Crystal Palace.....

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

For me the "biggest" club in London is Arsenal based on trophies and history.

Never relegated from the top flight, championships, FA cups etc etc.

 

[User removed 4]

Nope, I took a wild guess at what it said and then hoped my reply would sail somewhere near the mark...

Blackpool wouldn't have been a big club in the 80's and 90's. They've never been a big club. They had a decentish spell from the late 40's to late 50's. Their largest attendence is 38,000. Their list of honours is:

F.A cup: 1953
F.A cup Runners up:48, 51
Division One runners up:55/56
Division Two champions 1929/30
Pisspot trophy:2002, 2004

Not sure what there qualifies them as a big club. It's the sort of record that wannabe big clubs might big up. It's not too different to chelsea's pre 1997...

ok , huddersfield then ?

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

ok , huddersfield then ?

Huddersfield have been league champions of England 3 times, still more than Tottenham Hotspur!

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

ok , huddersfield then ?

Not sure they would count either. They had a very succesfull period in the 20's but nothing since. Not sure if 50years after they'd still be considered a big club.

My point about spurs is that whilst they havent won the league for half a century they have won trophies consistantly throughout their history-you have to go back to the 40's to find the last decade when they didn't win a trophy. They've spent the majority of their history in the top flight and have a large fanbase who-as far as I am aware-have consistantly turned out to watch them.

 

[Simster]

How the f*** can Chelsea truly be considered a bigger club than Spurs? OK they've got a rich chairman and won a few pots in the past 5 years but before then they were true also rans. As recently as 1991, they had the odd PREMIERSHIP gate of 7,500! Their last promotion season was watched by an average gate of about 11,000 including several in the 7-8k range. Their average gate only went above 20k once Ruud Gullit arrived in the mid 90s FFS!

The *lowest* league attendance Spurs have had in my living memory was a single gate of just over 13,000 in 1984 or 1985 during the dark days of hooliganism. Arsenal's lowest league gate in that time was just over 17,000. Both have averaged well over 20k for unbrokens seasons for decades. Chelsea are noddy compared to these two giants. It's what makes Spurs medicrity even funnier.

If Roman walked out on Chelsea, I suspect we'd be seeing crowds of 20,000 or less within 5 years. If it wasn't for the billionaire, I suspect West Ham would be #3 in London.

 

[Icy Gull]

London Irish

Get a sold out 50k for a home game and you'll be creeping close to the Quins. Playing in London would help the cause as well

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

So to be a current 'big' club, judging by what some are saying on this thread, it appears:
a) You need to have won a major domestic or international trophy in the last X years
AND
b) You need to have average home attendance of above Y for the past Z years.

Quite what values you'd place on X, Y and Z are, understandably, very contentious. But I very much doubt that Newcastle can count as a 'big club' for many people using this criteria as their last major honour was in 1969!

Only someone taking the last five years into account could seriously say Chelsea (through their playing success) are a bigger club in London than Arsenal.

 

[sir albion]

Top 5 london clubs by size

1 arsenal (clear winners)
2 tottenham
3 westham
4 chelsea
5 Now this one is tough as its between maybe palace,charlton and fulhamprobably palace

 

[Barrow Boy]

has to be chelsea

Who gives a flying toss, I support the Albion.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Chelseas real fanbase cant be much bigger than Charltons.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

What counts as real fanbase? People who'd go and watch them play if they were in League One?

Unfortunately, that would be impossible to test. I'd be interested to know what their attendances were like when they were struggling at the wrong half of the old second division in the early 1980s...

 

[Storer68]

do i care

 

[SJ's Love Monkey]

Chelseas real fanbase cant be much bigger than Charltons.

as much as i dislike the odious tossers i can't agree there Kinks, Chelsea have always had a pretty big fanbase even when they were shite

 

[Whitterz]

Spurs has a large following. Shame the team oes them no justice

 

[The Uninvited Guest]

The houses of Parliament (Porkliament). Club rules include Screw the general public for every penny you can get. If caught out claim that it's all a huge mistake and you did not notice that you were still claiming on a paid off Mortgage, what's wrong with flipping, why should the tax payer not have to pay for my new home entertainment system, my wife and I are both MPs so we can claim twice, my secretary, whom I am having an affair with, is a bit of a dog so why should I not claim for a bag of Chum.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

as much as i dislike the odious tossers i can't agree there Kinks, Chelsea have always had a pretty big fanbase even when they were shite

I didnt realise swine counted