The concept of "Bigness" is a weird thing. I think age pays a massive part for a lot of people.
I wouldn't have considered City or Chelsea to have been big clubs when I was a kid.
Regardless of the ownership thing, they are undoubtedly big clubs now.
I still consider the likes of Everton, Newcastle, Villa and Leeds to be big clubs, even though none of them have won anything of note for Donkey's years.
Whereas Leicester seem like a smaller club by comparison.
The idea that we are a bigger club than Derby, Forest, Birmingham or even the likes of Ipswich/Norwich still feels a little far-fetched to me.
But to my Kid's generation we seem much bigger ( i expect)
Bigger than Palace......
We’re not yet, still waiting on that aren’t we? It will happen though
We are... We were in the championship to be honest!
Bigger than Palace......
I'm not sure it really matters, I don't get really get the desperation from some for us to be perceived as a big club, it screams of inferiority complex.
We are a well supported, one city club who are unrecognisable from the club I started supporting in the mid nineties but we've spent 55 seasons in the 3rd division and never won anything of note. We'd need a generation of top flight football and some silverware to join the perceived top 20 English clubs in my opinion.
I'm sure I'll take some abuse for this post but whenever this subject comes up there's a number of people who need a little dose of reality.
One thing I am sure of is Ben White will go to a far bigger club than both of those mentioned.
I saw a twitter spat a while back where a West Brom fan was claiming they outbigged us as their club social media following was around 200K where as ours was 28k or something. Anyway we were well and truely outbigged on that measure for what it is worth.
Anyway happy to bore once again on http://clubelo.com/Brighton, which has us ranked 49th in Europe and level with the almighty Leeds United. The rankings are based on comparitive points, win away against a team ranked above you and you gain a lot of points, lose at home to a team below you and you lose a lot of ranking points. Seems to me to be the fairest method of ranking teams, even if it doesn't really account for Pre-WWII league wins, massive followings, or vast social media followings.
You can also get a straightforward ranking list here; http://clubelo.com/Ranking plenty to discuss here on the company we are keeping.
https://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/englandcontent.htm
Good website.
Club size defined by historical crowds , historical league placings , trophies and current set up. A mixture of it all
No chance anywhere near the size of Leeds and Everton
That was BAJ/BP (before Ali J/Percy) of course
I was a kid in the early 70s and both City and Chelsea where big clubs then.
In modern terms, and in the context of the OP regarding holding on to our players, club size is purely based upon money.
RB Leipzig were founded just 11 years ago, but are probably considered bigger than all but the big four in England.
They have already managed a Champions League semi final appearance thanks to a wealthy owner with a clear vision. Sound familiar?