[Albion] Just how much of a big club is Brighton now? And how big can we get?

[The Fifth Column]

It always interests me peoples perceptions of what constitutes a so called 'big club '. The obvious ones are those that in the last 15-20 years have been racking up titles and European success along with star players and big stadiums regularly full of 40-50,000 fans. The grey area are the likes of Leeds, Sheff Weds, West Ham, Villa and dare I say us also. Apart from a few 2nd division titles and other minor successes these clubs and others like them rely almost exclusively on perceptions of their 'bigness' based on a largely partisan and rose tinted view of their own fans and supporters. Of course these clubs have big fanbases but I really don't think using past glories and success from 30 or 40 years ago is a relevant or accurate guide to a clubs current 'bigness'. What clubs are doing now and achieving now is the history of tomorrow and this will in turn go towards that clubs sense of 'bigness'. I wonder if the internet had been around years ago if fans of successful 'big' clubs such as Preston, Huddersfield, Forest, Wayne Rooneys Derby County™, Sunderland, Blackburn etc could ever have imagined being considered to be the clubs they are today?

 

[Goldstone1976]

At the moment, we're this (3) big. In 10 years' time I hope we'll be this (4) big. But we could be this (2) big. I'll still go to games, sometimes enjoying the game, sometimes not.

 

[GREASED WEASEL]

It always interests me peoples perceptions of what constitutes a so called 'big club '. The obvious ones are those that in the last 15-20 years have been racking up titles and European success along with star players and big stadiums regularly full of 40-50,000 fans. The grey area are the likes of Leeds, Sheff Weds, West Ham, Villa and dare I say us also. Apart from a few 2nd division titles and other minor successes these clubs and others like them rely almost exclusively on perceptions of their 'bigness' based on a largely partisan and rose tinted view of their own fans and supporters. Of course these clubs have big fanbases but I really don't think using past glories and success from 30 or 40 years ago is a relevant or accurate guide to a clubs current 'bigness'. What clubs are doing now and achieving now is the history of tomorrow and this will in turn go towards that clubs sense of 'bigness'. I wonder if the internet had been around years ago if fans of successful 'big' clubs such as Preston, Huddersfield, Forest, Wayne Rooneys Derby County™, Sunderland, Blackburn etc could ever have imagined being considered to be the clubs they are today?

Tbf Villa have won the European Cup

 

[Hotchilidog]

The likes of Leeds and Everton will always be far bigger than us, all things considered, that's just a fact.

Leicester, Southampton, etc, is where we should be aiming for in terms of big-ness (yes I know Leicester are currently third in the league and won it not long ago).

Spot on. Whilst I think it is unlikely that we will ever be thought of as a big club (like I care about that) Leicester have shown clubs of our size and type that striving for success is not the pointless exercise many think it is.

 

[GT49er]

But who could forget The Intertoto Cup at The Goldstone? :

The ground was used as the home venue for both Tottenham Hotspur and Wimbledon for their pre-season 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup campaigns, where both clubs received season-long bans from European football by UEFA for fielding under-strength teams.[4] The bans were later overturned on appeal.

Nice try - but no cigar!

 

[e77]

I am 47 and remember Chelsea in the second tier and Manchester City in the third. If I was five years older then I would remember Manchester United in the second tier. Liverpool went 30 years between titles, Manchester United have only really been the best under two manager several decades apart (Busby and Ferguson). Arsenal are a long way from a title challenge at the moment and Everton apart from the second hall of the 80s haven't really challenged. Tottenham live off stories of the double.

It's all about the branding and size of global fan base at that level.

If you go to watch Newcastle at home you get the impression the entire city walks up the hill to watch them. Anfield and Goodison just seem to grow out of the area round them. As a club we have got much better at being embedded in the community over the last twenty years but I don't think we will ever be part of the fabric like that.

That said what we have at the moment seems sustainable (as much as these things ever can be). We have done the hard yards of getting a new stadium and training ground and I suspect post Covid and Brexit recruiting players in early will be a very good strategy. There are only about half a dozen established Premier League clubs so that is a myth but we are beginning to show signs of being better than a relegation dogfight.

We are establishing ourselves as a good provincial team who can become the default team to support in our area (I get asked about tickets from non Brighton fanatics quite a lot). That is probably good enough to be going along with.

 

[Pint of Ale and a Burger]

I think the biggest club is always your own club.
It's the same for all fans.
I certainly don't see any other clubs as bigger than the albion because they mean nothing to me but the albion means everything.
I imagine that's the same for other clubs fans too.
This "big club" phrase is just something banded around on telly by the pundits ,it means nothing and makes no sense.

 

[stewart_weir]

I only ask as I’m fed up of reading reports about Ben White that “massive united” have the arrogance to think they will get him a n the summer.
I personally think we are as big as Leeds and have the potential to be as big as Everton.

Until we win the FA Cup or PL AND in top 10 for more than 3 seasons in a row we will be relegation candidates as far as most other club fans are concerned. Leeds have a lot of history and we don't

 

[Bakero]

Not really football people then!

Apparently not. A long way to go to be considered a big club though if UK nationals barely know we exist.

 

[Farehamseagull]

Can somebody help me with this please.

When I was a kid living in Southampton and we were skint and generally in the third or fourth tiers, my mates used to rip the absolute piss out of me because I regularly and loudly insisted we had the potential to be in the top 8 biggest clubs in the country. The reason I was so insistent on this was because I believed I heard Chris Cattlin say this. As one of my Dad's hero's, Cattlin was a big deal in our house so I would have clung on to that.

It's still something that my mates come up with now and again as a piss take, but, did he actually ever say it or did I somehow concoct it in my head?! I can't find the quote anywhere!

 

[Pint of Ale and a Burger]

I am 47 and remember Chelsea in the second tier and Manchester City in the third. If I was five years older then I would remember Manchester United in the second tier. Liverpool went 30 years between titles, Manchester United have only really been the best under two manager several decades apart (Busby and Ferguson). Arsenal are a long way from a title challenge at the moment and Everton apart from the second hall of the 80s haven't really challenged. Tottenham live off stories of the double.

It's all about the branding and size of global fan base at that level.

If you go to watch Newcastle at home you get the impression the entire city walks up the hill to watch them. Anfield and Goodison just seem to grow out of the area round them. As a club we have got much better at being embedded in the community over the last twenty years but I don't think we will ever be part of the fabric like that.

That said what we have at the moment seems sustainable (as much as these things ever can be). We have done the hard yards of getting a new stadium and training ground and I suspect post Covid and Brexit recruiting players in early will be a very good strategy. There are only about half a dozen established Premier League clubs so that is a myth but we are beginning to show signs of being better than a relegation dogfight.

We are establishing ourselves as a good provincial team who can become the default team to support in our area (I get asked about tickets from non Brighton fanatics quite a lot). That is probably good enough to be going along with.

Yes this is spot on.

 

[ConfusedGloryHunter]

This bigness question always makes me think of top trumps. Some measure bigness by crowd size, some by league position, some by past glories. Me, I measure bigness by how happy I am when we beat them.

 

[BBassic]

I just quite enjoy being a TeamLikeBrighton.

Beyond that?

 

[Hastings gull]

We’re big enough to not find it odd that we’re in the Premier League.

But we’re not big enough to find it odd that we’re not in the top half of the Premier League.

very well put.

 

[Silverhatch]

We will be BIG when we think we should beat teams like us

# & twats too

 

[NorthLainer]

Can somebody help me with this please.

When I was a kid living in Southampton and we were skint and generally in the third or fourth tiers, my mates used to rip the absolute piss out of me because I regularly and loudly insisted we had the potential to be in the top 8 biggest clubs in the country. The reason I was so insistent on this was because I believed I heard Chris Cattlin say this. As one of my Dad's hero's, Cattlin was a big deal in our house so I would have clung on to that.

It's still something that my mates come up with now and again as a piss take, but, did he actually ever say it or did I somehow concoct it in my head?! I can't find the quote anywhere!

Sod being top 8, according to this, we have the potential to be the BIGGEST team in the country: -


On my part, I'm quite happy to be what we are - a club with a unique history of fighting against great adversity, supported by mainly local people. On that last point much as I dislike that lot up the road, I have a grudging respect for the fact they support their local team not Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs or West Ham.

 

[dangull]

Certainly the building of the Amex and the Academy has meant that the club will be potentially 'bigger' in the future than most of its history.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

If we can just find a solution to the vexing goalscoring issue and keep most of our young stars together next season, I can see us not only top 10, but genuine Europe challengers, surely a marker towards becoming recognised at least as a bigger club. There, I've said it

 

[el punal]

This 'bigger club' stuff is such a load of old willy-waving shite - who cares ?
How is it measured ? What does it mean ? Do you get any points for it ?

Prefer to be a 'good club'. Maybe the response to the 'big club' question is 'we're maybe not bigger, but we are better'.

A sound response to the willy-waving school of size. In our promotion year (2016/17) a Sheffield Wednesday fan commented on how Brighton did everything right in getting to the top flight, and why, they (Wednesday), should adopt the same strategy to achieve success. Massive praise indeed.

 

[Questions]

no chance , Leipzig will always be a noddy club. No history or tradition.

Maybe 100 years time they can re-assess that

They’re not that popular amongst neutrals in Germany are they ?