Sleeping giants left in the game?

[Marc1901]

Queens Park Rangers.

 

[in_the_sand]

Special circumstances. Pompey are going BUST!

Cue AFC Havant, Waterlooville & Portsmouth very soon!

 

[Lewes' best seagull]

For some reason thinking Coventry, no idea why as I know next-to-nothing about them.

*waits for someone to rubbish his idea*

 

[Marc1901]

For some reason thinking Coventry, no idea why as I know next-to-nothing about them.

*waits for someone to rubbish his idea*

they're shite

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Oxford United could be a Championship team, I believe.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Rather think Norwich City is bit of an outpost and have always seemed to me to be well supported (?) Somehow even if the make it back to the Prem,i can't see a 60 thousand stadium being built in the area.

 

[The Grockle]

Rather think Norwich City is bit of an outpost and have always seemed to me to be well supported (?) Somehow even if the make it back to the Prem,i can't see a 60 thousand stadium being built in the area.

Average attendances;
2008-2009: 24,543 (Championship League)
2007-2008: 24,523 (Championship League)
2006-2007: 24,545 (Championship League)

Pretty impressive really. I could see them selling out a 40,000 seater stadium in the near future.

 

[brakespear]

If I had billions of pounds to spare (and once the Albion were sorted) I'd never chuck money at an established club.

It would be far more fun to take on a bit of a project, to pick up a club that has potential but has never really realised it, just to see how far you could go. I'd go for somewhere out in the sticks, relatively speaking, that has a reasonable existing fan base and scope to expand it. Someone like Plymouth. They have most of Devon and the whole of Cornwall to pick up fans from if they ever got their backsides in gear. When the Cornish rugby team gets to Twickenham, thousands of rabid Cornishmen head up there, so it would be cool to see if you could get the same reaction out of them for football.

Their biggest problem is they've always had to pay high wages to attract players so far out west. With money no object, I'd fix that, sort out the crappy remaining side of their stadium, play massively on the West Country connection to suck in support, and see what happens.

Oh, and I like teams that play in green. I don't know if Argyle are a sleeping giant, but I'd give it a good go in making them so.

having lived in Cornwall for a number of years, I'd be interested to see how your project to pick up Cornish support would go (*hint* none too well, it's egg-chasers as far as the eye can see)

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Cardiff have got by far the biggest catchment area.

Absolute rubbish, our potential matches Cardiffs if not betters it in terms of catchment area etc. and the fans we lose to London clubs they lose to rugby.

Anyone remember/got that Chris Cattlin quote about us having the potential to be in the 'Big Nine' (i.e. one of the nine biggest clubs in the country?)

 

[beorhthelm]

As much as it pains me to say it....I agree.

Could see them making it to the top flight in the next five or ten years.

dont see that. if they had an appetite for football round there they would have bulit up a club natrually. locals into football would already have inherited a club.

i expect Cardiff to get into and have a good run in the Premiership and possibly Norwich and Ispwich. thing they both need a large dollop of money though or a lucky spell under a new manager. people mention Bristol City but i think football play second fiddle to Rugby down there.

 

[FLOG GNAW]

For some reason thinking Coventry, no idea why as I know next-to-nothing about them.

*waits for someone to rubbish his idea*

They have been in the Prem recently therefore don't qualify.

 

[Knightsworld]

Taunton Town.

Sleeping Minnows.

Does Tom Harris still have anything to do with the club?

 

[perseus]

Bristol United could work, and I meant a Belfast franchise not Dublin, although both could work. The Cardiff catchment population (an Englishman is worth two Welsh though) is twice that of the Brighton area and similar to Newcastle-on-Tyne. Both areas have language problems.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Carlisle... horrible away trip but they should be bigger than they are

 

[Titus]

Carlisle... horrible away trip but they should be bigger than they are

They should join the Scottish league, like Berwick did.

 

[Adopted Brightonian]

i got 42. f***ing wimbledon!

Glad to know I wasn't the only one who completely forgot them!

 

[Simster]

I don't know about them being sleeping giant but I reckon Millwall could climb the divisions and massively increase their fan base in time.

The new Den has gained a reputation for creating an atmosphere normally found at grounds with much larger crowds, if they managed to increase average gates I could see them luring fans from their more sedate South London neighbours and those who crave a more 'old school' match day experience.

They could also be helped by their nearest neighbours recet woes too IMO.

I don't agree. Millwall will forever be hamstrung by their reputation. Rightly or wrongly, some people simply wouldn't choose to go to Millwall for their opening experience of a football match.

Taunton Town.

Sleeping Minnows.

How about Truro City? Thanks to a rich benefactor, the only city in Cornwall has a football team that has rebranded itself with Cornwall's colours and been promoted a record 5 successive seasons. I think they're trying to build a 16,000 stadium (which got rejected earlier this year) in order to fulfill this dream.
Obviously they'll never be a club big enough to grace the top two divisions, but they could easily tap into the feeling of Cornish national identity, much as their county rugby team does, and reach the football league.

 

[Simster]

Bristol United could work, and I meant a Belfast franchise not Dublin, although both could work. The Cardiff catchment population (an Englishman is worth two Welsh though) is twice that of the Brighton area.

Absolute rubbish. Firstly, our catchment area is highly comparible to Cardiff's. Secondly, an Englishman is worth three Welshies.

 

[Trigger]

Definitely Bradford, I know they've flirted briefly with the Prem before but that was all wrong, given the right set-up and a bigger ground they have the potential to be huge.

 

[Gwylan]

Definitely Bradford, I know they've flirted briefly with the Prem before but that was all wrong, given the right set-up and a bigger ground they have the potential to be huge.

When I lived there, there was an exodus of Bradfordians to Leeds every match day - a lot of people in the city support Leeds as it's a bigger club. And remember that rugby league is tremendously popular too.

I suspect that as it's less than an hour on the train to Manchester, there are probably a few Manure fans there too.