Sleeping Giants

[Matt Richards]

I agree. In my mind there are 20 clubs in the premiership and 72 clubs who have an aspiration to be there and therefore consider themselves to be a sleeping giant. It is this hope that keeps you supporting your team. The only differences between these 72 clubs is the length of time it could potentially take each team and the levels of delusions held by the fans.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

"Sleeping Giant: If you refer to someone or something as a sleeping giant, you mean that they are powerful but they have not yet shown the full extent of their power."

I think that sums it up, and I believe we can definitely be categorised in that way. Falmer will awaken us.

I agree with this.

I think Hans Kraay is DELUDED.

The definition he has posted suggests that to be classed as a SG, an entity must BE powerful, with potential for that power to increase.

If you AGREE with it, you agree with me.

You're not very BRIGHT, are you?

 

[Stat Brother]

Cheers Hans, all the hard work is being done for me!

 

[Icy Gull]

To be a sleeping giant you have to actually be a giant. We are not a giant sleeping or otherwise as we have never been a giant.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

To be a sleeping giant you have to actually be a giant. We are not a giant sleeping or otherwise as we have never been a giant.

Good to see that not everyone is STUPID.

 

[Brownstuff]

But we are powerful
We are super Brighton after all

 

[Biscuit]

I agree. In my mind there are 20 clubs in the premiership and 72 clubs who have an aspiration to be there and therefore consider themselves to be a sleeping giant. It is this hope that keeps you supporting your team. The only differences between these 72 clubs is the length of time it could potentially take each team and the levels of delusions held by the fans.

Yeah I like that.

I'd say a sleeping giant is a club with the potential to be a giant. i.e large catchment area etc

 

[Rugrat]

If we can ever make the Premiership (and stay there) we would have over achieved ... I can readily name 20 teams bigger than us .. a sleeping giant we are not ... maybe an "Optimistic Aspirer"

 

[BHseagull]

The definition he has posted suggests that to be classed as a SG, an entity must BE powerful, with potential for that power to increase.

If you AGREE with it, you agree with me.

You're not very BRIGHT, are you?

It really depends in what context you're judging the power. No, we are not powerful in comparison to Man Utd, but I feel we are one of the more powerful clubs outside of the Premiership. The potential awakening Falmer could bring may well catapult us into the Premiership, and into Giant status.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

What's the opposite of Sleeping Giant? Awake Dwarf maybe? In which case I nominate Stoke City a.k.a the Anti-Barca.

 

[Gully]

What's the opposite of Sleeping Giant? Awake Dwarf maybe? In which case I nominate Stoke City a.k.a the Anti-Barca.

Awake dwarf would be someone like Crawley, Stevenage or Morecambe...they have done really well to get into the football league on limited resources and are probably really enjoying the ride!

 

[Napper]

We have spent most our history in the bottom 2 divs haven't we. I'd imagine a poll amongst all football fans would have us there based on "size" , there would be a number putting us in the championship though.

If we can don't drop below championship for the next decade then this is success

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

If we can don't drop below championship for the next decade then this is success

I'd say it would be a failure. Anything Reading can do, we can do better.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

I think we're a wide awake David (as opposed to a sleepy Goliath)

 

[cannedheat]

The only giants in this country and that includes Wales are not sleeping.

 

[patchamalbion]

on your point about Bristol City, yes its a large city and has a potentially huge catchment area but they never sell out and have a similar size capacity to us! They also obviously have their neighbours who dont have a bad fanbase themselves.

anyway i would say we are not a sleeping giant and like others have said i believe this is our level

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

Bradford
Oxford - won the league cup
Leeds

 

[Seagull Steve]

I take the sleeping giants analogy to mean, were big and will be big again.

Which, with the best will in the world, ain't us.
We were bigger than many, Rochdale, Orient, et al.
But other than a fleeting moment (4 years in 100+) nearly 30 years ago, were currently at our level.

Please don't say it like that SB, nearly thirty years makes me feel so old lol. Of course you are right though, we have never been a giant, so therefore by definition we can't be a sleeping giant. We will always have peaks and troughs in our support, we always have.

 

[The Sock of Poskett]

on your point about Bristol City, yes its a large city and has a potentially huge catchment area but they never sell out and have a similar size capacity to us! They also obviously have their neighbours who dont have a bad fanbase themselves.

anyway i would say we are not a sleeping giant and like others have said i believe this is our level

It's fair to say that Bristol City have spent more time in the top two divisions since the mid-Seventies than the Albion, but I think we need to be focusing on other potentially unfashionable clubs that have 'over achieved' in reaching the Premiership despite a potential fanbase no greater than ours, and in some cases considerably less:

Wigan
Hull City
Blackpool
Barnsley
Reading
Oldham
Swansea
Watford
and probably the most notable example ... the old Plough Lane Wimbledon FC

We may not be a sleeping giant, but we have the potential to become a major force in the Championship/Premiership axis (eg top 8 of the Champ, bottom 8 of the Premier) – stadium, support base, ownership and management are all in place. We now just have to keep developing the squad and we will begin to be more of a buying than a selling club - a destination outfit going somewhere, rather than a development club that just loses all its best players.

The next five years are going to be VERY interesting ...

 

[Stat Brother]

I had to do the maths a few times, just to make sure I was right.