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talking in the pub yesterday (On Topic)


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I havn't said were bigger etc, i've argued that of we were well runwe should be almost on .par with them.

Bolton are eighth at the moment ffs.

Bolton have finished higher than eighth before.

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Average PL teams fuch as fulham, bolton wigan, everton, even spurs would be in for a shock coming to a fully packed S6.

Why would Spurs and Everton be in for a shock when they play at similiar sized grounds and bigger away grounds?

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Guest Darth Sturrock

Seriously though folks, I think we have the capability/potential to have a club that regularly finishes in mid to top half of the top flight division, and to be competing with clubs like Everton, Aston Villa, Tottenham etc.

We just haven't done this on a regular enough basis, due to poor top management. We SHOULD be on a par with those clubs, but we aren't, yet everything is in place to be so. I don't think anybody can argue with this. The potential IS there.

I haven't got the exact figures to hand, but since 1960, we have had 2 relatively succesful periods, and roughly 20 years, in between these where we have had to suffer relegations to the third tier of english football. (Now included!)

When we have been going through our bad periods, on both occasions, this was down to penny-ante thinking at the top level of the club. ie. not spending enough of our budget on top level players and/or managers. (Eg. Dave Richards setting on Danny Wilson as manager, this was a disaster, and cheap thinking) IF we had speculated to accumulate, as they say, I have no doubt, that we we would still be a force to be reckoned with at the top level.

The trick is, the next time we reach the top flight, we need everything in place to sustain that. Not just players, but the manager, and the boardroom, and everything behind the scenes. All of it CAN be built up, to sustain a top flight position.

Despite everything, I actually think that with Milan at the helm, we CAN do this, in time. Dark%20Happy.gif

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The who is a big club argument is one that will never be solved as too many people have differing views on what constitutes a big club. To me it's what others think about you, I still regularly talk to spurs, everton, man utd and wolves(they say we are bigger than them) fans and all of them see us as a massive club, I suppose it's a mixture of past glories/reputation and size of potential support. It's true if we were mid table prem we would average over 30k easily and attract names. The reality is we cantgold our own on the pitch against peterbro, Exeter and leyton orient, so big means nowt really.

One thing those fans do say though is that there is only really one big club in Sheffield! :biggrin:

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Guest thetruthisoutthere

Yes, yo yo means more than one promotion to the prem which works wonders for any fan base and allows you to push on in the long run

I would rip yer arm off for them kind of results before digging in and securing prem status more perminently

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Dark$ide, how on earth can you compare Spurs and Everton with Fulham, Wigan, Bolton. Both clubs are bigger than Sheffield Wednesday as well and Goodison is bigger whilst WHL is slightly smaller (lets forget the fact Spurs are moving grounds at some point).

Baggiehy, If WBA were/are this club that broke even whilst being a Yo-Yo club then your chairman/club must be worth more than £40m. The only way that WBA could push on to Europe is if you have a very lucky season whilst other sides don't. This counts for half of the Premier League. This season Bolton are doing well, last year Fulham did well.

You can't be consistent good without spending money. So going back to your question, has your board of directors or owner outlined their intention?

he sacked Di Matteo (who i thought was doing a decent job playing good football) to try and keep them in the premier league. i think theyve obviously decided nows the time to stop yo yo-ing and get some stability.

Baggiehy, in answer to your question - even 5 years ago, i reckon a majority would have said they would be settled with top 12 premier league. now, all of us almost, would kill for west broms style, approach and recent history.

Premier league does funny things to fans though. Hull came from nowhere, stayed up, then the next season the fans turned on phil brown because they were in a relegation battle. like they were going to be a top 12 side or something? Ask the majority of blackpool fans, start of the season they would have said they were just planning on enjoying their season. now, ill bet most are grumbling about Holloways niaive style of play, or lack of investment in the defence.

what west brom have done for the last few years is difficult for the fans, but i think youll be reaping the rewards in the near future.

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he sacked Di Matteo (who i thought was doing a decent job playing good football) to try and keep them in the premier league. i think theyve obviously decided nows the time to stop yo yo-ing and get some stability.

Baggiehy, in answer to your question - even 5 years ago, i reckon a majority would have said they would be settled with top 12 premier league. now, all of us almost, would kill for west broms style, approach and recent history.

Premier league does funny things to fans though. Hull came from nowhere, stayed up, then the next season the fans turned on phil brown because they were in a relegation battle. like they were going to be a top 12 side or something? Ask the majority of blackpool fans, start of the season they would have said they were just planning on enjoying their season. now, ill bet most are grumbling about Holloways niaive style of play, or lack of investment in the defence.

what west brom have done for the last few years is difficult for the fans, but i think youll be reaping the rewards in the near future.

Don't get wrong mate, the last 10 years have been wild ride and I've enjoyed all of them. Actually the championship years more than the Premier until this season. Out of the five Managers, only 1 of them has been duff (Ironically it was the one to first keep us in the prem for consecutive seasons). You bring up Hull coming from nowhere, and I think that part of there problem. They had a decent run when they first got there., but, spent and spent to stay there. It crippled them when they came down. Our mindset previously is that we've been a Championship team in the premier league. Go up grab the money and strengthen when we came down. This mindset changed this year with the appointment of Roy Hodgson. What we've done should template for other teams to follow. For the life of me I don't understand why teams like Hull Derby or even the blades didn't follow it.

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I saw a list a few years ago which put every club in order of their size, I can't remember what the criteria was but it was pretty extensive, and if memory serves me, Wednesday were 12th. The Blunts were around 22nd.

I think this is about right.

Just a bloke, who used up all his luck in one go when he met his wife.

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I would take the yoyo... but what you need to turn a decent fanbase into something outta the ordinary though is consistent success...Chelsea used to get poor crowds when winning nowt...ive known 15'000 in Goodison when they were crap...We have had 37000 for mean nowt games when the prices were right...Norwich for instance.....Wednesday fans are of late noted for their attendance when the club is on its uppers....and the away followings are phenomenal for the fare thats usually served up...I'm not saying Wednesday are bigger than Everton or spurs...but they have never gone through the unmitigated crap we have....Give either of those clubs 10 years of abysmal football...not a trophy in sight....and see how many trot up....thats the acid test of support....and its why i don't begrudge Man City their recent good fortune....their fans were bloody great through adversity.

West Brom fans are respected because they mainly take their brickbats on the chin, and boing boing back...good luck to 'em...i always found them the most good natured supporters in the midlands....Birmingham fans are utter tw@ts for the most part...Villa fans are impatient...though to be fair they were pretty consistent when the club was having a bad time....I never could understand a fvckin' word Wolves fan say ...so the juries out on them...

But i'm biased anyroad up....Give any club 10 years of fvckin' utter Dross...then see if they can get 24'000 against Dagenham and Redbridge...trawl a thousand up to Carlisle in the LDV on a freezin' January night.....sell out Brighton away...Rochdale away....etc etc etc ad fvckin' nauseum....and i'll take me hat off and say they are a bigger club..its not how many times you fall down, its how you pick yerself up that counts....

1 year bloody sabbaticals do not count...you get big crowds cos you're fightin' relegation, then big crowds cos you're heading for promotion....give 'em the fookin' mind numbing tumbling down the leagues...the dogday afternoons of watching mismatched muppets caper against bloody clubs you never heard of, week in week out....with 50 away fans scattered in the away end....then ask the fvckers to buy a season ticket for the groundhog season coming next....

Nah....the club may not be the biggest,,,,but the supporters are fookin' marvellous....

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Seriously though folks, I think we have the capability/potential to have a club that regularly finishes in mid to top half of the top flight division, and to be competing with clubs like Everton, Aston Villa, Tottenham etc.

We just haven't done this on a regular enough basis, due to poor top management. We SHOULD be on a par with those clubs, but we aren't, yet everything is in place to be so. I don't think anybody can argue with this. The potential IS there.

I haven't got the exact figures to hand, but since 1960, we have had 2 relatively succesful periods, and roughly 20 years, in between these where we have had to suffer relegations to the third tier of english football. (Now included!)

When we have been going through our bad periods, on both occasions, this was down to penny-ante thinking at the top level of the club. ie. not spending enough of our budget on top level players and/or managers. (Eg. Dave Richards setting on Danny Wilson as manager, this was a disaster, and cheap thinking) IF we had speculated to accumulate, as they say, I have no doubt, that we we would still be a force to be reckoned with at the top level.

The trick is, the next time we reach the top flight, we need everything in place to sustain that. Not just players, but the manager, and the boardroom, and everything behind the scenes. All of it CAN be built up, to sustain a top flight position.

Despite everything, I actually think that with Milan at the helm, we CAN do this, in time. Dark%20Happy.gif

I'll argue against that.

We don't. Corporate can't match the PL. No scouting network, relatively small academy. We need to invest.

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That and get some folk to fookin' attend the odd match eh?

just over 16k there on saturday.. Hartlepool brought about 50.. i was a bit surpised it was that low.

Mind you, the kid next to me was grumbling to his mate 35 minutes in "well so much for 4-0" and a bloke behind me started screaming at Madine telling him he wasnt bloody good enough.. ten minutes before he grabbed the goal.

we've got a fantastic fan base, but we are down to the hard core element now. whats sad is we had been getting much higher attendences when we were playing a million times worse than we are now.

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As Asteener has said, put any club through what we've had to go through this last 10 years and see what comes out the other end. I'd put my mortgage on the vast majority having a bigger drop in fans, percentage wise or real terms. There'll be the odd few that buck the trend, but theyll be the exceptions.

We have had season after season of crap, been below our neighbours and most hated rivals for every one of em pretty much, while they've had a trip to the prem and a playoff or 3. I bet we average more than them next season though.

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just over 16k there on saturday.. Hartlepool brought about 50.. i was a bit surpised it was that low.

Mind you, the kid next to me was grumbling to his mate 35 minutes in "well so much for 4-0" and a bloke behind me started screaming at Madine telling him he wasnt bloody good enough.. ten minutes before he grabbed the goal.

we've got a fantastic fan base, but we are down to the hard core element now. whats sad is we had been getting much higher attendences when we were playing a million times worse than we are now.

I honestly don't mind any fan sat near me grumblin' mate...its the fookers who nark while listening on the bloody radio that get on my nerves...I can understand any bugger giving up the ghost an' not attending...but don't give me your bloody opinion on how crap we are when you haven't sodding attended since the Cardiff play off.....

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I honestly don't mind any fan sat near me grumblin' mate...its the fookers who nark while listening on the bloody radio that get on my nerves...I can understand any bugger giving up the ghost an' not attending...but don't give me your bloody opinion on how crap we are when you haven't sodding attended since the Cardiff play off.....

aye but to be fair all the signs were there for a win yesterday, and still only 16k.. season needs to end sharpish, hopefully a couple of new summer signings and a decent start to next season and the crowds will be back above 22k.

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In our last spell in the top flight (if my memory serves me correctly, it was 1983 to 2000 with one year in the division two as it was know then), we were as big as Spurs, Everton and Villa (sorry Baggiehi for mentioning them) and bigger than dirty L##ds, Man City, Newcastle and Chelsea. Forest, Derby and West Brom were smaller teams. No-one can deny this.

I still think we have that potential.

To answer Baggie's question: I would be happy to be a yo-yo team for a couple of years but would then like to push on to become a top six team. I have seen what we have done before and I want it back.

By the way, always top posts and topics from Baggiehi. It's good to have another club's fan come on here to discuss as opposed to taking the wee wee.

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I honestly don't mind any fan sat near me grumblin' mate...its the fookers who nark while listening on the bloody radio that get on my nerves...I can understand any bugger giving up the ghost an' not attending...but don't give me your bloody opinion on how crap we are when you haven't sodding attended since the Cardiff play off.....

tell me about it as I've said I'm in the catchment for Birmingham City. The amount of blue noses who took the wee wee because I was a Baggie and we were championship, and, as it happens they were premier at the time.. I'd always ask if they were going the game. Their stock answer was "Hahaha pay money to watch that poo poo no" Now I'm cool with having banter with proper fans who put their hands in their pockets to support their clubs. It these type of gormless twunts I had a problem with. Mind you I did have to laugh when they didn't get tickets for the league cup final.

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