Can we claim to be a big club

[CarlMcBlade]

No Nay and Never start thinking we are. We all support the Blades because we don’t suffer from delusions of grandeur.
If we are a “big club” that’s for others to judge not us.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

No, we're not a big club.

Haven't won anything or even made a final for the best part of a hundred years.

Never played in Europe.

Only one season in the top tier in the last 20+ years.

Never paid more than £4m for a player.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

The fundermental difference between us and Wendies is that we are comfortable in our own skin and know exactly where we fit in the football pyramid. We look round and see clubs of a similar stature in Forest, Derby, Leicester, Middlesbrough,Southampton, Norwich, Ipswich Stoke etc.
The Pigs on the other hand tear themselves apart thinking they should be rubbing shoulders with Tottenham, Everton, Newcastle and the like.
They are obsessed by the size of their club in relation to ours. So when we are more successful and our profile becomes raised higher than them (like this season), they go into meltdown.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

The fundermental difference between us and Wendies is that we are comfortable in our own skin and know exactly where we fit in the football pyramid. We look round and see clubs of a similar stature in Forest, Derby, Leicester, Middlesbrough,Southampton, Norwich, Ipswich Stoke etc.
The Pigs on the other hand tear themselves apart thinking they should be rubbing shoulders with Tottenham, Everton, Newcastle and the like.
They are obsessed by the size of their club in relation to ours. So when we are more successful and our profile becomes raised higher than them (like this season), they go into meltdown.

 

[grafikhaus]

No, we're not a big club.

Haven't won anything or even made a final for the best part of a hundred years.

Never played in Europe.

Only one season in the top tier in the last 20+ years.

Never paid more than £4m for a player.

So Wendy won the Rumbelows Cup against a piss-poor Man. United almost 30 years ago.

They played the part-timers of Spora Luxembourg and Kaiserslautern in the same era. Hardly Champions League.

Wendy have a less-than-stellar record of being in the PL.

They last averaged crowds of 30k+ FIFTY years ago - we've done it twice in the same period.

They've also utterly wasted many millions on past-it has beens.

Yet they think they're 'massive' and they (and the local media) look down on us.

Teams like Huddersfield, Watford, Stoke, Palace, Brighton, Bournmouth etc. are having a brief spell in the PL but they're not - and never will be - as big as the Blades. Most United-sized teams belong in the Championship where every game is competitive and everybody can beat everybody else. We're 'big' as very few teams would have drawn crowds as big as ours after years in the doldrums. How many would watch Watford in the fourth division? Would Huddersfield get crowds of over 20k after six years in the third division? Yet Huddersfield pathetically ape Man. City with three stars above their badge as a sign of their three League championship wins. The last of which was in 1926. It's not what you were, it's where you could be going.

Stuff the PL where most teams' only ambition is to get to 40 points, get periodic humiliations from Man. City & Liverpool and watch most of the money the 'promised land' bestows go on average players and agents.

 

[DaleHillBlade]

Big club small club, you either support your club or you don't. Could be worse, you could be an Exeter fan or something

I am sure the Exeter fans are glad they are. Or they wouldn't be? Part of football, being let down by your team at every opportunity!

Interesting OP. Need to define "big". We have long and rich history, there is more to it than trophies. We have good times and plenty of bad times. Not sure how we compare to other clubs because I don't pay enough attention.

Jnr sometimes helps out a team in Stratford that plays in Stratford Alliance League. They are the "big fish" because they are loosely connected to Stratford Town FC. All relative.

 

[Sheffsteel]

The question can’t be answered until people agree what factors define “big club”.

Suppose it’s a combination of playing record, history, years in the top flight, trophies won, home attendances, away support, national support, national interest (Sky tv viewing figures), international interest/ reputation abroad, financial clout, playing in Europe, transfer fee paid.

Then there’s the subjective factor of “potential”.
For example some say Cardiff, Bristol City and even Plymouth Argyle are big clubs, based on the high population on their doorstep. However every other factor and history proves all three are quite small clubs.

I’ve often though a very simplistic factor that gives a good indication of size is “stadium capacity”, excluding Darlington of course.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

So Wendy won the Rumbelows Cup against a piss-poor Man. United almost 30 years ago.

They played the part-timers of Spora Luxembourg and Kaiserslautern in the same era. Hardly Champions League.

Wendy have a less-than-stellar record of being in the PL.

They last averaged crowds of 30k+ FIFTY years ago - we've done it twice in the same period.

They've also utterly wasted many millions on past-it has beens.

Yet they think they're 'massive' and they (and the local media) look down on us.

Teams like Huddersfield, Watford, Stoke, Palace, Brighton, Bournmouth etc. are having a brief spell in the PL but they're not - and never will be - as big as the Blades. Most United-sized teams belong in the Championship where every game is competitive and everybody can beat everybody else. We're 'big' as very few teams would have drawn crowds as big as ours after years in the doldrums. How many would watch Watford in the fourth division? Would Huddersfield get crowds of over 20k after six years in the third division? Yet Huddersfield pathetically ape Man. City with three stars above their badge as a sign of their three League championship wins. The last of which was in 1926. It's not what you were, it's where you could be going.

Stuff the PL where most teams' only ambition is to get to 40 points, get periodic humiliations from Man. City & Liverpool and watch most of the money the 'promised land' bestows go on average players and agents.

I don't think it's wise to slag off a team for actually winning the League Cup.

Just makes you look bitter.

 

[PokerBlade]

What qualifies as a "big club" is vague and usually not very helpful.

What I'd say is that when I talk to football fans across the country, ones who attend games regularly and follow a team, that almost all of them have an opinion on Sheffield United. They'll tell you about a memory of a time they saw us play, or their thoughts on one of the major incidents we've been involved in. Some tell you they hate the team, some tell you they prefer us over our neighbours, some tell you about how much they despised Warnock, or fill you in on their perspective of the Tevez affair. WBA fans will remember the Battle of Bramall Lane, Wham fans call us sore losers, Wigan fans will say "there but for the grace of God", Palace fans will talk about '97, Arsenal fans tell me how delighted they were to beat us in an "undeserved" replay, others share their thoughts on the Ched saga.

Any way you spin it we've made an impact on the game. We're a part of recent footballing history, for better or worse, and everyone who knows football knows something about the Blades.

Now ask other fans what they think of Gillingham or Fleetwood Town.

 

[cahill]

Wouldn’t agree were smaller than S’land. They’ve had about 14 years in the Prem, we’ve been in
the third tier for 6 years and our supports on a par

 

[Hamburg Blade]

Who cares, it's our club

Beat me to it.

 

[Tom Bott]

We’re massive.

We were last season in La Booza Liga.

 

[Isar]

Smaller than the likes of Leeds and Sunderland.

A lot smaller than Newcastle, Everton, West Ham.

Miles smaller than Man Utd, Arsenal, City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs.

We're basically the same as Wolves, Derby, Forest, Wednesday, Leicester, Norwich, Southampton, Stoke, Middlesbrough, West Brom.

So yeah, above average, but not massive. We're basically a 7 incher.

If we judged it solely on winning shit we'd probably be a 5.5 incher.

Does size really matter?

 

[Fraggle Blade]

Does size really matter?

Of course it does, or I wouldn't have to let Mrs Fraggle go out finding BBC. ;-)

 

[Bruce Wayne]

If they reset the leagues today on fan base we'd be in the premier league, so yeah we are a big club.

 

[metalblade]

In terms of supporter numbers yes we are a big club what lets us down is the small club mentality most of those supporters and to a certain extent those in the boardroom have.

 

[Pinchy]

Does size really matter?

Very much so. You have to be a club of some weight and substance to achieve anything. There’s a reason Crewe produce multiple Premiership players but will never play there.

Not all fans wallow in inferiority. It’s an S2 thing.

 

[Pinchy]

We do but at the same time plenty on here trot out the same phrases about other clubs “tinpot” etc. especially when replying to Roy’s excellent View Froms. In general as a group they are more arrogant than us but there is a certain degree of hypocrisy on here because we do have a habit of trotting out some of the same lines. That’s why I asked the question to spark that debate.

No hypocrisy from me. The obsession with ‘not being like the pigs’ is hugely embarrassing.

We’re massive.

 

[Pinchy]

So Wendy won the Rumbelows Cup against a piss-poor Man. United almost 30 years ago.

They played the part-timers of Spora Luxembourg and Kaiserslautern in the same era. Hardly Champions League.

Wendy have a less-than-stellar record of being in the PL.

They last averaged crowds of 30k+ FIFTY years ago - we've done it twice in the same period.

They've also utterly wasted many millions on past-it has beens.

Yet they think they're 'massive' and they (and the local media) look down on us.

Teams like Huddersfield, Watford, Stoke, Palace, Brighton, Bournmouth etc. are having a brief spell in the PL but they're not - and never will be - as big as the Blades. Most United-sized teams belong in the Championship where every game is competitive and everybody can beat everybody else. We're 'big' as very few teams would have drawn crowds as big as ours after years in the doldrums. How many would watch Watford in the fourth division? Would Huddersfield get crowds of over 20k after six years in the third division? Yet Huddersfield pathetically ape Man. City with three stars above their badge as a sign of their three League championship wins. The last of which was in 1926. It's not what you were, it's where you could be going.

Stuff the PL where most teams' only ambition is to get to 40 points, get periodic humiliations from Man. City & Liverpool and watch most of the money the 'promised land' bestows go on average players and agents.

You can’t ‘stuff the PL’, loathsome though it is in many ways. Any professional sports player or club has to aim to be as good as they possibly can and achieve the maximum they can. In football that means the PL. Any other notion is yet another aspect of tired old Bladey Inferiority Complex.

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

You can’t ‘stuff the PL’, loathsome though it is in many ways. Any professional sports player or club has to aim to be as good as they possibly can and achieve the maximum they can. In football that means the PL. Any other notion is yet another aspect of tired old Bladey Inferiority Complex.
View attachment 38207

Uriah Heep. Great character. Shit band.

 

[Pinchy]

Uriah Heep. Great character. Shit band.

Very Bladey. Very ‘Umble.

 

[grafikhaus]

You can’t ‘stuff the PL’, loathsome though it is in many ways. Any professional sports player or club has to aim to be as good as they possibly can and achieve the maximum they can. In football that means the PL. Any other notion is yet another aspect of tired old Bladey Inferiority Complex.

I'm not suggesting that we should never aim to be in the PL, it's just too soon. We've made fabulous progress since CW arrived but surely don't want to overstretch ourselves. Like a weed that shoots up after a bit of sunshine and rain, there'd be no roots or foundations. Let's take stock after this (very solid - progress-wise) season is over.

If we snuck into the PL via the play-offs, how many of the current players would we keep? (Very, very few). Or would we do what too many managers do - stay loyal to the players that got you there? We'd have one foot back in the Championship by Christmas. Would CW 'hack it' in the PL? Would whoever owns us commit the funds to - initially - try to ensure survival?

Not 'tired old Bladey Inferiority Complex' ( you just can't help yourself,can you?') but a steady, sustainable progression.

 

[metalblade]

I'm not suggesting that we should never aim to be in the PL, it's just too soon. We've made fabulous progress since CW arrived but surely don't want to overstretch ourselves. Like a weed that shoots up after a bit of sunshine and rain, there'd be no roots or foundations. Let's take stock after this (very solid - progress-wise) season is over.

If we snuck into the PL via the play-offs, how many of the current players would we keep? (Very, very few). Or would we do what too many managers do - stay loyal to the players that got you there? We'd have one foot back in the Championship by Christmas. Would CW 'hack it' in the PL? Would whoever owns us commit the funds to - initially - try to ensure survival?

Not 'tired old Bladey Inferiority Complex' ( you just can't help yourself,can you?') but a steady, sustainable progression.

Load of crap. One season in the Premiership would keep this club going for years and give us funds to push for a quick return. We'd be mad not to go for it given the chance. As Pinchy says only in S2

 

[Houston_Blade]

We're a fairly big club with the potential to be bigger but have a chronically small time mentality.

We could become an established PL club with 40,000 attendances. It's entirely possible.

I'd rather be a passionate club than a big club though. But that train seems to have left the station...

If we get back to the PL we’d sing a bit more, the problem would be like last time, none of the PL clubs would give a fuck about us and we’d look amazing as a set of fans who sang a lot at home games. Much like the opposite of us as a home team in league one and against most of the run of the mill championship sides, who we don’t give a fuck about.

Away games we’ll always be good as the core of fans go and apart from the coked up kids we have a good, vocal following.

Hopefully if we ever get to the PL we won’t have a set of players who are more arsed about getting the shirts of the opposition than staying in the league, like last time.

 

[grafikhaus]

Load of crap. One season in the Premiership would keep this club going for years and give us funds to push for a quick return. We'd be mad not to go for it given the chance. As Pinchy says only in S2

Like Norwich, QPR, Hull, Sunderland? If only it was that simple. Those who say that we should do better than 'little clubs' like Stoke, Bournemouth - even Derby at our level - should remember that they have finances that make McCabe look like a pauper. What short memories some people have. I've watched Garth Crooks on 'Final Score' today. As ever, he rolled his eyes before he opined his useless views as if he was delivering 'The Sermon on the Mount' (surely he's Diane Abbott's love child?) He was saying 'how tough' West Ham's fans have had it. 'Increased journey times', 'poor sight-lines' (at the stadium they were gifted). This is the bloke who used to say (after our two minutes at the fag-end of MoTD in the 2006-07 season) 'Sheffield United? NGE.' (Not Good Enough). For reasons best known to them, we've got some powerful enemies in the game. Think it would be any different the next time? The PL is rotten to the core.

The last two times we were in the PL, (2006-07 and 1993-94) we were fiddled out of our place. Expect the same the next time.

 

[Fanny magnet]

We are getting bigger crowds than our neighbours and I've been told for fourty years that they are a big club so yes we are

 

[grafikhaus]

We are getting bigger crowds than our neighbours and I've been told for fourty years that they are a big club so yes we are

Nonsense (or 'load of crap' as metalblade would say). Mick (or Mark) said on RS just the other day that Wendy are 'the biggest club in Yorkshire'. Leeds got over 36k for the Bolton game yesterday.

The previous biggest attendance this season was the visit of Hull City on December 23 when 35,156 packed inside the stadium.


Sheffield United’s visit on October 27 was the next biggest with 34,504 and then Ipswich Town’s on September 23 with 34,002. Link

I presume 10,000 Wendy fans were locked out?

 

[mancunianblade]

Size doesn't matter.

It's what you do with it that counts.

Look at Swansea, Bournemouth, etc.

Big club doesn't mean what it used to. The times they are a changing

They have changed, but I do believe the likes of such teams have a ceiling and a shelf life and I see a down turn due, and like a shite high in fibre the bigger clubs will always rise again at time when money rules it’s only a matter of time before the likes of Leeds get investment which dwarves any current investment and off they go.

 

[metalblade]

Like Norwich, QPR, Hull, Sunderland? If only it was that simple. Those who say that we should do better than 'little clubs' like Stoke, Bournemouth - even Derby at our level - should remember that they have finances that make McCabe look like a pauper. What short memories some people have. I've watched Garth Crooks on 'Final Score' today. As ever, he rolled his eyes before he opined his useless views as if he was delivering 'The Sermon on the Mount' (surely he's Diane Abbott's love child?) He was saying 'how tough' West Ham's fans have had it. 'Increased journey times', 'poor sight-lines' (at the stadium they were gifted). This is the bloke who used to say (after our two minutes at the fag-end of MoTD in the 2006-07 season) 'Sheffield United? NGE.' (Not Good Enough). For reasons best known to them, we've got some powerful enemies in the game. Think it would be any different the next time? The PL is rotten to the core.

The last two times we were in the PL, (2006-07 and 1993-94) we were fiddled out of our place. Expect the same the next time.

Do you really believe the conspiracy theory ? Well here's one to ponder we would have survived but for Jagielka making sure he got his move to Everton or maybe we just wern't good enough. The only enemies we had were people who Colin had slagged off even if one or two were justified. You could have picked any one of four - five teams to go down in 2007 the only difference is they didn't have a centre back who was also a decent goalkeeper.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Do you really believe the conspiracy theory ? Well here's one to ponder we would have survived but for Jagielka making sure he got his move to Everton or maybe we just wern't good enough. The only enemies we had were people who Colin had slagged off even if one or two were justified. You could have picked any one of four - five teams to go down in 2007 the only difference is they didn't have a centre back who was also a decent goalkeeper.

The same Jagielka who did the superb centre to create the equaliser in the match v Wigan?