Simon Jordan - "Wendies Bigger club than Sheffield Utd"

[Prestonblade]

Draw your own conclusions, and in my lifetime since I started supporting United in 1987, I'd say we have been the bigger club since then. All about opinions though. UTB.

 

[Silent Blade]

Football Web Pages
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk › premier-league › attendances

Premier League | Average Attendances | Home Matches | 2023-2024 ...​

Not accurate

 

[Bladesman101]

It’s always a great sign of a big club when you’ve got to keep reminding everyone you’re a big club. “We are famous, honest!!!”

 

[LondonRoad]

I’ve always felt this to be the case.

He is a South London spiv. He often speaks quickly, liberally sprinkling unusual vocabulary - albeit, not always using the words correctly - through his monologues which seems to have created for some, a false impression that he is in some way intelligent or is some sort of sage in matters of football governance.

Whenever I hear him on one of his spiels, I can’t help but recall how another South Londoner - Dave Bassett - also used to speak with that 100mph delivery which was often laced with misplaced or simply wrong words. It is as if their brains can’t keep up with their mouths.

The difference between the two men, of course, is that Harry was a genius and excelled in his chosen vocation where as Jordan had a huge and costly failure.

Bang on

 

[Pegster]

Not accurate

Why , which figures are incorrect ?

 

[coaxingstar71]

I agree with Sportbilly /Detroit Blade , that comparisons are meaningless.

It's probably true that if both clubs were doing well and on a par, they would get bigger attendances. However the main reason for that is that their rusty pile of shite ground still holds about 7,500 more than ours (assuming parts of it haven't been closed). In terms of fanbase, historically they always had more but I think this has evened out since around the year 2000 and we may even have more.

You can't really compare trophies won as apart from a League Cup, neither has won anything significant since before WW2. They will say they have 4 League wins, however we won the FA Cup 4 times and at the time that was more prestigious, just check the attendances for pre-war cup games compared to League games.

However, it's quite clear that our current standing and financial position and assets is far, far better than theirs.

 

[Northernsoulblade]

After the derby ones things clear Wendy fans are far bigger primark shoppers than us

 

[Bell4]

Whilst I dont agree with him on this issue ,I'd say he usually speaks a lot of sense and he's not afraid of saying it to whoever....
People do like listening to him .

 

[Stretch]

They could be 10 times bigger for all I care. I still wouldn't wipe my arse on one of their shirts. Because my arse (for all it's disgusting, middle aged imperfection) still deserves better.

 

[Zero dark thirty]

My nob is bigger than Leonardo Di Caprio's but he's currently shagging models and I'm not.

I'd rather be watching my club in the Prem than telling everyone how "big" we are.

1st how do you know your nob is bigger than his.anything you'd like to tell us.

 

[Borbokisfreekick]

Some interesting stats here to add to the debate and dispel some myths about the pigs. All the below don’t count this season and are up to the end of 2024-2025. Source is: european-football-statistics.co.uk.

Average Attendance this century since 2000-2001 season:
Blades: 23,347
Pigs: 23,006

All time average Attendance:
Blades: 19,550
Pigs: 21,563 (larger stadium and big away end helps here)

Years at each level;
Blades: Tier 1 - 63, Tier 2 - 47, Tier 3 - 11, Tier 4 - 1
Pigs: Tier 1 - 66, Tier 2 - 45, Tier 3 - 11, Tier 4 - 0


All time average league position (lower the number the better):
Blades: 22.2 place
Pigs: 22.4 place

Longest stretch outside of the top flight
Blades 14 years
Pigs 25 years / 14 years

Longest stretch in the top flight:
Blades 37 years
Pigs 16 years

Official competitive games derby record:
Blades 49 wins
Pigs 42 wins

 

[nopigfansintown]

Jordan is the idiot's idea of an intelligent bloke. His pseudo intellectual claptrap is quite easily exposed the odd time they have anyone on there who can hold a teenage debating club level spar. On those occasions he's found to have come to the battle of wits unnamed.

The pigs and United size argument depends on the metrics used. I dismiss everything pre Premier League as it's all totally irrelevant in 2025. Many would go further and dismiss anything that's irrelevant in the modern football paradigm e.g. the last 5-10 years. United's four FA Cups when it was the biggest prize in England doesn't really butter much bread in 2025; nor does the pigs League Cup when it was on par with the JPT or something in the early 1990s (their FA Cup Final runs in '66 and the early '90s are more impressive). Yes, there was a reason QPR, Swindon, Pigs, Norwich, Leicester, Oxford, Norwich, Luton etc won the League Cup back then. Say to the modern fan that United were Champions of Great Britain and they'll look at you gone out. Say to the average pig that we were the last Sheffield team to win the top flight (war league in the 1940s) and they won't believe you. Tell them that we beat them in the Cup when it was THE biggest competition before going on to win it...

Crowds have always shifted one way and the other. United had a period of a Chansiri on steroids running us, destroying the club and the ground which left them with a dominant period in the 80s-90s. The pigs had a chance to take over the city and destroy us including re crowds. They singularly failed to do it despite regular FA funds to do up their ground, and an away end that gave them up to 8,000 seats to give the likes of us in derbies and the bigger top flight clubs. Our owners had left us for dead.Those times aren't coming back no matter how much they (or the likes of Jordan) harp on this selective nostalgia. The pigs were given an unparalleled chance to prove their massiveness and kill a prone United. An open goal if you would. They ultimately weren't big enough to do so. Their superiority complex is largely derived from this period. Since then United have competed and the gap has swung massively in the other direction

 

[Silent Blade]

Why , which figures are incorrect ?

The link I provided you shows the accurate average attendance for us in 2023/24, your link doesnt.

 

[Frank the tank]

I did some analysis on this.

Pretty sure going back to 1970 our average times finishing place across the 4 divisions is 29th, to their 30th.

Their average crowds are about 23k to our 21.5k and they have won one major trophy to our 0.

On the other hand, we've had bigger crowds this century, finished a lot higher, have a much greater social media following, premier league visits, academy players that have gone on to play for England etc. etc.

There's not much between us...

But if I'm totally honest, I think they do have a larger fan base. They seem to be able to pull a bigger crowd for the big occasion.
Were they to go up, they do have more folk ready to jump on the merry bandwagon.

That's pretty much spot on
Throw in the disparity of the results on the big occasions which I Personally think is influenced by one fanbase being as enthusiastic as a Labrador ( probably due to that trophy win ) and the other set of fans suffering from PTSD due to a self fulfilling prophecy of everything going wrong that possibly could go wrong even when it is going well and I think you have a accurate overview of the two clubs relative massiveness
Bit of an anomaly that the more recently successful club is the one with the mentally broken fanbase but that's just sums up our fanbase

 

[bogo40]

If it looks like a twat and talks like a twat then usually....

....its Simon Jordan!!

 

[Bell4]

1st how do you know your nob is bigger than his.anything you'd like to tell us.

I’ll vouch for him

 

[lakedistblade]

Ignore the bigger comment.

Listen to everything else he says and he's right.

No squad
Stadium falling to bits
Not a lick of paint in years
No training ground
Relegated
Chancelot needs paying off

He basically says he pulled out as its not worth the hassle or money it needs.

It's very telling. And what majority of us have been saying

This. He has had access to all the info, had a wealthy backer and saw the situation for what is ie a long term very expensive and risky gamble not worth doing. Wednesdays rejuvenation not happening anytime soon which is kind of reassuring. Also mentions that Blades currently have a much bigger footprint than Wednesday so the earlier comment needs to be taken in context. Some great replies on here - nostalgia merchants can point to 80 and 90 s but here and now the Sheffield clubs are in different worlds and I know where it’s best. UTFMB.

 

[Pegster]

The link I provided you shows the accurate average attendance for us in 2023/24, your link doesnt.

View attachment 226485

OK .

 

[184blade]

If Simon Jordan had his finger on the pulse and knew what he was talking about he’d be working for Sky, 5 Live or match of the day rather than the sports equivalent of GB News.

 

[JohnDenver]

Chancelot needs paying off

Some respect please. Sir Chancelot.

 

[FriethBlade]

Jordan is just a self publicist. He fully understands how administration works and that its the administrators job to secure the maximum sum for the creditors, of whom Chansiri is by far the biggest. Where the f@@@ does he think the money raised by the administrators is going? He wants to keep himself 'relevant' by pretending he interested but doesn't want to pay the 'bad man' any money.

Also very funny listening to the deluded pigs on FH talking about making sure the new owners are the ones who will do the best job of running the club. Repeat after me the administrators will sell to the buyers who provide the biggest return to the creditors. Their job is then done.

 

[Hanauer]

Can remember when Fat Ron got them promoted to the Prem spouting how this was now a 40000 average attendance club, in fact the next 6 seasons it was just over 22500. Even in their hay days I think this shows a true reflection of their support. In 1960/61 they were in a tussle with Spurs for the league title. Spurs came to the Sty undefeated and the Pigs beat them 2 - 1 and eventually finished runners up. So you would think in a 60000 capacity stadium the next 2 home games would have massive crowds. In fact they got 25000 and 22000. In fact for everything they've had their historical average is just a few under 2000 more than ours. Another thing is they have averaged 30K plus 10 times, same as us. But they had 7 consecutive seasons 1947/55 over 30K, so in the other 160 years they managed it 3 times. Still Simon Jordan knows everything about Sheffield football so who am I to argue with him.

 

[s20Blade]

I'm not saying I agree with this, but let's be honest many people share his view that Wednesday are a bigger club.

Maybe it's less important to me as I've not lived in Sheffield for 45 years, but who cares who is "bigger" anyway?

You can change the criteria to suit an argument one way or another, so it's meaningless in my view.

It is immense when everyone keeps saying it while we are we doibg better and winning the derby games!

 

[Blade In Flame]

My nob is bigger than Leonardo Di Caprio's but he's currently shagging models and I'm not.

He wants to be careful. That Airfix glue is a bugger if you get it on your foreskin.

 

[Good Pinch Of Snuff]

yeah 'MASSIF'

 

[PrestwichBlade]

I actually think Hillsborough itself is what gives them this idea of "massiveness". But let's be right, it's not the size it is (was) because of Wednesday, it's because the FA at some point saw fit to invest in it for the purposes of semi-finals, Euros etc. The average attendance numbers prove they can't consistently fill it. Sure, on occasions, they get up to c35k, but I hazard a guess that if we, or other teams in similarly sized cities, had big stand out games, we'd get similar numbers.

 

[Snake]

Simon Jordon is paid to be controversial and keep his employers in the public eye. Stuff like this ticks the box - we have a thread on here and, I'd guess, at least 1 on porktalk. The guy is a prick and if he genuinely believed what he was spouting would put his money where his mouth is - the fact he made a ridiculous excuse why he hasn't actually makes him look like an even bigger prick to me.

As others have said, this 'biggest club' business is all relative and can be spun in whatever way you want by applying whatever criteria you want. But the thing is, it's meaningless. In terms of footballing might, we are like two blokes - one 5 foot 9 and half and the other 5 foot 9 and a quarter. It doesn't mean a jot in the grand scheme of things. The 6 foot pluses (Man U, Man City, Liverpool etc) will always be the biggest and generally the most successful.

 

[Gin&Juice]

He once had the opinion this was a great haircut.




Check mate, baby.

 

[Rusty view]

This. He has had access to all the info, had a wealthy backer and saw the situation for what is ie a long term very expensive and risky gamble not worth doing. Wednesdays rejuvenation not happening anytime soon which is kind of reassuring. Also mentions that Blades currently have a much bigger footprint than Wednesday so the earlier comment needs to be taken in context. Some great replies on here - nostalgia merchants can point to 80 and 90 s but here and now the Sheffield clubs are in different worlds and I know where it’s best. UTFMB.

Footprint is a great spot. Basically grounds fucked and can't rebuild.

As much as he may annoy people. You can see why he dropped out and Asley only offered 10m. SJ referred to that saying here's 10m I'll wait.

 

[Sheffsteel]

There’s a simple explanation to explain why any neutral over 50 years of age would think Wednesday are a huge club.

It’s the period 19991-94…..when Wednesday were a serious major player in English football.
Had a few big star players/ internationals. Played entertaining football too.

Averaging 26-27K during that period which doesn’t sound great but back then anything over 20K was a good crowd.
Also SW did average 29,560 in 93…..which Jordan will remember as being fantastic support…which it was.

Reputation and size wise for 2 seasons they were probably similiar to current day Spurs,

Basically it’s based on potential. No one knows United potential because we’ve never done anything of significance since the war.