Under achieving teams

[Burnleyareback2]

Talked about this for a while, if I was a fan of Palace or Southampton I’d be hugely disappointed.

When you consider the talent and cost of those teams, especially Palace who finish around 13th every season id be gutted.

Some real players in those squads.

[EricaJacko]

Far too many to mention, so we could be here a while. I know a Sheffield Wedneday fan who thinks they're a bigger team than Burnley. A while since they did anything. Sunderland - should be doing better than they are.

[Devils_Advocate]

Got to be Leeds. In the top ten of the biggest English clubs of all time and been nowhere near for nearly 20 years. They should have been up there with Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and City winning titles instead of scratching around in the lower leagues.

At least now they've got a world class manager in charge they are starting to climb back to their rightful position in towards the top of the table.

For now though they have to go down as English footballs biggest underachievers.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Depends on what you think a club should be achieving.

Saints and Palace are just clubs here to make up the numbers.
Neither have ever really shown any ambition to be more than that.

Leicester are at least trying to carry on being part of the top group after that title win, instead of doing a Rovers and becoming unimportant again.

You mention the cost of the teams, but maybe that's the issue, both clubs guilty of overpaying for players and not getting maximum return on that investment, like a lot of other clubs.

[RingoMcCartney]

Got to be Leeds. In the top ten of the biggest English clubs of all time and been nowhere near for nearly 20 years. They should have been up there with Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and City winning titles instead of scratching around in the lower leagues.

At least now they've got a world class manager in charge they are starting to climb back to their rightful position in towards the top of the table.

For now though they have to go down as English footballs biggest underachievers.

Any opportunity its Leeds isnt it.

Why not admit it?






You're a Leeds fan.

[tim_noone]

Any opportunity its Leeds isnt it.

Why not admit it?






You're a Leeds fan.

Foot in both camps......he has said so.

[RingoMcCartney]

Foot in both camps......he has said so.

Both feet spend a lot more time backing one particular camp....

The club has been completely mismanaged for years and that's why its on its arse but it wont take much to get it going forward again if they get the right owners. I know people on here hate it but they have great support and take thousands everywhere and those numbers would only grow if they got back in the Prem

Burnley do well to get the support we do based on the size of our town but again thats just a reason why our level of support is what it is and regardless of the reasons why Leeds still have a bigger support. You can argue the meaning of the word better and its apparent most Burnley fans will use the definition its % of supporters to population but thats not a universally agreed definition and is just one we cite because it makes us look good

If a town had a population of 20 people and everyone of them went on every home game and on average 10 went away you wouldn't say the team had a bigger support or were better supported than Burnley just because they had a larger % of people go on their games

And here's me thinking you were the devils advocate. It's makes no odds though whatever method you use to assess Leeds support, when compared to the cities of Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, etc and the small towns of Burnley, Blackburn, etc it's still shi-te. End of.

To be fair after getting elected to the league it took them four season to get in to Division 1 and then between 1924 and the first world war they only spent 2 seasons outside the top flight so hardly come from nowhere and similar to Bradford

Up until getting relegated in 2004 Leeds well over 50% of their existence in the top flight and in that time had won the league 4 times. You can spin it anyway you want but Leeds have a decent history had a decade of dominance and despite the mess they are in now still have a massive support.

So the same as Burnley who spent part or all OUTSIDE the topflight apart from the 50s and 60s. and as for vanishing out of memory there is only one more recent full decade than the 90s you wally

Where are they on match day? Where is the football mad city on match day?

Just the one question, answered with fact not opinion will suffice. Leeds are well supported you say, well show me the facts. 3% of the populus ISN'T by any stretch of the imagination, "football mad" is it?

I sometimes spend time in Leeds, and like ALL cities, I see shirts of all types being worn in the city centre - including their most hated "rivals", manure. The 8000 that regularly follow Leeds away may well be football and Leeds daft, but clearly the rest of them aren't. I get that some of your mates are football mad...some of mine are. But that in no way transposes itself to Bellend Rd every other Saturday.

My issue here is that Leeds are always made out to be special when support is discussed. They just aren't, that's all. I know we aren't, but I also know they aren't, cos the statistics back it up. I have mates who support Leeds, I meet up with them and go to the games (well, I did when we were in the championship) and they love Leeds like I love Burnley, but certainly no more so. Walking around banging your chest with a clenched fist chanting "leeds, leeds, leeds" means shag all to me. I support Burnley, so blowing smoke up another teams arse isn't for me. Burnley. Only Burnley.

A cursory glance through this messageboard will tell you all you need to know about Devil's Advocate and possibly the best supported, the biggest under achievers, the most passionate fans blah blah blah.....

If you take Franks argument to the extreme if Leeds come up and spend £50m and Man Utd don't sign anyone then Leeds should be a better side than Man Utd because they have spent more money even though Utd have spent 100's of millions over the last 5+ years building their squad

https://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboa ... td#p727944

[Buxtonclaret]

My long-standing Macon mate would definitely agree with me in nominating Blunderland.

[timshorts]

The usual names are already above, but here's a shout out for Plymouth who have a large catchment area, seemingly fans all over the country, but never seem to make it above the third tier any more.

[Woodleyclaret]

Fulham with its £300m spend. Brighton £250m spend Villa £300+m
Newcastle with Brucie wasting money on dross £100m on two non scoring strikers
Arsenal millions wasted on dross like Pepe
All added to the Premier myth that money gets success ,it doesn't.

[BenWickes]

I'd throw Spurs and West Ham into the mix. Considering the media love in they've only won 2 titles between them. Spurs 2 and the Hammers none.
Sure they've won a considerable number of cup trophies but that league title tally is remarkably low for their supposed size and money spent.

[bfcjg]

Coventry, big city,one team and insignificant.

[Firthy]

Bristol Rovers and City. Massive catchment area for fans but they always seem to fall short.

[Top Claret]

Sheffield Wednesday must be up there for under achieving. Wednesday are the biggest club in Yorkshire and haven't been in the Premier league for donkeys years

[jdrobbo]

Nottingham Forest

[Sproggy]

All added to the Premier myth that money gets success ,it doesn't.

It does. If you spend it well or have so much that it doesn't matter.

[Spijed]

It does. If you spend it well or have so much that it doesn't matter.

That's very true. Man City seem to buy defenders like they are going out of fashion.

[rufus lumley]

Warrington Town are the big underachievers per population they should be at least in the National League but most of the footie population of the town head to Liverpool or Manchester to watch football.

[claptrappers_union]

Birmingham City - I don’t get why they are so crap?

[SalisburyClaret]

Reading for me - at one time the richest team in the world and with the biggest unopposed catchment area for fans - and they've achieved...Zilch.
OK maybe they win the award for the worst modern stadium.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Reading for me - at one time the richest team in the world and with the biggest unopposed catchment area for fans - and they've achieved...Zilch.
OK maybe they win the award for the worst modern stadium.

Nothing they do will top that hilarious promotional video when the Thai people took over.

[claptrappers_union]

Nothing they do will top that hilarious promotional video when the Thai people took over.

Had to Google it. When will people learn that football and music doesn’t mix

https://youtu.be/_rp3toJ9cAQ

[Stayingup]

Many in the Championship and Arsenal.

[Quicknick]

Skipton Town have never won anything.

[aggi]

Nothing they do will top that hilarious promotional video when the Thai people took over.

Good, but not as good as them invading the pitch when they thought they'd made the play offs and the slow realisation that hadn't.

[Woodleyclaret]

Reading have a hardcore fanbase of around 10,000
Madjeskis millions built the team, stadium and till he cashed in his stake their top flight ambitions

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Good, but not as good as them invading the pitch when they thought they'd made the play offs and the slow realisation that hadn't.

I've got that saved on my YouTube, it gets trotted out anytime a Reading fan is gobbing off on social media or around where I live.

I was there that day, still my best away day.

[Hipper]

I thought the OP's question was one of clubs having talented players but under achieving - hence Southampton and for me, to a lesser extent, Palace. All this talk of Hasenhuttl being a top manager isn't confirmed by his achievements here.

Everton are the obvious ones - not just cost of their spending in the above list but they do have some talented players. I always thought Brighton should be doing better, both with Hughton and Potter. They've not moved forward at all despite that investment.

The most talented team by far though is Manchester City and based on that they should be winning the league every year with ease, as they are this year.

How are we competing with all this lot? As far as talent goes I reckon we have the worst bunch of players of any Premier League team (if you disagree, ask if we get relegated how many of our players would be targeted by Premier League teams? Pope and Tarkowski perhaps - McNeil is overrated by us at the moment as he doesn't deliver often enough). What we do have is players of good character and a manager that can get the best out of them.

All managers try to get more then the sum of the talents available to him. Dyche succeeds everytime. Show me another Premier League manager that does this as consistently as Dyche does.

[Rileybobs]

I thought the OP's question was one of clubs having talented players but under achieving - hence Southampton and for me, to a lesser extent, Palace. All this talk of Hasenhuttl being a top manager isn't confirmed by his achievements here.

Everton are the obvious ones - not just cost of their spending in the above list but they do have some talented players. I always thought Brighton should be doing better, both with Hughton and Potter. They've not moved forward at all despite that investment.

The most talented team by far though is Manchester City and based on that they should be winning the league every year with ease, as they are this year.

How are we competing with all this lot? As far as talent goes I reckon we have the worst bunch of players of any Premier League team (if you disagree, ask if we get relegated how many of our players would be targeted by Premier League teams? Pope and Tarkowski perhaps - McNeil is overrated by us at the moment as he doesn't deliver often enough). What we do have is players of good character and a manager that can get the best out of them.

All managers try to get more then the sum of the talents available to him. Dyche succeeds everytime. Show me another Premier League manager that does this as consistently as Dyche does.

You think we have a worse bunch of players than Sheff Utd, or West Brom, to name just two?

[GodIsADeeJay81]

I'm pretty sure we have a number of players who'd easily find another PL if they asked to leave.

[tiger76]

Based on this season from the 4 divisions I'd nominate.

PL-Arsenal: on paper they should be at least competing for a top 4 place, and they're miles away from that.

Champ-Bristol City: with the new money they should be at least pushing the play-offs not drifting in mid-table.

League 1-Ispwich: another who recently were flying high in the PL, and who now can't seem to get out of the doldrums of the lower reaches.

League 2-Salford: all that investment and they're struggling to even make the play-offs.

[claret_in_exile]

Had to Google it. When will people learn that football and music doesn’t mix

https://youtu.be/_rp3toJ9cAQ

"ISIS videos are easier to watch than this."

Yep.

[EarbyClaret]

Sunderland and Ipswich immediately spring to mind - Portsmouth and Bolton are probably in a 'false' position based on purely football criteria - as a former resident have to add Bradford City to the list too

[Quicknick]

Sunderland and Ipswich immediately spring to mind - Portsmouth and Bolton are probably in a 'false' position based on purely football criteria - as a former resident have to add Bradford City to the list too

I am a former resident of Bradford, too. Totley, to be precise.
Bradford City have spent a lot of their history in the 4th tier. Their only claim to being bigger is the size of the city, but a lot of people support Leeds. The only reason City get good gates is the incredibly cheap season tickets. They never used to get anyone to go.