Do you care about being considered a 'big' team?

[Manc in London]

Seems we're qquite big in New York. Not sure if any other club has a store at the Rockefeller Center. Opened yesterday and they were queing up to get in:



NYC store opens

Not sure but I recall seeing a PSG store on 5th Ave not too far away from the Rockefeller. Must have walked past it a handful of times but didn't see a customer in the store.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

first season at etihad average attendance was 46,874

lowest av attendance at etihad is 39,995

In the pre-Mansour COMS period, we were between third and fifth best supported team iirc. Other stadium expansions, like Newcastle, pushed us down the list as time moved on.

 

[Tevez City]

No

But I enjoy beating all cartel teams and see the tears of their glory hunters.

 

[TueartsCossackSpray]

Not one bit. I used to love it when we were shit and you’d be in some foreign land and got that where are you from question and you’d tell them and they always said “ahhh Manchester United” The pride I had in telling them who I supported was immense and of course i’d educate them in telling them that City fans were from Manchester and that United fans were from Dublin , Africa and Torquay.

 

[East Level 2]

"Big team" should refer to the height of the players. The definition of "big club" will vary depending on the point the user is trying to make.
I believe "big club" is a bloody stupid phrase and I recall writing an article for KOTK over 30 years ago explaining this prior to an FA Cup game at Turf Moor (1-0 Colin Hendrie). My reasoning was that a whole host of clubs (including Burnley who were in the fourth division at the time) were described as big clubs by the media, but there was no consistency. Burnley and Bolton were big, but Huddersfield (three league titles) weren't big. And it was the same with other titles conferred by the media; Blackpool were still a "cup team" with two FA Cup wins, but Bury, also with two wins (including the record final victory at the time) weren't. Let's be honest, Blackpool were called a "big cup team" only because of the Matthews final in 1953.
I said at the time that if such a stupid term were to be used it should also reflect the current status, but what criteria should be used and how far should we go back? Newcastle and Sunderland might be included if it's based on overall trophies but not on recent trophies. And timescales are often important to the media.
If I had to define "big club" I'd say a big club had to be in the top division for at least 80% of their history, be in the top fifteen for major trophies won, and be in the top fifteen for both stadium capacity and attendances. I accept that is just a random selection of criteria but all can be measured. Important stuff, like the quality of the stadium pies is more difficult to measure.
In the current climate I'm sure the media would base "big club" on clicks, tourists and number of half 'n' half scarves sold and if that's the case I don't care whether we are a "big club" or not.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

The 'big club' thing doesn't bother me. We are the best though. I just refer the p*ss takers to the Deloitte turnover rankings in the Wardle and Bernstein days. In the early mid-noughties (before the multibillionaire owners era), Deloitte ranked us inside the top twenty richest clubs in Europe despite abject failure on the pitch. Why? It was because we had a thriving commercial operation - largely kick-started by Franny, including taking over the stadium. We a similar turnover as clubs like Spurs that were relatively more successful. Plus we had clonking big crowds!! Ours isn't a rags to riches story. We were only in financial trouble during the Thaksin days because we were caught up with in him having his assets frozen. The commercial operation was doing fine.

The rest of the football world behaves as though it's set in stone that Madrid, Barca, Bayern, United will always be the biggest. It's nonsense - things change. Until thirty years ago, no-one had heard of Amazon. Until twenty years ago, no-one had heard of Facebook. I'm not comparing our club to their business operations - I'm just saying that things change. It's a fact of business life that the incumbent businesses at the top in any industry will do whatever they think necessary to keep the new kid on the block out. They team up with hated rivals to maintain their foothold - as is the case with their feeble jointly signed letters to the Prem. We are that nightmare on the shoulders of Arsenal, United, Liverpool, Bayern, Barca and Madrid. We have sharp teeth, a colossal bite, a monumental business brain, refuse to be intimidated and are still coming for them. We are not going away and they know it.

 

[eastmanc]

The 'big club' thing doesn't bother me. We are the best though. I just refer the p*ss takers to the Deloitte turnover rankings in the Wardle and Bernstein days. In the early mid-noughties (before the multibillionaire owners era), Deloitte ranked us inside the top twenty richest clubs in Europe despite abject failure on the pitch. Why? It was because we had a thriving commercial operation - largely kick-started by Franny, including taking over the stadium. We a similar turnover as clubs like Spurs that were relatively more successful. Ours isn't a rags to riches story. We were only in financial trouble during the Thaksin days because we were caught up with in him having his assets frozen. The commercial operation was doing fine.

The rest of the football world behaves as though it's set in stone that Madrid, Barca, Bayern, United will always be the biggest. It's nonsense - things change. Until thirty years ago, no-one had heard of Amazon. Until twenty years ago, no-one had heard of Facebook. I'm not comparing our club to their business operations - I'm just saying that things change. It's a fact of business life that the incumbent businesses at the top in any industry will do whatever they think necessary to keep the new kid on the block out. They team up with hated rivals to maintain their foothold - as is the case with their feeble jointly signed letters to the Prem. We are that nightmare on the shoulders of Arsenal, United, Liverpool, Bayern, Barca and Madrid. We have sharp teeth, a colossal bite, a monumental business brain, refuse to be intimidated and are still coming for them. We are not going away and they know it.

You are right about teaming up with your rivals. On the day of the cup final, my youngest was playing a gig in Belfast, hes a muscian, which he was pissed about because he missed the final. Anyway whilst waiting for his plane at John Lennon airport an almighty chear went up. He couldn't believe it but it was all the Liverpool fans going mad at ushited scoring.. I thought they hated each other, I was wrong it's us who they hate. How far have we come.

 

[pauls]

The 'big club' thing doesn't bother me. We are the best though. I just refer the p*ss takers to the Deloitte turnover rankings in the Wardle and Bernstein days. In the early mid-noughties (before the multibillionaire owners era), Deloitte ranked us inside the top twenty richest clubs in Europe despite abject failure on the pitch. Why? It was because we had a thriving commercial operation - largely kick-started by Franny, including taking over the stadium. We a similar turnover as clubs like Spurs that were relatively more successful. Plus we had clonking big crowds!! Ours isn't a rags to riches story. We were only in financial trouble during the Thaksin days because we were caught up with in him having his assets frozen. The commercial operation was doing fine.

The rest of the football world behaves as though it's set in stone that Madrid, Barca, Bayern, United will always be the biggest. It's nonsense - things change. Until thirty years ago, no-one had heard of Amazon. Until twenty years ago, no-one had heard of Facebook. I'm not comparing our club to their business operations - I'm just saying that things change. It's a fact of business life that the incumbent businesses at the top in any industry will do whatever they think necessary to keep the new kid on the block out. They team up with hated rivals to maintain their foothold - as is the case with their feeble jointly signed letters to the Prem. We are that nightmare on the shoulders of Arsenal, United, Liverpool, Bayern, Barca and Madrid. We have sharp teeth, a colossal bite, a monumental business brain, refuse to be intimidated and are still coming for them. We are not going away and they know it.

The cartel tossers choose the point in history what suits them.These ridiculous comments from idiots like Ohara and the like, who knows where football will be in 100 years.
Before Busby went to the swamp we were the dominant club, he built an Empire inadvertently enhanced by a sad tragedy and the rest is history.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

The cartel tossers choose the point in history what suits them.These ridiculous comments from idiots like Ohara and the like, who knows where football will be in 100 years.
Before Busby went to the swamp we were the dominant club, he built an Empire inadvertently enhanced by a sad tragedy and the rest is history.

Correct. United built an empire partly due to our kindness and help.

 

[ONTHERUNWITHTHAKSIN]

Had a proper think about this before replying

No I couldn’t give a fuck

We used to be everyone’s favourite second club because we were shit and not a threat now we are a threat we get shit about no fans, empty seats etc

Fuck em