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How big a club are we really?


Meh

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Just interested where people think we are?

I see posters on this forum saying we are big enough that we should be pushing top 10, 6 etc. and then I see posters shooting down transfer speculation on the transfer forum for literally anybody people have heard of or know has genuine quality.

If we are serious about anything but battling in the bottom half of this league we do have to pay the money and try to attract the occasional Tom Ince, Danny Ings type player to bolster the average squad we have otherwise we need to get real and accept the fact we won't compete at this level with what we have and the lesser quality players most think are the only realistic targets.

Small club mentality is coming out from the fans - I hope not in the boardroom or another frustrating season beckons !!

 

 

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We're a fairly big club. In order to become a bigger club, we must have consistently high attendances home and away and 'galactico-esque' players in and around the playing squad. Also, to be able to compete with other higher reputation clubs too!

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Mid table second division is where we were when I started going in the early 70s and that`s where I imagine we`ll be when I shuffle off.

We`ll have occasional seasons in the third division and the odd one flirting with promotion to the top division but where we are now is where I expect us to spend most of my remaining years.

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I think in general the football media, pundits and commentators etc recognise that we have very big potential. Being a big city club (a really big city Bristol) and now having an up to scratch stadium.. on the other hand, I'm not so sure football fans in general see us very big at all. Time to show 'em

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There have been so many of these threads over the years. 

Some consider a big club to be the size od the fan base (which is normally due to historical success), while others consider a big club by their honours albeit years and years ago like Oxford or Luton.

I would say considering we have not been in the top flight for nearly 40 years, our support is fantastic. We are an average sized club when comparing to others as recent listing have shown by EFL.

Just to add that @ChippenhamRedhas interesting opinnions when it comes to average attendances compared to catchment area size.

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27,000 seat stadium, average crowds consistently over 10k throughout our history (19k last season), easily the biggest club in the region...although we have little competition, spent more time in the second tier than any other division.

No FA Cups, No League Titles.

I would say we a medium sized club with a decent support and the potential to do better. 

At the moment in the League we are probably where we deserve to be but if we can fill Ashton Gate for a meaningless (for us) end of season match against Birmingham City, I've got no doubt that our stadium and crowds would not look out of place in the top flight.

Other posters have mentioned the perception other people in football have of clubs in this part of the UK as one possible reason why we tend to have difficulty attracting top players at this level. Wages also need to be tempting to attract these players.

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By my reckoning we're in about the fourth rank of football clubs so not a big club.  

There should be an OPTA type system to rank clubs based on trophies, average historic attendances, average historic league positions etc.

I'd expect we'd be just about exactly where we are on the football ladder right now.

Ambition though, is critical.

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I don't think there's a quick answer to that one. To me its a function of history, ground capacity, past achievements, current status and perceived potential. That's why a club like Newcastle is always thought of as a big club whereas a club like City isn't. It also is a turning wheel. Undoubtedly clubs viewed as big in the past become mismanaged and fall into decline. Aston Villa being a recent good example, but Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and even Coventry are examples of big clubs from when l was much younger that have gone into decline.  The right management can somehow made the club appear bigger by galvanizing everyone in and around the place to really pull together. Eddie Howe at Bournemouth is a good example..... they're in truth hardly a bigger club than City. Reading were similar a few years back and Burnley and this year Huddersfield, are others. I doubt Huddersfield will look or feel like a big club at the end of next season. And there is City's dilemma. Do they want to join the queue of yoyo clubs up and down from the Premiership's promised land, or remain a chasing a play off mid table side long term? There are so many in a similar position. Wolves, Ipswich, Derby, QPR, Hull all flatter to deceive but in reality just tread water mostly, occasionally  having a period where their star burns bright. If City had continued with their early season form last season and had done  a Huddersfield, the same massive gulf in class would then become the feature of next season and the forum full of discussion about how it was all going so wrong.  The thought of the adventure being  spoiled by the reality of the struggle. 

I'd like a season of consolidation where Ashton Gate  became more of a fortress and teams feared  the visit. Can the current management galvanise that kind of spirit within the club? It would be nice  to think so.  Will we spend our way out of the division? Unlikely.  

Are City a big club? Not really, but they can hold their own with many in the Championship. And in the greater scheme of all the football league's in the country, certainly bigger than most.

 

 

 

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It really depends on how you you define it, I tend to think of it in term of quantity of support the further away you get from the teams home ground, e.g. Man U have support all over the world, Leeds have a lot of support all over the country, Rovers struggle to get top tier away teams support in home season tickets.

Since I started watching in 92 we have averaged at around relegation 2nd tier promotion 3rd tier. With our facilities and support we should IMO be around midtable 2nd tier but we have only beaten that once in my years so it's hard to argue that we are a mid table 2nd tier club in term of size of the club.

We're a relative mino compared to Leeds, Newcastle, West ham, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Everton, Villa but were massive compared to Wrexham, Scunthorpe, Rovers, Rotherham, Burton.

We're prabaly about the same size as Preston, Ipswich, Brentford and Huddersfield(although they will steam ahead now), none of which particularly excite me to compared again.

Potentially much bigger but anyone could say that.

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What does a "big club" actually mean?

To me it's having a massive stadium, impressive history, including a European history and a players of a top level.

Barca, Real Madrid, Juve, Man Citeh, Man Utd, Liverpool and even Arsenal are all "big clubs"

City are not anywhere near imv.

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We have always had the potential to do better.

Nowadays it's all about building blocks.

We have a solid fan base which can grow.

We have the stadium & better training facilities.

Brighton is the blueprint.

In order to make that step up we need to be cosistently fonishing at the top end of this division.

The problem we will encounter is the list of other teams doing the same is growing.

I think Brentford will be a force with their new stadium for example.

But are we bigger than Watford, Swansea & Burnley? I'd say potentially yes, so I'm very optimistic.

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12 minutes ago, Robbored said:

What does a "big club" actually mean?

To me it's having a massive stadium, impressive history, including a European history and a players of a top level.

Barca, Real Madrid, Juve, Man Citeh, Man Utd, Liverpool and even Arsenal are all "big clubs"

City are not anywhere near imv.

I'd say those clubs you've mentioned are massive.

You don't need a trophy cabinet full of European Cups to be a big club, but I agree with you otherwise. We are not a 'big' club.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

I'd say those clubs you've mentioned are massive.

You don't need a trophy cabinet full of European Cups to be a big club, but I agree with you otherwise. We are not a 'big' club.

 

We are "big" in the West Country.............:crying:

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I think somewhere around 30 -35th is our rightful place in the pecking order so we're about right at the moment. We are certainly heading in the right direction though and have most things in place to push on, which we haven't had previously.

We need to stop being, the 'biggest in the West', and start looking outside gods own part of the world IMHO.

I would most certainly say, out of the sides entering this division, the Blades are certainly a 'bigger' club, not that it really matters.

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How big a club are we?

We're not.

No real history, won nowt of note, not been in the premier league, not a sleeping giant ( Newcastle, Leeds) in the backwater of the west country, and not the plucky minnows making good ( Bournemouth,) so nothing to attract the media and give us exposure.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Neo said:

Just interested where people think we are?

I see posters on this forum saying we are big enough that we should be pushing top 10, 6 etc. and then I see posters shooting down transfer speculation on the transfer forum for literally anybody people have heard of or know has genuine quality.

If we are serious about anything but battling in the bottom half of this league we do have to pay the money and try to attract the occasional Tom Ince, Danny Ings type player to bolster the average squad we have otherwise we need to get real and accept the fact we won't compete at this level with what we have and the lesser quality players most think are the only realistic targets.

Small club mentality is coming out from the fans - I hope not in the boardroom or another frustrating season beckons !!

 

 

under FFP could City buy a Tom Ince or a  Danny Ings type player??? City are a small club but the amounts of money Mr Lansdown puts in should have led to better results. Others have spent less for play off and promotion.

 

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16 minutes ago, Trueredsupporte said:

under FFP could City buy a Tom Ince or a  Danny Ings type player??? City are a small club but the amounts of money Mr Lansdown puts in should have led to better results. Others have spent less for play off and promotion.

 

Who knows what our FFP figure is nowadays with the huge hike in corporate £££, much bigger crowds and the extra money the supporters spend pre and post match since the redevelopment?

I would imagine our earnings have shot up a fair bit?

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