List the Top 20 Biggest Clubs in England

The Premier League if it Was On Club Size.

The Realisation.

Did you realise that there are 12 American owners in the Premier League. This is significant to our game in this country. The way decisions are made is by a vote by the clubs. To pass a motion there usually has to have 16 clubs agree on the subject. This could mean, if 4 more American billionaires buy a club in the Premier League, they have 16 deciding votes. Enough to make a lot of motions pass.

We've seen from quite a few ideas and decisions that are made by clubs, these owners do not care a jot about fans. A lot of things done now a days are not done for the fans. Ticket prices, some games have thoughts around them that they should be hosted in The States, and also how tickets can be bought. I haven't been to a game for my club since 2019. Before the covid season. It is either impossible to get a ticket or the ticket prices are ridiculous. The waiting list for membership or a season tickets is about a decade and being put into a ballot for tickets is mostly a scam. If you get lucky you might get tickets in the ballot but I have a feeling we are told the tickets are in a ballot and available for lucky fans yet they are sold on to co-operations and sponsor executives. 

My point is these owners are caring less and less about fan. Loyal fans who have come to support their team for years and years. Loyalty is no longer rewarded for fans of football in England. 

More big changes could happen in our game. Look at how sports in North America are set up. There's no hierarchy in the league tables. There could be a 20 game season and if a team loses every game of the season, they are still in the same league next season. There's no relegation or promotion. A bit like what was going to happen with the European Super League. The biggest clubs in Europe would be invited into the competition every year, regardless of their end of season position in their domestic league.

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The Factors.

This brings me onto the purpose. If I was to make a Premier League of the biggest teams in English football right now, which teams would be in it. 20 teams based on club size. Please realise this isn't who is the best current side with the best current form. We're talking club size. There's a few specifications on what makes a big club for me and how I can justify one team being bigger than the other.

Firstly, and not most importantly, the history of the club is one of the factors. What has the club done in the past 50-75 years. Remembering teams like Nottingham Forest winning the European Cup two years in a row. The equivalent to the Champions League now. They got promoted to Division 1, qualified for the European Cup and went on to win it in consecutive years. In todays game, that's like Ipswich Town qualifying for the Champions League this season and then winning the Champions League next season. And the year after.

Another factory is going to be; what have they won in that last 50 years? It's not just trophies. How many times have they qualified for Europe? How many FA Cups and how many League Cups? Have they got to finals or these competitions? Have they come second in the league and really challenge for the title a lot? How many European trophies have they won? Including the Champions League, UEFA Cup and European Cup. Also, in the modern day, the Europa League or Europa Conference League. Basically the success of the team over a long period of time going back to maybe 1950's. I'm not saying the team had to be successful for the last 75 years. I don't think any team has. I'm saying they weren't a 1 season wonder where they challenged or got to a semi-final one year and then never got close again. Sustainability, consistency and success. 

I think a slight factor of a team's size is the capacity of their stadium. Again, I'm not saying this is exact, and the biggest stadium is the biggest team. Second biggest stadium is the second biggest team. Just as a guideline. A loose guideline. I think the biggest stadium in the country belongs to Tottenham Hotspurs and they probably not in the top 5 of biggest teams. There's anomalies.

Team history. Success. Trophies. Stadium size....

Maybe the last factory is world wide presence. You see the following size of teams around the world. We may have seen it more when teams do their pre-season tours around the world. When teams go to America, Australia or countries in Asia, the amount of fans that come to greet them at the airport. The amount of fans in and around the stadiums where they play in their pre-season games and tournaments.  

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Team History. Success. Trophies. World Wide Following. Stadium Size.

• 1. Manchester United
• 2. Liverpool
• 3. Arsenal

Honestly, I don't see the top 3 of this list any other way. I don't think there is much arguing with this top 3, unless you still don't understand what I'm doing. Anyone putting Manchester City or Chelsea in this top 3 are not thinking about club history, and only what they have won in the last 20 years. Without Roman Abramovic and Sheik Mansour these two teams are still no where near any trophy. Yes, I agree football clubs are becoming successful based on how much money they spend. It is almost the more money you spend, the more successful you are. 

• 4. Manchester City
• 5. Chelsea
• 6. Tottenham Hotspurs
• 7. Everton
• 8. Aston Villa

Even though Manchester City and Chelsea's History is not the greatest, I feel the success of these teams takes over. Just not enough to get into the top 3 right now in 2025. With the recent league wins, Champions Leagues win and FA Cup wins, they are becoming higher in the list of successful teams in the country. This brings more money for bigger stadiums and the global recognition becomes greater, albeit they may be plastic, glory supporters.

In this whole list I think Tottenham Hotspurs is the team that will get the most hate. Being a team in London and being big rivals with two other teams in London that have won silver wear quite recently doesn't help. Spurs have the biggest domestic stadium in the country at the time of writing this yet don't have much to show for it since the turn of the millennium. Spurs won the League Cup in 2008 and that's all the have to gloat for in the 21st century so far. The 20th century was a lot better for the North London club. They won at least one trophy in every decade from 1950 to 2000, only Manchester United can match that. They have won two league titles, 8 FA Cups, and 4 League Cups. They were the first non-league team to win the FA Cup and first team in the 20th century to win the FA Cup and League Cup in the same season. Spurs were the first British team to win the European Cup Winners Cup and also won the first UEFA Cup in 1972. Even though they get a lot of hate these days, in the mid to late 90's they were one of the biggest teams in the country for a long time.

Everton and Aston Villa are sightly different. They may not be winning trophies, competing for league titles or going deep into cup competitions, yet the size of their fan bases are huge. The Toffees have 9 league titles and 5 FA Cups to their name and challenged for a lot more in the 1970's and 80's. Everton are still 1 of 6 teams never to be relegated from the Premier League. They may have flirted with it in recent seasons, but almost isn't. Aston Villa have 7 first division titles and 7 FA Cups. Both teams have also won European silver wear. Each team would host FA Cups semi finals, before the bullsh*t of Wembley semi finals because the FA spent too much money on the new stadium and they need to make a return some how. If there was a UK World Cup or Euros, these two clubs stadiums would be towards the top of the list of being used. I also feel the history of the clubs is one of the best coming out of Liverpool and Birmingham respectfully, after the giant clubs.

• 9. Nottingham Forest
• 10. Leeds United
• 11. Newcastle United
• 12. Blackburn Rovers

Nottingham Forest have great history. It may not be recent. It might have been before a lot of us were born, yet history is history. Winning the European Cup twice, consecutive years after being promoted to Division 1. Remember when Leicester won the league after finishing 17th the year before. Imagine if they went on to win the Champions League the year after. And the year after. It will never be done again. 

The mighty Leeds United were not just one of the biggest clubs in the country, but in Europe. In the late 1960's into the 1970's they won the first division a few times, an FA Cup and went deep into European competitions. In 1975 they reached the European Cup final, only to be beaten by Franz Beckenbeauer's Bayern Munich, and the referee. Some will say they were cheated out of it and "Champions of Europe" is still sung at Elland Road to this day. They went head to head with the fantastic Liverpool side of the 70's, while managed by Don Revie and captained by Billy Bremner with a team list full of full internationals. The team created a huge following around the world although it has been bleak since the turn of the millennium, relegation from the Premier League and didn't return for 16 years. Still the most sung about team in the country, by a country mile. 

The Toon, The Magpies, The Geordies. Newcastle United join this list just outside the top 10. Newcastle have been sleeping giant for a long time. They may have had some ups and downs over recent years and in the Mike Ashley era but before that things went pretty well for the Toon. Early 2000's saw them qualifying for Europe under Sir Bobby Robson, before that in the 90's they were challenging Manchester United for division titles. Sir Alex Ferguson and Kevin Keagan going toe to toe, sometimes with it boiling over in interview. "I would love it if we beat them" type squabbles. For a good decade or two the team were almost at the heights of English football. In the 1950's The Magpies won the FA Cup 3 times and have a stadium; St James' Park; that is revered over, up and down the land.

Not many teams have won the Premier League since it's creation in 1992/93 season. Only 8 teams have managed it, Blackburn Rovers are one of those teams. Rovers became the first team to win the FA Cup 3 times in a row in 1884, 1885 and 1886. With a Premier League win and a total of 6 FA Cup they are certainly a sleeping giant.

• 13. Leicester City
• 14. Derby County
• 15. Sheffield Wednesday

Leicester City won the Premier League in 2016 after finishing the season before in the 17th place only just beating relegation. To win the league after just avoiding relegation is a fairy tale. It hadn't been done since Nottingham Forest were promoted with Brian Clough in the late 70's. The Foxes also won an FA Cup in that era under Claudio Ranieri. This was their first FA Cup win after being in the final 5 times. 

Derby County have a rich history. A bit like Nottingham Forest they have Brian Clough to thank for that. In the late 1960's Derby got themselves promoted and into the first division. They went deep into the European Cup although Clough could not repeat what he had done at Forest and win the competition. As well as going deep into European competitions, The Rams won the First Division twice, 1972 and 1975.

Sheffield Wednesday have 3 top flight league titles to their name. They have a legacy around the country and it shows with their stadium. Hillsborough was selected to be used as a neutral ground for FA Cup semi-finals. This needs to be brought back instead of using Wembley. Wembley should be finals only. Wednesday also have 3 FA Cups to their name making them one of the biggest clubs.

• 16. Wolverhampton Wanderers 
• 17. Sheffield United
• 18. West Bromwich Albion
• 19. West Ham United
• 20. Sunderland

I've found with writing this list that the top 10 almost choose themselves. There is no room for argument against the top 3. That is the top 3 of English football and probably will be for a long time.

There's no real arguing about who is in the top 10 for most of them, the argument is more what order that 10 goes in. Anyone putting Chelsea and Man City higher than they are in this list either don't understand the elements of the list or are purely basing it on what's happened in the last 10 years. 

From 11th to 15th there are some very big teams. Some teams with great, great history and maybe haven't had serious success recently. They have become sleeping giants and anyone knows they could wake up at any moment and come back to the top. Teams like Brentford and Bournemouth may be doing well at the moment, yet they have no foundations and history to back themselves against teams on this list. 

16th to 20th got a little tricky for me. There could be 3 or 4 other teams that make it into this section of the list. I wouldn't argue it too much, I also wouldn't argue too much about the order of the bottom 5 teams in this list. I think they are relatively similar. I also think most people would have an argument about this list because it's their team and they have ties and loyalties to their team. That's fine with me, things like this bring up good discussion and debate.

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