Looking through the league tables you see some historically "big" clubs down the divisions, including one time rivals, and even European Champions. I think the answer to this question will vary considerably depending on how old posters are, but what would you pick as the 20 biggest clubs in English football?
I've been trying to figure out my selection, and this is what I have so far:
1 - Manchester United
2 - Liverpool
3 - Arsenal
4 - Everton
5 - Chelsea
6 - Manchester City
7 - Newcastle United
8 - Tottenham Hotspur
9 - Leeds United
10 - Aston Villa
11 - Nottingham Forest
12 - Southampton
13 - Sunderland
14 - Crystal Palace
15 - Wolverhampton Wanderers
16 - Blackburn Rovers
17 - Leicester City
18 - West Bromwich Albion
19 - West Ham United
20 - Sheffield Wednesday
In terms of fan base, trophies won, history, notable players and managers, I think this is the ultimate selection of clubs. Crystal Palace is by far the least successful side listed, but they've just always seemed to be in and around the premier league throughout my whole life. Plus the memories of our epic FA cup final (3-3 with Ian Wright terrorizing us) and replay against them, has left an indelible mark. Other teams I considered for places were:
Fulham, Sheffield United, Derby County, Ipswich Town, Portsmouth, Burnley, Bolton, Preston North End, Birmingham, QPR, and Swansea.
What other big teams do you remember from growing up that are nowhere today? One of my favourites was definitely Parma, a team that had Sensini, Asprilla, Zola, Dino Baggio, Crespo, Chiesa, Veron, Thuram, Cannavaro....fecking crazy. Or Sampdoria with Vialli, Mancini, Pagliuca, Vierchowod, Lombardo.
Talent seemed more spread out in those days. What random memories do you have from past eras? One thing that used to be really exciting was seeing a foreign player for the first time. Invariably you'd only ever heard magical tales of his feats, because there was no youtube, no 500 channels full of sports from around the world. I remember when Spurs signed Ilie Dumitrescu, and people went nuts like he was from another planet.