Interessant fremstilling i Daily Mirror.
Hvilke av de 12 klubbene som har vunnet ligaen men som nå er utenfor Premier League kan kalles 'den største klubben'?
Who are football's biggest sleeping giants? The top 12 candidates rated from Aston Villa to Leeds and Nottingham Forest to SunderlandWe’ve limited the term “sleeping giant†to only mean teams who have won the top flight but are no longer in it.Aston Villa are the biggest of the Football League's sleeping giants - by almost every measure going.
The news will come as no surprise to Villa fans - but as it’s an issue that’s often argued about amongst fans whose clubs have fallen on hard times.
To start things off we’ve limited the term “sleeping giant†to only mean teams who have won the top flight but are no longer in it.
That leaves us with the following clubs: Aston Villa, Blackburn, Derby, Ipswich, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth, Preston, Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United, Sunderland and Wolves.
TitlesAston Villa have won the most major honours out of our 12 sleeping giants.
The club has won seven league titles, seven FA Cups, five league cups and one European Cup.
No other side in our group of dozing giants has won anywhere near as many major domestic and European honours.
Blackburn have won the next most, 10, though they’ve all been from domestic competitions - three leagues, six FA Cups and one League Cup.
Nottingham Forest famously won two European Cups but have had less domestic success - one league, two FA Cups, four League Cups.
Like Forest, Wolves have also won nine major titles but as with Blackburn they’ve all been domestic ones - three leagues, four FA Cups and two League Cups.
Sunderland have won the next highest number of leagues after Aston Villa, six, while Sheffield Wednesday have won four and Leeds three.
TIME IN THE TOP FLIGHTAston Villa have spent 88 per cent of their league history in the top flight of the English Football pyramid.
That’s a far greater percentage than any of the other sleeping giants.
The club have only spent 14 seasons (including the current one) out of a possible 119 outside of the First Division/Premier League.
Sunderland have the next best record having spent 74% of their league history in the top flight.
Blackburn have been among the elite for 61% of their history, while Sheffield have been in there 57% of the time, Leeds and Derby 55%, Wolves 53% and Sheffield United 52%.
Forest have only been in the top flight for 47% of the time while for Preston it’s 39%, Portsmouth 31% and Ipswich 24%.
These times have been taken from when either the start of the Football League or when the club was formed, depending on which was most recent.
ATTENDANCESSunderland had the largest average attendance of any of our teams last season - 41,287.
That puts them ahead of Aston Villa (32,107), Derby (29,042), Leeds (27,698) and Sheffield Wednesday (27,129).
CITY SIZEThe size of a team’s city suggests just how big the team could be if only they could wake up from their slumber.
On that front Birmingham is way out in front with a population of 1,124,569 according to the government’s latest estimates.
That puts it comfortably ahead of the next biggest city, Leeds, which has a population of 781,743.
A big win for Aston Villa then? Maybe not.
Unlike Leeds, Birmingham isn’t a one team city. Villa have to compete for citizens’ affections with local rivals Birmingham City.
If Birmingham’s residents are split 50-50 (and that is admittedly a big if) then Villa would only have 562,285 locals to draw from.
Sheffield is the next biggest city to play host to our sleeping giants with a population of 275,424.
Much like Birmingham though, Steel City has two clubs competing for residents’ attention - Wednesday and United
RECENT SUCCESSThis is the one category where Aston Villa let themselves down.
Portsmouth have had the most recent success of our sleeping giants having won the FA Cup back in 2008.
Blackburn are the most recent league winners, lifting the Premier League trophy in 1994/95, just three years after Leeds United won the last old First Division.
Aston Villa’s European Cup title in 1982 remains the most recent European success of the 12 teams.
OVERALLRanking teams by each of these measures individually, and then combining those ranks to give an overalls score, gives us the following ranking for our sleeping giants:
1: Aston Villa
2: Sunderland
3: Sheffield Wednesday
4: Leeds
5: Wolves
6: Sheffield United
6: Nottingham Forest
8: Blackburn
9: Derby
10: Portsmouth
11: Preston
12: Ipswich
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