Football In The Midlands

[Leo No.8]

Does anyone else think its strange the way football in the Midlands has declined so badly. Clubs from East to West of that area of the country have suffered different levels of decline, ranging from greatly disappointing to disasterous.

 

Forest of course are the worst of the lot - how many twice European Cup winning clubs are currently languishing in the third divisions of leagues around Europe?

 

Also Derby, Wolves and now Birmingham and West Brom all big clubs with decent size grounds languishing in the lower divisions. Even the last Midlands representative in the top division, Villa, are in a serious crisis at the moment, and didn't finish a million miles away from the drop zone last season.

 

Any thoughts on why this is? Coincidence? Economic reasons? I know only Forest could have ever been termed one of the really bigger names in the country in terms of success, but for only one representative in the Premier League to be from the Midlands seems strange.

[Stevie H]

geographical. no big name players want to play in that boghole that is the midlands when they can play in london or for one of the two big city north-west clubs.

[Bald Devil]

Was thinking the same thing yesterday. Strange or not I hope Villa go down.

[Leo No.8]

geographical. no big name players want to play in that boghole that is the midlands when they can play in london or for one of the two big city north-west clubs.

 

Suppose so. East Midlands is quite a nice area though...

[AntM]

Out of interest Leo, how many of the midlands clubs were at the inception of the premier league? It might be that those clubs that were in the premiership at the outset and stayed in for a good few seasons tend to be better off now because they've reaped the financial benefits.

 

Certainly Derby County, Villa and Forest have all won leagues in my lifetime, and two of them have won big ears (and Derby got close!)... but these events are all pre-premiership

[Bootle Buck]

I heard yesterday Sheff Utd is Villa's Derby game this season.

[Coyler]

Out of interest Leo, how many of the midlands clubs were at the inception of the premier league? It might be that those clubs that were in the premiership at the outset and stayed in for a good few seasons tend to be better off now because they've reaped the financial benefits.

 

Certainly Derby County, Villa and Forest have all won leagues in my lifetime, and two of them have won big ears (and Derby got close!)... but these events are all pre-premiership

Emm, were Villa not the ones that United skanked the first Premiership off in 1993?

[AntM]

Emm, were Villa not the ones that United skanked the first Premiership off in 1993?

 

The original question was about midlands footy in general. Why is it such a footballing black hole and has been for ages? Villa were in the premiership at the outset, stayed in and are just about hanging on. Compare their standing with Derby County, Nott'm Forest, Notts County, Leicester City, Brum, WBA, Wolves... (all of which, with the exception of County, used to be regular first division fixtures pre-1993). Did they all make bad signings? Did they all have bad managers? Bad chairmen? Indifferent support? All at the same time? Or did they miss out in 1993 and have suffered as a consequence? Just an idea.

[Guest Sabre]

Oh right sorry.

 

No clue.

 

As an aside, how deep into stupid-Brummie-accent territory is Stratford-upon-Avon?

 

It's not, I work in Stratford and except for the millions of tourists, it's a fantastic place.

[Earl Hafler]

Not really that many big clubs.

Leicester only approached ' big ' under O'Neill

Notts County, WBA and Wolves from years gone by.

Derby County managed to cling on to the Premiership for awhile

Forest run appallingly.

 

I think only Villa were in the higher echelons of the Premiership when it started. Forest and Sheff Utd were relegated in the first couple of years and couldn't retain any momentum, losing money and fans to Champion League clubs, Keegan's Newcastle ( these fans soon jumped ship to Arsenal, Chelsea, Us and the Mancs )

 

Smaller London clubs cope by being situated in the capital and so can attract a better quality of player, investment etc. Midlands clubs have very little fanbase outside those in the immediate region and so can't compete with London clubs in the transfer market - even we've suffered on occasions with continental players wanting only to play in London.

Decrease in " home " transfers has hit revenue.

 

There's loads of reasons.

[Atticus Finch]

In addition to the clubs named Coventry were in the top division for quite a few years but have only just managed to stay in the championship since relegation a few years back

[Earl Hafler]

But they were clinging on to the Premiership. Had a manager in Ron Atkinson who was still big enough ( cough ) to be able to sign Strachan and Gary Mac etc.

 

 

* Look at Chelsea, drifitng around between relegation and midtable -

Attract Hoddle who is new to management and Chelsea is a step-up from Swindon and in London.

Hoddle is still fresh in peoples minds as a big name player, famous on the continent and he manages to sign Gullit on a free because of Bosman and no doubt Gullit attracted to Chelsea because of Hoddle and London. Gullit > Vialli > Ranieri > Abramovich.

 

Chelsea could so easily have done a Leeds and Abramovich been at Spurs.

Edited July 19, 2006 by Big Stuff

[Bootle Buck]

Yow must be yampy