Saints officially a bigger club than Pompey

[Turkish]

And Brighton and Bournemouth 

hardly news but the ranking was based on the following 

• League titles won
• All-time average league position (with first place in the Championship counting as 21st overall, first in League One as 45th, and so on)
• Total top-flight points
• Total top-flight seasons
• Average attendance over the last 10 seasons
• European Cups won (including the Champions League)
• UEFA Cups won (including the Europa League)
• FA Cups won
• Cup Winners’ Cups won
• League Cups won
• Annual revenue
• Squad value
• Social media followers (Facebook, X, and Instagram)
• Year founded
• England caps won by players while representing the club
• Number of England players capped while at the club
• Club World Cups won

 

Saints ranked as the 25th biggest club in the country which I would say was about right although can argue about one’s either side of us. 

skates 33rd. 

 

full list here 

https://www.givemesport.com/every-club-english-premier-league-football-league-ranked-size/?link_source=ta_first_comment&taid=699063cb74e50b0001a3862a&fbclid=IwZnRzaAP9RiZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeW0GtIdwecGkX3Uj1NjZ9MCks4s2cfbX08Jy13tH32_Ickrs07Dz2IL5WnTs_aem_7MrKgnt2RsrQaDywWvp98w

 

Edited Saturday at 12:13 by Turkish

[Badger]

Can’t see the blue few accepting that , “rubbish innit mate, fuck off scummah cant… “

And they may have a point as it overlooks the vital matters of average decibels per home match, massive followings (especially Wigan away midweek), drums/bugles/bells at matches, banning orders, and tattoos per square inch of body surface … 

[Badger]

Somewhere around 17- 25th is probably about right on the criteria set. Might have been higher but for the last few seasons 

Edited Saturday at 13:14 by Badger

[Turkish]

9 minutes ago, Badger said:

Can’t see the blue few accepting that , “rubbish innit mate, fuck off scummah cant… “

And they may have a point as it overlooks the vital matters of average decibels per home match, massive followings (especially Wigan away midweek), drums/bugles/bells at matches, banning orders, and tattoos per square inch of body surface … 

Biggest myths, most posts on social media about how great they are

i usually think these things are a load Of crap but these actually seemed one of the best measures of club size. Obviously can be some debate, arguably were bigger than Stoke and Middlesbrough for example but they’d say the same about us so id say over it’s about right 

Edited Saturday at 13:21 by Turkish

[Badger]

I’d have expected us above Burnley and Bolton as well. Certainly in the time I’ve followed the game (late 60’s). But both I think had long uninterrupted spells in Division One before my time. Which is a fair way of reviewing it rather than just since the EPL was founded. 
 

Skates position lifted by their brief success after the war rather than just the Redknapp years. 

[Toadhall Saint]

💯

[LoyalSaintSO50]

Chris Wilders late winner at the dump (ex Saint and never got a point as a manager against us). Hope that’s factored in. 33 seemed high to me for them noddy skate cnts 

[Nordic Saint]

I always think this is a pretty good gauge of a club's size:

All time Football League Rankings average attendances

[Miltonaggro]

11 hours ago, Nordic Saint said:

I always think this is a pretty good gauge of a club's size:

All time Football League Rankings average attendances

Yes, that and the positioning over the last forty or fifty years, a half century seems a good marker.  A lot of the historical success of clubs like Preston, Burnley, Blackpool and Portsmouth is beyond living memory, so not sure how relevant this is to perceived club size today unless you are approaching 100 years old.  I think of Saints as a top twenty provincial football club, our biggest problem is that we have a solid history and have enjoyed relative success, but won very little, the Achilles heel. 

Premier League average overall ranking has us in 11th, and it's the same in terms of top flight average attendance over the same period (last 34 years).

 

 

 

 

[sandwichsaint]

On 10/02/2026 at 20:06, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Reply to wrong thread

Edited 17 hours ago by sandwichsaint
......Reply to old thread

[sandwichsaint]

1 hour ago, Miltonaggro said:

Yes, that and the positioning over the last forty or fifty years, a half century seems a good marker.  A lot of the historical success of clubs like Preston, Burnley, Blackpool and Portsmouth is beyond living memory, so not sure how relevant this is to perceived club size today unless you are approaching 100 years old.  I think of Saints as a top twenty provincial football club, our biggest problem is that we have a solid history and have enjoyed relative success, but won very little, the Achilles heel. 

Premier League average overall ranking has us in 11th, and it's the same in terms of top flight average attendance over the same period (last 34 years).

 

 

 

 

So, bar West Ham, the best-of-the-rest in PL terms. I’d take that.

[sfc4prem]

11 minutes ago, sandwichsaint said:

So, bar West Ham, the best-of-the-rest in PL terms. I’d take that.

Well, not considering that goal difference, which is the worst of all the 21 clubs in the table. In fact, rhat table suggests we have been most often been perennial 'hangers on', circling the drain but too stubborn to drop. Compare our -301 to Leeds' 0 GD and you have a clearer picture.

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, Miltonaggro said:

Yes, that and the positioning over the last forty or fifty years, a half century seems a good marker.  A lot of the historical success of clubs like Preston, Burnley, Blackpool and Portsmouth is beyond living memory, so not sure how relevant this is to perceived club size today unless you are approaching 100 years old.  I think of Saints as a top twenty provincial football club, our biggest problem is that we have a solid history and have enjoyed relative success, but won very little, the Achilles heel. 

Premier League average overall ranking has us in 11th, and it's the same in terms of top flight average attendance over the same period (last 34 years).

 

 

 

 

The lack of success, in terms of winning things, is our issue. I can’t think of many clubs of similar size to us who only have one trophy. We really should have won stuff early to mid 80s, got unlucky in 2017, came up against one of the best teams in Europe in the 2003 FA cup final and 79 League cup final. However as a club once Lawrie left we’ve never really had much ambition. Always happy just to be in the top division with the survival is success mantra. 

[Saint86]

17 hours ago, Nordic Saint said:

I always think this is a pretty good gauge of a club's size:

All time Football League Rankings average attendances

Despite being in the league for less matches, and despite having a smaller stadium for much of that, we have 38Million cumulative home ticket sales, vs 36million for portsmouth.

[Tom & Gerry]

To be fair they have won more major trophies than us, but we've been in more major finals (FA and league cups), semi finals, seasons in the top league  and seasons in Europe. 

[trousers]

4 minutes ago, Tom & Gerry said:

To be fair they have bought more major trophies with other people's money than us

Fixed it for you 

[Miltonaggro]

5 hours ago, Turkish said:

The lack of success, in terms of winning things, is our issue. I can’t think of many clubs of similar size to us who only have one trophy. We really should have won stuff early to mid 80s, got unlucky in 2017, came up against one of the best teams in Europe in the 2003 FA cup final and 79 League cup final. However as a club once Lawrie left we’ve never really had much ambition. Always happy just to be in the top division with the survival is success mantra. 

It's probably my age, but when I started supporting Saints in terms of going to the Dell as a nipper in the late 70s early 80s things were much more open, and we were right in there challenging with the likes of Forest, Ipswich, and Villa, but they all won more than us in that period, so it's where I visualise our position as a club - there or thereabouts.  When we got relegated in 2005 a Palace fan I was working with remarked 'well it's probably your turn' and I remember thinking cheeky bastard, how very dare you, we've been in this league for nearly 30 years!  On balance all things counted last 50 years I see us in the top 20, despite Sport Republic's best efforts.