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View from the Kop

What is the definition of a Big Club?

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Real Madrid, Arsenal, AC Milan, I could go on. All these teams are without a doubt ‘giants’ of the footballing world. What makes these teams entitled to the title of ‘giant of the footballing world’ though? Real Madrid, for example, haven’t dominated La Liga or rivalled Barcelona for a good three to four years now; Arsenal haven’t won anything for six years (and with each Premier League fixture that passes it is looking more like seven years), and AC Milan have recently been humbled by Champions League débutantes Tottenham Hotspur, not the best advertisement for footballing ‘titans’.

Despite the obvious shortcomings of these teams, they’re still referred to as some of the best teams on the planet with the likes of Barcelona, Champions League holders Inter Milan and Manchester United. So how are these teams, like so many more, still viewed as great teams despite no recent success?

Numerous teams on the elite ‘list’ have very illustrious and successful histories. Liverpool have won the same amount of league titles as Manchester United, Real Madrid have won the most European Cup titles and Arsenal are still talking about their Invincibles season, but all these clubs still speak of such stats and achievements for two reasons; they have a supreme pride in them, but mainly it is to relive the ‘glory days’ of a bygone era. Surely being great ‘once upon a time’ doesn’t allow you to maintain your superior and elite status amongst the all the footballing clubs out there? Leeds United, for instance, used to be giants of the game, but in more recent years they find themselves flirting with promotion and relegation in the lower leagues on a yearly cycle.

The likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid and Arsenal all have stadiums over 45,000 capacity and week in, week out have full houses; a terrific fan base is instrumental in maintaining elite status. The fans are at the core of any club, they represent what a club is about. Liverpool supporters create a remarkable noise at Anfield, creating an amazing venue, but then again so to do Celtic fans, and no one ever really classes a Scottish team as one of football’s elites, despite their remarkable past accolades as well.

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