Who would you term as 'Sleeping Giant' Clubs?

dd972

These have always intrigued me, I think it's usually down to poor administration and consistently poor managerial choices that these clubs are where they are, some examples I would quote are

Bristol City - Should have done far more in the game given the size of the city even with Rovers on the radar, could easily pull 30,000 plus in the EPL every week if they had a ground and team to match.

Newcastle - Most people's obvious choice, apart from their mid 90's purple patch and early 00's under Bobby Robson they've never hit the heights a club of their support base and heritage should have.

Plymouth - Similar to Hull in the sense they've one of the largest catchment areas of support and are the only club in their region yet have pottered between the 2nd and 4th tiers throughout their history.

Some German one's that I'd put in that category would be Eintracht Frankfurt, SV Hamburg or FC Koln, all clubs who'd easily pull in 50,000+ fans and make a dent in the CL if they got their act together.

slingerz

dd972 wrote: »

These have always intrigued me, I think it's usually down to poor administration and consistently poor managerial choices that these clubs are where they are, some examples I would quote are

Bristol City - Should have done far more in the game given the size of the city even with Rovers on the radar, could easily pull 30,000 plus in the EPL every week if they had a ground and team to match.

Newcastle - Most people's obvious choice, apart from their mid 90's purple patch and early 00's under Bobby Robson they've never hit the heights a club of their support base and heritage should have.

Plymouth - Similar to Hull in the sense they've one of the largest catchment areas of support and are the only club in their region yet have pottered between the 2nd and 4th tiers throughout their history.

Some German one's that I'd put in that category would be Eintracht Frankfurt, SV Hamburg or FC Koln, all clubs who'd easily pull in 50,000+ fans and make a dent in the CL if they got their act together.

Leeds United are a big one

dd972

It's a bit of an anomaly that a club like Wigan have had 8 solvent relatively successful years in the EPL yet Preston which is a real football town in comparison struggle to get there.

Leeds, Forest, Derby and the two Sheffield clubs are all bigger as well

Mr Alan

Liverpool

Paully D

Sunderland.

40,000 attendance every week, state of the art academy and facilities, yet we've only won 1 major trophy in around 80 years. I think we will be forever sleeping though :pac:

Similarly with Newcastle, both North-East clubs get far more support than each club actually deserves based on performances.

Lawrence1895

The names of Kaiserslautern or Moenchengladbach are jumping into my mind, since Germany was mentioned there.

Or maybe Nottingham Forest, as there is some tradition and history behind them.

And, of course Shels...not joking, because the grim years should be over soon.

eagle eye

Leicester City, Middlesbrough, Birmingham City, Sheffield United and to a lesser extent Wednesday but most of all Leeds United as already mentioned.

Oh yeah and Rangers in Division 2 in Scotland.:D

5starpool

Burnley

Will I Amnt

Mr Alan wrote: »

Liverpool

Rip van Winkle style

TaosHum

FC Koln

Nuri Sahin

Saint Étienne

Jason Todd

Sunderland
Newcastle
Leeds
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
Blackburn Rovers
Notts Forest
Dundee Utd
Sevilla
Parma
Roma
Schalke

bucketybuck

I always think of Nottingham Forest when I think of sleeping giants. I remember as a teenager during Euro 96 reading about the grounds used for the games, and the City ground was there as one of the best around. Two times European cup winners, Brian Clough, Des Walker, Stuart Pearce, Pierre Van Hoojdonk, its strange to think that its now well over a decade since they were in the top flight.

carlop

Going by catchment area Hertha Berlin and PSG have to be two big ones, although the latter have obviously had recent success.

everdead.ie

I suppose it depends on what you mean by sleeping?

Those with a great History that hasn't been lived up to recently - Derby, Nottingham Forest, Spurs, Liverpool

Those who have a massive amount of supporters but fail to convert that into trophies and wins, Hamburg, Schalke, Sunderland and Newcastle

carlop

everdead.ie wrote: »

I suppose it depends on what you mean by sleeping?

Those with a great History that hasn't been lived up to recently - Derby, Nottingham Forest, Spurs, Liverpool

Those who have a massive amount of supporters but fail to convert that into trophies and wins, Hamburg, Schalke, Sunderland and Newcastle

In the great history category Genoa and Torino are two Italian examples. I suppose a case could be made for Athletic Bilbao too, but they are kind of unique and in a self-imposed sleep more than anything else.

messinkiapina

All of the clubs that haven't been bought by a sugar daddy yet.

v3ttel

Sheffield Wednesday,
Sheffield United,
Leeds United,
Nottingham Forrest

Are the 4 in England that really stick out as massively underachieving.

GTR63

Not giants but I miss not seeing the likes of Como and Perugia in the Italian results page.
Sleeping giants the likes of Depor, Red Star Belgrade(may be called something like Czena Szvesta or that now)Saint Etienne, Gladbach and to a lesser extent Fiorentina(if given resources along with patience Montella can be a HUGE asset), Marseille, Liverpool, Hamburg & Roma .
Delighted I don't have to even think of putting down Juve, Dortmund & Monaco who at a times in the last 10 years were struggling.

osarusan

Limerick FC.

Pepe LeFrits

Villa

SlickRic

from a purely historic point of view...Preston North End.

jmayo

Jason Todd wrote: »

Sunderland
Newcastle
Leeds
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
Blackburn Rovers
Notts Forest
Dundee Utd
Sevilla
Parma
Roma
Schalke

I would definitely take Parma out of there since they only arrived in the 90s due to the money of Parmalat and once they hit the rocks the club went downhill and became a feeder club of the likes of Juve.

Similarly with Notts Forest who only won two FA cups in the all the years upto Cloughie taking over and spent most of their years in the old second division.

Blackburn Rovers have done a hell of a lot of sleeping in their history and are awaiting another Jack Walker to wake them up.

Former giants who have slipped to me are Liverpool, Ajax who dominated both their leagues and Europe for number of years.

dd972

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Villa

If Villa were taken over Man City style they'd definitely become a big player, I think Blackburn have more or less reverted to their natural status after hanging around the top flight as a knock on effect of their mid 90's golden era.

Mitch Connor

Nottingham Forest would be the big one for me - quality stadium, quality history, been down for years. Would love to see them back in the PL but also competing towards the top.

major bill

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Nottingham Forest would be the big one for me - quality stadium, quality history, been down for years. Would love to see them back in the PL but also competing towards the top.

Was just going to say this.....I was there when they won promotion to the championship in 08, the whole city were celebrating.

I am pie

Not sure about Forest, I think they overachieved with the greatest manager England never had for years, Nottingham is a small enough city, there are lots of other teams in the region and there fanbase is pretty limited to the immediate area.

Milton Keynes Dons will overtake them in years to come I would say as it is a faster growing city. Once they get past the initial stigma they will continue to grow.

Queens Park in Scotland? Big stadium!
Belfast Celtic, although that is a very deep comatose sleep.

That soccerball team in NY who have relaunched.

Malmo (on the basis that they previously had a great Euro record!)

In Argentina:
Racing Club
Independiente (currently in 2nd division)

Two teams of the big 5 in the city of Buenos Aires now suffering. Last year you could have added River, they have made a comeback of sorts but are a long way short of the glory days of Passarella & Enzo Francescoli.

Hopefully someday we can add Boca (spit spit) to this list. Knackers.

Paco Rodriguez

Club Brugge
Hejduk Split
Dinamo Zagreb
Steaua Bucharest

Hejduk Split have a huge fan base around Croatia and could get a decent run. With Croatia joining EU maybe domestic football can gain from it.

Pepe LeFrits

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Nottingham Forest would be the big one for me - quality stadium, quality history, been down for years. Would love to see them back in the PL but also competing towards the top.

Forest are probably to kids of the 80s what Blackburn are to kids of the 90s. Bit more successful though!

greendom

Arsenal's acquisitions team is comatose it would appear

PropJoe10

Waterford United.

The_Kew_Tour

Hibs.

eagle eye

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Forest are probably to kids of the 80s what Blackburn are to kids of the 90s. Bit more successful though!

I don't think so, there were a few extra Rovers fans about in the mid nineties but United dominated the fairweather supporters market in that decade.

Mr_Spaceman

The famous Glasgow Rangers.

StephenHendry

notts county -oldest club in england and forever in the shadow of another
sleeping giant nottingham forest.

Mr_Spaceman

UK: Hearts, Hibs, Leeds United

France: Saint Etienne

Germany: FC Koln, Eintracht Frankfurt

Italy: Genoa, Sampdoria, Torino

Spain: Atletico Madrid

Both Belgrade clubs

Argentina: Racing Club, Independiente

Austria: Rapid Vienna

Vurnon San Benito

Newcastle United certainly up there.
Leeds United would be on my list too, Bolton perhaps too..

citytillidie

Forest eh the only team to win more European Cups than be League Champions

greendom

citytillidie wrote: »

Forest eh the only team to win more European Cups than be League Champions

And they managed that in an era when only champions (and European Cup winners) could enter

Mr_Spaceman

Derby County? 1975 League champions and traditionally larger crowds than rivals Forest, IIRC.

P_1

Zenit St Petersburg or one of the big Moscow clubs might be worth a mention. Generally quite good in their domestic league but yet to really make the push in Europe.

I am pie

Mr_Spaceman wrote: »

UK: Hearts, Hibs, Leeds United

France: Saint Etienne

Germany: FC Koln, Eintracht Frankfurt

Italy: Genoa, Sampdoria, Torino

Spain: Atletico Madrid

Both Belgrade clubs

Argentina: Racing Club, Independiente

Austria: Rapid Vienna

Spacer...

Atletico Madrid aren't really sleeping giants these days, they might have been considered so a few years back hampered by Gil but now they are progressing well.

Another sneaky 2 from Germany...Fortuna Dusseldorf (50k plus stadium) and Hertha Berlin.

Admit it, you copied the Argie clubs from me ; )

CSF

People should be banned from naming their own club here...

Mr_Spaceman

I am pie wrote: »

Spacer...

Atletico Madrid aren't really sleeping giants these days, they might have been considered so a few years back hampered by Gil but now they are progressing well.

Another sneaky 2 from Germany...Fortuna Dusseldorf (50k plus stadium) and Hertha Berlin.

Admit it, you copied the Argie clubs from me ; )

Well you DID remind me about the Argie clubs, I admit!

I've been to both grounds over there and they attract good crowds. However, as you'll know, outside Argentina they get scant attention because of River and Boca.

Fortuna Dusseldorf is a good shout. They were a quite a big name in the late 70s.

I am pie

Palmeiras in Sao paulo...joint top with 8 serie A Brazil wins..relegated to Serie B last year.

Will bounce back quickly and did win the cup last year so not so sleepy I guess. Just had a rotten year.

slingerz

Everton ftw

Zebra3

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

With Croatia joining EU maybe domestic football can gain from it.

More likely to just hasten the departure of talented young players.

Lawrence1895

Dynamo Dresden, as they have a decent enough fan base, and just to have at least one club from the former east of Germany back in the top flight, and they would be the one with the best chances from a sporting perspective.

grenache

jmayo wrote: »

Similarly with Notts Forest who only won two FA cups in the all the years upto Cloughie taking over and spent most of their years in the old second division.

Nottingham Forest is our name. There is no Notts in our title. And we've spent more time in the top division than we have in the second tier.

Winning cups doesn't define whether a club is big or not. Even if you don't include Clough's time or Johnny Carey's relative success in the 60s, Forest always underachieved. In fact it could be said that until the 50s, County were equally as popular as Forest and more successful.

Nottingham has the oldest and third oldest professional football clubs in the world today. For this alone, it should be considered a home bastion of English football. It's biggest problem however is is just that, it has TWO clubs. A city of 300k isn't big enough for two professional clubs.

grenache

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Forest are probably to kids of the 80s what Blackburn are to kids of the 90s. Bit more successful though!

No. Just no.

We didn't have any sugar daddy bank-rolling us! We won the league in 78 with the same players who had won us promotion the previous year. The only time we splashed out was with the purchase of Trevor Francis. And even that was only made possible from the money and extra sponsorship garnered from winning the league.

What Forest & Derby did involved magic from Clough & Taylor.
What Blackburn did involved a large chequebook from Jack Walker.

Pepe LeFrits

I'm not sure quite what that has to do with what I said.