‘Everybody thinks they’ve the prettiest spouse at residence.’
‘This metropolis has two nice groups – Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.’
‘My dad’s larger than your dad.’
Each diehard fan thinks their soccer membership is the most important. The perfect, probably the most historic, the prettiest, and that, in flip, nobody else’s workforce is as much as a lot. They’ve no historical past, no trophies, no followers, no cash or an excessive amount of cash, and it’s all dodgy anyway.
And so go 1,000,000 pub-table debates and home-and-away-end again and forths. There’s nothing extra self-preserving for a soccer fan than realizing (deep down) that their membership is greater than another person’s, significantly a rival. It makes the decrease moments of following your workforce – all of the chilly nights, lengthy drives, personal targets and crap pies – value it.
However past the bluster, what’s the reality? Who actually is the most important membership in England, and who, on the very least, can declare bragging rights over that mob down the street?
Placing emotion to at least one aspect, Each day Mail Sport has gone scientific, burying our heads within the information to give you a definitive rating of the 92 groups within the high 4 divisions of English soccer. Seventeen completely different classes had been used, from trophies gained to social media followers.
After all, this can settle all the pieces as soon as and for all, and the outcomes shall be accepted as gospel by all involved. You possibly can put the pub desk down.
However after all, you’ll be able to’t – as a result of your dad’s larger than my dad.
Manchester United and Liverpool have lengthy been seen because the Large Two of English soccer – however who comes out on high?
We will lastly settle outdated rivalries – akin to between the Sheffield golf equipment, United and Wednesday
Nottingham Forest are the one membership on the planet to have gained extra European Cups than home league titles – however how far can that carry them up our rankings?
How we did it
Earlier than the shouting about how mistaken the outcomes are can start, let’s clarify how we created this specific monster.
We selected an enormous unfold of knowledge that ought to embody all the pieces a couple of membership. Funds, followers, league titles, England gamers, Instagram followers and lots extra.
Some variables weren’t accessible. Whereas it might be good to incorporate, for instance, each workforce’s common attendances all the best way again to the very first Soccer League season of 1888-89 to supply the complete image of how massive they’ve been, as a lot as they’re now.
However that degree of knowledge isn’t accessible for all 92 golf equipment – 42 of them didn’t exist in 1888, for a begin – so now we have gone with the final 10 seasons (not together with the Covid one the place nobody was allowed to have greater than a few thousand within the stands).
That can naturally skew the outcomes of that class in direction of groups with extra success and greater stadiums lately, however a concerted effort has been made elsewhere to make sure a stability between previous and current. Corresponding to how historic (outdated) a membership is, or what number of seasons they’ve spent within the high flight.
The 17 classes we selected are: League titles gained, all-time common league place (1st within the Championship counts as Twenty first, 1st in League One as forty fifth and so forth), complete top-flight factors, complete top-flight seasons, common attendance within the final 10 seasons, European Cups gained (together with Champions League), UEFA Cups gained (together with Europa League), FA Cups gained, Cup Winners’ Cups gained, League Cups gained, annual income, squad worth, social media followers (on Fb, X and Instagram), date based, England caps gained by gamers whereas enjoying for the membership, England gamers capped whereas on the membership and Membership World Cups gained.
Groups like Bradford Metropolis in League One do not play for the most important prizes yearly – however their attendances would make loads of Premier League golf equipment blush
Everton can name on probably the most top-flight seasons, the third-most top-flight factors and the fifth-most league titles
Aston Villa’s Double winners of 1896-97 – efforts have been made to make sure the totality of a membership’s historical past has been accounted for
The maths
Don’t fear, this gained’t take lengthy.
We ranked all 92 golf equipment in all 17 classes, and assigned them a price out of 92 for every class, primarily based on how near the very best rating in it they had been.
A fast instance: Arsenal have gained 13 league titles, and the very best is 20 (Liverpool and Manchester United). 13 is 65 per cent of 20, so Arsenal get 59.8pts (65 per cent of 92), whereas Liverpool and Manchester United rating 92.
Then we ranked every class from most to least essential. The order is as you learn them above, and chances are you’ll quibble if you want.
Is producing England gamers a greater signifier of ‘big-ness’ than what number of social media followers you could have? You may make the argument.
Isn’t the Membership World Cup fairly a giant trophy and deserving of greater than final place? Effectively, English golf equipment have hardly ever handled it that means – although count on that to vary now there’s £100million for the winner. We will at all times do that once more in 10 years’ time.
As referenced, now we have tried to make sure that neither modern-day nor historic success is given outsized significance. Trophies had been prioritised, as that’s usually the entire level, however we tried to not penalise enormous golf equipment that aren’t ready to win a giant pot proper now (eg. Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United, Bradford Metropolis), so attendances got a excessive billing.
As soon as the classes had been ranked, we multiplied the scores every workforce had by the significance of every class – so your rating for league titles is multiplied by 17, common league place by 16 and so forth – till we had a complete rating that we imagine gives the definitive rating of how massive every of the 92 soccer golf equipment in England actually are.
Cardiff Metropolis en path to beating Arsenal within the 1927 FA Cup last – their lone trophy, however sufficient for joint-Twenty first in probably the most FA Cup wins. Arsenal’s 14 wins sealed high spot in that class
Tottenham Hotspur’s 1961 Double-winning aspect account for one in every of their two league titles, however their modern-day prominence sees them proper in direction of the highest of the rankings
Would possibly Chelsea’s Membership World Cup win this summer time be being underplayed? Maybe, however the match continues to be a minor one within the eyes of most followers
(A couple of factors of order: Annual revenues are for the newest public accounts, from the 2023-24 season. The place unavailable for the handful of golf equipment who don’t publish accounts, estimates have needed to be drawn from league norms, current tendencies and comparable rivals. We’re extraordinarily grateful to the invaluable analysis and data supplied by the Transfermarkt, FootballRates, EnglandStats, Corporations Home and Swiss Ramble web sites, which supplemented our personal information gathering. The info is correct as much as December 25, 2025).
Proper then, time for the outcomes. You should use the device beneath to flick by way of the general rating, or click on on a membership to see the place they rank in every of the 17 classes. You may as well seek for a specific membership, and rank (utilizing the Type by: operate) all 92 groups in any class you want. Completely happy grazing – and tell us what you assume within the feedback.
Findings
It wasn’t significantly shut in the long run, then. Reigning champions Liverpool, with their data held in league titles, league place, top-flight factors, European Cups, UEFA Cups, League Cups and a serving to of different excessive finishes claimed it by a distance from Manchester United.
There have been a variety of surprises. Successful the league a number of occasions was clearly key, however not essential – Tottenham’s well-timed vault into the Twenty first-century ‘Large Six’ has seen them overtake two Twentieth-century giants in Everton and Aston Villa, whereas West Ham, who’ve by no means been topped champions of England, made it into eleventh, largely on the coat tails of a giant stadium and the related riches.
As for the rivalries, Newcastle edged out Sunderland, Sheffield belongs to Wednesday, the south coast to Southampton and Arsenal are kings of London. Blackburn and Derby survived their current struggles to complete within the high 20, whereas Bolton, Huddersfield and Notts County all punched above their modern-day weight due to historic success.
On the different finish, the underside 5 had been all pretty properly insulated from the remainder, specifically Harrogate City who took the ignominy of the picket spoon – although a minimum of if outcomes proceed the best way they’ve this season on the backside of League Two, they gained’t be capable of win it once more subsequent 12 months.
Liverpool are high of the tree once more, dominating the rankings and ending high in six of the 17 classes
It is the picket spoon for Harrogate City, nevertheless, who had been a distant 92nd of 92
Northampton City (seventy fifth) had been the lowest-ranked aspect to have skilled the highest flight, and 1969 League Cup winners Swindon City (62nd) the bottom to have lifted a serious trophy.
An essential level to make – particularly in the event you’re a Harrogate fan – is that that is all simply at the moment’s scoreboard. Come again in 10, 20 or 100 years time and all the pieces might have turned on its head.
Flip again 100 years to Christmas 1925 and Huddersfield had been the workforce to beat, quickly to win a 3rd consecutive league title beneath Herbert Chapman. Bolton gained their second FA Cup in 4 seasons, Bury completed fourth within the high flight and Watford misplaced 8-1 at Aberdare Athletic within the fourth tier.
So it’s all nonetheless to play for.
