Why have southern clubs( not London) and East Anglian clubs never been big?

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Discard Midlands and London clubs and focus on clubs on the south, South coast and East Anglia and I wonder why these regions have never been really massive in football terms

I know Ipswich won the Uefa cup, fa cup and went close to winning the league in the late 70 /early 80s but have never been firmly established as a top team in the country.

The Bristol clubs have always languished in lower leagues despite having huge catchment areas

The likes of Torquay , Exeter , Plymouth , Bournemouth have never been big.

Portsmouth can point to a fa cup win under Harry Redknapp but never capitalised on the millions spent on them in the 2000s

Southampton throughout my childhood were always in the top flight but always in the lower reaches. The move to St Mary's hasn't seen them kick on

One thing that's always mentioned with regards to Sunderland is players don't want to move because of its location with regards to London.

But all the above mentioned have that so why are none constant success story storys.

Is it finances ? But Bristol city , Bournemouth and Portsmouth all have billionaire owners........what's your reasons?
 


Discard Midlands and London clubs and focus on clubs on the south, South coast and East Anglia and I wonder why these regions have never been really massive in football terms

I know Ipswich won the Uefa cup, fa cup and went close to winning the league in the late 70 /early 80s but have never been firmly established as a top team in the country.

The Bristol clubs have always languished in lower leagues despite having huge catchment areas

The likes of Torquay , Exeter , Plymouth , Bournemouth have never been big.

Portsmouth can point to a fa cup win under Harry Redknapp but never capitalised on the millions spent on them in the 2000s

Southampton throughout my childhood were always in the top flight but always in the lower reaches. The move to St Mary's hasn't seen them kick on

One thing that's always mentioned with regards to Sunderland is players don't want to move because of its location with regards to London.

But all the above mentioned have that so why are none constant success story storys.

Is it finances ? But Bristol city , Bournemouth and Portsmouth all have billionaire owners........what's your reasons?


Mate Ipswich won the League in 1961-1962, hence the star on their badge.

Alf Ramsey....
 
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Mate Ipswich won the League in '61-'62.

Alf Ramsey....
Yep I know and had success in late70/80s but why ain't they never kicked on like the London ,Manchester ,Merseyside ,Midland clubs . Bit like where you are based Gillingham must be massive in Kent ,but why no success?
 
Discard Midlands and London clubs and focus on clubs on the south, South coast and East Anglia and I wonder why these regions have never been really massive in football terms

I know Ipswich won the Uefa cup, fa cup and went close to winning the league in the late 70 /early 80s but have never been firmly established as a top team in the country.

The Bristol clubs have always languished in lower leagues despite having huge catchment areas

The likes of Torquay , Exeter , Plymouth , Bournemouth have never been big.

Portsmouth can point to a fa cup win under Harry Redknapp but never capitalised on the millions spent on them in the 2000s

Southampton throughout my childhood were always in the top flight but always in the lower reaches. The move to St Mary's hasn't seen them kick on

One thing that's always mentioned with regards to Sunderland is players don't want to move because of its location with regards to London.

But all the above mentioned have that so why are none constant success story storys.

Is it finances ? But Bristol city , Bournemouth and Portsmouth all have billionaire owners........what's your reasons?

Soft as shite...


Though you might want to check the records of some of those clubs you've highlighted.

Big clubs wins things something a lot of "northern" (ourselves and nearest and dearest) haven't achieved that for some time.
 
Yep I know and had success in late70/80s but why ain't they never kicked on like the London ,Manchester ,Merseyside ,Midland clubs . Bit like where you are based Gillingham must be massive in Kent ,but why no success?

Portsmouth won the league in 1949 and 1950 also and Southampton went close in the early 80s. None of them were on the up when the Premier League came into being though. See also: Forest, Derby, the north east etc.
 
Yep I know and had success in late70/80s but why ain't they never kicked on like the London ,Manchester ,Merseyside ,Midland clubs . Bit like where you are based Gillingham must be massive in Kent ,but why no success?


Portsmouth were a big club in the 40s and 50s, and won things too.



Gillingham are a micky mouse club, always have been.

Maidstone United are a bigger club then Gillingham mate;)
 
Soft as shite...


Though you might want to check the records of some of those clubs you've highlighted.

Big clubs wins things something a lot of "northern" (ourselves and nearest and dearest) haven't achieved that for some time.
I'd go the other way and say a big club can pull in the punters while not winning things. NE can certainly do that.
 
And Somerset/Gloucestershire CCC too

Yorkshire ccc have won the County Championship 33 times. Without checking they're the most successful by a distance from Surrey (S London).

Lancs have often denied championships by the absurd rain situation but produce a lot of cricketers. As soon as Durham was a First Class county they started winning. Wednesday, for example, were a cricket club. It doesn't stack up.
A more practical attitude to early professionalism too.
 
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Discard Midlands and London clubs and focus on clubs on the south, South coast and East Anglia and I wonder why these regions have never been really massive in football terms

I know Ipswich won the Uefa cup, fa cup and went close to winning the league in the late 70 /early 80s but have never been firmly established as a top team in the country.

The Bristol clubs have always languished in lower leagues despite having huge catchment areas

The likes of Torquay , Exeter , Plymouth , Bournemouth have never been big.

Portsmouth can point to a fa cup win under Harry Redknapp but never capitalised on the millions spent on them in the 2000s

Southampton throughout my childhood were always in the top flight but always in the lower reaches. The move to St Mary's hasn't seen them kick on

One thing that's always mentioned with regards to Sunderland is players don't want to move because of its location with regards to London.

But all the above mentioned have that so why are none constant success story storys.

Is it finances ? But Bristol city , Bournemouth and Portsmouth all have billionaire owners........what's your reasons?

Using your philosophy and the form of clubs post war

Ipswich have won the league once and have been runners up twice, won the fa cup once and the fairs cup once.

Portsmouth have won the league twice and the FA Cup once.

And Charlton, Watford, Wimbledon and Southampton are all is the same class as us with one FA Cup win.

On a sadder note Newcastle have won the FA Cup twice and the Inter City Fairs Cup once.But we can't class them as southerners.

If you look at our current league position and passed history it's fair to say that we are and for seventy years have been a very simalar football club to Ipswich and Porstmouth with both of them recording more big wins.
.
 
And not forgetting the mighty Kent CCC - Cowdrey, Ames, Freeman, Underwood, Evans etc:cool:

I just looked. Most successful 4/5 successful counties in order. Yorkshire, Surrey (South London), Middlesex (North London) plus Lancs is over 50 percent. Add Essex (East London), who are next, around 60*.

Pop density + money + working class hungry kids = wins.

*working off a pie chart here and cba to do the maths.
Portsmouth won the league in 1949 and 1950 also and Southampton went close in the early 80s. None of them were on the up when the Premier League came into being though. See also: Forest, Derby, the north east etc.

Portsmouth was as close to a northern industrial city as it gets then. WWII moved huge amounts of workers to munition factories and the docks then. They started drawing bigger crowds and winning.
 
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It could be to do with class....affluent classes playing Cricket, Rugby etc...

The North invented football...it was their religion.

It's such a difficult question to answer.

This has been my experience, sussex in general appears to be more sporting than everything is about football.
 

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