| ManUtdFan said: Just saying that United are going strong due to their history, fan base and healthy revenues, as evidenced from this survey. http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine/big-picture/2011-10-13/worlds-most-popular-football-club-revealed-man-united-liverpool-arsenal-barca-real-or-chelsea?p=2 |
This is slightly unrelated, but a point I think worth making. I would like to see a graph that charts the amount of fans each club has season-by-season, I would bet that it correlates closely with success. But I'm afraid I can't find anything like that.
All I have is anecdotal evidence. Five years ago I didn't know one Man City fan, suddenly I probably know over a dozen. Ten years ago I didn't know a single Chelsea fan, now I know dozens.
Another example is Wigan. I doubt they are supported only by the handful of fans they had fifteen years ago when they were playing in division 3 and had an average attendance of ~3000. They now draw crowds of ~25,000 as a result of their premier league status.
