(That long since we've had any, couldn't find the thread)

Alan Nixon: "Top Liverpool starlet Cameron Branagan will Ben allowed out on loan in Jan.

Bolton lead the race for the 20 year old midfielder"

Edited December 11, 20169 yr by Ratwhite

32 minutes ago, Farrelli said:

Not saying it’s impossible to get there but to say our natural place is in the Prem is really not true anymore. 

I disagree.

38 minutes ago, mickbrown said:

I disagree.

Funny how differently everyone sees things. To me, our natural place is as a top-half Championship club, with a slim chance of promotion every few years - unless another Eddie Davies comes along of course. I'd reckon we're in the same ball park as Preston. But it could all go tits up at any moment too, as it could for many others.

8 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Funny how differently everyone sees things. To me, our natural place is as a top-half Championship club, with a slim chance of promotion every few years - unless another Eddie Davies comes along of course. I'd reckon we're in the same ball park as Preston. But it could all go tits up at any moment too, as it could for many others.

Technically speaking, we are a mid table side in the top flight.

20 minutes ago, Lostock Whites said:

Technically speaking, we are a mid table side in the top flight.

Aye. I'm not basing my opinion on anything. Just a feeling.

1 hour ago, Cheese said:

Funny how differently everyone sees things. To me, our natural place is as a top-half Championship club, with a slim chance of promotion every few years - unless another Eddie Davies comes along of course. I'd reckon we're in the same ball park as Preston. But it could all go tits up at any moment too, as it could for many others.

The stats says otherwise.

Also, Preston haven't been in the top division for over 60 years

Edited May 31, 20233 yr by mickbrown

8 hours ago, Farrelli said:

Solid championship is our level now. Without serious investment we will not be getting above that any time soon. 

I do agree, but on the other hand, Luton...and Coventry.  Refreshing to see that having a good manager/owners can also count for so much.  In previous seasons Bournemouth and Brentford, maybe Forest although they do get the crowds.  Not saying some of those didn't have serious investment, I don't know TBH, but so many more factors, thankfully.

Using history from 50. 60, 70 more years ago, is absolute comete and utter horse shit

Put Barnsley down cos some of theur ground is a shit tip, if you like, but stop bringing up FA cup wins from 100 years ago as weight to the argument

Since the 80s, we have had a better time than them - mostly -but i have em as a top 40 club...based on my memories rather than any studying, granted

25 minutes ago, mickbrown said:

The stats says otherwise.

Also, Preston haven't been in the top division for over 60 years

Only some Bolton fans think we are now in the top 20 teams in the country. Brighton, Fulham, Southampton, Leicester and Notts Forest would all make that league table before us now because most of our points were accumulated before 1970. 

4 hours ago, mickbrown said:

A generation?

We've never spent longer than 15 years out of the top league.

The natural place for us is the top league. 

I expect us to be there in 5 years max.

 

Brighton finished 6th. We've finished top-6 in the top flight once since 1960. Four times if you open that out to top-10. We've spent 23 of the 66 seasons since '58 in the top division.

If people think that our club's results from before the Moon landings are going to help us overcome the billionaires clogging up the Premier League they're dreaming.

2 hours ago, Cheese said:

Funny how differently everyone sees things. To me, our natural place is as a top-half Championship club, with a slim chance of promotion every few years - unless another Eddie Davies comes along of course. I'd reckon we're in the same ball park as Preston. But it could all go tits up at any moment too, as it could for many others.

Nah, we are deffo one above Preston mate. 

They're in the Blackpool tier imo.

We are probably like you say top half of champ and bottom half of prem is our patch. Near enough every decade since the 60s weve flitted between the two.

Our tier has West Brom in it. Ipswich too and Sheff United. Crystal Palace and Blackburn. Stoke too.

One above you've got your Sheff Weds, Wolves, Forest etc

We all come back to our natural level.

Look at Brighton. Loving life and having their day in the sun but it won't last forever. Theyll end up back in the championship and hovering about with 13k gates.

 

Edited May 31, 20233 yr by gonzo

I don't think we can claim to be in the top 20 football clubs in the country by size. However I do think we are in the top 30. 

It's all academic though. What really matters is where we are in the present and whether the club is heading forwards or backwards. 

In 2005 we were in the top six in the country. At the start of the 2020/21 season we were about 87th. Put in maritime terminology we're a section of coast with a very wide tidal range! That aspect differentiates us from a lot of clubs. 

8 minutes ago, Farrelli said:

Only some Bolton fans think we are now in the top 20 teams in the country. Brighton, Fulham, Southampton, Leicester and Notts Forest would all make that league table before us now because most of our points were accumulated before 1970. 

Brighton and Fulham?

Not a chance

Forest, Wolves, Wednesday all in same bracket as us. Leicester too for example 

We all have our ups and downs, fluctuations in standing but at different times.

I'd now separate out the few genuine giants that predominate the premier league, although Everton are proof positive that even those clubs aren't guaranteed such lofty status.

Preston really don’t register with me

9 minutes ago, Tombwfc said:

 

Brighton finished 6th. We've finished top-6 in the top flight once since 1960. Four times if you open that out to top-10. We've spent 23 of the 66 seasons since '58 in the top division.

If people think that our club's results from before the Moon landings are going to help us overcome the billionaires clogging up the Premier League they're dreaming.

Brighton have spent 10 years in the top division in their history.

They will sink and we will rise again. It's inevitable.

3 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Forest, Wolves, Wednesday all in same bracket as us. Leicester too for example 

 

Ive got them all slightly above us bar Leicester.

Just.

This is the table from just the premier league era. 
 

https://www.myfootballfacts.com/premier-league/all-time-premier-league/all-time-premier-league-table/

36 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Nah, we are deffo one above Preston mate. 

They're in the Blackpool tier imo.

We are probably like you say top half of champ and bottom half of prem is our patch. Near enough every decade since the 60s weve flitted between the two.

Our tier has West Brom in it. Ipswich too and Sheff United. Crystal Palace and Blackburn. Stoke too.

One above you've got your Sheff Weds, Wolves etc.

We all come back to our natural level.

Look at Brighton. Loving life and having their day in the sun but it won't last forever. Theyll end up back in the championship and hovering about with 13k gates.

 

Brighton one of the few teams I'd struggle to say what a "normal" season looks like attendance wise.  They recently had 6 consecutive seasons in the championship and averaged about 26k.  Miles bigger than the Readings and Charltons.  Before that they weren't even playing in Brighton since 1999 and even then they were in the 4th division, making it impossible to judge their (meagre) crowds.  Hard to say what normal looks like for them, I'd guess they are on a Southampton/Portsmouth level for crowd potential, just not historical achievements.

Bolton have played in the top flight in every decade since 1888. They scraped playing in the top flight in 1980’s by playing and getting relegated in May that year.

Will the 2020’s be the decade we don’t keep that record up.

3 minutes ago, Popeye doyle said:

Will the 2020’s be the decade we don’t keep that record up.

No.

I'm talking attend-nonce-sense. 

57 minutes ago, Mounts Kipper said:

This is the table from just the premier league era. 
 

https://www.myfootballfacts.com/premier-league/all-time-premier-league/all-time-premier-league-table/

Which again reinforces our position in the top 20, 13th on the all time table. Shows we've been relevant and one of the most competitive clubs in the country semi recently and since football began.

Going on a few people's arguments here, Sheff Weds are a bigger club than us but haven't been in the top flight for 23 years and their four league titles came before 1930. 

We've had just as much recent success than a lot of other big clubs in the same bracket as us, with being in the premier league for 13 years, league cup finals, 2 European campaigns in the knockout stages and even a little pizza cup to top it off.

Sheff Weds, Derby, Ipswich, Notts Forest, West Brom, Sunderland are all similar sized clubs to us and are near us in the all time table, yet arguably we've done more than all of them in the past 20 years 

11 minutes ago, Lostock Whites said:

Which again reinforces our position in the top 20, 13th on the all time table. Shows we've been relevant and one of the most competitive clubs in the country semi recently and since football began.

Going on a few people's arguments here, Sheff Weds are a bigger club than us but haven't been in the top flight for 23 years and their four league titles came before 1930. 

We've had just as much recent success than a lot of other big clubs in the same bracket as us, with being in the premier league for 13 years, league cup finals, 2 European campaigns in the knockout stages and even a little pizza cup to top it off.

Sheff Weds, Derby, Ipswich, Notts Forest, West Brom, Sunderland are all similar sized clubs to us and are near us in the all time table, yet arguably we've done more than all of them in the past 20 years 

It’s incredible the success we’ve had… yet some folk compare us to the likes of Barnsley.

15 minutes ago, Lostock Whites said:

Which again reinforces our position in the top 20, 13th on the all time table. Shows we've been relevant and one of the most competitive clubs in the country semi recently and since football began.

Going on a few people's arguments here, Sheff Weds are a bigger club than us but haven't been in the top flight for 23 years and their four league titles came before 1930. 

We've had just as much recent success than a lot of other big clubs in the same bracket as us, with being in the premier league for 13 years, league cup finals, 2 European campaigns in the knockout stages and even a little pizza cup to top it off.

Sheff Weds, Derby, Ipswich, Notts Forest, West Brom, Sunderland are all similar sized clubs to us and are near us in the all time table, yet arguably we've done more than all of them in the past 20 years 

Forests 2 European cups shoves them a bit above us imo. Sunderland bigger too. Massive that lot.

14 minutes ago, Lostock Whites said:

Which again reinforces our position in the top 20, 13th on the all time table. Shows we've been relevant and one of the most competitive clubs in the country semi recently and since football began.

Going on a few people's arguments here, Sheff Weds are a bigger club than us but haven't been in the top flight for 23 years and their four league titles came before 1930. 

We've had just as much recent success than a lot of other big clubs in the same bracket as us, with being in the premier league for 13 years, league cup finals, 2 European campaigns in the knockout stages and even a little pizza cup to top it off.

Sheff Weds, Derby, Ipswich, Notts Forest, West Brom, Sunderland are all similar sized clubs to us and are near us in the all time table, yet arguably we've done more than all of them in the past 20 years 

I think all bar West Brom the rest are significantly bigger than us in terms of support but yes we’ve achieved more in that time