Aston Villa. European Champions. In the top5 in the English League currently. Then there is Notts Forest, 2 times European champions. Then add WBA, Wolves, Leicester. Seems it’s not that bad too me….

not calling villa a big club when they have won the European cup is a bold, bold move

In conclusion, the city of Birmingham does has a historically big club such as Aston Villa, but simply couldn’t keep up with the big money spendings as the other big 6 clubs in the Premier League.

Villa have won more than Tottenham. Villa was the club that organized the first Football League in England. Their chairman at the time William MacGregor got the original 12 clubs together to form the Football League. Not one of those clubs were the so called Big 6.

Villa, Baggies, Wolves, even the Blues are all BIG CLUBS. So are Forest, Derby, Leicester. Not every club needs to be like a Liverpool or Man U. The fanbase and history is all that's important. And and football actually isn't about a trophy - as crazy as that sounds - it's about winning the game. All the "big clubs" are just wealthy clubs. And the money has spoiled the playing field. This is why we end up watching videos by Americans telling me Villa is a small club.

Sorry but so much of this video is a mess. I’m not an Aston Villa fan but… Villa Park was bigger than White Hart Lane (which Spurs left a couple of years ago) and Highbury (which Arsenal left in 2006). It’s still bigger than Stamford Bridge. It routinely hold international matches and for a time hosted FA Cup semifinals. Birmingham hosted the 2022 Commonwealth Games (which wasn’t referenced but the 1982 games were) and has hosted a range of other large scale events. Man City and Chelsea got enormous external financial backing in a time before restrictions which are in place now. Without this they are two teams who would be bouncing around mid table and European football at a push. Tottenham, some would argue, are not a big club by many metrics. The rest (Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal) is due to history of success and the timing of when they were successful being in line with the development of the Premier League going global.

Aston Villa are still one of the most successful clubs in England (Top 5 or 6 for trophies) despite been sleeping giants for most of the living past.

Manchester isn’t the 2nd most populated, it’s Birmingham

I am positive that forest won 2 European Cups back to back.

Great video. But I would say Birmingham does have it's share of large clubs. Wolverhampton, yes its separate but its part of the conurbation of the urban sprawl of Birmingham. They have 2 solid mid table EPL clubs, Wolves and Aston Villa. BFC and WBA, with the latter being a solid EPL team that has fallen from grace a bit.

The Midlands have never been anything to turn your nose up at when it comes to football and the powerhouse is growing. Villa, Birmingham, West Brom, Wolves, Coventry and to the east, Leicester, Derby and Forest. There are eight teams there all with prestigious histories and large fan bases all of whom have been in the premier league before and has the potential to be so again. As a Midlander myself, I long for the day that we are all back in the premier league and can rival those North/South clubs for success.

Aston Villa are a big club. AS Saint-Étienne, Marseille and Lyon are historically bigger clubs than PSG. Everton, Villa, Leeds are historically bigger clubs than Man City. You could argue that Nottingham Forest are too. When PSG and City are taken down by financial fair play rules in their respective countries, they will return to being the little clubs they truely are.

Modern people are fickle/weak character and support the glamour clubs rather than their local clubs.

Aston Villa fans sitting there going “wtf?”

An issue often overlooked is that large proportions of the West Midlands population have now chosen to support clubs from other parts of the country. I'd say this is largely down to the impact of UK media pushing the profile of the clubs who happened to be the richest at the time of the Premier league 'boom'. It has caused a generation of younger people in the area who have no association with their local clubs because at the time they got into football it just so happened that other clubs from other areas of England were coincidentally doing better at the time. This may change over time as football always moves in cycles, the idea of a status quo of "big clubs" in England isn't really true historically.

The London brain cannot comprehend the history of a club like villa.

The Premier league has just become a competition of who can spent the most money. The Birmingham clubs would be considered way "bigger" (more successful) in any other european league because they tend to be more fair and in general, the clubs with the bigger fanbases tend to dominate more. Aston Villa are still are pretty known club with a huge local fan base.

The Peaky Blinders were the biggest club in Birmingham..

Villa has more silverware than Spurs, more European cups than all london clubs but Chelsea (and 12 years ago, this would include even Chelsea), level with City in that item. has a history of inluence to other clubs (colours for example) in the dawn of professional football. to use the modern concept of the big 6 as the only possible rule to say who is big and who not is kind of lame i think.

This is an excellent video. Might even show it to the wife, who loves Birmingham (and quietly knows her stuff re football)

I mean, Villa used to be the biggest club early on in the English top flight, sure they fell off, but it's clear they're on the rise again, They might not be a big club compared to some in this video, but I dont consider them small.

Considering the chairman of Aston Villa, William McGregor created the football league, who are also European champions. Nottingham Forest are 2x European champions, Wolverhampton Wanderers played international friendlies in the early 50s creating a proto European Cup. West Bromwich Albion were one of the leaders in promoting the diversity of players in the 70s and Notts County the oldest professional club in the world. I think big clubs exist in the midlands

This is wild…Villa are literally in the champions league spots right now as you’ve posted this video. Villa have incredibly ambitious owners, they got us from near-relegation in the second tier to not being far off the title fight int he premier league right now. They just don’t want us to get sanctions for irresponsible spending. I think you’ve forgotten Man City are getting done for 115 breaches of the financial rules soon. One breach got Everton docked 10 points. So the Man City dream of overspending the way they have is over. Roman A doesn’t own Chelsea anymore, and whilst they’re still spending they’re going to be in trouble too.

Aston villa are still despite a couple of decades of not much success 5th in the all time top flight league table - not sure anyone could say villa arent a big club, they have a large fanbase and a history virtually any other side can barely dream of.

What a strange video - no "big club" in Birmingham but then lists the accomplishments/history/stature/potential of Aston Villa 😂

Great video bro 💪🏽

Next, please discuss why the south west of England never had a major Premier League team, for example Bristol, which is the 8th largest city in England, always had mediocre teams like City and Rovers

There used to be parity in England before the premier league. The only thing you need to look at is City and Chelsea vs Villa and Spurs. Villa and Spurs have always been massive clubs but had a purple patch at the worst possible decades, but managed to maintain a stable organic growth. Whereas Chelsea and City proved it takes splashing cash to have success

In some year we will have a 'Big Eight' with Newcastle and Villa. Also, european competitions are expanding with more slots for top leagues.

Very good video. Glad I found your channel.

Great video! Subscribed!

Aston Villa? not a big club?? what are you on???

It’s unfortunate that many midlands clubs had Domestic and European success right before the commercialization of the English Football League (eventually premier league.)

Anyone would think we’ve been in league 2 for 30 years the way this guy talks, we were ever present in the Prem since it’s inception and finished in European places on multiple occasions including 6th consecutively around 2010 yet the Big 6 wasn’t a thing then I guess so it didn’t count, Christ above. It’s Aston Villa in the West Midlands and Nottingham Forest in the East midlands as the biggest clubs of the Midlands unless you’re oblivious. Money doesn’t make you big. We have the best owners we’ve had in decades and are currently back in Europe and pushing for top 4.

Couple of factual errors. Birmingham is the 2nd largest city in England, about double Manchester's Forest have not won a European Cup they won two back to back, 1979 & 1980.

Why isn't my club here, Everton have won 9 league title's and 6 FA Cup's and one of the founder members of the football league. 😢

Football, economics and spatial planning/geographics all in one video. You firmly have my attention, keep it up!

i couldnt believe that table that showed 40 percent of people in birmingham support liverpool crazy

I don't think it's fair to say none of them are big clubs, the Big 6 are just incomprehensively bigger. Another recent factor that has been the downfall of many midlands clubs was investment from China. Nearly all of the clubs in the West Midlands were bought by Chinese owners around 2016, as part of the country's attempt to profit off English football and expand its own football industry. However, when the Chinese government restricted the money that businesses were allowed to move out of the country, it meant there was little chance for the owners to invest into the clubs. On top of that, China also seized a percentage of assets from lots of large business investors, including the owner of West Brom. The club is effectively owned by the Chinese government, and is in debt to its owner. Lai Guochuan took out loans for the club from a company that he also owns, enabling him to earn some extra money when he eventually sells it. It's an absolute mess and has put West Brom in a very uncertain situation. The other clubs were fortunate enough to be sold over the past few years, by Lai has consistently made unrealistic demands for how much he wants to sell the club for, and only recently dropped his asking to something more realistic.

Midlands clubs have been terribly ran for decades. Only Leicester seemed to be doing well off of the promotion in 2014, and created a good model until being relegated. West Brom and Coventry City dealt with shit owners as well. Birmingham City stadium just isn't fit for anything above Championship right now as well as you its operating on a limited capacity. However most of these clubs seem to be bouncing back; AVFC pushing for champions league, NFFC back to being a top division team after 20+ years, LCFC top of championship and ready to be back in the PL, WBA and CCFC pushing for playoff spots with Cov losing the finals last year. Few years ago only LCFC were in the top div and no west midlands teams

Obviously never heard of Aston Villa & Nottingham Forest 3 times European cup winners

The UK media exacerbates the problem with it's fixation on the "Big 6". Even the least bias media source, the BBC, will normally show a 0-0 draw between Man U & Chelsea ahead of a 3-3 Draw with 2 sendings off, a disputed penalty and 4 controversial VAR decisions between the likes of Wolves & Villa. The print press is even worse. When following the Chelsea 2 - 4 Wolves match last weekend the headlines were that Chelsea had lost, not Wolves had won and 80% of the match report focussed on Chelsea players and their manager while the Wolves team who had played so well barely got a mention.

Great video!! I think Aston Villa can make a great run in the Conference League this season perhaps winning it and continue their presence in European competitions. Or just finish in the top 5 in England and qualify that way. As long as they have Unai Emery, they can go far.

I'm a Birmingham City fan and as much as this pains me... I've got to admit Villa should be one of the Big [4/5/6/7] Clubs (Liverpool, Man Utd, City, et all), given their history and with Brum being the 2nd city. [And thinking back to the European trophy wins by Forest and Villa back in the late 70s and early 80s] (My granddad played for both West Brom and Villa in the 1930s [West Brom were a big team back then] and also was a youth coach for Villa. My mom was a Villa fan,. As a child, she lived on Holte Road. Her neighbours used to wash the kit on Sundays) Fingers' crossed that the US investment does pay off for Blues (and they learn from the Rooney saga) and we can return to the Premier League - and stay there. (And tap into the US market with Brady -and I don't mean Karren Brady - et al) Do I expect us to break into the top tier of Big Clubs in the premier league? No. And as much as I'd like us to be the biggest team in the Midlands, I'm happy for us to be the noisy neighbours. Also, as the video hints at, is the trend for more and more London teams in the Premier League. It's where the money is. And where the jobs are - remember that claim that 80% of the total jobs created in the UK since 2010 were in London. You need money for your season ticket, etc. Given that clubs are primarily just businesses now, it's no wonder. Now, what about the missing Premier League club in the Southwest? (And please don't say Bournemouth. Although it should start with a B)

Birmingham is the largest City in the U.K.. London is two entities, the City which is only one mile square. The rest is Greater London which is now classed as a county because it has a lieutenant who represents the King.

I was prepared to spit feathers about this video however, it turned out to be excellent. Making plenty of valid points in a fair and well argued way. Really enjoyed watching…hopefully Villa will continue their rise and become more consistent

Great video -doesnt pit it down to lack of investor -doesnt woe at other clubs success -offer way to improve

Yes I’m going For Sheffield Wednesday the Massive club who should be in the premier league but they have a Terrible Owner Chairman Chansiri Out

Good video! Keep it up.

The main city that stands out in terms of underperforming for me is Bristol. It is a similar size to Liverpool or Sheffield, yet both its teams are far smaller than those from Liverpool or Sheffield. Despite being the second largest city in the south of England, Bristol is not very well known (even within the UK) and this is sometimes attributed to it never having a big (rarely even a top flight) football team.

Just need the right manager, a guy who knows how to tease good form outta a club.

Forest are 4th most successful European club in English football behind Liverpool Man Utd and Chelsea they have two european cups and a super cup all these clubs you said are massive in England just to the rest of the world they seem small but in England we dont like outsiders watching anyway

I think another reason Sheikh Mansour would have picked someone like Manchester City over Aston Villa would be that Man City bear a recognisable name (Manchester), whereas Aston Villa don't even bear their city's name, they are instead named after an area of Birmingham. And the club that does bear Birmingham's name have been stuck in the Championship for decades. Like, I didn't know Aston Villa were from Birmingham until I was 14-15. In fact, there was a time when I was dumb enough to ask if Aston Villa played in the village nearby to where I lived called Alstonefield. For reference, at that time I also thought Stoke City played in Kent because I scoured an atlas for a place named "Stoke" and didn't consider the fact that they might actually play in "Stoke-on-Trent".

The snowball effect of continuous promotion of a "Big Six" is a problem that is self-perpetuating. The more its talked about, the less of a spotlight for Villa, Brighton, West Ham & Newcastle who are on the fringes. Three of those four are still in the Europa/Conference competitions & Newcastle were only knocked out because FFP has prevented them from being able to spend enough to build up the first team capable of lasting the season. There was a time when the W.Midlands had more teams in the top division than London did. London in the last 44yrs has had nearly every one of its 12 clubs in the top division, except for Leyton Orient. The so called big six only thrive because youngsters all over the country can buy a football shirt of these "big" clubs more easily than say Brighton or Villa from tat emporiums like Sports Direct or JDs, which does tend to hinder the other 14 Prem clubs a bit. This in turn builds up their financial power.

Nottingham Forest twice European Cup winners! Mainly because of an exceptional manager Brian Clough, and his assistant Peter Taylor (schrewdly buying and inspiring fine, ambitious players! )

This guy has Clearly Never been to the West Midlands -Birmingham City -Coventey City -Stoke City -West Brom -Wolverhamton Wanderers Aston Villa do Run the West Midlands but there is much more to the Midlands It doesn't mean your Club is not big because they are not in the Premiership

im a south african who lived in the second city and worked at villa park and wolves. Its honestly a beautiful city n u nailed it. No major club represents the city on a world stage so people don't know much about it n those who know the Villa don't know they are from Birmingham

Hey bro dont listen to other haters on this vid great vid at the start i was skeptical cuz i was thinking aston villa was the best club in the world at one point but then you brought that up! Once again great vid

You say it's a big 6, but was once just a big 4. Everton, Newcastle, and Aston Villa are the clubs who could eventually make up a big 9 one day. Maybe the likes of West Ham could eventually then make it a big 10, but there there's a pattern I've noticed when looking deep into it. If you look at virtually any all time table, whether that be trophies won, all time league tables or table of clubs with most top flight seasons, those same 9 clubs take up all the top 9 spaces, just in a different order. After that, and things get significantly varied. This means just like Newcastle, Aston Villa also have a chance of making it top 4 on a regular basis one day. Even the season when Leicester won the league and Aston Villa got relegated, the future would always still be far brighter in the long term for Villa than Leicester and I knew that at the time.

Great video, but Aston Villa won promotion back to the Premier League in 2019 and have remained since

In terms of urban areas in England the largest 10 are as follows: 1. London Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham, Fulham, Watford, Brentford 2. Manchester Man United, Man City 3. Midlands Villa, Wolves, West Brom, Birmingham 4. West Yorkshire Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield 5. Liverpool Liverpool, Everton 6. South Hampshire Southampton, Portsmouth 7. Tyneside Newcastle, Sunderland 8. Nottingham Nottingham Forest, Notts County 9. Sheffield Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United 10. Bristol Bristol City, Bristol Rovers So to say that the midlands doesn’t have successful teams based on their urban population is crazy to me. So considering South Hampshire is the 6th biggest area in the country (only 1 behind Liverpool who are massive), and doesn’t have the same calibre clubs to the rest (except Bristol), then I think the conversation lies with them 🤷‍♂️

Nice vid

I'm a villa fan and everybody is missing the point of this video. He's not saying villa arent a "big club". He clearly shows our history and success but he makes clear valid points about the city and wider area and to why we and other teams will always find it hard to compete with the TV Six. The only thing he missed out really was FFP (PSR) as this has massive impact. We have billionaire owners but they cannot spend because our revenue is low. This video explains why our revenue is low. Well made video with soem excellent points. People joke about the Manchester vs Birmingham 2nd city debate but honestly the biggest difference is successful football.

Whato and thanks for mentioning Notts County. We normally get ignored!

when you have a press based in London and Manchester the rest of the country tends to get overlooked - You also have sky sports and talksport who start verbally selling villa's best players and getting into their heads as soon as they have a period of form - everytime a villa player got into the England squad you knew his villa days were numbered. Milner, Barry, Young, Grealish for example

Birmingham has many clubs doing fairly well Birmingham City Villa Wolves West Brom as opposed to Manchester where there are only two clubs of note as a similar sized city I feel that Forest could be a big club too if it were not for Notts County I don't think its a coincidence that when county went down Forest were able to get back to the premier league Leicester is a one club city too and as such it was able to maintain a premier league presence if there was a second club in the city i feel this would have been far more difficult Newcastle is also a big club even if the trophy cabinet doesn't reflect this because its a decent sized city without real competition in the city conversely Bristol is a decent sized city but having two clubs means neither has really been able to achieve premier league status

Well….there’s all kinds of success!!!! Watch DAVO and the wonderful travelling band of brilliant Blue Nosed Brummies following Birmingham City! Not since the Beatles magical mystery tour have wanted to be on the bus! Keep right on Davo! Camaraderie and friendship is real success

Just because Villa aren’t considered to be in today’s big six, does not mean that they are not a very big club, arguably bigger than Tottenham and City

Nottingham forest won the european cup twice, aston villa 1982 european champion & leeds united is quite awesome during 70s.

Not a villa fan but not calling them a big club is strange, reflective of perhaps your knowledge of only recent english football. However, it's true their size is affected by having some pretty big clubs nearby whereas for the Mcr and Liverpool clubs, there are lower league sides surrounding them.

Villa are a big club, with seven national titles - but only one of those has come since 1910. Like with Newcastle and Sunderland, most of Villa’s titles were won, at a time when English football south of the Midlands, was in its teething developmental stages. It wasn’t until Arsenal (then Woolwich Arsenal), were the first club south of Birmingham, to enter the English top flight in 1904 (Villa had five of their titles by then). Sixteen professional seasons had been played beforehand. In the post WW2 era, Villa have won less league titles than Derby, Portsmouth, and Wolves - never mind Spurs. Villa spent eight consecutive years, from 1967 to 1975, outside the top division - two of which were spent in the third tier. They’ve finished in the top three positions just three times in the post war period - provincial Ipswich, have achieved this feat six times. They’ve won seven FA Cups, but only one of these wins has come in the last century. It’s won five League Cups, but the first one of those was won, when top clubs sometimes chose not to enter. Its won the European Cup once. But their Midlands rivals, Forest, have won it twice. Villa are a big club. But well over a dozen English clubs can lay claim to this status.

Can’t argue with most of that. Villa and Wolves doing well in the Premier though, and West Brom consistently competitive in the Championship. Add further afield Coventry, Leicester and Forest, it’s pretty healthy in the Midlands. Some silverware desperately needed though and it’s tough due to the reasons spelled out in this video. Villa’s trajectory looks interesting though if they keep Emery for a few seasons. Given their size and fan base, they’ve particularly underachieved.

The Midlands have many big clubs. Villa, blues, wba, wolves, Stoke, forest, Leicester, Coventry, derby

So Villa isn’t a big club but somehow those two North London bottlejobs with no UCL history are somehow a "big club".

Good video, but the title is clickbait. You're not saying the whole of the Midlands doesn't have any big clubs, you're saying the city of Birmingham doesn't have a club that has attracted investment at the level of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City or Arsenal yet. Chasm of difference

Bit rich to say Aston Villa aren’t a big club when they’ve won seven league titles, seven FA cups, and the European cup. More than Chelsea won before 2003, and Man City before 2008 had won. Other notable midland clubs are West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Leicester City, Nottingham Forest, Derby County, Coventry City etc.

The answer is staring you in the face: football has always been too popular in the West Midlands. Of the twelve founder members of the Football League there were Villa, Albion and Wolves; and also Stoke from just up the road. These clubs have survived, and the fanbase is shared further amongst Birmingham and Walsall. If there was one Black Country team instead of three, and one Birmingham one instead of two, things would be different.

The North West of England is the powerhouse of football - if you look at the number of trophies won by North West clubs it trounces every other region, London included.

My bit of Nostalgia was that I drove from Stoke to Derby to watch Derby County beat Real Madrid 4-1 at the Baseball Ground. The Midlands has a great Footballing Tradition.

The Commonwealth Games were held in Birmingham in 2022 not 2002.

You need to look at the history of each area in a wider sense. The Midlands have had periods where their clubs had a lot of success. It's just that we happen to be in a period of history, where many of the bigger Midlands clubs have experienced some of the least success in their history. Aston Villa's recent relegation and subsequent promotion from the second tier, along with Birmingham City's current relegation to the third tier. In a decades time, things could switch around and we could see a golden period for such clubs.

There are only 5 teams who have won every single club trophy in the last 20 years. One of them is Leicester.

I actually thought you were gonna talk about Sheffield - home of football yet neither of the two professional clubs are any good anymore

At least it's 6 big clubs now! It's used to be 4, not that long ago.

As a Wednesday fan I would say villa are a huge club and deserving of more respect

West Brom are not a Birmingham they are based in West Bromwich near Sandwell just outside of Birmingham.

Villa are MASSIVE, Villa were the most successful club in England upto 1982 then Man u, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal had their trophy spells,

Aston Villa in Europe , in champions league places , great manger , won the European cup , massive fan base . You don’t have a clue

How the f aren't we a big club

Hopefully Aston Villa,Leicester and West Ham United will be future Premier League giants from 2030s

If villa is a sleeping giant, Then Birmingham is in a coma on life support

I feel like the midlands in general has an identity problem. The north/south divide is something with a lot of cultural weight to it, where people in Liverpool and Manchester are proud to be northerners. To some extent, I think places in the south like London are similar. But the midlands is just kinda...there? Not north or south enough for people to feel strongly about it.

Villa are not the holders of the European Cup. The team that last won it - Manchester City are

You are confusing rich and big. Villa and Forest are huge clubs with fans worldwide. Not having oil money doesn’t mean these aren’t big clubs

The big six are usually referred to as that as these are the teams usually in the top 4 and thus champions league. Its a silly term to be fair. Often teams would drop out of those positions top positions but would end up winning or finalists for something else. It would be fair to argue that tottenham arent a traditional big six side for a lack of modern silverware but we often place above traditional teams. Arsenal went through a horrid league patch but they kept winning other trophies, so its hard to argue with that point. 5 of the big six are founders with a sixth being everton who at one point threatened to make it a big 7. The term itself is a mess.

Leeds on top 5 metro areas population wise, but no mention.

As the second largest city in the UK, It's a shame that Villa doesn't get respect that it deserves. Now I'm a Blue Nose and I respect Villa, even tho there rivals. But I believe things are gonna change for the Midland teams, and it's gonna be exciting. Villas take over, Blues take over by Knighthead. (Netflix documentary, 40 to 60 thousand new stadium in Bordesley Green Wheels, 2-3 Billion project) Villas takeover has caught the eyes of other investors which would bring sponsors and big money people to bid for these low dying teams and build them up for future profit. This is good for the city of Birmingham, i.e jobs, sponsors, events, merch etc. Man Utd were the kings of english football, and when the eyes of the rich caught this success of this great team. They ended up looking at Man city........The same with Newcastle as they are they have a great stadium and the city is in there name. Villa are leading the line in Birmingham and if Villa are successful in titles, cups, etc, it will bring the eyes of buyers to the smaller midland teams.....West Brom, Coventry, Wolves. It's gonna take time but I know it will happen as these teams are sleeping giants.

Nottingham forest have 2 European cups not 1. 7:41

Even as a Leicester fan, the disrespect to Villa and Forest is unreal. European cup winners.. and while we're not as big historically Leicester have recently won the league and FA Cup. Tottenham would kill for that kind of success so what's the criteria of a "big club"? A large stadium / lots of fans? Better add Newcastle, Sunderland, Everton, Leeds and plenty more. Sky 6 is not representative of English football heritage.

Rich history? Others not so much? So Spurs being one of the few teams to win a trophy almost every decade, 8 FA Cups (still the only non league team to win it) and first European trophy (2 Europa cups etc) means nothing? Man City also have a rich history ?