Skip to main content

The north-south divide in football

League football started in the North of England.   But in recent years it has been tilting towards the south according to an analysis by The Athletic and there is no sign of 'levelling up'.

The most northern-based Premier League season was 2008-09, featuring four north-east sides in Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Hull, with Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan also still knocking around in the north west.

Meanwhile, it’s notable that several north-west clubs who competed in the Premier League in recent memory have shown absolutely no sign of bouncing back. Blackburn and Bolton were both relegated in 2012, the former briefly dropped down to League One, the latter as far as League Two — something they share with Blackpool, relegated in 2011. Wigan have been relegated to the third tier three times since they won the FA Cup in 2013.

Going back further, Oldham were a Premier League outfit in the 1990s, but have spent the past two seasons near the bottom of League Two.

J James Reade, head of economics at the University of Reading, not only demonstrated that clubs in the north contributed a particularly large percentage of supporters throughout the 20th century, it also suggested southern crowds were flakier and more likely to stay away if their side wasn’t performing well. 

In recent years, significant stadium builds have all been in the south. The five newest grounds in the Premier League are those at Arsenal (2006), Brighton (2011), West Ham (2016), Tottenham (2019) and Brentford (2020). And although most football supporters would rather attend matches at historic grounds such as Molineux or Goodison Park, the economic benefits of a new ground are considerable.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...
Post a Comment
Read more

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...
1 comment
Read more