Overacheiving Football Clubs

[Greg2607]

On 28/02/2021 at 12:08, Leicesterpool said:

It's difficult to say these days, there's lot of lower league clubs that come through non league to football league that have done well but then you realise they have quite wealthy backers. Burnley for sure considering the budget, I mean there must be championship clubs with bigger wage bill than the Clarets. Burton Albion also despite being in the bottom three of league one, how they have got where they are is unbelievable. They got to the Football League without spending big bucks, just good recruitment in players and management with a good owner. It's difficult attachment area as well in terms of a fan base.

even more insane is that around 20 years ago, I was playing against Burton Albion, in a Mid-Week Floodlit league, for Heather Saint Johns Under 17 team.

 

growing up playing football in Nuneaton as well, we used to play our cup finals at one of two places, either Nuneaton Borough (as was then) or Burton Albion (for a regional cup) and Nuneaton had by FAR the better stadium at the time.  The Burton pitch was just a dust bowl with one dreadful dilapidated stand. 

 

Fun Fact, I scored the winner in a touring game against FC Koln U14's at Nuneaton Boroughs Stadium.  I was playing for the West Midlands regional team and we had toured in Germany the year before and this was the return fixture. 

 

We had a sneaky suspicion that the Goalkeeper for FC Koln wasn't 14 as he drove himself to the fixture in Germany when he should have been U13 (he was also about 6ft 4!)

[UpTheLeagueFox]

For all the moaning about us, I think we're currently overachieving. But that's based on a lot of what I've seen us churn out over 40 years.

[Leicester_Loyal]

Blackburn & Bolton were overachieving for years IMO.

 

More recently I'd probably say Huddersfield for a few seasons.

[1972 Fox]

Everton, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Leeds. 

[Dan]

Villarreal. It's smaller than Loughborough as a place yet is regularly in European competition and even made the CL semi finals.

[RonnieTodger]

SD Eibar. 

 

Until this season, they were doing extremely well in La Liga in the top half. In a relegation battle this year though. Their stadium holds just 8,000.

[fuchsntf]

On 28/02/2021 at 11:14, Nalis said:

If you are talking about the size of an area / catchment area then West Brom would be up there.

 

In terms of stature of club, Bournemouth are still punching above their weight by hovering around the championship play off places.

Just question WBA...Catchment area..???  Birmingham the 2nd biggest city..Over 1Million population..

Or am I understanding something....

[Nalis]

13 minutes ago, fuchsntf said:

Just question WBA...Catchment area..???  Birmingham the 2nd biggest city..Over 1Million population..

Or am I understanding something....

Its more so that there are a quite a lot of teams in that area, most people in Birmingham probably support Villa, Birmingham or Solihull Moors if you're posh.

 

[Tuna]

Salford City.

[shen]

Genuine question - with the rise of clubs having wealthy owners, how relevant is it to hold achievements up against stadium/fan base/city size?

 

Money is king - and it used to be that clubs with big turnover/gate receipts had big advantages over others, but these days this advantage isn't as defined by geography (or even history) as clubs like RB Leipzig, FC Midtjylland/Brentford and dare I say ourselves/OHL.

[filbertway]

16 minutes ago, shen said:

Genuine question - with the rise of clubs having wealthy owners, how relevant is it to hold achievements up against stadium/fan base/city size?

 

Money is king - and it used to be that clubs with big turnover/gate receipts had big advantages over others, but these days this advantage isn't as defined by geography (or even history) as clubs like RB Leipzig, FC Midtjylland/Brentford and dare I say ourselves/OHL.

Totally agree. Overachieveing for me is doing better than the budget you have to spend on players

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Blackburn Rovers, Macclesfield Town, Luton Town, Barnsley, Fulham all come to mind.

[Voll Blau]

6 hours ago, Tuna said:

Salford City.

This is a joke, right?

[Fox92]

On 01/03/2021 at 12:11, davieG said:

Coventry City Est  in 1889 didn't get to Tier 1 until 1966 under Jimmy Hill so their 34 year stay was over achieving although they spent most of that trying to avoid relegation but did win the FA Cup in 1987.

I thought Cov are underachievers. One club City. 30 years of consecutive top flight football and have only really won the FA Cup

[davieG]

16 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

I thought Cov are underachievers. One club City. 30 years of consecutive top flight football and have only really won the FA Cup

I guess it depends on the definition but considering how long they where outside the league and then in the lower FLs then I see them as over achieving they're now back at their historical level. In those 30 years I think they only got in the top 10 places 3/4 times and mostly finished just outside the relegation places.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

17 minutes ago, davieG said:

I guess it depends on the definition but considering how long they where outside the league and then in the lower FLs then I see them as over achieving they're now back at their historical level. In those 30 years I think they only got in the top 10 places 3/4 times and mostly finished just outside the relegation places.

Have to agree with @Fox92 they're one of the clubs that fall in the underachievers category, along with Birmingham City, Bradford, Sheffield Weds and Utd and so on

[Wymsey]

Morecambe are currently doing very well out towards the top of League Two.

For a few season prior, they were usually struggling at the bottom-end.

[BenTheFox]

On 02/03/2021 at 11:44, shen said:

Genuine question - with the rise of clubs having wealthy owners, how relevant is it to hold achievements up against stadium/fan base/city size?

 

Money is king - and it used to be that clubs with big turnover/gate receipts had big advantages over others, but these days this advantage isn't as defined by geography (or even history) as clubs like RB Leipzig, FC Midtjylland/Brentford and dare I say ourselves/OHL.

Of course but often (obviously not always) clubs that are based in big cities are attractive to investors as the potential fanbase is bigger and being in cities that are already well-known are probably more marketable and more likely to get bigger sponsors on board as a result. It's for those reasons why I'm surprised someone with a bit of ambition hasn't come in for Birmingham City who carry the name of England's second city and are based more or less in the city centre. I suppose given what's gone on there in recent years it's not very straightforward. 

[Yes]

On 01/03/2021 at 12:11, davieG said:

Coventry City Est  in 1889 didn't get to Tier 1 until 1966 under Jimmy Hill so their 34 year stay was over achieving although they spent most of that trying to avoid relegation but did win the FA Cup in 1987.

I think any team of that sort of size staying in the top flight for 34 years is definitely overachieving, there’s plenty of clubs who came and went in that time and won much more but that’s one long stay. I bet if you compared it to other similar clubs not many would have a stint anywhere near as long as that.