'Tinpot'

[ealingfox]

Where did this phrase come from? I understand it at the moment to mean 'delusions of grandeur', clubs thinking they are bigger than they actually are, but I would have thought it just meant shit ground etc.

Is it both? The two are quite easily reconciled. Who do you think then, are the most tinpot clubs?

[21st Century Fox]

tin-pot dictator (plural tin-pot dictators)

• An autocratic ruler with little political credibility, but with self-delusions of grandeur.
  

Usage notes

Although still used today, this is a pejorative term coined in the days of the colonial British Empire, and referred to the Victorian innovation of the tin-pot, a very cheap metal container, the forerunner of the modern tin can.

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Where did this phrase come from? I understand it at the moment to mean 'delusions of grandeur', clubs thinking they are bigger than they actually are, but I would have thought it just meant shit ground etc.

Is it both? The two are quite easily reconciled. Who do you think then, are the most tinpot clubs?

Blackpool and Posh for a start

[ealingfox]

Interesting that it's not even a football thing, at least to begin with.

Surely Posh aren't tinpot? How big can they possibly consider themselves to be?

QPR these days for me.

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Interesting that it's not even a football thing, at least to begin with.

Surely Posh aren't tinpot? How big can they possibly consider themselves to be?

QPR these days for me.

Have you ever met any of their fans?

A few people on here will agree with me

[21st Century Fox]

Bristol City. The few times I've read their forum has blown me away.

[ealingfox]

Have you ever met any of their fans?

A few people on here will agree with me

Nope, truth be told I haven't, but I wasn't disputing what you said. What I meant is surely they can't be tinpot. I imagine your basic tinpot club will have something to use in their delusions, like a season in the Prem (Blackpool, Hull etc) or a trophy, but Peterborough don't have any of that, so what are they basing themselves on? Being in the Championship?

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Nope, truth be told I haven't, but I wasn't disputing what you said. What I meant is surely they can't be tinpot. I imagine your basic tinpot club will have something to use in their delusions, like a season in the Prem (Blackpool, Hull etc) or a trophy, but Peterborough don't have any of that, so what are they basing themselves on? Being in the Championship?

Posh are a 4th division club, I'm not saying they shouldnt eb in the Championship because they have it on merit, but the way the club is ran, especially when it comes to the bigger teams is a joke.

Should have seen some of the fans when they got promoted the first time, expected to be in the prem shortly after, and they like to think they are rivals with us.

Think its CambrdgeFox who will back me up on this.

[ScouseFox]

As a phrase it should be banned and anyone using it should be shot.

[Fox92]

I hate the phrase as well.

But I think nost Sheffield Wednesday fans think they are big. Example; me and my mates at uni met this Wednesday fan. We got talking about football and mentioned size of clubs. The Wednesday fan said "well we're bigger than Leicester, Hull and Sunderland for a start" (in reference to the clubs me and my two mates support). At which point the conversation ended.

But most fans think their club is big. Most of our fans do, for instance. Yeah I think we are one of the 'bigger' teams in this league but weve only won as much as the likes of Derby, Forest (for example) in recent years yet the same people will then dismiss those teams.

I suppose it's how you define a big club though.

But overall I hate the word 'tinpot' and agree with the post underneath by Scousefox.

[ScouseFox]

It doesn't seem to mean anything, it's just what some people on here result to calling a team who've beaten us, that they think shouldn't have.

Eg. Most recently, Palace are now tinpot. If we lose to Watford at the weekend, we ignore their half decent history and the fact they're a decent side who've been in the Premier League more recently than us and we most definitely call them "tinpot". And continue.

[Darkon84]

Posh are a 4th division club, I'm not saying they shouldnt eb in the Championship because they have it on merit, but the way the club is ran, especially when it comes to the bigger teams is a joke.

Should have seen some of the fans when they got promoted the first time, expected to be in the prem shortly after, and they like to think they are rivals with us.

Think its CambrdgeFox who will back me up on this.

Im with on it as well. Just everything about that club is so small time, but so many of their fans think the complete opposite. The shed in my garden is constructed better than their main stand, for a start.

[Corky]

Posh are a 4th division club, I'm not saying they shouldnt eb in the Championship because they have it on merit, but the way the club is ran, especially when it comes to the bigger teams is a joke.

Should have seen some of the fans when they got promoted the first time, expected to be in the prem shortly after, and they like to think they are rivals with us.

Think its CambrdgeFox who will back me up on this.

The crowds they get are very poor, their history shows this is a high point for them and yet they get similar crowds in the fourth division.

[Manwell Pablo]

Plymouth deserved the tinpot title when they were up in this division and were, somehow, doing fairly well. Seemed to think they were Prem bound and were a massive and famous club because they're the only team that play in Green in England. I remember them being all over here when we were crap and they were in the play offs telling us all how fantastic they were and how they were a much more famous and important a club than us they were.

Thankfully, they are now back where they belong.

As pharse Tinpot is woefully overused.

[Dan]

Cardiff. "Sleeping giant" and all that and have taken an absolute small-time mentality towards the colour change.

Bristol City too.

Sheff Weds I'd say are bigger than us but they genuinely believe they're huge, it's embarrassing stuff.

I agree with Fox92, I'd say in this league we're one of the bigger clubs, probably about 4th biggest.

It surprises me the amount of neutrals who say Leicester deserve to be a Premier League club to be honest, not saying we don't but loads of Prem fans seem to think that we'd be one of the clubs they'd take if they had the top 20 for size in the top flight.

[Dan]

Plymouth deserved the tinpot title when they were up in this division and were, somehow, doing fairly well. Seemed to think they were Prem bound and were a massive and famous club because they're the only team that play in Green in England. I remember them being all over here when we were crap and they were in the play offs telling us all how fantastic they were and how they were a much more famous and important a club than us they were.

Thankfully, they are now back where they belong.

As pharse Tinpot is woefully overused.

Shame that they're like that, I actually quite like Plymouth. I went in their away end at Burton last season and thought they had impressive numbers, fantastic vocal support and you bear in mind the circumstances, I've got a lot of time for them.

But they did laugh a bit when I said I supported Leicester but it was harmless really, they've encountered far bigger problems since.

I'd rather have Plymouth in this league than some of the shite lets put it that way.

[Carl the Llama]

Posh are a 4th division club, I'm not saying they shouldnt eb in the Championship because they have it on merit, but the way the club is ran, especially when it comes to the bigger teams is a joke.

Should have seen some of the fans when they got promoted the first time, expected to be in the prem shortly after, and they like to think they are rivals with us.

Think its CambrdgeFox who will back me up on this.

...because they are. Don't go all Forest on the issue.

[SystonFox]

Everyone in the championship is tinpot. Even us. The league is the epitomy of the word tinpot. Goal music. Empty seats. Alan Birchenall. Wolves. nPower. Football League Show. It's all tinpot

[Leicfox]

Blackpool and Posh for a start

Blackpool have a great history as a football club, and some great players have played for them. Calling them Tinpot is a tad harsh.

[Kitchandro]

Tinpot is not just about arrogance, but sometimes it's about misplaced arrogance. Sheffield Wednesday are a big club with a great, historic ground and a decent history, you may not like them but they're not tinpot.

Tinpot clubs are those who are a bit embarrassing. For example Coventry used to think they were big but for their City they get terrible crowds. Blackpool are often described as tinpot because 1) they couldn't get a load of games on in the Premiership on the right day and 2) their ground was a run down shithole that only had 3 stands not long ago. I think clubs are often given an unfair label of tinpot though when they're clearly punching above their weight and are just a small club with not many fans, like Peterborough.

Fulham are tinpot because they have a mixed away end and a 'statue', if that's what you want to call it, of Jacko outside their ground.

Some things about us are tinpot - namely goal music, we love you scarves, and a generic ground which instead of making us look a big club just looks like we're trying to imitate a big club. Our saving grace is the fact we actually are a big club thanks to our support.

[Carl the Llama]

FYI this is a tinpot:

[Voll Blau]

How come Bristol City are copping some flack?

Cracking ground and a decent support. One of the only sets of supporters in this division to have any semblance of a real fan culture/movement going on at the moment too.

[Carl the Llama]

How come Bristol City are copping some flack?

Cracking ground and a decent support. One of the only sets of supporters in this division to have any semblance of a real fan culture/movement going on at the moment too.

Weren't around the forum during any Brizzle matchweeks huh? Until Brum I didn't think they could be topped for sheer delusion and hatefulness.

[Daggers]

Tinpot clubs with a delusion of grandeur:

• Stoke
  
• Wigan
  
• Norwich
  
• Reading
  
• Blackburn
  
• Hull
  
• Brighton
  
• Burnley
  
• Birmingham
  
• Bolton
  
• Barnsley
  
• Peterborough
  
• Bristol City
  
• Crawley
  
• Swindon
  
• Torquay
  

[Kitchandro]

How come Bristol City are copping some flack?

Cracking ground and a decent support. One of the only sets of supporters in this division to have any semblance of a real fan culture/movement going on at the moment too.

Saying Maynard to Leicester was a sideways move didn't do them any favours.

I'm not sure about decent support, it's poor in numbers.