Brilliantly thought out and presented. The issue has also rippled down - Oldham and Rochdale are traditional lower league clubs but now find themselves out of the football league, whilst Bury and Macclesfield dropped out of existence. There is a rebuild going on at Wigan and Bolton, but it is purely to help us be sustainable and likely to turn us into feeder clubs rather than ones chasing success
Interesting i didnt even think of it in the perspective of even traditional lower league teams in the north are now non league sides. seems the problem is even deeper than i thought. Path forward seems to be the money ball approach and to become feeders but if you can sustain youth development and replace the guys sold maybe sustained success can be achieved. Thanks so much for watching!!
Bury did not exactly go out of existence, though. It's way more complicated than that. The original club was actually dormant for a few years, before it merged with fan-founded Bury AFC to reactivate the original Bury.
@@AS_Lancaster Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Wigan and Bolton are all in Greater Manchester and have huge competition from the big two Manchester clubs even in their area. My father is from Stockport and supported Manchester United
@roberw1912 aye, always been an issue. The number of years spent at the top table by Wigan and Bolton could have been invested better or attracted wider investment, however the financial losses just to remain competitive were too big, thus the huge collapse when the money was rolling in to support it
@@AS_Lancaster your right my father was born in 1944. Problems even back then. It's nice though to see Bolton improving. I remember my grandfather being happy when all the Manchester teams won their leagues (Premier League, Division 1,2,3) back in the 1990s.
Probably worth noting that the move down south is not just down south but specifically London. Northern football clubs tend to be in towns and smaller cities, when you're on £100,000+ a week you're going to want to spend it and London will let you do that (northerner for the record)
There's a massive chunk of the westcountry that's never had a premiership team. Swindon have briefly been in the top flight and Bournemouth have done well, but they're at the fringes of the area
The north has a cluster of semi-large industrial cities, the south has one major city, which is also the primate city of the entire UK. London having 7 out of 20 PL sides is reflecting its exponentially larger dominance in all of British society. Weird that the same hasn’t happened in France with Paris/Ile-De-France
It is shocking, i think the fact that sheff wed has been absent for decades is crazy. Hopefully things turn around. Looks like sheff u will be back up next year though.
I'm 77 now and have been a keen follower of English football since the early 60s . The only time I can recall a Sheffield club coming anywhere remotely near winning a major trophy was when Wednesday lost in 1966 FA Cup Final 3-2 to Everton
@@brianoreilly239 we won div 1 since then. and a few cups. beat man u in 91 league cup final the year man u won everything. but sure. weve done nothing since 66
algorithm randomly recommended this to me. Nice video, interesting topic and much better than I would have expected from such a relatively small channel. Nice work.
Great video. Didn't expect you to be American which makes your analysis even more impressive. As a Sheffield Wednesday fan it kills me to see more modest clubs like Brentford and Brighton killing it in the Prem and being so well run while my own club languishes in the Championship living on the breadline being run by an absolute madman.
Thanks so much for the great comment. My sons favorite club is Sheffield Wednesday as he loves owls. Im hoping things will change in your neck of the woods sooner than later, the history there is too immense
Very good video, surprised you don't have more subscribers honestly. Maybe could do a video relating to how Welsh clubs have drastically underperformed in recent history? like Cardiff is one of the biggest cities in the UK as a whole and is a capital city, but they've only been in the top division a couple times in the premier league era and they're on the brink of relegation after horrible management internally.
Yeah, but not sure about Yorkshire clubs' "rich histories" though. Even excluding Liverpool, Man U and City, North western clubs have been champions way more than Yorkshire clubs have/
I am an american, i appreciate the acknowledgment. Its something im very passionate about, and this is a subject that needs careful exploration. I had to do it justice
As a Brentford fan, you often get people who look at us and feel like we’ve unjustly taken a spot in the league away. I don’t really get it, if anything I’d be pissed off at the big money brand teams who can buy their place in the league even through horrid management. With our budget, if we were run as poorly as Manchester United there is not a lick of a chance we would stay up. I personally would much rather watch a prem in which high performing small clubs can knock out a big club if they play better football. If you’re a struggling club from the north, I don’t think Brentford should be your enemy, because really it’s the unsinkable corporate clubs that are watering down the competition.
As a Leeds United fan, I totally agree with you. What Brentford show is that with good owners and a talented manager (I really like Thomas Frank) you can achieve so much.
Brentford is an absolute underdogs dream story, i made a full length video on the history and recent success of Brentford, it didnt do well but i promise none of this is a knock on brentford. You guys are actualy showing other clubs the blueprints to succeed without all the money in the world
@@BuckFC (Responding to the OP as well here) The issue there with people is as simple as jealousy. Fans of declining teams look at you lot and think "fuck off how are they even up there", when the reason you're up there is you are a very well run club who has naturally progressed over the last 2 decades, building season on season - the most obvious examples being selling Maupay, then Watkins, then Benhrama, and using the money wisely to build a better side, and in that sense, hats off to you, very very good business. The idea of this video is to highlight that the issue is deeper than how the club is ran, but where the club is ran. What is trying to be portrayed here is that if you rolled back 20 years, swapped Barrow, Mansfield or Grimsby and Brentford physically, but Brentfords ownership was identical, is that you'd find Brentford would not be where they are now - due to the factors explained in this video. While Brentford have entirely and deservedly built their own success story, they have done so with building blocks clubs in the north of the country do not have. I say all this as a Forest fan, a club who you can't apply any model that exists on planet earth to explain whatever happens on the banks of the trent
As a Serie A fan the opposite is the case in Italy. Italy only has two Southern clubs (four if you include Rome as South Italy which is a stretch and is akin to saying Birmingham is in Northern England) Lecce and Napoli and Lecce might get relegated this year meaning only Napoli represents the South. Southern Italy is also where most of the stadiums with character are located and teams like Bari, Catania or Messina are replaced by plastic clubs like Sassuolo or Udinese in the North. It is even worse in the under 20 level where there is no Italian under 20 team more southern than Roma and Lazio which aren’t even Southern clubs and this shows the poor youth infrastructure in the South of Italy (that even Napoli are in the 2nd division of the Under 20 leagues). All of this is actually sad ngl. The farther from Milan the less the investment
Im a big serie A fan, i gotta tell you a secret. My video coming out on monday is, why does the north of italy dominate serie a. I appreciate the comment. Thank you for watching. Im a venezia fan btw
Brilliant video. I’m from Bolton and a lot of what you said here is true. We went from the premier league to league 2 in 10 years and nearly ceased to exist due to many of these issues. BWFC
I appreciate the compliments. I think bolton look to be in better shape going forward though, its tough to slide like that. Its a good thing you avoided non league football
In Germany we have a different development because the 50+1 rule means that many larger clubs cannot invest as much and smaller clubs therefore can catch up with the help of local sponsors and TV money. That's why you're seeing more and more small clubs in the Bundesliga. Maybe you can make a video about that too.
Buck FC is new to the game. Been putting out awesome videos for the last year or so. I think his content is better than 90% of these large channels. Big fan, and the cowboy hat is the cherry on top. Keep it going Buck! Phins up!
Next season should see it back up to 40% because the top 6 of the championship are northern team and some of the teams threatened with relegation are southern.
Yes iam thinking all three clubs up will be from the north. Saw sheffield united was just bought up as well so maybe fresh ownership will pump money in.
"Their influence on the Premier League has diminished drastically". Manchester C*teh and Liverpool may beg to differ, what with all the titles since 2017... Numbers wise, absolutely spot on though and well researched. Brilliant touches upon the fall of Northern industry.
I tried to avoid talking about the top 6 clubs as they are a major exception. But youre right, the past 20 years of titles have been northern domination, but for clubs in these northern towns who could be changed by some sustained success in prem, its tough. Thanks for watching
great video! I'm Spanish and I'd say something similar happens here, where we have a donut/ring that we call the "Empty spain". Money is in Madrid and the Coast, so there's where most of first and second division clubs are located
Similar in Germany too. Former east Germany is financially and structurally behind, which resulted in the decline of east german clubs. At the moment only two Bundesliga clubs are from the east
Another reason that Northern Clubs don’t do well in the Premier League is due to a rule called financial fair play. This stops newly promoted/non “big 6” sides from spending money. This basically means newly promoted teams will always have a worse squad than anyone else as they cannot spend money.
Don't blame 'the Big Six'. City and Chelsea didn't right the rules. It was the big Reds plus the Spuds who raised the barriers to competition. The Blues were happy with no spending rules so anyone could come in and spend as they wanted as Leicester, Villa and Forest should be allowed. Not the Six, just the Four.
Look at the top of the championship right now - Sheffield United, Leeds, Burnley, Sunderland, Blackburn and Middlesboro. As it stands, all northern teams are going up to replace probably southern ones (hopefully Everton miraculously survive again)
Great video! The disparity between the successes of Northern/Southern clubs is usually neglected in the general conversation about the state of English football in 2024. Personally we need to see fan ownership and a fair distribution of wealth across the pyramid and the geography of England and Wales instead of the unsustainable model of hoping an oil state/american finance will come along and save your local club
A lot of northern clubs were backed by local businessmen that kept them over performing. Now northern businesses cant compete so theres no major investment in their clubs
Don't forget association football started in the north of England, in Sheffield from 1857 onwards. The earliest modern rules of the game, the oldest tournaments, the oldest clubs, the oldest grounds & stadiums and oldest matches all come from Sheffield & mainly pre Dec 1863 the formation of the London FA.
@@BuckFC Maybe a video about the origins of football? The rules, the clubs, the first matches, the oldest grounds, the first tournaments, first football culture etc.. All Sheffield
Thats a great idea, i will keep it book marked. Either way it looks like sheffield utd will be back up i think and hopefully Wednesday wont be too far behind. We will see!
Also in parts of the North, particularly the M62 corridor, Rugby League is popular. In fact many have turned their backs on football due to ticket prices and commercialisation of the premier league.
@@spartanworrior4519for us in towns in lancs and Yorkshire, we got into football because it was the sport of the local working class . Modern football is not a working man’s sport anymore with the ticket prices and huge wages etc . Rugby league on the other hand represents us as people a lot better. Cheap tickets and mostly local lads in the league .
I’m a bigger rugby league fan than football but id have to disagree with the impact that league has on football. Yes you have places like St Helens, Wigan, Wakefield that have sizeable populations but the majority of rugby league towns are small towns well short of 100,000 people. Most towns/cities are still football. Of all the places that have a team in both codes I’d say rugby league is only winning in Wigan, hull is close it depends on which hull side is doing well at any given time. Super league averaged about 9,600 per game last year, with Wakefield replacing London it could go past 10,000 but there will be two teams that will be around 5000 per game or under and those will be Salford and Huddersfield where people prefer to support Man Utd or hudds town over the league team, these two sides poor attendances really drag super leagues overall attendances down.
While there are a lot of good points here, there is a degree of happenstance. As of today (26 Dec 2024), the top 6 clubs in the Championship table are northern, and the bottom 3 in the Prem are not northern, if that plays out then the percentage rises to 40%. I think it is very difficult for smaller clubs, particularly in the Greater Manchester and Merseyside areas to compete. How will they attract young fans when they are attracted to success in the Prem? The point about reckless spending and poor business-practice is important, and if Brighton and Brentford started doing that they'd be out of the league pretty quickly. The pull of London is the main southern advantage in attracting foreign players, but the biggest clubs in the north can still do it. I think really we're looking at clubs like Blackburn, Bolton, Leeds, Wigan and asking where they've gone, and it is due to bad business or just being a bit too small for regular top flight football.
Definitely , there is a good chance that 3 come back up. But that doesnt guarantee sustained success for these smaller clubs. Unfortunately it seems like this is a deeper issue with clubs in the north. I hope im wrong and the north turn it around, but its sad to see some truly historic clubs stuck in mediocrity
Most northern clubs have smaller stadiums and just can't sell enough tickets to generate enough income to pay world class players' wages. Same in Scotland, only two clubs have a big enough stadium and enough peop,le living within reasonable distance fill it on match days.
something about having 33% more negative var interventions than southern sides and 70% more negative var interventions than the "big 6" sides has something to do with it
Good video! But just wanted to offer my thoughts as Northern Football Fan - one aspect about the North is that historically there has also been competition from Rugby league and cricket. Take Hull for example that has two Rugby league teams. Or cities like Wakefield that have a Rugby League team but have barely ever had a football team. Generally a lot of the clubs mentioned haven't been succesful and have only had minor peaks. You could argue that Wigan and Blackburn's historical backing is not too dissimilar to the modern investment in clubs like Newcastle and Manchester City although obviously not on the same scale and more ethical. Hull have spent most of their history totally irrelevant on a football level and Leeds have also had long periods in the lower divisions in their history and the decline they have had as arguably Yorkshire's Number 1 team was self inflicted. It will still take a long time for the London clubs to catch up on the domestic and European success of the clubs of Manchester, Liverpool and to a much lesser extent Leeds (as a collective)
I appreciate that insight i hadnt considered that cricket and rugby would have affected the football in the region. I do agree with you that some clubs have had minor peaks and to a smaller extent wigan and blackburn are similar to Newcastle and city. I do think in european competitions it will be near impossible for the south to catch up because even with the north “disappearing” the 3 dominant clubs will never go away and will continue to compete for europe.
The correlation between industrial decline and the fall of northern teams is largely true. But this rule doesn’t apply to Leeds. Leeds has always had a reputation of being an affluent services based city. It’s nicknamed the Knightsbridge of the north. It’s decline is down to pure mismanagement
Yeah, i definitely tried not to come across insulting for the region as a whole, i just wanted to paint some context to why its tougher to succeed for smaller clubs in these towns. Leeds has a good youth development systen and are very close to being mainstays if managed correctly
Finishing with Preston North End. Brilliant. A subtle nod to the first Football League Champions and a side that has, sadly, not been in the top flight for more than 60 years.
I had to put preston north end in there at some point and i figured what better time than the epic conclusion. They arent too far away now. Would love to see a return
@@BuckFCI agree. In London & surrounds, there are lots of attractions & things to do aside from football. In the north, if you don't belong to a big club like LFC, Man U, City, Newcastle then there's not much to do when they're not working/ training. That's why many footballers become addicted to gambling (online or offline). Also, you're right that many of the northern cities look old & rundown + crime is high, so they're not very attractive to players (unless their pay is high too). Also, I think it also matters for a foreign player if he has someone who also speaks his language or they have a common culture/ upbringing.
@@BuckFC Outside of Manchester/Liverpool, it would be a struggle for Leeds/Sheffield/Sunderland to attract an Italian superstar when Fulham/West Ham are making an offer
The 4 North-Western giants will always be secure but outside that bubble the other northern clubs are teetering like a fiddler on the roof. I'm amazed, for instance, that Leeds can't sustain a permanent presence in the Premiership. It's a big one club city. But it appears not.
I find it odd too, seems like the clubs having success right now, are the ones who consistently churn out good youth players and sell them for a profit. Brighton and brentford have surprised me immensely the past 4 or 5 years. Thank you for watching
@@BuckFCironically Leeds have been excellent at producing talented young players and selling for profit e.g. Archie Gray now at spurs. Sunderland have also been quite good at it but stayed down for a few years now.
Yeah, the big advantage the Liverpool and Manchester clubs have over Leeds is Cheshire. Lot of very wealthy people in Cheshire & it's where most of the North-West-based footballers live. So it's easier to attract people who want a certain lifestyle. Midlands clubs have the Cotswolds to help them.
I see that, leeds arguably should have been promoted last year. It was a tight race for second and no one took it til the last week. Maybe they continue their talent production and find a way to be premier league mainstays
not related but there is a similar case in greece: -thessaloniki (2nd largest city in greece and largest in macedonia & northern greece) used to be #1 in basketball in the 80s until the start of the 90s but greek multi-millionairs/billioners invested on olympiacos and panathinaikos and made them into giants, thessaloniki went from 8 streak leagues to 0 in the past 32 years, in the cup thessaloniki didnt have the same success but in those 32 years the city has seen 4 cups the rest all went to attica (btw thessaloniki had the first champion of greek basketball in iraklis) -in football whilst thessesaloniki was the 1st champion in 1928 with aris who won 3 leagues until 1946 ever since then only 4 times has the city seen a team lifting the title all with paok, the only other city that show a league title was larissa from thessaly with ael in 1988, thankfully the cup is more competetive though 4 cities outside of attica have teams that won the cup a total of 14 times (meanwhile attica has 67 cups and 80 leagues) now in football there are 4 clubs outside of south greece and 8 outside of attica and in basketball 7/12 teams are from attica despite the rest of greece having countless historic clubs (this comment is way too long already to get into them) why is that happening? 1) money, athens is the richest city in greece. 2) better planning, its no secret that besides olympiacos there is no well run club in greece rn. 3) lack of a fanbase, greek fans are gloryhunters besides the top 5 clubs and maybe ael no club reaches a 5 digit number on their fanbase. 4) match fixing, although its a core thing in greek football at best i can see clubs from outside of attica getting is 5 extra titles at the very best (usually athenian clubs are robbing each other)
I hadnt realized that, very very interesting stuff. I may do something on that down the road. It seems like this is a problem in a few countries then because italy has a very similar situation as well. I appreciate your comment, it was very well thought out
Yep, ive already considered sheffield united a prem club next year. It looks like all 3 will be from the north. Hopefully they can stay up and have consistent success
I wouldn’t say there’s an issue with the south versus the north. It’s more that London is dominating with too many clubs. Having said that, I’m happy that the midlands (as a midlander and Villan) at the moment as an appropriate level of representation for the population size.
Arsenal, Spurs , Wes Ham and Chelsea are all traditionally larger clubs than QPR who untill the 70s were very much a lower league club. They're where their status as club their size is just now
@ yes I’m aware of all that. My point was that QPR are located in the affluent south east Londen centric part of Britain and that although a smallish type club they’re centred in the right place to join the south eastern Premier League bean feast. Look at the clubs now comfortably established in the Premier League, Palace, B’muff, Brighton, Brentford, Fulham, all historically lower league teams. Until fairly recently Watford, Reading, Luton were there.
agreed, I think qpr is odd they havent been up, and another club considered royal in reading. I know they were just managed awfully but its surprising to see them this low.
Something alot of people look straight over is the fact the north is also mainly rugby league driven. If you look at the rugby leagues in the north compared to the south you will also see a difference
Yeah its pretty staggering. I think birmingham is the second largest city in the country if im not mistaken and they come nowhere near the number of clubs in london.
@BuckFC Yeah only 1 team is in the Prem from Birmingham and that's Villa. Our country is so centred around London and it's actually quite annoying. I see it in trains too. A train from London to Brighton is usually 8-12 carriages yet a train from Hull to Liverpool is generally 3 to 6 carriages
Bradford haven't really been seen as a "powerhouse", certainly during my 45 years in existence. They've only been in the Premier League or (prior to the Premier League era) First Division for two seasons during my lifetime. They should be competing at a higher level than League Two however. The city (and the football club) have, for a long time, existed in the shadow of next door neighbours Leeds, which is bigger and more prosperous. As an aside, Leeds should be doing better too- some say it's the largest city in western Europe that doesn't have a mass transit system, and the club's struggled since its unsustainable budget caught up to it in the 00s decade. Another piece of useless trivia: before the days of promotion and relegation between the Football League (tiers 1-4) and non league (tiers 5 and below), non league clubs had to seek election to the Football League- and Wigan were the last club to gain entry into the Football League this way, replacing the team I support, Southport (now in tier 6, National League North).
Before 1992 it was all about Population X Youth recruitment which is why man Utd, Liverpool, A. Villa, and Arsenal were the best clubs. 4 clubs from the 4 biggest cities by population. Just before and after 1992 Man Utd foresaw and hedged their bets winning 13 out of 20 league titles, but Fergie had to retire eventually, so all the other clubs moved in that space Fergie had dominated. Thanks to an open checkbook from an oil-rich government Man City has maxed out every aspect of its club and flouted the rule of law 118 (Subject to inquiry) managing to dominate football for 10 years which has left a vacuum of investment in all the northern clubs big and small, but as Man city's artificial dominance comes to an end all the northern clubs have slowly been investing, Newcastle have built up St. James's, Everton a new stadium, Liverpool rebuilt 2 stands at Anfield and invested in players to emerge to the top of the league, Man Utd going through a bad patch, but generally the 6 northern clubs always finish in the top 10, next year it will be 9 northern clubs. Now days its all about: Population X facility and player investment X Revenue generation X Youth recruitment
Its also historically in part down to design. Between 1959 and 1986, promotion/relegation into the football league was decided on an election system with the bottom 4 clubs in the 4th tier put up to a vote against non-league clubs who had applied There were 6 occasions in that time where league clubs were voted out or liquidated, and on 5 of those occasions, a Northern club was booted out in favour of a Southern based club, presumably to benefit Southern clubs who did not like away journeys to distant Northern outposts 1960: Gateshead replaced by Peterborough United 1962: Accrington Stanley replaced by Oxford United 1970: Bradford Park Avenue replaced by Cambridge United 1972: Barrow replaced by Hereford United 1977: Workington replaced by Wimbledon 1978: Southport replaced by Wigan Athletic
That is a very interesting piece of history i had not realized. Another gentleman commented that the north were the ones who benefitted from early league voting. I will have to do some more research into this. Im intrigued. Thanks for the comment
@@BuckFC The North East and Cumbria (my region) despite its vast geographical foortprint has also got its own disparity. In the top 7 tiers of the English pyramid, there are 252 clubs nationwide. How many of these clubs are based in this area? Just 15! Infact, I can even list the lot (Newcastle Utd, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Barrow, Carlisle Utd, Hartlepool Utd, Gateshead, South Shields, Spennymoor, Darlington, Hebburn, Stockton, Morpeth, Workington & Blyth) In comparison, within those top 7 tiers, more than double that number are within the confines of London's M25, 34 clubs to be exact
fun fact about carlisle united they were in the premier league or the first division in 1974 - 75 season but now are in the relegation zone in league two
As a northerner who lives in Huddersfield , I love football but I’ve lost interest in club football due to the oligarchs etc behind it , I only really can get into international football now a days. I prefer rugby league because ticket prices aren’t extortionate and I actually feel like they’re a part of the community.
I hear ya, it seems like a tough situation all around for some of the lower division clubs in the north. Its a good thing you have that other outlet in rugby though
I actually think the economic divide will also have an effect and divide on the national team, even with great facilities due to malnutrition stunting growth
Thats an interesting thought, you might be right. I think maybe the talent would still be there it would just be highly focused around the top northern clubs like liverpool or newcastle.
What a stupid and ill thought-out comment. Have you visited certain towns in essex or Kent recently . I'm guessing that as your from the south east of England you do not travel outside of that region regularly.
@@UnbelievableEricthegiraffe I’m from the north east, but based on the statistics, the north generally has lower life expectancy, higher unemployment, higher child poverty. My point was that these things can lead to more children being malnourished, so less likely to reach similar potential as others. Imagine you had a potential Messi or Rooney but because they were malnourished and thus stunted growth it impacted their chance and potential from being reached (like a footballing version of the “imagine how many Einstein’s were wasted by death and poverty”)
Purely down to two things Money and Location London especially and the South are more attractive for investment especially Foreign Overseas players are also more attracted to living in London or within a reasonable easy access The 2 Northern Powerhouse clubs are Liverpool and Manchester United They will always be secure to big and extensive history and fan bases Manchester City without the Abu Dhabi investment would be struggling as they did prior to around 2010 onwards They should be secure but not for the same reasons as Liverpool or Manchester United. Manchester City is like a false economy Everton historically a huge club it was a powerhouse but have been left behind and have gone to the edge now of slipping out If the trajectory remains the same over the next couple of seasons surely going down or no improvement. Past glories have gone for the considerable future Newcastle another club been up and down. You’ve got to be a pensioner to remember a trophy. Had a good spell recently but prone to poor season. Financially they could be good for years to come but only cup wins probably Glamour, money, location , weather equals the south especially for players I’m a West Ham fan a club really has underachieved in its history We are lucky to be London based giving us , money, investment , signings and media coverage above our status at times. We are yet to fully use it properly and benefit
Yeah for sure, i think youre right about that. Manchester city will be stable going forward but not because of history. Everton i will contest have also made very poor decisions with transfers, so they are in their own way in that regard but, i dont see everton falling off. You are correct though the south and london in particular seems to give clubs a little advantage that other areas dont have. West ham probably could compete going forward though.
I somewhat agree with the economic argument but also look at the population model. For most of footballing history the North has dominated in part due to self interest with a re-election system that was rigged with the original clubs being Northern and Midlands based they opted to re-elect as opposed to travel further. This was only opened up when promotion and relegation from Non-League became a thing although the South had some representative at the time you had fewer choices of clubs to go to if you lived in say Bedfordshire than you did if you lived in Lancashire even though distance from the major city was the same. This is now mirrored down the pyramid and if you look at the National League North and South the boundary runs from Gloucester to Essex a stupidly Southern border. But this is because populations have increased in the South East since the post-industrial decline in the 1970s and 1980s which meant new towns were populated and gained traction into the football league e.g. MK Dons, Gillingham, Stevenage, Crawley Town etc. which originally started in Non-League but due to large population and ability to be promoted ended up in the Football League and therefore received higher profile loanees from the Chelsea's and Arsenal's of this world. The North hung on for a little bit based on historical pedigree but wasn't a place to invest as the economy absorbed into the South East so if you wanted a club to buy it seemed more logical to go South. Sorry for the ramble. TDLR Promotion from Non League linked with increased population of the South East in general led to lob sided football in the South East.
Thats a really good comment and i appreciate the well thought out response. I hadnt thought about it in that way but it does add another wrinkle to why football has seemed to shift southward. I thank you for that insight
Not necessarily the best video to make as, in all likelihood, 3 Midland/Southern will relegated this season (any 3 from Southampton, Wolves, Ipswich, Leicester or Crystal Palace) and they’ll probably be replaced by 3 Northern teams (either Lees United, Sheffield United, Burnley, Sunderland, Blackburn or Middlesbrough). So this video will be out of date very quickly, especially considering Leeds United are now part of the Red Bull Sports Group
We will see! Also doesnt change the fact that if they yo yo back down we will be in this same spot. Really this is about the fact that smaller northern clubs are unable too sustain success at the top of the league and why that is. We will see going forward i guess
It ebbs and flows. This year you could have three teams from the North promoted. I agree somewhat about Bournemouth,Brentford and Brighton probably having an advantage due to economic advantage over some of their Northern neighbours....I think clubs like Wigan and Bradford do have an issues attracting better players,no offence but the English coast and London or Wigan????
I support preston north end and I like leeds united and Newcastle proper clubs but sadly the north has been on decline for years and some towns up north prefer rugby or cricket also doesn't help that the government don't do anything about northern towns and cities
I see your point, but the current top 6 in the championship are all northern clubs and the bottom 5 in the premier league are all southern clubs. We’re just in an era where there are more southern clubs than northern ones. But to not include Villa, Wolves, and Forest as northern clubs is silly, they are. This makes it currently a 8-12 north south split. But if 3 southern teams were to get relegated and 3 northern teams were to be promoted, which is likely, it’ll become a 11-9 split in the norths favour. So no, I don’t think the north south split is too prevalent in English football. Especially when in the last 15 years, southern clubs have only won it 3 times. The only thing that is prevalent is the number of London Clubs, which is another issue in itself.
Yeah just mentioned the northern clubs competing in the championship to another commenter. It’s definitely just a lull, realistically the 3 clubs up could all be from the north. I just noticed that a historically dominant region has lacked representation in the premier league currently. I think regardless of what happens to sustain premier league football, no matter the location clubs are going to have to master finding, and developing top talent and selling for higher, because competing with the top clubs pound for pound is not going to turn into success for anyone. I appreciate the comment and i hope youre right about the northern clubs becoming a force in the top flight again. Thanks for watching
@@spartanworrior4519 Birmingham and Nottingham lie above the North South divide, as per most studies. Leicester however, doesn’t. But if you can make an argument for Stoke, which is longitudinal to Nottingham, then out of curiosity, why don’t you consider them north?
Trying to arbitrarily divide teams into North and South will always throw up weird results. Especially in relation to "Midlands" teams. Oxford City for example are currently competing in the National League NORTH, which on the face of it seems completely bizarre. Since when has Oxford ever been considered a Northern city?
@@danrohn8821 yeah the north south divide that isn’t based on the regions in the north, completely neglects the midlands. Stoke has more vibes of the north, but ask anyone, notts in midlands
Oh definitely on Sunday 22nd December at the Tottenham v Liverpool. It was 22 centigrade/ 71 Fahrenheit in the shade. Still Spurs were still absolutely 💩💩
The football clubs in the north isn't really down to the area's not being invested in you could say that it has an affect bringing in players from outside Britain however if it was just down to location then we'd see clubs like Charlton, Wimbledon and Cambridge also competing at the top. Relegation happens when the club is mismanaged putting it down to the area not thriving is not really the case.
@BuckFC its American Business owners that drive clubs into the state they are on for example Sunderland were sent down to League 1 because of Ellis Shorts mishandling of the football club. However it isn't just American owners. Newcastle were owned by the stingiest man in business Mike Ashley. Middlesbrough are owned by local businessman Steve Gibson. Hull are owned by awful Turkish owners. Blackburn are owned by the Venkeys who have always been at odds with fans. But as I mentioned in my last comments Charlton, MK Dons and Cambridge all southern clubs yet haven't been successful. It's nothing to do with area where you are it is to do with investment in the football club with every Brighton you have Crawley. Clubs that barely survive League 2. The League of 72 for the EFL is great the Premier League is a dream for most however getting there is the fun part being there isn't. There is a reason the Championship is the most competitive 2nd tier league because of the quality in the league.
yessir, as discreet as you would like. In my last video on andy carroll i decided to curate every moment of the video with different themed music behind it but i kept having issues with copywrite so i figured id go with something that was not a licensed song lol
As a Burnley fan, it's just the cycle, soon southern clubs will go down, Northern ones will go up, we'll get better, they'll get worse, they'll get better, we'll get worse. Look at Sheffield U, they are very excited cause they JUST got bought yesterday, I reckon they'll be a solid Premier side in 2-3 years, as for us (Burnley) I'm not sure yet.
Yeah its definitely cycled, i think right now the southern clubs are having success because their formula has changed. The big 6 clubs are going no where and will keep spending money, but those other clubs who adapt to spending a little less or making more than they spend while still churning out good players to replace those sold are the successful ones right now. I would love to see burnley jump right back up. We will see though. Thank you for watching!
@@BuckFC I'm worried about my club to be honest, but I think we can sneak into second, playoffs would make me nervous, but I don't know (respectfully) if Leeds have what it takes to get Auto Promotion, obviously we've struggled but I think they've looked worse due to not having to deal with what we have, we'll have to see though. (I think we'll be comfortably second in February or March ... hopefully)
Nah I think it's because teams like Palace & Fulham embraced the Corporate model while Northern clubs are still more on the traditional side. I went past Selhurst Park a couple of months ago and they are well in that Cooperate branding model now. They always seem to have an unfair advantage over the other bottom team because they are in London and they attract players like Olise, Eze, Guehi, Wharton etc because of their location
Im an ipswich town fan so last season i was alll about avoiding playoffs and luckily they did. It is also entirely possible burnley is back up in auto promotion slot. Even if youre in the playoffs burnley can win there as well!
@@BuckFC Ipswich town are probably the only team I want to do well, Wanted Sheffield and Luton to get relegated, but I'm sticking out for Ipswich, Southampton? Don't care, Leicester? Don't care, but I want Ipswich to stay in it, shake it up. (I'm actually watching Wolves games from time to time rooting for the other team)
Something really needs to be done to ward off massive investment firms and billionaires from creating a massive gap between clubs. UEFA needs to bring in a salary cap system like that in Australia and the US. Say the cap is $5M USD a week and any player from your youth system is exempt from the cap.
Thats an interesting take. Maybe it would work. Not to familiar with australias system but i do know the US has a ton of problems and in leagues like the NFL there are major work arounds for the cap.
Happens all the time over here. In the mlb a major historic club just moved to las vegas.. quite sad for the fans who livedd in that area but sporting leagues in the us are maybe the worst on earth and i am doing a full video in a couple of weeks about it
I think American sports are less localised in the country but some fan bases in big American cities do have good local supporters. Just a culture in the USA that it may have less of a community feel. Burnley fan like Ipswich
Thats one of the main problems, i live in a pretty small area next to a capital, albeit a small capital, with no professional teams closer than 2 hours to me, there is no support from those massive teams to their communities either. Thats just the tip of the iceberg
I haven't watched the video and don't know what is said, but I can tell you now a footballers wife/girlfriend wants to be down south where harrods and selfridges is. Newcastle now richest club in the world can't get their cheque book out as they going by ffp rules can entice players with high wages still other northern clubs can't.
Brilliantly thought out and presented. The issue has also rippled down - Oldham and Rochdale are traditional lower league clubs but now find themselves out of the football league, whilst Bury and Macclesfield dropped out of existence. There is a rebuild going on at Wigan and Bolton, but it is purely to help us be sustainable and likely to turn us into feeder clubs rather than ones chasing success
Interesting i didnt even think of it in the perspective of even traditional lower league teams in the north are now non league sides. seems the problem is even deeper than i thought. Path forward seems to be the money ball approach and to become feeders but if you can sustain youth development and replace the guys sold maybe sustained success can be achieved. Thanks so much for watching!!
Bury did not exactly go out of existence, though. It's way more complicated than that. The original club was actually dormant for a few years, before it merged with fan-founded Bury AFC to reactivate the original Bury.
@@AS_Lancaster Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Wigan and Bolton are all in Greater Manchester and have huge competition from the big two Manchester clubs even in their area. My father is from Stockport and supported Manchester United
@roberw1912 aye, always been an issue. The number of years spent at the top table by Wigan and Bolton could have been invested better or attracted wider investment, however the financial losses just to remain competitive were too big, thus the huge collapse when the money was rolling in to support it
@@AS_Lancaster your right my father was born in 1944. Problems even back then. It's nice though to see Bolton improving. I remember my grandfather being happy when all the Manchester teams won their leagues (Premier League, Division 1,2,3) back in the 1990s.
Probably worth noting that the move down south is not just down south but specifically London. Northern football clubs tend to be in towns and smaller cities, when you're on £100,000+ a week you're going to want to spend it and London will let you do that (northerner for the record)
I agree with you, the london region seems quite attractive, to players and investors alike. Thank you for watching!
There's a massive chunk of the westcountry that's never had a premiership team. Swindon have briefly been in the top flight and Bournemouth have done well, but they're at the fringes of the area
The north has a cluster of semi-large industrial cities, the south has one major city, which is also the primate city of the entire UK. London having 7 out of 20 PL sides is reflecting its exponentially larger dominance in all of British society. Weird that the same hasn’t happened in France with Paris/Ile-De-France
That one clip of Antony not being able to dribble past a reading play my most favourite part of the vid another banger
Thank u brother!!
sheffield "the home of football" with the oldest clubs in the world still shocks me how much they under preform
It is shocking, i think the fact that sheff wed has been absent for decades is crazy. Hopefully things turn around. Looks like sheff u will be back up next year though.
I'm 77 now and have been a keen follower of English football since the early 60s . The only time I can recall a Sheffield club coming anywhere remotely near winning a major trophy was when Wednesday lost in 1966 FA Cup Final 3-2 to Everton
Football is dynamic like they may be underperforming now but that doesn’t mean they always will
owl here. (sheff wednesday) bad ownership for us. we have some of the best, loyal fans in the world. always have a strong following to away games too.
@@brianoreilly239 we won div 1 since then. and a few cups. beat man u in 91 league cup final the year man u won everything. but sure. weve done nothing since 66
algorithm randomly recommended this to me. Nice video, interesting topic and much better than I would have expected from such a relatively small channel. Nice work.
That means a lot to me.. thank you for the nice comment, i really appreciate it.
Jeez this is brilliant, very well made video mate, surprised you few subs.
Thanks so much, i appreciate the kind words
3:33 "success comes down to money" Immediately after shows Anthony. Lovely
Im glad you noticed that one 🤣🤣, but really the fact they can throw that kind of money around and just move on is insane. Thank you for watching
@BuckFC Yeah it’s crazy (I’m an united fan) but honestly great video I thought the channel had a lot more subs to produce a video like that.
I appreciate that, im doing my best to get more subs and hopefully i can keep making content going forward!!
Great video. Didn't expect you to be American which makes your analysis even more impressive. As a Sheffield Wednesday fan it kills me to see more modest clubs like Brentford and Brighton killing it in the Prem and being so well run while my own club languishes in the Championship living on the breadline being run by an absolute madman.
Thanks so much for the great comment. My sons favorite club is Sheffield Wednesday as he loves owls. Im hoping things will change in your neck of the woods sooner than later, the history there is too immense
Very good video, surprised you don't have more subscribers honestly.
Maybe could do a video relating to how Welsh clubs have drastically underperformed in recent history? like Cardiff is one of the biggest cities in the UK as a whole and is a capital city, but they've only been in the top division a couple times in the premier league era and they're on the brink of relegation after horrible management internally.
thats a good idea. I appreciate the nice words and will write that down for a video in the future!
Apologies if you're not but hearing a North American speaking with such knowledge about Northern Clubs is impressive. Great video!
Yeah, but not sure about Yorkshire clubs' "rich histories" though. Even excluding Liverpool, Man U and City, North western clubs have been champions way more than Yorkshire clubs have/
I am an american, i appreciate the acknowledgment. Its something im very passionate about, and this is a subject that needs careful exploration. I had to do it justice
As a Brentford fan, you often get people who look at us and feel like we’ve unjustly taken a spot in the league away. I don’t really get it, if anything I’d be pissed off at the big money brand teams who can buy their place in the league even through horrid management.
With our budget, if we were run as poorly as Manchester United there is not a lick of a chance we would stay up. I personally would much rather watch a prem in which high performing small clubs can knock out a big club if they play better football. If you’re a struggling club from the north, I don’t think Brentford should be your enemy, because really it’s the unsinkable corporate clubs that are watering down the competition.
As a Leeds United fan, I totally agree with you.
What Brentford show is that with good owners and a talented manager (I really like Thomas Frank) you can achieve so much.
Brentford is an absolute underdogs dream story, i made a full length video on the history and recent success of Brentford, it didnt do well but i promise none of this is a knock on brentford. You guys are actualy showing other clubs the blueprints to succeed without all the money in the world
@@BuckFC (Responding to the OP as well here) The issue there with people is as simple as jealousy. Fans of declining teams look at you lot and think "fuck off how are they even up there", when the reason you're up there is you are a very well run club who has naturally progressed over the last 2 decades, building season on season - the most obvious examples being selling Maupay, then Watkins, then Benhrama, and using the money wisely to build a better side, and in that sense, hats off to you, very very good business.
The idea of this video is to highlight that the issue is deeper than how the club is ran, but where the club is ran. What is trying to be portrayed here is that if you rolled back 20 years, swapped Barrow, Mansfield or Grimsby and Brentford physically, but Brentfords ownership was identical, is that you'd find Brentford would not be where they are now - due to the factors explained in this video.
While Brentford have entirely and deservedly built their own success story, they have done so with building blocks clubs in the north of the country do not have.
I say all this as a Forest fan, a club who you can't apply any model that exists on planet earth to explain whatever happens on the banks of the trent
you have really, your a league one club at best
@@sheehan9305 says who ? You ? Good job your opinion doesn't count
As a Serie A fan the opposite is the case in Italy. Italy only has two Southern clubs (four if you include Rome as South Italy which is a stretch and is akin to saying Birmingham is in Northern England) Lecce and Napoli and Lecce might get relegated this year meaning only Napoli represents the South. Southern Italy is also where most of the stadiums with character are located and teams like Bari, Catania or Messina are replaced by plastic clubs like Sassuolo or Udinese in the North. It is even worse in the under 20 level where there is no Italian under 20 team more southern than Roma and Lazio which aren’t even Southern clubs and this shows the poor youth infrastructure in the South of Italy (that even Napoli are in the 2nd division of the Under 20 leagues). All of this is actually sad ngl.
The farther from Milan the less the investment
Im a big serie A fan, i gotta tell you a secret. My video coming out on monday is, why does the north of italy dominate serie a. I appreciate the comment. Thank you for watching. Im a venezia fan btw
@ Laziale fan here. Good luck with your channel btw
Southern club there!! Your new manager has been impressive so far.
Brilliant video. I’m from Bolton and a lot of what you said here is true. We went from the premier league to league 2 in 10 years and nearly ceased to exist due to many of these issues. BWFC
I appreciate the compliments. I think bolton look to be in better shape going forward though, its tough to slide like that. Its a good thing you avoided non league football
@@BuckFC of course but we are way too big to be playing non league. We would probably have been the biggest non league club of all time
In Germany we have a different development because the 50+1 rule means that many larger clubs cannot invest as much and smaller clubs therefore can catch up with the help of local sponsors and TV money. That's why you're seeing more and more small clubs in the Bundesliga. Maybe you can make a video about that too.
Buck FC is new to the game. Been putting out awesome videos for the last year or so. I think his content is better than 90% of these large channels. Big fan, and the cowboy hat is the cherry on top. Keep it going Buck! Phins up!
Thanks so much mike!! I really appreciate the nice comment bro
Next season should see it back up to 40% because the top 6 of the championship are northern team and some of the teams threatened with relegation are southern.
Yes iam thinking all three clubs up will be from the north. Saw sheffield united was just bought up as well so maybe fresh ownership will pump money in.
Brilliant video! I was shocked at how few subs you have. Keep doing these kind of video essays and you’ll grow for sure!
Ill keep on grinding bro, thanks for the nice words!
"Their influence on the Premier League has diminished drastically". Manchester C*teh and Liverpool may beg to differ, what with all the titles since 2017...
Numbers wise, absolutely spot on though and well researched. Brilliant touches upon the fall of Northern industry.
I tried to avoid talking about the top 6 clubs as they are a major exception. But youre right, the past 20 years of titles have been northern domination, but for clubs in these northern towns who could be changed by some sustained success in prem, its tough. Thanks for watching
Great podcast! I love your take on this stuff!
Glad you enjoy it! Thanks for watching
very good video bro. May God bless your work
Thank you brother, i appreciate the comment. Im glad you enjoyed it
great video! I'm Spanish and I'd say something similar happens here, where we have a donut/ring that we call the "Empty spain". Money is in Madrid and the Coast, so there's where most of first and second division clubs are located
Very interesting! I will have to a deep dive on that maybe. Thanks!
Similar in Germany too. Former east Germany is financially and structurally behind, which resulted in the decline of east german clubs. At the moment only two Bundesliga clubs are from the east
Another reason that Northern Clubs don’t do well in the Premier League is due to a rule called financial fair play. This stops newly promoted/non “big 6” sides from spending money. This basically means newly promoted teams will always have a worse squad than anyone else as they cannot spend money.
Yeah that definitely hinders it but that affects all clubs including the southern ones.
Don't blame 'the Big Six'. City and Chelsea didn't right the rules. It was the big Reds plus the Spuds who raised the barriers to competition. The Blues were happy with no spending rules so anyone could come in and spend as they wanted as Leicester, Villa and Forest should be allowed.
Not the Six, just the Four.
Absolute quality vid. Earned a sub mate👍
Thanks you brother, i appreciate that!
Look at the top of the championship right now - Sheffield United, Leeds, Burnley, Sunderland, Blackburn and Middlesboro. As it stands, all northern teams are going up to replace probably southern ones (hopefully Everton miraculously survive again)
Looks like there is a good chance we will be seeing three up! Thats a start to changing the fortunes
Brilliant video
I appreciate that. Thanks for watching
Great video! The disparity between the successes of Northern/Southern clubs is usually neglected in the general conversation about the state of English football in 2024. Personally we need to see fan ownership and a fair distribution of wealth across the pyramid and the geography of England and Wales instead of the unsustainable model of hoping an oil state/american finance will come along and save your local club
Well said! I think there is opportunity for some change. We will see what happens going forward. Thanks for watching
Really well researched video.
I appreciate that. I was trying my best to give this contentious topic the attention it deserves
A lot of northern clubs were backed by local businessmen that kept them over performing. Now northern businesses cant compete so theres no major investment in their clubs
Thats what its looking like
Don't forget association football started in the north of England, in Sheffield from 1857 onwards. The earliest modern rules of the game, the oldest tournaments, the oldest clubs, the oldest grounds & stadiums and oldest matches all come from Sheffield & mainly pre Dec 1863 the formation of the London FA.
Yep, thats a big fact. One of the reasons why i felt it was important to make this video. I appreciate that insight and thank u for watching
@@BuckFC Maybe a video about the origins of football? The rules, the clubs, the first matches, the oldest grounds, the first tournaments, first football culture etc.. All Sheffield
Thats a great idea, i will keep it book marked. Either way it looks like sheffield utd will be back up i think and hopefully Wednesday wont be too far behind. We will see!
@@BuckFC Hat trick and golden goal terms coined in Sheffield aswell
This video was awesome, i learned a lot
Thanks so much! I hope i did the topic justice
Also in parts of the North, particularly the M62 corridor, Rugby League is popular. In fact many have turned their backs on football due to ticket prices and commercialisation of the premier league.
Thanks for the insight there, i hadnt realized that was the case. its too bad because those clubs could use the support
@@BuckFCits the main reason Wakefield isn’t really into football also, I’m Hull it comes close to rivalling football
Think that’s quite important because League is more important to the north than union is to the south
@@spartanworrior4519for us in towns in lancs and Yorkshire, we got into football because it was the sport of the local working class .
Modern football is not a working man’s sport anymore with the ticket prices and huge wages etc .
Rugby league on the other hand represents us as people a lot better. Cheap tickets and mostly local lads in the league .
I’m a bigger rugby league fan than football but id have to disagree with the impact that league has on football.
Yes you have places like St Helens, Wigan, Wakefield that have sizeable populations but the majority of rugby league towns are small towns well short of 100,000 people. Most towns/cities are still football.
Of all the places that have a team in both codes I’d say rugby league is only winning in Wigan, hull is close it depends on which hull side is doing well at any given time.
Super league averaged about 9,600 per game last year, with Wakefield replacing London it could go past 10,000 but there will be two teams that will be around 5000 per game or under and those will be Salford and Huddersfield where people prefer to support Man Utd or hudds town over the league team, these two sides poor attendances really drag super leagues overall attendances down.
While there are a lot of good points here, there is a degree of happenstance. As of today (26 Dec 2024), the top 6 clubs in the Championship table are northern, and the bottom 3 in the Prem are not northern, if that plays out then the percentage rises to 40%. I think it is very difficult for smaller clubs, particularly in the Greater Manchester and Merseyside areas to compete. How will they attract young fans when they are attracted to success in the Prem? The point about reckless spending and poor business-practice is important, and if Brighton and Brentford started doing that they'd be out of the league pretty quickly. The pull of London is the main southern advantage in attracting foreign players, but the biggest clubs in the north can still do it. I think really we're looking at clubs like Blackburn, Bolton, Leeds, Wigan and asking where they've gone, and it is due to bad business or just being a bit too small for regular top flight football.
Definitely , there is a good chance that 3 come back up. But that doesnt guarantee sustained success for these smaller clubs. Unfortunately it seems like this is a deeper issue with clubs in the north. I hope im wrong and the north turn it around, but its sad to see some truly historic clubs stuck in mediocrity
Good video i didn't expect you to have less then 1k subs when I checked keep up the grind Good content
I appreciate that, I will keep up the grind
Most northern clubs have smaller stadiums and just can't sell enough tickets to generate enough income to pay world class players' wages. Same in Scotland, only two clubs have a big enough stadium and enough peop,le living within reasonable distance fill it on match days.
something about having 33% more negative var interventions than southern sides and 70% more negative var interventions than the "big 6" sides has something to do with it
could be, i made a video about how shite var has been
Really glad to hear you talk about this, and even discuss Wigan in this way!
Im glad you enjoyed the video, it was enlightening to make!
Good video! But just wanted to offer my thoughts as Northern Football Fan - one aspect about the North is that historically there has also been competition from Rugby league and cricket. Take Hull for example that has two Rugby league teams. Or cities like Wakefield that have a Rugby League team but have barely ever had a football team. Generally a lot of the clubs mentioned haven't been succesful and have only had minor peaks. You could argue that Wigan and Blackburn's historical backing is not too dissimilar to the modern investment in clubs like Newcastle and Manchester City although obviously not on the same scale and more ethical. Hull have spent most of their history totally irrelevant on a football level and Leeds have also had long periods in the lower divisions in their history and the decline they have had as arguably Yorkshire's Number 1 team was self inflicted. It will still take a long time for the London clubs to catch up on the domestic and European success of the clubs of Manchester, Liverpool and to a much lesser extent Leeds (as a collective)
I appreciate that insight i hadnt considered that cricket and rugby would have affected the football in the region. I do agree with you that some clubs have had minor peaks and to a smaller extent wigan and blackburn are similar to Newcastle and city. I do think in european competitions it will be near impossible for the south to catch up because even with the north “disappearing” the 3 dominant clubs will never go away and will continue to compete for europe.
No offence meant but is Wakefield a city?
Nice video! Keep the info coming. I’m learning a lot.
Thanks! Will do!
The correlation between industrial decline and the fall of northern teams is largely true. But this rule doesn’t apply to Leeds. Leeds has always had a reputation of being an affluent services based city. It’s nicknamed the Knightsbridge of the north. It’s decline is down to pure mismanagement
Yeah, i definitely tried not to come across insulting for the region as a whole, i just wanted to paint some context to why its tougher to succeed for smaller clubs in these towns. Leeds has a good youth development systen and are very close to being mainstays if managed correctly
Leeds is the largest financial hub outside of London.
Finishing with Preston North End. Brilliant. A subtle nod to the first Football League Champions and a side that has, sadly, not been in the top flight for more than 60 years.
I had to put preston north end in there at some point and i figured what better time than the epic conclusion. They arent too far away now. Would love to see a return
another great video buck!!!
thank you !
I think the sad fact is that living in the south of the country less than 100 miles from London appeals much more than the north to foreign players.
Yep, that seems to be firmly the case. The north has to work much harder to get the same players as well
@@BuckFCI agree. In London & surrounds, there are lots of attractions & things to do aside from football. In the north, if you don't belong to a big club like LFC, Man U, City, Newcastle then there's not much to do when they're not working/ training. That's why many footballers become addicted to gambling (online or offline). Also, you're right that many of the northern cities look old & rundown + crime is high, so they're not very attractive to players (unless their pay is high too).
Also, I think it also matters for a foreign player if he has someone who also speaks his language or they have a common culture/ upbringing.
@@BuckFC Outside of Manchester/Liverpool, it would be a struggle for Leeds/Sheffield/Sunderland to attract an Italian superstar when Fulham/West Ham are making an offer
I’m sorry I just can’t listen to an American talk about no then English football
@@iainmaley3319 If they had money, they could. Newcastle has signed good players.
Great video mate!
Thanks so much. Im glad you enjoyed it
The 4 North-Western giants will always be secure but outside that bubble the other northern clubs are teetering like a fiddler on the roof. I'm amazed, for instance, that Leeds can't sustain a permanent presence in the Premiership. It's a big one club city. But it appears not.
I find it odd too, seems like the clubs having success right now, are the ones who consistently churn out good youth players and sell them for a profit. Brighton and brentford have surprised me immensely the past 4 or 5 years. Thank you for watching
@@BuckFCironically Leeds have been excellent at producing talented young players and selling for profit e.g. Archie Gray now at spurs. Sunderland have also been quite good at it but stayed down for a few years now.
Yeah, the big advantage the Liverpool and Manchester clubs have over Leeds is Cheshire. Lot of very wealthy people in Cheshire & it's where most of the North-West-based footballers live. So it's easier to attract people who want a certain lifestyle. Midlands clubs have the Cotswolds to help them.
I see that, leeds arguably should have been promoted last year. It was a tight race for second and no one took it til the last week. Maybe they continue their talent production and find a way to be premier league mainstays
Valid point, but Leeds can point at places like Harrogate, York and the Dales for places to live.places
sat watching and wondering whether I had Baldurs Gate 3 open. I'm sure that's the music 😅
Lol!! I was hoping no one noticed
not related but there is a similar case in greece:
-thessaloniki (2nd largest city in greece and largest in macedonia & northern greece) used to be #1 in basketball in the 80s until the start of the 90s but greek multi-millionairs/billioners invested on olympiacos and panathinaikos and made them into giants, thessaloniki went from 8 streak leagues to 0 in the past 32 years, in the cup thessaloniki didnt have the same success but in those 32 years the city has seen 4 cups the rest all went to attica (btw thessaloniki had the first champion of greek basketball in iraklis)
-in football whilst thessesaloniki was the 1st champion in 1928 with aris who won 3 leagues until 1946 ever since then only 4 times has the city seen a team lifting the title all with paok, the only other city that show a league title was larissa from thessaly with ael in 1988, thankfully the cup is more competetive though 4 cities outside of attica have teams that won the cup a total of 14 times (meanwhile attica has 67 cups and 80 leagues)
now in football there are 4 clubs outside of south greece and 8 outside of attica and in basketball 7/12 teams are from attica despite the rest of greece having countless historic clubs (this comment is way too long already to get into them)
why is that happening? 1) money, athens is the richest city in greece. 2) better planning, its no secret that besides olympiacos there is no well run club in greece rn. 3) lack of a fanbase, greek fans are gloryhunters besides the top 5 clubs and maybe ael no club reaches a 5 digit number on their fanbase. 4) match fixing, although its a core thing in greek football at best i can see clubs from outside of attica getting is 5 extra titles at the very best (usually athenian clubs are robbing each other)
I hadnt realized that, very very interesting stuff. I may do something on that down the road. It seems like this is a problem in a few countries then because italy has a very similar situation as well. I appreciate your comment, it was very well thought out
Excellent take on this …very interesting topic buck
Thank you!!
Top 6 of championship currently all northern so hopefully that's 3 more next season.
Yep, ive already considered sheffield united a prem club next year. It looks like all 3 will be from the north. Hopefully they can stay up and have consistent success
The best vid about English footy I have seen, from a non Brit.
That means a lot to me.. thank you for the kind words
On the other side all of the clubs from the current (2024/12/25) top six of the EFL Championship are from the North of England
So most likely will see 2/3 up next yesr
Could not concentrate on what the guy in the video was saying as all I could do was sing Down by the River over and over in my head.
Absolute banger
I wouldn’t say there’s an issue with the south versus the north. It’s more that London is dominating with too many clubs. Having said that, I’m happy that the midlands (as a midlander and Villan) at the moment as an appropriate level of representation for the population size.
I love to see forest doing what they are doing. Villa also impressing with champions league ball. Hope the form turns around with that city win
I remember in 2010/11 we had 8 from the north west!
yessir, and 2008 i think it was 11
Only surprise to me is that QPR isn’t a Premier League club, given its history and location
Arsenal, Spurs , Wes Ham and Chelsea are all traditionally larger clubs than QPR who untill the 70s were very much a lower league club. They're where their status as club their size is just now
@ yes I’m aware of all that. My point was that QPR are located in the affluent south east Londen centric part of Britain and that although a smallish type club they’re centred in the right place to join the south eastern Premier League bean feast. Look at the clubs now comfortably established in the Premier League, Palace, B’muff, Brighton, Brentford, Fulham, all historically lower league teams. Until fairly recently Watford, Reading, Luton were there.
agreed, I think qpr is odd they havent been up, and another club considered royal in reading. I know they were just managed awfully but its surprising to see them this low.
Something alot of people look straight over is the fact the north is also mainly rugby league driven. If you look at the rugby leagues in the north compared to the south you will also see a difference
Not really, the Rugby League heartlands don't overlap with the football heartlands apart from Leeds and Hull X
Sure that may be true, but there are football fans there as well
Very interesting Buck!
Just an oddity i noticed!
It's kinda sad
About a third of the PL alone is from London
Yeah its pretty staggering. I think birmingham is the second largest city in the country if im not mistaken and they come nowhere near the number of clubs in london.
@BuckFC Yeah only 1 team is in the Prem from Birmingham and that's Villa. Our country is so centred around London and it's actually quite annoying. I see it in trains too. A train from London to Brighton is usually 8-12 carriages yet a train from Hull to Liverpool is generally 3 to 6 carriages
Thats mad, i didnt realize the train thing. I guess it makes sense though. London is truly a global hub. Its bigger than the country maybe
@jackbarrowclough1739 Wolves can be considered Birmingham area
England is a very poor country attached to a very rich city
Bradford haven't really been seen as a "powerhouse", certainly during my 45 years in existence. They've only been in the Premier League or (prior to the Premier League era) First Division for two seasons during my lifetime. They should be competing at a higher level than League Two however. The city (and the football club) have, for a long time, existed in the shadow of next door neighbours Leeds, which is bigger and more prosperous.
As an aside, Leeds should be doing better too- some say it's the largest city in western Europe that doesn't have a mass transit system, and the club's struggled since its unsustainable budget caught up to it in the 00s decade.
Another piece of useless trivia: before the days of promotion and relegation between the Football League (tiers 1-4) and non league (tiers 5 and below), non league clubs had to seek election to the Football League- and Wigan were the last club to gain entry into the Football League this way, replacing the team I support, Southport (now in tier 6, National League North).
Yeah maybe not. But bradford has history competing at the top. You would know better than me. Hope to see them return to competing at the top.
Bradford is by far the biggest city and club in its division and probably would be even in league one it’s massive underachieving club sadly
Before 1992 it was all about Population X Youth recruitment which is why man Utd, Liverpool, A. Villa, and Arsenal were the best clubs. 4 clubs from the 4 biggest cities by population. Just before and after 1992 Man Utd foresaw and hedged their bets winning 13 out of 20 league titles, but Fergie had to retire eventually, so all the other clubs moved in that space Fergie had dominated. Thanks to an open checkbook from an oil-rich government Man City has maxed out every aspect of its club and flouted the rule of law 118 (Subject to inquiry) managing to dominate football for 10 years which has left a vacuum of investment in all the northern clubs big and small, but as Man city's artificial dominance comes to an end all the northern clubs have slowly been investing, Newcastle have built up St. James's, Everton a new stadium, Liverpool rebuilt 2 stands at Anfield and invested in players to emerge to the top of the league, Man Utd going through a bad patch, but generally the 6 northern clubs always finish in the top 10, next year it will be 9 northern clubs. Now days its all about: Population X facility and player investment X Revenue generation X Youth recruitment
It seems youre right about citys dominance coming to an end which is great for other clubs finally. Thank you for the comment, i appreciate it
Americans get football. Outstanding research, chapeau
I did my best, felt the subject needed proper research and attention
A good video, Sunderland are trying to go down the more positive route described (they have world class facilities).
looks like sunderland may be bouncing into the league next year. Would like to see some more clubs like that make it up. thanks for watching
Its also historically in part down to design. Between 1959 and 1986, promotion/relegation into the football league was decided on an election system with the bottom 4 clubs in the 4th tier put up to a vote against non-league clubs who had applied
There were 6 occasions in that time where league clubs were voted out or liquidated, and on 5 of those occasions, a Northern club was booted out in favour of a Southern based club, presumably to benefit Southern clubs who did not like away journeys to distant Northern outposts
1960: Gateshead replaced by Peterborough United
1962: Accrington Stanley replaced by Oxford United
1970: Bradford Park Avenue replaced by Cambridge United
1972: Barrow replaced by Hereford United
1977: Workington replaced by Wimbledon
1978: Southport replaced by Wigan Athletic
That is a very interesting piece of history i had not realized. Another gentleman commented that the north were the ones who benefitted from early league voting. I will have to do some more research into this. Im intrigued. Thanks for the comment
@@BuckFC The North East and Cumbria (my region) despite its vast geographical foortprint has also got its own disparity.
In the top 7 tiers of the English pyramid, there are 252 clubs nationwide. How many of these clubs are based in this area? Just 15! Infact, I can even list the lot (Newcastle Utd, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Barrow, Carlisle Utd, Hartlepool Utd, Gateshead, South Shields, Spennymoor, Darlington, Hebburn, Stockton, Morpeth, Workington & Blyth)
In comparison, within those top 7 tiers, more than double that number are within the confines of London's M25, 34 clubs to be exact
fun fact about carlisle united they were in the premier league or the first division in 1974 - 75 season but now are in the relegation zone in league two
Very sad when a club falls that far, feel for forest green who just recently fell into non league football
What about Oldham Athletic? Founder members of the Premier league and now in the National league. That's one hell of a drop!
@@forkinhell3545 for real cant forget about afc Wimbledon
@guest666official87 Yes, that's true. Upping sticks to Milton Keynes and becoming the hated Don's.
@@forkinhell3545 there are 5 former premier league teams in league two and one in non league that i know of
Financial mismanagement is probably the biggest factor. Just look at BWFC ⚪
Yeah, i mean they dont call it “doing a leeds” for nothing. very interesting to think about, why is there so much mismanagement in the north
Who called it doing a Leeds pal @@BuckFC
There is a whole wikipedia page about “doing a leeds” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doing_a_Leeds
the way you speak screams sean strickland, with the cowboy hat how can i not see that.
Hey hes a pretty funny guy
Until the foundation of the Third Division, most of the teams in the Football League were either from the North or the Midlands.
That makes sense to me, football history is rich in the north. thanks for watching
As a northerner who lives in Huddersfield , I love football but I’ve lost interest in club football due to the oligarchs etc behind it , I only really can get into international football now a days.
I prefer rugby league because ticket prices aren’t extortionate and I actually feel like they’re a part of the community.
I hear ya, it seems like a tough situation all around for some of the lower division clubs in the north. Its a good thing you have that other outlet in rugby though
I actually think the economic divide will also have an effect and divide on the national team, even with great facilities due to malnutrition stunting growth
Thats an interesting thought, you might be right. I think maybe the talent would still be there it would just be highly focused around the top northern clubs like liverpool or newcastle.
What a stupid and ill thought-out comment.
Have you visited certain towns in essex or Kent recently . I'm guessing that as your from the south east of England you do not travel outside of that region regularly.
@@UnbelievableEricthegiraffe I’m from the north east, but based on the statistics, the north generally has lower life expectancy, higher unemployment, higher child poverty. My point was that these things can lead to more children being malnourished, so less likely to reach similar potential as others. Imagine you had a potential Messi or Rooney but because they were malnourished and thus stunted growth it impacted their chance and potential from being reached (like a footballing version of the “imagine how many Einstein’s were wasted by death and poverty”)
Purely down to two things
Money and Location
London especially and the South are more attractive for investment especially Foreign
Overseas players are also more attracted to living in London or within a reasonable easy access
The 2 Northern Powerhouse clubs are Liverpool and Manchester United
They will always be secure to big and extensive history and fan bases
Manchester City without the Abu Dhabi investment would be struggling as they did prior to around 2010 onwards
They should be secure but not for the same reasons as Liverpool or Manchester United.
Manchester City is like a false economy
Everton historically a huge club it was a powerhouse but have been left behind and have gone to the edge now of slipping out
If the trajectory remains the same over the next couple of seasons surely going down or no improvement. Past glories have gone for the considerable future
Newcastle another club been up and down. You’ve got to be a pensioner to remember a trophy. Had a good spell recently but prone to poor season. Financially they could be good for years to come but only cup wins probably
Glamour, money, location , weather equals the south especially for players
I’m a West Ham fan a club really has underachieved in its history
We are lucky to be London based giving us , money, investment , signings and media coverage above our status at times. We are yet to fully use it properly and benefit
Yeah for sure, i think youre right about that. Manchester city will be stable going forward but not because of history. Everton i will contest have also made very poor decisions with transfers, so they are in their own way in that regard but, i dont see everton falling off. You are correct though the south and london in particular seems to give clubs a little advantage that other areas dont have. West ham probably could compete going forward though.
Hull mentioned 🙌
Yessir!!
I somewhat agree with the economic argument but also look at the population model. For most of footballing history the North has dominated in part due to self interest with a re-election system that was rigged with the original clubs being Northern and Midlands based they opted to re-elect as opposed to travel further. This was only opened up when promotion and relegation from Non-League became a thing although the South had some representative at the time you had fewer choices of clubs to go to if you lived in say Bedfordshire than you did if you lived in Lancashire even though distance from the major city was the same. This is now mirrored down the pyramid and if you look at the National League North and South the boundary runs from Gloucester to Essex a stupidly Southern border. But this is because populations have increased in the South East since the post-industrial decline in the 1970s and 1980s which meant new towns were populated and gained traction into the football league e.g. MK Dons, Gillingham, Stevenage, Crawley Town etc. which originally started in Non-League but due to large population and ability to be promoted ended up in the Football League and therefore received higher profile loanees from the Chelsea's and Arsenal's of this world. The North hung on for a little bit based on historical pedigree but wasn't a place to invest as the economy absorbed into the South East so if you wanted a club to buy it seemed more logical to go South. Sorry for the ramble.
TDLR Promotion from Non League linked with increased population of the South East in general led to lob sided football in the South East.
Thats a really good comment and i appreciate the well thought out response. I hadnt thought about it in that way but it does add another wrinkle to why football has seemed to shift southward. I thank you for that insight
Not necessarily the best video to make as, in all likelihood, 3 Midland/Southern will relegated this season (any 3 from Southampton, Wolves, Ipswich, Leicester or Crystal Palace) and they’ll probably be replaced by 3 Northern teams (either Lees United, Sheffield United, Burnley, Sunderland, Blackburn or Middlesbrough). So this video will be out of date very quickly, especially considering Leeds United are now part of the Red Bull Sports Group
We will see! Also doesnt change the fact that if they yo yo back down we will be in this same spot. Really this is about the fact that smaller northern clubs are unable too sustain success at the top of the league and why that is. We will see going forward i guess
Awesome take on this Buck!!
Thanks!
It ebbs and flows. This year you could have three teams from the North promoted. I agree somewhat about Bournemouth,Brentford and Brighton probably having an advantage due to economic advantage over some of their Northern neighbours....I think clubs like Wigan and Bradford
do have an issues attracting better players,no offence but the English coast and London or Wigan????
I definitely hear that. Its a really nuanced situation in my opinion, i feel for these northern towns though
I'm impressed by the number of Americans who have taken an interest in English football. Well constructed arguments over the state of the North
Thank you man, i tried to do this subject as much justice as i could
@@BuckFCI’m really impressed with your knowledge of England and it’s North South divide. This was a good vid and very well thought out. Great job
I support preston north end and I like leeds united and Newcastle proper clubs but sadly the north has been on decline for years and some towns up north prefer rugby or cricket also doesn't help that the government don't do anything about northern towns and cities
I understand that but football fans up there deserve better management
3 out of the 5 biggest clubs are in Lancashire though.
I never said there werent 3 of 5 big clubs in the north
Hopefully my club Leeds United will be promoted this season !!! 🤍💙💛
Its looking good so far, hopefully yall can take whats in front of you
The North doesn't get invested in because it's rundown. It stays rundown because of the lack of investment. The cycle continues.....
a terrible cycle to be caught in..
Very nice video!
Thank you for watching!
Brighton has £370m of loans to its owner. Hardly success based on just analytics.
maybe so, but its hard to deny their transfer record. This is a way a smaller club can compete.
Surprised you didn’t mention Sunderland afc
Sunderland is a great club. I wish i could have mentioned every club tbh
Let’s goooo I loved this video thanks buck
Of course!
I see your point, but the current top 6 in the championship are all northern clubs and the bottom 5 in the premier league are all southern clubs.
We’re just in an era where there are more southern clubs than northern ones. But to not include Villa, Wolves, and Forest as northern clubs is silly, they are.
This makes it currently a 8-12 north south split. But if 3 southern teams were to get relegated and 3 northern teams were to be promoted, which is likely, it’ll become a 11-9 split in the norths favour.
So no, I don’t think the north south split is too prevalent in English football. Especially when in the last 15 years, southern clubs have only won it 3 times. The only thing that is prevalent is the number of London Clubs, which is another issue in itself.
Yeah just mentioned the northern clubs competing in the championship to another commenter. It’s definitely just a lull, realistically the 3 clubs up could all be from the north. I just noticed that a historically dominant region has lacked representation in the premier league currently. I think regardless of what happens to sustain premier league football, no matter the location clubs are going to have to master finding, and developing top talent and selling for higher, because competing with the top clubs pound for pound is not going to turn into success for anyone. I appreciate the comment and i hope youre right about the northern clubs becoming a force in the top flight again. Thanks for watching
Bro, Birmingham and Nottingham are not the north. At least I could understand the argument if u were on about stoke
@@spartanworrior4519 Birmingham and Nottingham lie above the North South divide, as per most studies. Leicester however, doesn’t.
But if you can make an argument for Stoke, which is longitudinal to Nottingham, then out of curiosity, why don’t you consider them north?
Trying to arbitrarily divide teams into North and South will always throw up weird results. Especially in relation to "Midlands" teams.
Oxford City for example are currently competing in the National League NORTH, which on the face of it seems completely bizarre.
Since when has Oxford ever been considered a Northern city?
@@danrohn8821 yeah the north south divide that isn’t based on the regions in the north, completely neglects the midlands. Stoke has more vibes of the north, but ask anyone, notts in midlands
Reminds me of West vs East Germany
Hopefully Leeds, Sheff United and Sunderland return next year
Yeah its looking like 3 clubs from the north will be back. Which is great for those towns
That’s a great video. Foreign players probably don’t want to play in the cold either
I appreciate the kind words bro!! Thank you
Oh definitely on Sunday 22nd December at the Tottenham v Liverpool. It was 22 centigrade/ 71 Fahrenheit in the shade.
Still Spurs were still absolutely 💩💩
They will play there if the money is right for them
The football clubs in the north isn't really down to the area's not being invested in you could say that it has an affect bringing in players from outside Britain however if it was just down to location then we'd see clubs like Charlton, Wimbledon and Cambridge also competing at the top.
Relegation happens when the club is mismanaged putting it down to the area not thriving is not really the case.
So that brings up the question, whats going on with the management of northern clubs?
@BuckFC its American Business owners that drive clubs into the state they are on for example Sunderland were sent down to League 1 because of Ellis Shorts mishandling of the football club. However it isn't just American owners. Newcastle were owned by the stingiest man in business Mike Ashley. Middlesbrough are owned by local businessman Steve Gibson. Hull are owned by awful Turkish owners. Blackburn are owned by the Venkeys who have always been at odds with fans.
But as I mentioned in my last comments Charlton, MK Dons and Cambridge all southern clubs yet haven't been successful. It's nothing to do with area where you are it is to do with investment in the football club with every Brighton you have Crawley. Clubs that barely survive League 2.
The League of 72 for the EFL is great the Premier League is a dream for most however getting there is the fun part being there isn't. There is a reason the Championship is the most competitive 2nd tier league because of the quality in the league.
Looking at the championship table, we will probably gain 3 northern clubs in the premier league next season without any being relegated.
We can only hope. Looks promising but still early
Dungeons and Dragons soundtrack playing discreetly in the background.
yessir, as discreet as you would like. In my last video on andy carroll i decided to curate every moment of the video with different themed music behind it but i kept having issues with copywrite so i figured id go with something that was not a licensed song lol
No idea but it’s the reason Arsenal must get it done this season. The travelling is at an all time low.
we will see if it happens, long way to go still
It's down to the Midlands and Yorkshire not doing their bit
Hey look at our crew in nottingham, doing there bit to get european football lol!! Love to see it tho
As a Burnley fan, it's just the cycle, soon southern clubs will go down, Northern ones will go up, we'll get better, they'll get worse, they'll get better, we'll get worse.
Look at Sheffield U, they are very excited cause they JUST got bought yesterday, I reckon they'll be a solid Premier side in 2-3 years, as for us (Burnley) I'm not sure yet.
Yeah its definitely cycled, i think right now the southern clubs are having success because their formula has changed. The big 6 clubs are going no where and will keep spending money, but those other clubs who adapt to spending a little less or making more than they spend while still churning out good players to replace those sold are the successful ones right now. I would love to see burnley jump right back up. We will see though. Thank you for watching!
@@BuckFC I'm worried about my club to be honest, but I think we can sneak into second, playoffs would make me nervous, but I don't know (respectfully) if Leeds have what it takes to get Auto Promotion, obviously we've struggled but I think they've looked worse due to not having to deal with what we have, we'll have to see though. (I think we'll be comfortably second in February or March ... hopefully)
Nah I think it's because teams like Palace & Fulham embraced the Corporate model while Northern clubs are still more on the traditional side. I went past Selhurst Park a couple of months ago and they are well in that Cooperate branding model now. They always seem to have an unfair advantage over the other bottom team because they are in London and they attract players like Olise, Eze, Guehi, Wharton etc because of their location
Im an ipswich town fan so last season i was alll about avoiding playoffs and luckily they did. It is also entirely possible burnley is back up in auto promotion slot. Even if youre in the playoffs burnley can win there as well!
@@BuckFC Ipswich town are probably the only team I want to do well, Wanted Sheffield and Luton to get relegated, but I'm sticking out for Ipswich, Southampton? Don't care, Leicester? Don't care, but I want Ipswich to stay in it, shake it up. (I'm actually watching Wolves games from time to time rooting for the other team)
Something really needs to be done to ward off massive investment firms and billionaires from creating a massive gap between clubs. UEFA needs to bring in a salary cap system like that in Australia and the US. Say the cap is $5M USD a week and any player from your youth system is exempt from the cap.
Thats an interesting take. Maybe it would work. Not to familiar with australias system but i do know the US has a ton of problems and in leagues like the NFL there are major work arounds for the cap.
Man, I hope you hit 1k subs and get monetized before the weekend.
Thats what im saying! Yall are getting me there!
Could this be why clubs in the States relocate?
Happens all the time over here. In the mlb a major historic club just moved to las vegas.. quite sad for the fans who livedd in that area but sporting leagues in the us are maybe the worst on earth and i am doing a full video in a couple of weeks about it
@@BuckFCworst in the world ? Dog ….
Im definitely being hyperbolic but i have a pretty good view at the state of sport in general in the us.
I think American sports are less localised in the country but some fan bases in big American cities do have good local supporters. Just a culture in the USA that it may have less of a community feel. Burnley fan like Ipswich
Thats one of the main problems, i live in a pretty small area next to a capital, albeit a small capital, with no professional teams closer than 2 hours to me, there is no support from those massive teams to their communities either. Thats just the tip of the iceberg
All the more impressive then that Northern clubs have won 2/3 of the Premier League's titles, since its inception.
Thats wild right, man u, city and liverpool truly are a force in such a small area
Quite easy northern clubs used to win the title with nothing more than northern grit. The only way for southern clubs is to find wealthy owners,
mismanagement doesnt help either
I haven't watched the video and don't know what is said, but I can tell you now a footballers wife/girlfriend wants to be down south where harrods and selfridges is. Newcastle now richest club in the world can't get their cheque book out as they going by ffp rules can entice players with high wages still other northern clubs can't.
go watch the video!!
@@BuckFC lol worth the watch!
4:20 Newcastle’s wealth is staggering
Absolutely insane, no one is close. Cant even picture it