Pretty much a random shower thought but got me thinking.

A Big 6 fan has got the success, the chances at winning trophies regularly, their team generally wins most weeks, they get to see the best of the best play for their club. Their team is recognised around the world. They get to watch European football almost every year. If you can’t attend games you can watch them on TV most weeks because they get shown more often.

On the other hand, you’ve got the ungodly amount of toxicity. Big 6 fans are absolutely rabid towards each other. Every match thread is a cesspit of anger. You’re constantly looking at the other teams at the top and hoping they lose as well. You get all the mockery when your team dares to not pick up 3 points in a match. Every refereeing/VAR decision that goes against them is met with cries of corruption, that there is a conspiracy against the club or to favour another club. Is the high of winning as much as the low of losing for them?

An other 14 fan on the other hand, success is hard to come by. Other than perhaps a run at the FA Cup or Carabao Cup, maybe an occasional Europa League appearance, you’re basically cheering for not getting relegated every season. You know that chances are you may never see your team lift a trophy in your lifetime.

On the other hand (I know I’ve repeated that phrase too much), every win perhaps feels more special. And if you do win a trophy, or that European run, or that promotion from the Championship, it’s the best thing ever. You don’t have those weeks where you’re expecting an easy 4-0 win and anything less is unacceptable, you genuinely never know what you’re going to get and every win is huge. You can generally have a nice chat about your team rather than “ugh you support ___, grr grr grr i am going to tell you why they are the evil of this world”. You’re not going to see a loss memed about by the rest of the footballing world for the entire week. You don’t have to sit through an entire week of analysing why VAR has ruined football because they hate your team specifically. (Seriously, as much as Liverpool had that dodgy Spurs game, if they’d have had the season Wolves have had so far with referees there would be outrage on another level and City would probabaly have a few additional charges.)

  • DinoKea@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    We can look at this in a few categories and so I will

    Short-Term Success

    Big 6: You’ll see plenty of wins for your club, probably trophies (unless you picked Spurs) and overall good finishes. It’ll be exciting fun and watching the team will be fun. It’s a lot easier to become a fan of these teams because things are going well.

    Other 14: You are likely to have a 50/50 record at best and could be facing relegation at worse. It’s not improbable at some point you’ll employ an ugly style of football to survive and even then it may fail. FA Cups, Premier League, Champions Leagues etc. are unlikely to come to you. It can be a bit hard to get into a times because 12th place might be the good finish you’re aiming for and you could be losing more matches than you are winning.

    Long-Term Success

    Big 6: Instant gratification will usually come back to bite you. It sets your expectation high and anything but victory feels like a disappointment. If you don’t win a trophy (unless you picked Spurs) feels like a failure. You are pretty much guaranteed misery because your expectations are too high to be realistically attained. Your expectations are so high 10th place is a disgrace and even 5th is considered bad

    Other 14: Maybe you get relegated, maybe you just barely survive. Maybe your team almost went bankrupt. But you are use to the losses and can accept them a bit easier. But those wins, particularly over the big 6 are incredible. When you win the Championship or FA Cup or Europa Conference League or Europa League or whatever else it is incredible and probably 10x time better than a big 6 win. Your expectations are more realistic and 10th place is typically pretty decent and 5th is absolutely awesome

    Media Coverage

    Big 6: Absolutely everywhere, everyone is talking about your squad what went well, who was good. You’re in title race, you’re looking at this exciting manager or player to bring to your club. But at the same time if you lose it is being put in your face absolutely everywhere. I remember when Wolves beat Spurs & Man City this season. People were roasting their fans every where.

    Other 14: You’ll barely hear about your club and half the time when you do it’s really obvious they barely know what they’re talking about. If a player is playing well “They’re going to move to a bigger club”. Most pundits are just from the 6 “bigger” clubs, mainly the old “big 4”. When you beat a big 6 side it’s always what they did wrong, NOT what you did right. But I think the communities are a bit more tight knit in comparison. Also if you get relegated r/Championship just seems to be a really fun subreddit.

    Overall

    My advice is always to pick an other 14 club. Yeah, it’s rougher to get into for a start. You want to be winning and stuff. But the benefits of the long term commitment are just so much better and will give you untold joy that a big 6 club will just not be able to give you.