Howmanheyman 26877 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 So in the beginning ITV once bought the exclusive rights to the top division and the media decided there was a 'big 5'. This was Liverpool, Everton, Man Utd, Spurs and Arsenal. (For the record, Spurs never ever looked like winning the title and hadn't done so for over twenty years. Arsenal only came good at the end of that particular decade as well. Fast forward a few years, SKY decided after the two years we were in it that there actually was a 'Top 4'. We all know the teams. I noticed that as soon as Spurs started to look good and qualify for a CL place the teams became a 'Top 5'. This lasted five minutes before Man City had to be put in it and all of a sudden there's a 'Top 6!' Well here's the thing. Seen a bit of SKY Sports lately and it appears now that LFC are currently in 7th the league table they show always goes down to the, (can you guess?).......... ........ Yep! 7th position. So....... Is there now a 'Top/Big 7'? I'm struggling to keep up now. If LFC fall to tenth will there be a 'Big 10'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 70 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Freddy S was better than Mickey Ashley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 26877 Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Freddy S was better than Mickey Ashley. Reported and PM on it's way to Ant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 3997 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Dont care what the top ??? is as long as we're in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonTheMag 4 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Its the Big Two or Three now I'd imagine. When it was the Big 4 for the last few years it was because all four sides had a shot at winning the title each season. So now I'd really only consider the two Manchester clubs as being able to do that, thus a Big 2. You can argue Tottenham's inclusion, but we all know thats ridiculous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayatollah Hermione 12767 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Dont care what the top ??? is as long as we're in it. This tbh. If we keep going like this, people will have to take us seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anorthernsoul 1221 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Who gives a fuck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CabayeAye Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I love the look on the Sky pundits faces when they have to talk about Newcastle being in the race for the CL! If us and the corpse robbers were swapped places, the tables would indeed only show the 'big 6' and we'd still be in the frame for relegation. Remember gents, we are still only a flash in the pan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 26877 Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Its the Big Two or Three now I'd imagine. When it was the Big 4 for the last few years it was because all four sides had a shot at winning the title each season. So now I'd really only consider the two Manchester clubs as being able to do that, thus a Big 2. You can argue Tottenham's inclusion, but we all know thats ridiculous Saying Liverpool and Arsenal had a chance of winning the title these last few years is also ridiculous but there was still a 'Big 4' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonTheMag 4 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 (edited) True, but quite recently Liverpool did come in second. Granted neither of them looked like winning it, but all four were generally in with a shout I think. More so than Chelsea, us, Liverpool, and Arsenal are now. Edited February 7, 2012 by JonTheMag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 26877 Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 I actually thought it had more to do with the fact that SKY and Co had decided that these were England's CL representatives even the odd season they weren't! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bictor 0 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 atm there is 3 teams fighting for the premier league and 4 teams going for champions league. Its a lot better than the normal top 4 where we knew who would finsih there every season. i dont know why but the premer league has got a lot more competitive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 26394 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Not wanting to sound like LM but it'll take more than 24 games for us to be in the big anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew 4222 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 people, you dont have to qualify pessimism with "not to be like Leazes" I get what you're saying but really you're only as good as your most recent efforts are teams coming to us saying "they were in the championship a couple of seasons ago" I have my doubts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 26877 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Not wanting to sound like LM but it'll take more than 24 games for us to be in the big anything. To be honest I'm making the point that the big whatever has to include Liverpool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 The 'Big 5', as it was, was definitely a media invention rather than truly representative back in the 80s. Ipswich had as big a claim as the likes of Spurs to be in it although they weren't supported by numerous hacks so didn't get in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 26877 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 When the 'big 5' was around, Forest should definitely have been in it, Ipswich's time had been and gone by then. Although Forest were never going to win the league again they were always a good side getting to finals. I think the top and bottom was this, Granada (North-West) and Thames (London) ran ITV sport, Everton, (because they had a good side) were included, as were Liverpool who were the best Club in the country by a mile, and Man Utd who were just a good cup side. That was Granada's lot. Thames had Spurs and Arsenal. Both clubs came nowhere near being realistic challengers for the title until 1989 when Arsenal won it. I think this was the original meaning behind the 'big 5' title IIRC, i.e. clubs that could actually win a title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Aye, I suppose it was more mid/late 80s thinking back. And the ITV regions thing is probably spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 26877 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 I'm pretty sure Elton Welsby, (remember him?) was Granada's Roger Tames till he got the main gig but there was definitely a bias towards showing the five teams mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 From that era I also remember talk about a Premier / breakaway League about 5 years or more before it happened. Even when Newcastle weren't in the top flight they were included in the clubs being mentioned as it was initially mooted in papers like the NoTW that it would be on the basis of invites and the clubs with the best attendances would be the ones invited to join. I suppose that was the bigger clubs wanting a bigger share of the TV revenue even back then. I also remember, as an aside, the ITV regions being separate and them doing their own shows. Meaning on a Saturday morning that Tyne-Tees had this absolutely shit show fronted by Paul Frost for a while before they succumbed to pressure and started showing Tiswas. I think Stevie has mentioned before how ugly people were on telly back then. Paul Frost ffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McFaul 35 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 From that era I also remember talk about a Premier / breakaway League about 5 years or more before it happened. Even when Newcastle weren't in the top flight they were included in the clubs being mentioned as it was initially mooted in papers like the NoTW that it would be on the basis of invites and the clubs with the best attendances would be the ones invited to join. I suppose that was the bigger clubs wanting a bigger share of the TV revenue even back then. I also remember, as an aside, the ITV regions being separate and them doing their own shows. Meaning on a Saturday morning that Tyne-Tees had this absolutely shit show fronted by Paul Frost for a while before they succumbed to pressure and started showing Tiswas. I think Stevie has mentioned before how ugly people were on telly back then. Paul Frost ffs. Paul Frost . Things were so bad Duncan Wood was billed as the "housewives favourite". You are right Alex, I saw a documentary about it mentioned on the other thread the other month. The big five agreed they couldn't be just a big five and that be it, so they invited five others (we were in Division Two at the time which shows even then everyone knew we were THE sleeping giants), it was Newcastle, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Southampton and Chelsea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Cathy Secker was alreet like, tbf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McFaul 35 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Cathy Secker was alreet like, tbf Well too good for Pedro anyway. I think Pam Royal and Wendy Gibson were about as good as it got. Having said that Dawn Thewlis gets better with age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Actually I've just googled Secker and I take that back. Thought she was nice at the time though. Just shows you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 26877 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 I think each region had to contribute something to the national audience. Granada and Thames did most of the bigger programmes like 'Minder' and the football, Tyne Tees did stuff mainly for kids like 'Razzamatazz'. (The main presenter had a beard as well). Too young to appreciate it at the time but Kate Bush on here......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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