Mike O Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 (edited) Following all the debate on Rangers and Celtic joining the Premier League, the thought crossed my mind as to what would happen if you started the whole thing from scratch, with the brief that all major cities in the UK are represented. Who would your inaugural 20 teams be? Based on size of population, I'll kick off with the following: London (pop @ 7.2 Million) - Arsenal, Chelsea Birmingham (992000) - Aston Villa Leeds (720000) - LUFC Glasgow (560000) - Celtic Sheffield (512000) - Sheffield Utd Bradford (467000) - Bradford City Edinburgh (450000) - Hearts Liverpool (440000) - Liverpool Manchester (420000) - MUFC Bristol (380000) - Bristol City Wakefield (316000) - N/A Cardiff (310000) - Cardiff City Coventry (305000) - Coventry City Nottingham (285000) - Forest Leicester (280000) - Leicester City Sunderland (280000) - Sunderland Belfast (280000) - Glentoran Newcastle upon Tyne (259000) - NUFC Brighton (248000) - BHA FC Hull (240000) - Hull City All of which goes to show how woefully crap LUFC are at representing the third largest city in the UK (also bearing in mind that rugby league town Wakefield is on their doorstep), and how cities / towns such as Portsmouth, Stoke, Wigan, Blackburn and Boro should be very grateful for punching well above their weight of population. Edited April 23, 2009 by Mike O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueBeard Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Septic & Glentoran??? Not sure who my starting 20 would be, but it wouldn't be based on current success, more on my favourite clubs. Therefore, a hell of a lot of EPL teams wouldn't figure :D Alternatively, we could try a total shake-up of the promotion/relegation system - how about 8 up, 8 down: - Relegated: - WBA Middlesbrough Blackburn Hull Sunderland Tottenham Portsmouth West Ham Promoted: - Wolves Birmingham Cardiff Burnley Sheffield Utd Swansea Preston Bristol City (f*ck Reading) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjd Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Belfast (280000) - Glentoran Surely it would Linfield ? Be some cracking away trips if that happened!! Like the way youve left out Sperz! But no Gers ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexelk Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 it wouldn't really lol, Windsor Park is a sh*thole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjd Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 I know ive been there, but it would still be a great day out! Belfast is my favorite uk city, some of nicest people ive ever met. Im sure we would be welcomed by the Linfield fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike O Posted April 23, 2009 Author Share Posted April 23, 2009 I picked teams based on their current standing and Glentoran are currently a point ahead of Linfield, similarly Celtic are currently ahead of Rangers. I love the idea of 8 teams being relegated every year but still can't get my head around Wakefield being the Uk's 11th biggest city. I had a girlfriend up there once and it's best described as a hole, not a city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjd Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Croydon is actually one of the biggest urban areas in the uk (biggest town that isnt a city) but its never recognised as such because of its proximity to London. This is good news for our new league - it means Crystal Palace get to stay where they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWestwayWonder Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 (edited) I see what you did there Mike, very much a north american system of having a team for each center of population. Truth be told, this can backfire sometimes as any hockey fan in the NA knows. But its a very interesting concept. Mine is a bit like Bluebeard's. If I was really gonna build the PL for sentimentality and rivalries, and set all bias aside, it would look like this 1. Chelsea 2. Arsenal 3. West Ham 4. Spuddies 5. Milwall 6. Villa 7. Southampton 8. Pompey 9. Forrest 10. Derby 11. Liverpoolofvomit 12. Ipswich 13. Man U 14. Everton 15. Newcastle 16. Leicester 17. Leeds 18. Sheff Wednesday 19. Coventry 20. Sunderland an honorable mention to Fulham, Wolves, Man City, Norwich and WBA Edited April 23, 2009 by TheWestwayWonder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barn Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 mine would be a bit like the old 1st division, the best 20 teams in ENGLAND and not much money flaoting about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad_mac Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Interesting concept mike, but I have to ask. How do you decide who gets promoted to the new premiership? What if Linfield don't make it, but manage to win their league the next year. Then the bottom 3 don't include a team from Northern Ireland, then who gets in? Lets say it is Celtic, Cardiff and Forrest that are relegated; are you saying that only teams from Wales, Scotland and England get in to replace the teams being relegated seeing as they are from the respective countries of those being relegated? What about thenew "Championship" teams. They play to see who makes it, but the teams relegated that year are from N Ire, Scotland, and Wales that year! So, are the Championship winners that year now out of luck? Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorkleyblue Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Bristol (380000) - Bristol City OI! O! NO! City are all inbred Pikey scum and should not even be allowed to grace ANY league. Gotta be ROVERS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike O Posted April 24, 2009 Author Share Posted April 24, 2009 OI! O! NO!City are all inbred Pikey scum and should not even be allowed to grace ANY league. Gotta be ROVERS! Touched a nerve Kev? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorkleyblue Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 In a HUGE way Mike - city are scum and always have been AND they play in RED! :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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