Quote:
|
If you can provide the facts to show that the other towns you mentioned are of any size close to Newcastle then I will consider changing my views on the matter.
|
Happy to. Wikipedia puts the population of Newcastle at 260,000, which is about a quarter that of Birmingham and half that of Manchester, which rather alters the question, really.
For comparison:
Wigan: 305,000
Sunderland: 281,000
Bolton: 260,000
Derby: 230,000
Pompey: 196,000
The only place in the UK that can legimately claim to be rather under-represented is Leeds, which is a good deal bigger than Newcastle. Don't forget Bradford, too.
Of course, what I mean by 'Newcastle' is the middle bit of a conurbation (Tyne and Wear) of five main areas, but since this includes Sunderland it actually has two Premiership teams in it. You could try and divide the conurbation up into Mackem bits and Geordie bits, but then again you can divide Brum up into City and Villa areas, Manchester United's not really in Manchester*, and as for London, well Hammersmith & Fulham's got three clubs in it (Fulham, Chelsea, QPR) but poor old Ealing, population 306,000, has no professional clubs at all.
Small team, small town, big dreams, big delusions.
* Trafford, population 212,000. On that basis, if Newcastle has one Premier club, so does Manchester, which is bigger. Alternatively, if you refer to the whole conurbation, Manchester has two and Tyne and Wear has two. QED.