[Wittmann 44]

Liverpool, ffice:smarttags" />Manchester United, Milan, Ajax, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, Juventus

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Why would you exclude Chelsea and Arsenal AFU? Under any yardstick Arsenal wold have to feature IMO. Chelsea I am less sure about as there is the sneaky feeling it could disappear in the air very easily. If one criterion is recent League winners then Liverpool have not been a big club for years. Ajax have not been a big club in Europe for a decade and the way money is going probably never will be again. How about Lyons dominance in France and their recent creditable performances in the CL? What about South American clubs like Corinthians?

In my view a club can be a big club and over the course of time cease to be a big club. In England you have Leeds recently and going back a bit further your Blackpools and Preston North Ends.

Football has undergone massive changes in the last decade especially with huge influxes of TV money and the freedom of player movement unleashed by the Bosman rule. It is almost impossible to gatecrash the elite without the backing of a billionaire behind you now. With that in mind my criterion for being a big club now would be –

Won their domestic league at least once in the last decade or
Contested the Final of the Champions League at least once in the last decade;

and

Can spend over €10 Million Sterling on a single player purchase;
Has average home gates of over 40,000;

By that reckoning in England the top 4 would all qualify.

Re Newcastle my opinion is that there is no way they could be considered a “big” club. They have the potential to be a big club but its been unrealised for a very long time and with the Board they have unlikely to change significantly. If Alldardyce goes there they will be UEFA cup challengers next season and have a decent cup run. Anything beyond that needs a change at the very top.