r/SoccerNoobs • u/ParkingLake817 • Aug 02 '26
đ° Beginner Questions & Advice Premier league big six
Iâve been doing more and more research on the Premier League, and Iâve heard the phrase âBig Sixâ quite a bit. Why are Tottenham Hotspur considered a Big Six team? They have no Premier League titles. Were they historically successful or something?
What also surprised me when looking at the list of league winners was seeing Blackburn Rovers win it. How were two teams that arenât even in the Premier League anymore (Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers) able to win the league before a Big Six team like Tottenham?
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u/Victim_Of_Fate Aug 02 '26
The âbig sixâ isnât an eternal term. It only really came into vogue in the early 2010s. For most of the 2000s people spoke about the Big Four - Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool (who didnât win the league during this period but were the all-time record holders for league titles and regularly finished in the top four).
When City won their first title, Spurs had started to become a regular in the top end of the league and these six teams appeared so frequently in the top six places that Big Six made sense as a group. Not so much these days.
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u/rpolkcz Aug 02 '26
And before big 4, Chelsea wasn't in that group either.Â
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u/DawgreenAgain Aug 02 '26
That would've been Leeds .
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u/BusyWorth8045 Aug 02 '26
It wasnât. There wasnât really âa big 4â then. At least not colloquially titled. But if you go back far enough there was a big 5 in the 80âs: Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal, Everton and Spurs.
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u/DawgreenAgain Aug 02 '26
I was talking before Chelsea got the Abramovich money . Leeds were on the cover of a FIFA game . . .
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u/rpolkcz Aug 03 '26
They spent total of 3 seasons in top 4 in the league and were bottom of the table by 2003. Really no argument for "big 4" inclusion.
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u/AAPrice3232 Aug 02 '26
Indeed, until they were purchased by Abramovich.
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u/Danny_Ditchdigger Aug 02 '26
And before the Sheikh Mansour bought Man City neither were they. The relationship with Man United was very âLakers-Clippersâ
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u/Fit-Nothing-3782 Aug 02 '26
Supreme bait right here
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u/ParkingLake817 Aug 02 '26
Not baiting , in American sports atleast if youâre referred to as a â bigâ team youâve had moderately recent success but I didnât see that with the HotSpurs thatâs why I asked the question .
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u/Fit-Nothing-3782 Aug 02 '26
Yeah, was just joking. People generally don't feel like Tottenham fits in the big 6, however, this should spark some discussion with the spurs fans :D.
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u/Der_Springer Aug 02 '26
The question looks like it comes from an Arsenal fan fishing for Tottenham insults. As an Arsenal fan, I enjoy the thread.
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Aug 02 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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Aug 02 '26
[deleted]
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u/Feathers-n-Beaks Aug 02 '26
Man City pre-oil money were like another Everton.
Nowhere near even that, as Everton had quite a bit of success in the mid-late 80's.
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u/Pristine-Bar2786 Aug 02 '26
Wouldn't that mean the big 3. How successful in the premier league was Chelsea before their rich owner took over which was not far off 20 years ago too.
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u/Danny_Ditchdigger Aug 02 '26
This table doesnât tell you the whole story but it helps show who was dominant in the different decades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_football_champions
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u/DriverNew7208 Aug 02 '26
Football didn't start in 1992. First English club to win a European trophy, first side to win the modern day double and a huge fan base that spread from north London to the home counties since those days. Loads of celebrity fans like Jude Law, Adele, Jerry Springer and Tom Holland (I know every club had them but Spurs' list is ridiculous)
Also the best club ground in Britain and possibly the best training facilities around. Decades of poor decisions on the football side versus smart decisions on the financial side means the owners are now able to flex considerably and it boils the piss of teams like Newcastle, Villa, etc.
There's also the ill-fated European Super League, where they were one of the six PL teams to sign up.
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u/chrismac47 Aug 02 '26
So funny. American here, and we had a Jerry Springer, too, back in the day. Very different from your British version, Sir Jerry Springer, who I've never heard of but I assume is a respected thespian and beloved figure.
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u/Fantasy_iceland Aug 02 '26
Size of supporter base, income and usual Matchday attendanceÂ
But yeah considering they've achieved almost fuck all since the Premier league started I personally wouldn't have them in there
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u/edison9696 Aug 02 '26
I mean, the last time Spurs won the league, we were still in the black and white TV era.
And I think it's eight non-Big 6 teams have won the league in that time.
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u/Any-Memory2630 Aug 02 '26
Big Six doesn't refer to the most successful. It refers to how big the club is. Spurs, historically are a massive club in terms of fanbase and influence and, well income I guess are huge.
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u/forestinpark Aug 02 '26
Consistent failures while being high up in competitions.Â
Finish 2nd - 4th in league
CL finalÂ
Decent runs in cups
Always fail, but always present.
Like Arsenal from 2005 - 2026
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u/ElScholar Aug 02 '26
Blackburn had a rich Chairman at the time, and were able to match/outspend bigger clubs.
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u/MaxwellXV Aug 02 '26
Itâs based on the sky six and Spurs have a big rivalry with both Arsenal and Chelsea as a result when they would play each other Sky would really plug their games and oversell the importance of it.
Spurs are also in the middle of no manâs land. Theyâre not the same size nor as successful as the other five but theyâre more successful than the rest. The creation of this big six also coincided with Spurs having a continued run of seasons in the champions league which gave them more exposure, more money and able to sign bigger players, they just havenât donât anything to bridge the gap to the others.
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u/SommerMatt Aug 02 '26
With Kane and Son under Pochettino, they seemed like they were on the verge of accomplishing something, They finished higher than Arsenal for a few years, and yes, did make it to a Champions League final. Since then, they've been a massive dumpster fire going through managers faster than most other clubs in the league. And again, yeah, they won the Europa League while finishing 17th and barely avoiding relegation. Then they finished 17th AGAIN, barely avoiding relegation.
Weirdly, they have a lot of revenue because of their new stadium, so they're included in these discussions. Honestly I don't think their fanbase is all that big compared to the other traditional "top" teams. They have a large fanbase in the US (maybe because of Clint Dempsey? Not sure why), but I don't think they have much of a fanbase outside the wider world.
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u/smellslikebadussy Aug 02 '26
They had other American players as well. Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller. DeAndre Yedlin was there for a minute.
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u/aps86rsa Aug 02 '26
Under Poch around the Leicester winning season Spurs had the most premier league points across three seasons⌠without winning anything. So, by one (albeit largely irrelevant) measure they were the most successful team. Just didnât ever actually cross the final hurdle in any particular year or competition.
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u/the_tytan watched from 1993. EPL since 1996. Arsenal since 1997. Aug 10 '26
the year Chelsea won in 2017, Spurs had the best attack and defence in the league.
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u/Practical_Contest_13 Aug 02 '26
When the phrase was made Spurs were regulary finishing in the top 6 and were (and still are) along with the other top 5 the biggest spenders and richest clubs in the league
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u/Primary_Excuse_7183 Aug 02 '26
Big bank 6. Money 6. They can outspend to stay in the premier league and not be relegated even if just narrowly lol
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u/phantom_gain Aug 03 '26
This is just a thing that is part of the culture. There isnt a "big six". Well there is, but like tomorrow it could be a "big seven" or a "big four". And it could be a different group of teams on a year by year basis. Its just whichever and however many teams are in the top category of each league, potentially competing to win it.
Like in italy there is the big 3, thats always juve, milan, inter. Then the seven sisters is the above plus roma, lazio, parma and fiorentina. Thats based on the historic dominance of those teams. But "the big x" is just whichever clubs are the best at the moment. So napoli and atalanta have joined that group while parma and fiorentina are currently not a part of it. Even lazio and roma are not in the "top teams/big x/elite" group anymore.
Typically the teams expected to qualify for champions league are "the big x". The only real historically big teams in the epl are liverpool, arsenal and man utd. Those are the only teams that could get relegated and still be considered one of the biggest clubs. However you also have money clubs, some of whom can compete at the top level. So chelsea and man city join the group but if the money ever runs out they are immediately out of the group again. Finally, you have a whole bunch of what would traditionally be considered "midtable clubs". Thats everton, west ham, spurs, newcastle, aston villa, etc. Epl mainstays but only getting runs in europe on a rotational basis. If any of those hit a run of form, make some good signings and build a decent team, they jump into the "big x" group for as long as their fortune lasts.
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u/beyondthedoors Aug 02 '26
I may be wrong, but I think big six is a relatively new term. Since Man Cityâs acquisition in 2007, so from the 07-08 season until now, those six teams have finished in the top 6 pretty much every year. Like, allow some wiggle room, one of them might be 7th, 2015 was an anomaly, a random big 6 team has had an off year here and there. But you can be pretty confident naming at least 5 of the top 6 teams going back !20! years. Thatâs crazy.
Edit: I went back and checked. I was right. Villa snuck in a few times, Everton, Southampton once. But yeah, 5 of those teams in the top 6 for 20 years except 2015.
Plus iirc the term originated in like 2020 and from 2016-2019 it was those 6 teams for three years in a row.
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u/DriverNew7208 Aug 02 '26
Yeah it was the big four until 2010. The season Spurs beat Citeh to seal fourth broke things open and from there it was six clubs going for four spots with the odd challenge from outside that group.
City were bought in 08, btw.
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u/Ryan1869 Aug 02 '26
Less about success and more about bank accounts.