Is Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea the biggest club? Sportsmail's study finally settles football's great debate

Fans of Manchester United and Liverpool might reasonably say they are England’s two biggest teams

Supporters of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City might reasonably scoff at that, as they will play at the highest European level next season

Then there are fans from all points on the map who will, with different levels of justification, swear their club is up there with all the names above

So who, objectively, are the biggest clubs in England? We’ve used no opinion, just hard evidence to determine the answers... 

Ask most football fans if theirs is a ‘big’ club and they will tell you with conviction: of course. ‘Giants’ from the North West to the North East, from Yorkshire to the Midlands to London and across the South will point to historic titles, cup glories, bumper crowds or modern TV riches and insist: ‘We are a huge club.’

Manchester United and Liverpool, with 38 English league titles between them, might reasonably point to last Sunday’s match and argue it was a contest between England’s two biggest teams.

Certainly over the years they have enjoyed serial trophy successes, global adulation, showcased generations of stars and both have rich, stirring histories in more than one sense. Then again, supporters of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City might reasonably scoff at that, arguing that at least their teams are likely to play at the highest European level next season. They’re not scrapping around merely to squeeze into the top four.

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Fans of Liverpool and Manchester United will argue that their clubs are the top two in the land

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Liverpool fans in the famous Kop watch their side lose to Manchester United in a gripping contest

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Manchester United enjoy their Champions League win of 1999 to cap their famous Treble

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Liverpool players jump for joy after sealing their league title in 1986 before adding the FA Cup a week later

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Frank McLintock, George Graham and Charlie George celebrate as Arsenal complete the Double in 1971

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Chelsea won the second league title in the club's history in Jose Mourinho's first season in England

And then there are fans from all points on the map who will, with different levels of justification, swear their club is up there with all those names above, or getting closer by the day, or merely enduring a painful blip, perhaps of decades, but they will be back.

Yes, that’s you, fans of Leeds. And Tottenham. And Everton. And Newcastle, Wolves, Aston Villa, Sunderland, both Sheffield clubs, West Ham, Blackburn... and on and on and on.

So who, objectively, are the biggest clubs in England?

That’s the question Sportsmail answers today. We’ve used no opinion, just hard evidence to determine the answers.

The outcome might surprise you. It will certainly provoke debate.

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HERE'S HOW WE WORKED IT OUT 

Crowds

We ranked all clubs on the size of their average gates during this season to reflect contemporary pull. Then we ranked each club by the size of their biggest historic gates. Their overall crowd rank is an aggregate of current pull and also potential based on past highs.

Global fanbase

We added up the total number of fans and followers for each club on Facebook and Twitter — by far the most popular global social media platforms. Every club has official accounts.

Trophies

We counted ‘major’ trophies won by each club, giving points for each; 10pts for each European Cup/Champions League win, 8pts for each top-division English title, 5pts for each FA Cup or other European trophy win, and 3pts for each League Cup win. No ‘one-off’ trophies such as the Charity Shield are considered because they are not the product of multi-match competitions. And being a losing finalist does not count for points either — here at Sportsmail, winning is everything, second is nowhere.

Average league finish

The average league finish position for each of the clubs since 1888-89.

Player quality

We counted the number of players from each club who have played for England, all-time, ranking the clubs by total. This reflects historic ‘bigness’. We then ranked the clubs by the number of players provided to the 2014 World Cup — a measure of modern ‘bigness’. The overall ranking is an aggregate of these two.

Income

We ranked the clubs by their income for the most recent season available.

The biggest clubs have generally had the most money and been able to buy and pay the best players.

THE CONTENTIOUS QUESTIONS 

How do Arsenal finish above Liverpool?

Narrowly is the diplomatic answer! In key areas like trophies, Liverpool are on top. But in others, like crowds, now and historically, Arsenal are bigger, as they are in terms of money, itself partly a reflection of Arsenal’s global popularity in this multi-media age. Why might that be? Arsenal have consistently punched above Liverpool for most of the Premier League era, when the league has been a global commodity.

How are Sunderland and West Brom so high?

A combination of multiple historic major honours, a tradition of being able to draw big crowds plus current ongoing membership of the Premier League, which in itself brings worldwide attention, and money. Both have also fielded relatively high numbers of stars over the years.

Aren’t Leeds too low?

Leeds fans will point to the dominance of the Revie era and a Champions League semi-final in the not too distant past, to the size of Elland Road and their potential to be mighty whites again.

But there are 14 other teams with a better haul of major trophies. There are 11 others who have a higher all-time average league finish and 14 with bigger crowds when the current season and historic highs are both considered. Leeds rank only 25th of the 58 clubs in the study for the calibre of the players measured by all-time England players plus current global stars, and 23rd for global popularity, and 26th by income. They were giants for a time, some decades ago. But they are much diminished, for now.

What did Wolves do to finish so high?

They’ve won the league three times and have four FA Cups among six other major trophies. They’re comfortably top 20 in terms of all-time league position and crowds, and have higher global popularity and income than most non-Premier League teams.

The starting point, to cast the net of candidates as widely as possible, was to narrow the field to ‘big’ clubs who are currently among the 92 in the Premier League or Football League and who have played in England’s top division for at least one season, ever.

That gives us 59 contenders, from all those named above down to clubs who once spent just a few seasons, perhaps only one, at the highest level a long time ago. We’ve ranked the top 50, with Brentford, Carlisle, Northampton, Wimbledon, Oxford, Swindon, Leyton Orient, Luton and Oldham just missing out.

We ranked each of those 59 teams in six categories to assess how ‘big’ they are in each of them. We’ve considered trophies, all-time league performance by average finish since 1888-89, crowds (for this season, and historically), calibre of players over time (counting England internationals, and World Cup stars), modern global popularity (using social media followings) and money, measuring income.

‘Big’ clubs, by definition, win things, perform consistently at a high level over a long time, attract big gates to see star names, are widely followed within these shores and beyond, and have money, to buy and pay the best players.

Manchester United come out top by some distance. Nobody beats United’s pulling power in terms of attendance, considering both contemporary and historic seasons, and no club is as globally popular as them, or as rich in terms of revenue.

It is who comes second that might cause most debate. Despite their incredible trophy record, Liverpool are pipped to second place by Arsenal, the London club edging them out because of their huge crowds, global appeal and income.

Chelsea in fourth place are catching Liverpool. Manchester City are fifth, then Everton, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Sunderland round out the top 10, in that order.

West Brom in 11th are ahead of West Ham, famously never winners of the English title but also famously providers of three key players for England’s greatest triumph, the 1966 World Cup win featuring Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.

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Wayne Rooney, United's talisman, has fired Louis van Gaal's side into the Champions League places

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Chelsea won the first trophy of Jose Mourinho's second stint, claiming the League Cup earlier this month

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Arsenal ended a ten-year trophy drought by coming back to beat Hull in a memorable final last May

Generations of Hammers fans will have their club fixed in their minds as bone fide giants partly because of the richness of that Sixties summer. Yet they have as much major silverware in their 120-year history as Bolton: four cups, and the last one was 35 years ago.

Southampton, in 15th place, and Stoke, in 16th, are the other current Premier League teams in the top 20 biggest clubs. Nine of the top 20 clubs ranked by trophies alone play outside the Premier League. One of those, Portsmouth, are in League Two, and another two, Sheffield United and Preston, are in League One.

Six of the biggest 20 clubs — Wolves, Leeds, Blackburn, Sheffield Wednesday, Bolton and Nottingham Forest — play outside the top division. It may surprise many that Wolves are tied with Leeds but their nine major trophies to Leeds’ seven gives them the edge.

The six Premier League clubs outside the top 20 could all be argued to be punching above their weight to be there.

They are Leicester (21st), Burnley (26th), Crystal Palace (30th), QPR (31st), Hull (32nd) and Swansea (34th). Yet there are clubs vying for promotion like Derby (22nd overall), Norwich (23rd) and Middlesbrough (29th) who would inevitably leap up the rankings by joining the Premier League, moving from ‘middling’ to quite big very quickly. They still have some way to go to catch United though.