How has Newcastle Fared in the Quantifiable Club Size Index?

Newcastle United have slipped from joint 3rd to joint 6th in the Quantifiable Club Size Index after a poor season in the Premier League.

After last season’s heroic 5th place finish, the toon did brilliantly in the QCS Index, coming joint with Man City but Pardew’s men have paid the price for a poor year and are now joint with Everton.

The QCS Index attempts to quantify the size of a football club and put an end to unresolved drunken debates between fans.

The formula is simple: P + I + S + H = QCS Index. Read on to find out who are the biggest 25 clubs in England.

“P” stands for position: Taking into account a team’s finish in the last season it played.

Recent success in the league is an indication of how big a club is but to give it the ultimate precedence is wrong. It is a contributing factor to a club’s current size but not the be all and end all. A club doesn’t become big because of one good season in the top flight but it does have its importance.

The 1st placed team receives 25 points, and the 25th receives 1. In this case – the 1stand 2nd placed teams in The Championship receive 5 and 4 points respectively and the play-off winner receives three.

Newcastle finished 5th last year, which gave them 21 points but after a poor season they only achieve 10 this time round. Which makes a big difference come the end of the QCS Index.

“I” stands for infrastructure: The size of a club’s stadium.

This is a vital stat and has a direct link to clubs’ respective histories.  Infrastructure is invested in over the years and built up over time. The more successful a team the more its fans demand – so the more a club supplies.

It also gives the ranking stability. Small clubs do not become big clubs because of one good season in the Premier League. Successful teams from the past such as Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday have a foothold in the QCS Index because of the infrastructure they have built over time.

It is a strange stat, that outside the top 8 teams in the infrastructure ranking, only 4 are in the Premier League.

Over the years, the toon army have correctly invested in stadium repair and improvements – giving them 23 points in this section. Fan demand is extremely high in Newcastle and the North East in general, as their nearest rivals Sunderland, rank 4th with 22 points.

“S” stands for support: The average attendance at a side’s home matches.

There is no point in having a huge stadium if you don’t get bums on seats. The more fans attend games, the more money is pumped into clubs’ bank accounts. There is also a direct correlation between recent success and attendances at home matches. Some Premier League teams may appear high in the final QCS Index, but without much infrastructure and history they are in a vulnerable position if relegated as attendances will take a huge hit.

Also sides like Leeds, Forest and Wednesday are down in these rankings but because of the infrastructure they have built over time, promotion to the Premier League would really improve their QCS Index total.

The Magpies again finish 3rd in these rankings which – may surprise a few people now – actually demonstrates great business decision making over the course of the club’s history as the size of their stadium meets fan demand exactly. Their rivals Sunderland, are down in 7th in these rankings, with nearly 10,000 seats empty at the Stadium of Light on average at every home game.

“H” stands for history: How successful the club has been in the past.

Clubs’ history always crops up in a good old fashioned pub debate and rightly so – it is an extremely important part of a team’s heritage. The amount of trophies you have won = success = fan demand = infrastructure = higher club revenue. Teams who failed to invest in infrastructure at a time of success have dropped in these rankings. Whilst big clubs such as Man Utd and Arsenal have improved or developed their stadiums which have helped keep them at the top of English football.

History also pays homage to the fans, players and staff that throughout the history of Association Football have made their club what it is today.

Newcastle has a solid foothold in the history rankings coming in 8th above Man City. The toon may have not won a major trophy for nearly half a century but they are still up there with the biggest names in English football.

Key: CL = European Cup/Champions League (5 Points) | EL = UEFA Cup, Europa League, Cup Winner’s Cup, Inter-City Fairs Cup (3 points) | PL = Champions of England (3 points) | FA = FA Cup (2 points) | LC = League Cup (1 point).

These four elements give a club its QCS Index points tally. See the completed table below.

Club owners’ wealth, club value and club revenue were all factors worthy of consideration but are ultimately too difficult to quantify. It could be argued three aspects are also in correlation with a club’s infrastructure.

Newcastle

The black and white army have dropped in the index due to their poor league position this season. But because of clever business investments in infrastructure combined with a successful history and large fan base, the toon are one of the biggest clubs in the country. Finishing 5th in the 11/12 season rocketed them up to joint 3rd where they were competing with the biggest teams in England. They lost 11 QCS Index points this season because of their league position, which dropped them into the second group of teams with Everton, Spurs, Villa and Sunderland.

If Newcastle can compete in the top 10 of the Premier League next season, they will again be competing with the likes of Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool in the QCS Index.

Overall

Manchester United are rightly top and Arsenal comfortably finish 2nd as they are strong in every category. Liverpool come 3rd thanks to their fantastic history, which has helped build a large fan base and stadium over time. This season’s surprise package is Brighton who have sneaked into 25th place. The south coast club have invested in infrastructure and its fan base has responded, resulting in an unexpected finish.

There is a big gap between the top 5 clubs and the rest. Likewise there is another large gap between 10th (Sunderland) and 11th (West Ham).

Teams like Stoke, Norwich, Swansea and Fulham are vulnerable in the QCS Index. There is a direct correlation between high attendances and Premier League football. These clubs don’t score anything on infrastructure or history – meaning if relegated to The Championship, they would struggle to make the index. Whereas teams such as Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday, due to the infrastructure and history they have built over time – are mainstays in the index and have the potential if they reach the Premier League, to climb much higher.

Blackburn, Wolves and Sheffield United have all crept into the top 25 thanks to their impressive history. But in the years of their success they failed to correctly invest in infrastructure or lacked fan demand to do so – which leaves them lower than their potential. In a twist Wolves have recently injected cash into their stadium at an incorrect time – one of struggle – which has contributed to disastrous back to back relegations into League One.

Via Newcastle Stats

Author: @FrazBell9