Cities v. Towns

 With Southend being made a city on the death of David Amess we were discussing what benefits being a city would bring to the party. I stated quite seriously that we would get a better standard of football on the basis that more cities played in League One while more towns played in League Two.

I decided to check that out so I started with the Premier League expecting all bar a couple of teams to be from a city. Guess what? All teams bar a couple come from cities. The two mere towns are Burnley and Watford who are often near the foot of the table and sometimes get relegated before returning to fight again.

The reason that bigger teams come from cities is the population. More people in the area will lead to better finances so better players can be purchased leading to better results.

Continuing the analysis I looked at the Championship and found that 16 teams come from a city while 8 teams come from a town. The cities are still winning at this stage and I expected the proportion of cities to decline as we head down the table.

While I was doing the analysis I came across three cities with seemingly NO football teams and the three were Ripon, Wakefield and Westminster. I know, however, being a football fan that there is always a team if you are prepared to look for one. I know this from a church service where it was stated that Worthing has no football team. I knew that both Worthing and Worthing United were competing in the pyramid but unless a team is in the Football League then for post people it might as well not exist.

The lowest level of football for cities was, I found, Westminster Wanderers playing in the Southern Sunday football league. I did not hunt for a Saturday team due to time running out before the Arsenal match. Ripon City play in Division Two of the West Yorkshire League and Wakefield play in the Sheffield & Hallamshire League at Level 11.

So to the point in question. Does League One have more CITIES and does League Two have more TOWNS. I was surprised by the result. Both of them have 9 teams from Cities and 15 teams from Towns. The result is a draw. Equal numbers.

Southend United, who happen to be in the National League right now, have no better chance of being in League One due to being renamed a city. What a disappointment!