THERE IS no other city in Europe that has such a density of top-flight clubs as London. The Premier League, in 2023-24, will include seven clubs from the UK capital, more than any other capital city across the continent. Admittedly, only three of the seven have ever been league champions, but in terms of support, financial power and influence, London has three of the “big six” in English football and has three clubs capable of drawing 60,000 people to their home games.
All 12 of London’s clubs have appeared in the top flight at some stage, if you allow AFC Wimbledon the heritage of the original Plough Lane club and pre-Premier history. Even little Leyton Orient tasted first division football in 1962-63. London didn’t become relevant until the inter-war years when Arsenal won the first league title in 1931 and then proceeded to dominate the rest of the decade. After WW2, Arsenal started reasonably well but from 1953 to 1970, won nothing. Tottenham had their golden spell in the 1961-1967 period and Chelsea didn’t become a major force until 2004, despite some successful but spasmodic periods.
| League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | |
| Arsenal | 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1971, 1989, 1991, 1998, 2002, 2004 | 1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2020 | 1987, 1993 | 1970, 1994 |
| Charlton | 1947 | |||
| Chelsea | 1955, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2015, 2017 | 1970, 1997, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2018 | 1965, 1998, 2005,2007, 2015 | 1971, 1998, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2021 |
| QPR | 1967 | |||
| Tottenham | 1951, 1961 | 1901, 1921, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1981, 1982, 1991 | 1971, 1973, 1999, 2008 | 1963, 1972, 1984 |
| West Ham | 1964, 1975, 1980 | 1965, 2023 | ||
| Wimbledon | 1988 | |||
| 20 | 36 | 12 | 13 |
Success on the pitch meant the clubs were able to appeal to supporters beyond their locality, but by the 21st century, fandom was no longer something that was representative of its neighbourhood. There are still Arsenal and Tottenham fans in the near vicinity of their respective stadiums, but population trends, immigration and the return of urban dwelling have changed the demographic of those parts of London where the clubs now reside. You only have to see the mass movement of people on matchdays to realise that fans commute to their favourites London clubs. In the 1970s, Dr Desmond Morris, in his excellent book, The Soccer Tribe, highlighted the catchment areas for each London football club. A similar study today would surely generate a very different map. Your average Arsenal fan is more likely to come from Stevenage, St. Albans or the Borough of Havering than North London’s Finsbury Park. Many West Ham supporters probably know Basildon, Southend or Brentwood better than the good old east end.
The top London clubs are global entities, with Arsenal and Chelsea ahead of the rest. For example, the social media following of these two clubs, across FB, Twitter and Instagram, is 85 million and 114 million respectively. Tottenham’s following is around 52 million and the next highest is West Ham United on 8 million. This demonstrates the popularity that has built up over decades, the clubs’ marketing skills and the efforts made to globalise their brands.
In terms of success on the field, the London clubs have largely underperformed in recent years. Only Chelsea have won the Premier League since 2004 and the Blues remain the only London entity to win the Champions League. In 2023, Manchester City won the competition and made Manchester only the second city to provide two winners. Given the size of both Arsenal and Tottenham, their recent trophy hauls has been modest in the case of the former, and pretty poor for Spurs. West Ham have just won their first major prize since 1980. Brentford, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Millwall and Leyton Orient have never lifted a piece of silverware.
Some clubs have, historically, suffered from being located in the hinterland of their bigger neighbours; Fulham, for instance, have had to live with Chelsea at the other end of Fulham Road, while QPR have also been affected by their close proximity to London SW6. Arsenal and Tottenham are just six miles apart, although neither set of fans would ever consider switching sides. The partisan nature of football means that Millwall fans are Millwall fans and West Ham fans are West Ham fans – there is little room for a neutral supporter within the myopia of football allegiances.
Each set of fans have their own characteristics and some wags have often suggested they can tell a Chelsea or Arsenal fan within seconds of meeting them. The days of massive mobs causing problems in the provinces and on public transport have largely gone or have been reduced to a minority activity – you certainly don’t bump into marauding groups seeking out a punch-up with visiting fans. In terms of good support, which can be translated as “intimidating” or “partisan”, we seem to have passed the golden age of intensity, although the recent trend of throwing missiles at players is a throwback to the days when booted mobs used to be a moveable mass of humanity as the battle shifted on the terraces.
London football has some good stadiums that are a big improvement on the past, even if nostalgists long for the vast crumbling steps of Chelsea’s old Stamford Bridge, a place where one could die of exposure during the club’s 1980s decline, or the donkey-jacketed haven of Upton Park’s South Bank. Complaints about the modern atmosphere at football grounds often forget that the generation that created the heady vibe of the 1970s and early 1980s are now popping their medication while watching their football courtesy of Sky or BT. The gentrification of London football has created a different soundtrack, one that is being filmed on smart phones by “authentic experience”- hungry members of generation X and millennials.
London football used to vibrate to the prospect of derby games, but today this arguably means very little to the players. The top clubs are basically teams of hired hands from all over the world, players who will have no affinity with bragging rights in north London or the decades-old rivalry between clubs. The derby is for the fans, who care more about putting one over on another capital club than the players. Just listen to the Arsenal or Tottenham crowds – their support of their favourites is based on their hatred of the other north London outfit.
Football has never been more popular, but London has many distractions that put the game in its place. Not only is the capital more cosmopolitan than any other part of the UK, but it is – rightly or wrongly – the centre of the universe for so many activities and pastimes, be it art, theatre, socialising, travel, finance and most aspects of cultural life. For all the people who are interested in football, there are just as many who have no affection for the sport. And a big percentage of the population is always on the move or are residing in London on a temporary basis. That’s one of the reasons why not a single London football club can claim to be representative of the capital city.
GAME OF THE PEOPLE 