We are all very aware of who the established 'big six' are, the clubs in question being Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal.
These are the marquee names who have come to define the Premier League, dominating the conversations, dominating the winning of silverware, and so elite is their stature compared to the distinctly everyday Wolves and Southamptons of this world they have been given a practical shorthand term, to denote their supremacy.
They are the established ‘top six’, aside from the few occasions when another club dares to briefly muscle in on their turf. Then, to make it clear who is being referred to, they are the ‘traditional’ big six.
Really though, how odd all of this terminology is, when it’s accepted there is nothing traditional about their perceived aristocratic standing at all.
As for their established hegemony, in 24 of the Premier League’s 30 years of existence at least one of these sextuplet have finished seventh or lower come May.
Granted, Manchester City pre-takeover does a lot of heavy lifting in this statistic, but still.
🔴 According to Sportico, #ManUtd are the most valuable club in the #PremierLeague, worth $5.95bn.
— Tifosy (@tifosy) March 3, 2023
The #PremierLeague’s ‘Big 6’ teams have a collective value of more than $25bn. 💰
More: https://t.co/qYFVpILoq4 pic.twitter.com/JW30eSjHqo
Furthermore, when the Premier League first came into being back in 1992, this celebrated cabal consisted of five clubs, with Everton included and City and Chelsea nowhere to be seen.
The story goes that two years prior, representatives of Liverpool, United, Arsenal, Spurs and Everton kicked up a hefty fuss about television revenue being shared out equally and from this resulted a breakaway league, the one we know, love, and hate to varying moderations now.
From this too came the first accepted cabal at the top. The ‘big five’.
A decade on, Everton were mercilessly ejected from what was perceived to be a closed shop at the top, and soon after Spurs also lost their place as Chelsea, United, Liverpool and Arsenal qualified for the Champions League pretty much each and every year.
Across 11 seasons, only three other clubs got a look in, by finishing fourth or better – Newcastle (twice), Spurs and Everton.
The rest of the time this ruling quartet dominated proceedings, swapping titles like Pass the Parcel and finding themselves short-priced in the sports betting every August. So it was, the ‘top four’ was born.
In due course, Manchester City were – very reluctantly – invited into the VIP enclosure, their sustained success necessitating their entry. At some point too, from a succession of high finishes, Tottenham were invited back and this brings us to the present.
To an established top six that isn’t especially established. To a traditional ‘big six’ that were first grouped together about ten years ago.
The potted history above is designed to illustrate that gaining, and retaining, royal status in the Premier League is not something that is set in stone.
That it is, to an extent, fluid and from this a discussion can be had about the current health of the ‘big six’ and how it is generally regarded.
Certainly, for the time being its future appears to be secure, an appraisal based on Arsenal finishing eighth two years running in recent seasons yet still able to renew their membership without any complaints.
Both Leicester and West Ham meanwhile have made daring forays into the highest echelons of late but found themselves blackballed as potential appointees.
In hindsight, that was the correct decision, with both now battling relegation.
The wage bills from the Premier League's Big Six shows the scale of Arsenal's achievementhttps://t.co/zI9mYDc7Yu
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) March 1, 2023
Because what we have learned from Manchester City’s circumstances is that the criteria needed to join the elite comes from sustained and consistent success and when we consider how their rise happened all eyes inevitably turn to the north-east, to Newcastle and their transformational takeover.
Might the newly-minted Magpies break into the top six/big six sometime soon? And if they do, who drops out to make room, or will the phrase be broadened to a seven?
Elsewhere, beyond the influx of vast fortunes, what is particularly interesting is the challenges being made by fearless upstarts, clubs that have got their recruitment right and are busy making inroads into the ‘established’ elite via damn good football.
At the start of this season, Fulham’s Premier League betting odds centred only on the possibility of an immediate return to the Championship. Eight months on, they reside a lofty seventh, pleasantly surprising on a weekly basis.
Brentford too are impressively staking a claim for some heightened real estate, as good a run club as they come.
As for brilliant Brighton, should they continue to defy gravity and produce outstanding fare for the next couple of years, perhaps a debate will be had about the fairness of Spurs being viewed as a ‘top six’ entity, and not the Seagulls.
For the time being however the status quo of the current landed gentry will remain. History tells us though that change is always around the corner.
