Welcome everybody to Stocker 101.

My name is Taylor Rockwell, and this week we're talking about the Big Six, formerly the Big Four, and for a while just the Big Two.

The Big Six, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man United, and Tottenham emerged in the early 2010s,

and were defined by their consistent European qualification, financial power, and larger global fan bases.

However, as of 2024, this concept has become increasingly questionable. Newcastle's

Saudi-backed ownership and strong performances have challenged the established order. Arsenal,

Liverpool, and Mancity remain consistent forces. Chelsea and Manchester United, maybe less so. Tottenham

has maintained their competitiveness. They haven't won trophies. The gap between these clubs

and others like Astonville and Brighton has also narrowed, both in terms of performance and financial capability. So this all begs the question, is there still a big six? Is it still a valid concept or does it function more as a historical reference than a reflection of the current Premier League? Here with me to get to the bottom of all of this is the man himself. It's Graham the big one, Ruffin. Graham, how do you feel about that nickname? Not great, to be honest, Taylor-Rotwell, but we can add it to the list. There's not a great number of nicknames on that list that I feel great about, to be honest. But I'm excited for this episode, and I'm excited, I'm particularly excited for, I presume there's going to be some sort of ceremony at the end of this season where Manchester Knight and Spurs are kicked out of the big sex. I presume it's going to be some kind of like big boot like Bart gets in Australia. That's what I'm anticipating. First of all, a lovely Simpson's reference to start things off. Thank you for that, Graham. That would be a thing

that I feel like TV executives would start billing. It's like, who's going to lose the race to the top six? And then we'll get that level of hype because I think that is a big factor in the big four and the big six is being able to talk about these clubs with a bit of shorthand. So I look forward to the big six

relegation playoff between Man United and Tottenham. That feels like I think Gianni and Fontina

will want to happen this summer. Yeah, they could bill it as the big boot. Just lead into the

Barton Australia thing. I'm now picturing, oh God, now I'm picturing Big Ange with his big shorts

down.

Oh, no.

Graham, what avenue have you taken this down?

I do like, I hesitated before taking us down this avenue, but still did it.

I mean, should that be the trophy?

Like, if Spurs win, is there a big boot that you like lift up and it swings down and it just like kicks the Man United Crest over? Yeah, there's something in this. Again, Sky Sports executives and Gianni and Fontino rubbing their hands together. But let's talk about the concept of the Big Six. I laid it out in the introduction. Unless we're talking about Spider-Man villains, it's generally referring to the Premier League and the six clubs that tend to finish near the top of the table. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man United, and Tottenham to name them once again, in alphabetical order, not in terms of their success rankings. That would be shuffled around a bit. It wasn't always this way, though, right, Graham? Before we had a big six and the evolution thereof, let's go back to the distant old days of 2003 when we had ourselves a big four.

Yeah, well, let's go even further back than that, to be honest, to the late 90s,

where as you mentioned in your introduction, it was a big two, where you had Arsenal and

Manchester United and they were the dominant teams.

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