Quote Originally Posted by Kano View Post
I'm actually convinced it is the other way. In this modern, consumerist world, marketing is king, and our marketing is far more aggressive around the world than it ever has been. We wouldn't be marked down as one of the richest in the world if our merchandise, sales and marketing teams weren't being successful. We had the 5/6th highest shirt sales a couple of years back I believe. What helps us far more than someone like Ajax is the marketing of the PL too, set alongside our own efforts it ensures we can remain an attractive prospect and retain the focus on our recent and more historic success. All horrible, disgusting words of course, as marketing deserves no place in our world, let alone football but it is what it is now.
I think you are forgetting, though, that time moves on. Of course the EPL is big overseas - particularly in Asia. But I think that there are 2 types of club (sticking to our league). There are the likes of Manure and Liverpool - both bigger clubs than us historically because of their sheer dominance of the league in their respective heydays. They have a massive following amongst supporters of a certain generation - both here and abroad. We are just behind them historically - but never achieved such dominance in the modern era. More to the point, unlike these 2 clubs, we have not won the CL. Then there are the new boys - the Chavs and Citeh who have more recent success and who have attracted superstar players. The kids overseas - if they are into the EPL - will be all over these clubs like a rash. We are certainly not minnows in terms of the size of our following - but our star is somewhat on the wane. The pity is that we could have been bigger than anyone other than Manure if we had built on Wenger's early success, but kids at home and overseas want winners, not clubs that simply turn a decent profit with consistent CL football.