Where AI thinks West Brom rank in English football’s biggest clubs after influencer claim | OneFootball

Influencer Danny Aarons claimed that he could name 50 clubs bigger than West Brom in the 92, but where does AI rank them?

The conversation surrounding how big a club West Brom is has taken off on social media during the March international break, following a claim from influencer Danny Aarons that he "could name 50 bigger clubs" than the Baggies.

The 23-year-old, most famous for his millions of followers on streaming site Twitch and 1.9 million YouTube subscribers, went viral for his appearance on football podcast Pitchside earlier this week, where he talked about his club, Tottenham Hotspur's, chances of staying in the Premier League.

Well-known West Brom fan and one of the podcast hosts, Tom Garratt, tried to compare Spurs' situation in the top-flight to the Baggies' in the Championship, insinuating that the two clubs, who are currently teetering above the relegation zones, were too big to be relegated from their respective divisions this season.

Danny Aarons would state that League One "was where West Brom belongs," though, questioning how much the Baggies have won in their history, which led to a debate between the two.

Whether this is a legit claim or an exaggerated one to generate a viral moment, it's caused a lot of backlash online and made people question where the Baggies, who have spent 81 of their 127 seasons as a football club in the top flight, belong in the rankings of the clubs in the 92.

Where AI ranks West Brom in English football's biggest clubs

In the wake of these discussions, Football League World has consulted the popular AI-based chat service, ChatGPT, to get its views on where West Brom ranks in terms of the biggest clubs in the Premier League and the EFL currently.

According to AI, the Baggies are the 24th biggest club in England, currently, and above the likes of Fulham, Brighton and Hove Albion, Crystal Palace and other clubs who are, at this time, in the Premier League.

This is due to their history, being one of the 12 founding fathers of the football league, winning the first division once in 1920 and being five-time FA Cup winners, too. They've spent more seasons in the top flight than any current EFL club, and are "one of the biggest non-elite historic clubs in England."

ChatGPT does go on to say that recent history does drag them down. Their last major trophy was the fifth FA Cup all the way back in 1968, and since their eight-year stay in the top-flight ended in 2018, they've spent seven of the following eight campaigns in the second tier.

Regardless, you can't argue against the pedigree that West Brom has, and a place inside the top 25 is warranted, which, when looking at it simply, would position them as one of the biggest clubs in the Championship.

Recency bias could shape extreme West Brom opinion — but the exaggerated nature is the likely cause of the viral clip

Granted, these last eight or so years haven't been too kind to West Brom, with the Baggies only finishing in the Championship play-offs just once in the last four seasons, and they're sure to make it one in five come May.

However, that doesn't make the fact that the potential of the Baggies spending just a third season in their history in the third tier even more shocking, as they're easily one of the biggest clubs in the Championship, even if recent history doesn't tell us that.

As is the case with online influencers, their persona's and actions are often exaggerated to sensationalise clips and make people talk about them. This has definitely done that, and while Danny Aarons may believe that West Brom aren't Premier League level, it would be difficult to claim that they're not at least Championship quality with a straight face.

Right now, it's looking like James Morrison has turned a corner at the Hawthorns, with two wins in a row for the first time in league action since the first two games of the season, heading into the Easter Weekend.

With seven games remaining, the onus is now on them to maintain that momentum and the four-point gap they have between themselves and safety to ensure that they don't actually become a third-tier club for the first time since 1993.