Sheffield Wednesday v Sheffield United: Who are the bigger club? AI decides | OneFootball

The Blades and the Owls are set to face each other once again this season after the former narrowly missed out on promotion

City rivals Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United don’t see eye to eye on much, and certainly not when it comes to the size of their respective clubs.

With the Blades narrowly missing out on promotion back to the Premier League with a play-off final defeat to Sunderland, the Steel City derby is staying in the Championship for another season.

As ever, with the two clubs fighting it out in the same division, debates will continue to rage about which club is the “bigger” of the two.

To try and decipher who has the best claim to that throne, we’ve enlisted the help of ChatGPT, which breaks the debate down into a few categories.

Wednesday and United supporter base compared

The first element brought up by the software is a very legitimate angle of the debate, and that’s the size of the respective fanbases.

This isn’t an easy thing to nail down, but one of the easiest ways to do so is in the modern day is through social media following.

Research conducted a few years ago by local paper The Star showed that the Blades had the greatest online following, with 2.3m across all the mainstream platforms, compared to the Owls’ 854k.

Given that at the time of writing, on Instagram alone, United boasted 750k followers to Wednesday’s 148k, it appears little has changed in that dynamic.

When asked, ChatGPT put this down to the Blades having more recent Premier League presence, which is likely to be true, with United finding themselves in the top tier in an era where interest in the division is at an all-time high, as is true with social media in general.

Hillsborough Stadium and Bramall Lane pitted against each other

Another way to settle the debate is to look at the respective homes of the two teams.

Hillsborough Stadium, home of Wednesday, can hold up to 39,700 supporters, reduced recently due to safety concerns, whereas Bramall Lane holds 32,700.

Comparing each side’s last home game of the previous season, Wednesday registered an attendance of 28,346, whereas United clocked 26,543, neither at full capacity.

Given the context that the Owls were stuck in mid-table with little to play for, and the Blades were warming up to fight it out in the play-offs as favourites, this appears to suggest Wednesday attract a bigger in-person following.

United and Wednesday achievements compared

Chalking that up as a draw as far as fandom goes, the last element to consider is achievement.

ChatGPT hands this point to the Owls, with a trophy cabinet containing four First Division titles, three FA Cups, a League Cup and a Community Shield, whereas the Blades have one First Division triumph from the 20th century and four FA Cups.

But, again, the Blades edge it with recent success, having spent more time in the top tier and fighting it out towards the top of the Championship, while Wednesday struggle with financial issues and have at times struggled to remain even in the second tier.

In terms of head-to-head games, it’s incredibly close, with United taking 51 wins, Wednesday taking 48, and 47 meetings ending in a draw.

The chatbot concludes by handing Wednesday merit for legacy, stadium size and historical prestige, while marking the Blades up for current popularity and recent success.

It’s an extremely close debate, which makes it an interesting discussion, but depending on how you define bigger, Wednesday retain the greatest legacy, but the Blades are the more successful and more notable of the pair based purely on the modern day.