We're losing the battle of the WikiUpdated: March 10th, 2007


City were featured on the front page of Wikipedia (link) on Friday - but we’re near the bottom of the table when it come to the length of our entry.

In case you haven’t already visited, Wikipedia is the world’s biggest encyclopedia with 1.3 million entries in English alone. It’s written by members of the public and only available online (main page here).

The site is often targeted by disgruntled football fans. During the World Cup, pages were being re-edited every few minutes during games, but people policing the site ensured that abuse was soon removed.

A few months ago Wikipedia came under attack from Man United fans protesting about the Glazer takeover. For a brief period, Malcolm Glazer’s entry stated he “was born in a test tube and had really strong arms” and described him as “the son of an new york lady of the night high on ‘bennies’”.

But according to research by science journal Nature (link), Wikipedia proved to be as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica.

The entry for City (link) has masses of information, including the fact that Richard Dunne holds Everton’s club record for the quickest 100 metres. I don’t know whether there was a pub at the end of the running track, but that is a startling fact, if true.

But with just eleven pages of information on the main City page, we have seven pages less than United’s and fall more than 16 pages short of Villa’s entry.

So I thought I’d compile a Wiki Premiership table, which ranks clubs on the number of pages at their main Wikipedia entry. Here is the result:

1. Aston Villa - 27.5 pages
2. West Ham - 24
3. Blackburn - 22.5
4. Everton - 20
5. Chelsea - 18
5. Man United -18
7. Arsenal - 17
8. Liverpool - 17.5
9. Tottenham - 16
10. Watford - 15
11. Newcastle - 14.5
11. Portsmouth - 14.5
13. Fulham - 14
13. Middlesbrough - 14
15. Sheffield Utd - 13
16. Bolton - 12
17. Charlton - 11.5
18. City - 11
19. Reading - 10
19. Wigan - 10

It’s interesting that the largest entry is for one of the League’s founding clubs, while Wigan - founded in 1932 and easily the youngest club in the Premiership - has the shortest entry.

Slightly worryingly, the clubs near the bottom of the Wiki table include a few likely relegation candidates. Let’s hope City’s 18th position is not an omen for the coming season.