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The Premier League is what all teams within England aspire to. However, with only twenty places available, it's inevitable that there will always be a number of very big clubs who find themselves on the outside enviously looking in. That's certainly the case for the 2009/10 season with some real heavyweights battling it out in the Championship, and there are even some big names who find themselves outside the top two divisions.

Here's a rundown of just a few of the big clubs that you won't currently see on the Premier League Match of the Day show:

Newcastle United:

With a stadium capacity of over 52,000 and some of the most passionate fans in world football, there is no doubt that Newcastle United qualify as a "big" team. In recent decades, they've had a succession of superstar players including Alan Shearer, David Ginola, Peter Beardsley, Andy Cole, and Kevin Keegan.

Keegan also went on to become their manager and, under his leadership, they memorably came agonizingly close to winning the Premier League in 1996, only to lose out to Manchester United. Many will also remember their thrilling victory (thanks to a Faustino Asprilla hat-trick) against Barcelona in a Champions League match in 1997, and they also were runners up in the FA Cup in 1998 and 1999.

If the 1990s heralded fresh optimism for Newcastle's fans, the next decade was to be mainly characterized by frustration. The last meaningful trophy to adorn the St James' Park trophy cabinet was the Fairs Cup in 1969 and this long trophy drought has become a burden.

It was still a surprise when the club were relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2008/09 season, and relegation contributed to an exodus of the club's biggest name players, such as Shay Given, Obefemi Martins, Michael Owen, and Mark Viduka. Nevertheless, they remain a considerable force at Championship level and are expected to challenge strongly for a return to the Premier League.

Middlesbrough:

Newcastle weren't the only North East giant to suffer the ignomy of relegation in 2009. Their close rivals Middlesbrough joined them in dropping through the trap door, largely due to the inability of their strikers to find the net. Middlesbrough might not be quite as big a box office draw as Newcastle. However, with a stadium capacity of nearly 35,000 and a chairman who has provided admirable financial backing, their fans expect to feature in the Premier League. This is, after all, a club that won the League Cup as recently as 2004 and were runners

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