It takes a fair while to oust the big big teams and their reputations at the start of the game, even if you're also a big team. Eventually it will all alter based on results and trophies, but it does take quite a while.
If you or anyone else has a bit of difficulty getting on board with that, just look at Liverpool. They haven't won anything substantial since 2005, and haven't won the league for donkeys years yet still despite not even being in the champions league are refered to as having a great reputation as a club and of course a great history. It's slipping as they continue to fail at gaining any noteworthy success, but it takes a long time without a catastrophic fall from grace for a hard fought reputation to really suffer and ebb away.
