And in previous decades loads of areas became part of Manchester, ironically when both clubs were formed neither of the areas they were formed in were actually in Manchester at the time
"City have more fans in Manchester than United"
- Thread starter Andycoleno9
- Start date
Won't be anywhere near as high as that in the North West for goodness sake.
Unless this is UK only?
Derbies at Maine Rd were around 50% United. Even the Kippax was half red. Don’t recall any oot accents. You wouldn’t see one blue in the Stretford End and they were confined to lower scoreboard end. Biggest myth in football, this bollox. Desperate ploy to talk United down. As previously mentioned, there was a rearranging the furniture in 1974 by govt, which enabled the idiots to split hairs and claim it made a bit of a difference but practically all Salford and Trafford were red anyway. That alone, especially with Salfords size and density made Greater Manchester red, even if the rest was evenly split. It wasn’t. Yes, Salford is/was a city in its own right but still a walk into town for most of us whereas bloos from Ashton etc… well, you’re welcome to the yonners. Actually, one of the main core hoolie elements in in the support was the notorious “Ashton Mob” so they couldn’t even claim them. Maybe Droylsden.
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Yes, I'd go along with this if strictly looking at the council boundaries, at least traditionally speaking.
Something like Chorlton and south of there more red. When you start going out towards Stockport, (East Didsbury/Burnage) it swings more blue.
Whalley Range and Rusholme quite a large Asian population and at one point people from that community weren't as obviously into football as much as others. Not when I was growing up, changing now.
A lot of students in Fallowfield who could be from anywhere and support anyone. Hulme has gone a bit studenty in recent times too and a lot of city centre workers moving in with gentrification happening. People from everywhere supporting whoever there too. The western edges of Hulme or Moss Side perhaps a bit more red at one point moving closer to Old Trafford, the closer to Maine Road more blue.
The rest of the north and east a lot more pockets of blue.
Expand it out to Greater Manchester and would say red as well, quite easily when it comes to total numbers.
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Uk only
Growing up in Essex, we were Liverpool in the 80s, then United in the 90s, we yo yo'd between Arsenal and Chelsea before going back to United and then City.
There's more United fans everywhere, United are the best supported club in virtually every city
Yes, I'd go along with this if strictly looking at the council boundaries, at least traditionally speaking.
Something like Chorlton and south of there more red. When you start going out towards Stockport, (East Didsbury/Burnage) it swings more blue.
Whalley Range and Rusholme quite a large Asian population and at one point people from that community weren't as obviously into football as much as others. Not when I was growing up, changing now.
A lot of students in Fallowfield who could be from anywhere and support anyone. Hulme has gone a bit studenty in recent times too and a lot of city centre workers moving in with gentrification happening. People from everywhere supporting whoever there too. The western edges of Hulme or Moss Side perhaps a bit more red at one point moving closer to Old Trafford, the closer to Maine Road more blue.
The rest of the north and east a lot more pockets of blue.
Expand it out to Greater Manchester and would say red as well, quite easily when it comes to total numbers.
Heading out towards Whitefield and Prestwich, it used to be pretty red, but they are right next to Salford 7. Altrincham and Sale, Timperley, Broadheath were all red strongholds.
World wide...
It is Manchester United, then Chelsea then Liverpool then Arsenal then City..
It is Manchester United, then Chelsea then Liverpool then Arsenal then City..
Don't get me started on Irish Liverpool fans!
That's why I was delighted Atalanta pumped them last season, they were all set for Liverpool in the Europa League final in Dublin!
I know several people that work for City, and even they acknowledge - privately of course - that United fans vastly outweigh city fans in Manchester.
People use the fact that United have so many fans elsewhere in the country and around the world, as a narrative to push the myth United fans aren’t from Manchester, but it conveniently ignores the fact that Manchester - as a city - is overwhelmingly red.
It just so happens that United is so well supported, that it has fans everywhere. All over the country and all over the world.
City has a little pocket of blue in Manchester and the surrounding towns, and a tiny anaemic support in the rest of the world. So yes, the vast majority of their fans are from Manchester but that’s because they don’t have any fans anywhere else, and in their home city they are hopelessly outnumbered.
In fairness to City they have a diehard section of support that was with the club through bleak times in the lower divisions, but the only fans they’ve added since their financially doped success are purely transitional and transactional. Most will abandon them when the success trails off and/or their favourite player or manager leaves.
For a club that has so much *success in the last decade, including a *treble, it’s hilariously illustrative of their relative insignificance in Manchester, that they can’t even fill their poxy stadium for a good chunk of games. A stadium that isn’t even that big. And when they do fill it for games that isn’t against marquee opposition in a big competition, it’s only because they’ve practically given tickets away.
Never has there been a club more desperate to be seen as a big club, whilst being so fundamentally hollow. The whole thing is a charade, a complete hall of mirrors. From the fake sponsorship deals, to the cardboard cut out fans. Even the celebration was lifted from another club and desperately peddled as some kind of charming, idiosyncratic, historical tradition. It’s all just so fake, witless, charmless and built on blood and sand.
People use the fact that United have so many fans elsewhere in the country and around the world, as a narrative to push the myth United fans aren’t from Manchester, but it conveniently ignores the fact that Manchester - as a city - is overwhelmingly red.
It just so happens that United is so well supported, that it has fans everywhere. All over the country and all over the world.
City has a little pocket of blue in Manchester and the surrounding towns, and a tiny anaemic support in the rest of the world. So yes, the vast majority of their fans are from Manchester but that’s because they don’t have any fans anywhere else, and in their home city they are hopelessly outnumbered.
In fairness to City they have a diehard section of support that was with the club through bleak times in the lower divisions, but the only fans they’ve added since their financially doped success are purely transitional and transactional. Most will abandon them when the success trails off and/or their favourite player or manager leaves.
For a club that has so much *success in the last decade, including a *treble, it’s hilariously illustrative of their relative insignificance in Manchester, that they can’t even fill their poxy stadium for a good chunk of games. A stadium that isn’t even that big. And when they do fill it for games that isn’t against marquee opposition in a big competition, it’s only because they’ve practically given tickets away.
Never has there been a club more desperate to be seen as a big club, whilst being so fundamentally hollow. The whole thing is a charade, a complete hall of mirrors. From the fake sponsorship deals, to the cardboard cut out fans. Even the celebration was lifted from another club and desperately peddled as some kind of charming, idiosyncratic, historical tradition. It’s all just so fake, witless, charmless and built on blood and sand.
Slightly off topic, but I live in the Australasia region, and United and Liverpool kits are by far the most common.
Next up would be Arsenal, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
I can count the number of City shirts I've seen on one hand.
Next up would be Arsenal, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
I can count the number of City shirts I've seen on one hand.
Yeah it's that West/East(Greater Manchester)divide. West predominantly Red. Actually it's not muxh of a divide but you'll find City fans on the East side of Greater Manchester however you'll get as many Reds out towards Tameside and Oldham as well.
Syeah right, the scousers far outweigh Chelsea both nationally and internationally.
City were the better supported team pre-war but United have been since the 50's. The Busby Babes, Munich and then in the 60s George Best's super star status helped to grow united's support nationally. Then worldwide TV coverage of English football and the champions league helped to grow the support globally.
Everton used to be better supported than Liverpool too.
Everton used to be better supported than Liverpool too.
That's bollocks!
It's a very difficult thing to judge, what counts as a fan?
Last year Liverpool was the most watched team worldwide.
See #176 above
Yeah, I have no connection to Manchester but my surname is Murphy and I'm from the same part of Ireland as Jimmy Murphy's dad so I sometimes like to think there might be a connection there! And I once found an old United rosette in my house from maybe the 50s or 60s that either my dad or uncles must have owned, so they must have been United fans back then too.
I consider that United really belongs to the people of Manchester and that non-Manc supporters such as myself are merely your guests! That's why I feel self conscious even saying "we" when talking about the club (I'll use it here all the time though!), and I don't really like getting involved in the OT debate because I think it's for Mancunian fans to decide!
But I've been a fan for nearly 35 years now, since the FA Cup Finals in 1990 v Crystal Palace, and really got into United after that. I guess locals probably do find it weird the devotion the club generates around the world!
Nielsen Sports, the leader in market research for such things, found they were the most watched European team last season.
Found Silent Witness's alt account
Dr John Cooper Clarke… “I’m such a Utd fan, I moved out of Manchester”
I only said it because I looked it up first.. Every single website had the amount of supporters for each club in the same order
https://www.footballfancast.com/pre...lubs-with-the-biggest-fan-bases-in-the-world/
https://futballnews.com/football-clubs-with-the-biggest-fan-base-in-the-world/
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Liverpool kill Chelsea on shirt sales and TV viewership.
This question is too complicated to answer anyway, everyone has their own subjective criteria.
I think previous to City's oil money (post war, I mean, recent history), the city was more distinctly split into red/blue by certain areas. It's still a little like that now, but their winning ways have caused an influx of new and converted fans in areas where being a blue was not that popular. Cheaper ticket prices, easier to get tickets and actually winning things facilitated this.
For example, I grew up on a Salford council estate and genuinely knew only one City fan in my entire circle of friends and family, that includes growing up in the 90s and early 2000s. When City got the oil money I saw a previously United supporting friend of mine (who admittedly was never massively into football) on a news report outside City wearing a tea towel on his head. When challenged, he said he'd always been a City fan, which of course was laughable as I knew this wasn't the case. He'd just been swept up in the moment with a few of his City supporting work colleagues, and thus a fan and season ticket holder was born. It happens.
I can tell you that living in Amsterdam for nigh on 15 years, you very rarely if ever see a City shirt, unless you venture into the Red Light District at weekend and there's a group over from England, but you see more United shirts than Ajax shirts here, worn by people the world over.
I was recently speaking to an American couple who were going round Europe, they went to Manchester just to do a tour of Old Trafford. I asked them if they didn't fancy doing a tour at City too, as they have more trophies than us recently (just a little joke) but they didn't have a clue what I was talking about. "United is the best team in England, no?" was their response.
For example, I grew up on a Salford council estate and genuinely knew only one City fan in my entire circle of friends and family, that includes growing up in the 90s and early 2000s. When City got the oil money I saw a previously United supporting friend of mine (who admittedly was never massively into football) on a news report outside City wearing a tea towel on his head. When challenged, he said he'd always been a City fan, which of course was laughable as I knew this wasn't the case. He'd just been swept up in the moment with a few of his City supporting work colleagues, and thus a fan and season ticket holder was born. It happens.
I can tell you that living in Amsterdam for nigh on 15 years, you very rarely if ever see a City shirt, unless you venture into the Red Light District at weekend and there's a group over from England, but you see more United shirts than Ajax shirts here, worn by people the world over.
I was recently speaking to an American couple who were going round Europe, they went to Manchester just to do a tour of Old Trafford. I asked them if they didn't fancy doing a tour at City too, as they have more trophies than us recently (just a little joke) but they didn't have a clue what I was talking about. "United is the best team in England, no?" was their response.
I live in southern Spain and United shirts are by far the most common among non-Spanish teams. Maybe it's a retro thing though, like someone may wear a Milan or Sampdoria shirt in the UK.
Please, feel absolutely free to use "we"! You're as much one of us as anyone else, supporting United is about much more than where you're from! There are many ways to feel a connection to the club and being local is just one of them.
City definitely get American tourists. I used to DJ at a hotel in town and regularly on City match days I would talk to Americans who had come over to watch them.
Yeah they most likely do, I mean, probably Americans aren't the best bench mark. Most of them here do not even know that Amsterdam has its own football team with an incredibly rich history - with a great stadium tour and shop too. I've also spoken to one here who asked why everyone here speaks Dutch when we're in Holland, not Denmark - and one who asked if a bridge connected the Netherlands to the UK when I said I was going home for a couple of weeks.
City also used to claim the tallest floodlights when they were at Maine Road
City fans will creep back to supporting stockport and oldham when they are shit again.
I know this will sound just as some romantic phrase but you don't choose club. Club choose you.
When you are a little kid you don't say; "Ok, lets see now who i will support". It just happens because of many reasons. Certain player, father influence, style of play, success, place of birth etc....
It is not like you take a list and start; " Juve? No. Oldham? No. Getafe? No. Arsenal? Maybe. Milan? Maybe........"
A bigger pitch than United's and all.
City's regional local fanbase has always been pretty loyal. Good core crowd numbers throughout their history (largely).
Also in City's dark days, one claim to fame was that they served 'better pies' than United ..... that bit was probably true
I was brought up in burnage/didsbury until moving back to northern Ireland (I was born in Belfast, moved to Manchester when I was a baby of 1 year old and moved back to NI when I was 10).Yes, I'd go along with this if strictly looking at the council boundaries, at least traditionally speaking.
Something like Chorlton and south of there more red. When you start going out towards Stockport, (East Didsbury/Burnage) it swings more blue.
Whalley Range and Rusholme quite a large Asian population and at one point people from that community weren't as obviously into football as much as others. Not when I was growing up, changing now.
A lot of students in Fallowfield who could be from anywhere and support anyone. Hulme has gone a bit studenty in recent times too and a lot of city centre workers moving in with gentrification happening. People from everywhere supporting whoever there too. The western edges of Hulme or Moss Side perhaps a bit more red at one point moving closer to Old Trafford, the closer to Maine Road more blue.
The rest of the north and east a lot more pockets of blue.
Expand it out to Greater Manchester and would say red as well, quite easily when it comes to total numbers.
I went to several schools but Greenend was the school I was at longest and you could count on one hand how many city fans there was. When I was growing up in burnage & didsbury, certainly around my age group it was predominantly United.
It used to be that way, but it hasn't really been true for a long time now
Kids gravitate towards whomever is winning, they are influenced more by social media than any other factor, that and the explosion of TV coverage in the last 30 years or so is how it is
Load of tosh. My kids will follow who I do, just like I did with my Dad - as is the case for thousands across Manchester and beyond.
I don't follow the same team as my Dad, or his Dad for that matter, neither do my siblings, it used to be the norm but not really anymore