Man United as a content provider

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

Heard an interview recently with Dan Harris (I think) who called Man United a "content provider" and it's obvious given the size of the club that we are having our AFTV moment on a massive scale.

Look at the title of this video above, which is filmed at Anfield with a club legend and spends the first half of the video discussing Liverpool.....what club is in the title....Manchester United. All for clicks from both disgruntled United fans or other fans wanting to laugh at our misery.

From the transfer thread, people seem to be hanging off the words of faceless aggregator accounts that ham fist the club's name or hashtag into an article that has zero fact, information or insight.

Once you notice this (and it's been going on a while) it's impossible to not see.

Any other examples of this you've seen?

 

[Trequarista10]

It's been like this for as long as I can remember tbh. Liverpool aren't too far behind in this sense actually, but United are and have been throughout my lifetime the biggest, most talked about, most referenced team. Opposition fans remember their victories against United with extra joy, they moan about the defeats with extra bitterness.

The clearest example I can recall, was one year when Chelsea won the league. 2010 I think. They won the league after their match, and Sky spent about 5 minutes talking about Chelsea's title triumph. They then spent about an hour talking about United, and another hour talking about Liverpool's top 4 hopes.

Also the commentary. When United were winning most weeks, every half chance that an opposition created was bigged up as a glorious chance, a result of the oppositions brave efforts. Every chance United missed was hailed as a result of the oppositions staunch defence. If United ever scored a winner/goal to take the lead later than about 65 minutes into the game, the commentary would always suggest that United had stolen victory, and the opposition were so unlucky as they had defended so well, despite United having spent all game battering them and peppering the goal. The tired line "hallmark of champions, grinding out results despite not playing well" - when we had had about 20 shots to the oppositions 2, and the opposition had spent he majority of the game camped inside their own half.

I think we're receiving somewhat similiar media coverage to Liverpool in the late 90s/early 00s. It was always, can Liverpool recover and launch a title bid, what has gone wrong at Liverpool etc etc. The platforms and medium has changed, but the focus is the same. United first, Liverpool second, Arsenal a very distant third. Nobody cares about City, nobody cares about Chelsea, nobody cares about Spurs. Everyone else is an irrelevant plucky underdog.

 

[Relevated]

It's been like this for as long as I can remember tbh. Liverpool aren't too far behind in this sense actually, but United are and have been throughout my lifetime the biggest, most talked about, most referenced team. Opposition fans remember their victories against United with extra joy, they moan about the defeats with extra bitterness.

The clearest example I can recall, was one year when Chelsea won the league. 2010 I think. They won the league after their match, and Sky spent about 5 minutes talking about Chelsea's title triumph. They then spent about an hour talking about United, and another hour talking about Liverpool's top 4 hopes.

Also the commentary. When United were winning most weeks, every half chance that an opposition created was bigged up as a glorious chance, a result of the oppositions brave efforts. Every chance United missed was hailed as a result of the oppositions staunch defence. If United ever scored a winner/goal to take the lead later than about 65 minutes into the game, the commentary would always suggest that United had stolen victory, and the opposition were so unlucky as they had defended so well, despite United having spent all game battering them and peppering the goal. The tired line "hallmark of champions, grinding out results despite not playing well" - when we had had about 20 shots to the oppositions 2, and the opposition had spent he majority of the game camped inside their own half.

I think we're receiving somewhat similiar media coverage to Liverpool in the late 90s/early 00s. It was always, can Liverpool recover and launch a title bid, what has gone wrong at Liverpool etc etc. The platforms and medium has changed, but the focus is the same. United first, Liverpool second, Arsenal a very distant third. Nobody cares about City, nobody cares about Chelsea, nobody cares about Spurs. Everyone else is an irrelevant plucky underdog.

This is pretty spot on tbh. Also, it was always 'Utd do it the hard way' etc

 

[edcunited1878]

Hated. Adored. But Never Ignored.

ABU Media.

It's a real thing and social media outlets have always made memes and references to United, good, bad, or indifferent because they move the needle. The rise and virality of social media the past 8 years has only furthered the chatter around United. Why do you think people literally use United in so many transfer links....because United moves the needle. They capture all football audiences. United literally live rent free to anyone who needs a football audience. Want to be relevant, talk about United.

 

[DRJosh]

Agreed.

I think our vertiginous downfall on the pitch and the colossal failures in the transfer market (getting the wrong players or being snubbed by targets) is what generates the clicks and attention in recent years.

There is a general sense of incredulity to how poorly we’re run as a club which also serves as good content.