Yeah, I get that and I don't particularly mind us being hated, it's inevitable if you're successful I think. It's the blatant bollocks, the lies that get peddled and stick that annoy me. Stuff like the emptihad bollocks and as someone else said, the idea that we are being funded by Mansour which hasn't been true for years. I was reading a couple of articles by Newcastle fans and both of them seemed to suggest that our support are a completely different set of people than it was 20 years ago. Now I think our support behaves differently these days (I think there are various reasons for that) but the idea that we had an average attendance of 40 odd thousand for years before the takeover and now they have all gone away and been replaced by tourists and "plastic" fans seems such a ludicrous idea that I assumed nobody would actually believe it and it was just said to annoy us. But reading this stuff, they definitely believed it. It's similar to the "where were you" chants we get. I always assumed fans knew it was an unfair accusation but sang it knowing it would really wind us up but I honestly think it has now become another "truth" amongst opposition fans, that we weren't there when we were shit. I think we are one of the few sets of supporters who really cannot be accused of that, unlike Newcastle fans who completely abandoned their club many years ago. Basically, I get annoyed by utter stupidity.
The rag fans contradict themselves so frequently that it's laughable. I have to tolerate a particularly tedious one who in essence knows absolutely fuck all.
1. He likes to use the Emptyhaad, but them tells me our fan base is made up of plastic fans, who have turned up since 2008. I pointed out that you can't have it both ways and he's that numb he couldn't understand what I was getting at.
2. He also likes oil money and bank rolled by Abu Dhabi, so I asked him to differentiate between our initial outlay to get to a certain level, with them having official club tractor, mattress, noodle and tampon sponsors. Again didn't have an answer. All money comes from somewhere involving business, profit and sponsorship, but they make out like the make their money in the mystical Old Trafford cash tree orchards.
3. Another of his gems is how our owners fiddle the numbers to circumnavigate FFP. He ignores the fact that we are the fastest growing club in terms of revenue and turnover, instead harping on about Etihadd and their over inflated sponsorship deal. It was pointed out that this isn't even the most lucrative stadium deal, again no comebacks.
4. Finally the old favourite "We're ruining football" well in light of the recent events involving Sanchez he reverted back to the old fail safe of their magic money trees and how they are entitled to pay these wages as the generate their own money. Again it was pointed out that we are self sufficient with him scrambling back to point 3.
The other question he always finds difficult to answer is would he rather have owners who have invested heavily to steady the ship and now own the fastest growing club in Europe. Owners who have taken nothing out and only put in to give their supporters something to cheer about and a club to be proud of. Owners who have built the club up from all aspects and angles including the Academy that is second to none, whilst also creating jobs, or
Owners who took a club over and instantly lumbered it with a massive debt. A club that uses the fans money to pay the debt off, subsidise failing business interests outside of the UK, as opposed to reinvesting in to our economy, whilst also ensuring that they pay themselves a massive bonus.
When you actually disect the ethos of both clubs it's clear which is the better run in terms of business acumen, which is more financially stable long term and which actually has football at the heart of all its decisions.
