Back in 2002, MMU did a survey of City and Utd's season ticket fan-base and found:
This survey was done at possibly the zenith of Man Utd's strength, they had just won the Treble, and City had just been relegated again under Joe Royle, and we had a stadium that had been reduced in size to 34,000.
City were shortly to move to the Etihad, and then of course experience the takeover.
Where are we now? In reality, fans are stubborn so and sos. It takes a generation to change habits, but surely the last two decades of a new stadium and unprecedented success for City have had an effect?
If the two clubs did that survey now, I think they'd find a lot more City than Utd in Manchester. Anecdotally, I see a lot more City than Utd colours in Manchester, and when I say a lot more, I mean it's actually rare to see Utd fans out and about in Manchester now.
Amongst match-going fans I reckon it must be 3:1 City. Overall, higher.
There are social media surveys and digital trends etc which show Utd as No.1 but City increasing dramatically. I watched the highlights of games on tour, and I noticed they were well attended e.g. 60k against Yokohama.
How long before those dinosaurs in Fleet St realise that the world has changed? Perhaps the problem is that they are staffed by Man Utd fans who grew up in another era.
This comment was motivated by the title of a new City book: "A treble without applause." Could a title ever be more apt?
- Manchester City had 16,481 season ticket-holders, 40% of whom lived in Manchester.
- Utd had 27,667 seasin ticket-holders, 29% of whom lived in Manchester.
- The result being that City fans were much more likely to be Mancs, but that Manchester in 2001, had marginally more Man Utd fans: 7,808 : 6,678.
This survey was done at possibly the zenith of Man Utd's strength, they had just won the Treble, and City had just been relegated again under Joe Royle, and we had a stadium that had been reduced in size to 34,000.
City were shortly to move to the Etihad, and then of course experience the takeover.
Where are we now? In reality, fans are stubborn so and sos. It takes a generation to change habits, but surely the last two decades of a new stadium and unprecedented success for City have had an effect?
If the two clubs did that survey now, I think they'd find a lot more City than Utd in Manchester. Anecdotally, I see a lot more City than Utd colours in Manchester, and when I say a lot more, I mean it's actually rare to see Utd fans out and about in Manchester now.
Amongst match-going fans I reckon it must be 3:1 City. Overall, higher.
There are social media surveys and digital trends etc which show Utd as No.1 but City increasing dramatically. I watched the highlights of games on tour, and I noticed they were well attended e.g. 60k against Yokohama.
How long before those dinosaurs in Fleet St realise that the world has changed? Perhaps the problem is that they are staffed by Man Utd fans who grew up in another era.
This comment was motivated by the title of a new City book: "A treble without applause." Could a title ever be more apt?