The damage done by 20 year's inferiority to Man United

[The perfect fumble]

Ah yes, the "you have emotional problems but whey the fuck don't you man up" school of psychiatry. That should do the trick. I now don't expect to see another thread about bias for about, oh I don't know, say a little over two days?

The most conservative analysis of supporters estimates Utd has over 300 million fans worldwide, that's a large constituency for a media largely driven by advertising and subscriptions. On the simple basis of giving the punter what he wants Utd is going to get a positive spin and their rivals, particularly City, grudging lukewarm praise when they do well, and caustic criticism when they stumble.

That's the insecure/paranoid angle.

There are about 3 million Man United fans in this country. That means there are 57 million who don't support them. And if there's anything that our title win in May should tell you it's that the vast majority of non-Man United fans love it when they lose or cock up.

So using your logic, that the papers slant their stories to please their audience, then there should be much more negative press than positive press for Man United.

Interestingly, a lot of their fans think there is an "ABU" slant in the press for this exact reason.

But my thread is about much more than just the continual "agenda/bias" bleating. It's about the fact that every time we put tickets on sale, an element of our support (and I still think it's mainly the young ones) start fretting about whether it will sell out. Every time we start a song, people start fretting about whether it is "rag-like". A couple on here have even admitted that their first thought when we are losing is what their United mates will say.

57 million people, the vast majority of whom don't give a monkey's nuts about football, though you are right, there are a large number of football supporters who's only commonality is they hate Utd, but that hatred is manifested in media terms in not reading about Utd, or not being particularly bothered when Utd is being discussed, as long as their Liverpool, or Arsenal or Chelsea fixation is sated, the world keeps turning.

As for the younger fans, they've spent their lives under Utd's shadow, it's going to be a while before that gloom recedes.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Through spending far too much time on here I honestly think that a large section of our younger fanbase have become permanently damaged by the club spending the last 20 years playing second fiddle to Man United. Us older fans remember City being more or less equals to United in terms of success and fanbase. We remember when City had legions of fans in Manchester, and were acknowledged nationally as one of the country's biggest clubs.

But for fans under about 30 there are a large section who are totally and utterly insecure. Totally paranoid. They see bias in everything. Everyone is accused of being "a rag". Now City have become successful they have become obsessively concerned with comparing the club to United. They are frightened to death that even though we have a better team, United might continue to dominate the headlines.

So you get these "Reds Under The Bed" paranoid blues sitting with the remote control in their hand, counting the number of City goals on the Match of The Day credits and going mad if there aren't more than United. You get people watching Sunday Supplement purely so they can get outraged at a bunch of professional journalists being paid to give a contraversial opinion. You get accusations of pro-United agendas everywhere from the MEN to the BBC to Sky to FIFA to the referees. You get every signing, or non signing, looked at in regards to how it will be perceived by Man United fans.

I can't blame you I suppose. For twenty years in Manchester the majority of kids are United. Most of them are fucking wankers brought up on gloating about a team they only have a passing interest in. It can't have been easy being a blue in a school full of these shallow tossbags.

But can't you hold your heads up and be proper champions? All they are now are an equal footing rival, like Chelsea. Nothing more, nothing less. Stop comparing everything we do with them because the days of City fans needing to do that are gone. They have no Sheikh, they have a Yank parasite. They have no Silva, they have an ageing liar. They have a silent stadium full of tools and are supported around the world by idiots.

We are fucking City. We are fucking champions. It's time some of you young blues got your heads up and acted like it. Stop looking over your shoulders all the time. Stop fretting and feeling insecure about stuff that really doesn't matter.

Whilst I broadly share your sentiments on this, I am slightly more towards the centre, so to speak.

Whilst I agree that some of the paranoia is beyond parody there is no doubt that the media favour united, albeit unconsciously a lot of the time.

This is mainly a function of them being at the top table for so long, rather than anything more especially sinister. A particular case in point is their manager. He is allowed to get away with far more than any other manager in the game. He is allowed to misrepresent ("united teams always try and win"); be petulant and downright rude (refusing to speak to the BBC); hypocritical ("I wouldn't sell them a virus"); make outlandish and wholly incorrect predictions ("not in my lifetime"); insult other clubs in a disrespectful way ("a small club with a small mentality") ; and bring destruction down upon his own club (the Coolmore fiasco).

He can do all these things without fear of the widespread ridicule and derision from the media that would be visited upon any other manager for the same things - Benitez's 'list' being a case in point.

He manages this through a combination of his longevity and success in the job - which granted should give him a degree of leeway; his ability to bully and impose his will upon the press - often resulting in many journalists being banned from the club; and a desire for the media to retain a degree of favour and influence within the one of the most powerful sporting brands on the planet.

Against that backdrop it is understandable that City fans feel there is an agenda of sorts. To what degree depends on each individual's view of how the world works I guess, but it is unreasonable of you to expect fans not to resent the way their local rivals (and by implication their own club) are perceived (and treated) , being dictated by a bully.

Spot on!!!!!!!!!

I said earlier, whilst I agree ferguson bullies elements of the media, it is, in Damocles words, a classic straw man. It doesn't address even a fraction of the points I raised. Him being a bully does not make our fans insecure and paranoid.

 

[Nascent Blues]

Whilst I broadly share your sentiments on this, I am slightly more towards the centre, so to speak.

Whilst I agree that some of the paranoia is beyond parody there is no doubt that the media favour united, albeit unconsciously a lot of the time.

This is mainly a function of them being at the top table for so long, rather than anything more especially sinister. A particular case in point is their manager. He is allowed to get away with far more than any other manager in the game. He is allowed to misrepresent ("united teams always try and win"); be petulant and downright rude (refusing to speak to the BBC); hypocritical ("I wouldn't sell them a virus"); make outlandish and wholly incorrect predictions ("not in my lifetime"); insult other clubs in a disrespectful way ("a small club with a small mentality") ; and bring destruction down upon his own club (the Coolmore fiasco).

He can do all these things without fear of the widespread ridicule and derision from the media that would be visited upon any other manager for the same things - Benitez's 'list' being a case in point.

He manages this through a combination of his longevity and success in the job - which granted should give him a degree of leeway; his ability to bully and impose his will upon the press - often resulting in many journalists being banned from the club; and a desire for the media to retain a degree of favour and influence within the one of the most powerful sporting brands on the planet.

Against that backdrop it is understandable that City fans feel there is an agenda of sorts. To what degree depends on each individual's view of how the world works I guess, but it is unreasonable of you to expect fans not to resent the way their local rivals (and by implication their own club) are perceived (and treated) , being dictated by a bully.

Spot on!!!!!!!!!

I said earlier, whilst I agree ferguson bullies elements of the media, it is, in Damocles words, a classic straw man. It doesn't address even a fraction of the points I raised. Him being a bully does not make our fans insecure and paranoid.

It does if it is perceived it gives them an unfair advantage over other teams.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Spot on!!!!!!!!!

I said earlier, whilst I agree ferguson bullies elements of the media, it is, in Damocles words, a classic straw man. It doesn't address even a fraction of the points I raised. Him being a bully does not make our fans insecure and paranoid.

It does if it is perceived it gives them an unfair advantage over other teams.

so what connection is there with our younger fan's obsession with selling our tickets? Or our songs? Or our fans becoming 'rag-like'? Or the starting credits on MOTD? Or the predictions of crap pundits? Or the supposed hatred every commentator has for us?

There is no connection, therefore the point raised(singular) is a straw man. A valid point in itself, but not a post which addresses my original post. I don't mean this to be disrespectful to GDM who I respect as a poster.

 

[Nascent Blues]

I said earlier, whilst I agree ferguson bullies elements of the media, it is, in Damocles words, a classic straw man. It doesn't address even a fraction of the points I raised. Him being a bully does not make our fans insecure and paranoid.

It does if it is perceived it gives them an unfair advantage over other teams.

so what connection is there with our younger fan's obsession with selling our tickets? Or our songs? Or our fans becoming 'rag-like'? Or the starting credits on MOTD? Or the predictions of crap pundits? Or the supposed hatred every commentator has for us?

There is no connection, therefore the point raised(singular) is a straw man. A valid point in itself, but not a post which addresses my original post. I don't mean this to be disrespectful to GDM who I respect as a poster.

Yes, but you stated that our younger supporters are paranoid by using anecdotal evidence (or questions disguised as actual facts)gleaned, as far as I can gather, from this forum. I personally don't believe that vast swathes of our younger support are paranoid. Quoting a few Blues on here who get het up over us not selling out, or the odd few who see a conspiracy in the MOTD credits is hardly a convincing argument to posit, as fact, your statement (or hyperbolic generalisation)regarding our younger fans.

 

[Aguero_Element]

God this is the worst thread ever made,

 

[The Flash]

God this is the worst thread ever made,

You've never been on the cat meme thread then...

 

[Puppet Master Silva]

God this is the worst thread ever made,

You've taken it so personally, the OP wasn't slating younger fans, just saying how it is.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I said earlier, whilst I agree ferguson bullies elements of the media, it is, in Damocles words, a classic straw man. It doesn't address even a fraction of the points I raised. Him being a bully does not make our fans insecure and paranoid.

It does if it is perceived it gives them an unfair advantage over other teams.

so what connection is there with our younger fan's obsession with selling our tickets? Or our songs? Or our fans becoming 'rag-like'? Or the starting credits on MOTD? Or the predictions of crap pundits? Or the supposed hatred every commentator has for us?

There is no connection, therefore the point raised(singular) is a straw man. A valid point in itself, but not a post which addresses my original post. I don't mean this to be disrespectful to GDM who I respect as a poster.

No offence taken DD.

It was meant as an illustrative example rather than the whole picture and I did refer to it as such.

I could as easily pointed to the media's coverage of the run in last season, where they repeated, to the point of tedium, that united always come stronger in the second half of the season and the had the know how to win the league pointing repeatedly to our lack of team spirit. The latter of those two proposals was a matter of opinion and is therefore fair comment, the former, however, was empirically wrong.

Again I don't point to this as evidence of any particular bias towards united for its own sake, but rather a natural consequence of them representing the establishment. They have been at the top for so long that many journalists will have become institutionalised to that remaining the case, albeit on a subconscious level.

I could go on and give other examples in relation to this matter and I am happy to if you wish ;-)

Like I said, this state of affairs informs the state of mind and fuels the suspicions of a number of our supporters. I would put myself towards the bottom of that group, but unlike you I don't feel totally unconnected with it.

 

[Rascal]

When i was growing up there was 1 rag in my primary school class, at secondary school blues far outnumbered rags and we were better than them.


I cant imagine how hard it must been for many of under 30s fans, growing up knowing we were shit and the rags won everything. Fair play to everyone of them for sticking it out. I think the reason for the beliefs in agendas and such probably results from having to be so defensive over the years and i dont blame any of them for having such a mentality.

Its been hard enough for us old gits who remember some of the old glory days, who saw the King play, were alive when we won stuff, played in finals and such, so how hard it has been for the young ens i doubt we will ever realise.

Stick with it you young ones, if you hate the rags think there is agendas etc and it works for you, go with it because at the end of the day i think we all hate them twats and always will no matter how succesfull we are.