As a Utd fan growing up in Derby I was in a big minority at school, surrounded by match-going Forest and Derby supporters. Those who know the history behind these teams understand that they agree on two things - Brian Clough and that they hate Man Utd. Its the same anywhere you go, I have lived in Hull, Lincoln and now Manchester and the common theme wherever you go is that everybody bar Utd fans hate Man Utd! Most of these teams have no real reason to either, no geographical rivalry, no real historic bad blood or battles for trophies, in fact quite often very little relationship good or bad between the two sides. I have asked several of my closest non Man Utd supporting friends over the years "why exactly do you dislike Utd so much?" and none of them can really tell me much more than "they just do"
I suspect some of this comes from our representation in the media. Historically, it would seem that (until recently with the likes of Scholes, Neville(s), Giggs, Hargreaves and Owen becoming more involved as pundits, the TV studios were dominated by former Liverpool players or players with reason to have bad feeling toward us (Shearer, Wright etc....) We are also unpopular in the tabloids with the papers liking nothing more than an opportunity to kick Utd or blow a minor hiccup up into a full blown crisis.
I also think we may be unpopular because of our history of success, but Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and now City have all been through periods of success without the same ill-feeling. Surely as rival fans you would think that we at least have done things the "right" way, promoting Youth and English players wherever possible and contributing possibly more than any other clubs world class players to our National team (plus Wales, Ireland, Scotland and N Ireland) Our Academy is possibly the most prolific in the country with former Utd graduates at practically every single club in the country. We often loan these players out on favourable terms and i think we are a soft touch, rarely asking much of a fee in return for our carefully nurtured talents.
The money is obviously another reason to dislike Utd - but the key point to make is that every single penny of our clubs money is self-generated. The Glazers have now proved themselves to be good owners but they have not actually put a penny in and saddled us with plenty of debt to fund their own ambitions. Unlike City, Chelsea and even teams like Leicester, we do not have a sugar-daddy who pumps in the cash whenever we need it. Surely, if i supported a rival club struggling at the foot of the PL or in the Championship i would be livid at the way otherwise unspectacular and undeserving clubs like Chelsea and City have artificially enjoyed success by winning the football lottery?
I would like to invite non-Utd fans to put forward their arguments as to why they (and everybody!) really hate Man Utd. Its not a thread for me to refute these opinions and try to convert people, other than the few standard arguments and answers I have outlined above. Looking forward to hearing some thoughts!
Like i say, i am predominantly interested in hearing from fans of rival clubs but anybody with any good theories please go ahead
I suspect some of this comes from our representation in the media. Historically, it would seem that (until recently with the likes of Scholes, Neville(s), Giggs, Hargreaves and Owen becoming more involved as pundits, the TV studios were dominated by former Liverpool players or players with reason to have bad feeling toward us (Shearer, Wright etc....) We are also unpopular in the tabloids with the papers liking nothing more than an opportunity to kick Utd or blow a minor hiccup up into a full blown crisis.
I also think we may be unpopular because of our history of success, but Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and now City have all been through periods of success without the same ill-feeling. Surely as rival fans you would think that we at least have done things the "right" way, promoting Youth and English players wherever possible and contributing possibly more than any other clubs world class players to our National team (plus Wales, Ireland, Scotland and N Ireland) Our Academy is possibly the most prolific in the country with former Utd graduates at practically every single club in the country. We often loan these players out on favourable terms and i think we are a soft touch, rarely asking much of a fee in return for our carefully nurtured talents.
The money is obviously another reason to dislike Utd - but the key point to make is that every single penny of our clubs money is self-generated. The Glazers have now proved themselves to be good owners but they have not actually put a penny in and saddled us with plenty of debt to fund their own ambitions. Unlike City, Chelsea and even teams like Leicester, we do not have a sugar-daddy who pumps in the cash whenever we need it. Surely, if i supported a rival club struggling at the foot of the PL or in the Championship i would be livid at the way otherwise unspectacular and undeserving clubs like Chelsea and City have artificially enjoyed success by winning the football lottery?
I would like to invite non-Utd fans to put forward their arguments as to why they (and everybody!) really hate Man Utd. Its not a thread for me to refute these opinions and try to convert people, other than the few standard arguments and answers I have outlined above. Looking forward to hearing some thoughts!
Like i say, i am predominantly interested in hearing from fans of rival clubs but anybody with any good theories please go ahead
