Is our fan base count and reputation in danger?

Giggsyking

Full Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2013
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10,698
I will make my post short. Sometimes I think that these post Sir Alex years has caused so much damage to our reputation and feel that it will affect the club permanently if we dont bounce back very soon. But on the other hand, Liverpool has been away from trophies for ages and still count as a big club and has a large fan base (maybe not as big as united).
I do think the image of our club has been damaged, but united is a massive club that can bounce back again even after decades of no trophies. Today I came across many Tweets asking to unfollow united on all social media accounts in a way to put pressure on the club. Do you think this is right or wrong?

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Not really unless the landscape of football changes massively in the next couple of years.
 
Maybe I'm a bit stupid but how do follows even influence the club as a whole?

United were one of the last Premier League clubs to join twitter yet still the most followed as well, right?
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Maybe I'm a bit stupid but how do follows even influence the club as a whole?

United were one of the last Premier League clubs to join twitter yet still the most followed as well, right?
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The more followers you have the more money you generate on the social media I guess, im no expert either. we are for sure not attracting the young fan base that think Aguero and Salah is their idols.
 
2.5k unfollowed?

United lost 0.013% of their followers? I've never given less shits about something.

That 0.013% can go eat a bag of dicks for all I care.
 
I literally couldn’t give less of a shit if I tried. Besides, they’re the sort of people who will be back if and when we ever get back to the top anyway.
 
Camy89 said:
2.5k unfollowed?

United lost 0.013% of their followers? I've never given less shits about something.

That 0.013% can go eat a bag of dicks for all I care.
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It is not the 2.5 k that is the problem, they are a drop in a sea. But I am thinking in the long run if we continue to be shit, our financial success off the field that we make on the back of our huge fan base will start do decrease if wont be back on the winning track soon.
 
Couldn't care less. For what it's worth, this can actually help the club move forward when the revenue streams die down and the noodle guy realizes that he fecked up
 
Liverpool haven’t won the league in 30 years yet have a big fanbase.

But the growth is in danger. We won’t get as many new fans as we have done in the past.
 
Not now, no. In a decade if things continue the way they’re going, with other teams playing proper football and winning things, then probably.

I’ve made the point before about seeing city t shirts in a place where ten years ago it would have been unheard of. Yesterday when I was walking to my car I saw someone with a city scarf displayed on their car. We can bury our heads in the sand all we want and talk about plastics or whatever, but we are at risk of losing the upcoming generation of football fans.

If you really think about it, as a ten year old child, if you don’t have a united supporting relative forcing it onto you, what reason is there to support united versus another club?
 
Bojan11 said:
Liverpool haven’t won the league in 30 years yet have a big fanbase.

But the growth is in danger. We won’t get as many new fans as we have done in the past.
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That is the problem, your second paragraph. The existing fan base is the existing fan base. That won’t change. What can change is the growth, which we won’t see until years down the line when it’s too late to do anything about it.
 
The biggest danger for Utd is that, due to the loathing of Liverpool, whoever stops Liverpool from winning titles will become the alternative to Liverpool...

So right now, the media is pushing for a scouse title all season - everyone who's not a dipper wants City to win it - and that includes 10s of millions of United fans.

If this becomes a regular thing - slowly, and gradually United will start losing fans (I'm mainly talking about younger people here too)...

Call those fans plastic, glory etc - but it will be the loathing of Liverpool that will move them to follow whoever is stopping Liverpool, and I can understand that.

My little boy is 6 and has grown up in a Utd and anti-Liverpool household, and he's slowly started saying that he likes City - when asked why, his answer...? 'Because they score goals'.

There's also the factor of marketable players and manager - ironically something the Glazers thought they were prioritizing, yet we're falling behind there too, and look likely to lose our 2 best (and most marketable) players this Summer.
 
The only reason this is important is if those Twitter followers and social media likes translate to money spent on players, coaches, youth academy and stadium. At the moment they only contribute to the systematic asset stripping of the Glazers.

If we are playing good football and have exciting players then young kids grow up and want to be Utd fans. I can't imagine what it must be like trying to convince your kids to follow your team when it is so hard to enjoy them at the moment. My Dad gave me and my brother no choice in it really as he grew up in a split Liverpool/Utd household. Luckily though it coincided with Fergies period so I was really spoilt.
 
We could win a quadruple for 10 years in a row and I wouldn't follow anything on Twitter or Instagram etc.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Maybe I'm a bit stupid but how do follows even influence the club as a whole?

United were one of the last Premier League clubs to join twitter yet still the most followed as well, right?
Click to expand...
It's actually a good idea to get the attention of our board as this is pretty much the only thing they are bothered about. At every press statement, we hear Woodward talking about the number of Twitter and fb followers we have.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Maybe I'm a bit stupid but how do follows even influence the club as a whole?

United were one of the last Premier League clubs to join twitter yet still the most followed as well, right?
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These are the stats that Woodward uses to brag to our potential sponsors and investors.
 
AgentP said:
These are the stats that Woodward uses to brag to our potential sponsors and investors.
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And we do have to be careful because a lot of those media reports of Woodward bragging is actually him reporting to the stock exchange. You would expect shareholders to be asking about followers, customers, supporters, profitability. It is important to make the distinction that it is information aimed at an audience which is different from us fans.

Even if we were winning titles and cups and playing great our CEO would be making these claims we just wouldn't care in the same way.
 
We need all the gloryhunters and plastics we can get our hands on. They are a rich source of revenue. We don't have oil money to make up for them
 
It'll surely have an effect in 10-15 years time, with less people growing up wanting to be United fans.
 
Cloud7 said:
That is the problem, your second paragraph. The existing fan base is the existing fan base. That won’t change. What can change is the growth, which we won’t see until years down the line when it’s too late to do anything about it.
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It won't have as big an effect as you think. Even in the UK kids will grow up following who their fathers follow, and on pitch performance isn't as important to overseas fans, particularly the high growth markets in Asia. It's an alien idea to British fans but in Asia they will follow whoever has the biggest adverts, and whoever has the biggest athletes in their squads. We still lead the way in both those areas.
 
VeevaVee said:
It'll surely have an effect in 10-15 years time, with less people growing up wanting to be United fans.
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Yes. What Woody said about our financial performances not being linked to our football performance was so incredibly stupid and short sighted, it's incredible.
 
I for one have unfollowed the club on twitter. I will no longer participate in the Man United social media bandwagon as long as Woodward is still in charge. Criticise me all you want but what you juveniles do not understand is that Woodward uses high social media follows, etc to boost the club’s advertisement revenues. Money which is sucked out by the Yanks or spent on useless ego boosting marquee transfers which contribute nothing on the field. I am sick of watching our club being mismanaged to death.
 
11101 said:
It won't have as big an effect as you think. Even in the UK kids will grow up following who their fathers follow, and on pitch performance isn't as important to overseas fans, particularly the high growth markets in Asia. It's an alien idea to British fans but in Asia they will follow whoever has the biggest adverts, and whoever has the biggest athletes in their squads. We still lead the way in both those areas.
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Don’t be fecking stupid. I am an overseas fan and I have unfollowed the club. I will also not buy any United merchandise as long as Ed is in charge. By the way. Have you ever been out of England? Travel a bit, see the world, experience other cultures then you won’t be so quick to make conclusions about our club’s Asian fanbase.
 
Sadly, its only movements like these that are likely to have any real effect on Woodward and co. Let's face it, OT is always gonna be a packed house, either due to fans who think you need to support your club through thick and thin or due to the number of tourist fans who come there for a day out. So the notion of fans "voting with their feet" isn't gonna happen at Utd. But if you see Utd social media numbers dropping by millions (unlikely I know but just saying it for the sake of argument), it will be a cause of concern for upper management because if the club is no longer perceived as popular on social media, sponsors are less likely to want to be associated with us. This is the kind of thing that could hit Glazers in their pockets and stir them into action.

But of course for anything like that to happen, millions will need to "unfollow" United and I really don't see that happening, be it due to a sense of loyalty or apathy, its highly unlikely to come to fruition.
 
Those small amounts of unfollows really won't be of concern, it's going to take a huge number to really raise a concern for Woodward like 1 million unfollowers within 24-48hrs. Social media is very important for branding and growth, it's the stats Ed can boast to potential sponsors and investors that we are a social media machine.
 
promisedlanchiao said:
Don’t be fecking stupid. I am an overseas fan and I have unfollowed the club. I will also not buy any United merchandise as long as Ed is in charge. By the way. Have you ever been out of England? Travel a bit, see the world, experience other cultures then you won’t be so quick to make conclusions about our club’s Asian fanbase.
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:lol: I've lived and worked in Asia for most of the last 10 years.

The fans in Asia are less concerned about the on pitch performance, brands are more focused on bold advertising campaigns and recogniseable faces.
 
11101 said:
:lol: I've lived and worked in Asia for most of the last 10 years.

The fans in Asia are less concerned about the on pitch performance, brands are more focused on bold advertising campaigns and recogniseable faces.
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Balls
 
esmufc07 said:
I couldn't give a shite how many Twitter followers we have.
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It's not actually a bad idea. Woodward clearly cares about this stuff (he boasted to investors about how many likes and shares the Sanchez signing story got) and advertisers will care, too. At the end of the day they're just looking for eyeballs, not on-field success.
 
Yes. I coach u9s in Stretford, next to Old Trafford and there is a significantly higher proportion of city tops vs Utd tops. Let’s be honest, when kids that age are growing up, do they want to play in the park or at school and ‘be’ Aguero, DeBruyne, Sane, Silva...or perhaps instead want to ‘be’ Lukaku, Lingard, Sanchez...nothing personal either. Just more so when the former play free flowing entertaining football and the other lot look like they have never played together. Not immediately, but if it continues for 4,5,6 years then long term it will have an impact and will hurt us financially.
 
I hope I wake up tomorrow and we have less followers on social media than Burton Albion. Maybe then there will be massive change at the top of the tree.
 
Would a 10-year-old still consider AC Milan as a giant of the game? Unless they grow up with Milan-supporting parents, friends etc. then probably not - after all, Milan have been irrelevant for quite a while now.

History is nice and all but we're in danger of becoming perennial also-rans.
 
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