Is our fan base count and reputation in danger?

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.

An absolute madman.
 
If you are the kind of person who support the club when they are winning, but throw a tantrum and stop supporting them when times are tough...well, you're not much of a supporter then are you?

In other words: If you can't handle a few lean years before you switch clubs: Please feck off and don't come back
 
Those are not real fans they are fake fans from Indonesia or something who say their favorite team is the one who is winning. Next thing you know they will talk about how they were City fans their whole lives. The sad reality is a lot of the fans from the big and popular clubs in the world are bandwagons.
 
Liverpool were shit for how long? How did that affect their following which is probably set to rise again?

City were shit for how long? But now we are worried about them surpassing us?

Sorry but I don't see the impending doom. Well lose some fans, and then once we start winning again we'll gain some. Swings and roundabouts....

Could not give a feck.
 
If you are the kind of person who support the club when they are winning, but throw a tantrum and stop supporting them when times are tough...well, you're not much of a supporter then are you?

In other words: If you can't handle a few lean years before you switch clubs: Please feck off and don't come back
I somewhat agree with you, I think we do have a spoiled fan base for sure, and I include myself in that. You have to support through the thick and thin.

However, we're now half a decade post SAF, no major honours and none on the horizon. Do we accept this as the new level of the club? Do we embrace mediocracy? Do we continue to spend money and support what is Europe's most poorly run elite club? At what point do we say enough now and demand more?

Unfortunately the only way to hit these people where it hurts is in the 'brand'. United can't be on TV if the stadium is empty, it's embarrassing. Our players can't appear on FIFA and tv adverts if no one follows them on social media. Sponsorships dry up when you're associated with failure.

I'm not sure where I sit on this but I can tell you for sure that due to my severe dislike for this team and the way the club is run I'm starting to fall hard on the side divorcing of United until someone realises that abusing my support isn't tolerated. I mean, I've left a fecking marriage that wasn't this abusive!
 
Yes and yes.
I know that for somebody from Manchester ( and maybe England) it is annoying thing to hear but when you are a little kid you find a club( or how i love to say it, club finds you). It is based on something. Club plays good, wins titles or have some great player. Some kid from Croatia, France, Spain, Russia will not be born with United in his blood. That is why City today have fans abroad. City which didn't have any fan outside UK.
Before you start rant about plastic fans and glory hunters phrases lets be honest here. Why am i United fan? Because i saw game against Barca 1991 and fall in love. Why Burnley or WBA or Brighton don't have fans outside UK? Because they don't win titles and don't have great players so they are not on TV all the time and because of that, young kids can't start supporting them.
Of course i am talking about true fans, who when they start supporting and loving some club, they stay with that club for entire life. Plastic fans who change clubs are not important and personally i don't think that that kind of fans even exist in some big numbers.

Now, why is important to have fans around a world? Because with huge numbers of fans come sponsors with money for big players who again bring you titles and reputation. If you don't win titles your reputation starts to fade, big sponsors are not interested in you, big players refuse to play for you( already happening to us) and you start to shop from B list. And players from B list will not bring you titles. And we are back on step one( fans).

It is one big circle of life in football world.
 
There are only a few ways to become a fan of a football club.

A. If you live in the city. I doubt this fanbase is going to be affected.

B. If your parents support a club and you grew up watching it. This may get affected if our current fanbase cant be bothered watching us every week.

C. Growing up you idolize some footballers and automatically support their club. This is definitely going to be affected as we have zero role model type players right now.
 
It will happen and probably already has happened, that we have less worldwide 'fans' than we had 10 years ago. I have seen City shirts on kids where you wouldnt have seen one 10 years ago. We had the poster boys Giggs and Beckham, we have none now. It may take 10 years to see significant change unless we improve on the pitch.
 
I somewhat agree with you, I think we do have a spoiled fan base for sure, and I include myself in that. You have to support through the thick and thin.

However, we're now half a decade post SAF, no major honours and none on the horizon. Do we accept this as the new level of the club? Do we embrace mediocracy? Do we continue to spend money and support what is Europe's most poorly run elite club? At what point do we say enough now and demand more?

Unfortunately the only way to hit these people where it hurts is in the 'brand'. United can't be on TV if the stadium is empty, it's embarrassing. Our players can't appear on FIFA and tv adverts if no one follows them on social media. Sponsorships dry up when you're associated with failure.

I'm not sure where I sit on this but I can tell you for sure that due to my severe dislike for this team and the way the club is run I'm starting to fall hard on the side divorcing of United until someone realises that abusing my support isn't tolerated. I mean, I've left a fecking marriage that wasn't this abusive!

Showing the owners/manger/players/tea lady you are unhappy with something is of course fine, but boycotting the club because you had a few trophy-less seasons is pretty weak imo. I friends who support Liverpool, Spurs, Leeds and even fecking Blackburn and if i told them i was "boycotting" my club because we had some shit seasons and they would probably strangle me.

That being said, the fans should not be silent if there is reason to speak up. The way Woody has handled his job is worthy of critique, so the fans should show their discontent towards him, not the club
 
The most "challenging time" in Man Utd's history was between 1967-1993. It consisted of one relegation and not winning the league title. But Old Trafford was still the most attended stadium in the country. United are way ahead of other clubs now more than ever in terms of domestic support, and that's what ultimately matters. Not some random people on twitter.
 
Better or worse, I don't know now but at least these people want changes and doing something.
Afaik, doing nothing hasn't worked well so far. Yet OP worrying about United's "public image". Who fecking care, football is the only thing that matters
 
In the end they're somewhat important because Ed uses social media numbers and other data when suggesting we have over a billion fans or whatever the number is to potential advertisers. Advertising dollars are important for this club because with out it, it cuts into our spending power which is the only thing we have in common with other top clubs these days.

Reality is those numbers have been inflated for years. There's tons of fans who "I like Manchester United, PSG, Barcelona and Juventus". They're not real fans and don't pour real money into the club anyway because even if they buy a Pogba shirt it's likely a knock off and I doubt they go to games either.
 
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.

Woody should really issue an apology for uttering those words.
 
Dismiss this all you want but any commercial business prides themselves on numbers and followers etc... Might be a drop in the ocean now but if the number grows it will cause some form of alarm.
 
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.
Yep, probably because the twat knows he won’t be here by the time it does impact us. Covering his own ass 100%.
 
Given that United is about 3-5 years away from becoming a contender (and that's assuming most steps are made in the right direction), there will be a generation of fans that will grow up with United not being a top club. And given how far behind they are structurally when it comes to the football side compared to sides like Liverpool/City, it could become a slippery slope.

Will that have a lasting impact overall on the club? It's anybody's guess.
 
Apologise for trying to reassure the fans that even if we missed out on T4 we'd still be able to compete financially at the top end of the transfer market?

Apologize for implying there is no connection between field performance and financial performance. In the short term, there may not be, but in the mid to long term there is a link. He needs to make it clear to us fans that on-field performance will be our first priority. For without that, financial performance will eventually fail as well.
 
The majority of fans are not match going fans as only 90k of people can attend the match at any given time but the club has 10’s of millions of worldwide fans.

Leaving the stadium early sends a message to the board from the match going fans. How can the rest of the millions send a message to the board?

I bet Ed wants as big of a social media presence as possible. Us as fans should probably unfollow the club on all social media. This will send a message from the worldwide fan base in my opinion.
 
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?
Social media stats is one of important census for popularity nowadays, which someone like Woodward definitely care. It has influence on sponsorship for instance. Sponsors want their name to get more exposure.

As for football side, not much influence.
 
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.

FFS, have a word with your son! The lack of discipline in some households are shocking.
 
FFS, have a word with your son! The lack of discipline in some households are shocking.

He's sat with me watching Utd since he was basically born, had Utd posters put up (by me) on his walls...

We actually come from a Manc family, so although I no longer live up North, his Grandparents / Greatparents support Utd and live in Manchester.

His Great Aunt lives in Manchester and supports City - or at least she did until the buyout, since then she claims no interest in the club any more...

The only common ground is that all his family are anti-Liverpool.

And yeah, he's quite insistent that his favourite team are City, who, fittingly are the only team between Liverpool and the PL, which was essentially my point.
 
I am living in UK for last 18 years and only club I supported since I started watching football is Manchester United.First time I really pissed off with our team sometime last year and thought about following any other club to get entertainment value for my time. Guess what I couldn't cross UTD or take them out of my head or heart whatever. Then I realised what ever the club state, I cant support any other club in my life. If I feel this way then I can imagine how the guys raised from Day1 in their life as UTD supporters feel about current state of the club.

Good or Bad we stick with our team and we can only hope atleast club will be run properly so that we dont become a laughing stock.
 
Let’s be honest, the reason the majority of our fanbase support us is because we were the biggest side in England, and winning regularly.
 
He's sat with me watching Utd since he was basically born, had Utd posters put up (by me) on his walls...

We actually come from a Manc family, so although I no longer live up North, his Grandparents / Greatparents support Utd and live in Manchester.

His Great Aunt lives in Manchester and supports City - or at least she did until the buyout, since then she claims no interest in the club any more...

The only common ground is that all his family are anti-Liverpool.

And yeah, he's quite insistent that his favourite team are City, who, fittingly are the only team between Liverpool and the PL, which was essentially my point.

It was a joke about the discipline bro.

But it sounds like you got a wonderful family :) Good thing he dont want to support Liverpool :)
 
Short term things like losing 2.5k followers makes no difference.

But give it another 5 years of bad management, will we still be considered among Europe's elite? it seems doubtful.
 
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
This.

Those fans are fickle and choose success. They create some of the revenue that the Glazers view as financial success.

Not investing now means in 5-10 years United won’t be the financial success they are now. It’ll be the likes of City, Liverpool, Barca and Real
 
Apologize for implying there is no connection between field performance and financial performance. In the short term, there may not be, but in the mid to long term there is a link. He needs to make it clear to us fans that on-field performance will be our first priority. For without that, financial performance will eventually fail as well.

There isn't, even if United were to win the City quadruple next season the combined prize money would be dwarfed by money coming in from sponsors and other revenue streams, that's just how it is, and poor Ed and his team will never get the credit for it, which is sad.

We ceased being a football club long before the Glazers and Ed rocked up, and growing the Company/Brand will always be a priority, again that's just how it is.
 
: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.

First of all, Asia is a very big continent with billions of people and I'm not sure how you can make this sweeping statement.

Asia is so big that even if you have lived there for the last 10 years, you will need many many more years to understand Asia.

To make it short, no football fans in the world concern less on pitch performance, everything starts there.
 
: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.
I sat under the winter rain watching Utd-Liverpool with literally hundreds of people in a row of coffee houses, at 11 pm at night.

Don’t know what part of Asia you lived in but that’s certainly just not true from my experience. Football is a big part of life for the people there, especially college students and the working class, and I assure you most don’t give a damn whether their team wear Nike or Adidas.
 
When Liverpool won all those titles in the 70s and 80s and United won nothing, there's many people who lived through that era that will tell you that we still remained possibly the most well-supported club in the country.

History is history. We're an institution.
 
Short term things like losing 2.5k followers makes no difference.

But give it another 5 years of bad management, will we still be considered among Europe's elite? it seems doubtful.
We've already lost that. 6 years now since we've won the league and we are not showing any signs of improvement. Players won't look at our club and say I want to join Manchester United unless he just specifically likes our club and it was a childhood dream to play for us if he has other, better options.

If we had a solid strategy, a group of competent people leading the club that can show a realistic vision of where the club wants to go, it would be a completely different story.
 
I sat under the winter rain watching Utd-Liverpool with literally hundreds of people in a row of coffee houses, at 11 pm at night.

Don’t know what part of Asia you lived in but that’s certainly just not true from my experience. Football is a big part of life for the people there, especially college students and the working class, and I assure you most don’t give a damn whether their team wear Nike or Adidas.

Every region in the world has advertising and brand campaigns tailored towards them, Asia is no different and its not an insult. The reason you have so many huge, brightly lit store fronts in Shanghai or 50 foot high adverts in neon lights across Hong Kong is because that style of advertising works so well there. On pitch performance is the basis but the people listen to bold advertising more than they do elsewhere.

This isn't simply my opinion. My wife works in this area for a huge clothing company and I have a bunch of friends working for PL and Serie A clubs in Asia.
 
There isn't, even if United were to win the City quadruple next season the combined prize money would be dwarfed by money coming in from sponsors and other revenue streams, that's just how it is, and poor Ed and his team will never get the credit for it, which is sad.

We ceased being a football club long before the Glazers and Ed rocked up, and growing the Company/Brand will always be a priority, again that's just how it is.

I don’t agree with you. A few more years of mid-table performances and fans will turn away, sponsors will follow and also stop paying those lucrative commercial deals.
 
Every region in the world has advertising and brand campaigns tailored towards them, Asia is no different and its not an insult. The reason you have so many huge, brightly lit store fronts in Shanghai or 50 foot high adverts in neon lights across Hong Kong is because that style of advertising works so well there. On pitch performance is the basis but the people listen to bold advertising more than they do elsewhere.

This isn't simply my opinion. My wife works in this area for a huge clothing company and I have a bunch of friends working for PL and Serie A clubs in Asia.
You’ve picked possibly the worst example talking about football in Asia. Both mainland China and HongKong simply don’t care much about football, badminton is their national pastime.

Go to Southeast Asia, the region where, you know, football is actually the number one sport, and see if the fans care about advertising. I’m from Vietnam, lived in Singapore for 3 years, travelled to and spent time in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillipines (where their #1 is actually boxing), none of them have the kind of fans you described in any significant capacity.
 
When Liverpool won all those titles in the 70s and 80s and United won nothing, there's many people who lived through that era that will tell you that we still remained possibly the most well-supported club in the country.

History is history. We're an institution.

But the non-England fan base is several magnitudes larger than English Fan base, and those fans are more fickle because they don’t have the connection of going to Old Trafford. Companies that make merchandise deals with MUFC want exposure to both the English fan-base but also the much larger world-wide fan base. If the worldwide audience shrinks, so will commercial revenues. Ed has to be aware of this.